Lord Maximus: I don't own Code Lyoko.
Summary: After the events in 'The Key' Aelita walks to the Hermitage and unexpectedly meets her arch enemy.
Kadic Junior High
Today was a very hard and eventful day. It was the day they discovered the origins of Lyoko, Franz Hopper, Aelita, and Xana. It turns out Aelita was human and that she was the daughter of Franz Hopper himself. Franz Hopper created the supercomputer that housed Lyoko and created a way to go back in time.
He had gone back in time more then two thousands times in the year 1994. The computer originally held Project: Carthage. It was meant to disrupt enemy communications, but for some unknown reason Franz Hopper created Xana to destroy it. However instead of destroying Carthage Xana occupied it as his virtual command centre. Franz Hopper was unaware of this event for the government came after him and Aelita.
They escaped to the factory and entered Lyoko. Upon their arrival Xana stole Aelita's memories of her being human and captured her father. The Lyoko gang, after they learned of the event planned their final attack to defeat Xana. They entered Carthage and fought Xana's monsters as they looked for Aelita's human memories.
Franz Hopper assisted them, but even with his help Xana succeeded. The gang fell into his trap and Xana stole the keys to Lyoko. With them Xana escaped the supercomputer and now is no longer limited. Franz Hopper sacrificed himself to save Aelita and restored her memories.
Ever since that happened Jeremy has worked on a way to track down Xana, Yumi and Ulrich trained harder than ever before and Odd joined them, but Aelita has not helped them. She has been locked in her room except for class as the memories of her past catch up to her. She blamed herself for allowing Xana to escape to the real world. The only memory of her father she had left was the doll he left at the Hermitage.
It was now night at the school. Aelita wished she could sleep, but she was afraid of having nightmares again. She got up and got dressed. She avoided Jim in the hallways and snuck out of the school grounds. She made her way through the woods and headed for the Hermitage.
It was the same as it was before. Deserted, abandoned, and empty. She was no longer plagued by visions, but she felt worse then ever. She entered the house and looked around.
She entered the room that was once hers and looked around. She looked out the window and noticed something down the small river at the back of the house. She ran out and saw what it was. It was a familiar dark electric cloud.
The being or specter her friends had fought so many times in Lyoko. She hid behind a tree, hoping Xana did not see her.
"What's he doing here?" thought Aelita.
She watched as the dark cloud began to shape itself. Soon enough she saw it shape into something familiar. Arms, legs, a torso, and a head. The cloud molded itself into a human form and the darkness began to fade.
She saw flesh appear. White pale skin formed and the darkness vanished. The being's body wore black clothes, partially obscured by a long black trench coat. Locks of dark black hair fell over the ears and face as it stared down at the water.
Xana looked at the water and surveyed his new body. Aelita saw the reflection. Xana's face was perfect. All the right features in the right spot.
His eyes were dark green, his hair was slightly matted and spike, and his logo was on his forearm. He wore a black T shirt under the coat and the logo was partially obscured, but Aelita recognized the symbol anywhere. He was tall, thin, yet muscular. He appeared about the gang's age.
He lowered his hand into the water and the cold feeling went through his body. He smirked as he lifted his hand.
"I bet you know about the sensations a human feels, don't you, Aelita?" asked Xana.
How did he know she was there? Aelita stepped out of her hiding place.
"I saw your reflection in the water." said Xana.
His voice was quiet and calm. He stood up and turned to face her.
"After all, finding out you are truly human and regaining your memories only makes you learn about this world a whole lot more." said Xana.
Aelita glared fiercely at the virtual humanoid. She closed her fists. Xana saw that and only smirked. He raised one hand as if he wasn't looking for a fight.
"No need to fight me now. I am not misbehaving yet." said Xana,
"What are you doing here?" demanded Aelita.
Xana rolled his eyes and looked around.
"Just seeing what is left of this old dump. Since I am no longer on Lyoko I can create my own form. Clearly the government was very obsessed with capturing Franz Hopper. Must come with inventing a way to go back in time." said Xana,
"Is that the reason why they after him or because he created you?" asked Aelita.
Aelita walked sideways as Xana moved away from the river. They walked around in a circle, both on the opposite side of the each other. Aelita glared while Xana had a bored expression on his face.
"Maybe. It is not every day you create a powerful AI that can control nearly anything in the world. I guess they saw Lyoko as a way of achieving great power. Humans are so easily blinded by power.
Even Franz Hopper." said Xana.
Aelita stopped walking as she glared at Xana. The taller teen had a look of amusement on his face as he raised his eyebrow. The two virtual beings circled around each other again.
"Don't tell me you forgot about what Hopper said in the video diary. You and Hopper would live in Lyoko forever as the absolute masters. That was his plan when the government tried to capture him. Going back in time and losing his wife unhinged him completely." said Xana.
Any anger in Aelita was replaced by shock and sadness. Her mother. She died when Aelita was six, but how did Xana know? Xana let out a quiet chuckle.
"I know what you are thinking, Aelita. I know everything about your past from the memories I stole when you entered Lyoko." said Xana.
A tear fell out of Aelita's face as she glared at Xana again.
"The old man was completely miserable about losing his wife. He tried going back in time, but the moment he got out of bed she remained dead. Her body was right beside his in bed. Look over there." said Xana.
He pointed over to dark corner of the woods. Aelita looked at Xana then walked over. She soon a gravestone covered in flowers. It was unmarked, but she knew who it was.
Stricken by grief she fell over and let a waterfall of tears fall out. She punched the ground and looked at the gravestone.
"Mother . . ." said Aelita,
"If you think your miserable then you should have seen Franz Hopper's reaction when he saw her dead . . . again. Any idea for Project: Lyoko was banished from his mind. He didn't want to lose you the way he lost his wife. So he recreated Lyoko as a new home, one of which you have been immortal and lived forever." said Xana.
Aelita stood up and turned to face Xana. Her expression was unreadable.
"Why are you telling me this?" asked Aelita,
"So you know that your family is faced with a crisis besides me. You are the last member of your family. The Hopper line is fading away with each passing day. They are no relatives and even there were they would have no idea it is you because Franz Hopper and his daughter are now presumed dead.
I made sure that they thought you were dead so they would not get suspicious and find the lab." said Xana.
Aelita was shocked. The last member of her entire family? This must be another of Xana's tricks, but why? Surely her parents never mentioned they had brothers or sisters nor were they ever visited.
What if Xana is right and not lying?
"How do I know you are not lying? You have plagued my family and friends since the day we met you." said Aelita,
"What would be the point? If you don't believe me then see if Franz Hopper had any relatives at all. After all, your dear Jeremy and you are quite excellent hackers. Nearly as good as me." said Xana,
"You nearly hate Jeremy more than the rest, don't you?" asked Aelita.
Xana's smirk faded and he frowned.
"Maybe because he has matched me in every calculation. He has anticipated my motives, created illusions, altered Lyoko to help you, created virtual vehicles, and worst of all activated my towers. I cannot forgive him for messing with my programs nor can I forgive you alerting him and his other friends to my presence. However if it wasn't for you then my understanding of human emotions would not have allowed me to gain the advantage." said Xana,
"And if it wasn't for you then I would have been in Lyoko with my father forever and would not have met Jeremy and the rest of my friends. Whether you wanted it or not, Xana, you brought us together. Just like any other villain or tyrant. They always create their own enemy." said Aelita.
"You fail to understand that this is real life and not a fantasy. Life is not a story book. The good guys don't always win and there is no such thing as good or evil. There is only life and death." said Xana,
"This is like any other adventure story, Xana. We have stopped you in every attempt to take over the world." said Aelita.
"Then why am I here and not trapped in a computer that you planned to shut down to get rid of me?" asked Xana.
He got her where it hurt. Aelita attempted to rid the world of Xana by killing herself when she shut down the computer. If it wasn't for Jeremy then Xana would not have escaped. Xana smirked.
"You didn't think I would forever be bound to that computer. I was planning on escaping, but then your friends forced me to move my plans behind schedule. I wanted to use Lyoko to attack the real world because without anyone knowing then I was safe. But then your friends materialized you back into the real world so I needed to start my plan on escaping Lyoko.
It was only a matter of time before you would be plagued with visions of the past. Franz Hopper's diary was found and if Jeremy decoded it before the Scyphozoa drained your memories and gave the keys to Lyoko then I was doomed. You and your friends have been failing since day one. In the end you only made me stronger and helped me escape.
Now that with that snake Franz Hopper gone I have nothing to worry about. He had the keys to Lyoko and I took them when I captured him, but for the sake creating me I let him live. There is no reason why I can't destroy you though. Even if I was still bound to the computer and your human again it is unlikely the towers would recognize you if you tried to deactivate them.
Only a virtual being with the keys to Lyoko can enter the towers and input the code. Not that you need to worry about an activated tower anymore." said Xana,
"Then why haven't you destroyed me yet?" asked Aelita.
"No need to demand information you already know, Aelita. I am still to test my new powers and in the end, only I will be left standing. I leave to enjoy the last moments of being human again, dear sister. Franz Hopper created us both it is only natural you can think of me as a brother." chuckled Xana.
He turned away and walked into the darkness of the forest. Aelita watched him until he was gone.
"You are no brother." whispered Aelita.
Her cell phone rang. She answered it.
"Hello? Hey, Jeremy. It's okay. I just went to the Hermitage because I couldn't sleep. Its okay, I'm fine.
I'll be back in a few minutes. No, I saw no sign of Xana out here." said Aelita.
She looked back to the Hermitage and then headed back to school. As she walked she saw Xana's mirking face in her mind. She felt bad for lying, but the gang was tired and stressed from the early events that transpired. She and her friends will face Xana again, very soon.