From the Ashes
Note: A Code Lyoko fan-fiction. Sissi convinces her friends and the Morales family that XANA isn't really their true enemy, having communicated to XANA in a dream. They go into Lyoko to find XANA, who explains the truth to the other warriors just as he did with Sissi. Further reason on XANA's motive behind loving/lusting after Sissi is the fact that she resembles his wife Odessa, who was taken from him when the Core (or Umbra as he is truly known) and had to have a servant to usurp Lyoko and bend XANA to his will. XANA wasn't cooperative at first and Umbra killed his wife for his disobedience.
Chapter 1—Sissi's Strange Vision
Sissi tossed and turned as a peculiar dream infiltrated her mind. She had been experiencing a rather pastoral reverie, where she was walking along the beach with her grandparents, looking for shells. In fact, this was simply a review of what had happened before she came home to sleep for the evening. Then, a nightmare began to seep through.
"I will not submit to your whims, Umbra ! I shall NOT allow you to have Lyoko. It belongs to us all !", XANA screamed, thinking he could've trusted the Core for advice. All Lyokoians trusted the Core. He was the ultimate knowledge, and the ultimate caregiver for sustenance, bounty and all that was just and good in this realm they had lived so well upon. But Umbra had grown tired with not having the ability to move and claim what he knew was rightfully his. His demeanor had changed since his intial birth. It was time to "branch out".
"You have done well by offering me your sacrifices, but I am not pleased. I cannot live by mere herbal offerings alone. I require something more.", Umbra said, ominously.
"Whatever it is, I will not allow it. You will have to fight me for it !", XANA shouted as the skies of Lyoko grew dark and the air grew frigid. The other Lyokoians, who had been celebrating a cornucopia of good tidings with a festival, had now fled inside their homes and formed force-fields around them telepathically for the impact of the rushing winds as debris began to flail in the wind.
"Fight ? What would the point of that be ? I'd win, easily. You can't defeat me alone, XANA and you never shall. Since you have been disobedient to me, I shall be taking away that which you hold so dear.", Umbra said as shadowy minions began appearing everywhere.
Odessa, XANA's wife of only a few years, had been inside cooking and hadn't noticed that anything was out of the ordinary (especially climactically). Her dark amythest eyes sparkled joyously as she sang happily making one of XANA's favorite Lyokian meals. It was akin to couscous served on Earth, but there were more spices and even pieces of fruit mixed into the frying pan with a savory sauce. She danced around merrily in her gossamer linen dress, golden trinkets adorning her arms, rings on her fingers and a golden barrette fastening back her downy raven hair. She was so lost in what she was doing that she hadn't even seen the Shadows appear. She summoned a staff and tried fighting against them with the ability of light and the purity of music, but the strongest shadow subdued her and brought her outside.
"No ! Umbra, please ! Give her back ! I'll do anything you wish ! I promise ! Whatever it is you wish for me to do, I will do it ! Just don't hurt Odessa, I love her !", XANA bellowed, his ruby eyes beginning to fill with tears. He was fuming with anger and rage burned hotly inside of him. He summoned his own sword to challenge Umbra, but Umbra simply laughed. In one move, he had taken XANA into his power and cut the thread of Odessa's life. Odessa slipped into the darkness with a loud shriek and disappeared into the streams of memory.
"Odessa ! You…tricked me ! YOU LIED ! Bring her back !", XANA said falling to his knees and weeping.
"You're pathetic. Weeping like a child in the grass. Soon, you will forget her and all you know will become obscured.", Umbra stated in a matter-of-fact, stoic manner. His voice was cold, cruel and unfeeling. XANA gritted his teeth as he grasped his sword to help himself up, and waved the sword away. It would be useless to try to fight something that he had no idea how to defeat. Besides, he was feeling his identity beginning to become lost and then, Odessa was no longer in his mind. As soon as his vision grew dark, he didn't care any longer. The only thing he wished for was destruction and to consume everything in grief to repay for the grief he himself had felt. It was vengeance for his happiness being taken so brutally from him, even if he had no idea who had ripped it from his clutches.
Sissi awoke with a start, her brow speckled with beads of sweat. She couldn't believe what she had just seen. She wasn't certain how she had been able to tap into XANA's unconsciousness, but perhaps that last contact and kiss she had shared with him had breached the ground that was unseen by human eyes. Whatever the cause was that linked them together, she had to convince the others (especially Taelia, the skeptic) that XANA was simply the puppet of a higher power bent on laying siege to everything and everyone, not caring what got in his way or who dared to fight him. Truth of the matter is Umbra couldn't be destroyed by just one, but could he be destroyed by fifteen Warriors ? Only time would give her the answer she sought.
Chapter 2—Warriors High Council
Sometime after Sissi's vision, a council was called to discuss the matter of what she had seen in her dreams.
"How do you know XANA hasn't polluted your thinking ? This could be one of his tricks.", Taelia observed, hotly, concerned for her friend.
"XANA has never lied to me, Taelia. I saw all of this with my own eyes. I see flashes of goodness within XANA. If he wanted to destroy us, he would've done so a long time ago. His conscious is stopping him from doing this. Obviously Umbra doesn't have the hold on him that he used to. Besides, why would XANA contact me with such personal information ?", Sissi offered.
"She has a point there.", Aelita surmised. Sissi had presented some rather good evidence, and no one could find a fault within her conjecture.
"What should we do ?", Sissi pleaded with them, becoming slightly teary eyed.
"Don't worry, honey. We're thinking of something. Have faith. We will find a way to help XANA. I can't believe I just said 'help' and 'XANA' in the same sentence.", Odd said, drying his girlfriend's tears from her eyes. Sissi felt comfort in Odd's strong arms, and somehow knew the team together would find a way to free XANA from Umbra's bonds.
Jeramie and the others spoke for hours on end until they came to a solution. If they wanted to see if what Sissi said was true, they would have to travel to Lyoko anyway. Some of them were skeptical on what Sissi had told them, but they would see how serious XANA's situation actually was.
Chapter 3—Confronting Umbra
When the fifteen arrived, no monsters or creatures had greeted them as usual, which was out of the ordinary. XANA thanked them all that they had arrived and did something unconventional. He began to beg.
"I am glad Sissi received my subconscious plea. As I thought she came, and she brought you along. I am beseeching you for your help. Umbra wishes to control the world, nay, submerge it in darkness for the rest of time.", XANA said, his tone wavering. None of the Warriors had ever heard him speak in such a way and knew he wasn't acting. Not once did his pupils dilate or his eyes shift. He had meant every word he said.
"XANA, you think your little friends can stop me ? You've got to be joking. You seem to forget the being I am. You're nothing but a pawn in my plot. I am a GOD !", Umbra laughed as he sent out legions of monsters to come after them. XANA shielded them from the oncoming attack.
"Go on, don't worry about me. I can hold them off here, but not in the Centre. That's where the Core is. Umbrage IS the core. Destroy it, and Lyoko will be returned to its former glory.", XANA said, holding back all the creatures with a temporarily impenetrable shield. As the Warriors escaped, the shield finally broke and he fought off whatever creatures headed his way. No sooner had the dim-witted creatures realized they were fighting XANA did they flee and were summoned again by their master in the Core in new, more terrifying forms.
Once the Warriors had arrived with their vehicles into the Centre, they had met the Core itself. There were hybrid Manta-Torpedons, floating time-bombs, and strange hammerhead sharks that seemed to be hybridized with angler-fish. For lack of better term, the Warriors called these abominations Anglers. They were dodging attacks that came their way, only a few Warriors had been struck, but they had to be cautious. With each hit they received they would lose a considerable chunk of life-points. If they were completely wiped out they would return to Earth, unharmed, but be unable to battle again on Lyoko. Yet, there was a failsafe that Susan had created. It was the equivalent of a "power-up". With this device, one could build life-points back up to an acceptable amount, but only she and Emily could cast "Heal" spells should the Warriors need to be healed.
One by one, each Warrior hit the center eye of the cube that was Umbra. Yet they didn't understand why Umbra was laughing.
"Everyone, stop impacting the Core ! It's not Umbra…Umbra's inside….", Aelita said, before the core exploded. No sooner had it exploded had she been caught in the explosion and she was de-virtualized back to Earth. So, now only 14 Warriors stood to face Umbra, and that wasn't nearly enough. Yet, they didn't show signs of defeat. Together, with their new attack, even minus Aelita, they could still stop Umbra. They would have to work as one unit in order to execute it, and nothing Umbra could throw at them could stop him.
XANA had been placed into a deep-sleep by Umbra's shadows. The shadows had kept him sequestered inside of his own sanctuary, his grotto, where he usually came to rest and regain energy for the next battle against the Warriors. This time, it was to keep him from assisting them and interfering in the battle royal that was about to take place.
Umbra, in all his eerie glory, taunted the Warriors. None of them were repulsed enough to look away at his beastly form, but stared him down, unafraid.
"14 little Warriors are all the Earth has to try to put a stop to me. Me, the epitome of everything sinister !", Umbra stated, with a bit of a conceited guffaw. Taelia rolled her eyes.
"You know, it really irritates me when villains like you monologue. Let's just get it over with !", Taelia roared. Umbra laughed again, wagging his finger in a rather patronizing way.
"Roar little kitten roar. How I'd love to de-claw you myself.", Umbra said, his forked tongue darting out between his jagged teeth.
"Don't let your anger control you !", Emily whispered to Taelia as she held her hand. Suddenly, Taelia felt calm. Emily had the most unusual ability to calm anyone, even the most hot-headed and violent person.
"She's right. We have to work as a 14-person team. Let us prepare for the attack.", Ulrich added.
The Warriors linked their hands and chanted something in Latin that made no sense to Umbra, but the meaning was something equivalent to:
"United we are unbreakable, we cannot be crushed. The darkness shall never overshadow us, and as one we are victorious."
Powerful energy began to surge through the Warriors as they prepared for their attack, but without the Princess, they wouldn't have enough energy for the attack. Somehow though, they could sense Aelita's presence from Earth, praying for them. She had used Susanne's failsafe and rejoined the circle.
"How is that even possible ?", Nicholas asked, becoming a little confused. Jeramie didn't wish to explain the mechanics of the failsafe since Aelita had been able to return to Lyoko without being detected or attacked.
As one, they all raised their arms and began the incantation again. A 15 point star began to form, and inasmuch as Umbra wished to retaliate, he was too transfixed with awe to move. The light from the center of the star enveloped the harmonizing Warriors and overtook Umbra, who began to dissipate into the light.
"No…I can't be destroyed so easily…", he thought as the light ate away at his dark form. Strangely, dying didn't seem to be painful, nor did it seem to cause him fear or discomfort. With little resistance the light overtook him and he felt himself disappear into peace, tranquility and warmth.
Chapter 4—Restructure, Reunion
There was silence all around the Warriors, though they had their hands linked. They let go, and around them, the core reformed into its previous, unpolluted form. Apparently XANA had found a method of imprisoning Umbra in the Core, but had forgotten Lyoko could repair itself without his help. No sooner had the restructure happened that Lyoko burst with life once again. It was as if nothing had ever changed, but XANA was still without the one he loved, or so he thought.
Odessa's spirit that had been released from captivity as others that had died innocently at the hands of Umbra's siege to Lyoko so many years ago, had temporarily possessed Sissi and rushed to her beloved to greet him. Odd grew distressed at seeing his girlfriend running to XANA because he had no idea what was going on, but Aelita held him back.
"It's simply Odessa's spirit. Don't fret so much…It's only temporary.", Aelita said, gently. This calmed Odd a bit, though he was still a little uncomfortable with how close Sissi was to XANA.
"I can only wish you happiness before I transcend this world, XANA.", Odessa said as she stroked XANA's cheek lovingly in Sissi's guise. XANA understood, though he didn't wish to see her go. He held onto her gently and kissed her.
"I won't forget you, Odessa. I love you.", he said before her spirit left Sissi's body. Sissi's body slumped slightly until she awakened again and wondered why she was being embraced by XANA. Awkwardly, she stepped back and rejoined her team. She looked at Odd and laughed nervously.
"Really, Odd…I have no idea what's happening.", she said, and Odd pouted for a bit.
"Don't worry about him. He's just upset that you were temporarily possessed by Odessa, XANA's former wife…You were getting a bit friendly with him, although nothing happened.", Aelita said, much to relief of Sissi.
"I'm glad. Odd will always be my one and only, and no earthly force can change that.", Sissi stated proudly, smiling at Odd. Odd sulked, crossing his arms.
"Just leave him alone for now. He'll get over it eventually.", Sam said, patting Sissi's back.
XANA had been impressed with the Warriors and the ingenuity of Sue's handiwork in the new communicator transports. Apparently all the bugs in the system had been worked out because none of the Warriors had any difficulty coming and going as they pleased but the question remained of what they would be doing now since Lyoko had been restored.
"It's as I remember it, and it's all thanks to you.", XANA said, in his true form. His eyes were still ruby red, and his hair still black as raven's wings, but his clothing resembled that of nomadic tribes in Arabia.
"Yes, but what will you do since order has been restored ?", Yumi questioned.
"There will be a meeting to determine who rules Lyoko, and that ruler whether male or female can rule alone or partnered with another. Beyond that, there will be the typical festivals and rituals we partake in.", XANA said, finally getting his smile back. Though he was happy again, there was something terribly tragic about him. He would never love anyone more than he had loved Odessa and though it was painful to see him suffer; he could never allow himself to love another because of the devout nature of his heart. He wasn't going to be alone, though. The souls that had been trapped in Umbra's grasp had been released and they were living their lives freely as they once had. However, this meant XANA wouldn't be seeing Sissi as much as he wanted to. Although he realized it was better he didn't, knowing it was for his own good.
With a hint of sadness, he bade the Warriors goodbye and pondered if he would ever see them again. For the time, it didn't really matter all that much because his home was returned to its former glory and he could look forward to the summer festival Lyoko would have in a few more months.
Chapter 5—It's Only Just Begun
After the long battle and saying their farewells as the Warriors watched XANA rejoin his people, they were all curious as to what would happen to XANA as well. All of them had their own version of what XANA was doing, but they didn't worry too much about it. That is, all of them except Sissi. She had remembered seeing him on the brink of tears after Odessa's spirit had left her body. Such a powerful love she hadn't seen or felt beyond the affection she had felt from her own boyfriend. She dismissed the thought of XANA's loneliness and had an unusual sensation that somehow he would be alright. It might take a long period of time for his heart to entirely heal from losing love so violently but love was the most powerful force in the universe. It could turn the darkest heart into one that had the potential to love and even convert that heart to love in return. She realized she couldn't worry so much about XANA since she was certain he could fend for himself. After all he had done so successfully in the past. She had come to a decision finally after mulling over all of those details she allowed to simply let it all go and enjoy her summer before college began again. Even though she and her friends were only freshmen, the year had already gone by so quickly and she wondered what awaited them in the next 3 years to come.
Epilogue
Though Lyoko was quiet, the Warriors still had their abilities every so often when they came to visit. XANA had caught the eye of a shy Lyokian named Oleander. She had no royal upbringing, but Aelita had deemed her suitable to rule even after the people had voted for her as the current ruling Queen. She was extremely humble and altruistic, but she could never bring herself to speak to him. She would give him gifts every so often, which he thought was kind, but beyond that he didn't have any idea how Oleander cared about him, but someday that would soon change. Presently, she would continue giving him hints until he opened up, but she wouldn't badger him. She would bide her time and continue to be gentle. She had been deemed the new Queen of Lyoko, and she was already ruling it fairly and justly just as her parents would've desired her to. Even though it was challenging and many responsibilities rested upon her shoulders, she knew she had friends to look after her, Aelita as an Ambassador between the two realms of Lyoko and Earth and her friends who would keep an eye on potential disturbances between the two realms if there were any.
Albeit that the school year was about to begin, the Warriors kept their skills honed on earth, should they have to battle on Lyoko again. Something told them this peace wouldn't last forever, but even if peace did last eternally they would be able to protect anyone they wished with the skills that they had perfected over many years. Their progeny would learn what they had, if they decided to have families of their own. Whatever the future held, they would be prepared for it working as a team and as individuals through the impenetrable force of friendship.
The End