Well, this chapter has an unexpected twist. It's probably the best chapter of the entire story. Too bad it's the last one as well.
Well, why are you still reading this? Go read the chapter! I'll talk more at the end.
Disclaimer: For what will probably be the last time, at least for a while, I don't own Code Lyoko. Got it?
On to the chapter!
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Chapter 23 – The Power of the Heart
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Ulrich dropped to his knees, panting. He had been fighting the shadows, which Franz had started calling specters, for what felt like hours. Even though they were in a virtual world, they could still get tired eventually, and he was absolutely exhausted. He was alone, as everybody else was heading in different directions towards their assigned towers.
The specters were guarding all thirteen towers in Xanadu, forming an impenetrable barrier that all of the Lyoko warriors had to fight their way through. They fought fiercely for every inch.
"Damn it!" Ulrich swore as he leapt to his feet and cut down more specters. He had no idea how much health he had. All he could do was fight. And fight he did. He created clones whenever he could, but they were destroyed pretty quickly. And each time he triplicated, he lost health and energy. The tower, surrounded with its strange black aura, seemed to be moving away from him as he moved towards it.
He wished fervently for his overbike, but there was no way to get it in here. He resolved to play as well as he could with the cards he was dealt, and leapt into the fray.
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Yumi was fighting well, and was one of the few actually gaining ground. Her fans expertly flew around her, occasionally nudged by her telekinesis. The specters were continuously cut back.
However, she was still rapidly losing energy, and the range of her fans continued to decrease. She still pushed on though, knowing that this was going to be the end of their long war against XANA, one way or another.
The one thing she didn't know, however, was which way the war would go. Who would win? Would she drop from exhaustion before she could reach the tower? Even if she did, would the others reach theirs in time? These were questions that would only be answered after the battle was over, and not a moment before.
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Odd did his best to avoid many confrontations. He had used up a large amount of arrows, and was unsure of his remaining supply of ammunition. He leapt through gaps between the specters, and was soon submerged in shadow. He occasionally slashed the shapeless monstrosities with his claws, but did little damage that way.
Still he managed to force his way towards the tower, wishing all the way for his overboard. With it, he would have been able to just zoom through the specters and straight on to the tower. Still, he was confined to his own two feet, and he fought as well as he could.
However, he was loosing energy fast. He began to slow down as his reaction time dropped. His battle was a loosing one, and it was only a matter of time before he was subdued by XANA's shadow.
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Kirsten was fighting expertly, wielding her blue lasers with the precision of a masterful sniper. She blew holes in the mass of specters before her, leaping through them as well as she could. Her body was continuously glowing blue as she healed herself and protected herself from harm.
With a growl she carved yet another hole in a shade in front of her and ran through the opening. Her view of the tower was completely obscured by the shadows, and she had no way to be sure that she was even heading in the right direction.
She had been fighting for what felt like days, and her strength was waning. It was only a matter of time before she lost her battle against her own weariness.
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Jeremie, though he had almost never been to Lyoko, was still fighting very well. He shot his crossbow at all of the specters surrounding him, reloading in the blink of an eye and recovering any ammunition nearby. His Lyoko power allowed him to freeze time for just a few seconds, so he could freeze his target and shoot it accurately.
Like the others though, his strength was fading. It was only a matter of time before his power failed and he was overwhelmed.
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Aelita had no weapon, and was using her power to shield herself as she forced her way through the mass of shadows. Ulrich had let her borrow one of his two katanas, but it had been forced out of her hand a long time ago. Her gaiakinesis was sapping her strength at an alarming rate.
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It was the same for everybody. Even Franz, who had been stuck fighting in Xanadu for more than twenty years, was having trouble. XANA was just too strong. The virus was using all of its power in this final struggle, just as the thirteen fighters were as well.
Sooner or later, something would have to give.
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And then, as Nina was fighting, the specters changed tactics. Instead of forming a wall, they clumped together into a ball and sped at her. She shot the shape with arrows and beams of burning light, but couldn't destroy all of them. A dark tendril of shadow poked its way out of the mass and headed straight for her.
It dodged all of her attacks and finally reached its target. It went into her through her ears and reached her virtual mind. She collapsed to the ground, holding her head and groaning in pain, despite the inhibitors that were supposed to block serious pain in the virtual world.
Her eyes flickered open as she stared at the ground without seeing anything. Her dark pupils separated into two sets of three rings, then went back to their normal shape. They flickered back and forth between these two shapes until her pain subsided.
You are weak, she heard a male voice speak within her mind, weaker than all of the others.
She stood calmly and looked around. Her pupils, shaped like XANA's symbol, took in the surroundings and looked for the others. Her mind was now completely buried under XANA's power.
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"Nina?! What the hell are you doing here?!" Rena yelled to her friend and roommate. "Get back to your tower!"
Nina still approached her, walking slowly, but surely. Rena was about to yell again when Nina raised her hand and sent a bolt of light at her. She dodged just in time and swore at her friend, wondering what had gotten into her.
Then she made the mistake of getting too close. Seeing the mark of XANA in her friend's eyes made her freeze for just a fraction of a second, but that was all Nina needed to strike the final blow. Instead of disappearing, Rena fell to the ground, not breathing. Instead of devirtualizing when her virtual body died, she was still attached, and she died as well.
One by one, Nina, under the influence of XANA, killed all of her teammates, even Franz Hopper.
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Subdued by XANA, Nina's mind was in a comatose state. She was unaware of what her body was doing. XANA's power kept her separate, detached from what was going on outside of her body. She dreamed.
"Where are you?!" she cried. She was searching desperately for something, though she did not know what it was. "I can't find you!"
"I am here," a male voice whispered. She recognized it as Eric's. "I am waiting for you."
"How do I find you?" she asked. Before she even finished the question, she realized what the answer was.
"You already know how. Now you just need the strength to do it."
"ERIC!!!"
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Nina suddenly saw through her own eyes again, though she was not able to control her actions. She saw Eric lying on the ground in front of her.
NO!!! she screamed in her mind.
Shut up, you insolent little girl, a voice replied. All of your friends are gone, and there is nothing you can do to stop me now.
She cried for what seemed like years, weeping over her friends. However, her eyes, still controlled by XANA, did not shed a single tear.
"How do I find you?"
She gasped within her mind. That question was the one she wanted answered now.
"You already know how. Now you just need the strength to do it."
Her despair quickly became anger. This was all XANA's fault!
With a cry of immense fury, she ripped her body out of XANA's control and fell to the ground. Her eyes still did not shed a tear.
"You…" she muttered as she stood up slowly. Her body began to glow so bright that she was blinding to anybody who would look at her.
"YOU BASTARD!!!" she screamed as the light within her body burst free and flowed in every direction. With nowhere to do, the specters were pierced by the light and destroyed utterly. The light was then absorbed into her friends, her family, and Franz Hopper, and they all also began to glow.
Nina fell to the ground, tears now flowing freely. Her weeping wouldn't last long though, because she heard a voice she recognized.
"Nina?"
She looked up, her eyes still brimming with tears, and smiled to see her boyfriend, Eric, sitting up and looking at her.
"Eric?" she asked, like it was too good to be true. "You're…back!"
"I…" he trailed off. "I thought I was dead… I was floating away from my body, but then this…light appeared and pulled me back. It felt like…like you…"
She tried to say something, but just laughed and hugged him tightly.
"I almost lost you," she whispered. He smiled and pushed her back slightly. She was disappointed for a second, until her pressed his lips to hers. And so, they kissed.
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Eventually, they separated and Nina went back to her tower. They were all disabled, the black aura disappearing, never to come back.
They met up again near the portal to Carthage, as the entire sector began to shake. Nina told the others what had happened, and apologized. They others rapidly told her that she had nothing to be sorry for. Then they stepped back through the portal.
Soon, Aelita and Franz were the only two left. She turned to her father and raised an eyebrow. He didn't look like he was about to follow her through the portal.
"Aren't you coming?" she asked him.
"No. I am tied to this sector too much. I've been here for more than two decades now, and I cannot easily leave," he answered. "Go! Quickly! Xanadu is falling apart!"
"What about you?"
He smiled wistfully. "I was the creator of Xanadu. A captain always goes down with his ship."
Aelita sighed quietly and hugged him. She didn't trust her voice enough to speak. She had just been reunited with her father for the first time in more than twenty years, and just like that, he was going to be ripped away again!
Still, she knew what she had to do. She tried to smile as she stepped through the portal and followed her friends and family.
"Where is Franz?" Jeremie asked a few minutes after she came through.
"He's," she replied slowly. "He's not coming."
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After that, they were devirtualized, and Jeremie ran one last scan on the supercomputer, just in case. Moments later, he sighed. XANA was truly gone, as was its home, Xanadu.
Franz was gone too, his virtual self destroyed during the collapse of sector zero. Jeremie sighed and stood up to relay the news to the others.
He turned off the supercomputer for what he hoped would be the last time.
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Two years later, a woman with pink hair stood on the bridge, gazing down at the memorial inscription below.
Heroes are created, not born. Six heroes were created here. This is also where they fought their final battle. They were brave, strong, and cunning. They will be remembered as our saviors.
"But we weren't remembered," she said quietly. "All those years ago, we saved the world once, and they forgot what happened. Then we saved it again two years ago, and nobody even knows the sacrifices we made."
"That's what makes a true hero," somebody said behind her. She turned around to see a blond-haired man. She smiled slightly and turned back to the memorial. Carved roughly beneath the previous words was another inscription.
A great man died here. He is unknown to the world, remembered only by a few. But the twelve who know of him will remember his sacrifices forever.
She dropped a single white rose on the memorial stone, then turned and grasped her husband's hand.
"Now, with that behind us," she said. "We will look to the future, but never forget the past."
"Of course, Aelita," Jeremie replied. "We will never forget."
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So? Was it good? What do you think? Was it a fitting end?
Anyway, this is probably the last thing I'm going to post for a while. I'm taking a break to work on some projects that I've been writing on and off while trying to juggle this story and school at the same time. Now that this is done, I'm free to work on other things.
As for Code Lyoko, I'm pretty much done with it. There may be oneshots in the future, but no more big stories like this one. Maybe season 4 will change my mind, but I'm pretty sure that I'm done with Code Lyoko. I'm moving on into other fandoms, and into my own original writing.
I'm sad to see this story end, yet I'm glad it's finally over. I don't have this hanging over my head any more, so I'm free to work on whatever I want. I've been neglecting my DeviantArt lately, so maybe I'll draw some more stuff. Who knows?
I don't know what I'll be doing next, but I'm hoping that you guys will come along for the ride when I start my next project. See you then!