Disclaimer: Code Lyoko is copyrighted by Moonscoop.
I only own Lila and Mia. Mary is owned by AeroJester203.
This chapter was written by me it was edited by AwesomeFanFictionAuthor.
Author's Note: For those of you who might have missed out on the first epilogue because of fanfiction's network issues last week, the chapter is up. If you haven't caught up yet, please do not read beyond this line.
Dark Saga: Conclusion
In the woods
Late at night
POV Jeremy's
I unroll my sleeve yet again, for the third time. It's been ten minutes since Aelita left and she hasn't returned yet.
"Shouldn't she be back by now?" Odd asks.
"Odd, we're talking about preventing Lila's death," I reply. "It can't be that fast."
"Maybe… something happened?" Yumi suggests. I shake my head.
"No, I refuse to think like that."
"But Einstein-" Ulrich starts to say.
POV Lila's
Aelita and I reappear in a flash of yellow, we're in the woods now. It seems to be late at night.
"Li-la?!" Odd exclaims. The others run over to us, and I feel a bit nauseous. I lift my finger politely, and they stop running. Thankfully, the nausea subsides.
"Sorry, I didn't want to puke on you guys," I say. "Aelita, you okay?"
Aelita looks at me, confused.
"Yeah, surprisingly. Maybe because I've done this before?" she asks. I shrug.
"Possibly."
Aelita and I unbuckle our seatbelts and get out of the time machine. Surprisingly, it survived the ride, with no near explosion this time. We walk around to the front of, letting the others take a look at us.
"Lila, your outfit is different, and so is your hairstyle," Yumi remarks.
"Well… a lot has happened, you guys. Before we left that timeline, we had just beaten Xana thanks to Aelita here. It's been about… five months since she arrived," I explain.
"Huh?!" The others exclaim, including Jeremy.
"There was an issue… a pretty terrible one," Aelita says. "I'd rather not talk about it, to be honest. There's too many details to go into if we still want to get back in time for the rest of the dance."
My eyes widen.
"Huh, that's what night this is?" I ask.
"Yeah, it is," Ulrich replies.
"Why?" he asks.
"Well… in my version of it, Aelita, myself, and the other Lyoko warriors fell into a trap on Sector Five. We nearly lost our Aelita, but Franz Hopper managed to save her. After all this time fighting Xana… we actually saved him," I explain.
"Interesting, so did we!" Jeremy exclaims.
"That's great," I smile.
I remember Mary. I take my cell phone out of my pocket. Thankfully, it's still intact. Mary expels herself from the phone, her white spectre smoke form heading toward me. She solidifies into her human form and lands on the ground.
"Mary?!" the others exclaim.
"You're here too?" Jeremy asks.
"Aelita, I'm confused… weren't you supposed to prevent Lila's death? Not bring her and Mary back to this timeline?" he asks.
"She did prevent my death," I say, obviously. "It was our choice to leave that timeline. Besides… I have some unfinished business here in this timeline."
"You do?" Odd asks. "What?"
"Saving MB," I tell them. Jeremy's eyes widen.
"You know who MB is?"
"I do," I say. "MB is the initials of Mia Bedard. But that name is an alias. Her real name is Mia Dunbar." Yumi gasps.
"Not related to William Dunbar?" she asks.
I nod.
"The very same. Mia is from the same future world I'm from."
"And the one I need to get back to," Mary adds. I turn to her, then nod.
"Mary… are you sure you're going to be okay over there? I mean…" I trail off, saddened. Mary nods.
"I'll be fine. After all, I'm not alone."
Jeremy, Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd look around Mary.
"You're, um, not?" Ulrich asks.
"No… but that's a story for another day," Mary replies, then pulls me into a hug, which I return.
"I'm not sure how long it'll take, but I promise to try to come back within two years," she says.
"Thank you," I say.
We let go of each other. Mary goes to the time machine and presses the button, opening the trunk with a hiss. She takes the lead case out first, then my suitcase. Between the suitcase and backpack, I was able to bring everything. I take the lead case and my suitcase.
Not too long now, Mia, I think. Just hang in there.
Mary steps into the time machine, she places her hand on the panel that's still working. She scrolls through a list of dates, then looks at all of us.
"Everyone… please take care of Lila and Aelita," she says.
"We will," Jeremy says. "I promise."
Mary smiles at us, then turns her attention to the panel and finds the date that we left: the year 2043. Mary straps herself into her seatbelt. Mary takes one last look at us then presses her hand on the panel. She disappears in a yellow flash of light.
"So what should we do with your things?" Ulrich asks.
"I've got it covered," I reply. I take my time machine necklace off and Jeremy smiles.
"Of course. Since Aelita prevented your death, that was the time machine our Lila used." Aelita nods.
"That's right," she says.
Afterwards
With the suitcase and lead case now back in my time machine's trunk, I'm wearing my time machine necklace again. We're walking to the front side of the gym. We see Jim in a tux coming out of the gymnasium.
"Shouldn't all of you be in bed by now?" He asks, then notices me.
"Who are you?" he asks.
"She's a pen-pal from, um, Canada," Aelita replies. "We've been talking a lot and she's thinking about enrolling at Kadic. So we wanted to bring her to the dance."
"That's fine, I suppose, but what's your name?" Jim asks.
"Lila," I reply. "Lila Smith," I answer coolly.
Jim looks at me strangely, almost suspicious. He turns to others.
"Are you sure she's new?" he asks.
"Of course!" Odd exclaims.
"Why wouldn't she be?" Ulrich asks.
"What a strange thing to say," Yumi chuckles nervously.
"Uh huh," Jim says, looking at us.
"Well, Miss Smith, go on inside and have fun. The dance will be ending soon."
"Thanks," I say. We make our way into the gymnasium.
Inside the gymnasium
Jim was right, there's only a couple of students still here. The food is almost gone, as well as most of the punch. But Christophe is still playing music. Amongst the few students, I see Sissi who sitting at a table by herself. She looks at us and smiles.
I guess they're on good terms in this timeline, I think.
Another student I see is… Cameron. He's still at school. He turns to me and his eyes widen, he looks at me almost as if I were a ghost. He waves at me, unsure, so I wave lightly back. He sighs in relief.
"You know, Odd," I whisper. "You should ask Sissi to dance. I take it you're close to with her in this timeline?"
"I am, and she's close with the others too. But she doesn't...know, if you know what I mean," Odd replies.
"I do," I say. "But still… you should ask Sissi to dance. I think you two might end up growing closer together."
Odd looks at me, unsure, then makes his way over to Sissi.
"Ulrich, Yumi, Aelita, Jeremy. Do you guys want to dance?" I ask.
"Sure," Yumi replies.
We make our way to the dance floor. Cameron gets up and walks over to me.
"Can we, um… talk?" He asks, rubbing his shoulder.
I look at him, searching.
"Sure, but after I dance with my friends."
Cameron nods. He goes to sit back down.
The others are already dancing, so I join them on the dance floor.
Afterwards
Outside the gymnasium
The dance is over and I promised Cameron I'd talk to him. We sit on the steps outside.
"Lila… why are you here?" He asks.
"I chose to return to this timeline because I have unfinished business," I answer.
"Oh… I suppose the others didn't tell you but I'm, um… leaving Kadic first thing tomorrow," Cameron says. I glare at him.
"No, you're not."
"Huh? But why?"
"Because in my timeline when you leave, Cameron, Emily becomes bitter. She blamed me and the other Lyoko warriors for you leaving. Even at the end of our adventures, she didn't trust you being in the same place as me. She spilled everything to Delmas after finding a video diary in the lab left by Jeremy. We had to launch a return to the past."
Cameron raises his eyebrow.
"Not everything?"
"Oh yes, everything," I reply.
"Including that I'm a...you know what."
Cameron sighs.
"Oh man…"
"Look, I'm not saying you can't be friends with these Lyoko warriors, but it's going to take a while. And I mean a while. You might want to try to be William Dunbar's roommate."
"I am, actually," Cameron says. "He's a cool dude."
"I suppose," I say and get up. "I've got to go to Jeremy's room to get something. Then I'm heading over to the factory."
Cameron gets up.
"Lila… about everything… I'm-" he starts to say but I shake my head.
"Don't be. I know you were a victim in all of this."
"Thanks… good luck, with whatever you have to do."
I nod and head back inside to grab my backpack.
Afterwards
Inside the lab
I got Jeremy's hazmat suit before he went to sleep. I've started the supercomputer up again and I've reset Mia's laptop. Now I'm sitting on Jeremy's chair.
I'm typing tirelessly on the keyboard, trying to get the supercomputer to connect to the laptop. I get another red exclamation point.
"Darn it," I say.
Maybe this won't work after all… I trail off. Unless… if I could just find the right access point, then…
I try typing in a few more key commands. A green exclamation point pops up.
"Yes!" I cheer. I look at the computer's main screen and it shows that the laptop is now connected to Lyoko as well as its networks. I get off Jeremy's chair and start working on the laptop. Sitting down, I type in my father's birthday. I press enter, and the code is accepted. A countdown appears.
"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one!" I exclaim.
I hear the scanner's doors open and Mia coughing. I sigh in relief and put down the laptop. Mia climbs up the ladder shoot and soon she's now in the lab with me.
"Hi Mia, so happy that you're okay," I say. Mia looks at me, confused.
"Lila, you know about me… but how?"
Shortly after, we're sitting against the wall of the lab. I tried to tell her a very compressed rundown on what's happened, but it still takes me a few hours to do so. It's nearly 3:00am now, that's what it says on my phone.
"Oh, wow… so then…" Mia smiles happily. "My dad won't become possessed."
"No," I say. "And neither will you."
"This is so wonderful," Mia says.
"I guess later on in the morning we'll have to go and see Mary. Then, after break, we can get enrolled at Kadic."
"Yeah," I say. "I think this time around I'm going to go into Yumi's classes. I'm technically turning 16 in a couple of weeks, but now in this timeline I'm months behind. Plus it wouldn't be fair to my education if I just rewrote the answers from the classes I've taken already."
"Makes sense," Mia says.
I make a realization, since I never bothered to ask my Mia this.
"Mia… you and my other Mia are the same person, but because Aelita changed the past and created a split timeline, there was something I never got to ask the two of you."
Mia raises her eyebrow.
"What's that?"
"Um… who is your mother?"
Mia sighs.
"I was never really planning on telling you, just in case things were different. Which they are…" she trails off, then sighs.
"Sissi," she answers truthfully.
My eyes widen.
"I see… um… in the timeline I came from, she ended up with Odd."
Mia gets up.
"That's okay."
"It is?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. Mia nods.
"Yeah. My dad doesn't get possessed in either of these timelines… so that makes it all worthwhile," she says, then stretches. "Well, I guess since there's nothing I can do, I'll go to sleep. I'll run my security update tomorrow."
"Okay, you can take Jeremy's chair, if you'd like. Let me just turn everything off for the night," I say.
Later
Mia is fast asleep in Jeremy's chair. I'm sitting against the holosphere display case. I haven't been able to sleep so I'm scrolling through the list of programs that are on the laptop. The brightness on the laptop is pretty low.
I keep scrolling, then reach one particular program. My eyes widen.
"No way!" I shout. Mia wakes up, startled. She turns to me, the chair turning too.
"What's going on?" She asks.
I turn the laptop to her so she can see the program's name. Mia's eyes widen.
"No way…" she trails off.
Afterwards
I called the others to the lab. They weren't too happy about being woken up at 5:00am, but this is important. With the others here now, Mia is standing next to me.
"What did you want to talk to us about, Lila?" Jeremy asks, then yawns. I open the laptop I'm holding, and Jeremy takes it. The program is opened up, he starts reading.
"Project L-" he starts to say, then looks up at us, eyes widened.
"Something wrong, Einstein?" Odd asks.
"No, something a-mazing!" Jeremy exclaims. "Lila, you found a miracle!"
I smile.
"What miracle?" Aelita asks.
"Project Lila Belpois," Jeremy finishes. Yumi and Ulrich gasp.
"Lila… you're an artificial intelligence?" Yumi asks.
"No, I'm not, Yumi, completely human," I say.
"But then… ?" Ulrich asks.
"Long story short: this program brought life into me. It created me using my parents DNA, and because of that, I'm human. I was born in Sector Five," I say.
"Wow…" Odd trails off. "But, wait a minute, we already know Einstein's your father. So… who's your mom?"
"I am," Aelita answers. We all turn to her.
"Huh?!" I'm genuinely surprised they know.
"Jeremy and I figured it out the night we kissed," Aelita explains.
"Oh wow," I say. "But even if we use the program in Sector Five's tower… it's not like we can save the original Lila. She'd be a clone."
"Not necessarily, there is one way of saving our Lila," Jeremy says.
"There is?" Yumi asks.
"Yes," Jeremy answers. "The digital sea. All we need to do is search for your DNA. In fact, we've done that before."
I raise my eyebrow.
"You have… When?" I ask.
Flashback
POV Jeremy's
Inside the lab
Yumi, Odd, Ulrich, and I were upset. Tears dripping down our faces. I took my glasses off.
"I never thought it was possible for one of us to become…" I trailed off.
"This is awful…" Odd trailed off. "It's all my fault," he said. "If only I had gotten my Future Flash sooner. She'd still be here."
"No it's my fault. I should have ran faster," Ulrich said.
"All three of us were on Lyoko. Yet we weren't quick enough to save her. Jeremy… what are we going to do? We don't even know how to contact her family," Yumi said.
Aelita spoke up.
"But there is a solution, and Jeremy knows what it is."
I dried my tears up then put my glasses back. I looked at Aelita on the computer.
"The materialization program. It's operational, but Aelita has to give up her place for Lila," I said.
"Can you bring Lila back here?" Yumi asked me, tears in her eyes.
"Yes, but I can only materialize one person—one and only one," I told her.
"Then choose Lila," Aelita decided. I looked at her again.
"Lila's part of your world already," Aelita explained.
"Aelita-I-um…" I trailed off, saddened.
"It's okay," Aelita tried to reassure me. "I can wait a little longer."
"Okay Aelita, but first of all I need to track down Lila in the digital void," I said.
"It'll be okay, you guys," Ulrich said, he tried to reassure the others. They headed over to the ladder shoot to get to the scanner room quickly.
End of Flashback
POV Lila's
"Oh wow…." I trail off. "I didn't know it was that bad for you guys. I remember that day, too from my timeline. But let's say you search for my DNA… aren't they just digital ashes?"
"They are, and since they're not a human body, just what it once was, it's possible I could theoretically turn them into data, which would then be uploaded into the program. And that program containing that specific data, would need to be uploaded to one specific tower somewhere on Lyoko. But even with all of that in mind, there's still a catch," Jeremy says. Yumi sighs.
"There always is."
"What is it?" Mia asks.
"From what Lila explained earlier, this program created her in Sector Five as a baby. So if our Lila's DNA is already contained in the program, then our Lila will be starting out as a-" Jeremy starts to explain, but my eyes widen, making the connection.
"Then… she'd be materialized as a baby. It would be a new body, but she would have her old DNA! She would grow up to be who I am now, aside from different experiences of course. She wouldn't be a clone either. She'd… get a restart on her entire life," I say.
Aelita looks at Jeremy.
"But Jeremy, that would mean she'd never remember any of us. To her… we would just be the people she'd grow up around," Aelita says.
"That's right," Jeremy confirms.
All of us look at Jeremy, then I say:
"Do it Jeremy, save her."
"Okay, but it's going to take time," Jeremy says.
"How much time?" Ulrich asks.
"With everything I have to do?" Jeremy asks. "Two weeks. I'll have to tell my parents I'm staying here. They can bring me some food, I'm sure they wouldn't mind. Delmas keeps the dorm open for students who need it during break."
"Jeremy, how about instead you come over to Aelita, Franz, and Mary's house? There's enough room," I tell him.
"Sure, but I'll still have to let my parents know," Jeremy says.
"I guess that means then I'll have to head over to Mary's and let her know what's going on," I say.
"Maybe we should wait to tell her until we have our Lila back with us?" Odd suggests.
"That might be smart," Yumi agrees.
"Okay, then I'll head over with Mia. If we have to, we'll come up with a lie," I say.
"Okay," Jeremy says.
Afterwards
At Mary's House
Aelita decided to come with me and Mia since she might be able to help break the ice, so to speak. Aelita knocks on the door. Mia and I are hiding behind her. The door opens, revealing Mary.
"Aelita, I'm glad you're back safe and sound. Franz, she's back," Mary calls out.
"Thank goodness," Franz calls back.
"Um, Mary, I'm not sure how to tell you this so I'll let them do the explaining," she says, giving us the signal.
"Them?" Mary asks. Aelita moves to where the door is. Mia walks over to her first.
"Hi I'm Mia Dunbar, William's kid. I'm from the same future world you and Lila were from. I used to be known as MB."
"You're MB? How were you saved? The laptop was burned in this timeline," Mary says.
I step into view and Mary gasps, covering her mouth.
"It wasn't burned in my timeline. The code ended up being my father's birthday, so I managed to save Mia in this timeline by rebooting the supercomputer. Mary… it's good to see you," I tell her.
Mia moves out of the way. Mary runs over to me and pulls me into a hug. I hug her back.
"Lila. I don't understand. What are you doing here in this timeline?" She asks.
Afterwards
Inside the house
We're in the living room, it's the exact same house that my Mary found. I finish telling Mary and Franz a compressed version of what went down.
"I see… so your Mary won't be back for two years. It makes sense to try to return to our future world of 2043 I suppose," Mary says.
"I'm glad you managed to learn everything in your timeline."
"Me too," I say. "And Jeremy wanted to know if he could stay here during break. He needs to, um, run some-"
"Diagnostics on the supercomputer. Since we're close by, he can get to the lab easily. He just wants to be one hundred percent sure Xana is completely gone," Mia lies.
"Right, Aelita?"
"That's right," Aelita replies, then turns to Franz. "By the way, dad. I, um... know the truth. The other you from Lila's timeline told me why you created Xana."
Mary and Franz look at each other, then look at me. Franz sighs.
"I'm sorry. I didn't want the others to treat me like the enemy since I'm the reason Lila in this timeline is gone," he explains.
"And I backed him up," Mary adds. "But on the matter of Jeremy- yes he can stay. But he'll have to be in a room with Franz."
"That's fine. I'll let him know," I say.
Later
9:00am
Jeremy got here earlier. I actually didn't realize it but I'm exhausted, having been up all night and all. Jeremy is in Franz's room, Mia and Aelita will be sharing a room. I'm sharing a room with Mary too. I'm laying on the bed, I didn't really think about when or how Mary got this stuff. In both timelines, for that matter, but she did have the debit card. Mary pulls the covers onto me.
"Thank you," I say.
"It seems like you had a big night," Mary says. "Do you plan on enrolling at Kadic after break?"
"I do," I reply. "I'm going to go into Yumi's classes. That way she and I can spend more time together. I'm technically going to be 16 anyways, even though by time traveling to the past, my birthday is further away now."
"Time travel can be like that," Mary smiles. "In any event, I'll enroll you and Mia after the break is over. But you realize that if I do, you and Yumi will end up graduating ahead of the others, right?"
I nod.
"I know. But I can stay here, and you can tutor me so we can keep each other's company."
Mary smiles.
"I'd like that," she says. "I'll let you get some sleep."
"Thanks, Mary," I say.
"You're welcome, Lila," Mary replies. She gets up from the bed and I start to close my eyes so I can drift into a good sleep.
Two Weeks Later
Kadic Academy
Mr. Delmas's Office
Cameron thankfully ended up staying this time around. He hasn't tried to talk to the others too much, but I can't blame him. Mary, Mia, and I are finishing up our enrollment process with Mr. Delmas.
"As far as residency goes, we do have two rooms available," Mr. Delmas says. "One is my daughter's. Elizabeth has a big enough room for two people. The second is that of Emily Leduc."
I lift my hand up.
"I'll room with your daughter, sir," I say, not wanting to be Emily's roommate. After everything she did to us in my timeline.
"Very well. Then Mia Bedard, you will be rooming with Miss Emily," he says.
"Thank you, sir," Mia says.
"Here are your schedules," Mr. Delmas says, he slides them on his desk over to us. "Miss Bedard, your schedules match those off Stern, Belpois, Stones, Jones, my daughter, and her boyfriend Della Robbia."
Mia and I look at each other. It seems Odd ended up becoming Sissi's boyfriend before break again.
Go figure, I think.
"Miss Smith, it seems your schedule is more lined up with Ishiyama and Dunbar. Are you certain you wish to be in a higher level class?" he asks, concerned. I nod.
"I am sir, I like challenges, to be honest."
"Very well then," Mr. Delmas says. We take our schedules off the desk.
"Mrs. Smith, your daughters are in good hands here at Kadic. And since the bill is already paid, they can move in now. Classes start tomorrow," Mr. Delmas says.
"They're ready to move in, sir," Mary says.
"Very well. I'll have Jim come get your things. He'll also be bringing some roll away beds until we can get new ones for them," Mr. Delmas says.
Mia and I smile at that.
Afterwards
Outside Sissi's room
Mia is with Emily now. I saw Kayori earlier, reading a book in the courtyard. I wanted to introduce myself to her, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to become friends with her again. Our relationship ended mutually, yes, but at the same time it was also a short one.
Jim knocks on Sissi's door, she opens it immediately.
"Hi Jim," Sissi says, then looks at me and Mary. We have our stuff with us. She raises her eyebrow.
"Who's this?" she asks.
"I'm Lila Smith. I'm a pen-pal of Aelita's," I say.
"Oh, Odd mentioned you. From Canada, right?" Sissi asks.
"That's right," I lie.
"Mrs. Smith, Lila's mother, is going to help set things up while I get Lila a roll-away bed. Her sister, Mia, is rooming with Emily. If you can, show Lila around, Sissi," Jim says.
"I will, Jim," Sissi says.
"Thank you Jim, Sissi," I say. "But I promised I'd meet up with Aelita and her friends to check the town out a bit. Mary, do you mind if you set things up here with Sissi?"
"Not at all," Mary answers.
"Right. Lila, as I explained to Mia there are a number of rules you must follow. One is-" Jim starts to say but I look at him.
"I know Jim. I know."
Afterwards
Inside the lab
The freight elevator's doors open. I walk in the lab to see Aelita and Yumi sitting down on the floor, about to set up a game of checkers. Jeremy is typing on the keyboard, he stops and turns his chair to look at me.
"Everything is almost set. All there's left to do is to send someone to Sector Five and launch the program in the tower. I've been trying to find a way to remove the key, but unfortunately we'll still need to take care of it," Jeremy says.
"That's okay. Yumi, how was your break?" I ask.
"Good," Yumi replies. "So, did you get your schedule already?"
"I did," I answer. "I'll be in your classes."
"Really?" Aelita asks. "Why not ours?"
"Well," I start. "I've already been through your classes once, unless you count a return trip repeating the same day, then at least twice. So, I mean, it wouldn't be fair to my education if I had all the answers."
"That's true," Jeremy agrees. He takes his glasses off, rubs his eyes, then pushes his glasses to the bridge of his nose.
"In any event, once Odd and Ulrich are here, we can get started," Jeremy tells me.
"Great. I can't wait to bring her home. It's been so hard keeping this a secret," I say.
"We know," Jeremy, Aelita, and Yumi agree in unison.
Afterwards
The freight elevator's doors open, I'm sitting on the floor watching Yumi and Aelita playing their game of checkers. Jeremy is typing on the keyboard again. Aelita, Yumi, and I look to see it's Ulrich and Odd.
"Welcome back, campers," Aelita greets. Ulrich and Odd walk over to us.
"Two weeks without us, not too long?" Ulrich asks. Odd walks over, and looks down at us.
"Did you miss me a little, ladies?" he asks.
"Forget it. You could have stayed away for three weeks," Yumi replies.
"What a nice quiet long summer, huh? I can get used to this," Odd says.
"Yeah, me too," Ulrich agrees.
"Jeremy, how's everything going with bringing Lila back?"
"I'm finished," Jeremy says, he enters one final command key.
"Einstein, you're really incredible," Odd compliments. Jeremy turns to us.
"Thanks Odd," Jeremy says.
"Now all we have to do is decide who gets to go to Lyoko one last time."
Yumi and Aelita stop playing their checkers. The three of us get up.
"I'll do it," Aelita decides. She hasn't told the others about her disconnected memories, but Lyoko was her home, so she should get to do it. We nod in agreement.
"I'll let Mia know," I say.
Afterwards
Desert Sector
Inside the way tower
POV Aelita's
I touch down on the second platform, it lights up. Then the interface panel pops up.
"Jeremy, I'm here," I inform.
"I see that, Aelita," Jeremy says.
"This version's process of Project: Lila Belpois is already different than the original. I'm not sure how my future self launched it, so it has be launched from inside the tower. Since Lila's original DNA is already implemented into the program, all you have to do is enter the Code: Lila. From there… Lila will return."
"This is really incredible, Jeremy. Mary's going to be so happy," Yumi says.
"Yeah, she will be," Lila agrees.
"For sure," Mia says.
I put my hand just above the line where I need to enter the code.
"Are you guys ready?" I ask.
"We're ready, Aelita," Ulrich answers.
"All good here, Princess," Odd says.
"Go ahead, Aelita. We'll head down to the scanner room to greet you two," Jeremy says.
There's silence. I take a deep breath, then press the interface terminal.
Aelita
The interface terminal reads:
Code?
I type in the command:
Lila
I hold my hands out. The silhouette of a small body begins to form out of data. The energy fully condenses and a sleeping infant wrapped in a pink blanket appears and falls down into my arms. Her eyes slowly open before fluttering with irritation as she starts crying. It's her. It's truly her… Lila, you're alive.
"Time to bring you home, Lila," I say. I press my hand on the interface terminal to launch the materialization for the two of us.
Afterwards
Inside the scanner room
POV Lila's
The scanner's doors open. Jeremy, Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, Mia, and I watch as we see Aelita step out with baby Lila in her arms.
"Welcome back to Earth… Lila, Aelita," Jeremy greets.
All of us start to cheer in victory.
POV Aelita's
Everyone starts to cheer. Their laughter starts to bring back a number of emotions… and memories. In a yellow flash, my memories start to pull themselves together in their mind. Almost like they're becoming… whole again. Little Lila is laughing in my arms, not sure why everyone is so happy.
Later
At Mary's House
POV Lila's
We're at Mary's front door, little Lila still wrapped in her pink blanket. She's so beautiful and innocent looking, she's going to have one special life this time around. None of us hesitated, we decided that we should turn the supercomputer off. So that's what we did, and now we have to decide who tells Mary the amazingly good news.
"Anyone want to do the honors?" Yumi asks.
"Lila… I think you should do it," Aelita suggests. I nod.
"Okay."
I knock on the door, and we hear footsteps coming. Mary answers the door. Looking at little Lila who's started cooing at her, Mary raises her eyebrow, then looks down at us.
"Why are all of you with a baby?" she asks.
"Can we come in?" I ask.
"Jeremy and Aelita can explain everything."
Mary nods, and in we go.
Afterwards
Inside Mary's house
After giving Mary the full run down, her eyes widen.
"So you mean she's-she's-" Mary stammers. We nod.
"Alive, yeah," Odd finishes it for her.
Mary looks like she wants to cry but she can't since she's a spectre and all.
"And… it's all because your father, Mia, and Herb took the programs along with the time machine calculations from our future world?" Mary asks her.
"That's right," Mia replies. "We didn't even know how many we took. We just took what we could and got out of there as fast as we could," she explains.
Mary turns to Franz, all of us sitting on the furniture in the living room.
"Franz… I really can't believe it. My Lila is alive…" she trails off.
"I believe this is what's called a miracle," Franz says. Mary nods happily, agreeing with him. She turns to us, Aelita still holding baby Lila.
"Aelita… can I hold her?" Mary requests.
Aelita smiles. She gets up carefully, walks over, and hands the baby over to Mary
"Hi Lila, you may never remember me… and that's okay. But from this day forward I'll be raising you as if you were my own," Mary says. "Lila… welcome home. You're going to have a good life here. I promise."
The Next Day
Yumi's Italian Class
Mr. Delmas escorts me over to Yumi's class. We're almost there, so I speak up.
"Sir, about your daughter and Odd?" I ask.
"Yes?" Mr. Delmas asks.
"Aelita talked a lot about Odd and the others when we wrote to each other online. I know up until recently he used to be a womanizer, but I think you'll be very surprised by how well he'll treat your daughter."
"I appreciate your concern, Miss Smith. Mr. Della Robbia and my daughter have come to an agreement with me. They know the terms, and if they stick to them, there should be nothing wrong."
We reach the room, then Mr. Delmas knocks on the door. He opens it and we go inside.
Inside the classroom
Yumi's Italian teacher stops talking, and looks at us.
"Ah, Mr. Delmas, I see this is the new student you mentioned," He says.
"Yes, she is," Mr. Delmas says, he gestures for me to introduce myself. I look at everyone in the room, Yumi and William included.
"Hi everyone. My name is Lila Smith, and I'll be joining you from this day forward," I greet.
It'll be fun to be in Yumi's classes, I think.
Three… Years… Later
Three years have passed since I returned to this timeline.
Yumi, William, and I graduated a year ago. Odd, Ulrich, Sissi, Aelita, Jeremy, and Mia are all graduating today. Little Lila is now a few feet tall. She's healthy, and remembers absolutely nothing about the life she lived. My Mary still hasn't returned… and she promised me she would come back by this time, but nothing yet.
I hope something hasn't happened. During my free time, I spend my days helping Mary with little Lila. Whether it's watching TV or reading books to her to help her go to sleep.
Mary also tutors me, so I have something to do. Little Lila tries to join in on some of these study sessions, but she loses interest about fifteen minutes in. I can't say I blame her. She doesn't have anyone influencing her to be smarter. But she can say a few sentences, hold up a conversation for three minutes. It's actually really good for her age.
Inside the gymnasium
Yumi and I are sitting on the bleachers, along with other student's family members. The Kadic Academy class is sitting on their chairs. Mr. Delmas clears his throat, and the room quiets.
"And now a word from our valedictorians," Mr. Delmas adds. He claps, giving Jeremy and Aelita room to take the stage. We cheer. I had gotten to know Kayori for a short time, but unfortunately we didn't become anything more than just acquaintances.
Jeremy and Aelita adjust the mics to their heights before continuing.
"Thank you, Mr. Delmas," Jeremy says. "Everyone who is graduating today… we're all so lucky to have been given a chance to go to an amazing school," he starts.
"Where people form friendships, find who they are," Aelita continues.
"Form… relationships," she says. Aelita and Jeremy then hold hands. They made their announcement to Milly and Tamiya a year after we brought little Lila home. It was quite the hot topic of Kadic News to be honest, everyone was reading it.
"And have adventures. But that's what life is: it's the biggest adventure. While some of us are going to college, others don't quite know where to go next. Know this. You have people who care about you somewhere. Mom, dad. Sister, brother. Adoptive parents. Whoever they may be, they're there if you need help. Don't forget that," Jeremy says. Everyone starts to clap, Yumi and I clap too and Yumi whistles.
Later
In the woods
Sometimes we come back to the lab just to hang out. Sissi is in on the secret now, even the time travel stuff. She and Odd have been together for three years now.
With the threat of Xana no longer an issue… it just felt right bringing her in. We're on our way to the lab, to celebrate one last time while we're all still together.
"Lila… about Mary," Jeremy says. I sigh.
"I know," I say. "There's always a chance she could be de-" I start to say, but as we're walking we see a yellow flash of light just a few feet ahead of us.
"Look!" Yumi exclaims. The yellow flash of light materializes the time machine. There are doors on it this time… even the metal has been upgraded.
Can it… can it really be you, Mary? I think.
The doors open upwards with a hiss, my eyes widen. Mary is indeed in there. She steps out of the time machine.
"Lila… it's good to see you. You've grown taller," Mary notices. I run over to her and give her a hug. She's caught off guard.
"Mary, I was so worried," I tell her. "What kept you?"
"Finding the supercomputer where the evil half of Xana was in," Mary answers. "I'm sorry. It took me two whole years just to find him. Then, with everything our mutual friend had to set up, that took a bit longer."
"Mary we, um, know," Jeremy says.
"Know about what?" Mary asks.
"About everything," Odd answers.
"And we're okay with it," Ulrich adds.
"More than okay… you and Future Xana did everything you could to protect Lila in your future world," Aelita says.
"And we couldn't be more grateful for that," Yumi says.
"Lila's a really good person," Sissi says.
"That's for sure," Mia agrees.
I smile at that. Mary smiles too.
"Future Xana and I only did what was right," she explains. She looks at me.
"Lila, you and I need to get back to the year I left, 2046. it's time to restart the timeline in our future world."
"Okay, but first I'll need to call the Mary of this timeline. I'll ask her to have Franz bring a friend, too," I say, not wanting to spoil the surprise.
"A friend? Who?" Mary asks.
"You'll see," I say. I take my cell phone out and dial the other Mary's number.
"Hi Lila. How was the graduation?" Mary asks.
"It was good," I reply. "Mary… my Mary is here at last. She wants me to return to our future world."
"I see… and this is probably the safest way we can say goodbye without causing some sort of weird paradox. I'm not sure little Lila would even be affected if you hugged each other, but I get why you don't."
"Thanks," I say. "And yes, this would be the best way. Mary, I can't thank you enough. Do… do you think you can have Franz bring her over here? As well as my suitcase, please? We're in the woods."
"Of course. I'll do that. Lila… I love you," Mary says.
"I love you too, Mary," I say. The phone call ends and now we wait.
Afterwards
It's been about fifteen minutes, so we're sitting on the ground. Except for Mary. We hear two people walking over here.
"I think I see them," Franz says to little Lila.
Mary raises her eyebrow, and we get up from the ground. Franz reaches us, my suitcase in one hand and little Lila's hand in the other.
"Mommy?" Little Lila asks.
Mary's eyes widen as she pieces together the identity of the little girl.
"Um… no I'm mommy's um… twin sister, " Mary lies."What's your name, sweetheart?" She asks.
"Lila," Lila answers. Mary turns to the others, then at me. We nod. She turns back to little Lila.
"What's that big thing?" Little Lila asks, pointing to the time machine.
"It's a machine. Mommy's "twin" sister and your good friend Lila are going to do a magic trick. They have to go away for a little while," Franz explains.
"Oh… okay!" Lila exclaims. I smile at the younger version of me. She's so innocent. Mary and I turn the others.
"We should get going. All of you… I hope you hold your futures in high regards," Mary tells them.
"We do," Jeremy says. "We're all going to the same college. Most of us, at least."
"Most?" I ask.
"I'm going to a college in Italy," Mia says.
"And I'm going to take up art and film," Odd adds. "But I'm going to a school near the one these guys are going to. "
"That's good," I say.
"It is, for sure," Sissi agrees.
"I don't know, Sissi, I don't think we would mind if Odd were miles away," Ulrich jokes.
"Sure you would!" Odd exclaims. Yumi laughs.
"Uh huh," she says, then looks at Mary and I.
"What will you two be doing after you reboot your timeline?" she asks.
"If we're successful, we're going to live a normal life away from your future selves," Mary says.
"And… you're okay with that, Lila?" Aelita asks. Little Lila isn't paying too much attention to the conversation.
"I am," I reply. Mary scoops up my suitcase and packs it into the time machine. I walk over to Aelita and give her a hug. The others join in, it's a big ol' group hug.
"We're all going to miss you, Lila," Sissi says.
"I am too," I say, then turn to Mary.
"Mom, um, hang on a second," I say. "I have a present for Lila."
"You do?" Lila asks.
"I do," I smile at her. She smiles back. Mary puts the suitcase on the ground. She opens it and my father's pink magenta jacket that he saved me is in it. The others burned my stuff in order to say goodbye, but I brought this with me when I left my timeline.
"Is that from…?" Aelita asks.
"It is," I answer. I bend down and pick the jacket up. I go over to little Lila, and she looks at me.
"Lila… you're a bit too small for this jacket now, but when you're 13 years old… it'll fit you just right. I had it when I was thirteen and I wanted to give it to you so you can remember me by it," I explain.
"Thank you, Lila!" Lila exclaims. "It looks nice."
I hand it to her and she hugs it.
I look at Franz.
"Franz… take care of yourself and Mary, okay?" I ask.
"We will, you two take care as well," Franz replies.
I go over to the others again and look at Aelita. I take off my time machine necklace, the chain has rusted a bit these past few years.
"Aelita, do me a favor…. Get rid of this thing, okay? Maybe… drop it in the river bank so it'll never be found," I say. I give it to her and she seems surprised but nods.
"I will," Aelita says.
Mary closes my suitcase then goes to the top of the inside of the time machine. She presses the button on it and there's a hiss. She grabs the suitcase, puts it in, then presses the button again. The trunk door closes with a hiss.
"That's so cool! The machine reminds me of the Doctor's time machine!" Lila exclaims. Doctor Who has become our all time favorite show. Tennant is my favorite Doctor, and Smith is her all time favorite. I think she relates to Smith's doctor more because number 11 is really just a big kid.
We look at her, surprised that she's catching on.
"Haha, I guess it might seem that way but time travel doesn't really exist," Odd says.
"I guess!" Lila exclaims.
Mary steps into the time machine and I go over to the other side and we get in. There's now only one interface panel display and a button which looks like it closes the door.
She really found some parts to upgrade this thing, I think.
"Everyone… have a good life," Mary says. She presses her hand on the interface panel, entering the time, date, and coordinates. They blink. I go over to Mary's side real quick to get one last look at the others.
"Yumi, Ulrich. Odd, Sissi. Aelita and Jeremy… good luck with each other. Aelita, don't forget, soon you'll have to get checked out for your he-" I start to say but Aelita nods.
"I know. Jeremy and I have got that covered. We'll be fine, Lila," Aelita smiles.
I go back to my side of the seat.
"Goodbye everyone!" Mary exclaims. She presses the button and the doors go down to close.
"Goodbye!" our friends and family shout. The time machine starts to ascend, then we disappear in a flash of yellow.
TO BE CONTINUED:
IN:
Ontological Paradox
Author's Note: Well everyone, the dark saga is officially complete. Our second to last chapter is going to be short, but there will be a good enough story for all of you. We are so close to the end. Cameron is owend by UndeadMonkey8. Kayori is owned by decode9 and this will mark her last appearance in this fanfiction.
As always, please share your thoughts. Don't forget to review!
LyokoWarrior1994