Disclaimer: Still don't own Code Lyoko

Chapter 10

Her green eyes gazed at my face intently, as though searching me through.

"Are you alright..!?" Was the first thing to come tumbling from my shaken lips.

She lowered her gaze as she heaved a subtle sigh.

"I wish I could say yes..." Anthea's tone poured distress even behind her strong presence. She leaned closer to me as a deep frown etched itself into her expression.

"I meant it when I said I didn't want you and Aelita involved in stopping Carthage. I however have nothing to lose... I was determined to finish what Waldo started... To destroy the weapon with the aid of my contacts within the project... But I..." Her face wrenched with pain as she bit back her next words.

My eyes frantically searched her expression. "What!? What's happened...!?"

She slowly looked up at me, before reaching a single slip of paper from the darkness of the backseat.

"Yesterday one of my contacts reported this symbol appeared on the mainframe of Alaska's Carthage array..."

My heartbeat fell to a near stop as I mentally traced over the sketch she held in her hand.

"Jeremie..." She spoke softy as a single tear drifted from her eye. "He's here now..."

The eye of XANA.

My mind would never forget the shape...but in over a decade I hadn't seen it's disgusting form.

Until today.

I shook my head slowly as my heart filled with denial.

"No...that's not possible... He was destroyed... I destroyed him!"

Anthea's face shown with a gentle tenderness as she placed a hand over mine. "I know... We've all given up a lot of things doing what we thought was right. But Jeremie please listen to me...I don't know how, but he has survived. With even one Carthage array at his control our world is in grave danger, but if he gains control of all the arrays, he'll have the power to crack this earth to it's very core."

I clenched my head in between sweaty palms as dread rushed over me.

If only it had been fear for myself I could have endured it...

"No! Not now! Aelita is-" She grabbed my shoulders firmly as she shook me from my panic.

"I know Jeremie! I know exactly what is at stake!" Her eyes flamed with frustrated emotion as she glared at me. "Over ten years ago you decided to risk the state of this world for the love of one person. I don't believe you've ever regretted that choice, no matter how difficult the battle!"

She stared into my eyes as tears broke from them.

"We don't ever stop fighting for the ones we love Jeremie. But you aren't fighting for a memory the way I am... You are fighting for two heartbeats... Two people that only exist today, because over ten years ago, you had the courage to try."

A gentle pleading smile came to her face.

"I don't believe you've ever lost that courage..."

The entire way home I questioned myself, hoping Anthea's confidence wasn't misplaced.

After Aelita's own shock was set, and all the important phone calls to the group were made, I allowed myself to drift into the empty nursery. The sound of Anthea's frantic, yet focused, typing could be heard echoing from the front room.

I leaned my back against the powder green wall, letting myself slowly slide down it until I was sitting on the floor. I had no idea what the next few hours would have in store for me, but all the same I wanted to desperately cling to the feeling held within these simple walls.

Yet playing in the back of my mind were the millions of feelings I had met over ten years ago.

From the rattle of my scooter rushing over damp pavement, to the ceaseless hum of the super calculator.

The feelings seemed so strong that they enveloped everything that was a part of my life now..

I heaved a heavy sigh as I slowly rose to my feet. Hearing footsteps I turned to glance at the doorway.

I wasn't surprised when I saw Aelita standing there, her eyes charged with a certain indescribable look.

I slowly extended my hand to her, but she chose instead to gently hug my neck. Wordlessly I tightened my embrace around her delicate shoulders, as tears gathered. I closed my eyes, letting them stream down my cheeks.

Slowly I focused on only the sound of our heartbeats, as they resounded off each other. Anthea's earlier statement formed in the back of my mind, as I finally grasped the true import of her words. Memories flashed up in my heart, as I again glimpsed my days as a twelve year old boy.

I saw her face reflected in my glasses as it had been all those years ago. Her young innocent eyes... The eyes that first captured my heart. I could hear the simple wonder held in her voice, as she looked to me to be her guide to this beautiful world.

I defied the threat of death to give her the one thing that proved her humanity.

A single heartbeat.

But the one thing I longed most to give her...it was the simplest of all.

I slowly looked down at her tear stained face.

The one thing...was a love that sparkled in my heart from the first moment I saw her.

I gently leaned to kiss her.

Somehow...the strangest miracle happened back then...

The dream, I couldn't seem to believe in, came true...

Not only did her heartbeat resound her reality, but her love for me...

I slowly pulled away so I could gaze into her eyes.

Courage meant facing your fears, because you truly had a reason to do so.

We both gently allowed a smile to drift onto our faces.

Anthea was right...I had never forgotten that courage...

That simple wordless power, the binding force between us...

That courage was love.

It was the only thing I had ever asked for...the only thing I fought for.

Our foreheads gently met, as we gathered strength from the warmth of each other's heart.

I was more than ready...to fight for her again.

No matter what...

To fight for them both...