Chapter 2
Live for the day
The sound of chirping birds filled the morning air. The symphony of calls and songs echoed among the trees as the birds were flying back and forth in search for bugs for their younglings. The wind gently blew, rustling the leaves on the trees. Their branches scratched against each other, shaking off the morning dew. Off in the distance a group of children enjoyed the weekend morning on a playground in the park. Their high pitched shouts and frantic laughter could be heard from far away.
The sounds and light coming from the outside woke up Aelita, who slowly opened her eyes. Her vision hurt from the excess of light and her mind was still working at half of its speed. Fighting off her morning weakness, Aelita finally sat up out of her bed and scratched her side.
She felt well rested. It's been weeks since she had any of the nightmares that used to haunt and shake her to her very core, the nightmares of destruction and death. Recently though she was experiencing a different dream, which was far more pleasant. It involved her and… Jeremy. She did not fully understand what it meant, but she hoped it to come true one day. She wished she could share it with Jeremy, but she was afraid of his reaction. Despite being in a relationship for a few months, they both were still quite shy.
Still reminiscing her dream, she gazed out her bedroom window. Outside was a beautiful spring morning, inviting her to rise and shine. She spotted a robin land on a branch of a nearby tree. The bird clutched a cricket with her beak. Aelita observed curiously as the bird stood on the side of her nest. Then, a small head popped out and chirped loudly as it opened its beak; it clearly was hungry. The mother robin dropped the cricket into the young one's mouth. The chick lowered itself back into the nest to feast on the cricket.
Aelita smiled. She found that feeding ritual really cute. All of a sudden she felt like helping herself with some tasty breakfast too. She quickly dressed up and made her bed. Then, she stepped out of her bedroom and into the hallway of the Belpois house.
Usually by this time of day the smell of breakfast and coffee filled the house and Jeremy's parents would walk around and prepare to leave for work. Michael, Jeremy's father, would sit casually in the kitchen and talk with his son, while his wife Soria would be on the run to her car. The difference between them was that Michael was a general practitioner with regular office hours in his clinic while Soria, being an obstetrician at the local hospital, was always in a rush for her hospital calls.
This morning, however, the house was eerily silent.
Aelita wondered. Even if Jeremy's parents were already on their way to work, why was Jeremy nowhere in sight? Usually by the time she got up, Jeremy had breakfast made for everyone, since he recently started to enjoy cooking. He had taken up preparing meals for the family from time to time, and it was nothing small like canned ravioli or a poptart, but actual food such as lasagna, grilled shrimp, salads and Aelita's favorites – enchiladas. It was heartwarming to see him helping out in the house as opposed to sitting on his computer all day.
Aelita slowly crept through the house, the only sound being a screech of the wooden floor under her footsteps. She walked up to Jeremy's room's door. She listened for any sound of Jeremy moving around inside, but the room was quiet. She quietly knocked to see if she could get a response. Instead, she heard a faint ruffling noise.
"Jeremy?" Aelita asked as she reached for the door knob. She hesitated a little. What if he was asleep or wasn't decent?
Suddenly, the ruffling noise got louder and more frantic.
"Jeremy Dylan Belpois! If you fell asleep on your computer again, I swear-"
Aelita opened the door in time to see a white and black kitten jump past her. Aelita jumped back and squealed a little as Schrodinger landed next to her and calmly walked out of Jeremy's room.
"That's it, Schrodinger! No fish for a week!" Aelita said loudly as she tried to calm down.
The cat merely looked at her and twitched its small kitten tail as it meowed, then trotted off.
"Darn cat," Aelita whispered as she turned to peek inside Jeremy's room.
The room perfectly reflected Jeremy's nerdy personality and interests. The main piece of furniture was a huge desk, on which sat two computer towers in a black and grey casing with three blue lights running down the side. They were connected to four identical monitors, on which ran a screen saver that flickered various pictures and photos of Jeremy's friends and family. It was a computer Jeremy had spent years building and it was his pride.
On the other side of the desk sat a large screen. On its sides lay a collection of gaming consoles: an X-Box 360, a PS3 and a Wii. Close to it stood a shelf with various games, including his favorite Super Mario Bros, Legend Of Zelda and Kid Icarus.
Delicate hum of machinery put on standby There was no living soul in the room.
"Where did that silly boy run off to?" she wondered. Jeremy would never leave without telling her, without kissing her goodbye and reminding how much he loved her.
Aelita went into her room and grabbed her cell phone. She flipped through her contact list till she got to Jeremy's number. She texted, "Hey, where are you?" She put her phone on the bedside table. No sooner than she did, it rang, signaling a new text message. Aelita reached out for her phone again.
"Did you read the note?" was Jeremy's reply.
Aelita glanced around in confusion. "What note?"
Spotting nothing in her bedroom, she walked into the bathroom and grabbed her electric tooth brush, which was pink with red bristles. She applied some toothpaste on the brush. But before she started brushing her teeth, she spotted a small piece of paper glued on the mirror with her name on it.
"Oh, this note."
Aelita took the note off the mirror and opened it. She brushed her teeth as she was reading.
Dear Aelita, good morning, beautiful. Hope you slept well. Sorry for not being there when you woke up, and sorry for no breakfast either. Mom and Dad went to work and I had to help Odd with some things. Meet me at the Hermitage at 9:30.
Love, Jeremy.
P.S. Watch out for Schrodinger. I think he is sleeping in my room.
Aelita rolled her eyes. "Yeah, too late for that one."
Suddenly, she realized what time it was on her phone when she received Jeremy's message.
It was 9:00. She spit out her toothpaste.
"Oh no, I'll be late!"
She quickly ran back to her room and took the phone. She darted out the door, only to realize she forgot to put on her shoes. Within next 20 seconds she had her pink Nike's on and was out the door and running towards the stop sign.
Aelita ran down the side walk at full speed. Thankfully, she was used to running every night with Yumi and Sissi. However, due to high air humidity early in the morning, she was having difficulty catching her breath. She pulled out her cell phone and looked at the time again, it was 9:15. She thought about using her Savior Powers but decided against it. After all, Mal-Tech still was after her.
She arrived at the bus stop. She spotted the bus pulling up; she knew it would only wait there for a few seconds. Aelita quickly reached into her purse; she fiddled around searching for her bus pass. As the door was preparing to close, Aelita quickly stuck her hand inside the door before it shut. The door opened once more, letting Aelita in. The bus began to move as Aelita bent over on her knees and tried to catch her breath. Even with all the running she had done in the past months, she was no good at sprinting.
"Miss, are you ok?" the bus driver asked.
Aelita nodded as she silently held up her pass and walked to the back of the bus. There were only a few passengers. Aelita plopped down on the closest vacant seat next to a window. She checked the time, it read 9:20. She breathed a sigh of relief as she realized that she had more than enough time to get to the other part of town near the Hermitage.
Then, a faint crying noise caught Aelita's attention. She looked to her right to see a young woman with long blonde hair who was tending to a child in her arms. The child looked only a few weeks old; it was wrapped in a blanket and wore a thin beanie like hat. The blankets and the beanie were blue, suggesting that the baby was a boy. He cried and squealed as his mother sang to him softly.
"It's okay, Chevy... we are almost home," the mother said as she rocked the baby in her arms.
The baby cried and fidgeted in the mother's arms as she started to sing Pony Boy. A soft nursery rhyme shook Aelita to her core. The song suddenly made Aelita's eyes glossy as she felt her mind drift somewhere far away…
Colorado, United States
April 1988
The air was warm with the fresh smell of pollen and moisture. Flowers around the area began to grow and blossom; insects buzzed and flew through the air. It was a clear sign that spring was officially there.
A small cottage sat near the hills in solitude. It was a lovely, two story house built away from civilization. The sliding door to its back porch opened as Anthea stepped out onto the patio, which was a large red wooden deck that was several feet long and stood a few feet off the ground. Below was a large garden, which was as long as the patio. It was lined with a large wooden fence that matched the patio in color; stones lined the flowerbeds. A small tree grew in the back of the garden. Hanging off one of its lower branches were two bird feeders, one was for the large birds and the other was for small birds such as humming birds. Taking care of the garden was Anthea's hobby, it was her place of enjoyment.
The wood creaked a little under Anthea's feet as she stepped onto the steps. A small child in a blue and white striped dress walked behind her, holding her hand. The little girl held her hand in her mouth as she scuffed across the wood. Anthea led the child off the patio steps; the girl giggled and cooed as she stared at the many flowers that adorned the ground.
Anthea bent down and pointed. "Look, Aelita. Look at the pretty flowers."
Aelita let go of Anthea's hand. Anthea observed as her daughter waddled out towards the flowers. It seemed to her that only yesterday Aelita lay in her crib, sleeping like an angel. Now she had her pink hair put into two little bangs and she could already walk. Raising a child, tending to her family, and supporting her husband Waldo… this was a strange new experience for Anthea. Yet she felt it was all worth it. It made her happy.
"So pretty... Right, Aelita?" Anthea asked, looking at her cheerful daughter.
Aelita looked up at Anthea in confusion. She was wondering just what it was her mother meant.
"P-re-tt-y... right, Aelita?" Anthea asked again.
"P... P… Pretty," said Aelita hesitantly.
Anthea's mouth dropped as she scooped up Aelita.
"Say it again, honey? Say it again."
Aelita just stared at her mother and smiled.
"Say pretty, Aelita. Pretty," Anthea said trying to coax the word out of her mouth. Instead, Aelita made some random noises.
The girl wiggled and squirmed. Anthea got the message and placed Aelita back on the ground. Aelita walked back over to the flowers and squatted. She stared at them, smiling and clapped her hands as she giggled.
"Oh, Aelita." Anthea said as she walked over towards her daughter and stood next to her. "You'll speak eventually." she sighed in disappointment.
She wished Aelita started talking soon. She did not have any experience with children before, but she read in a magazine that children should start talking by the age of 18 months. Aelita was already three years old… This made her wonder if something was wrong with her child. At occasions, though, Anthea could have sworn that Aelita spoke. Or maybe these were her ears that were playing tricks on her?
Anthea stood up. She walked over to a nearby shed to grab her shovel, so that she could begin working on her garden. It was a wonderful thought that Aelita was enjoying the same things she was.
"Pretty…"
Anthea froze and turned to Aelita. Her daughter was standing up and pointing at one of the red flowers off to the side.
"Pretty."
Anthea squealed as she walked over to Aelita and bent down next to her. She hugged her daughter tightly.
"Yes Aelita, YES! Pretty."
She leaned over and kissed her daughter on the cheeks; Aelita continued to point and call the flowers pretty.
A jerk of the vehicle's brakes snapped Aelita back to reality as the bus was coming to a stop outside the park near the Hermitage.
"What was that?" she wondered as the images of the house in the mountains and the garden flashed before her eyes. This memory was about her, yet it was not her own. She clearly saw her younger self from someone else's perspective.
"Mom?" she whispered. "But… how is that possible? How is she doing this?"
She was so confused about what just happened that she almost forgot to leave the bus.
A second later, she darted out of the bus and ran straight down the path towards the Hermitage.
People on the street watched as the young teen sprinted as fast as she could. A few dogs barked at her, wagging their tails and barking in amusement at the young girl. Aelita checked the time on her phone for the last time. It was 9:27... It was gonna be close.
Aelita ran till she had the Hermitage in sight. There, on the front porch, stood Jeremy, dressed in a blue shirt and khaki pants. The sight of her boyfriend made Aelita's heart throb as she ran faster. Finally, she made it. She walked through the gates of the Hermitage and finally slowed down as she reached the steps. She panted heavily as sweat ran down her forehead.
"Um… Hi. You made it." Jeremy said.
"I didn't... Want... to be late." Aelita stuttered as she sat down on the steps trying to catch her breath.
"You could have texted you would be late."
Aelita sat right up as she realized what Jeremy just said. "Sorry. I just forgot."
Jeremy walked down a step and sat next to her. He was suddenly greeted with the warm press of Aelita's lips as she kissed him quickly yet passionately. Then she laid her head on his shoulder.
"What was this about?" Aelita asked.
"We gotta go to Yumi's, remember?" Jeremy reminded.
"No, I don't remember. I sprinted for the past half hour, not counting the bus ride to get here and got the hell scared out of me by the cat." Aelita said in a mocking tone.
"Sorry," Jeremy said, sounding as if he had been scorned.
Aelita suddenly realized the tone in her voice and felt bad about she had just spoken to Jeremy.
"Its not your fault... Dumb pink haired moment and all." Aelita said jokingly.
Jeremy wrapped his arm around Aelita's shoulder as he embraced her. Even if she was hot and sweaty, she still felt like gold to him.
"Wanna go get a drink?" Jeremy asked.
"Yeah I do." Aelita said. "At least I got my exercise for the weekend."
Lyoko, the Volcano sector.
The sky above the volcano sector was crimson red and black. Small embers, red sparks and flames filled the air as the large, single volcano bellowed with a constant stream of fake, virtual magma. The magma poured out into streams as they growled and bubbled down their paths.
In the center of the area stood a lone cave like structure which was the control point of the whole sector. Inside the cave, the floor was glossy red with black lights running through it. The walls of the cave were covered with red translucent crystals and small streams of virtual lava. Towards the very back of the cave sat a large throne like structure. The throne was black with small indentations on it. A few crystals popped out of its sides and the virtual magma ran down the back of it.
A large beast with boney armor plates sat on the throne. Its head was long and pointy towards the snout, and on the sides of its head were a pair of large horns. Its eyes were shaped like the symbol of Xana; they glowed bright red.
"AETHER!" Xervix bellowed.
A loud flapping noise echoed through the cave as a large creature flew into the entrance and glided towards the throne. Aether, the last of the original Titans, looked like a man with a bird's face which was made out of metal and a single horn on top its head. His body glistened with a silver ting, as large plates of armor adorned its body. The wings of the beast folded into its arms, similar to a bat's wings. The claw like feet folded up towards his shins, revealing human like feet.
"I am at your beckon call, my lord," Aether said as he kneeled on one leg.
Xervix slowly raised his head; his eyes glowed brightly like a pair of head lights. The beast growled in anger as he stared at the Titan before him.
"My beckon call?" Xervix asked. "MY BECKON CALL!? IF YOU'RE AT MY BECKON CALL, THEN WHY HAVE YOU NOT FOUND A WAY TO RELEASE ME YET!" Xervix yelled as he rose from his throne and pointed at Aether.
"My liege... I swear, I'm trying. I've been outnumbered, though. The Garage Kids, these... Lyoko Warriors are constantly disrupting my attempts... I need assistance," Aether said, cowering in fear.
"Is it that you need assistance? Or was it your incompetence that cost you so many failures?" Xervix asked as he slammed his fist into the side of his throne.
"Master, please. It's the truth," Aether whimpered.
Xervix stepped off the steps to his throne and walked towards Aether. As he walked past a white line in the floor of his lair, a buzzing noise filled the air. A large white tube projected from the ceiling. The cylinder shot from the ceiling and landed around Xervix, confining him from going any further.
Xervix looked up towards the ceiling as he observed his holding cell. After his defeat in Las Vegas, Jeremy and Puck both created it to imprison him while he was regenerating after his defeat. It also limited his power so that he could not launch any attacks.
"As long as this INFERNAL force field is in place, I cannot leave here... But I can obviously not rely on you for assistance in my time of need now, can I?" Xervix asked.
"I live to serve-"
"YOU LIVE TO FAIL!" Xervix interrupted the bird man. "But you do speak the truth. We need reinforcements." Xervix said calmly as he paced back and forth in his cell.
" I must have reinforcements. Its quite obvious that even with their DNA the previous Titans lost to the children, and with your lack of bravado it's obvious I can't rely on you much longer... So, we will create a better, more perfected version!" Xervix said as he calculated his attack. "But… it will take me some time to draw the energy for such a feat."
"Shall I make preparations?" Aether asked.
"YOU! No. I have a better idea." Xervix snapped his fingers.
A clanking noise came from behind Aether as he turned to spot a Krab, a Tarantula, and a Flying Manta enter the room.
"These will suffice... like sacrificial lambs," Xervix said as black mist leapt from his fingers. "I have only enough power to create one Titan. Creation of others will take some more time."
The mist entered the monsters as they shook violently and glowed. The monsters screamed in pain as they melted into one pool. The pool then began to form a new monster, The Next Titan.
"Now go and await my orders," Xervix commanded.
Aether slowly stood up and left as he heard the pool of liquid shift and grind as it began to harden and take on its new form.
"Arise my loyal creation. Arise, Typhoon! The first of many."
As Aether turned his back to Xervix and his new Titan brother Typhoon, he thought to himself about how vulnerable Xervix truly was at this point… And what Xervix had said... It was quite obvious that if he began creating new Titans, Aether would become obsolete and would more likely be deleted.
His path was clear. He could not follow Xervix anymore.
Aether jumped into the air and spread his wings. The bird man flew through the air at high speeds, twisting and turning as he approached and entered one of the newly designed towers.
The tower was not like any of the original towers. Instead of being tall and white it was black and slender, almost like a skyscraper. Some pieces of the tower were not even connected. They merely floated off the side of it. The towers were created by Jeremy to not only keep Xervix captured inside the volcano sector, but also as a stronger security system to keep other possible threats out of Lyoko. Puck also created a way through the new towers to grant the other members of the gang the ability to shut down any towers that Aether might have tried to activate.
"I live to serve… How much longer must I follow that incompetent behemoth? I could have had the System by now, and Jeremy and Aelita. But instead, WE! were defeated, I was defeated... and denied absolute glory! All because of his worthless pride!" Aether said as he entered a tower.
Aether rose to the top floor of the tower. He stepped onto the small circular floor that was the command center. Even though the outside of the tower had changed in design, the inside mostly remained the same. Its walls were still adorned with codes and symbols that flowed through the walls of the towers. But this time they were a darker color of blue as opposed to the usual light blue. The difference was that the codes ran faster than in the original towers.
Aether approached a holo screen.
"To fight fire, you must not use fire... but an inferno. An inferno that will roast the planet and burn everything associated with your enemies. And I have found something to start that inferno with." Aether preached as he slid his palm past the holoscreen. A new screen appeared, which showed a small black dot that wiggled and dripped like water.
"So... This almost destroyed both sides?" Aether said with curiosity. "Then it shall again... Leaving me and my Titans to rule the world... under the sky I am god of."
Area: Unknown.
Pure white adorned the walls and ceiling of a room, which was bare and vacant with the exception of a small white table and six large orbs that sat in a circle around the desk. They were the size of a dinner plate, yet barely stuck out of the ground no more than a centimeter. They were used for communication. Above them sat several large screens, one for each pod. The images on them were shadowed and black. All that could be seen was a pure dark silhouettes of a person on each screen. Their voice were masked by some form of voice changing system.
"This has so far been a complete failure. Our so called ace in the hole turned into nothing more then an evidence of our existence," a voice said from one of the pods.
Estrada sat at the table and looked at the screen. "A failure? Or a rising of the stakes?"
"From the video and news reports we have seen, the Avatar has used the System... She is no longer the Avatar, she has transgressed into the Savior. Our chances of using her are now slimming more and more everyday," a high pitched female voice said.
"And now the United Nations is forming a new organization...This Earth Defense Force. We were able to hide the Neoton radiation from all of Earth satellites but the effects are starting to sprout up all over the globe. In a few years time there will be people with similar mutations all over the world, " another man said.
"I am aware of that. I'm also aware that the plans for the Human Mentality operation is a tad bit behind schedule. But in reality this maneuver has actually paid off to our advantage. And look what that has gotten us!" Estrada said.
"The girl must be secured before the Guardian arrives. We have no choice but to capture all of them to silence this mess. We will need to put our plans back farther." another man said.
"We will not slow down our plans. We must accelerate them instead. We will begin phase two," Estrada said.
"Phase 2!? We don't even have the subjects yet!" a man from the farthest pod said with Russian accent.
"We have acquired the cargo which will become the blueprints for an army. The proper scientist and equipment are standing by. As soon as the cargo arrives we will begin work on Phase 2," Estrada said. "However, I believe I have found a useful pawn in our plans."
A small screen flipped up from the table. It was translucent and clear. It glowed as an image appeared on the screen. The image revealed Aether.
"One of Xervix's so called… Titans?" A man with a Asian accent asked.
"He's scheming and power hungry. And he is perfect to help us find a kink or loop hole in the children's plans, and to remove Xervix from existence."
"And what of the other computer locations?" asked a woman with French accent.
"We find the children... we find them." Estrada said as he stood up. The globes shut off and the pictures disappeared. "Either way we are running out of time, but at least we still have our trump card."
Estrada clicked on a second screen. The screen showed a single room with computers and monitors hooked up to a single tube like structure. Smoke and ice covered the tube; Estrada could barely make out the object inside of it.
"Soon, she will join you... A nice little family reunion."
Amines, residential area.
A white taxi cab pulled up to the Ishiyama house.
The cab's door flew open as Aelita stepped out. She stretched a little as Jeremy exited from the other side. He pulled out his wallet and paid the fare to the driver. He placed his wallet back into his pocket as he took Aelita's hand and they both walked towards the house.
"Why couldn't we just walk? Yumi does not live that far away," Aelita asked as she fiddled with Jeremy's fingers. "Why did we have to stop by the Hermitage in the first place?"
Jeremy managed to only smile widely. He did not want to spoil Aelita's surprise by accident. This day was meant to be perfect.
Meanwhile, Yumi sat on the porch with Ulrich; Coco sniffed Yumi's face, looking at her with large, sympathetic eyes, begging for either food or more attention.
Yumi looked up and noticed the Einsteins walking down the path of the sidewalk leading towards the house. She waved at them. Aelita smiled and waved back; Jeremy held his hand up on the sly.
Coco jumped off the porch and ran towards Aelita and Jeremy. She barked a little as she was closing in. Jeremy bent down and greeted the tiny puppy. The small dog whined and panted as Jeremy scratched her behind her ears. Coco sniffed Jeremy's hands and licked his fingers. She was really quite the lover.
The dog then ran over and sniffed Aelita's legs. Coco then stood up on her hind legs and placed its paw on Aelita's thigh. Aelita bent down to scratch her small head.
"Hey, you love birds... good to see you," Ulrich said as he stood up off the porch. The group exchanged greetings and friendly hugs. Ulrich turned and held out his fist towards Jeremy. Jeremy held out his fist and tapped it against Ulrich's, greeting the gesture with a smile.
"Aelita, you look like the heat's getting to you." Ulrich noted as he looked over towards Aelita, who was still a bit sweaty and had a pink blush on her face.
"Yeah. I was running late and ran a little." Aelita said as she took a swig from a bottle of water.
"With all the running we've done the past few weeks?" Yumi asked in a surprised tone.
"Casual clothes are far less suitable for exercise. Not to mention the humidity," Aelita explained.
"I guess that means we don't have to run tonight, do we?"
"No thank you." Aelita glanced around the yard of Yumi's house. " Hey, are we early?"
"Nope...You're just in time." Ulrich said with a sinister smile.
"In time for what?"
"Oh, you'll see," Jeremy said.
"Honestly, it's about time," Yumi said as she walked up the steps and whistled for Coco to follow her up. "We got a lot to do today so I hope you're rested."
Aelita stared, puzzled, at her friends as she let the words bounce around in her head. She wondered what they were up to. Ulrich and Yumi had both been like a brother and sister to her. They were constantly giving her advice and pointers on a lot of subjects. Some of them were things she would have learned from her family, others were things that she had missed out while staying in limbo on Lyoko. Most of the time it was things she could do to help strengthen her relationship with Jeremy.
Yumi opened the door to the house. The four kids stepped inside, the only noise being the echo of their foot steps and the clicking noise of Coco's feet. All doors on the corridor were shut. The house was strangely silent, just like the house of Belpois when Aelita woke up.
"Okay guys, what's going on?" Aelita asked in her usual naïve tone.
The three teens turned to face their pink haired friend, smiling as widely as they could.
"Do you know what today is?" Ulrich asked.
"Yeah. May 3rd, right?"
"Yup," Jeremy confirmed. "It was on this day three years ago when I brought you to Earth for the first time. And today also happens to be..."
Yumi stood behind the wide doors that led into the living room. She turned around and opened them wide with a single move of her arms.
Aelita glanced inside the living room. As she looked around, her eyes caught sight of something she was not expecting. Streamers and balloons decorated the room. They were a colorful festive hue with several streamers and glitter on them. Odd, Sissi, William, Jessica, Travis, Mr and Mrs Ishiyama, Hiroki, Milly and Tamiya, Kiwi, Jeremy's parents… they all stood there, wearing party hats.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY AELITA!" they all shouted in unison.
Aelita's mouth dropped as she was in a state of complete shock. She glanced around at everyone and all the festive decorations that adorned the walls. On a table she saw a pink cake and several balloons. Sitting on the counter near the cake was a wide assortment of Aelita's favorite soda brands like Pepsi, Mountain Dew and orange soda.
"All this for… me?" Aelita asked as she covered her mouth, tearing up at the same time.
"It was long over due so we had to make it a big one." Odd said as the party goers approached and greeted the heavily blushing teen.
"Whose idea was all of this?" Aelita asked as she shot Jeremy a glance, seeing as how anything that tended to make her happy usually came from Jeremy.
"Yumi and Jeremy's, actually," William said, glancing over at the two masterminds of the party.
"Seeing as how you were staying at Jeremy's place for a while, we needed a new place to celebrate at. And we couldn't do the Hermitage obviously with the temperature so hot and no power to the place either," Yumi finished as she folded her arms against her chest.
"Oh my god... Thank you all so much." Aelita said as she hugged the nearest person closest to her, which was Ulrich. "But… what about the renovation?" Aelita asked, looking towards Yumi.
"We'll talk about that later," Travis said as he patted her on the shoulder.
Aelita looked up at the agent in wonder as to what exactly he meant.
"Yeah... right now I got a grill outside that's ready to go!" George said as he put on a apron which read "Kiss the bloody cook already" on it.
"Happy birthday Aelita," said a voice which sounded somewhat familiar.
Aelita turned her attention to the source of the voice. She looked to her left and spotted three familiar faces of Milly, Tamiya and Hiroki.
Milly was dressed in a red and green shirt checkered shirt. Her hair was no longer worn in pig tails but was instead left to hang down behind her back. A gold hair clip kept one side of her face bang free while the other side her bangs hang barely over her eyebrows. She wore a pair of green shorts which stopped right above her knees.
Tamiya wore a silver shirt with gold designs running from her shoulders straight down to the end of the shirt and a denim skirt that dropped down to her ankles. The front of her hair was braided while her back was tied off into two pigtail like sections.
Hiroki had grown a little over the years. He was now almost as tall as Aelita, who always was the shortest of the group. His hair was gelled and spiked. He wore a blue buttoned shirt as a jacket and a tan shirt underneath. He had also recently took on the idea of wearing blue jeans instead of shorts.
Tamiya stood in front of Aelita, holding out a birthday card towards her.
"Happy birthday!" Milly said, smiling at Aelita.
"Hi guys. What are you girls doing here?" Aelita asked.
"Mom said I could bring Milly and Tamiya was gonna stay at school all day, so... here we are." Hiroki said as he hugged his girlfriend.
Aelita took the card from Tamiya. She glanced inside and read the card out loud.
"I hear it's your birthday, and that's great to hear. Hopefully we'll get you something better next year."
She opened the card; inside were the signatures of Milly, Tamiya and Hiroki. She also spotted 5 Euros, tucked away inside.
"Aww, you guys didn't have to get me anything," she said, handing the money back to the trio.
"It's OK Aelita, really. Just don't spend it all in one place." Hiroki said in a cheerful tone.
"Well… thank you. It's great to see you two here." Aelita said as Jeremy walked over towards her in the meantime.
After the 3 kids walked off, she whispered into Jeremy's ear:
"I know they know about us being heroes and all. But what about the agents?"
"Don't worry about it. Hiroki knows but he's not gonna say anything to Milly or Tamiya. Besides we got it covered... Watch this." Jeremy whispered back. He turned and faced George as the cook and Kendo walked out towards the patio.
"Hey Uncle George... Make sure you throw cheese on my burger."
George paused a little in confusion. Finally, he remembered and turned to face Jeremy.
"Got it. Extra pickles." he said jokingly.
Jeremy turned to face Aelita who watched the whole thing.
"You didn't have to plan a whole party for me Jeremy." Aelita said in a sweet voice.
"Now that we know your birth date and all, we had to celebrate it in some way."
Aelita quickly hugged Jeremy as she smiled.
"This is my first official birthday back on Earth... Thank you."
She leaned forward and kissed Jeremy. But no sooner than she did, she realized someone was staring at them.
It was a young boy approximately the same age as Hiroki. He wore a dark purple and yellow shirt with a pair of khaki shorts and a white jacket which was buttoned up to his chest so that the yellow shirt was visible. He looked unrecognizable with the exception of one thing... purple hair.
Aelita turned in his direction.
"Who are you?" she asked hesitantly. He reminded her of someone. Suddenly, she realized who.
"Are... you... kidding me?" she said in disbelief.
"Hi Aelita. You might know a doll version of me…"
"Mister Puck? But… how?!" shocked Aelita asked.
The boy who turned out to be Mister Puck came closer to her and gave her a hug.
"That's quite a crazy story," he said.
He was paused when at this exact same moment Soria and Michael called everyone to the table. Michael held a knife and started cutting the birthday cake. Of course, Aelita was the first to get a slice.
Soon afterwards the guests moved from the interior of the house to the outside patio and the garden, some of them still holding little paper plates with their slices of cake. Misato, Kendo, Jessica, Michael and Soria chatted it up on chairs and benches on the patio. George and Travis ate their cake fast, since they were responsible for the barbecue. They stood by the grill and started to prepare the food: hot dogs, cheeseburgers and Aelita's favorites, salmon and shrimp. They hurried, since it was obvious that cake would not feed everyone for too long.
The only person who did not eat the cake was Mister Puck. However, it seemed to bother no one. He looked at the guests and the surrounding world with curiosity.
"So, Puck, how did you manage to get here?" Aelita asked as they sat with the others on the grass in the garden. "Is it… your real body?"
"I did not undergo true materialization process," Mister Puck explained. "I had way too little time to adjust Code Earth program properly. I'm sorry."
"You're a specter then," Aelita concluded.
Puck saddened when she made that observation. It reminded him of the talk he had with the others a few hours ago, when they prepared to send him to Earth.
"If you tweaked Code Earth… could you make Puck human?" Ulrich asked Jeremy.
"Yes. And the offer does still stand," Jeremy said towards Puck.
He grunted as he had been over this argument a hundred times before with both Jeremy and Aelita.
"I already told you that I can't. I can't leave the computer till Xervix is dealt with and I don't want to be human... I'm fine as I am. What does the human world have to offer that Lyoko or the internet don't?"
"Your sister... Us. There's so much more that can be seen then just through a computer screen," Yumi argued.
"No... I can see it all just fine," he said. "And Aelita may be like a sister to me, but we are not flesh and blood relation..." That comment hurt him a little. "I don't want to talk about it anymore…"
"Hey, Puck!" Aelita called him, which made him snap out of his flashback. "Shouldn't you have your original clothes on?"
"Yeah," he sighed. "But we decided that they would drag too much attention. Travis gave me those," he added as he pointed at his shirt.
"This world is incredible, isn't it?" she asked suddenly.
"It's so much different than Lyoko. You should see my reaction when I came out of the scanner."
Aelita smiled. "I can relate to that. Although…" it's even better when you are truly human, she wanted to say, but bit her tongue. "I'm really glad you are here," she added quickly.
Mister Puck immediately lightened up. "Me too. It means a lot."
Meanwhile, by the grill, Misato walked over and asked Travis to apply some oriental seasoning to the seafood. Travis was hesitant when Misato told him to add some more spices, but her smile reassured him that she knew what she was doing.
"I must say Mrs Ishiyama that you have a very nice home here." Travis said as he put down the spices and grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler.
"Why thank you," Misato said as she observed the two agents at work with curiosity. "You know, I'm new to this, the men cooking the food, even after all these years in France. It's not really a Japanese custom."
"It's a common courtesy in America," George said as he flipped over a few pieces of meat.
"Well… I'm very grateful for this." Misato said as she bowed her head in a traditional Japanese style.
"Don't worry. I mean, we are using your house after all. We should be grateful to you." Travis said.
"I don't know much of the situation, which is probably for the best. But I know that Aelita and Jeremy have been good friends of my daughter for years, and even friends of my son. When we lived in Japan, Yumi didn't have a lot of friends, so its nice to see our daughter have some."
"Your daughter is a good kid. We can tell she gets that from her parents." George said as he took the salmon off the grill and placed it on the plate.
Jeremy's father walked over to the grilling area. He looked at Travis while he flipped a few shrimp. Travis saw Michael walking over. He placed the tongs on the table and walked over to greet Jeremy's father.
"Think now is the best time, Mr. Dalesman?" Michael asked.
"I was thinking after dinner and cake and all…" Travis said as he placed the tongs off to the side.
Travis placed a little salt on the hamburgers. The red and black meat hissed a little as Travis began removing the burgers off the grill and placed them on the plate he was holding in his hand. Travis turned to see that Michael was still standing there with his head tilted towards him. He could tell by the look on Michael's face that something else was bothering him.
"What's the matter, Michael?" the agent asked.
Michael sighed as he placed his drink down. The tall slim man removed his glasses and looked straight at Travis. He started to whisper as if he didn't want anyone else to hear of his concerns.
"You told me her story... And Jeremy and Aelita told me hers too. Don't get me wrong, she's a sweet wonderful girl who my son is in love with. But I'm worried about them. Suppose, what happens if we..." Michael hesitated.
Travis looked up and stared at Michael as the tall slender man looked towards his son and Aelita.
"I love my son, and he loves Aelita... And Soria and myself have come to love her like a daughter. I just know that…"
Michael looked up at the younger American as he looked for comfort. Travis walked over and placed a hand on Michael's shoulder.
"She has a great group of friends, a wonderful boyfriend, and you two to help look after her. I'm pretty sure she is in good hands." Travis assured Michael. "Not to mention she is like a super hero."
Michael nodded as he felt a little more confident.
Travis removed his hand from Michael's shoulder. "I promise that we will end this nightmare of hers once and for all as soon as we can,"
"I hope you're right. The night she told us about her parents, she... fell apart in ways I have never seen people break down before." Michael said.
"I know... I was there," Travis whispered back.
He recalled what happened at the Belpois house two days after the Las Vegas incident.
When he, George and Jessica arrived there, lightning arched across the sky, signaling the arrival of a thunderstorm. The ground was dry and barren for the month of April. They at least made it before the start of a heavy rain.
They hurried to the front door and knocked.
It was Michael who opened. "You must be those Americans Jeremy and Aelita spoke of?"
As soon as the entered the house, Aelita ran up to them and hugged them one by one.
"I'm Special Agent Travis Dalesman and this is Special Agent George Knight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation." Travis said as he and George pulled out their badges and showed it to the Belpois.
"I'm Officer Jessica Hillsabeck of the Central Intelligence Agency." Jessica introduced herself as she showed them her badge as well.
"My name is Michael Belpois and this is my wife Soria Belpois." Michael said as they took turns shaking hands.
"They're not in trouble with the American government, are they?" Soria asked.
"No ma'am. Far from it actually. They are looked upon as heroes to the world and they're helping us with a case. So why would they be in trouble?" George assured them.
They all sat around the large dining room table.
"We understand you have some questions and some concerns. Jeremy and Aelita asked us to come and help clarify some questions you might have," said Jessica.
"We are concerned about the children. One day we're sending them to school... the next they're in the news being super heroes... What is going on?" Soria asked. "They could get hurt or killed."
"Mom, it's no..." Jeremy said until Aelita grabbed his arm. Resentment could be seen on her face. "You sure you want to do this?" he asked her.
"They have to know." Aelita said.
Jeremy shook his head as Aelita turned to face her boyfriend's family.
"My name is Aelita Schaffer... Not Stones.. I'm not Odds cousin or Canadian... I'm American. My father's name is Waldo Schaffer and my mother is Anthea Schaffer. They both worked for a company in America on a project... Project Vorseas and Project Carthage. The company they worked for, Mal-Tech, discovered an object in Alaska called the System. It's a source of energy that can create life... or destroy it. My mother is actually from a parallel dimension... from another world. She brought the System to Earth and met my father. They got married and gave birth to me," Aelita said as she bowed her head.
Travis already knew it all, but Soria and Michael looked at Aelita in disbelief. His initial reaction was exactly the same. He was in denial, thinking of Aelita's story as sci-fi movie plot. Now he knew it was all true, but was in doubt whether Jeremy's parents would believe her story. He felt nervous as he observed Michael and Soria's reactions.
"They both realized what Mal-Tech's plan was and left. But they came after my family, and one day in front of my eyes they..." Aelita paused. Tears began to stream down her face. "They took my mother away. I was 5 when it happened."
"Oh my god..." Soria said. She covered her mouth as she let the words sink right in.
"I haven't seen her since…" Aelita started to sob.
"Why didn't the Americans do anything about it?" Michael asked as he turned from Aelita towards Travis.
"We did, Mr. Belpois, but Mal-tech forced an agent who took care of them to reveal where they were." George answered.
"You poor thing, you…" Soria said as she tried to stand up. Tears formed in her eyes.
Aelita held up her hand to stop her from walking over and hugging her.
"There's more. My father came here... to France. He knew Mal-Tech would come after us eventually. So he built a supercomputer to protect us and stop Project Carthage."
"What's that Project Carthage?" Michael asked.
"It was a project developed in the 80's to disable enemy communications, such as the former Soviet Union's… but the more we have investigated, the more we believe it was a project that was meant to incite global war. They would use the System and our own computers to take over the rest of the world." Jessica answered.
"Mind you... What is spoken of at this table, stays at this table." George said as he wanted to make it clear that the story that Aelita was telling was confidential.
Meanwhile, Aelita calmed down a little and continued.
"My father built the computer and an A.I. named Xana to help regulate it. But… they found us eventually. My father discovered a way to transfer some one into the computer, so he sent us in. But the A.I. became self aware. It became a threat and tried to destroy us, so my father shut down the computer. That happened on June 6th 1994. I was trapped inside of it for ten years."
"It's the same month Jeremy was born," Michael noted.
Travis and the other feds perked their heads up at the news. It was quite the coincidence... Almost too much of a coincidence.
Jeremy wrapped his arm around Aelita.
"All these years later, Jeremy found the computer and turned it on. We met for the first time. Ulrich, Yumi, Jeremy and Odd helped me fight Xana. They freed me from the computer and we destroyed Xana together." Aelita said, but her voice broke and her eyes filled up with tears again.
"What of your father?" Soria asked. "Did he make it out?"
"He died... protecting us." Aelita said as she wiped the tears from her eyes. Jeremy did not stop comforting her this whole time. "He died right in front of me. I promised to save him... And I couldn't even do that... I never got to tell him goodbye…" she said as she cried.
"She's all alone now... She has no one but me and the others." Jeremy said as Aelita sat up and tried to dry her eyes.
"I don't exist either. There's no records of me... My family is gone because of me... It's all my fault!" she cried angrily.
"Oh honey, it's not your fault... It's that organization's fault." Soria said as she stood up and walked over to comfort the teary eyed teen.
"So then what happened?" Michael asked. Travis felt obliged to finish for Aelita.
"Well, the organization still wants her. They created a new A.I. named Xervix. We found the System, but they're still out there. Now Xervix is sealed inside the computer and Aelita has the System. But as long as the ones responsible for this all are out there..."
"She will never be safe." Michael concluded. "What happens now?"
"That's why I told you all of this... And why I asked that they be here." Aelita said as she pointed towards the feds. "Agent Dalesman... Travis. I wanna go into protective custody."
Jeremy slowly stood up and looked at Travis, then back to Aelita. "What?"
"I don't want to lose you or the others the way I lost my parents. I couldn't live with myself."
"But we lasted this long... And done so much!" Jeremy said with panic in his voice.
"And what if something happens? What if they come for me and you get hurt or worse?" Aelita asked as she looked at her boyfriend. "I love you too much to lose you."
"Then we will do what we always do. We will fight them till we win!" Jeremy said, trying to reassure his girlfriend.
"You can't be sure. I would rather die then see everyone I love vanish... especially you. That's why I gotta go."
"But... Aelita..." Jeremy said as tears formed in his eyes.
"I CAN'T LOSE YOU LIKE I LOST MY FAMILY!" Aelita shouted with tears in her eyes as a loud clap of thunder echoed through the silent house.
Travis stepped forward as Soria stepped out of the way.
"You know, I've only known you kids for a few weeks... And from what I've seen, I think you're safer here than anywhere else. Even an anonymous orphanage."
"No child belongs in a orphanage!" Soria protested. She looked towards her husband, who shook his head in agreement.
"But… if they come for me... and they hurt Jeremy..." Aelita mumbled.
"You got six friends who just saved the Earth from virtual monsters... And you got three American government agents who are trained to handle any scenario. Plus, you're a super powered being who can fly, shoot lasers and Lord knows what else. I feel a great swell of pity for anyone who would try to harm you now," Jessica said from behind Travis.
"You are an incredibly strong woman, Aelita. I've seen older people crumble from less serious stuff. But you, you stand up and plant your feet. And you fight like a bat out of hell to make sure no one gets hurt. That makes you the most dangerous adversary anyone could ever take on." George added. "We believe in you. You have our full support."
"But where will I live? Where will I go?" Aelita asked.
"You leave that to us," Michael said as he stood up.
"We've known you for a few years and we know Jeremy loves you... so very much. And if Jeremy was to lose you, he would shut himself in his room like always before you came into his life," Soria said. "And I would rather lose my house then let a sweet girl be homeless."
"You... mean... I can stay?" Aelita asked, clearly shocked.
"You're welcome to live here." Soria said and her husband confirmed with a single nod.
"FBI and CIA are going to work to give you an identity that only a few people will know about," Travis said as he bent down next to Aelita. "See? Everyone in this room wants to offer you a future. You don't have to run away anywhere anymore."
Travis saw Jeremy nod to his words as small tears flowed down the boy's cheek.
"Make yourself at home." Soria said in a motherly tone.
"I'm... home?" Aelita asked as she began to tear up again.
"Yes, dear." Soria embraced Aelita the same way a mother would. She rubbed the young girl's back as she calmed down the frantic teen. She looked over and motioned for her son to come over. Aelita immediately latched on to her boyfriend. She collapsed to the ground with him as they both cried in each other's arms.
"I'm sorry... I just don't want to lose you." Aelita said.
"I know. Me neither," Jeremy said as a sob broke in between his sentence. "Don't ever think that way again, please. I need you in my life."
"I won't... I never will," Aelita assured Jeremy.
Travis woke up when George scolded him for not checking on burgers. He quickly grabbed his tongs and flipped them to the other side. He did not mind George shouting at him; his mind was still elsewhere. He fixed his gaze at Aelita, who sat with Jeremy and the other kids in the distance.
Looking at these two, Travis felt as if he was about to break down and weep with emotion. That whole situation at the Belpois house showed him once again how troubled Aelita was and what burden she carried. He was relieved that she realized she was not going to be alone. Not with Jeremy. Never.
He sighed. He thought such love happened only in fairytales. When he was sure he saw everything as the FBI agent… life proved him wrong.
Ok. first. this chapter i think broke the record for most Flashbacks DAM!
Second, Consider this my xmas gift to you guys.
This chapter and the last one works as a filler for what happened in between New Dawn and this chapter here. If you noticed, My stories start off slow at first but gradually speed up like a train. well this time im gonna try to fix that. Wait till you see the next chapter though.
REVIEW OR NO XMAS!