Warning: Rated for language, violence and adult behavior.
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.
This story also uses characters from the graphic novel 'Sin City' by Frank Miller. I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.
This story also uses characters from the movie 'Wasabi', directed by Luc Besson. I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.
References to 'The Goon' in this story do not refer to the character of 'The Goon' by Eric Powell.
It took a while, but all of the girls that had been abused by the slavers eventually healed.
The young girls bounced back faster than the older ones had. They hadn't been abused like the older girls were, so they only had to deal with the fear of being kidnapped by strangers again. Time and youth, along with counseling, eased those fears.
In the case of the older girls, the healing took much longer, years in some cases. The time on that freighter exposed them to more depravity than one could experience in ten lifetimes. All of them had problems with intimacy for a long time.
It was especially hard on Yumi and Ulrich. The incident had finally made Ulrich tell her his feelings toward her, and show them. But as they grew closer, the fear of abuse rose up in her. She would have nightmares of the day they spent beating and raping her, and in some of the darker ones, Ulrich was helping them.
Ulrich did his best to understand, but sometimes was still upset over her reactions. He was only a teenager, and feeling his own hormonal upheavals, and at times Yumi's rejection of his advances hurt him deeply. But he kept what she had gone through in his mind, and when his impatience threatened to get the better of him, he just reminded himself that he wasn't the one raped over and over again, and to cut her a wide swath of slack. Time and counseling helped them both, and the day they finally came together was joyous.
Aelita had some different problems than the other girls. She was ashamed of herself, not for what the slavers made her do, but for what she did to the boss and the photographer at the end. Not an hour after telling XANA that there was hope for mankind, she went and proved XANA right. She took her revenge on them in the most hateful way she could think of; she stood there and watched them as they started to burn, and felt no guilt over it. She wasn't ashamed of what she did, she was ashamed that she wasn't ashamed of it.
She also had another problem to deal with. When the slavers forced her to pose for those pictures, and threatened to kill Yumi, Milly and Tamiya if she didn't convince them she was enjoying it, Aelita awoke a part of her she wasn't ready to handle yet, her libido. In the end, she did enjoy the pleasure she gave herself, she enjoyed believing it was Jeremie doing those things with her. But she realized she was still was a child in a lot of ways, and unprepared to handle the full force of this passion. And she realized that Jeremie wasn't ready to handle it either. So she kept some distance between her and Jeremie, and kept herself under iron control. At first he was upset, but she explained her fears to him, and when he told her he could handle it, she told him in exacting detail what the slavers made her do, what she felt, and who she was thinking of. She then asked the genius if he was ready to fulfill her fantasies, right then, right there? He blushed and got the message.
Even XANA had reason to contemplate. Aelita's words still resonated in its memory, because you came half way around the world to save me too. XANA reviewed its actions, every decision it made leading to Aelita's rescue, and could find nothing that was inconsistent with its mission to destroy mankind. Yet the culmination of its actions was to not only see to the safe return of Aelita and her Keys, but also the other hostages. It even bypassed an opportunity to eliminate one of its opponents. Each decision point was clearly defined, and each decision totally logical. But yet the outcome was one XANA would have never allowed under any other circumstances.
It was only much later, after XANA finally obtained Aelita's Keys to Lyoko, that XANA learned of what the girl did just after XANA left. This whole incident had caused the program to experience many new sensations, and this was no different, shock. Even without Aelita telling it about the goodness of mankind, XANA never once doubted her goodness. When it experienced what she did to the boss of the slavers, it knew that its original decision to destroy mankind was the right one. Mankind truly did not deserve to exist if they were capable of corrupting even one such as Aelita.
Odd found a different way to cope with his pain.
It was three months after they had returned from Sin City. Odd Della Robbia and Hubert Fiorentini sat in Principal Delmas' office, outlining a proposal Odd had worked up.
"What I would like to do sir is build a memorial commemorating the rescue of the girls," the purple clad boy said.
"It's a fine idea," replied Mr. Delmas, "but why here? What do the other survivors think?"
"There's no other place that wants to have it," Odd said sadly.
"I have approached the other girls on behalf of Mr. Della Robbia,' Hubert said, "and they all love the idea. None of them objected to the school being its location, as long as it is in a public place, so your agreement is all we need."
"And who will pay for it," Jean-Pierre said, "the school certainly can't, though I wish we could."
"Cost will not be a problem," Hubert replied, "I will cover the cost."
Mr. Delmas agreed and the project began.
It took a year of planning, and a year to construct, but the memorial was finally completed.
On the day it was dedicated, the Lyoko Gang turned out in force, including their parents. Even XANA joined them, from the shadows. Hubert Fiorentini and his daughter Yumi came, along with Momo, all the way from Tokyo. And they got a surprise, though it was a bittersweet one. Gail, Miho, Nancy Callahan and Kadie came from Basin City for the unveiling. When Aelita asked where Marv was, Gail told her that he died, executed for killing the ones responsible for murdering some of the girls in Old Town, one of them his lover.
The memorial consisted of four obelisks, three small ones and a large one. The three small ones were topped by little cherubs playing with mermaids. The inscription had each girl's name who was murdered and the caption, torn from our midst too soon.
The tall obelisk was topped by an angel, wings outstretched and holding up a sword. The angel was made of tarnished brass. When the contractor said he was going to clean it up, he was told to leave it as it was. The inscription briefly described what had happened, and gave a simple dedication:
"To The Tarnished Angels Watching Over Us"
