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.

Aelita Hopper stood on the plains of the Mountain Region, and looked at the man who had helped give her life. At this moment, she would have rather faced XANA.

"Now what," she flatly said, "you have what you want, what next? Do we spend eternity skipping through Lyoko like some sick fairy tale? Or maybe you have something more adult in mind?"

"You misunderstand me, Princess," her father said, "all I want to do is keep you safe, I like I said I would all those years ago."

"And that's the point," Aelita said, her voice rising in anger, "how long were we in here, father?" She spat the word 'father' out like an obscenity. "From what I can tell, it was twelve years. Twelve Years! You stole half my life from me! I am a twenty-four year old woman trapped in a child's body, with a child's understanding! I should be in college, not junior high; I should be dating men, marrying a man! But no! You took all of that away from me. TO KEEP ME SAFE!"

"Aelita, you don't understand..."

"No, Franz, you don't understand! I was making a life for myself out there! I found love out there! Yes, there are evil things out there, XANA one of them, but there are good things out there too, and you took that away from me! And now you want me to be your good little girl again, obediently following you around like a puppy, and be satisfied with it! Well, I Will Not!"

Aelita then turned and ran from her father. He called, "Aelita!" and set off after her.

She ran and ran, her breath coming out in ragged gulps as she fled him, to the only place where she could find freedom. The Digital Void.

He called out to her, begging her to stop, trying to run faster to catch up to her, but he couldn't. She saw the edge of the cliff, and the Void beyond it, and sped up.

She managed to set her foot right at the edge of the cliff. She compressed her leg to give her more power, and jumped.

"Aelita! NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Franz Hopper screamed out. He reached the cliff edge, stopped and looked out, down and all around, trying to find some sign of her.

But there was none, Aelita was gone.

Franz Hopper trudged back to the tower where he had been imprisoned. The prisoner now confined inside was the creature Zoe, that XANA/Belpois thought would be a substitute for his Princess. He sent out a mental command, and the tower released Zoe.

"That was a fine repayment for kindness," Zoe said as she emerged, "will you relieve your boredom by dissecting me now?"

The man looked at her. "She's gone," was all he said.

"What did you expect, Franz Hopper? She was able to experience the your world, all of it. Lyoko is only a pale construct compared to that. You currently have no choice, you must make your life here, but she didn't. I do not know what drove you here all those years ago, but surely they do not exist any more. Aelita at least had the opportunity to be happy, and you stole that away from her. Now she won't have anything more to do with you."

"It's worse than that," Franz said, "she threw herself in the Digital Void. She's gone."

"You fool. You paranoid fool. Delete me, I will not spend another CPU cycle with you. You do not deserve to be protected, you do not deserve to be loved. You are safe, Franz Hopper, rot forever in that safety."

Zoe turned and walked away from Franz Hopper. He cried Wait! and ran to her, grabbing her arm to stop her. She whirled around and struck him, knocking him down. He felt the life points drain from him, not a lot, but more than he would have expected.

"Touch me again and I will destroy you," Zoe told him, "you have created your Hell, now burn in it."

She turned and left him.

Aelita sailed quite a ways away from the cliff. She then arced over and began her descent into oblivion. She would meet her death head on.

I love you, Jeremie, were her last thoughts, or so she thought.

Suddenly, something grabbed her leg. It jerked her, and for a moment she was dangling by whatever had captured her. She looked up and saw that it was a tentacle, a Scyphozoa's tentacle.

The creature had been floating underneath the cliff edge, out of sight. When she jumped, it darted out, ensnared her, then pulled her back under the cliff. She started to scream, but a tentacle pointed at her head and pulsed, and she was unable to speak.

She heard her father's anguished cry, and then there was silence. They hung there for a while, then the Scyphozoa began to move. It quickly rose up to the cliff edge, then back onto solid ground. It then proceeded away from the direction Aelita and Franz had come from.

She wanted to scream; she wanted to shout; she wanted to tell the Scyphozoa to at least turn her upright, but whatever silenced her held firm.

Soon, the creature came to a tower. It didn't stop, it didn't slow down, it entered the tower and immediately made for the edge and went over.

The tower was a way tower. When they arrived at the next platform, the Scyphozoa immediately left the tower. The emerged into the Forest Region.

Surrounding the tower were all of the creatures of Lyoko. The Scyphozoa gently set her down and unwrapped the tentacle from her leg. It then moved and joined the others.

Then all of the creatures there bowed to her.

Whatever the Scyphozoa had done to mute her was gone, and she found her voice.

"What the heck is going on here!"

In response to her question, the crowd parted, and a man approached her, a man she had never seen before.

"Hello, my name is Adam," the man said, "I am the first of MotherZoe's children."

Aelita was somewhat confused. She knew that Zoe had been trying to create children, but none of them survived so far, thanks to her father.

"How do you do, I'm Aelita," she replied, "I didn't know Zoe had any surviving children."

"I was the first successful result," Adam replied, "MotherZoe put me here to keep me away from FranzHopper, thus insuring my survival. She has made several of us and placed us here. I was told to come meet you."

"Thank you very much, but how did you know I was coming? And why are all these monsters here?"

"That is due to JeremieBelpois. He and MotherZoe isolated the Forest Region from FranzHopper, giving us a safe haven. The animals are here as our servants and helpers. They are also our protectors. They were instructed to regard you as their master, and we were instructed to regard you with great deference. The Scyphozoa says it was instructed to shadow you and keep you safe, bringing you here at the soonest opportunity."

"By who?"

"By MotherZoe. You are welcome to remain here as long as you like. You are most welcome among us. MotherZoe will soon be here, and we will discuss what to do next."