Grigory was in the midst of playfully tugging a rope from Hannibal, a rare, relaxed smile on his lips, when he heard the roar of gunfire. Pausing, he tilted his head. Thunder cracked; the gunfire died; a few seconds passed; and then it started up again.

Weapons practice is strictly forbidden inside the factory...Mago made it clear he'd flay anyone alive if they accidentally did something to damage the supercomputer...so is it a battle?

He looked around the privacy of his tent. Scipio had been resting his head on his paws, but now he was on all fours, ears flat, staring at the tent's flap, a growl building in his throat. Hannibal, likewise, had stopped playing with the toy and adopted similar posture.

But who would be stupid enough to...?

Striding to the entrance, Grigory poked his head out-and was greeted by chaos.

The Green Phoenix's camp was set up in a particular formation-Mago's tent was at the center, with the other tents spiralling outwards around it in a seashell-like design. The single corridor was regularly broken up with various fortifications, sometimes leaving only a narrow space for one man at a time to walk. Grigory's tent was, by his own preference, on the far side of one of these bottlenecks, so he could see clearly how clogged it was with soldiers. Soldiers trying to push through, closer towards Mago's tent, fought against a wave of soldiers trying to get out. Some of the latter were even trying to scale the barbed wire and sandbags, like rabid animals.

Gunfire. Thunder. Silence. Then gunfire again. Only now that Grigory was outside, he noticed there had been a brief flash accompanying the thunder. Lightning? Indoors?

Hw took a few steps out and grabbed at one soldier who managed to break over the wall. "Report," he barked.

"I-I don't know how to describe it, sir." The soldier tried admirably not to quake under Grigory's hard stare. "Some girl came out of the scanners, marched up to Mago's tent, and killed him. Then she started attacking the rest of us with-well, it looks like lightning-but that can't be! It's just not…"

Grigory didn't hear the rest of the soldier's words; he had tuned him out the second he said Mago was dead.

And that is my cue to leave.

Grigory turned, walked back into his tent, grabbed the duffle bag he always kept stocked for an emergency flight-with fake IDs, the case of stolen memories, cash, keys, changes of clothes, weapons-and snatched up his dogs' leashes. "Time to go, boys," he said.

Gunfire, thunder, silence, gunfire. Moving closer.

The two obediently stood still and let him clip their collars. He scratched their ears and stepped back outside. The soldier was gone-running towards XANA to try and stop it, or running away, Grigory neither knew nor cared. It was abundantly clear to him that the Green Phoenix's time was up.

Mago had surrounded himself with people as greedy and ruthless as himself, keeping them in check with his forceful personality, firepower, cruelty, and intelligence. In the void left by his death, those people would fight for leadership of the Green Phoenix. Grigory could have carved a slice of the pie for himself, but why bother? It wasn't just humans he would be contending with, but a psychotic AI as well. It wasn't worth it.

Thunder. Silence.

Should I grab the runt? Perhaps he'll be useful in stopping it.

He dismissed the thought instantly. Dragging along a hostage would only slow him down, and for what? A payoff that might not even happen. It was better to get as far away from XANA as possible.


Even in his prison/closet, Jeremie heard the guns.

Not at first, though. He was completely overwhelmed. This was the first time that a Return to the Past had not fixed all his problems, merely put them off. He was still a captive, XANA still held power, and now he had to finish his program all over again-likely with even more of a time crunch! There was no way the AI wouldn't figure out what Jeremie had done, that his orders to keep him indisposed had been ignored, and now he really would come to kill him. Really, Jeremie didn't know why XANA hadn't in the first place.

So, he was frantically typing away at his laptop when the gunfire raining outside finally penetrated his brain.

For a moment, complete, primal fear froze him in place; then, reason reasserted itself. XANA must be coming for him now, and the Green Phoenix must be trying to stop him. He couldn't just stay here, like a calf waiting for slaughter! He had to run-and maybe, just maybe, escape.

He closed his laptop, scooped it up, and placed his hand on the doorknob, when, with a flash of despair, he remembered: Anthea. How could he leave her here?

I have to make her leave with me. But how?

Gritting his teeth, he jerked the door open-it wasn't even locked, the first stroke of good fortune he'd had in days.

I'll worry about that when I find her.

His guards were gone-the second stroke of fortune, and his last, as it would turn out. When Jeremie sprinted out of the hallway and onto a catwalk, he jerked to a stop, almost falling over from the suddenness of it. The first floor of the factory was spread out below him; he could see soldiers scurrying in all directions, a great mob of uniforms and weapons. The center of the camp was a storm of blue-white lightning, lashing out at regular intervals.

He wanted nothing to do with that battle...but if Anthea was down there...

He shuddered, clutched his laptop tighter, and ran down to brave the storm.

"Anthea!" He yelled-then, remembering the name she was going by, switched to "Hera!"

His voice barely made a dent in the noise that surrounded him. There were orders being yelled, shrieks of terror and pain, weapons firing, and the awful crack-boom of XANA's lightning. And then there were all the people-he was being shoved left and right, catching elbows in his face and side, trying not to trip, struggling to move through the crowd's current.

Jeremie soldiered on anyway. "Hera! HERA! Hera, where are you?"

"Jeremie?"

Relief flooded him. "Hera!" He yelled, craning his neck.

And suddenly, she was right there, gray hair coming loose from its ponytail, a bag clutched in one hand. She managed to pull him free of the current and inside a tent. "Why are you here?!" Her eyes were owl-like. "You need to go somewhere safe!"

He rested his hands on his knees, wheezing. "I...I came to find you! C'mon, hurry, we need to escape!"

Jeremie grabbed her hand, turned, took a few steps-and stopped short when Anthea didn't follow. He glanced back, voice full of dismayed disbelief. "What are you waiting for?"

She was frowning. "I can't go. I need to stay to try and help organize the infirmary. There might be survivors of whatever's throwing that lightning."

"That doesn't matter! You have to-"

"Doesn't matter?" God, now that he'd figured out their relation, he couldn't see how he hadn't done so sooner. Aelita was carved all over her mother, from the incredulous face she was making to the irritated tone in her voice. "Saving lives doesn't matter?"

"It does, but other than me, your life is in the most danger out of anyone here!"

She shook her head in bafflement. "I'm sorry, but you're not making any sense."

"My friend Aelita, she's your daughter! Hopper was your husband! Mago kidnapped you to use you as a hostage! If you stay here, XANA will kill you to spite them, or capture you to force Aelita into whatever he wants!"

Anthea fell silent. Her lips parted silently, her brow furrowed, and her eyes became far-off. A long moment stretched out, punctuated by the sounds of the battle around them. For a moment, Jeremie thought he'd reached her.

But then she sighed and shook her head. His heart fell to his feet. "Even if that's true...one is dead and the other doesn't know me. I still belong to the Green Phoenix."

"No you don't! They're your captors!"

The sounds of battle were moving closer. He tugged on her hand, but she shook her head, adamant. "You...You should take this chance, Jeremie. Get out of here; no one will try to stop you. I'm so sorry you got caught up in all this."

"Anthea!" he yelled, but she firmly pulled her hand out of his and ran outside. Jeremie took a few hasty steps after her, but it was too late-she had already been swallowed up by the crowd.

Abject despair coursed through him. He'd somehow failed to kill XANA, he'd let XANA out of the First City, he'd failed to convince Anthea to leave, and now he'd lost sight of her-and there was no way he was going to find her again in all this. Can't I do anything right?!

Unwanted tears blurred his vision. He sniffed loudly and wiped an arm across his face. Quit being a baby, Jeremie! If you have time to cry, you have time to…

But it was too late. He couldn't hold back the sobs that were tearing their way out of his mouth. His laptop slipped from his arms and clattered to the concrete floor, useless. His whole body shook. Despite himself, he sank to the ground and curled into a ball.

Stop this! Get a grip! You need to figure out what to do!

But, like a computer that had overloaded itself with too many things at once, he had already crashed.


Even going at a sprint, even with his dogs and his reputation to clear a path, it took longer than Grigory would have liked to emerge from the death trap the tents had become. The whole time, he was all too aware of the sounds of combat growing fainter, the guns dying down, and the screams falling silent. For the first time in decades, perspiration prickled on his forehead.

But make it out he did, and he instantly sprinted towards the open factory doors. Outside, the Green Phoenix's various trucks and buggies had been parked, lined up all the way to the bridge. The area was deserted; had the guards abandoned their posts?

He had made it to his truck, and was even turning the keys in the ignition, when there was a heavy thump above him. The dogs began barking. Instinctively, he pulled out his pistol, clicked off the safety, pointed it at the ceiling, and emptied the chamber.

Silence. Grigory cocked his head and scanned the area. Empty. Still. Too still. Without looking at it, he slowly began to replace the magazine.

A hand punched through the windshield, grabbed him by the collar, and threw him face-first out of his car. He inhaled, tucked his elbows and knees close, and managed to turn his fall into a clumsy roll.

He jumped back up. As the soldier had said, a blonde, teenage girl was crouching on the roof of the truck, blue eyes shimmering. Slamming another magazine into his pistol, Grigory fired at XANA right as his dogs leapt.

He saw the bullets hit it in the chest-and yet they did nothing. Its form merely fizzled for a few seconds. His dogs passed through it. Then, its form solidified; it spun and kicked Scipio square in the chest. His dog flew several feet backwards, hit the side of a car, and slumped to the ground with a whimper.

Furious, Grigory fired again. Again, the bullets simply passed through the AI. XANA grabbed Hannibal midleap and spun, throwing him after his brother. Grigory gritted his teeth and, throwing down his pistol, pulled out a machete.

He lunged forward-the thing raised a hand-there was a flash of blue-white-

Pain erupted everywhere-it lasted forever and only a moment at once-

And then he knew nothing at all.


By the time Jeremie was able to wrestle back some semblance of control, the noises outside were dying down. The tent's flap was partially open, allowing him a glimpse of the camp. The mob of soldiers had dispersed; now the floor was littered with bodies. His heart stopped. He quickly scanned what he could see, and sighed in relief when he didn't spot gray hair or the white lab coat.

If things have settled down, maybe I'll have a better chance of finding Anthea.

Still, terror rooted him to the spot.

XANA was out there. XANA was out there, likely cleaning up the rest of the Green Phoenix forces. And soon he would come looking for Jeremie. If he found him…nobody would be able to save him, this time.

Or maybe I should try another Return to the Past? Could I go back to before I got kidnapped?

XANA had just killed all these soldiers, so if Jeremie went back and could hang on for a few days...they would die on their own. The Green Phoenix were done here, one way or the other.

But what about Anthea?

If XANA had killed her...

Swallowing, Jeremie picked up his laptop. He had no idea what he was going to do, whether he would find Anthea and try to escape right now or jump back and look for another opportunity to save her. But he couldn't just stay here, hiding and doing nothing.

He emerged into a bloody scene. He'd been able to see the bodies from a distant, objectively, and not really feel anything. Now that he was closer, he could see the frozen looks on the faces-of anger, or fear, or shock-as well as the features. That woman had a youthful, pimply face with a harelip. This man's face was old and lined, haloed by frizzy white hair. Over there was a lady with sharp, angular features and glasses.

These men and women were criminals and terrorists. But they had been living, breathing people, too. Seeing them up-close just made that fact more real.

Jeremie tore his gaze away from the bodies. He blinked several times. His legs were trembling. He forced himself to take a deep, cleansing breath, and gagged. The stench in the air-gunpowder, ozone, cooked meat...it was overwhelming.

Don't just stand here like an idiot! MOVE! But what? What was the smartest thing to do? What would save him and Anthea?

When his legs led him away from the camp's center, towards the elevator, he knew he'd made up his mind.

I'll try to jump back. This situation is just too dangerous. And even if I can't, I can use the cameras in the lab to find Anthea. It's better than wandering around aimlessly.

And then suddenly he was in the air, his laptop falling from his arms; Eva was right in front of him, a hand around his throat, eyes gleaming with victory.


XANA was jubilant.

Mago and Nictapolous had paid for the harm they'd inflicted on Aelita, Anthea, and himself. He was back in control of Carthage. And he had Jeremie Belpois by the throat. His victory was assured. All he had to do was squeeze and watch the boy's legs kick, his hands grasp futilely at Eva's fingers, his eyes grow vacant.

...

...

So why wasn't he?

XANA frowned. This was it! He'd won! With Belpois dead, the Lyoko Warriors would never be able to attack him directly, ever again. With Aelita in the Mirror, they would never be able to stop his atta-

Aelita.

He froze, staring into terrified blue eyes. She was talking with the other him, asking about the very boy he held in Eva's hands.

How long will it take her to find out that you killed Belpois?

Irrelevant. He had no choice. Belpois had to be the one who made him human, who made him weak! For that, he had to be eliminated! Even keeping him prisoner wasn't enough! He could keep the other Lyoko Warriors around for Aelita's sake, but not him!

She wasn't fine with all of them being your prisoners. Why on Earth would she be fine with you murdering one?

She wouldn't be, but-

Do you really think she'll forgive you if you do this?

That wasn't-

Or do you think you can just keep her prisoner until the loneliness breaks her-

Without thinking, he punched Belpois in the face, knocking him out. XANA dropped the boy and stared. Eva's chest heaved for air as he struggled to understand just what was happening.

He was done underestimating humans, so he could admit that maybe his victory wouldn't be easy, even if the Lyoko Warriors were gone. But as long as they stood in his way, victory would be impossible. He could admit that too. As long as they were alive and free, they would always try to fight him-and they were capable, oh yes. Far more capable than most.

And yet, for some reason, it was impossible for XANA to actually kill the Lyoko Warriors.

Not because he lacked the power. Not because he lacked the opportunities. Not because he lacked the hate. But because he cared about one girl more than...

More than...more than his conquest?

Horror seized him. No! NO! This can't be happening!

Agitated, frantic, he tried sending command after command into Eva's limbs. Stomp on Belpois' head. Snap his neck. Electrocute him until he writhed like a rat. Do something, anything to kill him and remove the threat so XANA could be safe!

Eva's body did not obey. Not because of interference, or lack of control, but because-

Because he simply wasn't able to do it. He had all the power and all the control and he wasn't able to use it, because somewhere along the line Aelita became more important than what he wanted.

No, even that was wrong. She'd always been the important one. He'd been spurred to seek power for her in the beginning. He'd wanted to use it to protect her. But then Hopper tried to kill him and protecting himself entered his priorities, and then he'd lost his mind and it became his only priority, and now even when he knew better, knew that only the strongest survive and that he'd better be on top, he couldn't make himself step on the bodies of Aelita's friends to get there. Just because he didn't want to hurt her.

When had it started? When had she slipped into his codes like a virus and changed the very way he worked? When he went back for Ulrich? When he went back for Richard? When he let William and Odd leave the Mirror? When he went into the Mirror and unearthed the secrets he'd buried himself? When he befriended Aelita in Eva's guise?

Or maybe it started the moment Aelita took her first steps into the First City, bright-eyed and sweet and eager to befriend him. Maybe he was doomed from the very beginning.

Eva's legs gave out at the epiphany. She collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

"I still hate you," XANA told Belpois's unconscious form after a moment. It was a true, but empty, proclamation. What good was hate when this damnable thing called a conscience stopped him from acting on it?


Aelita had woken up in the Mirror with terrible fear and no memory of what happened after she shut down the tower on Mago's orders. The thought that everything had been a dream had paralyzed her with horror, and she'd shouted for XANA. The relief she felt when he immediately appeared and reassured her otherwise was enormous.

He couldn't explain what had happened to her, but filled her in on what happened on his end-and then, what he was currently doing. It was extremely surreal to be sitting here, on a bench in Kadic in a virtual world, with her old friend-turned-enemy-turned-something, while he was simultaneously dismantling the Green Phoenix. To know that a few minutes ago, he had killed Mago while soothing her, killed the man with the dogs while sharing details of how Ulrich's father was killed. It was disturbing, both in itself and how normal it felt.

"My mother-?"

"Safe. She ran off to the infirmary tent; I'm leaving it alone."

"Jeremie-?"

He froze, his triumphant smile sliding off his face. And suddenly, Aelita remembered just how much XANA hated Jeremie. The breath was knocked from her lungs.

She leapt to her feet. "Is he okay? Have you hurt him?!"

If he hurt Jeremie-if he killed Jeremie-

"Aelita, stop!" he hissed. "I'm-I'm thinking."

"Thinking?! What's to think about? Is he alright, yes or no?!"

"YES!" he yelled. "Yes, your precious Belpois's fine. And you..."

He trailed off and dropped his head in his hands. Aelita waited, trembling from emotion and inwardly exalting that XANA hadn't hurt Jeremie.

After a long pause, XANA looked up at her, eyes stormy. Despite that, when he did speak, his voice was dull. "Congratulations. You win."

She blinked. "Excuse me?"

"I said, you win. You're a damned virus is what you are. When we first met, you infected me with these stupid things called a consience and love. I tried to purge you from myself and you came back stronger than before. And now my behavior is fundamentally changed. So congratulations. You saved your friends. You've won."

Her head was spinning. Everything was moving much too fast. "Wait, I...what are you saying? Are you saying you won't fight anymore?"

"I don't know what I'll do," he sneered. "But I know I can't make myself kill Belpois even though I literally had him in Eva's hands, just because of how you'll feel. So you've done what your father couldn't. You conquered me."

She opened her mouth. Closed it. Did you hear him right? Her brain asked her ears. We did, her ears said. But somewhere in the path between those two, there was a delay, a breakdown of communication. Because he'd just...

In a high, reedy voice, she finally managed, "I'm sorry, can you give me a minute?"

He lifted a shoulder in an apathetic shrug.

Sitting back down next to him, Aelita tried to process everything. Had XANA really just admitted that he physically couldn't kill her friends? It sounded like it-and because of her? What in the world…? This was what she'd hoped for, but to actually have it happen… Her feelings had been upended and spilled onto the floor in the span of minutes. Fear for Jeremie lay next to relief lay next to confusion lay next to this dizzy, increasing surrealness.

If she couldn't even work out what emotion was dominant right now or fully process what XANA was saying, how was she supposed to figure out what to say? Not "I'm sorry", because if this ended the fighting, then she wasn't. Not "is this a joke?" because if it wasn't, that might just set him off. Not "thank you" because that just seemed almost insultingly insubstantial.

"What does this mean for you, though?" Out of everything, THAT'S what you ask?! WHY?! Don't say or do anything that could make him change his mind!

But she had to know. Both because she cared, and because of how it would affect everyone else.

He scowled, a bit of old fire returning. "I suppose I'll do what I always do. Adapt. Change. Find a new way forward."

"Will you let us destroy Carthage?"

"No. I need it to protect myself."

"But as long as you hold onto it, the men in black will try to destroy you with it."

"Then I'll fight them."

Dread stole her breath. Frost crawled up her spine. "My friends and I...we won't be able to stand by if you do. We'll still end up fighting, but..." You won't be able to win.

He looked down. "Better to go down fighting than live hunted like a rabbit."

"No, it's not! I know a life on the run is hard, but dying isn't better!" She hesitated. "Why don't you just surrender?"

"Surrender?" His voice actually reached a whole new pitch. "You suggest I surrender? Aelita, do you know what will happen if I surrender? I'll tell you. They'll reconstruct Belpois' anti-XANA program and try to kill me, because everybody knows that even without Carthage, I'm too powerful to be contained. I refuse to sign my own death warrant."

A lightning bolt struck her mind. The anti-XANA program-Jeremie-what happened to him right after we beat Eva-

"XANA!" she gasped in excitement. "You could become a human!"

His face grew thunderous. "No."

"Yes!" This could work, she was sure of it! "If you become a human, you'll have the freedom you always wanted!"

"I'll be stuck in some disgusting fleshy vessel!"

"You could start a new life!"

"Ah yes, surrounded by other inferior humans, meandering in a pointless existence until the vessel falls apart!"

"You won't have to worry about being hunted down or being trapped in a computer!"

"Because I'll be pathetic and powerless!"

Aelita crossed her arms. "Well, for pathetic, powerless humans, we did a good job at holding you off, didn't we?"

He scowled, but had no response for that.

"XANA, c'mon. It's perfect. The men in black will have no reason to hunt you down or fight you if you give them Carthage, and you can bargain for your life!" Riding on the high of finding a solution, Aelita-in a bout of what she knew was foolishness even as it was coming out of her mouth-added, "Maybe you and my friends could even become friends!"

Immediately she winced. Oh wow, yeah, that's never gonna happen.

XANA barked a harsh laugh. "There are two people I care about: you, and me. The people you care about are only important to me insofar as their importance to you. If you stopped caring about Belpois this instant, I'd kill him without looking back. Your friends and I will never be friends." After a pause, he added, "Well, your mother might be a distant third."

She stared at him, struggling to comprehend that. It was so… How was it that he could make a monumental surrender, and yet be so heartless? There was a complete disregard for life in what he'd said, that life was only valuable if she thought so, not because life itself was precious. How could anyone think like that?

But there was something else he'd revealed, something much more frightening. He was, effectively, saying that he so lacked a conscience, she had become his conscience. And that-she couldn't be a conscience! She was human. She was flawed. She would make mistakes. What was he thinking, turning her into some kind of moral compass?

Aelita groaned. He wasn't thinking, of course. It had just happened to him-he'd said so himself. If that was supposed to flatter her or something, well, it didn't. All it did was drape this heavy pressure on her shoulders! Because now, if she made a bad call, there was a trigger-happy AI ready to carry it out.

Misinterpreting her silence, XANA sighed. "By asking me to become human, you're asking me to give up absolute power, consign myself to mortality, and place my life in the hands of my enemies. No, Aelita. I won't put myself in such a vulnerable position." He rose and began to walk away.

And with that, everything-the weight of the responsibility he'd unknowingly given her, her frustration with his stubborn clinging to power, the stress that had been steadily piling up the past few weeks-pulled tight and snapped. Aelita's fists clenched. "You're a coward," she growled.

He whirled around, face full of fury. "Excuse me?"

She leapt to her feet as well. "You heard me. I may not fully remember our past, but I know your defense mechanism is attacking, and you take it to the extreme. You attacked your own memories and feelings, locking them up when you couldn't deal with my amnesia. You continued to attack me and my friends and my father when you didn't want to face the consequences of your actions, furthering a pointless war. And now, you're digging in to fight because the alternative is giving up your precious power and trusting others. You are running from what scares you, merely in a different way. You are a coward."

He gaped at her, and some detached part of her brain found it funny that she'd actually stunned him into silence. The rest of her was too livid to care. "You think I don't get fear? I'm terrified that Dido might go back on her word and erase all our memories. I'm terrified that she might take Mommy and me far away from my friends-and yes, that includes you. I'm terrified of what she might do to everyone I love. I'm terrified of what you might do! But you are the one who lets fear control you, as though-"

"You're right."

It took the words a couple of seconds to register. "-that justifies hurting everyo-what?"

Aelita reeled, all of her steam destroyed with two syllables. She blinked rapidly. Did he just admit…?

"You're right," he repeated. He did. The rage and arrogance that were permanently etched in his features were gone, replaced by contemplation. "I hate that word...but what else applies? I saw how Hopper's fear shadowed everything he did. It disgusted me. I never wanted to end up cowering like that. So every time I felt afraid, I lashed out, and if there was something I didn't like but couldn't destroy, I buried it. I never tried to face it. What is that if not cowardice?"

Hearing him admit she was right stunned Aelita. Listening to him explain his reasons without trying to justify them doused her anger. But still, she said nothing, and still, he kept talking.

"Hopper's fear made him paranoid. Stern's fear made him a grovelling traitor. But my fear, married to my thirst for power, fed by my rebelliousness, and counselled by my rage?" He smiled wryly, ironically. "My fear made me a tempest. And it cannot be quelled."

Something painful and raw clawed at her chest. "Even when it's going to spend itself destroying everything?"

For a long, silent moment, he didn't answer her. His gaze drifted to the clouds overhead. Birds chirped. Students talked and laughed as they walked through Kadic's grounds. The sunlight danced on his hair and brought his red eyes to brightness.

When he did look back at her, his eyes seemed uncharacteristically sad. "It's too late for me, Aelita," he said quietly. "I murdered your father. I've hurt you and your friends a thousand ways. I've committed countless acts of terrorism. There's no coming back from that."

"You don't know that." A plea entered her voice. "You can at least try, even if you think it's too late. What do you have to lose?"

"Power. My life."

"Your lust for power will cost you your life! Carthage will cost you your life, just like it did Daddy and Mago, if you don't let it go. But if you do, you might get a chance to live."

"In a human prison."

"Probably. That doesn't mean it's the end of the road. As long as you're alive, you have chances and opportunities. You can start over."

He just looked at her.

She held out her hand. "Please. I'll help you."

This, Aelita knew, was her last chance. If she couldn't convince XANA, here and now, to surrender, he might leave her and her friends alone...but he would go back to secretly consolidating power. And, when Dido's forces inevitably tried to destroy the supercomputer, he would fight back, the war would start anew, and the Lyoko Warriors would end up part of it. She would fight him, because it was his job to decide to change, not hers to make him. It would hurt, but she would fight him. With the men in black on her side and XANA reluctant to hurt her friends or her, she would probably win.

But the cost-the new traumas for her and her friends, the lives he wouldn't balk at taking, his life-would be too high.

Relieved tears filled her eyes when he placed his hand in hers and softly said, "Alright, Aelita. We'll do it your way. For your sake."


A/N: So those last few parallels: Anthea had a hand in creating Carthage, while Aelita has a hand in ending it. And both are the keystone for defeating their personal antagonist-Anthea by setting in motion the events that led to Mago's death, Aelita by reawakening XANA's emotions and becoming his conscience. Hence the title chapter.

Speaking of, that trope is kind of interesting to me because it seems like it would be really detrimental in the long run. Having one's morality revolve around a single person paves the way for moral relativism (ie, XANA saying "It's okay to kill someone if Aelita says it is!"), which is complete bullshit. Not to mention, wouldn't that one person feel a lot of pressure? Not just to "steer" the other in the right direction, but to maintain their relationship lest consequences happen? What about the fear and stress of making a bad call or dying?

In the short run, however, I think it could work to facilitate real change, the real growth of a conscience, real redemption. ...which goes back into something I had to figure out before I started this: how the hell do you redeem XANA? That wasn't something I necessarily had to keep from the novels, but I wanted to partially because I dig redemption stories, and partially because I wanted to see if it could be done. The novels' version mostly worked for novel!XANA (tho I had problems with the "let's just sweep you murdering Hopper under the rug" thing), but novel!XANA isn't as...oh, what's the word...much of a bastard. CDE!XANA is a lot more power-hungry, rebellious, angry, and was basically dragged back, kicking and screaming, by Aelita. Can that really be called redemption?

Well, he did agree to give up Carthage and surrender, when he very well could have decided to take down as many people as possible with him. In the mental image I had of XANA, that's basically the biggest sacrifice he could make. It's a start, at least. I certainly hope I pulled off his mental process and journey in getting to that point!