Silence stretched inside her head, but still she couldn't make noise. Drowning in numb quiet, it was so hard to breathe, so hard to-
"Aelita?"
Jumping, Aelita looked around widely, and into the faces of Odd, Ulrich and Jeremie, all who were standing over her desk. Blinking up at them, it felt as if she had to pull her mind out of quick sand. "Uh...yes?"
Odd raised an eyebrow. "Yes? You mean you'll do it?"
"I don't think she heard you, you dork," Ulrich muttered, shaking his head.
"Are you okay, Aelita?" Jeremie leaned closer than the others, locking gazes with her. His eyes narrowed slightly before she could look away.
Great. Just great.
Instead of responding to the boys, she stood slowly, glancing at the clock, more to give herself something to look at than out of actual curiosity toward the time. She couldn't look him in the face, couldn't bare the look in his eyes. Like he was in pain, trapped, almost guilty. Her heart lurched at the idea. He had done nothing but help and support her, and all she had done was whine and be frightened.
"I can't be afraid anymore," she hissed to herself a few moments later as she hurried out of the class room. She had tried to ignore the concerned glances Odd and Ulrich at sent her way as they left the room. Her eyes on her feet, she didn't glance up again until she was almost all the way out of the building.
"Aelita!"
She glanced back, but instead of seeing someone behind her, all she saw was the massive windows of the double doors she had just gone out of. Her reflection stared back at her, hollowed eyed and pale. Even her irises seemed discolored. Strange. Inhuman.
Who ever said you were human anyway?
A chill went down her spine, but Aelita couldn't force herself to look away. Her reflection twisted slowly, smirking at her even as she herself stared in dread.
You think of your enemies as monsters, yet you are one yourself. You were never human.
Shut up.
Stupid, useless, foolish, ugly-
SHUT UP!
Aelita broke the staring contest between herself and the narrowed white irises of her tainted reflection in the window, spinning sharply. Her fists clenched, breathing heavily, she stared at the ground, the voice of Magenta still taunted her in her own head.
"I am NOT afraid, and I am not a monster," she murmured, not caring that she was just talking to herself. Her eyes narrowed, she set off to towards the factory.

"After yesterday, Aelita, are you sure you want to keep trying this?"
Ten minutes later, Aelita stared into the middle scanner as Jeremie's voice echoed in her ears. Her heart was beating hard against her ribs, and she found herself unable to keep still now. Anything to create sound, to move, get away from the quiet that still hovered in the back of her head.
"I have to," she replied softly, trying not to notice the goosebumps raising slowly on her skin. "Besides, if it's possible for me to spy on them, perhaps..." she stopped, unsure what to say. IF it's possible...She sighed. Nothing was certain anymore.
"I've called Yumi and Odd. They're gonna be here soon, just in case..." Jeremie trailed off, but Aelita knew what he didn't want to say: "just in case Magenta's there". The thought sent another chill down her spine, but annoyed at her own fears, Aelita ignored it, and stepped into the scanner. "But, if you're still worried-"
"Just send me in, Jeremie," Aelita whispered, her voice sounded strained and false to her own ears. "It's not me you need to worry about." She heard him give the virtualization commands, felt the cool rush of air, heard the soft beaconing of strange voices in her head-
Her eyes shot open mid transformation, but the bright whirling light barely registered over her shock at the sounds in her mind.
The voices.
Feeling her feet hit solid ground, Aelita caught her balance and glanced up. "Jeremie-"
"Don't worry, Aelita, they-"
"No, Jeremie, I heard it. The voices. During the virtualization."
Jeremie didn't answer for a moment, but when he did, he sounded excited. "Do you hear them now?"
For a moment, Aelita stood quite still, listening. A frown knitted over her forehead as confusion slowly eased over the fear. "Not...not exactly." Then her eyes narrowed. "But...it's not silent like it was. There's something, but..." she spun slowly, glancing around her. The bland orange-brown plain of the desert region stretched as far as she could see. Nothing moved.
"Hmmm...Do you wanna try meditating again?"
Aelita hesitated, glancing back up at the sky. "JEremie, if I go under again, and XANA attacks, get out of there. I can handle this myself-"
"Aelita, don't be ridiculous," Jeremie said, not unkindly. "The other's will be here soon, so you'll be safe."
"It's not me I'm worried about," she replied softly, but gave in. There wasn't enough to time to argue. She had get her powers back. Somehow. Settling herself on the ground, she closed her eyes, trying not to dread the prospect of being lost in that overwhelming silence. She took a deep breath, settling her heart to a slower rhythm-
And went instantly surrounded by sound.
Voices whispered, hummed, hissed, screamed, murmured, sang and shouted. Despite the chaos, Aelita felt no fear. Her heart slowing down even more, she felt her eyes open, yet still saw nothing but darkness.
A flicker of memory crossed amidst the sound. For a moment, Jeremie's voice, fading and sad, mixed with the others, as it had once. Had this how he had felt when lost in limbo between the worlds so many years ago? Had this been...
Her thoughts paused as another voice raised, louder than the others. Something inside her pulled, and, quite suddenly, all the sound stopped.
One voice, they had all become one voice. In it, she heard her friends, her father, even herself, and other voices she didn't recognize. Speaking in codes, singing in a chant that, although she couldn't translate, she somehow understood.
There was fear in the voice now, and anger. The emotions echoed back in her heart, jumping and shimmering like fragments of a shattered mirror. Louder the voice called, until Aelita felt as if her heart was going to be pulled out of her own chest, straining as it was.
A single, sudden translation rippled through her brain, sending a chill along with it.
It's here. They're here. She's here.
No.
There were bonds now, gripping her arms, shaking her. Aelita fought blindly, unsure if she was now screaming with the voice. It was a warning, she had to get away, she had to find him-
"Let me go!"
Her own voice burst from her lungs, and the blackness vanished from her eyes.
"Aelita!"
More voices were shouting, she was still being shaken. Gasping, her ears ringing and her head pounding, Aelita jerked sharply, tumbling away from what ever held her. Blinking hard against the light around her, she leapt to her feet, stumbling.
A geisha, a cat-boy and a samurai. She blinked again, focusing on the stricken expressions on their faces. Why were their voices echoing? Her ears still stung.
"You were screaming, Aelita," Yumi said, her voice sharp with fright. "Are you-"
"There was all this lightening, and you were yelling something strange," Odd added before Yumi even finished. Ulrich didn't say anything, but he nodded, his eyes still wide.
"Never mind that," Aelita gasped, trying to ignore the humming buzz in her ears. "Where's Jeremie?"
"I'm here, A-aelita, what happened? Your i-icon was flickering, and you s-screamed." His voice was shaking, Aelita realized, but he was there. Relief flooded through her for a moment.
Yet still that buzzing would go away.
Unable to push off a growing sense of foreboding, the pink-haired girl forced a smile at her friends. "I"m sorry, I scared you, you guys, it won't happen again."
"What happened, Princess?" Ulrich asked, but Aelita was already shaking her head.
"Nothing, it- ah!" Aelita gasped, clasping her hands to her ears. Pain blasted rapidly into her ears along with the buzzing sound that had suddenly become deafening. Somewhere, she heard her friends shout her name, but couldn't react to reassure them.
"Go!" Her vision flickering, she tried to call out to them. "GO!" Panic battled pain, yet she still couldn't move, could do nothing to protect them. "GO!"
But none of them moved, even as the air in front of them began to flicker again.
"Useless again, I see."
A new voice brought more pain. Behind her, her three fellow fighters shifted into sudden battle stances as Jeremie shouted in surprise.
No. Jeremie. Aelita's eyes widened.
"Don't you touch them. Don't you harm him."
That voice, her voice, the monster's voice, laughed. "As if you'll stop me, little sister."
Through her failing vision, Aelita saw the shadowless figure of her enemy as it stood over her, totally ignoring the others. "You have no power. Just give up. All of you."
"Like hell!" bellowed Yumi.
"Don't touch them," Aelita hissed, trying to fight the pain enough to stand. Please, she begged, hearing the voices clamoring, screaming with her, behind the pain. Stop warning me, help me.
Magenta laughed again. "Oh, I will, little fool. I will. Just perhaps-"
"DON'T TOUCH THEM!"
Aelita, deaf to all but the voices screeching and singing in her head, leaped up, leaped out. Light, sudden, neon and flickering, blasted in all directions, blinding her. Someone screamed, someone cried out to her, to one of her friends.
Someone was singing. In the back of her head. Behind the pain.
The light vanished, but still voices cried out. In her head. In her ears.
"Stop!"
Someone was laughing.
"Help, Odd, what-"
"Aelita, stop!"
The laughter got louder.
"STOP!"
Then everything, even the screaming in her head, vanished.
Softly, horribly, the laughing voice squirmed into her ears. "Well, little sister. I didn't have to touch them. You did it for me."
"Aelita-!"
Everything went silent.