You know what I don't like? Failing to meet deadlines.

At that aside, greetings everyone. If you are wondering what this story is, it is a small mini-series of sorts. It likely will not last very long, perhaps going up to only three chapters. Originally, this was meant to be a one-shot for Code July: Day 30's Angel/Devil theme, and was meant to tie in to Garage Kids.

But a little thought entered my head: "Epsilon, you do realize that this would spoil a crucial part of the story, right?"

Worth noting that I actually did make some decent progress on it, but once that thought entered my head, I had to scrap it. A similar one-shot idea came into my head...but it was too disconnected from Garage Kids' context and so THAT got scrapped as well, until I decided to modify it to fit the actual CL-canon...somewhat.

After that though, a series of delays came about due to real-life issues (Semester preparation, Driver's License, other crazy stuff), preventing me from making the July 30th deadline.

But better late than never, and so, let us begin.

Code Lyoko is not owned by me. Those rights go to Mediatoon, Tania Palumbo, and Thomas Romain.

When I was a little girl, I remember when I used to make snow angels, back when my family lived in the mountains. I was always fascinated with the shape that would form after I had swept my arms and legs through the deep, thick snow. It wasn't long until my mother told me what snow angels were called, and why my father would oftentimes call me his angel.

"Mommy, what are angels?" I'd asked.

She smiled gently as she picked me up. "Angels are those who do an enormous good in their life. They're kind and caring people, some of whom were said in some legends to be messengers from heaven."

"What's heaven?" I asked once again, curious.

My mother's smile became more melancholy. "It's a place where good people go to after their time in this world is up."

Those words worried me.

"Your time isn't up is it mommy?" I asked.

My mother had laughed gently, brushing some remaining flakes of snow out of my hair. "Don't worry Aelita, I'm not going to be leaving anytime soon. Now come on, let's go inside…"

I was still too young at the time to know about the concept of death, though I would learn soon enough. On the day my mother did leave me…

But when my mother told me about this, that day was still rather far off.

My parents would oftentimes leave home for their work, leaving me alone with a babysitter before returning home. Our house had several rooms filled with electronic devices. I was told to never touch these devices because they were dangerous and thus, I could not enter any rooms that contained them. Either my mother or my father, or sometimes, both of them, would stay in these rooms for several hours at a time when they were home.

I was still too young to understand what was going on. But as time passed, I saw that they were both becoming more frantic and jittery. They would sometimes get into arguments whenever something went wrong, and both talked about how their 'project' was being turned into a 'weapon', or an 'empire', or perhaps most chillingly, 'Armageddon'.

I remember once hearing my mother and father extensively using the word, 'Devil'. It was one of the few, if perhaps the only time, my memory is still fuzzy on that area, I'd ever disobeyed my parents concerning their work…

I looked through the door, mommy and daddy hadn't locked it, and so the door was ajar. I saw daddy sitting at a computer screen, his hands up on his face, while mommy paced around the room, muttering angrily.

"That devil! I can't believe he wants to go through with that! And not to mention what the board wants to do! Are they trying to make Carthage into some sort of doomsday system?!"

"From what it seems, yes. If the data that Alan snuck over to me is correct, then we're looking at a major problem."

"Major problem is an understatement Waldo! If this 'dark zone' is installed, then the entire world is at risk! And the devil's using THAT program to boot? I thought you deleted it!"

"I DID!" daddy yelled, stressed out. "But now a copy of the program's codes is in that bastard's hands…and I know that man. He's likely figured out how to use and modify them already, and then, that devil taking complete control of the network will be the least of our worries."

"D-devil?" I whimpered…a bit too loudly.

Daddy swung around on his chair while mommy snapped her head towards me. I gulped and shrieked. I'd never seen such harsh looks on my parents' faces before.

But mommy's softened and she immediately held out her arms.

"Come on in Aelita." She called.

"B-but…you…and daddy…you were shouting…" I whimpered.

"We're not angry at you sweetie." Daddy confirmed.

I took a hesitant step forward into the room, while Mommy came forward and scooped me up herself.

"Wh-what's happening? What did you mean by 'dark zone' and 'devil'?" I asked, quivering.

"They're…words that describe something evil." Mommy explained to me.

"So…the dark zone and the devil…they're evil, right?" I asked for clarification, not fully understanding what my parents were talking about.

"They are." Mommy said grimly. "But the devil won't hurt you Aelita. Your mama and papa will never let that happen."

"And that's a promise we intend to keep." Daddy said, getting up from his chair. "Rosh-I mean…the devil, won't hurt a hair on your head Aelita."

My parents embraced…but it would be one of the last ones we ever shared as a family.

So now I knew about 'angels' and 'devils'. Angels spent their lives helping others, and doing good wherever they went. Devils however, went about hurting others, spreading evil wherever they went. At least, that was what I thought back as a child.

Because soon, Devils in black suits emerged…and then they took my mother away from me. I've had nightmares about it before. Walking through the woods, piling up snow whenever I get the chance…and then the howling of wolves, followed up by Men in Black taking my mother away from me…and I'm powerless to stop them. Left alone in the cold…only capable of weeping.

My life is a blur after that point. My memories for that period become vague, except that I know that my father and I are constantly moving about. It isn't until later that we settled into the Hermitage. Once there, I was homeschooled, and as I grew older, my perception of the world sharpened. I learned more about mathematics, music, literature, computer programming, etc.

I felt safe at the Hermitage…but I still felt lonely. The only people I ever talked to were my father and my tutor, though I've forgotten the man's name... I knew that there were children my age attending Kadic Academy, the boarding school where my father worked, but I wasn't allowed to attend there. I occasionally brought up protest, but my father only said that it wasn't safe, and that he'd feel better knowing that I was safe at home.

Eventually, the time came for my life to be forever changed. June 6, 1994. I had returned home on my bike. I went up to my room to read…and then I heard the screeching of car wheels…

"Alright, come on out of there!" an unfamiliar voice commanded.

Looking out the window, I saw one of…them. One of the 'devils' that had taken my mother away from me.

"Daddy!" I cried out in alarm, causing my father to rush into the room.

"The Men in Black are here." I said fearfully.

"I know." He replied calmly. "Do you remember where Mister Puck is?"

"Yes." I said.

"Come quickly." he said, and I followed. Unfortunately, when we went downstairs, the Men in the Black had already broken into the Hermitage.

I screamed, only for my father to take my hand. "This way."

We ran out of the house via the basement corridor, and daddy blocked the door with a piece of wood. Opening a doorway in what I had thought was part of the wall, we entered the storm sewers and kept on running. Finally, however, we reached a ladder, and then, after entered an empty factory building on the Seine, we were in an elevator and finally…

"But, where are we?" I asked, looking around the strange place. There was a room with a hemispherical protrusion, from which there was a computer terminal. My father sat on a chair there, quickly typing in commands.

"We're in my laboratory." He replied, finishing up what he had typed in. "Come on."

"But…where are we going now?" I asked as we returned to the elevator.

"To a world where we will be safe. You and I. Forever." He replied.

We were now standing in two of three open columns. As they shut, my father spoke to me once more.

"See you in a minute honey." He said.

"See you in a minute daddy." I replied, trying to stay calm.

I then found myself falling from the sky and landing on the ground. I cried out for my father, only to learn that he had been reduced to a series of white orbs.

"I can't materialize myself into a human form yet Aelita. I still have more work to do here on Lyoko, this world needs to develop more."

Before he could explain any further, a swarm of mechanical cockroach-like creatures crawled towards us. All of them were emblazoned with an eye-like emblem that would become very well-known to me in the future. But for now, I didn't know what they were, and obeyed my father's instructions to run. I ran down the narrow pathway, until I reached a white, pillar-like tower with a black base. When I got to the tower, I found myself phasing through the wall, entering a tunnel-like area filled with screens of binary code. I was walking on a circular platform that had the same emblem as that of the monsters that had attacked us.

It was quiet for a few moments, until my father reappeared.

"Aelita." He called out.

"Daddy…" I murmured in reply, relieved that he was safe.

"Aelita, I have to make contact with XANA, so that I can persuade him that we can live in peace together." He said.

"Who is XANA?" I asked.

"A multi-agent computer program I created." My father explained. "It has achieved self-awareness and autonomy and it's trying to eliminate us now."

"But…why, Daddy?" I asked, curious.

But he disappeared before giving me an answer. However, I could still hear his voice…

"Whatever you do, don't leave this tower." He commanded, voice firm.

I called out to him, more worried than ever.

"Daddy!"

But I received no reply. I kept on calling for him, but it became clear that he would not respond.

It was quiet for a little while. I became more and more nervous, until I heard a commotion from outside the tower. I immediately rushed out, and exited the tower, only to find that instead of a swarm of cockroach monsters, there was a swarm of bee-like creatures shooting lasers and acid at the orbs that made up my father's form.

"DADDY!" I cried out in horror.

"No Aelita!" he replied in panic, "get back to safety! Get back to the tower! You possess the Keys to Lyoko, Aelita! XANA must never get ahold of them!"

I remained frozen where I was, not understanding what daddy meant by the Keys to Lyoko. The monsters ignored me and kept on firing on my father.

"It's over Aelita…" my father said dejectedly, the orbs of his form gathering around me and gesturing me back into the tower.

"XANA is too powerful, and he's become a threat to all of mankind. I've got to shut down the supercomputer."

"But…does that mean we'll die?" I asked, shuddering at his words.

"No…and you mustn't forget me. Ever." My father said. "Never forget Aelita."

"B-but, Daddy!" I cried out…

But that's when my memories still go blank. I never knew why he had asked me to never forget him…but considering what happened next…I suppose that it's an enormous amount of irony. I did forget about him…and I still don't remember everything in my past… As for that fateful day, I remember everything turning black, and a sensation similar to sleep overcoming me.

As I would later learn, I had been asleep for ten years.

But when I woke up, I obviously didn't know that.

"Wow! What's all this? A video game?" an unfamiliar voice exclaimed.

I opened my eyes with a start…and saw a blond-haired boy wearing a blue turtleneck sweater. A pair of glasses adored his face. He was unfamiliar to me…and at the time…everything around me was unfamiliar.

"Who…who are you?! Where am I?" I asked.

In hindsight, seeing Jeremie's glasses go down like that was actually pretty funny…But I'm getting off topic.

The next few days were quite the blur as I started familiarizing myself with the virtual world known as Lyoko. Back then, I had forgotten my name. Jeremie at first called me 'Artificial Intelligence', but to me…it sounded more like a designation than a proper name, and so I requested one. Jeremie suggested 'Maya' as a result. It struck a chord with me, and so 'Maya' it was.

Jeremie suggested that I try to navigate my way through Lyoko in order to exit it. Unfortunately, not too long after I began walking through the forest, I was once again attacked by the cockroach cyborgs and had to retreat into the tower after being hit by their lasers several times.

We were now at an impasse. It was clear that if I tried to leave the tower, I would be attacked, and I had no way of defending myself. Later, Jeremie brought a new person to the computer lab, whose name was Ulrich Stern. As it turned out, Jeremie had been electrocuted earlier in the day several times, and it was this new boy who had helped him out during this.

The two discussed the machines in a room one floor below the room that held the interface that allowed me to talk with them. There were devices, known as Scanners, that could allow humans to enter the virtual world. The two argued about their usage, ultimately agreeing to test them on a subject.

As I would learn later, it would be the pet dog of Ulrich's new roommate Odd, who, along with a girl named Elizabeth (Though she preferred to be called Sissi), had followed Ulrich to the factory once they learned that Ulrich was going to use the dog as a guinea pig.

That, however, had resulted in a scuffle that had caused Odd to be virtualized instead of the dog, with Ulrich following soon after. The two had had slightly more luck than I did when fighting the monsters, since they could actually fight, but were devirtualized nonetheless. For me, that would result in death, but for them, it merely resulted in the two boys being sent back to the real world.

While Odd and Ulrich had been exploring the areas of Lyoko that I could not, something strange was happening in the lab. Massive cables seemingly burst to life, and attempted to kill Jeremie and the other upon their rematerialization. Thankfully, they were able to hold them off.

"We're a little shaken up, but we're fine now." Jeremie told me.

The next day, Jeremie informed me of how the towers worked. They were the link between the virtual and real worlds, and glowed with a blue aura. If the towers glowed red however, it indicated that they were activated. In addition, there were special towers known as Way Towers that would enable me to navigate through Lyoko's four sectors. Jeremie hoped that with the activation of the normal towers, I could be materialized into the real world. If I was freed, then Jeremie and the others would shut down the supercomputer, stopping whatever force had attacked them from causing any more harm.

And so, I waited for when Jeremie's companions would return, when we would head over to the sector where the activated tower was located.

But as I waited, I felt a strange set of pulsations, almost like a heartbeat within the virtual world. It was…unnerving. I knew that I had to track them somehow. But the only way to do that was to exit the tower and walk through Lyoko in order to discover the source.

Clenching my fists, I walked out of the tower, and observed the forest. Then, I ran until I reached one of the Way Towers. I walked to the side of the interior platform, and dove into the streams of data that lay beneath. Soon, I rose onto the interior platform of the next tower, and exited to find myself in a range of floating purple mountains.

I didn't get far however, before one of the cockroach creatures returned and started shooting at me. I called for Jeremie, but he wasn't there. I was on my own.

I had no other choice but to run. I jumped off the side of the mountain, landing on a pathway that was lower down. The cockroaches fell into the abyss, but the hornet creatures swarmed around me to take their place. I kept on running until I reached the next Way Tower, and transferred into the next sector.

It was like it was nighttime in this sector, with blue ice surrounding me. Floes and glaciers made up the landscape that I continued to run through.

The monsters kept on pursuing me, with more of the cockroaches, and now, cube-like creatures joined in on the pursuit. Eventually, I jumped into an ice tunnel, sliding until I was flung onto the ground below. More of the cube monsters, three to be exact, surrounded me, preparing to fire their lasers.

Kneeling on the ground, I thought it was over for a moment…

Until three people came to my rescue. One was dressed like a warrior, holding a sword, another looked like a hybrid between a man and Jeremie described as a 'cat', and the last one wore a black-and-red dress.

Two of them were the people who had been involved in the night before, Ulrich and Odd. The third person was new, and was apparently named Yumi.

The three made quick work of the cubes, and after brief introductions, we made our way to the red tower. Unfortunately, there were more monsters still, two large red creatures standing on four tall, scythe-like legs that Odd quickly dubbed as 'Crabs'.

They proved to be far tougher than the previous monsters, and it was not long before Ulrich and Odd were devirtualized once again. One of the crabs crawled in front of me, shuffling around as it got into a position to shoot me.

As if by instinct however, I knelt to the ground once again, and an ethereal humming came from my throat. A wall of ice then manifested between me and the Crab.

As I got up, Yumi ran up to me.

"Did you do that?" she asked.

"Yes, I think so!" I replied, running off to the tower.

I entered the tower, and walked to the center of the platform. I then found myself being lifted upwards. I looked, and, as if by instinct once again, I back-flipped so as to avoid hitting the top of a second, smaller platform up above. I floated onto the platform, walked forward, and then, a holographic screen appeared before me.

I gave the screen a tentative touch, and a name appeared on it.

AELITA

"Aelita…" I murmured.

It was then I remembered. My name. My name was Aelita.

Two more words manifested on the screen:

Code: Lyoko

The binary interiors of the tower then shot downwards, until the entire space was pitch-black. But then…a flash of light burst from the bottom, enveloping me completely…

It was then that I learned about what had happened in the real world. Sissi had been attacked by a massive creature of electricity, which had proceeded to try to kill everyone else. Sissi, apparently in a panic, had broken a pact of secrecy concerning the supercomputer, and brought two adults into the factory. The flash of light had been Jeremie activating a particular program known as the 'Return to the Past', which turned back time in the real world by 24 hours in order to preserve the secret.

We were now at an impasse, and…I felt that it wasn't right for it to go on.

It didn't feel right, my own life versus the lives of potentially everyone in the real world…and that feeling increased when Jeremie engaged in further research, and we both identified the program that had caused the attacks in the real world.

"Find anything?" Yumi asked.

"Yes, XANA." Jeremie replied.

"XANA? What's that?" Odd asked.

"A super-dangerous program, like a virus that activates towers so that it can gain access to your world." I explained.

"Only Aelita can counter it by deactivating the towers that it uses to attack the real world." Jeremie finished.

The reality sunk in that materializing me into the real world would take time. Time that might not be an option. XANA was capable of attacking at any time, and was quite capable of killing everyone present with ease if even one mistake was made.

"Be reasonable Jeremie." I tried to persuade. "We ought to just shut this whole thing down."

It didn't feel right to sacrifice so many people for my sake. It just didn't. Much to my surprise however, Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi all agreed to maintain the secret, and to help bring me into the real world.

"Look, we just have to get Aelita to the towers, right?" Ulrich pointed out.

"It's risky, but we can do it. After all, we are Lyoko Warriors, right?" Yumi said.

I'll admit I was…surprised.

In hindsight…remembering these events, and what my mother told me…was this truly right?

Was it?

Regardless of whether or not it was right or wrong, the declaration of my new friends was soon put to the test. XANA proved to be a relentless, murderous enemy. His attacks varied from straight-forward, such as taking control of vehicles and ramming them into each other or facilities as if to commit suicide attacks, or creating music that could make everyone comatose.

His monsters were also dangerous enemies. Kankrelats, Bloks, Hornets, Krabs, Megatanks, and the occasional Guardian (Though XANA retired that one after two uses), proved to be deadly obstacles in guarding the towers.

The quest to see me materialized hit numerous snags. Progress could be reversed quickly, and Jeremie came up with numerous dead-ends. A prototype program to see me materialized was unstable and for use only, and needed to be used to rescue Yumi after a disastrous encounter with a Megatank, and an attempt to study data leftover from XANA creating a clone of Yumi to see if it could be used to materialize me went nowhere.

On another occasion, my Annex program bugged up because of Jeremie materializing a hair of mine in one of his experiments. He wasn't able to fix in time when XANA used sound waves in an attempt to destroy all of Kadic. I sacrificed myself in order to stop him, inputting the Code…and then, I vanished.

What was death like? To be honest…it almost felt peaceful. Quiet. Serene. Calm.

But to say that I was unhappy at finding myself returned thanks to, ironically enough, the materialized hair that had caused the mess, would be very incorrect.

But the trials continued. When we had hit another snag later on, Jeremie lost his temper, and I decided it would be best to put a bit of distance between us while he cooled off. But then Jeremie tried to virtualize himself into Lyoko to apologize, which failed and left him in virtual limbo, a temp space that would eventually see him being deleted.

However, by using the data from 1 Way Tower per sector, it would be possible to materialize him. After much difficulty, we succeeded…and I finally saw Jeremie in the flesh. I reached out for him, and he reached out for me…

It was…quite a moment. I still have goosebumps about it…

But when does someone like you deserve a moment like that?

Wait…what was that?

…Um…moving on…

Even someone like myself, even back when I thought I was an AI, and not a human, could see that Ulrich and Yumi had an attraction to one another. But the two never really seemed to make any progress despite said attraction. It was inevitable that conflict would arise from this. A particularly nasty one came from when XANA launched five attacks, once per day. In hindsight, considering his later tactics, I wonder if he deliberately did that…

But I'm getting off on a tangent. Ulrich apparently suffered enormous stress from the constant RTTPs, and was becoming annoyed with his lack of progress with well…anything. His apparent connection with another student, known as Emily, infuriated Yumi and this little spat spread through the entire group.

I'll admit, at the time though, I found it hilarious.

"I hope you two won't kill each other while I'm gone." I teased.

Yumi and Ulrich continued to sulk.

But things soon grew serious when I analyzed the data from one of the towers. XANA had activated a tower to modify a program that he would not normally have access to. As it turned out, he'd sabotaged the rematerialization program so that if they lost all of their life points, Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi would all be gone for good, like I was at risk at.

Thankfully however, we powered through, and the threat was ended.

Another assault that stands out to me was when XANA created a Simulation Bubble, a copy of the real world that he trapped the three warriors in. I had to virtualize Jeremie into it to warn the others, while I tracked down the bubble and destroyed it.

From Jeremie's later account, it was quite the harrowing experience. Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi didn't remember most of it.

Ultimately, the big day arrived. Jeremie had finally finished the materialization program. After a great deal of waiting due to yet more real-world drama involving Jim the PE teacher, the time came for what was hopefully the final mission to start.

XANA was not willing to let me leave. Jeremie hoped to use one of the Way Towers in the Forest Sector to materialize me. XANA sent his Megatanks, hoping to use them to sever the link and delete the program. It was a grueling battle, but the others bought enough time for Jeremie to activate the program:

Code: Earth

Just before I left Lyoko however, I still felt XANA's presence. He had still managed to gain some access to the tower. He seemed desperate to keep me in Lyoko, as if he was holding me back. I felt…off for a moment before the program finished loading.

But I found myself in the real world at long last...still dressed in the clothes I had worn when I had first gone to Lyoko…

Not that I remembered that anymore.

When Jeremie shut down the supercomputer, I felt uneasy, before fainting. It was then that we learned that XANA had given me a virus, linking me to him. If the supercomputer was shut down, then I would effectively be dead.

Of course, we didn't know at the time that in reality, XANA had actually stolen data corresponding to my memories, and used them to link me to him.

The battle against XANA then started undergoing changes. XANA had started evolving. He eventually created a new monster, the Tarantula, and we learned that each Return to the Past reinforced and increased the processing power of the supercomputer. Because XANA was linked to it, he had actually been getting stronger each time his attacks had been stopped with an RTTP, and he'd evolved to the point where he was taking advantage of that fact.

But not every change was negative. While I was still bound to Lyoko, Jeremie did pull through with a new plan to tide me over. He created a more efficient tower detection program, meaning that I could now live in the real world, rather than stay in Lyoko to detect XANA's pulsations.

Of course, getting used to living in the real world took…time. First of all, dealing with Sissi was a…challenge, to say the very least.

And of course, the nightmares…To this day they still plague me.

Right now…I wonder if I'm having one…

And so, the first part of this mini-series comes to an end. Next time, we finish up our recap of Code Lyoko.

-Epsilon Tarantula