The Falling Darkness
Chapter 1
Fatal Play
Aelita was walking through the forest on the grounds of Kadic Academy. She would later be joined at the Hermitage by Jeremy, Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi to give their respects to Franz Hopper, or his grave to be exact. Today would be the first anniversary of the destruction of both Franz Hopper and XANA. The following day would be a day to celebrate after a day of grieving, as it would be the first anniversary of the shutting down of the supercomputer and of Lyoko. Aelita clutched her heart as she walked down the path to the Hermitage. Her heart has been paining her for the past month or so, but Yolanda, the nurse, said it was a mixture of depression and stress. Unfortuneally, that misdiagnosis would eventually cause more pain, and maybe even a death. Aelita was approaching the Hermitage, with tears starting to flow through her eyes. She entered the house and walked up the stairs. She looked around the place that she once lived in, and walked up into Franz's room. Her friends were already there and waiting. Jeremy rushed to Aelita and hugged her. "Are you ok?" he asked her. After wiping a few tears from her eyes, she nodded. "Ok then, lets begin" Jeremy said, and he and Aelita rejoined the others. "We are here today to remember Franz Hopper. Without him, we would of never of been able to defeat XANA. Without him, we would probably be dead right now. Without him, XANA would have taken over the world" Jeremy said. He then stepped back and gave Aelita the floor. "I love you daddy" she said, tears falling from her eyes. "You saved my life so many times. I love you" she cried. She then moved back and gave Ulrich some room to speak. "I never really knew you, but you helped us till the end" he said, and then let Yumi speak. "You helped us. You sacrificed yourself. You knowingly walked into your death. You had the courage that so many people wished for" she said, and then Odd spoke. "Since everyone already used the best material, let me just say rest in piece Franz" Odd said, and then backed up and rejoined the rest of the gang. "That's it then" Jeremy said. Aelita leaned over and cried on Jeremy's shoulder. She has been like this for much of the previous year. She as had massive mood swings every so often, and sometimes she would still try to convince herself that Franz was still alive. The gang walked back to Kadic. "It's alright" Jeremy told a weeping Aelita. "Everything is going to be alright". How wrong was he? That night, the entire gang had trouble sleeping, but Aelita had the most trouble. Not only was she still depressed from the passing of her dad, but she was enduring some physical pain. The factory has not been visited for months by anyone, so if Jeremy or anyone else were to walk in there right now, they would find it strange that there was green smoke coming out of the floor of the supercomputer room. The supercomputer had a special battery that was activated if the supercomputer was ever shut off. It kept it's basic functions alive and active, even if Lyoko was shut down. The backup battery was created by Franz for incase of a power outage or other kind of emergency. The battery was never used before, and only had a one year life span. That year ended in the morning, and Aelita didn't wake up.