Pretty straightforward here. Don't think there's any romance in this chapter, for maybe the first time this entire fanfic. It felt a little dry to me but it's not the end for UxY and JxA fans. Enjoy, and review!


I'm running in the ice sector. Odd's riding his Overboard behind me, shooting at Tarantulas while William follows along with me with his Super Smoke. A wall of Bloks suddenly appear in front of us, and William speeds on ahead to cut them down. I run through the opening to the cave in front of me, looking for something.

"Be careful, Princess!" Odd shouts after me. I wave him off and slide down one of the passages in the cave. I'm sliding, sliding, and I'm almost to the end. And then…

"Aelita, get up!" I hear a voice and flip over. I feel someone shaking me. "You don't wanna sleep in on Christmas, do you?"

"Huh?" I murmur. I open an eye and it's Yumi.

"Wake up, Princess, we've got a big day ahead."

"Coming," I groan. I sit up and look around. Everything looks normal. Yumi's already dressed and cleaning up the room.

"Sure had a good night's rest, didn't you?" she remarks.

"Mm. I had a dream," I reply. "About Lyoko."

"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. I used to have dreams all the time about Lyoko too. Although it is kind of strange you'd have one now."

"Nothing scary or wrong happened. You're probably right," I agree. I shower and get dressed, and head down to breakfast where Yumi's family is all gathered.

"Good morning, Aelita," Yumi's mom greets me. "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas to you all, too," I say with a smile. I grab some toast and fruit from the table and start eating. "So how do we open gifts here? I know you're not supposed to open gifts in front of the person who gave it to you," I ask.

"We all go in separate rooms and open them. And we usually wait until the end of the day to tell each other about them," Yumi's dad answers.

"Sounds good to me," I say, holding a thumbs up.

"Wait till you see what I got you, sis," Hiroki says with a smirk.

"And wait till you see what I got you, it'll really help with getting Milly," Yumi fires back. Hiroki starts blushing and turns away. Soon everyone's done with breakfast and we start opening gifts. I go to the closet to open mine. I find a pair of pink Beats from Yumi.

"Wow, these must have cost a fortune," I murmur. I open her family's gift and it's a finely decorated Japanese dish. I feel awed at how well Yumi's family has treated me even though it's only been a few days.

I head back into Yumi's room where she's just finished opening her own gifts.

"These boots are wonderful, Aelita," she tells me. "Thank you so much!"

"Not as great as these headphones you got me. You didn't have to spend so much for me!" I exclaim.

"Don't worry about it Aelita, I got them super cheap online. Say what you will about Odd but he's great at finding obscure deals."

"I got your parents a cookbook and Hiroki a new game," I tell Yumi. "I'm not sure what they really like though."

"My parents will love it, they've been trying to cook different types of food from the Internet for years now," Yumi says. "What game did you get Hiroki?"

"Pokemon Omega Ruby," I reply. "Why? What kind of games does he like?"

"I'm sure that'll be fine," Yumi says. "He's into action games but he'll enjoy Pokemon. Speaking of Hiroki, look what he got me." She holds up a pink frilly dress with polka dots.

"I'm sure Ulrich would love that," I giggle.

"I'm just gonna stuff it in the back of my closet," Yumi mutters.

"It is a little much," I admit. "Even I wouldn't wear it. What did you get Hiroki?"

"I got him a camera," Yumi smirks. "So now he has even more ammo to go after Milly."

I laugh and put my gifts by my luggage. Yumi glances at the dress again, disgusted, and shoves it into one of her drawers.

"What are we doing the rest of the day?" I ask.

"Oh, I don't know," Yumi answers. "We don't usually do much else during Christmas. We have a big dinner tonight and that's about it."

"Wanna play another round of chess?" I ask. Yumi agrees and gets the board out. I start pondering my move after about 10 turns or so when I hear it again. Aelita… a voice says. I grit my teeth.

"Something wrong?" Yumi asks. Aelita…come…please… the voice says.

"Who's there?" I shout.

"Is it the voice again?" Yumi questions. I nod my head.

"We have to go back to the Hermitage," I insist.

"Okay." We get our coats and head downstairs. Yumi's mom looks at us with a confused expression.

"Girls, where are you going?"

"We're just gonna, uh, go for a walk," Yumi says. "It's kinda stuffy being cooped up in here all day."

"It's cold out. Are you sure you want to go?"

"We won't be long, Mom, promise."

"Okay. But be back quickly and keep your phone on." Yumi waves and I follow her out the door.

"I'll call Jeremy and tell him," Yumi says as we walk towards Kadic.

"No. I don't want him to worry. Wait until we see what's going on and then we can alert the others," I say. Yumi shrugs and puts her phone back in her pocket. It's chilly outside, but nothing unmanageable. The weather is pretty typical for this time of year.

"What did you hear this time?" Yumi asks as we enter the forest.

"The same thing as last time," I reply. "But this time the voice asked me to come."

"Strange. Who do you think is calling you?"

"I have some suspicions, but I won't conclude anything right now," I say. We reach the Hermitage and I swing open the gate. We head upstairs and it's just as cold as outside.

"Whatever this is, I hope it won't take long," Yumi mutters. "We can't stay out here forever."

"We'll see," I say. I press the power button on the old desktop. Nothing happens for a few seconds and then it begins to whir, slow as ever. This time the blue W appears immediately, and then transitions to a note. Yumi peers closer to read it.

I am alive. And so is XANA.

"Who is this?" Yumi asks. "Franz Hopper? Why does the W keep appearing?"

"W…Waldo," I realize. "His true first name." We keep reading.

I am sure you have many questions. Unfortunately I have neither the time nor power to answer all of them. I will make this brief. I was not fully destroyed by XANA when I sacrificed myself to give you the power to run the multi-agent system. XANA and I will always be connected to each other, just as you and XANA once were, as holders of the keys to Lyoko. XANA saved a small part of my data, and in doing so, was able to escape with me into the Internet. We have both been gaining power. However, I am not able to hold XANA off for much longer, as he gains power exponentially compared to me. The most I can do right now is send you messages and take over simplistic technologies such as this desktop. You must turn the supercomputer on once again, and I will work with Jeremy Belpois to develop the final solution. I cannot separate myself from XANA just yet, but I am eternally grateful that you have been able to rid yourself of all chains to this AI. However, our work is not finished yet.

-Franz Hopper

The screen suddenly shuts off again. I stare at the blank screen for a long time.

"Our worst fears have been confirmed," Yumi says grimly. Part of me wants to believe it's me dreaming, that I'll wake up any moment. But deep down I realize it's true.

"Daddy is alive," I say softly.

"Yes, but so is XANA," Yumi says. "Sometimes you have to take the good news with the bad news too."

"If it means I get to see him again, I'll do anything," I determine. Yumi wraps her arm around me.

"And we'll do anything we can to help you," she says. I give her a small smile.

We organize a group Skype call in the evening. Yumi and I sit at her desk on my laptop. Ulrich keeps looking nervously over his shoulder, Jeremy is ready to listen and Odd is eating a bowl of ice cream.

"So, Aelita? What's this announcement you wanted to tell all of us?" Jeremy asks. I tell the whole story and the three boys are shocked.

"Are you sure this isn't just a trick by XANA to lure you in again?" Odd asks.

"Well that would mean XANA is alive either way, wouldn't it?" Yumi answers. "For now we have to take this at face value. And even if it is a trap we'd have to fight XANA anyway."

"I wonder why Hopper hasn't been able to separate himself from XANA all these years," Jeremy says. "He just appears as a sphere on Lyoko."

"Maybe it has something to do with him being the original guardian," Ulrich suggests. "He created XANA, and once he virtualized himself XANA did everything to keep him there so he could eventually escape."

"I have a feeling it's more complicated than that, but I think you're on the right track," I say. "We'll find more answers later."

"So what do we do now?" Yumi asks. "What if XANA starts attacking once again?"

"I don't think XANA's gained enough power to be able to take over supercomputers and start launching attacks again," Jeremy says. "But if Hopper is right he will soon. I'll start working on a program that we can use to track XANA's power level and location. In the meantime, if something bad does happen, you and Aelita are close to the factory."

"One thing's for sure, XANA's harder to kill than indigestion!" Odd grumbles.

"Ulrich! What are you doing in there?" We hear a voice from Ulrich's screen.

"Sorry guys, gotta go," he says, and abruptly hangs up.

"Well, I think our meeting is finished anyway," Jeremy says. "I'll get to work as soon as possible."

"I'll let you all know if anything weird happens," Odd says.

"Same here," Yumi agrees. We end the call. She glances at me. "How do you feel?" she asks.

"I'm not sure," I say.

"I'd feel the same," Yumi says. "Let's get some rest, it's been a long day."

"It's been an interesting Christmas to say the least," I say.

"And it'll only get better from here," Yumi mutters. I stare at my hands, deep in thought. Daddy, I think. Daddy's alive. But so is XANA. I clench my fists.

"No more running," I think aloud.

"I agree completely, Princess," Yumi says. "We'll take the fight to XANA this time."

"And we'll bring Daddy back," I finish. "I'm tired of being afraid. Of always reacting. This time, we'll finish it for good."