Author's Note – Welcome to Flipping Tables Production's first ever Code Lyoko story. Yes, we have finally gotten out of the Avatar: the Last Airbender lands and are venturing into unknown territory. So far, we are liking what we have seen, but are running low on reviews and favorites.
This story takes place before the Code Lyoko's plotline and the beginning of season two in modern France.
Rated T: Strong Language, Violence, Gore
"Well they cut me down and threw me out
'Cause I didn't fit in with their crowds
'Cause I bang the drum too slow and out of time
And the stuff I think is not allowed
Well they cut me off from all the ways
That could give my soul a chance to feel
And the tea leaves in the wind are pointing south
As an angel comes in time to heal
Amazing Grace
Comes to embrace
In a world filled with rage
With the love and the light of her face
Amazing Grace
Well I'm fighting off a heavy heart
But I got no one but me to blame
And the medication tries to do its part
But it's you who puts me back in the game
Amazing Grace
Comes to embrace
In a world filled with rage
With the love and the light of her face
Amazing Grace
Well they cut me up and left me scarred
On the fringes of my sanity
But a particle of light cracks through the dark
And delivers your humanity
Amazing Grace
Comes to embrace
In a world filled with rage
With the love and the light of her face
Amazing Grace..."
- Amazing Grace by Globus
"...Don't taint this ground, with the color of the past..." A raspy voice muttered senselessly to the walls, a grin spreading across the speaker's face. A grimy, almost dead light bulb flickered from the ceiling, the ceiling not being any less filthy. The concrete walls around the person were completely filled with scrawled and shaky handwriting, as if the writer didn't even write with his hands. The voice continued, facing towards the ceiling, "Are the sounds in bloom with you?"
"'Cause you seem like an orchard of mines...Just take one step at a time..." It continued, turning back to its work. There wasn't even a hairline of a gap on the lines of writing; the writing leveling all the way from the floor to the ceiling. The writing on the wall was written in many different colors of crayon, some letters written with two colors, as if the writer's crayon had snapped halfway through writing and they had to get a new one. "And you seem, to break like time...So fragile on the inside, you climb these grapevines..."
"Would you look now unto the pit of me on the ground...And you wander through these to climb these grapevines...Vines..." At first glance, the walls were just covered in random numbers and letters, but if you look closely, the walls were covered with code. Codes, dates, and calculations were everywhere. "I'll say it to be proud; won't have my life turn upside down...Says the man with some, with some gold forged plan..."
"...Of life so incomplete, like weights strapped around my feet...Tread careful one step at a time..." Sitting in the center of the cement floor was an Asian boy no older than 12, who had thick, disheveled 'salt-and-pepper' colored hair, which was black hair raven on the very top of his head with natural grey shading on the sides of his head. His skin was tanned, callused, and had thin silver scars running across his body. "...And you seem...To break like time...So fragile on the inside...You climb these grapevines..."
"...Would you look now...Unto this pit of me on the ground...And you wander through these...To climb these grapevines..." A filthy straight jacket secured his arms across his chest, and his feet were tied together by an equally filthy white cloth. A lone pink crayon sat carefully placed between his teeth, the boy seemingly knowing exactly how much pressure could snap the crayon from doing so many times before. "...To know...To feel...To play me once again...Do you denote from what we feel...Do you not know?"
"I see you play the game...Do you denote?" A surprisingly well-kept paper-back bible was resting in his crossed arms, and a rusted silver chain was around his neck; a thin stained-silver cross hanging loosely from it. A smile fell onto his face and his eyes went to the cement floor underneath him, and, like the walls, the entire floor, from every single corner to corner, was covered in writing. But unlike the walls, the words weren't codes, but verses. To be more specific, the floor was completely covered in bible verses. "La flama niposa... (The flame rests) La ombra dispare... (The shadow disappears) La noce immortale... (The something Immortal) La voce murmure... (The voice whispers)"
"...To know...To feel...To play me once again...Do you...denote?" Another difference from the walls is that most of the words were written in white, but a few select words were in pink. If you were looking down at the floor from the ceiling, you would see, in a pink outline of words, is the single word: AELITA.
"Do you...not know?" His eyes finally rested on the syringe of stolen morphine in his lap, the point strategically aimed at the crook of his arm. A grin with perfectly white teeth stretched onto his face.
He shifted his position so the needle was just a centimeter from his arm; using his knee to inject the morphine. Dark brown eyes with orange flecks stared, calculating, at the syringe.
"I see you play the game..."
With one swift movement of his leg, the needle quickly tore through the tin white fabric and into tanned skin. As he slowly moved his leg, injecting more of the drug, he felt his mind swim and his sight begin to blur. Swaying back and forth, he finally fell to his side, head hitting the hard floor. The empty syringe rolled off of his leg and towards the door, and the room seemed to become darker and darker, yet the light stayed intact. He slowly closed his eyes as the sounds outside the metal door in from of him became louder...and closer...
"Denote..."
"Jesus, man...How in the world did you lose a morphine syringe?" One of the asylum workers asked tensely, rolling the food cart down the hall. The other worker shrugged nonchalantly and replied, "I keep telling you, one of these crazy idiots probably stole it! It wouldn't surprise me if they try to off themselves with it... I mean, the food's bad enough."
"Well, if one does manage to commit suicide, you're going to get in a lot of trouble."
"Me? You're the one who gave it to me!"
"How does that put me in your position?"
"Well, let's put it this way; if I get in trouble, you're going down with me."
The latter gulped. He didn't like working here; no one did. Who would want to hang around all these maniacs for seven days a week, 24 hours a day? But this job paid for his bills, and he couldn't afford getting fired...literally.
"We'll look for it later. Now, which one of these crazy loons are we feeding today?"
Momentarily stopping the cart to flip through his clipboard, and he then replied, "Patient 36...weird, he doesn't have a real name here. All it says is...Lyoko...?"
The former worker froze, then asked, "Wait, you mean the Lyoko?"
The other raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, because I don't know how any sane parent could name their child Lyoko? What about him?"
"What? You haven't heard of this kid?"
"No."
The worker ran a hand through his hair and said, "Well, I'll tell you how the story goes. This kid, Lyoko or whatever is actually extremely popular around the other patients. To them, he's some sort of Messiah or something. Anyways, we, the staff, found him only months ago, wandering the streets of Sceaux and...Well...covered blood. According to the police report, when they tried to detain him, the kid fought back like some sort of rabid animal. He somehow managed to break a policeman's ribs and knocked two more policemen unconscious.
"Once they calmed him down, with a tranquilizer, but nonetheless, we couldn't figure out who he is. No records or anything within France. Once the kid woke up in the police station, he went completely berserk. The entire time, he was screaming things like 'supercomputer', 'Lyoko', and some girl named Aelita. He managed to crush one man's skull with a fire extinguisher, blind another policeman with a taser, and shot five other secretaries and policemen with a revolver. As I recall, only one secretary survived. Anyways, they had to tranquilize him again.
"They then searched up this Aelita person, and what came up was a girl named Aelita Hopper, but she went missing about a decade ago. Her father, Franz Hopper and adopted brother also went simultaneously missing at the same time. The police didn't bother waiting for the kid to wake up again, so they just threw him in here.
"Like I said earlier, the patients here treat this kid like the freaking Messiah or something. When the kid used to be allowed around the other patients, the kid only spoke in riddles and nonsense, but the patients were always nice and friendly to him. Some younger patients gave him crayons and other drawing stuff, and the kid seemed friendly enough himself.
"I remember that one of the older patients, a nice old lady who just a little off of her rocker, gave the kid a bible and cross necklace. Only a week after, the kid went berserk again and killed two workers with the necklace; choking them out. He even bludgeoned another guard to death with the bible."
"Wow..." The other worker muttered, the two continuing down the hall. "Is that why he has his own room?"
"Yep. He's been diagnosed with dementia, and I even heard some other workers talking about giving him the lethal injection."
"Well, if this kid is actually a killer, I wouldn't disagree."
As the two reached the end of the hall, they noticed that there were no more doors or windows, but only red-tinted lights and a door at the end of the hall. Carved into the crimson metal door with bold white letters was the name: Lyoko.
"Well, we shouldn't keep him waiting." The former said, and the letter noticed that the former had a taser in his pocket. "I have this just in case."
The latter took a deep breath and brought the small silver key out of his pocket and slowly unlocked the door. The former behind him took the taser out of his pocket and was pointing it at the closed door, as if waiting for a monster to barrel through the door and tear them apart.
It didn't happen.
The latter slowly opened the door, and gasped.
Lying on the ground, not moving a muscle was a young boy. His eyes were closed, a hugging a bible to his chest in his lifeless form. As the latter stepped forward, he heard a loud 'crunch' and didn't have to look down to know he stepped onto a syringe. The red stain on Lyoko's arm told him enough.
"Oh no..." The former said once he saw what happened, and the latter rushed up to the boy and instinctively put his fingers against the boy's neck. "H-he doesn't have a pulse! Get a defibrillator!"
"But he has a pacemaker! I don't think a defibrillator will help at this point!" The former shouted, running up to the boy and scooping him up in his arms. "Just help me get him to the infirmary, now!"
"Why didn't you tell me he had a pacemaker earlier!?" The latter screamed, but didn't get an answer as the two ran back down the hall, abandoning the food cart by the door as the former carried the unresponsive boy in his arms. As they were running, they didn't notice that Lyoko stirred, and feet slipped out of its bindings, the white cloth falling to the floor.
As the two workers ran, patients saw what was happening, and began shouting and screaming at them.
"Run, Lyoko!"
"Wake up and run!"
"Escape from this place!"
"Wake up!"
"WAKE UP!"
"LYOKO! WAKE UP!"
The faint sound of a train horn suddenly came through one of the windows, and Lyoko's eyes suddenly opened, and the patients cheered before the workers even knew what was happening. Lyoko unexpectedly twisted out of the worker's grasp with shocking force and speed, and kicked off the worker's chest and landed on his feet a yard way.
Lyoko then ran.
The patients cheered and screamed in happiness, while the stunned workers tried to chase after him, only for the patients to attack them and hold them back, knocking the taser right out of the former's hand.
Lyoko, heart beating wildly and panting, sprinted toward one of the large windows, where the sounds of a train approaching came from. The patients continued cheering on, even after the asylum's sirens started blaring.
When Lyoko was close enough to the window, and the sounds of the train was right outside, he closed his eyes, hugged the bible to his chest, and jumped.
He felt and heard the glass shatter around him; the shards pierce and cut his skin.
He felt and heard the wind violently shove against his body and he fell.
He heard the train right underneath him; the train's wheel's seemingly making the air shake as well as the ground.
He felt himself forcefully and painfully, slam onto a freight car, and almost screamed at the horrible crack he felt in his ribcage.
But, as he expected, the bible successfully protected him from any further damage.
He opened his eyes and rolled onto his back; the powerful wind brushing against him but not pushing him off. Head and feet pressed against one of the boxcar's bars, he found himself strangely comfortable in this position, even if his broken rib throbbed and shard of glass piercing his skin. Over the roar of the train and air-piercing wind, he turned his head and watched the asylum becoming farther and farther away, and could even hear the patient's victorious cheering and the asylum's apparent sirens and panicking workers.
Lyoko smiled, and could feel the bible press against his external pacemaker.
Somehow ignoring the rumbling train and wind, the boy slowly drifted into unconsciousness, but uttered one last sentence:
"I'm coming Aelita..."
"A manhunt has begun at the Bicêtre Asylum in Paris for an escaped asylum patient. The patient broke out of the asylum this morning, and our field reporter, Milly, has information on the case. Now, Milly, is this escaped patient considered dangerous?"
Tamiya turned her camera to Milly, who responded excitedly, "Well, Tamiya, the patient was put into the asylum for extremely violent and crazed behavior, so the police have warned the public not to approach him. The patient does not have any real name, by goes by the alias Lyoko."
Unknown to either reporter, a student with blonde and purple hair froze in his tracks, and listened as they continued.
"This patient escaped the asylum only hours ago, and his escape was rather planned out. From our source, the patient managed to restart his own heart after injecting himself with a ridiculous amount of morphine and escape on a train cart that was passing only feet away from the asylum. Police have said he has injured himself in his escape; possible broken ribs and puncture wounds from shard of glass, and is wearing a filthy straightjacket and ripped black trousers. As we've been told, the train the patient is stowed away on is headed to Sceaux, where our Kadic Academy resides. A police search is already underway, and everyone who sees this patient is to get out of that area and call the police..."
The student nearby brought himself out of his shock and quickly ran to tell his friends.
"Oh no..."
For anyone who wants to know, the song 'Lyoko' sang is called Orchard of Mines by Globus.
For anyone who can't tell, I really like Globus. =D