Jeremy looked at the logs of both the findings of the last months and the events that were from the time before the fateful night he turned the supercomputer on. A lot had corrupted partly because of the time passing, partly because of sabotage done by X.A.N.A. and partly because of the numerous time skips Franz Hopper made to repeat a single day years ago. All attempts at connecting a single old virtualization log to anyone except Aelita and Franz had failed for now, and, what is more, the additional logs without a Lyoko Warrior to be connected to merely generated more questions. There were two years between the supercomputer's creator and Mary and the others' disappearance — and if Daphne and Alice, who disappeared three years before, were taken into the equation, potential people who have ended up on Lyoko may have been kidnapped already five years before the supercomputer — but still all the information the freed ones and William had been able to give over ten years later pointed to X.A.N.A. — and only to X.A.N.A. Even Hopper's Project Carthage did not match as it could not do anything like what was on X.A.N.A.'s level at any point of its lifecycle.
Something did not match in this timeline and Jeremy could not help thinking that someone was lying. But who? He had checked Hopper's claims on Project Carthage while he had looked into the strange virtual world the others had found during their searches, and they were true. What remained was a pile a consistent, separately given and most likely independent testimonies: Mary's story about her background, William's confirmation to the kidnapping story after being freed of X.A.N.A., Sophie's story about how she ended up to the Crystal Labyrinth and Eleonora and Charlie's story about how they ended up into the Skidbladnir's wreck. At least it seemed like none of them had gotten influences from the others, so a coherent lie could not be in question unless the kidnapped had agreed on it before ending up on different ways, which in turn was not likely at all due to the long separation. Besides, what would any of them gain from lying? Nothing.
Even if X.A.N.A. had modified the quartet's memories and erased the lost two years, they still did not tell how X.A.N.A. could have done anything before its creation, let alone where it would have kept anyone hidden before the supercomputer — Project Carthage had not had anything related to virtualization going on at any point, so it could not have affected that either. Had someone else kidnapped the quartet, kept them for two years and lost them to X.A.N.A., who also eventually modified William's memory to match the story?
On the other hand, the news Jeremy had found about the kidnappings matched the story, but could he trust them? It was already known that X.A.N.A. could affect the flow of information on some level, so could it also feed him modified articles?
And why had the four of them aged on Lyoko but Aelita and Franz had not?
There had to be something they did not know. But what?
"It's weird to look at these photos." Mary turned the page. "I can barely recognize these people."
"Even yourself?" William asked.
"Yeah," Mary answered. "On the other hand, I can barely recognize anyone from the album with photos of us five, so maybe it's not a surprise... I just can't connect the carefree children of the photos to us. So much has happened since then."
"Maybe you're trying too much," William remarked. "Everyone changes a lot during their first years."
"I guess so..."
"Or maybe one problem is that you were alone for too long," William theorized. "I can recognize us all from the pictures easily, so maybe the isolation from others affected the fact somehow. You'd at least think that it'd have some effect."
"At least my social skills always feel too weak," Mary sighed. "The relations to the original group seem to weaken week by week and I don't know what I'm doing wrong."
"Well, in my opinion I have decent social skills but I'm not doing any better with them," William stated. "Relationships are a two-way street. The one on the opposite side has to do something right too for it to work. Besides, for someone who was alone in a supercomputer for over a decade, you're doing very well in social situations."
Mary gave a laugh without humor. "So X.A.N.A. did speak enough with me."
"Yeah. Don't worry, Mary. All of this will turn better."
"An eternal optimist to the end, huh?"
"Even after the end," William assured, smiling.
Mary could not help smiling, but when she turned her eyes from her best friend back to the album, that smile died. She barely remembered herself what Daphne looked like.
The searches had borne little fruit yet, but perhaps if they continued a little longer, something would be found, if they only searched from a place they had not investigated yet.
"William?"
"Yes?"
"Do you want to become my partner in crime?"
That question William could not have expected even in his dreams. "Um... What crime are you planning?"
Mary could not help grinning at the confusion she saw. "I'll snatch the Skid and go search for Daphne myself. Without the others."
"What do you need me for in that?"
"If Jeremy doesn't know anything about this, it'd be good if I had someone helping at the supercomputer." Mary winked.
William chuckled. "Admittedly, the thought about complicity on this level speaks to my inner rebel. I'll become your partner in crime."
Mary's grin grew so big that it downright hurt. "I was hoping that you'd answer that way."
"All systems online. Ready to dive."
"Everything's working here as well. Be careful, Mary."
"Of course. The Skid needs to be returned without a scratch so that no one notices a thing." Mary grinned while she flew the Skidbladnir under the surface. The grin faded little by little as she headed towards the areas that had not been chartered yet. "It's strangely liberating to work on my own for a change..."
"I believe that," William leaned against the back of the chair. Now that he was alone in the lab, a tiny fear that they would get caught had started to creep in his mind. However, he did not voice it; Mary had tried to steer the exploration of the Digital Sea to new areas when the current areas of investigation had not yielded any finds over time, and if she was ready to risk the group's wrath to get answers, he would not leave her to adventure in the network alone. Right now, she needed more support than any of the newest Lyoko Warriors even realized.
If only he could tell their three friends even something about what was going on or that Mary needed their support. However, it was nearly a miracle that she had asked for help even from him, so he could not betray that trust by blabbing to the others.
If only there had been an easy solution to even this dilemma.
After over an hour, Mary stated. "Now I found something! William, look! It looks like a Guardian!"
When video footage appeared on the screen, William straightened himself on the chair. "Is there someone in there?"
"I'm going closer." Mary decreased the speed and maneuvered the submarine next to the orange bubble. "I can't see in there well, but there is something in there. I'll send the data to the supercomputer and return to Lyoko. Jeremy has to see this."
"How are you going to tell him about this?" William asked. He had not even come to think that they could find something on this secret expedition.
"I won't tell anything." Mary pressed the final buttons and turned the Skidbladnir back to Lyoko's direction. "He'll get to find these files himself. If he figures out who's behind them, then he will. It's a different matter whether or not he tells that to the others."
In the next morning, Jeremy turned his computer on to analyze the final files. Although, this time files he had not seen before popped open. "What now?" Click. "Files from the Digital Sea from yesterday? But no one has been on Lyoko..." More clicks. "Great. We were missing people going solo..."
"Where will we fish today?" Odd asked while gnawing a fish finger.
"I found something in a nearby area," Jeremy told. "It might be that we'll find someone trapped now."
"Really?" Mary asked, seeming surprised.
Jeremy nodded. "I'll investigate the data more closely during the day but it might be that we will bring someone lost home tonight."
"Awesome!" Sophie called out, excited. "Maybe we'll finally find Daphne!"
Charlie glanced at Eleonora from the corner of his eye and decided to be silent upon seeing her expression darken. Or maybe we'll find Alice...
There was only one way to find out.
/Code Lyoko (c) Moonscoop, Lyokostar story series and its original characters (c) Me/