The End…
"Daddy!" A little boy runs up to Jeremie, hugging him tight, crying.
"It's ok. You're safe now." Jeremie speaks softly, petting his head.
"He was found in the store holding your daughter, screaming for help. This little boy is brave for sure." An officer says. "We're still searching for the man."
"When can I see Aelita?" Jeremie asks.
"I'm not sure, they're probably still working on her." The officer replies. Jeremie hugs Dimitri tighter, the little one trembles in his arms, still shocked by what he had witnessed.
"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…" Jeremie whispers, starting to cry himself.
He wakes up in the ambulance, on his way to the hospital. Color had returned to his face. He tries to sit up, but he's laid back down.
"Sir, you need to stay calm alright?"
"Where's my son?!" Jeremie yells questioningly.
"They're still searching for him, but it's been confirmed he's not anywhere in the building." The paramedic explains to him, it puts him at ease… a little…
"That's not much better! He could be anywhere!" He's starting to panic again.
"The police are doing everything they can to find him. You won't be of much help if you're panicked. You need to calm down."
"How can I calm down when MY SON IS GOD KNOWS WHERE?!" He struggles to get back up again, but he's pinned and given a sedative. He starts to relax, but not of his own will. He begins to cry. "Please… Not again…"
"On your right!" Dimitri shouts. Akira raises her fan up to block the shots, but then throws her fan over, taking the bee out. Anna shoots the other one down with her arrow.
"I thought that this would be more of a challenge." Shiro taunts.
"Better knock on wood. Take your pick." Gio states, glancing at all the trees. Shiro runs to a tree on the main ground and almost knocks on it when a huge beam shoots at him. He backs up just in time. "Too late, you jinxed us!" Another beam shoots at him, he barely can back away in time.
"What is that?!" In the distance, there is a big ball-like contraption that opens up and shoots a huge beam. It turns and aims for Dimitri, shooting at him. He rolls in another direction, too just barely missing. He starts running, hiding behind a tree for cover. Another beam shoots out, this time at Anna, she holds her shield up and it blocks it for the time being, though she starts to slide back from the force of it. She falls to the ground, unable to keep her feet. The beam continues forward and hits her, she disappears in blue flakes.
"Anna!" Gio shouts.
"It's ok, she was just devirtualized, she's back home." Akira explains, she barely dodges the beam herself. Shiro starts to run around the long way, a red line following him. Akira follows after him, suddenly she separates into three versions of herself. It causes her to stop and look between them. They can't stand in astonishment for long as another attack comes their way. She and another manage to dodge it, but one disappears.
"Great, as if I didn't have enough sisters to deal with." Shiro smiles playfully and continues on. Akira giggles and runs, her other self running alongside her and moves to dodge the beam. The copy runs and helps her distract the strange, rolling ball. Shiro runs, jumping up, and lands on the thing, stabbing it. It closes, clamping his sword inside as well. He knows he can't pull it out in time for it to explode, so he jumps back to get away from the blast. Sure enough, the ball explodes and his sword is sent flying. He sighs softly, a strange aura starts to surround him. The sword stops flying, becoming surrounded in the same aura. The sword floats back to him immediately, he grabs it.
"What the hell was that?!" Akira shouts. The clone disappearing back to her.
"I have no freakin clue but that was epic!" He has no time to celebrate as a laser hits him in the back, knocking him down. A giant block is charging at them. He gets back to his feet and throws his sword at it, it lodges right into its eye. The sword goes flying once again. He's surrounded by the aura again, the sword flies back. That time he feels a little light headed. "Whoa… that felt weird this time."
"Maybe use it in moderation?"
"Guys? Are you there?" They hear Anna ask.
"Hey! Nice of you to rejoin the party!" Akira shouts.
"Where do we go? Can you see on the map?" Dimitri asks.
"Uhhh…. Yea! Go down the path Shiro is on, keep going that way." The four start running in that direction, Gio staying close by Dimitri to keep him safe. "There's more monsters coming, um… they're not on land, so I think it's more Bees."
"Thanks for the heads up!" Shiro shouts, looking around, seeing the swarm in the distance. "There!" He points. Akira throws her fan and it hits at least one before coming back to her.
"Hey, Gio! I think if you raise your hand up, then you can shoot arrow heads out of your wrist! That's what this thing says."
"Try not to mess around with it, too much, ok Anna? We still don't know how to properly work these things!" Dimitri says to her.
"Oh… right. I didn't think about that. I-I'm sorry."
"It's ok." He replies. He summons an energy ball and looses it at the bees, which manage to dodge it immediately as it gets close. He curses under his breath and keeps running. They see the tower in the distance.
"You're getting close to the tower now! But there's more monsters waiting for you nearby it." Anna announces. Sure enough, as they get close, there's more of those giant ball things.
"Fuck… not more!" Akira protests followed by a groan of resentment.
"All that matters is getting Dimitri to the tower and deactivating it." Gio reminds her. One ball already starts shooting at them. Gio notices how long it takes for them to warm up. He raises his hand and focuses, aiming, the distance is extremely far, but with the right aim… He manages to figure out how to shoot one of the arrowheads and it flies forward, but the ball closes before it reaches its weakness, stopping in mid charging. "Dammit…" He mutters.
"Let's just rush them!" Shiro suggests and starts running at them, the trail appearing behind him again. He starts running circles around one of the spheres then stops between them, they both fire at him. He's hit by them both, but they hit each other and knock each other off the edge, but both are destroyed before they hit the sea.
"Wow… ok." Gio mumbles, a loss for words. They start running to the tower, everything is clear. Dimitri steps into it. He startles when he starts to float up, definitely surprised by the feeling. A screen appears in front of him, startling him. He reaches a hand to it, placing it down.
DIMITRI
It reads, then says.
CODE
LYOKO
Outside the tower turns from red, to light grey. He feels a lightness in his heart, a presence, he turns around, looking this way and that.
"Mom?" He's met with silence. He closes his eyes, sighing, he turns and drops down, exiting the tower.
"Is something wrong…?" Akira asks him, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"I… don't even know… I could have sworn I felt my mother's presence… for some reason."
"That's… weird." Dimitri nods in agreement, sighing.
"One of you devirtualize me, so I can rematerialize you." He orders.
"Alright. Just know, it hurts like Hell." She draws out her fan and throws it at him. He disappears in blue flakes, appearing in the scanners soon after. He collapses out, coughing, holding his chest.
"No kidding…" He thinks. He stumbles out of the scanner. Shiro comes back down and helps him into the elevator. "Thanks…"
"Of course, what are cousins for?" Shiro smiles broadly. The elevator takes them up and Shiro helps him to the computer. Anna stands up from it.
"Are you ok?!" Anna asks, terrified for him.
"Yea, just fine…" He starts typing on the screen, finding the right program he found last night as they worked on Anna's avatar.
"He was devirtualized for the first time. We know how that feels, don't we…?" Shiro asks, remembering the pain he felt not only yesterday, but about ten minutes ago too. Anna nods in response, rubbing her stomach.
"I still feel like I'm about to throw up…"
Dimitri stops typing, looking at the screen again, eyebrows knitting.
"Anytime you're ready, Di. I mean… I love trees as much as the next guy, but…" Akira says over the speakers.
"I found this program called return to the past. It sends us back in time.
"There's no way…" Shiro trails off.
"There's scanners we use to go into the game, so why not?" Anna points out. Dimitri brings Akira and Giovanni in first. They head up and meet everyone in the computer area.
"Alright… So… I found a program that we can return to the past, I don't know how far, but we might have to do it. It just depends on how much the school was destroyed by the fire." Dimitri informs them.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Shiro asks, he turns to head back to the elevator. "You stay here, whoever wants to go, come on. We'll scope it out and give you a call. How's that?" He suggests. Akira follows him.
"I'll go. Anna?" Akira asks, though it more slips out by accident. Anna's eyes widen in surprise, her lower lip quivers a little.
"S-Sure." She follows them both, stepping in with them. The door closes. She grips onto Akira again. Akira starts to glare angrily at her, but then softens a bit, sighing. Shiro looks at Akira, smirking. She glares at him, as if to say, "Don't even start." Anna meanwhile is oblivious to it all.
Numbers appear on the screen, signifying that there's about to be a special broadcast interrupting the current show that's on on the news channel.
"Good afternoon, we come to you live with a special report. Around eleven this morning, the school building Kadic Academy set in France caught fire. No one knows yet why this happened as the cause is unknown. So far the blaze isn't out completely and most of the school was engulfed. Other than five missing students, there have been no casualties. More on those missing students here in a moment." Meanwhile, images and videos were shown of the blaze. Odd's eyes are wide and he's grown pale.
"Odd…?" His wife asks. He gets to his feet, grabbing his cell phone from the end table where it was charging, he dials a number, but he's sent to voicemail. He bites his lip.
"No answer from An…" He mutters. He dials another number, it too is immediately sent to voicemail. "Or Gio…"
"M-Maybe their phones were left in the building or they can't hear their phones over the commotion?" Samantha suggests. Odd closes his eyes, trying to keep from crying, trying to calm himself down. There's something he doesn't want to do… He dials one last number.
"Hello?" A voice answers.
"Principal Delmas, right?"
"Yes?"
"This is Odd Della Robbia, I just saw the news. I'm calling to make sure my children are accounted for. Their names are Anastasia and Giovanni Della Robbia." There's silence.
"I'm sorry… We can't find them. I've been assured they're not in the building though. We will call you with further updates." Odd's heart sinks more than it already has.
"Alright… Thank you…" He says softly, hanging up. His hand punches into a wall.
"Odd!"
"I knew they shouldn't have gone there!" He yells, then collapses to his knees, unable to keep the tears back. He places his hands to his head, gripping his hair. Samantha kneels and wraps her arms around him tightly, but holds back her own tears, terrified for her babies. "They're two of the missing students…" His voice shakes. There's a bright flash that envelopes them and everyone else in the world.
Dimitri stares at the lever that turns the computer on, he remembers everything. He closes his eyes, turning to the elevator and stepping back inside it. Ulrich had already dialed the number for Odd's cell and was listening for an answer, but receives none. He looks at Jeremie with curiosity, Jeremie looks to him in equal bewilderment.
"You might as well be hired as our guitarist." Akira states plainly in reference to Giovanni who still has the guitar in hand.
"So that return to the past thing worked." He mentions.
"Looks like it. That was kind of scary… but pretty awesome at the same time!" Shiro smiles happily and excitedly. Akira perks up.
"I need to get to my room!" She gets to her feet immediately and starts running out. Shiro and Gio glance at each other in confusion. Shiro stands and runs after his sister. Gio doesn't stay behind. They run all the way to the dorms, straight to Akira's room, she opens the door immediately, seeing Anna immediately. She startled when the door opened. Akira sighs in relief.
"I-Is something wrong…?"
"Don't you remember, the closet fell and nearly crushed you yesterday! Or… today? Wait…"
"What?!" Gio is heard in the background. Akira steps over to the outlet.
"It's just fine… It's not fried…" She glances back at Shiro. "Last time this was fried up and all black. I called Dimitri about it just before you came up."
"Wait… Where is Di?" Shiro pulls out his cell from his left pocket and presses the quick call button for Dimitri.
"Yes?"
"Where are you?"
"I'm on my way back. I started at the factory after the return. Don't worry, I didn't turn the computer on again…" Shiro can hear the sadness in his voice.
"Ok… Well um… Akira said she called you about a fried plug outlet?"
"Oh yea, I remember that. I forgot to address that when we got back from the factory."
"Well, you don't need to now, it's just fine."
"Really? Then it was that thing that came from the computer…"
"That's what it's looking to be." Suddenly there's another phone call. Anna pulls out her phone and answers it.
"Dad?"
"Anna! Are… Are you ok?"
"Yea, I'm fine. Why?"
"What I can't call and make sure my little girl is doing ok?" He asks playfully. "How was your first day?"
"It was alright. My chemistry teacher seemed to be afraid of me for some reason. I blame you." She giggles.
"You're probably right to do so…" He trails off. "How about your dorm? What's that like?"
"It's actually pretty nice. I was going to introduce Miki to my roommate and hope she doesn't kill me…"
"Hopefully she won't, I mean, that's a lot of paperwork."
"Yep!"
"If your roommate is ever mean to you, maybe tell the principal, ok? You shouldn't have to put up with that."
"I will."
"Ok. I should probably get going. I love you, sweetheart."
"I love you too! Bye." They both hang up. She sighs softly. "That didn't happen before… I called Dad first, much later, after the twins left." Anna explains.
"That's very strange…" Gio replies. He gets a call too from their dad. "Yea dad?" He turns and steps out, closing the door. The twins look to each other, then to Anna.
"Dad would sometimes say he has psychic powers, but I thought he was joking." Anna mentions.
"Anyone else have that feeling that this isn't over…?" Shiro asks quietly, nervously. Both girls raise their hands.
"I'm just gonna get packed… Might as well now. Dad's going to be grading papers I believe." Akira says.
"Yea, thee um… Health exams!" Shiro remembers. "I'll go pack too. I'll call dad once we're ready to head over." Akira nods, agreeing with his plan and stepping over to her closet, pulling out various clothes and a bag to put them in. Anna continues to put her stuff away, then grabs the little rat cage Miki is in.
"Hey little sweetie. Would you like a wood block? I found them!" She sets the cage down on the bed before opening the package with wooden blocks in it, she opens the top panel to put one in, but Miki latches onto her sleeve and climbs out. "Hey! You silly baby." She giggles and pets her head. Akira glares at the little rat and shivers. The little rat climbs onto Anna's shoulder, rubbing against her before looking at Akira, beady eyes and twitchy nose. "I think she likes you. If she didn't, she'd have hidden in her burrow."
"Well, I don't like it one bit… You're lucky I'm even letting it stay and not telling principal Delmas." Akira says a little harshly. Anna looks down a bit and sighs, petting her little rat before picking her up and placing her inside the cage, setting a wood block down in and setting her back down on the table. Anna sits and watches the little rat munch on the wood block. "Do those things ever splinter or whatever?"
"They don't bite big enough chunks off. It's mostly to file and sharpen their teeth so that they don't overgrow. If they over grow, then it could be hazardous. They can't eat properly and could starve. The teeth don't stop growing."
"Oh."
"It's like that with most rodents, even bunnies I believe, but rabbits are meaner… Rats though, they should have a companion, most rodents actually should, but I was nervous they might not get along. I wouldn't want anything to happen to either of them… If I were to get another one though, probably would be a kitten because then that little one can get used to her. Preferable female, since I don't want other kittens. Miki wasn't bought for breeding."
"Baby rats are called kittens? That's a little misleading… I mean, I love kittens, but not if they're actually rat babies…" Anna smiles softly at Akira.
"I can understand. I love cats too. Maybe that's why I was a big purple cat on Lyoko?"
"If that's the case, why wasn't I a cat?" Anna shrugs.
"Maybe it's because you're more in tune with your heritage?"
"Perhaps…" She looks at the little rat in her cage. "So… Why Miki?"
"I think Miki means Beautiful Tree?"
"Only with the right Kanji. Maybe I can show you how to spell it sometime." She offers.
"Really?" Anna smiles excitedly. Akira swears she sees twinkles in her eyes. She sighs.
"Yea, why not. Maybe when I get back." She grabs her bag and starts shoving her clothes inside.
"I'd love to learn!" Anna's eyes close, smile very wide. The older teen shakes her head, rolling her eyes and throws her bag over her shoulder.
"See ya." She steps out of the room. Anna's smile falls and she stares at the door. She sighs after a while and plops on her bed.
Dimitri steps into the dorm area and to his room, Shiro is just now finishing packing himself.
"Hey…" Dimitri greets, shutting the door and sitting on his own bed.
"What's on your mind?" Shiro asks, recognizing that look.
"Nothing…" Dimitri mumbles. Shiro exhales loudly from his nose and tosses his bag down, stepping over to him.
"I know it's not nothing. You know I know that. I know you do. Now spill it. There's something wrong and you need to talk about it."
"As if that's any different from you…?"
"What do you mean?"
"You know exactly what I mean…" He looks away from his best friend. "It's nothing important, so just lay off, ok? Go meet up with your dad." Shiro's eyebrows knit together in both anger and confusion, he turns and sits on his own bed, staring at Dimitri. It makes Dimitri start to grow uncomfortable. Minutes go by, not a word, just staring. "Stop…" No response from the fellow teen. "Why are you just staring at me?" Still no response. Dimitri growls a little, lowering his head, his hands come up to meet him. His legs pull up onto the bed. Shiro keeps staring in silence, Dimitri can feel his chocolate eyes on him. "Please stop…" Still silence. Dimitri whimpers. "Ok, so I didn't want to turn off the computer… You know what I felt…"
"Then let's turn it back on." Shiro states plainly.
"No! Whatever that thing was, it tried to burn down the school! There's no way my mother could actually be on Lyoko… I'm trying to think logically, I mean, I'm a Belpois after all… We're genetically smart…"
"That's a load of bullshit and you know it. You're smart because of your own brains, not because your parents were some super geniuses. You're not some computer program they made, you're a kid! Just like me or Akira. So, think your way. What do you want to do?"
"I want to keep that computer off. Even if my mother was for some reason on Lyoko, then she wouldn't want some computer monster ravaging our world for her sake."
"Ok then, then we'll keep it off." Shiro stands up. "I'll get going now. See ya, Di. If you ever need to call me, you know you can." He grabs his bag. Dimitri watches as he leaves. He looks down to the floor, becoming lost in thought almost immediately.
Shiro finds Akira waiting by the dorm entrance.
"Ready to go?" She asks.
"Yea, let's head over." They both start walking side by side. "I know I asked this today, but what do you think of Anna now?"
"What's your obsession with my opinion on Anna?" She asks a rather valid question, but he has just as much of a valid answer.
"I want to make sure you're not going to try and suffocate her in her sleep."
"I wouldn't do that! I'd just poison her food." Shiro shakes his head.
"So, what is your opinion on Anna?" He asks. She groans, rolling her eyes, she brushes her hair back.
"She's fine, alright…?" Anger in her tone.
"Ok? Tell me the truth now. Do you still hate her?"
"No." Is her kneejerk reaction and it slips right out of her mouth without hesitation. "Wait um…" Shiro smirks. "Don't give me that look! I do still! She's still so shy and annoying and you and Dimitri both babying her makes it worse. She's not some innocent little angel who needs your protection."
"Then what is she?" Shiro asks. Akira looks down, trying to find the right words. "If you can't answer that, then you need to turn off your mind and let your heart speak."
"I can't do that. You're better at it than I am!"
"You did do that."
"No I didn't! Just shut up!" She starts to storm off.
"Belle!" He shouts. She stops and turns, red in the face.
"I said not to call me that! You know I hate that name!" She turns and starts running to the gymnasium.
"And that's exactly why I say it!" He chases after her.
"Shiroooo!" Another voice says. He stops, seeing Margaret. "Hey, sweetheart! Want to go on a walk in the-"
"No! I don't!" He snaps and continues after his sister. She starts crying.
"Why won't you like me?! There's another girl, isn't there!?" He ignores her. "Shiro! Don't ignore me!" She runs after him. He turns suddenly.
"Stop chasing after me and realize I'm not interested in you! Find someone else to fawn over and leave me out of it. I'm never going to fall for any girl who chases after me like some nutcase! Or treats my best friend like shit or purposely upsets my sister! As kindly as I can say… FUCK OFF!" He turns and starts running after his sister, leaving Margaret in the dust. She starts crying and runs off to the principal's office. She runs in and hugs Sissi tightly.
"Missi! What's wrong?!" Sissi starts to panic immediately.
"Shiro yelled at me!" She clings to her mom more.
"Why did he do that?" She asks, very confused and worried as to what's going on. She knows Shiro is a rather gentle, calm soul normally. Something is wrong…
"I-I was just trying to ask him to go on a walk and he snapped at me and told me to eff off!" She explains between sobs. Sissi hugs her tightly, petting her head.
"I'll have a talk with him tomorrow, ok?" Margaret pulls away from her.
"That's not good enough! Talk to him right now!" She whines.
"But he's going home soon, I-" Sissi is cut off by her bratty child.
"You don't care about me, do you?! I'm here crying my eyes out and you won't do anything about it!"
"Missi…"
"No! I don't want to hear it!" She stomps out of the office. "Let's see your attitude change when I run away again! How about that?!" She slams the door shut.
"Margaret!" Sissi gets to her feet and is about to follow, but stops, she sighs sadly and sits down. She grabs her phone and calls a number.
"Yes, Miss Delmas?"
"Hey, Ulrich… Um… When Shiro comes to you, can you send him to my office?"
"He's here right now, I'll send him over. Did he do something?"
"Maybe… I want his side of the story."
"Understood. Is that all?"
"Yes. Thank you. Goodbye." She hangs up. Moments later, Shiro enters the principal's office.
"Yes, Principal Delmas?" He asks, rather monotonous, Sissi recognizes that tone easily.
"I understand that you snapped at Margaret. I want to hear your side of the story. Don't get mad or upset, ok? You're not in any trouble yet. I just want to know the truth, everything that happened. Can you do that for me?" She speaks softly and calmly.
"I…" Shiro looks down, clenching his fists.
"You can talk to me about anything, I am your principal after all, that's part of my job."
"I'm sorry… I… I was mad because of my sister and I took it out on Missi, but she is really annoying, no offense, but she chases after me, more than other girls. I don't like the attention at all and and I was already upset so when she came up to m-me, I snapped." Shiro starts to tear up, a stifled sob manages to escape. Sissi sighs.
"I understand. While I don't like the thought of you snapping at a student, I understand your plight. But I will give you an hour of detention for tomorrow." He nods softly. "You're not alone, you know… When your father went to any school but especially here, many girls chased after him and wanted to date him, but he always had his eyes set on one woman, that being your mother. You are a handsome young boy, I can see a lot of your father in you and you're bound to have girls chase you, it's not easily avoidable and snapping won't get rid of them. The more determined will stick around, and become worse. It's not really going to get any easier, but you can get through it. You'll all start to grow up more and some will start to back off naturally. It'll all turn out in the end." Shiro nods a little, not looking up however. "You may go now, Shiro." He turns and walks out of the office, meeting his sister and father.
"What did she do?" Ulrich asks.
"She gave me an hour of detention for snapping at Margaret, but I don't have to take it until tomorrow."
"Why did you snap at her?" He asks further.
"I… I don't really know honestly. I just didn't want her to keep bugging me. I don't want attention from her or anyone really. I just want to be left alone."
"I had a problem like that. Sissi was the worst of them, tried just about anything to get my attention, well, she got it, in not the way she expected. Be careful, ok? If you fall for any girl, those girls wanting your attention may try to do anything to split you two up. Sort of like those crazy anime girls from those silly love comedy animes."
"Of course… I don't know how I can get them to leave me alone otherwise though. I don't want all this attention, I just want to go to school!" Shiro sighs. "Are you going to ground me…?"
"No. I won't. Just try to control your temper, ok?" He nods softly and climbs into the car. Ulrich does as well. Akira is already inside. Ulrich starts the car and starts the drive home. "So, how did the tryouts for your guitarist go?"
"They went ok." The twins answer in unison.
"We have one already, we decided to go ahead and go with someone named Gio D." Ulrich's eyebrows knit together a moment.
"That's good to hear."
"Yea… He recently moved here with his little sister named Anna. She's pretty adorable honestly." Shiro admits. Ulrich smiles, noticing his son's tone shift a bit as he spoke of Anna. His smile falls when his phone starts to ring, recognizing the tone to be Jeremie's. He grabs his phone from his pocket and answers.
"I'm driving Jeremie." Ulrich says.
"Oh, sorry. I just, wait, why so soon?"
"I'll talk about that later, right now I need to focus on the road, I'd rather not crash my car with my kids in it."
"Alright, alright. I'll call you back." The phone clicks off. Ulrich hangs up and sets his phone down on the passenger seat.
"You know there's a setting you can set up to make your phone mute when it senses you starting to drive?" Shiro mentions.
"Is there? I'll have to find it then, that would be helpful." The rest of the car ride is silent once again. Ulrich keeps glancing at his children, having a sneaking suspicion about his kids.
Despite the title of this chapter, this is not the end. Not by a long shot. Though I wouldn't say no to some future ideas. If any of you have some, I may work them into the story somehow. Unless they're too lore shattering or plot hole creating, I don't want too many plot holes and I want it realistic as to what could have happened in the show itself. Just leave a review of your idea or send me a PM. I look forward to them! And you will be credited in the author's note as well for it of course!
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and look forward to more in the future. Leave a review if you so wish.
See ya!
-TGB127074
