Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners, particularly the characters taken from the animated series, Code Lyoko. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
She had waited for this day for a long time, so she was careful in her preparations. Her friend, Yumi Ishiyama, had given her a blanket to use. Rosa Petijean, the school cook, made her a nice lunch of soup and sandwiches, and even managed to dig up a picnic basket for her to use. She made sure her dress was clean for the day and everything was ready, then she waited, praying that it wouldn't suddenly decide to rain.
Today, Aelita Stones had a real, honest-to-goodness, date.
It had been about a month since Aelita had traveled to London with the pop group, the SubDigitals; and the furor of that trip had, for the most part, died down. People had stopped hounding her for interviews, the kids at Kadic Academy had stopped with their questions, and the cause of the incident, the computer virus, XANA, had been unusually silent.
Aelita and her friends, Ulrich Stern, Yumi Ishiyama, Odd Della Robbia and Jeremie Belpois, had spent this quiet time repairing the damage to the virtual world, Lyoko, caused when they defended Aelita, and all of Britain, against XANA's last attack. Aided by the digital form of her father, Franz Hopper, the teens were able to fully repair Lyoko, and remove all of the tampering XANA had caused.
Between that and the normal pressures of being a twenty-first century teenager, it seemed like Aelita could never spare a moment to spend time with one of the most precious people in her life, her father. That is, until this past Friday, when she received an email, asking if she could spend Sunday afternoon in the park with him. She immediately agreed and set about making preparations.
It finally approached 1pm and the pink haired girl gathered her things and went out, walking to the park entrance on the campus. Those she passed in the hallways and in the courtyard wondered what she was doing, but really paid her no mind. As she approached the entrance, Aelita saw a form coalesce, her father. She smiled and picked up her pace, quickly joining him.
"Oh, you look lovely today, my dear," Franz Hopper said as his daughter ran up, "I've been waiting for this day for so long; I'm just sorry I can't be physically here with you."
Aelita set down her picnic basket and blanket and threw her arms around her father.
"I don't care," she told him, imagining that the tingling of his quantum energy form was the warmth of his physical self, "I've wanted this for so long, just spending time with you."
"Well, let's go find a spot," he said.
With that, father and daughter walked off into the park. They meandered around, talking about nothing in particular, until they came to a small pond, with a large oak tree beside it.
"This looks like a good spot," Franz said, "go ahead and spread your blanket out here."
Aelita nodded her assent, then set down the basket and took the blanket and spread it out on the ground under the tree, in its shade. She then took the picnic basket and removed its contents, setting out the sandwiches and the thermos of soup Rosa had prepared. She also set out some napkins and plastic cutlery, and finally produced a bottle of soda that Odd had gotten for her.
"Aelita, you shouldn't have made so much," her father said, "you know I can't eat or drink."
"I know, daddy," Aelita replied, "but it won't go to waste. If anything, Odd will eat the leftovers."
"Ah, yes, Mr. Della Robbia," Franz said with a laugh, "tell me, does that boy have a tapeworm?"
"The best we can figure is he has a hollow leg," Aelita replied, enjoying the banter. She opened one of the sandwiches and poured herself a cup of soup.
"To us," she said, raising the soup cup in a toast, "may we be truly be reunited soon."
"Amen," replied her father. With that, Aelita took a sip of soup and a bite of sandwich.
"So, how has life been treating you?" Franz asked his daughter.
"It was rough at first," Aelita began, "I didn't realize I was human, and so many of my memories were gone, I had to relearn a lot of things. But Jeremie helped me with that."
"It got better as time went on," she continued, "until XANA escaped. Daddy, I was mad at you for a while, for dragging me into Lyoko with you."
"I understand, and I'm truly sorry," Franz replied, "I should have never done that. As I've reflected, now realize that I was insane back then. I had relived the same day so many times, it unhinged my mind. That, and coupled with the raid by the government men, I snapped and plunged you into my nightmare."
"One of the things that got me over it," Aelita said, "was, if you hadn't done it, I would have been alone in the world, passed from foster family to foster family, or living in an orphanage until I came of age. And I would have never met my friends."
"And what about your friends," Franz said, "I know you have Jeremie and the others, but what about people beyond them?"
"I have a few," Aelita replied, "I've tried to keep an open mind about some of the other kids in school, and then there's Sophie and Simon and the SubDigitals."
"And what about Jeremie?"
"Daddy!"
"It's obvious that you like him, and he likes you," Franz said, "I'm just wondering how serious you two are."
"It's not like that at all," Aelita said, then added in a lower voice, "though I wish we were, sometimes."
"Oh?"
"It's just that... he can be such a pig-headed fool sometimes! There are times when he thinks I can't add one and one and come up with two; and other times, he's afraid I'll break if I get farther than two steps away from him. And then there's those all night jags he goes on..."
Franz Hopper laughed. "I see; everything is normal, then. Aelita, Jeremie's over-protectiveness of you is the way he tells you that he loves you. He hasn't worked up the courage to really tell you that, or show you, so that is how he expresses it. Now his working all night and not getting any rest is a concern, and it may not be something you can change in him. But you can make him want to change it in himself."
"How, daddy?"
"Have you told him you love him?"
Silence.
"I thought so. You might have to be the one to go first, you know. Girls mature faster than boys do, so he may not be ready to admit any affections to a girl, but you can let him know that you care for him, and you'll be there when he's ready."
"But I always thought that..."
"That the man was supposed to make the first move? Your mother didn't wait for me to confess. If she had, you wouldn't be here."
"But what if I tell him, and he doesn't love me back? Or, what if I tell him, and fall in love with someone else later?"
"I'm willing to bet if you tell him, he will tell you in return," Franz said, "and as for the other, that may well happen. There's no guarantee that Jeremie Belpois is your destined one-and-only true love, if there is any such thing."
"But what will I do then?"
"Aelita, if I knew that, I would be the wisest man on earth."
Father and daughter spent the rest of the afternoon talking about many things, important things, father/daughter things. In the end, Aelita snuggled up beside her father, both resting their backs against the oak tree, and looked out on the pond.
"Aelita," Franz said, "there is something I've been meaning to tell you. I need to leave soon."
"What? Why, daddy?" she exclaimed.
"I did not mean to remain here so long. I need to get back on the network and continue my evasion of XANA. I'm surprised that he hasn't caught on that I'm here, especially after the London incident."
"Daddy, why don't you let Jeremie run his materialization program on you? We can free you from the supercomputer, then shut the thing down and be a real family again."
"Unfortunately, I can't," Franz said sadly, "XANA has a part of me. I must either get it back or destroy XANA before I can be free of this. That's why I haven't even brought up the subject with Jeremie."
"But couldn't you try?"
"Actually, I did. I ran some simulations using Jeremie's program, but they all failed. XANA has a key part of me, and unless I get it, or destroy XANA, I'm trapped."
"Then don't go," she said, almost pleading now, "we've had so little time to really be together, I don't want to lose you now."
"I feel the same way," Franz said, "it burns my soul to have to sit here, in the depths of the supercomputer, and tell you I have to leave through a doppelganger. I want to feel you leaning against me again, and feel your soft hair; but I must."
Aelita wrapped her arms around her father and hugged him fiercely.
"I'm not leaving this minute," he said, "and I'm not just going to disappear. There are some things I need to take care of, then I'll be on my way."
He then took his daughter's chin and raised her head up. "And, if at all possible, I want to have another day with my daughter before I go."
While father and daughter were renewing bonds, three people were preparing to make their lives very complicated.
Two men and a woman walked across a bridge separating the mainland to an island containing an old factory. One of the men was talking.
"The moment I saw this place, I knew it would be perfect," he said, "it's abandoned, has a lot of floor space, and it's just grungy enough for what we need."
They reached the entrance to the factory and walked to the edge. There was no guard railing there, just four ropes dangling just off the edge. To the right was an elevator shaft, but the elevator didn't access this level. Beyond the edge was the lower level, fairly clear, except for debris in nooks and crannies.
"The second man said, "you'll have a hell of a job making it safe."
"It won't be that bad," the first man said, "all we really need is construction netting; you know, that plastic stuff they use at construction sites? Anyway, it'll add to the atmosphere. Kids have raves at places just like this, all the time.'
"Yeah," said the woman, "but ravers are generally trespassing on abandoned properties."
"Well, that's the point of this," the first man said, "we lease a spot that would make a good spot for a rave, fix it up enough so no one will get hurt, then open a club! We charge an entrance fee, serve drinks and snacks, live entertainment, and we're rich!"
"Whoa," the woman said, "you didn't say anything about serving drinks."
"Non-alcoholic," the first man said, "that's our edge. We'll set up a rave club for under age kids. They get to dance and party in a safe environment, and we make our fortunes."
"Hmm," the second man said, "I don't know. I mean, part of the appeal of raves are their illicitness. Going against society's norms and all that. And drinking is part of that too, along with drugs. I would think it would be too easy for things to get out of hand."
"I tell you, I've got the whole thing scoped out," the first man said, "if we present it right, the kids will come. Just give it a chance."
The second man looked at the woman and said, "Sophie; what do you think?"
Sophie Delacort, manager of the pop-rock group The SubDigitals and a certain pink-haired DJ, looked back at Simon Groe, the SubDigitals sound man and replied, "maybe it could work. I do think that underage teens need a place to cut loose and party in a controlled environment, and maybe we have an opportunity to make it happen here. Do you think Chris and the others might be interested?"
"We can only ask them," Simon replied.