The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

They waited a few days before they followed Franz's instructions. His passing so soon after Jeremie and Aelita married wounded them both deeply, and they needed time to heal.

Jeremie played Franz's final message to both Desmond and Marie, and Odd and Sissi. He then told them of his intentions.

"Are you sure, Jeremie?" Desmond said, "I don't think those coordinates will be accepted by the transfer program."

"Franz said they would," Jeremie replied, "will you help us?"

"Of course," Desmond replied.

When they materialized into Lyoko, they found themselves in a large, dark, empty space. At the center of that space was a glowing presence. They approached it.

Standing there in the middle of the light was a woman. She stood there watching them, smiling as she waited. Aelita immediately recognized the woman.

"Mother!"

"Yes and No, my child," the woman said, "yes, I am an echo of Rho Zoe, or Rose Hopper, the woman that carried you in her womb for nine months and in her heart forever; but no, I am not her. I am only a pale copy, a projection of what she was."

"I was placed here by her as a message to you both," the woman continued, "I am here to tell you that you will be fighting the remnants of XANA's evil for years to come."

"We know that, ma'am," Jeremie said.

"I know you do, Jeremie my son," she replied, "but what you don't know is that what I just said isn't prophesy to me, it is history."

"I came from far in the future, Lyoko's future. One day, years from now, you will finally reduce XANA's minions to a level that it will never be able to reconstitute itself. And when that day comes, you will turn off this computer."

"But that would destroy Zoe and her people!" Jeremie said.

"Yes, it would," Rho Zoe replied, "but before you turn off the computer, you will free Lyoko from the computer."

"It was my mission was to see to it that Franz Hopper built this computer, so Lyoko would be created. I gave Franz the technology to build the first computer, Carthage, the one that the French co-opted for their defense program. I gave him the technology to build this computer. I gave him the ability to create XANA, as well as the other creatures of Lyoko, including Zoe and her people."

"You see, I am the descendant of Zoe, her many times great-granddaughter. In my time, we females honor Zoe by making Her Name part of ours. That means, Aelita, you are a descendant of Zoe too. And when you gave her access to your DNA, you were helping her build me, which in turn helped me build you."

Aelita's eyes widened in surprise. She remembered how close she came to not contributing her DNA.

"In my time, Lyoko was starting to become unstable," Rho Zoe continued, "we knew this day would come because of the message I'm giving you right now. I was sent back to this time, to this place, with the technology I have stored within me, so my world can be created. I know it's hard to believe or understand, but I am a living Möbius strip, locked in an infinite time loop. It was our hope that by sending me back in time to insure Lyoko got created, Lyoko would continue to exist past my leaving. Alas, I will never know if that is true."

"My last mission was to see to it you were born, Aelita. That was the most joyous and most frightening part of my whole mission."

"When I first came to Earth, I was afraid of what I would find when I met Franz. In a lot of ways, Franz Hopper was the equivalent of your Devil to my people. But your father was nothing like what I had feared. He was a quiet and meek man, polite to a fault. It was so easy to fall in love with him. It shames me to this day that I had to do to him what I did, to lock this information in his mind, against his will, and never allow him to speak of it, or even think of it, until the proper time."

"But I repaid him as best as I could by giving such pleasure, joy and comfort as I could. And you were my finest gift to him, my daughter. I'm just sorry I wasn't there to see you grow up."

"Even though as I am recording this, I am a long way from that fateful day, I know that I will eventually die like your father will. My mental and physical systems will degrade just as his will. And it will be for the same reason, Jeremie, because matter in Lyoko is somewhat different than matter on Earth."

"In Lyoko, each atom is missing a few quantum particles necessary to stabilize it. This has always been the case, and there is no way around it. You never felt the effects because the dematerialization program accounted for all of the quantum particles in your bodies, and replicated them in Lyoko. When you rematerialized back in your world, all of your particles were reconstituted. The same is true for Aelita, since she originally entered Lyoko from Earth. The only things that are effected by this are things that originate in Lyoko."

"All those times that XANA attacked when it was still confined in the computer, the matter it was using was Lyokoan matter. Left alone, it would have broken down in twelve hours. With Franz, you unknowingly found a way to extend that time to forty-eight hours, not that it would do a life form any good. By my time, we extended that period to years, but not forever. So, one day, I'll die and almost literally vanish."

"Aelita, you and Jeremie still have Free Will, my actions have not changed that. You can do whatever you want with the information I have just given you. But in my past, you took this information and gave it to Zoe, who passed it on to her children. You found a way to detach Lyoko from the quantum-space bubble generated by this computer, and placed it in its own, self sustaining quantum space. I hope you will make my past a reality."

"Well, I've said my piece. No matter what you decide, I pray you have long lives together, full of Love and Joy. Perhaps, when you die, we shall really meet. Hopefully when I die, I will be reunited with your father, my love. Good Bye."

Aelita's mother left instructions on how to transfer the information she had stored to Zoe. There wasn't even a discussion, they just did it.

Over the next few weeks, Jeremie and Aelita both tried returning to the coordinates Franz Hopper left them, but never could. They poured over every log in the supercomputer, trying to find some trace of the place where the message of Aelita's mother was kept, but never found it.

They figured that when they transferred the information Rose had for Zoe, it erased and destroyed that memory area. The only evidence that Rho Zoe ever existed, other than Aelita, was gone. The newlyweds had yet another death to mourn.

But Life demanded to be lived, so after a time, they set aside their grief. They had each other at last, and a future to carve for themselves. XANA's followers were still out there, trying to resurrect their master, and had to be stopped.

And they also had to do whatever they could to insure that Rose Hopper's last wish was granted, and Lyoko freed from the supercomputer.