Severed!
The Tower loomed into sight. A churning red mist was easily visible near its top. Yumi and Odd didn't notice this for they'd seen it all too often. Instead, they instinctively watched their surroundings for enemies. The run to the Tower was unusually quiet and deserted. It quickly made even Odd uneasy.
Stopping in front of the Tower, they looked up at its heights. The same thought passed through minds; this is too easy.
"What's wrong?" Jeremy asked via his communication link. "Did you see something? I'm not picking up any monsters in Lyoko."
"That's just it," Yumi said. "I've got a bad feeling about going in there, Jeremy. Xana's up to something."
"Yumi!" Jeremy said. It was infuriating for him. He understood Yumi's caution, but Aelita was in danger and he wanted to help her. "I know what you're talking about. But please hurry! Aelita's in danger!"
"I'll go," Odd said. "If I don't come out in a few, then you'll have to save two."
He gave a small grin as he said the last part. Though it was true, it had a warped sense of humor: Odd's signature. Yumi couldn't help but to smile as well.
"Sure," Yumi said.
Sitting down on the ground, she waited as Odd phased into the Tower. Minutes crept by slowly. To contend herself, Yumi watched the landscape for enemies.
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They couldn't believe what happened next. Three things happened almost instantaneously. An enemy icon flared to life behind Yumi, from the Tower interior. Yumi had enough time to grunt in surprise as she was pulled violently inside. Then the monitor that they were watching it all from went black. After a moment, two words flashed on to the screen: Connection Severed.
Jeremy almost instantly jumped into action. Punching into the keyboard countless commands, he began growling and talking to himself. With each command he entered, the following words answered: Unable: bad command
"What happened?" Ulrich asked slowly, fearing the answer.
"Xana must've hacked into the supercomputer files," Jeremy said, more to himself than Ulrich. "I'd have to say that it deleted the connection to Lyoko. I can't bring it up anymore!"
"How can it do that?"
"We have always had a weak link between Earth and Lyoko," Jeremy said quietly. "It was always the supercomputer'smemory that kept that contact. I guess Xana realized this and..."
"What can we do?"
"I'll have to either reboot the whole system and do a systems' check," he leaned back and rubbed his eyes for a moment. Replacing his new glasses on the bridge of his nose, he continued, "Or I could do a check on recent history and force open the file on Lyoko…but Xana could've tampered with supercomputer to prevent us from doing either of those."
Jeremy sat there and glared at the monitor. He weighed the chances of success of the options he'd just listed. They were very slim to none if Xana had seriously wanted to terminate the Earth and Lyoko connection. But, ever the genius, he couldn't help but wonder if Xana was trying to stall them or something.
"Do you have any other ideas?" Ulrich asked, startling Jeremy. "Can't you try searching a file in Lyoko, a minor file if need be?"
"Ah…" Jeremy stopped himself from answering as he considered. "Well, first we'd need a state-of-the-art search engine and we don't—"
Ulrich watched as his friend suddenly had a distant look envelope his eyes. He started muttering incoherent words and sentences that Ulrich couldn't understand. The trance lasted almost two minutes while he waited patiently.
Snapping back to reality, Jeremy's voice strained as he faced Ulrich. "I had been hoping to use this program to eventually cure Aelita…but I guess that I don't have a choice anymore. Ulrich; run back to my room. I have a red disk inserted into my laptop, get and bring it here. Hurry, we need it right now."
Nodding, he rushed to the elevator.
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The subtle cries of young girl weeping could barely be heard from behind the locked door. She never cried. She never had an emotional breakdown. She always prided herself with knowing that could control her feelings. And yet, she wept. For the first time, she cried for her own ignorance and stupidity.
Face buried in the small, pink heart pillow, Sissi cried. Dressed in her pajamas, she was tangled in the sheets of her bed. Her long black hair was matted to her sweaty and tear-stricken face and was left uncombed.
She had fumed for hours after Ulrich had last spoken to her. She just couldn't understand why Ulrich felt that she didn't understand how to love. She had avoided everyone on Saturday, staying locked in her room except for meals. Sissi spent the day trying to understand why her dearest love was always so cold to her.
Her questions had finally allowed something to break loose inside herself. It was a small voice that only whispered at first. But the more she tired to silence it, the louder it became. It repeated only one question for her; a question that she'd always tried to ignore. Do you understand love?
Of course I do, she had screamed at it. She had finally realized that she'd never be rid of it until it was satisfied.
Tell me, it said patiently.
Love is where you spend time with your lover, she said. You go on dates, kiss, and have fun.
Yes, the voice said. And no. Love is where you go to great lengths and pains to make the person who is truly special to you happy. Love isn't about receiving or image…it is about giving and talking. Have you ever given Ulrich anything?
The obvious truth hurt her. When she realized this, Sissi started crying. She had cried herself into a deep, dreamless slumber. When she woke, she'd started crying again.
Pushing herself up, she wiped her red eyes. Pulling her pillow over, she'd opened it to reveal her diary. Scanning through the pages, she found her picture of the bearer of her love. She had taken the picture more than a week ago, at the theaters. The picture was her most precious possession. Returning her attention to the empty page underneath it, she poured her newest revelation onto it.