The Hundredth Day
Oneshot song-fic. Jeremie's lost the thing most dear to him. And he's tired of coping.
Disclaimer: I don't own Code Lyoko, 3 Doors Down, or any other media used herein.
Jeremie clicked a button. "Testing…" The indicator on the screen moved as he spoke, as did his picture. "Day 100. I am not disillusioned, as my friends are, that Aelita will ever return. I have promised them thatI would wait one hundred days for her. Today is the hundredth day… and I don't want to wait any longer. Today is the end of days for me. Today… I will end this." He paused. "When the three of you discover this file… I didn't want it to end this way. But losing her is like losing a part of myself. And without that part, I can't go on. I'm sorry. But I don't regret what I've done. Goodbye." He set up something else. "I thought of a suitable last message to use… I found a song. I think it's fitting for the situation I've created. And so… that's all. It ends now." Jeremie clicked the arrow on the screen, which the recording programwould add to the sound clip, as well as play throughout the factory. One last click and he took a walk to his destiny. He pressed the button to call the elevator, and stepped inside, the door closing behind him. The music he'd selected played through the factory from the supercomputer. It didn't matter if the speakers blew out; after all, he wouldn't be using it again.
The track was not a new one; Jeremie and Aelita had loved it, and thought it was a wonderful piece of music. He listened, and smiled ruefully; he knew just about every line was true to what was going on with his life.
A hundred days have made me older
Since the last time that I've saw your pretty face
Indeed, after that fateful mission, Jeremie had never seen Aelita again. He'd been foolish to think they could run the gauntlet of Megatanks in time to save themselves. All three of the others had been devirtualized from getting caught in the crossfire, but Aelita was unlucky enough to be caught by only one and knocked into the Digital Sea. He hadn't seen her since. He'd known that she wasn't coming back.
A thousand lies have made me colder
And I don't think I can look at this the same
His friends knew he was lost to them, but they still tried. They assured him, time and again, that she was OK, that she'd return soon. He'd operated them in the world before, he knew its rules. Who were they to tell him how the rules worked? Eventually he'd turned away from them, and they broke inside. Odd dropped out of school, and was struck by a car eight days ago. Jeremie had attended his funeral out of respect. Yumi and Ulrich eventually began formally dating, but were distraught at his condition. They'd only be more so now, but…
But all the miles that separate
They disappear now when I'm dreaming of your face
He wanted, so badly, to get her out of his head. He tried, he really did. He went so far as to try and return to the past to clear his memory. But nothing worked; he only went back a few days in his count. And so he lived with her image in his head…
I'm here without you, baby
But you're still on my lonely mind
I think about you, baby
And I dream about you all the time
I'm here without you, baby
But you're still with me in my dreams
And tonight, it's only you and me
Jeremie was beginning to wonder if this was the right decision. Surely, he could create some kind of program to get her back? With what they'd accomplished in this time, it wasn't impossible… No. He'd set his course. He wouldn't stray from it. It was just like him to reconsider at this stage; he didn't want to hurt anyone. But it was far too late for that. His mind overrode reason and kept on track.
The miles just keep rollin'
As the people leave their way to say hello
The freight elevator kept on course to the scanners; XANA had not attacked since Aelita was destroyed, possibly because the way she'd left Lyoko caused a problem somehow. And, of course, no matter how you looked at it, the two were related in some way. He suspected that XANA was also mourning her death.
I've heard this life is overrated
But I hope that it gets better as we go
That was about the only thing Jeremie didn't agree with about this song; he knew the joy Aelita had felt from being on Earth for the few hours she'd been. But without Aelita… life was overrated. It was meaningless for him. He was on a path to move on. And he wasn't going to stop now. It wouldn't be right.
I'm here without you, baby
But you're still on my lonely mind
I think about you, baby
And I dream about you all the time
I'm here without you, baby
But you're still with me in my dreams
And tonight, girl, it's only you and me
The elevator doors opened as the vehicle came to a stop at the scanners. The room never looked so pale as it did now. He walked to the scanner that was open; a timed virtualization was to occur shortly.
Everything I know
And anywhere I go
It gets hard, but it won't take away my love
How could he, the genius of the group, not have a solution to this problem? It didn't make any sense. But then, nothing made sense anymore. Jeremie would have gladly taken that hit for Aelita – or better yet, he would almost rather she'd gotten caught in the crossfire like the others and been deleted, so he'd be done worrying. But no, this was the way it would go.
And when the last one falls
When it's all said and done
It gets hard, but it won't take away my love
He'd been virtualized by now; he appeared in the Forest region near where Aelita spent her last moments. He was totally demoralized now, but determined to rally his courage and finish what he'd started. Knowing nobody could hear him now, he choked out the last few words to the song through his tears.
I'm here without you, baby
But you're still on my lonely mind
I think about you, baby
And I dream about you all the time
He jumped from the cliff, beginning a graceful fall to his end.
I'm here without you, baby
But you're still with me in my dreams
And tonight, girl, it's only you and me
About an hour after Ulrich and Yumi noted Jeremie's disappearance, a note in his room led to the factory, where they watched the video, and listened to the song as the supercomputer showed the surveillance footage from his last few moments. They began to cry softly. The next morning, they were found together in his room, dead. The autopsies showed fatal levels of what appeared to be window cleaner in their systems, and identified that as what caused their deaths. No charges were filed against the school, and though remembrance ceremonies were held, a few weeks later life was back to normal, and nobody mentioned them, with the exception of Sissi, who never really was herself ever again.
Five years later, a group of four students stumbled onto a factory in the middle of a river, having ventured off Kadic Academy grounds to see where the sewer led; the skateboards and scooter had never been removed. In a box behind the holoprojector, they found a large book with instructions on running the supercomputer nearby, and two vials, with instructions, each containing a single hair: one pink, one a yellowish-brown.
- Neo's Notes -
I wrote this in a fairly short time... I hope it isn't TOO bad. Leave a review when you read, and do check out my other stories. Hope you liked it!