Note: IF THIS CHAPTER GOES THE WAY I WANT IT TO THERE WILL BE A MASSIVE SPOILER ABOUT XANA'S TRUE IDENTITY AND THE ORIGIN OF AELITA AND THE ORIGIN OF LYOKO! AND YES I SAID A SPOILER I FOUND IT ON THE FRENCH CODE LYOKO SITE, THE OFFICIAL ONE YOU! HAVE! BEEN! WARNED!
"Excuse me?" Odd asked as he peered at the XANA/elf.
Aelita's eyes went very round.
Ulrich fell into a fighter's crouch. But Jeremie got there first. With a snarl he punched the Aelita/XANA doppelganger in the stomach. The doppelganger went flying backwards. She growled and straightened herself up. "You'll pay for that." Said XANA with a growl.
In about 2 seconds Jeremie found himself flat on his back struggling against Xana and trying to block several very well aimed punches. Ulrich managed to pull Xana off of Jeremie, but not before Xana had fangs, yes fangs bared and snarling at Jeremie.
Then the demon tried a different tack. "Aelita… how are you and Jeremie doing…?" Xana said with a seductive smirk. "Or maybe you prefer a lifemate with a more… Asian flavor?"
"How… how do you… you used my memories…"
"Girl, I don't need your memories, I can read your mind… you and I are connected and that bond will /never/ be broken…" Xana took Aelita's chin in her hand and pulled Aelita close to her with the other hand. It was clear to the others what Xana wanted to do. Jeremie gasped as Xana pulled Aelita into a kiss.
Aelita froze in fear, then her face became a mask of revulsion as she brought a knee into Xana's chest. "Don't touch me! DON'T TOUCH ME!" She screamed, falling on her back and scooting crabstyle backwards until her back touched the wall. Fear, loathing, revulsion crossed her face.
"Xana what do you want with her?" Yumi demanded.
A demented smile crossed the doppelganger's face. "To be human, totally, fully human with my /memories/ intact!" Xana growled. "And she has them! Fah 'Lita, take your memories of your stupid exboyfriend back. I don't want them, I just needed them to give me that one little oomph needed to take this form. Now that I can take it I don't need them." Xana sneered. She tossed a ball of golden light at Aelita. Aelita took the ball and pressed it against her chest.
"/Ex/Boyrfriend?" Asked Yumi as she moved from where she'd stood paralyzed. "Did something happen between you two?"
"None of your business Yumi." Jeremie growled, but the slightest trace of fear crossed his face. "Er…."
"What are you staring at?" Demanded Xana.
"I always thought you were a… guy…"
"Oh really?" Xana asked with a silky smile.
"Er… yeah… I mean… you took the form of Franz Hopper that one time…"
"Bah! Grandfa? That old coot!" Xana sneered. "He's the one who did this to me in the first place. It's his fault! His!" Jeremie saw, for the barest moment, a confused frightened child instead of a demonic monster.
Ulrich obviously didn't see it. "Like we care?" He asked with a growl.
Gwen blinked. "Hopper is your grandfa?" She asked curiously. "He's my grandfather too."
"Duh! Why do you think I let you /into/ Lyoko in the first place! You're my sister idiot!"
Gwen gasped, so did the others. "Sis…sister?" Gwen made a face. "But… how?"
"Don't make me tell you the birds and bees story." Xana sneered.
"I don't mean how! I mean /how/" Gwen demanded. "You're evil!"
"Oh, so you're miss goody two shoes? How lovely." Was the sneer. "Tell me Gwen, didn't you ever think that there could be more than one child per family?" Xana asked, lips curled in a snarl of bitter rage.
"Wait a minute… if you're related to Gwen, and Gwen is related to Aelita… then…" Odd began, then his jaw dropped. "You're lying…"
"Getting warmer…" Xana said with an evil smirk. "Since you're so keen to figure out my background I'll give you a riddle, solve it and you'll solve everything… Darkness and Light, Once whole, once met, Seek to become one, But with the aid of those who love us, Can this tragedy be prevented? And can life be lived again?"
Jeremie thought about it carefully. "Regular sphinx aren't you XANA?" He muttered. "Darkness and light… Xana's obviously the darkness…"
"But then who's the light?" Asked Yumi, casting a nervous glance at Xana.
Xana snickered… "You mean you see her every day and you don't realize… oh how stupid can you be! It should be obvious!" She cackled.
So young… Jeremie thought… And yet she acts so old... "The aid of those who love us… wait a minute… Aelita's the light!"
"Me?" Aelita's eyes went round in fear.
"Once whole?" Yumi moved closer to Aelita, taking the frightened girl comfortingly into her arms.
"Me? NO! NEVER! I WAS NEVER PART OF YOU!" Aelita scrabbled backwards. In the dim light of the scanner room her expression was unreadable. But her voice was filled with terror.
"So close Jeremie… so close that you can taste it… but yes, for all intents and purposes Aelita was a part of me…" Xana said with a smirk. "Or rather… I was part of her…"
"NO!" Aelita gasped, finally bursting into tears.
"Yes… dear child, I am you… and you are me… ying and yang we will do the dance of opposites for all eternity, damned by the parents who claimed to love us… They obviously hadn't heard the phrase 'if you love it, let it go…'" Xana smirked.
Aelita could only stare into Xana's face, a face so much like her own that it was horrible to look upon. "No…" She said suddenly, standing to face her enemy in the face. "I'm not like you… I could have been, a long… long time ago…. But I'm not… and I never will be… and I'm VERY glad of that!"
Xana sneered. "You will become a part of me again! And once you do! I'll finally be human again!" Xana snarled as she disappeared.
"Ouch…" Odd commented.
"Aelita, are you okay?" Yumi asked worriedly.
Aelita had tears in her eyes. "I hate her! I hate her! I could never have been part of her! She's evil and I'm… I'm…"
"Pure good? Aelita it's okay…" Jeremie assured her.
"It's… it's so… I can't wrap my brain around it… she was never part of me…" Aelita kicked the nearest scanner. "I wish I could remember what happened before the supercomputer was turned back on."
"Something tells me you should be careful what you wish for." Odd warned.
They made it back to their separate rooms in silence. Aelita flopped on her back on the bed, rolled over, and cried. Gwen didn't feel very much better. Although she found XANA's nepotism amusing her purpose was not. Gwen got up, walked over to Aelita's bed, sat down, and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "You okay?"
Aelita let out a murmph noise and shook her head, a soft sob reaching her ears. "You know, XANA could have been lying."
Aelita shook her head again. "I know she's not. When… when she kissed me… I sensed that everything she was saying was true. I could see into her mind… probably through the virus. It hurt Gwen… but everything she was saying was true…"
"In an especially warped way." Gwen said bitterly. "Aelita…. Oh if I could take away tonight I would… there are nicer ways to find out the truth…" Gwen lay down next to Aelita and pulled the AI into her arms. "But think of it this way… you gained a sister… me… and a brother… Mikael… nothing can take that away… you've got family now…"
"And that feels even weirder Gwen. Have you ever read the book Ender's Shadow? I feel like Bean… I find my family… but look how different they are from me?" Aelita rolled over, resting her face in the crook of Gwen's chest.
There was a knock on the door. "It's open…"
Jeremie came in. "Aelita are you… oh no… Aelita…" His tone was genuinely sympathetic.
"Go ahead and say it Jeremie… you hate me because I'm related to XANA…" Aelita sobbed.
"I don't hate you Aelita… I could never hate you… it's not where you came from… it's what you do with you life… and you've done more than most people do in ten lifetimes…"
"What's wrong?" Sissy asked, poking her face in. "Oooooh somebody's turned on the waterworks…" She said with an obnoxious smirk.
"Sissy, go away… I can't deal with you right now…" Aelita snarled for the first time in her life. "Just go!"
"What's wrong Mrs. Einstein?" Asked Sissy, still refusing to go away.
"Family problems Sissy go away!" Gwen slammed and locked the door in Sissy's face.
Sissy stood in front of the door, hair bristling and eyes filling with frustrated tears. "I try to ask a girl out and she slams the door in my face… hmph… see if I ever come back to her." And she stalked off.
Gwen heard this from the other side of the door. "Oh brother… me? Sissy wanted to ask /me/ out? Jeremie can you help placate Aelita… I'm going after Sissy."
"Good luck. She's way too temperamental." Jeremie sighed. "And remember that with her you'd be playing with fire."
Jeremie gently detached Aelita from Gwen and pulled her into his arms. Aelita snuggled into roughly the same position she'd been in with Gwen and stayed there, crying.
Gwen strode down the hall after Sissy. She knew exactly where the bully's room was and knocked. "Sissy? Are you there?"
"Gwen?" Sissy's door unlocked. Her eyes were slightly red.
"Sissy, hey… can I come in?"
"Sure…" Sissy sighed. "So, gonna tell me what happened to Mrs. Einstein?"
"Aelita's had a rough couple of days. And then she found out that the two of us are sisters and that she was adopted." Gwen looked out the window. "She's really upset over it… not over me being her sister, but over the fact that she was lied to."
"I wouldn't like being lied to either…. Er… I haven't told anybody… but Principal Delmas adopted me when I was younger… gave me a place to stay… but I was old enough to know that he wasn't my real father." Sissy sighed as she pulled out her laptop and started pecking away at the keys. "Maybe I should write a note to her later saying I'm sorry?"
"Jeremie will console Aelita…"
"Of course… Mr. Einstein."
"You know Sissy, I heard there was going to be a Dragon'sdawn movie coming out… too bad you're too young, you'd make a really good Avril."
"Is that supposed to be a compliment?"
"It's a statement."
"I'm not really how I act Gwen. Look at Sissalen. Sissalen allows me to be what I really feel like being…"
"I know… it's easier to be sincere on the internet." Gwen said with a sigh. She was pretending she hadn't heard what Sissy had said earlier.
"Gwen… er… there's a Subsonics concert on Saturday and… I know it's not what you're used to over in America, but would you like to go? As a date?"
Gwen flushed. "You… you…"
Sissy bit her lip. "Yes… I loved you for a long time… before when we met on the MUSH. Then I found out you were my age… and that you were just as beautiful as you play… strong and kind and sweet everything I know I'm not." Sissy had tears coming out of her eyes.
"Okay… I'll go. On one condition…"
"What?"
"That you leave Ulrich alone for as long as we're going out together." Replied Gwen with a smirk.
"Deal…" Sissy blushed shyly. "Can I… can I kiss you?"
"Sure…" Gwen said with a smirk.
Sissy leaned in to kiss Gwen and Gwen kissed back, long and tender.
That was the time that Herb came busting in. "Sissy! Your dad wanted to… eeeeeeek!"
That last was both in reaction to the kiss and to the shoe that Sissy threw at him. "OUT! OUT!" Sissy shouted.
Herb went running in the opposite direction.
"This… is gonna be interesting…" Gwen commented.
"I'd better go after him. See you tomorrow!" Sissy ran from the room and Gwen went back to her room.
Yumi, Odd, and Ulrich had joined Aelita and Jeremie in the meantime.
"And where were you?"
Gwen gulped. "Sissy asked me out… and had a tempertantrum over me being more interested in Aelita than I was in her. Then I told her that Aelita was my sister, and that she'd found out she'd been adopted. Interesting cover story ne?"
Odd cackled in glee. "Sissy asked you OUT? I never knew her tastes swung that way!"
Jeremie growled at Odd.
"I said I'd do it on one condition…"
"What's that?" Yumi asked curiously.
"That she leave Ulrich alone." Gwen said with a laugh.
"So you're actually going out with Sissy?" Odd was still cackling. Then added something in French that Gwen didn't catch.
"Yup, it's official." Gwen replied with a giggle.
"Personally, I think you're crazy… and besides, going out with a girl? That's sexy but…"
"Odd, can you just shut up?" Jeremie snapped.
"What? What?" Odd asked. "I just can't see what anybody would see in the same gender… let alone what they'd see in a different species! And Sissy fits in both categories!"
Jeremie stood, walked the two paces to where Odd was standing and kissed him, on the mouth, long and hard. A squeal escaped Odd's lips as his cheeks turned red. He struggled slightly. Jeremie growled and yanked Odd's head down to kiss him. Odd's face was now the color of a very ripe tomato. And when Jeremie ran his tongue along Odd's lips, the blonde gasped. Jeremie knew that he was ruining any friendship he might have had with Odd, but he was angry that somebody he considered a friend would say those kinds of things.
Finally Jeremie had to pull back for air. "eeep… Jeremie where'd you learn to kiss like that?"
"It's called Fanfiction." Jeremie replied, blushing slightly as he moved backwards and plopped down on Gwen's bed. "And… it's just… sorry Odd, you made me so angry saying that…"
"Jeremie if I'd known that…. Eeeeck I just kissed a guy… and I /liked/ it?" Odd's eyes were round.
"Which is odd considering that you've dated almost every girl in the 8th grade, and even a couple in the ninth I think."
"Lonely heart!" Yumi said with a giggle. "Maybe you two really should try going out together for awhile… er… Aelita that is if you don't…"
"It's okay…" Aelita flushed. "And don't ask who else I'm interested in… you'd be surprised… so what's the cover story you've invented Gwen?"
"That you found out that you're adopted and that we're sisters." Gwen replied. "And that you've been having a really rough week so that finding out was the straw that broke the camel's back."
"Sounds plausible enough." Agreed Jeremie. "What do you say Aelita?"
"Sure… it's better than what I would have come up with." Aelita replied. "Now we just have to find a way for Gwen's mother to find out I'm still alive." Aelita sighed.
"Who?" Gwen's mother tapped on the door. "Oh dear… what's happened to you Aelita?" Asked Himiko.
"Himiko… I found out about XANA… found out that…."
Himiko gasped. "Aelita? My daughter… oh dear…" Himiko gasped. "You're telling me everything… about XANA… about Lyoko… I'm so sorry Aelita… I'm so sorry…" She pulled Aelita into her arms. "It's okay…"