Disclaimer: I own nothing. Don't sue me please.

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Wedding Rings

Chapter 1: Her Parents' Room

Ninth period had ended for the day, and as soon as the bell rang Aelita had slipped from the crowd and ran into the forest, pausing only to click on her cell phone and call Jeremie so he wouldn't worry. Content that she had done what needed to be done so no one would go searching for her, Aelita trotted easily through the shadows, weaving around trees with ease, until she came to the old house she knew as the hermitage—and her home.

The inside of the house always seemed to feel colder then the outside; Aelita could never quite put her finger on why this was so, but it had been like that ever since the visions had started.

She could remember a time when the house had been warm and full of laughter and love, but that time was long gone. Shaking her head, Aelita pushed back the wave of grief that surged through her. It was hard to go to the hermitage now, when she remembered what it had once been like. But she came back almost every day.

The truth was, she couldn't stay away. In a cruel twist of fate, the cold, empty house was all she had left of her past. Her father could be dead for all she knew, or gone forever. And her mother… she wouldn't think about her mother.

Determined not to let her thoughts wander down that path, Aelita noted with some displeasure that the cobwebs she had cleaned away last week were making their presence known again. She wasn't in the mood to go all the way back to school and "borrow" the feather duster from the janitor's closet, so she simply made a mental note of where each cobweb was and walked up the stairs.

There was one room that Aelita had never gone in; had never even had the courage to open the door, actually. The room had belonged to her parents. Aelita stood at the door now, eyeing the knob as if it had grown teeth and threatened to bite her.

It was just a room, she reminded herself. By now it would be dusty and faded with age, just like all the other rooms in the hermitage.

But it was her parents' room.

You'll have to go in sooner or later, she scolded mentally. Just do it now and get it over with.

It was just a room. It would look like all the other rooms in the hermitage. There would be no difference. She'd go in, go out, and be done with it.

Problem solved.

Confidence restored, Aelita twisted the knob and opened the door, taking her first step into her parents' room.

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Originally this was just going to be a one-shot, but in the end I decided it would be best as a short chapter story. After I complete this I might not post some Code Lyoko stuff for awhile... I've been neglecting my other fics recently...

Read and review, please!