Chapter 1, Part 1: Enter Solana
"I can't just leave you here! Mom! I'm NOT leaving without you!"
"Solana, you have to go on without me. Do it for me, okay? Everything's going to be okay."
"But what about you?"
"I'll be fine, just go, now!"
I woke up in the back of my father's car. I must have dozed off again, seeing that I barely got any sleep last night.
That living nightmare has been haunting me since that fateful day my mom forced me to move on without her. We tried our best to try to look for her, but a month had passed, and we still had no luck. That's when my father decided to call off the search. I still think she's still alive on Xanadu somewhere, but whenever I brought up that subject, he wouldn't listen to what I had to say.
On top of that, we had to go to France again, but this time, longer. Much longer. Not only did my dad have to work out some family issues with an uncle that I didn't even know about, but I also have to possibly move here to Boulogne-Billancourt permanently. I wish I could be back in Narragansett, Rhode Island again.
Also, we've discovered that XANA has come back. We're not entirely sure how he did it, but our current theory at the moment is that a small piece of XANA managed to recreate itself. We're just not sure where of how he did so.
"Solana, we're here, honey." My father woke me from my thoughts. When I looked out the window, not only did I see a vague reflection of me and my frizzy hair, I also noticed we were at my Godmother, Giselle Baker's place.
I opened up the car door and stretched out my arms and legs, still a bit dizzy and sleepy from being in the van for hours on end, letting my skin absorb the sun.
"Oh my God, Solana! Greg! Hi!" I head Giselle call from the side with her two dogs Alu, a female black and white Siberian Husky, and Micki, a male German Shepherd. I found her at the front door waving to me and father. She then came outside and started hugging us.
"It's been far too long since we've last seen each other," Giselle said eagerly. She was right. It's been 3 years since we've last seen each other.
The dogs began sniffing me, as if they knew they knew me, but they weren't entirely sure. "Hey, Micki." Micki let me pet his head. I did the same to Alu, which she already knew me a little longer than Micki.
"Nice to see you, Giselle." Father replied.
"Hey, it's always nice to see my favorite father and daughter again." Giselle grinned.
As I began to take out the luggage from the back of the car, Giselle came up to me. "Oh honey, please, let me take these." she insisted.
"No, it's okay, Giselle," I said. "I can handle this."
"Okay, fine, just let me take some of these." Giselle took some bags and proceeded to place them inside her ornate household. I mentally sighed and carried some bags of my own.
Once inside, I quickly noticed the familiar interior of the gated French home. As far as I was concerned at the moment, everything was in it's correct spot, with the exception of some item placing.
"Your room's upstairs, Solana," Giselle said, almost scaring me a little. "You have a very nice view of most of the city. It's down the hall upstairs, and it's the last room on the right side."
"Thanks," I quietly mumbled.
I traveled up the stairs and to the final room on the right side just as Giselle told me. I opened the room and remembered it almost instantly: it was the same room I stayed in when I was younger. The room had a princess themed vibe to it, with it's glittery Wisteria veil surrounding the canopy bed and the bay window adding to the Victorian styled abode with its floral Thistle walls and ceiling which looked like a floral Lavender in the dark. There was also a desk on the other side of the bed and a closet next to the door, which was exceptionally large.
I set my luggage down and sat on top of the bed, leaving me and my thoughts to fill the dull silence.
Well, looks like I have to start over my life, apart from Xanadu, that is. I just wish mom were here.
I then took out a photo of me and my mom when I was seven. We were visiting Scarborough Beach during the summer. My mom still looked as young as ever: fair skin, heart shaped face, Azure blue hair put to the side, her hunter green eyes, and her friendly smile. People say I look just like her, apart from the fact I have chocolate brown hair with Dodger blue highlights and my father's pupiless Columbia blue eyes.
With every view of that picture, I kept missing her more and more. I even started tearing up a little, but shook them off.
"Knock, knock." Giselle knocked on my door while saying so. "You done over here yet?"
I had set the picture of my mom and me on the desk.
"Well, if you are, come down here. Me and your dad wanna talk with you." Giselle then started heading out.
"Oh, and Solana?"
"Yeah?"
"I miss her, too." Then she had left.
Giselle must have found out about the picture. At least she was there.
LATER:
I walked down the stairs after unpacking my clothes and other necessities to find my father in the pit area of the living room while Giselle was in the kitchen.
"Hey, kiddo." Giselle said casually once her eyes met with mine. "Made some Irish stew. Want some?"
"Uhm, sure." I replied. I hadn't eaten a full meal for seven hours now, so why not? And besides, Giselle's cooking always tastes good.
I brought my bowl of soup with me to the dining table and commenced to eating it. I then sensed Giselle and father coming my way to the table. They were probably going to give me the talk that was mentioned by Giselle.
"So, Solana, you know that I have to work things out with your uncle Roderick, right?" my father began.
"Yes, father." I said. Wish he could've told me about Roderick sooner.
"And I'll be gone for some time to try to work things out with him," father presumed.
"And that means you'll have to attend Kadic Academy." Giselle finished.
I took another sip of the stew. "What's Kadic?"
"It's a boarding school, honey," Giselle told me. "But we've made the decision to put you in as a day student."
"Don't worry, there'll be other day students like you, along with boarding school students. And it's also not that far from here, either, so it's pretty convenient traveling from here to Kadic." father droned on.
"Also," Giselle gulped down the rest of the stew. "Your cousin Ulrich, Roderick's son, will be there as well, only he's a boarding student."
Ulrich, I thought to myself. Why does that name sound so familiar?
"I've already sent him a letter regarding the whole crisis between me and my brother." said father.
Crud.
"Oh, and one more thing, Solana." Giselle spoke up, leaving the table to go upstairs. When she came back down, the held a box with a blue ribbon.
"Here, I noticed that your taste in wardrobe was a little too dark for my tastes, so hopefully, this will help." She handed over the box to me. Too dark? But I liked dark. The current black hooded shirt over a white long sleeved shirt, blue crossed belts with fake diamonds, dark blue skinny jeans and red converse I was wearing suited me for the day. "Well? Go on ahead, try it on."
Even though I disagreed with the whole fashion thing, I agreed to try on what she had for me.
When I came back downstairs, I was wearing a collared button-up emerald green jacket with cyan blue stripes on it, a cyan blue top underneath with International Klein blue stripes, white loose fitting shorts that reached my knees, and auburn converse shoes.
"Aww!" Giselle giggled. "You look so cute! Hope you don't mind, but I made it myself. Do you like it?"
"Well, the shoulder on the left side is a bit baggy, but aside from that, I actually, well, kind of like it." To be honest, I could care less about the outfit, but if it made Giselle happy, I was willing to wear the outfit.
"Oh! Perfect!" Giselle hugged me tight, with the familiar essence of my mother lingering within her.
"You'll look so great at your new school tomorrow!"
Great. Not only was it public, it also had dorm students. Well, might as well suck it up and face the day of tomorrow.
THE NEXT DAY:
Giselle managed to take the time to take me to my new school before she went to work at the local flower shop, which wasn't until an hour later. I was also wearing the same outfit Giselle gave me. Apparently, my dad had already began tracking down my uncle Roderick, as there was a note on the dining room table saying so.
It was nearly silent in Giselle's car on the way to Kadic. Various thoughts rolled in my mind. What's it like? Who are the people like? Is there some kind of status quo here? What's this Ulrich guy like anyway?
"Hey, kid. It's okay to be nervous, you know." Giselle comforted. It's almost like she knew what went on in my mind. "And also, Ulrich will be waiting outside by the gates for you."
Then, the car stopped, which meant that we were here: Kadic Academy. It has very nice features to it, I will admit. I looked out the window and saw a boy, presumably my age, probably older, with brown hair placed to the side, wearing a black shirt, an army jacket, black shoes, and blue jeans. That must be him.
I then grabbed my brown sling bag and opened the car door. Well, here it is, Kadic Academy.
"Goodbye, Solana!" Giselle waved before driving away, which I exchanged a wave back.
I then walked over to the gates where the boy was. "Hey, do you happen to be Ulrich Stern, by any chance?" I asked. I wanted to make sure that this was the real guy first.
"Yeah, I am." He responded. Good, that's a relief. "And you're Solana, aren't you?"
"Yep." I responded with a calm grin.
"So, uh, that's a nice, um, outfit there."
"You mean this?" I asked. "My godmother Giselle made it for me. It's not really the type of thing I'd wear, though."
We then started walking to the middle of the campus.
"So, Solana, where were you originally living at anyway?" Ulrich asked.
I then explained my hometown to him.
"I see," I could tell he was listening to every word. "So, uh, were you a big fan of the whole 'home schooling' thing, or were you forced to do so? No offense if you liked it that is."
I quietly giggled. "Yeah, I was used to being schooled at home. It's more quiet and you can focus more in the safety of your own home, you know?"
"Ah." Ulrich said.
We continued to make small talk until we had reached the center of the campus, and that's when the tour officially began.
"Over there are the dorms," Ulrich pointed out to a large building. "There are separate ones for boys and girls, but since you're a day student, you don't need to worry about having a dorm."
I observed my surroundings very thoroughly, making sure I knew where everything was at.
"Over there's the cafeteria," Ulrich pointed to a smaller building. "C'mon, I'll take you to meet my friends."
I followed Ulrich into the caferteria, and once inside I saw many unfamiliar faces and noticed unfamiliar voices.
"About time you got here!" complained a boy with spiky blonde hair with a single purple diamond in it.
"Guys, this is Solana, Solana, these are my friends," Ulrich continued on, clearly ignoring the blonde kid's statement.
"Jeremy," Ulrich pointed to a blonde kid with glasses.
"Aelita," Ulrich pointed to her, whom I've already known longer than he's known to begin with, even if she didn't know who I was at the moment.
"Yumi," Ulrich pointed to a Japanese girl with short black hair.
"And Odd," Ulrich pointed to the same person who made the comment about showing up late. A sort of feeling started rising within me, but I just ignored it.
"Hey."
"Hello."
"How do you do?" Various greetings came to me.
"Heya." I waved.
"So, Solana, how do you like Kadic so far?" Aelita asked.
"I've got to say, I like it so far." I replied.
"Glad you like it," Odd smiled at me.
"Has his hair always been like that?" I whispered to Ulrich, thinking that it was a bit strange that someone would spike up their hair like that.
"Hey, I heard that." Odd commented. "And besides, it's natural."
"Oh."
"Hey, now that I think about it, Solana, you kind of look like a female version of Ulrich." Odd realized.
"Cut it out, Odd," Ulrich said to him.
"Hey, maybe during lunch, we can take you for a tour of the rest of the school." Aelita offered.
"Sure, I'd like that." I honestly replied.
Then the school bell wrung. "Hey, Solana, who do you have first?" Ulrich asked me.
"Mrs. Meyer." I responded, looking at the school schedule that was given to me.
"That's good. Me, Odd, and Jeremy have her class, too. C'mon, let's go."
LATER THAT DAY:
So far, I'm enjoying all of my classes. I have most of my classes with Odd, Ulrich, Jeremy, and Aelita, so it's a good thing they're around. During lunch, they've given me the final round up of the tour, from the library to the wreck room to the gym. I haven't been here for a full day, and already I feel accepted here.
The group had also introduced me to some other people, such as William Dunbar, Sissi Delmas, and Jim Morales.
Then the bell wrung for the day students to go home. While I was walking to Giselle's house, one of Ulrich's friends must have noticed me.
"Hey, Solana."
"Hey, Yumi." I replied. "You walking home as well?"
"Yeah," Yumi said. "Where do live exactly, anyway?"
"Over by the forest," I pointed to my new house. "It's the one with the green fence."
"Hey, you live on the same street as me," Yumi noticed, and pointed to her house, which was a fine yellow with various plants to add to the decoration. "Maybe we can walk to school or back home together sometime this week."
"Yeah, we should." I agreed to Yumi's idea.
"Well, I gotta go. See ya later, Solana." Yumi waved back, which I exchanged with a wave from me.
When I got back to Giselle's place, Alu and Micki were excited to see me back home. I saw no sign of Giselle, only a note on the dining room table:
Solana,
Won't be back from work until 9:45. Had to work an extra shift today. Be sure to take care of the dogs. There's some pasta in the microwave if you get hungry.
Giselle.
After I took care of the dogs, I put down my things in my room. I had a math assignment that was almost completed, but I could take care of it later. I had to take care of something bigger: XANA.
I traveled down the twisted roads which eventually led to an abandoned factory. This is the place.
I then made my way towards three ropes, which acted as the way down since the stairs were missing. I then swung my way down with the rope in the middle and made it safely to the ground.
Then I walked towards the elevator, and punched some numbers, hoping that one of the combinations I tried would lead me down to the supercomputer. Sure enough, the elevator started going down after the second combo I tried.
The elevator led me down to the supercomputer. It was off, but XANA wasn't dead, unlike the dark room.
I walked toward the computer, and turned it on. Massive rays of light escaped from the device as it was turned on. The area around me was lighter.
I then climbed up a ladder which lead me to the lab. I then took a seat on the chair facing the computer interface. I turned that on as well, and the holomap of Lyoko turned on as well.
"I know you're still alive, XANA." I said. "You're alive…."