I do not own Code Lyoko.

-Prologue-

The low buzzing hum of static filled the large room as Jeremie Belpois began typing furiously on the keyboard. The staccato crack of nearby gunfire could be heard coming up from the empty elevator shaft, but Jeremie disregarded this, and continued typing away. "This has to work," he muttered in a low voice as his fingers danced across the faded keys. His heart beat a fierce rhythm upon the inside of his chest. His glasses reflected light of the screen as his eyes flickered back and forth across it. He wondered vaguely how much time he had left, how much longer Ulrich and his men could hold off XANA's forces. As he typed, Jeremie thought about many of things, namely Aelita. For a short moment, his hands stopped typing, and the screen in front of him seemed to disappear as the image of his lost friend swam before his eyes. A lone tear slid down his cheek, but he didn't have time to wipe it away as his hands speedily resumed their typing. He remembered vividly the last time he had sat, typing at this chair. That was a long time ago, thought Jeremie, before pushing the thought from his mind. He needed to stay focused on the task at hand.

Jeremie's headset suddenly emitted a loud noise, causing him to jump a little in his seat. "How much more time do you need, Jeremie," shouted Ulrich's powerful voice into his ear. "We can't hold them off up here much longer." Ulrich's voice sounded much like it always did, strong and intense, but Jeremie could detect a hint of nervousness as well.

"As much time as you can give me," Jeremie quickly responded in to the mouthpiece. He didn't stop typing as he talked, but continued to hammer away at his keyboard.

"We'll give you as much time as we can," replied Ulrich. The sound of an explosion came from both the earpiece as well as the elevator shaft. Jeremie heard Ulrich swearing and barking some orders to his men. Then he said to Jeremie, in a much more solemn voice, "And I just thought you should know," he paused before continuing. "Odd is dead." Jeremie stopped typing for a few moments, uttered a few of his favorite swear words, and then returned to his work. "Please," Ulrich's voice was even quieter now, almost impossible to make out through all the static, "Please, Jeremie. You have to make this work. We'll hold them off as long as we can." Jeremie's headset went dead, leaving him feeling strangely alone.

A few years ago, Jeremie would have been to devastated to continue working after hearing about Odd's passing, but the previous years had toughened Jeremie up considerably. He was used to death. "Besides," whispered Jeremie to himself, "if I can make this work, it won't matter anyway. None of it will." The ceiling shook violently as the sounds of more explosions' reached Jereime's ears. Ignoring this, as well as the nearby shouts of Ulrich's fighters, Jeremie finish typing and hit the enter key on the super computer's keyboard. A small blue loading bar appeared on the screen, along with a countdown timer.

APPROXIMATE PROGRAM COMPLETION TIME: 3:00

2:59

2:58…

Jeremie watched as the bar slowly filled. He felt completely useless, sitting there, waiting, while Ulrich and his men fought XANA above him. Suddenly thinking of an idea, Jeremie swiveled around to face the screen. He opened the factory security camera program, and the computer's screen suddenly divided into many fuzzy, black-and-white security screens. Over half of the images displayed a black screen, indicating that the cameras were offline. The others, however, displayed a horrific scene of death and destruction.

"Jesus'" whispered Jeremie, as he stared at the images. It looked as if someone had bulldozed through the entire factory, leaving only rubble in their wake. Bodies littered the factory floor. Jeremie wasn't sure of the exact number of men Ulrich had brought with him, but it seemed to Jeremie that they must all be dead upon the floor. That however, was impossible, because on another screen, as small group of fighters remained, holding off what appeared to be an endless army of XANA's polymorphic specters. Jeremie could just spot Ulrich among them; bravely fighting to make sure Jeremie could complete his mission.

Filled with a sudden sense of urgency, Jeremie deactivated the security program to see how much time was left on the counter.

0:49

0:48…

Jeremie sat in silence as the counter crept towards zero, hoping and praying that the changes would work. If they didn't work, if he had failed, he knew it was over. He knew they stood no chance of escape. And even if he could escape, what then. He wouldn't be able to return home, not after everyone had expected him to stop XANA once and for all. There was nowhere left to run, nowhere to hide, which made this mission all the more important.

0:23

0:22…

The sounds of gunfire were growing louder every second, but Jeremie didn't care. The image of Aelita's face swam before his eyes again, and he prayed that see it once more. He hoped she would have been proud of him, proud of what he had accomplished. He missed her more than he missed anything else about his old life. All this time, while the other survivors had been fighting for their freedom, he had been fighting for her. She was his world, all that he had ever truly cared about.

0:07…

Jeremie stopped reminiscing for the last few seconds, crossed his fingers, closed his eyes, and prayed.

0:02

0:01

0:00

Jeremie could barely hear the small electronic beep of the computer over the noise of the fight upstairs. He squinted his eyes open to see a large green plus sign slowly revolving on the screen. He didn't scream or shout with joy, he just sat there for a moment. Even now, he couldn't afford to get his hopes up. He slowly began to initiate the program. He briefly pondered informing Ulrich, but decided against it. It would just take up more valuable time, and if the program worked, Ulrich would know anyway. Finally, after what seemed like a long time, Jeremie was all done. He had spent so much time to get to this point, but now it seemed almost surreal.

Jeremie closed his eyes for the last time, and whispered something that was indiscernible from the ear-splitting explosion that came from the elevator shaft. He opened his eyes, and brought his hand down on the enter key with great force, saying is a loud voice,

"Return to the past now."