Author's Note: I don't own Code Lyoko, etc.
The Crash
No one could get sleep that night. Ulrich and Odd were gazing up at the ceiling of their dorm room. In her room, a tear dropped from Yumi's eyes as she watched her digital clock count through the minutes. Aelita…no one knew what she was doing at the moment.
Ulrich punched his pillow for he hated the prolonged silence. He rose from his bed and grabbed the doorknob.
"Where are you going?"
"I am going to see Aelita. I think she needs a friend after what happened today."
"I'll come with you."
"Sure, the more the merrier, right?"
They walked upstairs to the girls' dormitory. It wasn't too difficult to find Aelita's room, even in the dark. Ulrich gently knocked on her door.
"Aelita…Aelita, are you there?" Ulrich whispered.
There was no response. Fearing the worst, he gently opened the door and turned on the lights. Her room was in complete disarray, her books and papers were scattered everywhere. Her sheets were tossed disheveled on the floor. Her pillows were ripped open with the feathers coating everything. Even Mister Puck was torn in two.
"This is bad." Odd commented on the obvious.
"Where is she?"
"Well, there is only one place she could be."
They ran to the boiler room. They knew this was the safest way to go out at night without getting encountered by Jim. They opened the door and went for their skateboards.
"Why do we never go this way anymore?"
"What do you mean, Odd?"
"Well, remember a couple years back before we materialized Aelita. We used to take this route almost every other time."
"Yeah, but most of the time, we weren't being pursued by XANA. Since he learned to possess people, we decided to use the forest to buy some time."
"Okay, must have forgotten about that conversation."
"You were playing a video game, so it makes sense that you don't remember."
"Hey Ulrich, come on, you're supposed to be my best friend. Cut me some slack."
"Yeah, yeah, Odd."
They shared a smile, which had been the first since that morning. They jumped over the gap and slid to a halt right next to the ladder. The two climbed up and removed the manhole cover. They ran to the factory entrance, kicked off the destroyed stairs and slid down the chain like Tarzan. They pressed the button and headed down to the laboratory.
When the elevator stopped and before the doors opened, they heard someone crying. Odd nodded his head knowing this was the right guess. Then the doors opened, they saw Aelita in her pajamas crying into her folded arms that were resting on the keyboard. She didn't notice they arrived, she was too busy crying.
Ulrich and Odd stepped into the laboratory and got on either side of their heartbroken friend. They took a deep breath and placed a hand on her shoulders. She immediately lifted her head and saw surprisingly her friends who gave her a small smile.
"Aelita, we were worried about you."
"Ulrich…look." She said and turned off the mute button.
"This is Morgan Fairaday with the early morning news here on channel five. We still have received no word leading to the whereabouts of Jeremy Belpois who was reported missing yesterday by Kadic Academy Principal, Jean-Pierre Delmas. So far there have been no leads and no suspects in any possible kidnapping. The student's parents commented that they received a phone call from their son only two days ago and are shocked at the news that he has gone missing. We will report on any further developments and if you have any information on the whereabouts of this missing person, please call the number below."
Aelita pressed the mute button again, "It is so painful, we all know what happened, but we can't do anything about it."
Odd turned the chair toward him, "Aelita, we all miss Jeremy. It is heartbreaking what has happened today. We have all been there, almost on the brink of death by the hands of XANA. We all knew the risks and dangers, but we never thought he would be successful. Still, we have to keep fighting. Jeremy would have wanted that."
She wiped away a tear that fell from her eye, "Odd…you seem…so…"
He opened his arms toward her, "I am here for you, Aelita."
"Odd!" She shouted and threw herself at him. She hugged him and cried on his shoulder. Ulrich knew this was the start of the healing, but it was far from over. He sat in the computer seat and called Yumi.
"Hello?"
"Hey Yumi, it's Ulrich. Were you sleeping?"
"No, I don't think I could. Why are you calling so late?"
"I was wondering if we could come over. Are your parents home?"
"No, they left late last night for god-knows-what and Hiroki is staying over with a friend. So if you wish to come over, that's not a problem with me."
"Great, we'll see you soon."
"Why are we going to Yumi's?" Odd asked.
Ulrich smiled, "You'll see."
They started to walk to Yumi's house, Aelita was crying on Odd's shoulder as he hoisted her in his arms and carried her. Ulrich was surprised that his scrawny frame could support her, but Odd's need to help a friend has yielded strength before.
Ulrich took this time to recall the events that happened. Odd told him all about it since he was the first to be devirtualized. Jeremy's plane was flying high, but the factory's systems had monitored the jet since XANA took it over. They were moments away from flying over the city airspace.
XANA had began the process to launch the missile, but the human fighter pilot in the jet behind them was too quick. He fired a small volley from his machine guns and destroyed the engines of Jeremy's plane. Without them, XANA had lost all power and so the missile didn't launch. Going into a tailspin, Jeremy had called his friends using the jet's radio, which was a miracle that it still worked.
"Guys, I am going down."
"Jeremy! Jeremy, we are working on it. We need a couple of minutes." Yumi said into the earpiece.
"It will be too late. We are approaching the ground fast."
Yumi typed on the keyboard and brought up the screen, She saw that he was right as the jet was only 10'000 feet from the ground.
"Come on, Aelita. You can do it."
5'000 feet…
"Aelita, you have to do this."
3'000 feet…
"Aelita! Deactivate the tower!"
Odd placed a hand on her shoulder, "She'll make it."
1'000 feet…
"Yumi, it is too late. Tell Aelita that I love her and will always love her. Keep on fighting for me and free William. Goodbye, Yumi. I am glad that it is your voice I will hear last before I die."
"Jeremy!"
"AHHH!"
Zero feet. The blip indicating Jeremy's plane had disappeared from the screen. Yumi sat there in shock as her body quivered, she knew what had happened yet she was denying it. Odd was standing stiff with his eyes fixed on the screen.
"He's gone?" Odd barely spoke in whisper.
Tears formed on the rims of Yumi's eyes, then she cried as her head fell on the keyboard. Odd placed a hand on her shoulder as he was coming to grips with what happened.
"He's gone…he's gone." He whispered.
After a few moments, Aelita's voice rang out over the intercom, "Tower deactivated."
Odd said, "Yumi, we have to launch a return trip."
"But, Jeremy..."
"I know this sucks, but his crash would bring up too many questions. This could possibly lead the media to the factory."
"I can't believe you could be so heartless!" She screamed at him with tears still falling.
"I am being realistic, a student's death is caused by a relatively harmless flight exercise. Wouldn't you find that a bit suspicious if you were a reporter."
"Okay, Odd. We'll do it your way, but Jeremy must never be forgotten."
"Fine, I promise."
"Return to the past now!"
The white dome engulfed everything and sent the world one day into the past. Ulrich stopped his reminiscing here because he didn't want to remember Aelita's reaction to his death. He was surprised that she knew most of those words.
Several minutes later, they were standing in front of the gate leading to the Ishiyama residence. Aelita was leaning on Odd and continued to cry, though not as hard as before. Yumi opened the door and unlocked the gate. The Lyoko Warriors went inside and Yumi turned on the lights.
"Make yourselves at home."
Odd helped Aelita into the living room as Ulrich whispered something into Yumi's ear. She smiled and agreed with his idea.
Yumi dashed upstairs as Ulrich walked into the kitchen. He placed a popcorn bag in the microwave and got the butter and salt out. He put the a stick of butter in a pot and placed it on the stove. After a couple minutes, it was ready. He took the bag and ripped the top open, burning his fingers a little from the escaped steam. He poured all the popcorn into a large bowl, then he poured the melted butter on it and lightly coated it with the salt.
Yumi came down through the kitchen with several blankets and DVDs, "I think this should do it."
He browsed through the titles, "All the good comedy blockbusters of last summer, great choices."
"Thanks, you all ready in here?"
"Yep, I got the popcorn finished and you got the rest. Ready to surprise them?"
She smiled mischievously, "Let's do it."
The two friends came out from the kitchen. Odd and Aelita were a little more than surprised at the sight of Yumi who had blankets over her shoulder waving DVDs in her hand and Ulrich holding a large bowl of popcorn.
Aelita smiled and wiped a tear away, thinking this was just what she needed. They spent the morning wrapped in blankets, laughing at all the jokes, and eating delicious popcorn. They were so distracted by all of this, they failed to notice it was noon when the movie marathon was over.
Ulrich ordered up some pizza using his parents' credit card as they laughed at some of the good times they had with Jeremy.
Odd stood in front of his friends, "So Jeremy walked into the cafeteria and got his breakfast. He didn't see that he was receiving the curious look on Rosa's face, but he sat down next to us. Then Aelita asked if he was feeling all right."
The others started to snicker remembering this moment well, Odd continued, "he wondered why she asked him and the entire lunchroom was staring at him. He wondered why they were doing this until he looked down at himself and he…he…realized that he…he was still wearing his pajamas!"
The group broke out laughing as they remembered Jeremy running away in embarrassment to get into some suitable clothes.
Aelita smiled, "Yeah, he was quite a guy."
Then she frowned, everyone stopped laughing as they leaned closer to her.
"We'll get him, Aelita. XANA will pay for what he has done to Jeremy." Yumi said.
"I know we will, but still I miss him."
"We all do and we will all keep fighting XANA until it is over. Right, guys?"
"Right!" Yumi and Ulrich said in unison.
Aelita started to cry again, but with tears of joy instead of sorrow, "Thanks, guys."
Odd wrapped a shoulder over her, "Anything for you, princess."
The doorbell ringed, "That must be the pizza. We'll get it."
Yumi and Ulrich answered the door as Aelita leaned against Odd, her eyes were getting heavy.
"Come on, Aelita, the pizza's here. You can't fall asleep now."
She yawned, "I am just resting my eyes."
He couldn't bring himself to say anything, he just smiled as she peacefully rested against his chest. She would be awake in a minute or two for the pizza, but right now, he was happy that she was feeling better. The road will be long and this wouldn't be the end of the tears, but it was a start for all of them.
Odd said, "Jeremy…you will not be forgotten. I swear it."
This story was one I came up with after rewatching Guided Missile and I couldn't go to sleep for some reason. Anyway, thanks for reading it and have a good day(or night). Lastly, May all your Futures be Dark.