Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is copyrighted by Moonscoop.
This chapter was written by me, it was edited by AwesomeFanFictionAuthor.
I only own Lila. Mary is owned by AeroJester203.
Author's Note: Hi everyone, a small note about Sissi's Lady Luck power/ability. Lady Luck is an ability that is based entirely on luck itself. Her first slot contains her spade ability with the spade symbol. Her second slot contains her cliub dance ability with the club symbol. The third slot while mentioned having a symbol, has not in fact been shown. This is due to my forgetfulness of it. It will debut late season 3. Sissi's fourth and final slot which is always empty, will not be revealed until we are near the season 3 finale. If a slot has no symbol on it, it means the power cannot be used. If Sissi is unlucky with her Lady Luck power, she will either unfortunately have just one symbol on one slot used, or none at all (which has not happened yet.) Then there is the joker symbol. The joker symbol is bad luck and it can decrease Sissi's abilities like her spades as we've previously seen, causing her to rely more on her baton instead. I hope this clears up any questions about the Lady Luck power/ability.
Also do not skip to the end of the chapter unless you read it the whole way through.
Enjoy!
April 12th
Inside the lab
POV Lila's
Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, Sissi, and I are all in the lab. Tomorrow is Jeremy's birthday.
"Okay, so how are preparations going for Jeremy's surprise?" I ask.
"It's going well! I've got the drawing completed, and the frame should be done tonight," Odd replies.
"That's good," Sissi says.
"Aelita's talking to him in his room, which gives us time to plan everything out," Yumi says.
"So what should we all get Einstein?" Ulrich asks, looking at me. I shrug.
"A version of him may have been my father but he didn't like talking about his past too much."
"Well… we've got the drawing, that should do since it's got all of us," Odd says.
"Yeah, I think it will," I smile.
Later that night
Inside Lila and Aelita's room
The buzzing of Aelita's phone wakes the both of us up, she immediately reaches for it and she answers it.
"Jeremy…?" Aelita asks, a bit groggily. Her eyes widen, as she gets up from her pillow. "How many?!" she exclaims. "Okay… Lila and I are on our way," she says, and clicks the end button. She puts the phone on the desk and looks up at me, stunned.
"What's wrong?" I ask her, pulling my blanket to the side and getting out of it.
"Xana's activated five towers," Aelita replies. My eyes widen.
"What?!"
She nods. I quickly clamber down the ladder. I reach our floor and going to our shared opened close, I start pulling out clothing.
"Let's change and get over to the factory quickly," I say, looking at Aelita.
"Right," she nods and tosses her blanket to the side.
Inside the factory
Jeremy, Odd, Ulrich, Sissi, Aelita, and I are standing by the freight elevator. We're waiting for Yumi. Jeremy presses the red button, and the freight elevator's hangar door opens.
"I've got a bad feeling about this one," Jeremy says.
"Oh relax, Einstein. We'll take care of your five towers in no time," Odd says. Looking up, we see Yumi sliding down the metal rope. She lands on the floor.
"I've got here as quickly as I could."
"That's okay, Yumi, all that matters is you're here now," We both smile and go inside the freight elevator. I press the red button, the freight elevator's hangar door closes, and brings us down to the lab.
Inside the lab
The freight elevator's doors opens, and we see a familiar person typing on the keyboard, my eyes widen.
It can't be… but it is… I think.
"Ma-mary?!" I exclaim, running inside. The others follow me. She turns to me, still in her business suit. She looks pale. Almost like her body took some sort of physical toll when she was trapped in the Scyphozoa's mind.
"How… how are you here?!" I ask.
"Xana… he made a mistake. When the moment was right, I took my chance and escaped the Scyphozoa's mind. The torture Xana put me through… it was too much. It took a toll on my physical body… as you can see. I'm happy to see you, Lila," she replies. She notices my red hair but doesn't comment.
"Not that we aren't all happy to see you Mary… but, uh, what are you doing here?" Jeremy asks.
"Deactivating the towers of course."
"Wait… what?" I ask. She continues typing on the keyboard, and the five windows showing the activated towers, are now deactivated.
"That Xana, opens the doors, but leaves the windows wide open," she chuckles lightly.
"But how could you possibly know how to do that, Mary?" I ask her.
"Xana's taken knowledge from me. Knowledge I have of our future. So now, I'm using it against him," she explains.
"Okay, so now what?" Ulrich asks.
"We need to destroy Xana," Mary says suddenly.
"Huh?" Yumi and Sissi ask.
"We'd love to. But if we do, Aelita switches off too," Jeremy explains.
"I'm well aware. We'll find the antivirus, you'll see," Mary says, trying to reassure us. She looks at me.
"On another note… what exactly happened to your hair Lila? Why is it red?" Mary asks.
"Sissi and I exchanged bodies for a day because of a bug in the scanners. She dyed my hair," I explain.
"I said I was sorry!" Sissi exclaims, crossing her arms. All of us laugh.
"Thankfully she didn't ruin dad's jacket," I say. Mary raises her eyebrow.
"They know?" she asks. I nod.
"Yeah. They don't know who my mom, but that's because I don't know. We have a lot of catching up to do," I say. Mary nods, catching my drift.
The next day
Ulrich, Sissi, Aelita, Yumi, Odd, Kiwi and I are outside Jeremy's door. Odd has his drawing wrapped up in red gift wrap.
I'm glad I had the chance to tell Mary a few of things that happened while she was gone. Like how Sissi became a Lyoko Warrior… but I haven't told her why Cameron left the group. I'm not sure if I have it in me to tell her… I think. We can hear Jeremy's phone ringing from the inside of his room. We open the door, and all of us, including Kiwi, walk in.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY EINSTEIN!" All of us shout, I close the door behind us. He turns to us in his chair. All of us laugh, happy about the occasion.
I walk up to Jeremy first and give him a hug. Letting go of him, Ulrich and Odd walk over to him. They nudge at Jeremy's shoulder, Sissi goes up to him and pats him on his shoulder. Aelita walks up to him and kisses him near the side of his glasses, surprising the bunch of us. It lasts a few seconds, and then she pulls back. She gives him his glasses and he puts them back on, fixing them to the bridge of his nose.
"Um, yeah," Jeremy says, to his dad on the phone. Yumi goes over to him and puts her hand on his hand. "Sure. Okay dad listen, I have to go." She pulls her hand back. "My friends just came in. Talk to you soon," he says, pressing the end button on his phone. He puts the phone on his desk, then looks at us.
"Here," Odd says, as he reveals the wrapped present. Jeremy smiles.
"Go on Einstein, open it," Sissi urges.
"Thanks," he says, and unwraps the present. He puts the paper aside on his desk, and looks at the framed drawing.
"Wow! It's great!" Jeremy exclaims. Odd smiles at him.
"Yeah, and I drew it for memory," Odd mentions.
"So you could imagine the effort it took," Ulrich jokes. He, Aelita, Yumi, and I laugh slightly at that.
"Thanks everyone," Jeremy says. "Hey, how about going over to the factory now? I can't wait to see Mary again."
"Me too. Sounds like a good idea," I say.
Inside the lab
Mary looks at us, as if there's something troubling her.
"What's wrong Mary?" I ask her.
"Lila… I was wrong to ever let you step foot into a scanner," she says.
"What? Why?" I ask.
"Children… are you aware that using the scanners for as long as you have, can lead to… serious health side effects?" Mary asks hesitantly.
"Uh… health side effects? No one told me this!" Sissi exclaims.
"We didn't know," Jeremy tells her. He turns to Mary. "What sort of health side effects? And why would this happen?" he asks.
"The virtualization process is a very dangerous procedure over time. Left unchecked, this procedure can cause... cell degeneration," Mary reveals.
"That's impossible! Dad never said-" I start to go on a rant, but Mary looks at me with a serious look.
"Your father lied to you Lila. While I was proud of you that you became a Lyoko Warrior… and that I was able to help in secret with fighting alongside with the others, I should have never let my pride get in the way of your safety," she explains.
"How can we know for sure?" Odd asks.
"We'll use the scanners to check on things," Mary replies.
"Okay…" I trail off as the others climb down the ladder. "Mary… are you absolutely sure?" I ask her.
"I am," Mary replies.
"Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi are in the scanners!" Sissi informs, her voice loud and clear coming from the speakers. Nodding, Mary starts scanning them. Odd's profile picture pops up first. A plus sign is shown showing there's no issue.
"Odd seems okay," Mary says and moves onto Ulrich. Another plus sign.
"Ulrich is fine too," she informs. Moving onto Yumi, an area shown where her head is blaring with an red exclamation point.
"But Yumi…" Mary trails off as Aelita gasps.
"No! It can't be!" Jeremy exclaims, covering his mouth.
I can't believe this… I think. Ending the process, Mary says:
"Sissi, we need to test you next."
It's surprising she isn't using Jeremy's headset to talk with, I guess it's more of a personal choice for Jeremy's use.
"Right!" Sissi says. She starts typing the process and scans Sissi. The same area that effected Yumi, is effecting Sissi. The blaring of the red exclamation point on the computer's main screen makes my eyes widen.
"Oh no…" I trail off. Uncovering his mouth, Jeremy looks at me completely horrified by all of this.
Afterwards
In the courtyard
Yumi and Sissi look a bit upset. But it makes sense.
"I can't believe it… what a nightmare," Yumi says, putting her hand on her head. Sissi is sitting on the bench, she has her head down. Yumi is sitting on the bench next to her, her hand on still on her head.
"Nice one Einstein. Doctor Shrank transplants animal limbs onto human beings. But compared to you, he's small time," Odd chastises.
"I – I couldn't have known. I'm sorry," Jeremy says.
"You're sorry? Well that's not going to help cure Yumi and Sissi," Ulrich says.
Jeremy walks up to them.
"Yumi – Sissi I…" Jeremy trails off. Removing her hand from her head, Yumi and Sissi get up from the bench.
"Leave us alone Jeremy. We need to be left alone," Yumi says coldly. Sissi looks at me.
"So much for being a time traveler. Huh?" Sissi asks. I look down at my feet.
"Are you coming, Ulrich?" Yumi asks him. He nods as he and Yumi walk away from Jeremy, Aelita, and I. Sissi looks at Odd.
"Come on, let's go," she says. Odd nods. The two walk away from us as well. Aelita, Jeremy, and I look at each other with concern.
Later at dinner
Inside the cafeteria
All of us are at our usual table, surprisingly. I asked Rosa not to give me too much spaghetti and meatballs, since I'm not in the mood to eat that much tonight. Sissi isn't here though, she's in her room and Yumi is back at her house.
"I'm sure there's a way to cure them," Jeremy says. He cautiously eats a meatball with his fork.
"We don't even know exactly what's wrong with them," Odd says.
"I'll work it out, I promise I will," Jeremy tells him.
"I think you've done enough damage as it is," Ulrich says.
"What do you mean by that? That everything has been my fault right from the start?" Jeremy asks.
"You're the brains of this outfit. Einstein," Ulrich replies. Taking his tray, Jeremy gets up from his chair. He walks away. Taking her tray, Aelita gets up from the chair.
"You know Ulrich, if it weren't for the scanners I wouldn't be here," Aelita reminds him. I look at Odd.
"I'm not really hungry, you can take my tray if you want," I say and get up with her. We walk away.
Later at night
Inside Lila and Aelita's room
I stare at the ceiling, sighing internally. I look at the time machine necklace underneath my shirt.
Dad… you would have told me something was wrong with the scanners. I know you would have told me, I think.
The next day
Inside the lab
The freight elevator's doors open. Ulrich, Odd, Jeremy, Aelita, Yumi, Sissi, and I walk in the lab. Mary had told Yumi and Sissi that all of us should meet her here. She finishes typing on the keyboard, and turns to us in the chair.
"I now know how to program Aelita's antivirus, which will free Aelita from Xana," Mary announces. "As for your link, Lila, before I escaped the Scyphozoa's mind I removed the three-way link between us and Xana. We're no longer tied to him. All we need is gather the data from Sector Five," she continues to explain.
She turns back to the keyboard and starts typing again. Aelita, Odd, Yumi, and Sissi walk up to Mary. They're by her side of the chair.
"That's great, we'll go and get the data then," Aelita says.
"I thought the scanners were too dangerous to use?" Jeremy asks. He and I walk up to her.
"If we want to get to Sector Five, there's no other way," Mary replies, not looking at us.
"It'll be our final mission then!" Odd exclaims.
"Okay, then what am I supposed to do?" Jeremy asks. Mary stops typing.
"If I were you, I'd stay out of the way," she replies, not looking at him. Jeremy points at Mary.
"It's not fair! Everyone is blaming me for everything! And after all, we all formed this group together!" he reminds us, and crosses his arms. Mary turns to him with the chair.
"Perhaps, but you were the one who played the sorcerer's apprentice. You're the one who put your friends' lives in danger. And you're the one that let Xana destroy Franz Hopper's diary!" Mary chastises.
"Fine I get it," Jeremy says. He turns away from us and starts walking to the freight elevator.
"Jeremy, wait!" Aelita exclaims. I run over to him, and look back at Mary. I then look forward and I walk with him, and we enter the freight elevator. Aelita runs over to us but I press the red button to go up, and the freight elevator's doors start closing. Aelita stops running,. She, Mary, Yumi, Sissi, Ulrich, and Odd look at us. They soon disappear from our sight when the doors close completely. I look at Jeremy and the freight elevator goes up.
"Jeremy, I'm sorry," I say. Jeremy takes off his glasses, I see tears forming in his eyes. He wipes them away and puts his glasses back on, pushing them to the bridge of his nose.
"I'm going to call my dad," Jeremy says.
"What… why?" I ask him, as the freight elevator stops, reaching the top floor. The freight elevator's hangar door opens. He looks at me.
"It's clear I'm not wanted here. I'm sure Aelita still believes in me… and even you… but the others… I just…" he trails off. He walks out of the freight elevator.
"Jeremy please, you don't need to go!" I exclaim. He ignores me, and keeps walking.
Afterwards
Inside Lila and Aelita's room
I slam our door, infuriated.
Mary… I can't believe you would say something like that to Jeremy. Now he might be leaving… I know you must have gone through some terrible things inside the Scyphozoa's mind. But for it to change so drastically… I think.
Going to my desk, I open the drawer my diary is in. Taking its key, I unlock the diary. I grab a pen and put the key, and the pen on the desk. I sit down, and grab the pen, and start writing in a new page in the diary.
Dear Diary,
I don't know what to do. Jeremy plans on leaving… how can I stop him? I mean after all, I have no idea if he'll truly leave in this timeline. Anything can happen. For example… Mary's back. But she's different. She looks weaker physically, and her mind also seems strained. I can't imagine what she must have gone through when she was trapped inside the Scyphozoa's mind. When we caught up the other night, I told her a lot about what happened during her missing time here. But -
I stop writing and my eyes widen, making a realization.
"I didn't tell her that Franz Hopper's diary was destroyed! How could she have known that?" I ask myself. Biting my lip, the thought gets to me and I stop biting my lip, making another realization.
"I'M SO STUPID!" I exclaim. Getting out of my chair I close the diary, and lock it with its key. I put both in the drawer, closing it shut. Then, I turn and run to the door.
I open the door, and close it behind me, not bothering to lock it behind me. This is too important. I make my way to run upstairs to Jeremy's room.
The boy's dorm floor
Reaching the boy's dorm floor, I see Jeremy already closing his door. He looks at me. He's shouldering his messenger bag, I assume his laptop is in it.
"Lila?" he asks. He starts running up to me and I run to him.
"It's not Mary, it's Xana!" we both exclaim at the same time, practically shouting in each other's faces.
Afterwards
"How did you know?" Jeremy asks. We start walking, and make our way to park to get to the woods.
"I realized no one told her that Franz Hopper diary was destroyed," I reply.
"I figured that was the case," Jeremy nod. "We're going to need to play this carefully. Do you think you can distract her? If this idea of mine works, we may be able to free the real Mary Smith, today," he says.
"Right," I nod.
Jeremy, whatever your planning I hope you're right! I think, determined.
Inside the freight elevator
Jeremy and I look at each other, I press the red button on the bottom to go down. The freight elevator's hangar door closes. We remain silent, as False Mary is certainly going to listen in on us, if she knows we're here. We're brought down to the scanner room.
She's probably focused on the other's. The freight elevator reaches the scanner room, the doors open, and we see Aelita in the scanner room. She looks at us confused. Jeremy puts his finger on his lips, and enters the scanner room. I press the red button to go up. The freight elevator's doors close, and it starts going up.
Now… how am I going to confront you false Mary? I think.
Inside the lab
I press the red button to go back down and I walk in.
"Mary, I'm not in Sector Five. Something went wrong with the virtualization," Aelita informs. The freight elevator's doors close behind me.
"Don't worry Aelita, everything is under control. Lila will meet with you soon," False Mary says. False Mary turns to me.
"Ah Lila, right on time. Aelita's just been virtualized to Lyoko, there was a bug in the transfer when I tried to virtualize her directly to Sector Five," she says.
Yeah, a bug sure. More like you sent her there purposely, I think.
"What's wrong?" False Mary asks.
"Well Mary… if I'm being honest I'm not really liking the way you're managing things… or should I say Xana?" I ask False Mary. False Mary looks at me, her eyes pulsing with the symbol of Xana in them. She smirks.
"Very clever girl. But you're too late," she says. Raising her hand, she channels purple electricity in it. She fires at me quickly, not giving me enough time to react. The electricity goes through my body, I scream in pain as I'm hurled into the wall.
Ugh, that hurt, I think, looking at her. False Mary turns her face away from me and starts typing on the keyboard.
"What's going on? Mary?!" Yumi asks.
"We need some help!" Sissi exclaims.
"What did you do to them?!" I exclaim. Using the wall, I push myself up.
"I've fixed things so that they can never rematerialize. No more life points, and it's bye bye," she explains. She continues typing on the keyboard. "It's time for the grand finale," False Mary says. Hearing a strange noise on the computer, my eyes widen, realizing its the drone of the Scyphozoa.
Oh no, the Scyphozoa! Hang on Lila, surely Jeremy wouldn't send Aelita to Lyoko to her certain death. He must have had a plan… oh man could this mean that the Aelita that's on Lyoko is really a clone? And it has a trick up its sleeve? I think hopefully.
"Xana, please don't!" I act. "Whatever you're looking for, I'll let you have it! Just spare Aelita!" False Mary turns to me.
"You're such a silly girl. After Aelita's dead, you'll be next. And you still haven't even realized it have you?" False Mary asks.
"Haven't realized what?" I ask her. Looking at the window on the computer, Aelita's memories are starting to be taken. "I'm asking you, please order the Scyphozoa to stop!" I exclaim. The freight elevator's doors open. False Mary and I turn, to see Jeremy.
"Ah Jeremy. Come to watch your friend's demise?" False Mary asks.
"Nope," Jeremy answers. He walks into the lab and the freight elevator doors close.
"I've come to watch the real Mary be freed," he replies. My eyes widen, and so does False Mary's. She starts typing frantically.
"What have you done boy?!" she exclaims, slamming the keyboard. Looking at the window, we see Aelita's memories reach zero. We hear the Scyphozoa starting to screech.
"NO!" False Mary yells. She looks at Jeremy and myself. Jeremy laughs tauntingly, as I smile.
"You're through, Xana," I say. False Mary growls at me, and transforms into its spectre form, which is rather bigger than usual. The spectre vanishes into the ceiling.
"Wow," Jeremy and I say. I run over and give him a hug.
"Thank you, Jeremy," I say, letting go of him.
"You're welcome, Lila. Let me fix the others first, and then I'll virtualize you to Mary's location. We'll bring Aelita with us, so she can deactivate the tower. It's located in Sector Five," he explains.
"Wow. That's a first," I say. He nods and runs over to the computer. Meanwhile, I head to the scanner room.
Inside the scanner room
The freight elevator's doors open. Looking at Aelita, she smiles at me. It appears she sent a clone using Jeremy's laptop.
"Very clever," I smile.
"It was Jeremy's idea. A little virus was implanted into my decoy's mind. Powerful enough to leave the Scyphozoa dazed and confused. Giving Mary enough time to free herself," Aelita explains, then smiles.
"Thank you so much," I smile. She nods then gets up and we take our scanners. Aelita taking the middle scanner, and myself taking the right scanner.
"Ulrich, Odd, Sissi, and Yumi are all back to normal. Let's deactivate that tower, shall we?" Jeremy asks.
Nodding, Aelita and I step inside the scanners. The scanner doors close.
"Transfer: Aelita, Transfer: Lila," the scanner starts to spin.
"Scanner: Aelita, Scanner: Lila," he continues. The scanner continues spinning and starts humming.
"Virtualization!"
The bright light and gust of wind envelopes me, billowing my hair and lifting my time machine necklace off my shirt slightly. I'm virtualized to Lyoko.
Lyoko's Desert Sector
Opening my eyes, I see Aelita and I falling on the small plateau where an unconscious, weak looking Mary is. We land. There's nothing surrounding us for more than a mile. Nothing except the digital sea. The plateau that was originally here must have been broken apart by Xana.
Another one of Xana's traps he intended for Aelita I bet. Sometimes those can be relentless, I think. She's in her business clothes, with black heels, since she doesn't have an actual avatar like us. Her brown straight hair has less color in it. She looks pale, not completely unhealthy looking, but not healthy either. Aelita and I run over to her. Reaching her, I gently shake her.
"Mary? Mary?" I ask her, pleadingly. She starts opening her brown eyes. They look tired, to the point of exhaustion.
Xana, what just have you made Mary go through to get whatever it was you were looking for? I think, furious.
"Li-lila?" she stammers. I nod. Aelita and I help her sit up.
"What happened to your hair? Please tell me that's a Lyoko design, and not the real thing," Mary says. I smile.
"I'll take care of the tower in Sector Five, Lila," Aelita says.
"Are you sure? What about the key mechanism?" I ask.
"She'll find it. I have every confidence she will. Right Aelita?" Jeremy informs.
"Right. Send the transport orb Jeremy," Aelita requests.
"Scipio," he says. I imagine he's typing out the code. Sure enough The Transport Orb floats down seemingly out of nowhere, as it opens and scoops up Aelita only. It takes her to Sector Five.
"We need to get you back to Earth," I say.
"Yes. And while I have strong opinions about your hair choices, I do like your new outfit," Mary compliments.
"Thanks," I smile. I help Mary up.
"Lila I'm sorry about the three way link I had set up. I thought it was the only way I could really keep you safe," Mary says. "But I removed it right before the Scyphozoa took Aelita's decoy. I had a feeling there was something different about Aelita," she explains.
"That's good, and it's okay Mary I understand why you did it. It did keep me safe," I lie.
Mary can never know what really happened to me and future Aelita, I think.
"I'm happy to hear it," Mary smiles.
"So, how do we get you back to Earth?" I ask.
"Remember I can leave Lyoko by myself. I just need another moment to regain some strength to do so," she replies.
"Xana might not give you that chance! Incoming!"
Mary and I look at the incoming Hornets flying towards us.
"What do we do?" I ask.
"I'll fuse with you," Mary replies. Turning into her white smoke spectre form, Mary enters my body. It's our first time fusing on Lyoko. Feeling the surge of Mary's energy, I grab my bow. I pull two arrows from my quiver and I put them on the bow. My lightning bolt pendant glows immediately and yellow electricity flows throughout my arms, then into my gauntlets and into the arrows.
I let the two arrows fly right at the Hornets. Hitting the Hornets, they explode.
Taking out two more arrows, I put them on my bow and notice my gauntlets are are still charged up with yellow electricity.
I'm focusing your powers for you, so that way even if you lose focus, they are still maintained, Mary explains.
"Ah thanks," I say and place them on the bow.
Holding the arrows, I charge them up with electricity. I pull the drawstring back. I release the arrows and let them fly. The arrows hit the eye of Xana on the Hornets, and shocks them. They explode. I put my bow back on its hook.
Nice job Mary, I compliment. Looking down, I see my gauntlets stop sparking with electricity.
Thanks, you too. It's good to be back, Mary says.
Mary expels herself from my body. In her white smoke spectre form, Mary transforms back into her human form.
"Jeremy, you can materialize Lila now," Mary says, looking up, but Jeremy doesn't respond.
"Jeremy?" I ask him, looking up too.
Nothing.
I look at Mary and she looks at me.
"Something's wrong. Here, quickly!" I exclaim. Taking my hunter's knife out of its sleeve, I toss it to Mary. Mary hesitantly looks at it then nods. She stretches her arm out, and plunges the hunter's knife into me. She lets go of the hunter's knife, as I drop my knees to the ground and begin to devirtualize.
Inside the scanner room
The scanners' doors open I rush out of the scanner and up the ladder.
"Aelita, please hurry and deactivate the tower! There's something wrong with Jeremy!" Mary exclaims, already inside the lab.
"I'm nearly there!"
Afterwards
Inside the lab
I get to the lab via the ladder shoot, and see Jeremy is breathing heavily, almost as if he's choking. He can't seem to catch his breath. I run over to Jeremy since Mary is already with him.
"Mary, I think Xana's suffocating him!" I exclaim. Jeremy continues to choke. Mary and I can't do anything to help him, but then suddenly he stops. Xana's spectre starts to leave Jeremy's body, allowing Jeremy to catch his breath.
"Tower deactivated," Aelita informs. Looking at the rather large spectre, it starts to vanish into the ceiling. It soon disappears completely. Jeremy fully catches his breath and looks at us.
"Lila… Mary, thank goodness. The others?" Jeremy asks.
"If anyone can hear us, we need a way out! The Xana Bots are relentless today!" Sissi exclaims.
Jeremy sighs in relief. He runs over to the chair, and sits in it. Grabbing his headset, he starts materializing the vehicles.
"I'm materializing your vehicles! Get ready… now!" Jeremy exclaims. Mary and I look at four windows popping up, as the vehicles materialize.
Afterwards
Back in Jeremy's room
Jeremy is sitting on his chair. Jeremy, Yumi, and Odd are sitting on his bed. Sissi is sitting on Jeremy's desk, by his computer. Aelita is sitting in Jeremy's chair, while Ulrich and I are standing. Mary is back in the lab. She decided it would best to live there from now until she can afford her own place.
"We're very sorry, Jeremy. Lila," Sissi apologizes.
"We hope you aren't angry at us. The both of you I mean," Yumi says.
"We understand," I say.
"And we're not mad at you. What's more, I've checked out your bio schematics during yours and Sissi's rematerialization phase. There's no sign of alternation whatsoever," Jeremy informs.
"Oh what a relief," Yumi says. "I'm glad Mary was wrong."
"Me too," Sissi says.
"That False Mary you mean. After all, the real one is back in the lab," I remind her.
"Are we sure it's the real Mary this time?" Ulrich asks.
"Yes, it's the real Mary Ulrich. I know it in my heart, and besides after the Scyphozoa was defeated, Mary was freed. Plus the tower was deactivated, so yeah, definitely the real Mary," I reply. Ulrich nods.
There's a knock on the door.
"Who can that be?" Odd asks Jeremy.
The door opens up, a man around his mid forties looks at us. He has brown hair. He's wearing a long-sleeved brown jacket, with a dark blue turtleneck shirt, and red pants.
"Dad!" Jeremy exclaims.
"Are you ready son? Let's go," Grandpa Belpois says. Jeremy gets up from his bed.
"Wait uh, things have changed. Let me explain," Jeremy tells him. He grabs his father's arm, and guides him out of his room. He leaves the door open, as the two walk past the room.
"What do you think that was about?" Sissi asks.
"No idea," I reply.
But… it's nice to see Grandpa Belpois. Dad never talked much about him unfortunately, I think.
"See, here's the thing dad, I don't plan on going anymore," Jeremy says. We hear him from outside.
"You sure you've thought it over?" Grandpa Belpois asks.
"I'm really sorry I've made you come out all the way here over nothing," Jeremy replies.
"Don't you worry about it. And don't forget to give us a call from time to time," Grandpa Belpois says.
"I promise," Jeremy says. We hear footsteps moving away from the room, and then Jeremy comes back in.
"Hey, what's going on here? Where were you going?" Odd asks.
"Nowhere," Jeremy smiles.
"Your father seems like a really nice guy," Aelita smiles.
"Yeah. I love him, he's great," Jeremy says.
"Like father, like son," Ulrich smiles. Jeremy smiles again. He walks over to his desk. Seeing this, Sissi gets up. Jeremy takes the framed picture from his computer desk, and places it onto the desk Sissi was sitting on. He lets the framed drawing stand, some us smile and laugh.
The drawing looks almost professional. Odd captured us well. We're all very lucky to have each other…
Later at night
Inside the lab
Reaching the lab, the freight elevator's doors open. Mary turns the chair and gets out. The freight elevator doors stay opened. It's weird the doors will stay open when it's in the lab, and weird when there are times the doors close. Never really understood why that is. I can't help but wonder what Mary wants since she texted me, telling me she wants to talk. I walk into the lab. Walking over to her, I then reach her.
"There's a lot we need to catch up on," Mary says. I nod.
"There is. For starters… did you leave a suitcase with a laptop in Franz Hopper's locker?"
Mary's eyes widen.
"What? A suitcase, with a laptop? No not at all. I never did anything of the sort. What kind of laptop is it?"
"It's a sleek looking one," I reply. "Definitely not from Hopper's time. And, there's an eight-digit passcode combination to unlock it. It was found in the suitcase, which had the initials MB on it. Thought that might stand for Mary Belpois."
"I can see why you might think that. How strange. If you bring the laptop to me, I can work on it daily. After all, I will have the time," Mary says. "Anyways, do you remember before Aelita was materialized… that I wanted to tell you something?"
I nod.
"Lila, there's a reason why you had a fainting spell when we first entered this timeline. Most importantly… there's a reason why there's an artificial intelligence in you."
"In me? You mean it's a separate being apart from myself?" I ask.
"Yes. You're human, in a sense, but yes basically. I wanted to tell you that before I was taken by the Scyphozoa," Mary answers.
So I'm human...… but in a sense? What does she mean? I think, surprised and confused.
"Okay… so what's the reason why I fainted?" I ask. Mary sighs. She turns away from me.
"Please… don't be mad. Everything we did…. We did to protect you."
"We?" I ask.
Child… a voice speaks in my mind.
"Who's there?!" I exclaim. Mary continues to look away from me, saddened.
"Lila… I'm so sorry…" she trails off.
Please do not be angry with Mary. Everything she did, was as she said, to protect you.
"Who are you?!" I exclaim.
I…. I am Xana.
My eyes widen in shock.
"No… that can't be true! It can't be you!" I exclaim.
It is… and it isn't. It is time you learned everything about your past, which took place in the future you came from. Please… after I show you everything that truly happened to you… I hope you can forgive us. Now, close your eyes. It is time I showed you your history… Lila Belpois.
TO BE CONTINUED
IN:
Lila Belpois
Author's Note:
Lila Belpois is our next chapter. Have popcorn or a snack ready. It's a long one.
Were you surprised by this chapter? Let me know in the review section. While I do of course enjoy long critique reviews, please be mindful of spoilers too for others! We'll return soon!
LyokoWarrior1994