The Death of All 2

The three ran to Sector Five's outer dome interface. Aelita quickly pressed it open as the others stood guard. "Jeremie, we're gonna need those vehicles," Yumi said.

"On it, but it might take some time." That's when mantas gracefully flew toward them from the northern tip.

"We're running out of time," Odd said. Just then, a white sphere materialized out of nowhere. "What's Franz Hopper doing here?"

"He's buying you guys time. Make sure you don't let him get hurt!" Jeremie shouted. Meanwhile, William ducked another swing from the specter. The specter kicked him, but William rolled out of the way. The teen huffed and panted like a mad dog. His shoulder was aching, his legs didn't respond to him, and his lungs screamed every time he breathed. Aiming its hand, the specter shocked William.

"AHHHHHHH!" He screamed until he laid unconscious on the floor. The specter focused on Sissi, who was still splicing wires. It marched toward her when

BZZZZZZZZ!

Ulrich zapped the specter to the ground and rushed over to Sissi. "What are you doing?"

"Making sure we have enough power to do this," She grunted as she pulled the last wire. "Okay, it's done." She stood up and spun to the specter. As it rose, growling and snarling, Sissi scowl at it with a mix of fear and rage. "Leave him to me." Ulrich stepped back. She crossed her arms over her chest and set them back. A dull low hum echoed in the chamber. Slowly, Sissi's hair started to float as if static electricity coursed through her. The specter sprint at lightning speed and threw a punch. Sissi blocked it. The Specter buzzed uncontrollably, clutching its head and stumbling back. It growled. What new concoction was this? "This is my greatest invention. It's a full-body electric suit." Sissi cracked her knuckles. "Let's finish this." She charged at the Specter, punching left and right. The Specter jumped back and zapped her. Sissi blocked it with her hand. The Specter hopped to the wall like a frog and sprinted over her. Sissi threw her bolts of lightning, but couldn't hit it. Jumping down, the Specter aimed its hand at Ulrich, but Sissi charged and tackled it to the ground. She cocked her fist back. The Specter disappeared and reformed behind her. It zapped her to the wall, but it felt like a punch to the gut. Sissi got back up, panting. Time was running out. Her split ends caused by the electricity were wearing down. The battery on the suit was wearing down... as usual.

Then,

"I can't get enough power to start the program!" Jeremie shouted from the computer room. Sissi looked down. She was standing on the wire she had been working on. She picked up the wire in one hand.

"Come on, XANA! What's wrong? Afraid of me?" Sissi taunted. The Specter grinned evilly. It made a huge aura of electricity around its body. Sparks and streams of energy crackled at every corner of the reactor room. The Specter aimed his charged hand and fired a high-voltage blast at Sissi. The Mechanist held up her hand.

"AAAHHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed. It didn't block the electricity. Energy ripped through her body like knives were going through her veins. The suit was insulated but to a point. The energy bolted through her arm and out to her other, right into the power Reactor.

"NOOOOOO!" growled the Specter. It was giving Jeremie more power to run his program. In the control booth, Einstein couldn't figure out where the power was coming from, but he wasn't going to waste it.

"Aelita! Start the program!" Jeremie shouted. Aelita slammed the digital button. A huge load of energy poured into the core of Lyoko, and tiny white balls popped out of the center and moved out. They spread out of the dome, taking down the mantas that were hurting Franz Hopper, and ventured out further and further, taking down every trace of XANA's presence.

"GHARAAHAHAGAGHAGAAAHH!"

Wailing, the Specter suddenly stopped its electrocution. It dropped to the ground and fizzled into a massive black ghost, moving and aching in pain. It formed something like a man and face put together, screaming in digital agony. "It's working!" Jeremie exclaimed, "XANA is... dying."

Sissi weakly shut her suit off as she watched the digital ghost scream in agony. She slammed to her knees. The last thing she saw was the mark of XANA slowly disappear into the air. "It's... it's finished," she wheezed out. Suddenly, everything went black.

"Sissi!" Ulrich shouted far away in her ear.

Her eyes didn't want to move. She slowly blinked them open. Her head and body felt like lead, and she couldn't make out the ceiling for the life of her. Was that her ceiling? No. It couldn't be. There were voices around her, but she couldn't decipher them just yet. Slowly her head stopped swimming. That's when she realized that it was still daytime, even though the room was darker. She took a deep breath. Gosh, the ache in her chest felt like breathing against thorns. Her head. She had to turn her head. She flopped it to the side. Her vision wasn't cleared yet, but she saw hairs: Two yellow, one brown, two black, and one pink. "G-G-Guys?" She struggled to speak.

"She's awake," Odd said. Now her ears started working. Slowly but surely, consciousness came to Sissi's brain. "What were you thinking?! You nearly got yourself killed!"

"Odd, not so loud," Aelita quieted. Sissi grunted in pain. Surprisingly, the suffering in her leg wasn't as bad as the bus accident. Trembling, she pulled herself up only to flop back down. Her back and abdomen ached, but it was growing less and less.

"Easy, you were badly hurt when Ulrich and William brought you up," Yumi said, "Odd hasn't stopped pacing around."

"Sorry," Sissi grunted out.

"But we did it, Sissi. We finally did it," Jeremie smiled. Sissi couldn't make a face. She just rested her head back and closed her eyes. Finding the strength in her arm, she reached over and scratched her forearm. Jeremie slapped her hand away, "Don't scratch that." Sissi looked at her arm. It was bandaged with some white gauze. "You had a scar from your hand to your shoulder. It's light but it will take some time to heal," Jeremie explained. "You scared us, though. We thought your heart stopped, but he helped take care of you."

Sissi weakly lifted her head. "He?" By now, her vision was clear. She was at the Hermitage on Aelita's bed. Then a man walked into the room. He had burgundy pants with a gray wool sweater. He was taller than XANA depicted him to be. There in the doorway was Franz Hopper.

"I'm glad to see our patient is healthy. It's been a while since I've done medical work. You're an extraordinarily brave girl, Mrs. Delmas," He said. Sissi finally found the strength to sit up, with Odd's help. "And I thank you for making your sacrifice to defeat XANA."

"Sacrifice? Oh no! Did I lose a limb or something?" Sissi frantically checked herself.

"No, no," Hopper chuckled, "But your body took a major toll."

"Hehe. It's always taken a toll," Sissi chuckled. She smiled at Jeremie. "So the program worked."

"Yes, you were able to supply the amount of power I needed to launch the program," Jeremie said.

"It wasn't her," Ulrich spoke up, "Her suit transferred the energy from the Specter to the computer. XANA was powering his own fall."

"Thank you, Sissi," Aelita smiled with a tear-streaked face. Fresh new ones coursed down, but Aelita still smiled. She tightly hugged Sissi. "Thank you."

"Anything for you Princess. Besides, a Queen has to keep her loyal subjects alive," Sissi smirked, but she wiped Aelita's eyes nonetheless.

"Sure everything's fine and dandy, but do you know what kind of panic we were all in!" Odd marched up to her. Sissi rolled her eyes as Odd raged on. "You could have been hurt badly or worse! How in the world could you-" She grabbed his collar, pulled Odd down, and kissed him on the lips. The blonde's eyes widened, and he couldn't find his words as she released him.

"I love you too, dog for brains," Sissi smiled.

"Hehe, I told you," Yumi smirked at William, "You owe me a soda."

"Funny, you also owe me one too," Ulrich said.

"No, I don't."

"Yes, you do."

"Guys, guys, if you're going to have your lovers' fight, do it outside," Sissi said. Ulrich and Yumi blushed while everyone laughed. Suddenly, Sissi noticed something. "Hey, it's gone!"

"What's gone?" Aelita asked.

"Ever since the Incident, I felt a weight on my back and brain anytime XANA was around. But... now it's gone."

"Yeah, I felt the same thing," Odd said.

"I think we all did," Jeremie added, "But why?"

"You described to me how Mrs. Delmas came into your group. I believe it is possible that part of XANA's digital signature was imprinted onto Sissi. That's why she was able to have this hypersensitivity. It's theoretical, but it is possible that a kind of radiation spread over all of you after being exposed to her for so long."

"So XANA was radioactive and destroying him got the bad stuff out of us?" Odd asked.

"That's a simplified way of saying it, but yes."

"That could explain it. But it doesn't explain the-"

"We already tried to explain the jump back in time, Jeremie," Sissi chuckled, "Let's just agree it was a weird miracle."

"I agree," Aelita smiled.

The team came up with an excuse to Delmas and the nurse about Sissi's injuries. Apparently, she accidentally touched an electric fence. Who knew? The next day, after finding another alias for Franz Hopper to work under, the team decided to shut down the supercomputer. Franz Hopper thought to completely destroy it, but the team decided it would be safer not to. Besides, it was hard to get rid of the radioactive material inside of it. A few weeks later, Sissi sat and looked out her window with a small smile. The full weight of the sun's peaceful rays fell on her, soothing her very spirit when a knock at the door came. "Come in," She said.

Odd and William opened up. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah, I think I am," Sissi replied. Odd nodded quickly. The Mechanist rolled her eyes. "It's fine, dog for brains. It's just another test to see if my leg's fine."

"I know," Odd sighed, "Sorry for worrying."

"Has it been hurting?" William asked.

"Actually, after shutting down the supercomputer? No," Sissi answered. "I haven't even used the cane for the past two weeks." Just then, Mr. Delmas came in.

"Are you ready Sissi?"

"Yes, Daddy," she replied. She left her cane on the bed.

"Are you sure you don't want to bring your cane?" Odd and Mr. Delmas asked. The two looked at each other. A weird connection now bounded them.

Sissi laughed, "I'll be fine. I don't need it... not anymore."

The doctor examined each structure carefully. He glanced from the black paper to the crowd in the room. "You know," The doctor grunted slightly, "We normally don't allow this many people inside one room."

"Oh we're her friends, sir," Odd said.

"We wanted to make sure she was alright," Aelita added with a charming smile. The doctor sighed and looked at the papers again.

"Well, it seems like another miracle has happened for you, Mrs. Delmas. Your leg has completely healed. There's no sign of weakness or abnormality."

"YAHHOOOO! Alright! HAHA!" The Lyoko warriors cheered. Though shaking his head, the doctor couldn't stop smiling.

"I would just say make sure that you eat properly. Your nutrition markers are better but still low."

"Don't worry Doc," said Odd. "I'll make sure that she eats well."

"More like you'll steal my food, you gluttonous pig," Sissi laughed.

"Alright, alright, settle down children," Mr. Delmas calmly said. "Thank you, doctor."

"My pleasure." Later on, Sissi scooped the dirt up with her shovel and placed the cane in the hole she dug near the Hermitage. It was strange. Her brain called her a weirdo for doing it. But it needed to happen. She looked at her old companion and friend. It still had the hastily drilled in bits of screws and nails on its shaft. Its battery was completely used up, but it was better that way. She didn't want people getting hurt if it was dug up. She heaved the dirt back over the cane and lightly packed it down. Her mind felt a gentle wind through her thoughts. No rushing currents or strong wind as usual in her head. Just calm sea breezes. Sissi stood up, shoved the shovel right at the head of the 'grave', and turned to leave. But she stopped. She looked back and sighed.

"I must be crazy," she muttered. But eulogies should always be given at funerals. She took a deep breath. "Thank you... cane. You've done a lot for me. I know something like this is... so stupid and ridiculous. I shouldn't have even buried you. I should have just chucked you away. But... you represent a lot to me. I guess... you represent my weakness. That I can't do anything by myself. I don't know." She could feel her pride mocking her, but her heart kept going on. "And I know... that I couldn't have done any of this... without you... and my friends. I know I've treated your older 'brothers' badly... especially the one that I... killed." She started tearing up. "Ugh! Why am I crying over a silly cane?" She would have laughed if she could. "But thank you. I guess... you're my old life. My shallow, vain life before I knew who XANA was. Before I knew who I was. But you helped me through this...this new life, and I'm never going back. So I guess that's why I'm burying you. Because...I have to live my new life." She wiped her eyes and turned away. She looked over her shoulder and smiled. "Goodbye, old friend." Then she left with the silent breeze floating over the buried cane.

Continued...