Code: Heart

Xana's Core

Three weeks ago

"William, Odd!" Jeremy yelled, "Be careful and get Aelita to the center and fast! This is our last chance to shut down Xana once and for all."

"Yeah, we got that already," William remarked. "This way!"

Odd and Aelita ran for their lives. Creepers where right on their tails.

"There doors are closing!" Aelita pointed out.

Aelita sprouted her wings, William and Odd used the hover board, barley making it past the doors as they closed. Aelita went straight to the mainframe as William and Odd began to look around.

"So this is the center?" William asked. "The core of Xana?"

"Precisely," Jeremy answered. "If Aelita and I can hack into the main database, we can shut down Xana for good."

"What's that big sphere in the middle of the room?" Odd asked.

"That Xana's heart," Aelita replied. "But it's impenetrable."

"Well that's a shame." Odd leaned up against the wall, which ended up being a switch. The was a blinding white light and a loud noise.

"Odd? Aelita? You might want to see this," they heard William said.

After the brightness went down, they all looked. The shell of Xana's heart had opened.

"Huston, we got a problem," Odd remarked.

"What is it? I'm getting some strange readings from you guys. What's going on down there?"

"Xana's shell opened," William started, mesmerized.

"Xana's heart," Aelita added.

"Yeah?"

"It's a girl," Odd finished.


Present day

"Any luck finding out who that girl is that William, Odd, and Aelita found?" Ulrich asked Jeremy at lunch.

"I'm still working out the coding that's attached to her. But from what I gathered already, I say she is like how Aelita was before," Jeremy explained.

"Mind putting that into terms that the rest of us can follow?" Odd suggested.

"What he's saying," Aelita cut in, "Is that she's a child of Lyoko itself. Someone created her inside the program, so we have to decode her signature to find out if we can materialize her into the real world like we did me."

"That still doesn't explain why she is strapped to the heart of Xana. Or, better yet, IS the heart of Xana," William said sitting next to Yumi.

"And do you think that it would be safe?" Yumi asked. "I mean, bringing her here? We don't even know who she is."

"Well if she is this 'Child of Lyoko' or even Xana's heart," Odd stated, "it's better than leaving her there. We need to shut Xana down, right? If she really is Xana's heart, bringing her here would end Xana for good."

"Or potentially get us killed," Yumi said.

"Odd has a good point though," Aelita agreed. "If it were me instead you guys would trust your gut feeling. What do your guts say?"

"I say no," Yumi snapped.

"But the rest of us seem to agree though," Odd said. "Right guys?"

"Meet me at the factory after school," Jeremy said grabbing his bag. "Where going to save that girl."


"Transfer, Odd. Transfer, Aelita. Transfer, William. Scanner."

Yumi and Ulrich waited in anticipation.

"Virtualization!"

"Mind giving us a lift Jer?" Odd asked.

"Give me a second."

Yumi and Ulrich soon joined them and Aelita led them back to the core. This time they got a better look at the core and Xana's heart.

"You weren't kidding Odd," Ulrich said. "She really is the heart."

"It looks like Scyphozoa tentacles are sprouting out of her," Yumi said.

"They're not coming out of her," Jeremy stated. "They're connecting to her. You need to find a way to disconnect those lines from her without injuring her."

"On it," Yumi volunteered.

"William, once those things are disconnected I need you to open a hole in the shield blocking the way to her. Aelita, hack into the mainframe and try to lower the shield strength. Ulrich, we have oncoming tarantulas."

"What about me?"

"Once William opens a way in I need you to grab the girl, Odd."

"Incoming!" Ulrich warned.

"William! She's disconnected!"

"Come on Odd!"

Odd braced himself. Running towards the wall, bouncing off and racing to that girl. Grabbing her before shattering the other side of the shield, falling on his back taking life points so the girl wouldn't get injured. Odd laid her down as Ulrich and Yumi finished off the tarantulas, they all ran to the girl and Odd. She didn't look like she was breathing.

"Check out the symbol," William pointed. "That's new."

"It looks like a Lyoko symbol, but a heart," Aelita said.

The girl's eyes began to open, and she sat up holding her head.

"She's waking up!" Odd exclaimed.

"What…" She looked around. "Where am I? Who are you? What happened?"

"My name is Odd. These are my friends William, Ulrich, Yumi, and Aelita. Oh! And Jeremy but you can't see him."

"Hello," Jeremy greeted.

"And this is Lyoko."

"What's a 'Lyoko'?" she asked.

"It's where we are now," Aelita said. "What's your name?"

"My name?" She hesitated a bit, racking her brain. "I don't know."

"You don't know your own name?" William asked.

"I don't even remember being born."

"This is strange," Jeremy said.

"What is it?" Yumi asked.

"I'm doing a scan of this girl and I'm not getting anything back. As if she was literally created in Lyoko. No human form whatsoever."

"She was born in Lyoko," Aelita muttered.

"We should name her then," William suggested. "What would your name to be?"

"I'm not sure," she said. "I never thought about it. Actually I never thought of anything, ever."

"What about Heart?" Odd replied. "It seems appropriate until we think of something else better."

"No." She protested. "It's perfect."