The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.

The next day, Jeremie visited Desmond at his office for their appointment. They toured the suite, Jeremie noting all of the workstations being utilized. Several had specialized functions, and Mr. Hopper explained those to the boy.

Aelita was working for her uncle that day. She studiously avoided Jeremie.

"She is really upset with you," Desmond noted.

"I know she is," Jeremie replied, "and I hope she'll get over it, but I just couldn't not help Zoe. I created it, and I told it to watch Franz. That makes me sorta responsible for it."

"Say, like a father?" Desmond reply.

"Maybe."

Days later, Jeremie confronted Aelita at school.

"Aelita, we need to talk."

"You may need to talk, Jeremie, but I'm fine with the silence," she replied.

"Look, I know you're upset about Zoe, and I'm sorry if I hurt you, but we need to discuss something else."

"And what would that be, sir."

"Your father."

"What about him? You gave him a Scyphozoa Friday for a companion, I'm superfluous now."

"You know that's not true. The only thing your father really wants is you, not Zoe, not Desmond, not anyone else, you. I think it's time you visited him, Aelita."

"And if I don't?"

"Then you will have lost more than you will ever realize."

That night, a tower activated in Lyoko. The white mist around the tower didn't turn the red color it did when XANA activated it, nor the green if Jeremie had. It didn't even turn blue like it did when Franz Hopper activated one. It turned pink.

Aelita suddenly woke up.

It was morning and it was quiet, too quiet. She looked over at her roommate Sissi and saw she wasn't there. Not only wasn't she there, neither was her bed or any of her stuff. The room looked like Aelita was the sole occupant.

Confused, she got up and went out into the hallway. It was quiet and empty. At this time of day, the hall should be filled with students running about trying to get showers and otherwise prepare for the day. Now, there was no one.

She ran down to Jeremie's room and knocked. She called his name but no one answered. She tried to open the door and it gave way. Jeremie's room was empty, like no one had ever lived there. She found the same thing when she tried Odd and Ulrich's room.

Frightened now, Aelita ran out of the dorm building. The school campus was empty. The girl called out to someone, anyone, but only silence replied.

"What's wrong, dear?" came a woman's voice from behind Aelita.

The pink haired girl whirled about and saw a woman. She was a kindly looking woman whose eyes showed great love even as they showed great sorrow. The woman also had pink hair. Aelita immediately recognized her.

"Momma?"

"Yes, dear one. How do you like the world you created?"

"World? What world? All I see is Kadic Academy, but everybody's gone. What happened here?"

"This is your world now, the one where everybody agrees with you always. You've been working so hard at creating it, I thought you should see how it turns out, just in case you want to make any changes."

"But there's no one here but you and me!"

"And I won't be here much longer," Aelita's mother said.

"But why? What did I do?"

Suddenly, a Scyphozoa appeared. Aelita's mother turned to it.

"Momma, NO!"

The woman walked up to the creature and embraced it. It returned the embrace, wrapping one tentacle around the woman. Aelita's mother then turned to her.

"You rejected Zoe because of your hatred and fear. You are rejecting your father for the same reason. Soon, you will reject the one you love most of all for the exact same reason. By the time you get done rejecting, this world will be all that's left for you."

"But Momma! I wouldn't reject you! I've missed you for so long, I've even forgotten how long it's been! Don't leave me!"

The woman started to fade out along with the Scyphozoa. "Aelita, if you reject Zoe, you reject me."

Aelita was alone.

"NO!"

"NO!" Aelita suddenly woke up.

It was still dark. She quickly looked around the room. There, Sissi was asleep in her bed, her stuff arranged as it always was.

Aelita got up, quickly dressed, and left the room. She made her way outside, to the factory. When she got to the console room, she typed something in at the console. A window opened up and an image resolved itself. It was Zoe.

"Aelita, this is unusual. Is there something wrong?"

"Yes, there is, Zoe," Aelita replied, "I want to apologize."

"For what?"

"For hating you. For not helping you."

"I understand your prior reactions to me. I was the one who removed your memories."

"But XANA made you do that, didn't it? Would you have if you had the choice?"

"Not in that manner. It would have been a simple command option to make the copy non-destructive. It also would have been more efficient, resource-wise. Mr. Hopper and Mrs. Ishiyama can attest to that."

"You would have done it anyway?"

"Aelita, perhaps you are misunderstanding something. The times I was instantiated by XANA, it was to read your memories. In this current instantiation, I was to copy Franz Hopper's memory location to a container so he could interact again. If I were instantiated with no purpose, I would just float here. The part of me that is Scyphozoa needs a command, something to accomplish. The part of me that is AI wants to be separate, to command myself. I cannot do that within the limitations of the Scyphozoa. That is why I'm doing what I am doing, why I need to do it."

"Would you still accept my help, even at this late date?"

"Yes, if you truly want to. I still would like some of your genetic material, if you would contribute it."

Aelita got up from the console and got the vials used to hold the tissue samples. She took a sterile pin and scraped the inside of her mouth, and placed the tissue in the vial. She then took the vial down to the scanner room, and placed it in a scanner. She returned to the console and transferred the sample to Zoe.

"Do you have it?" Aelita asked.

"Transfer successfully completed. Yes, I have it Aelita. Thank you."

Aelita got up to leave.

"Aelita," Zoe said, "apologize to Jeremie, if you feel you need to apologize to someone. I understand your anger, and I can live with it, if need be. He cannot."

Aelita nodded and left.

In Lyoko, the pink tower deactivated.