Hello everyone! The third chapter is finally up after nearly three weeks and 2 complete revisions (both version felt eh to me.) of this chapter. When Sero discovered Hiroki, Johnny, and two new students at the Hermitage for a group, he goes and ask Yumi about Hiroki. Does Yumi know anything that can shed light on this? Read on and find out.
Krik- While I know that a good amount of people use that form of writing, I prefer more descriptive writing (Try reading chapters 15-20 of my first story, that's basically my current writing style.) instead of story that is driven more by dialogue.
Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko in any way. I only own Sero.
(Sero's P.O.V, First person.)
"We need to talk about your brother." I said to Yumi while he was still catching his breath. I only felt like running if I had more than enough energy, or if it was important. "Is Hiroki already doing something with some female students?" Yumi replied apathetically, as if she already predicted what Hiroki did. "How did you-" "Just trust me on this Sero. Hiroki has tried to look for that special girl in his life, whether he takes them to the Track or the back of the Gym." Yumi interrupted me, ending her sentence with a small sigh. I was slightly confused when she didn't mention that building in the park, so I felt like bringing it up.
"Wait, so he hasn't brought anyone to a broken down house in the middle of the forest yet?" I asked, gaining a slight jump from Yumi. Was she holding something back? Do the others know about that house too? Yumi was about to say something as an excuse but the bell rang for the next class, so we looked eye-to-eye for a second before we both ran to class.
Later at dinner, we were back at our usual table except for two of us, Hiroki being somewhere and Jeremie at the factory, doing "Something special" with Lyoko as he quotes it. Since everyone but William and Yumi are in the same grade, we share classes with one or more Warriors, which will be useful when eventually XANA attacks again. Aelita tapped my shoulder, bringing me out of my personal thoughts.
"Are you okay Sero? You dozed off for a while there." Aelita said, aware of my lack of attention. I wasn't sure what to say, so I quickly glanced at our table. Yumi and William looked at me while Odd was stuffing himself with Ulrich's leftovers, who was trying to take some of his food back. I looked at my plate which was mostly finished. That building in the forest stayed on my mind, I wanted to get a better look at it. My brain already started to put one and one together. "I'm good, I just need to take my mind off of something at the moment. See you guys later." I said, pushing my plate towards Odd as I got out of my chair. Aelita looked at Yumi, who simply shrugged. I left the cafeteria and walked towards the forest.
Several minutes later, I was in front of the old building again. I looked behind me, making sure that no one followed me here. I walked up to the sign and tried to read it again, but even less of it was legible under the moonlight. Gathering my breath, I opened the front door and my eyes took in the scene in front of me. The ransacked living room told me that whoever lived here must have left in a hurry. There was a grand piano in the corner, missing a few keys. Every other room beyond the living room door were too unsafe for me to look around. Looking around, I saw the stairs to the second floor. After a few test steps, I reassured myself that they were safe and walked up. Stepping off of the last step, I looked around again.
The second floor looked rather untouched at first, shown by the large amount of cobwebs and layers of dust lining nearly everything. There were four rooms, two open and two locked. I entered the closest room, which looked like a bedroom for a little girl judging by the bed size and color palette. Above the headboard was a hole in the wall, probably covered by the face-down painting on the bed. Whatever was in the hole was gone for some time, but not as long as everything else, as the back of the painting didn't have as much dust as the bed. A picture on the nightstand suddenly caught my eye, taking my attention away from the hole. The timestamp was faded, but I could make out the year clearly, it being 199-something. The child in the picture was suddenly recognizable to me. The girl in the picture was Aelita, being about twelve or thirteen years old tops. But that didn't add up, Aelita would be an adult by now.
"Did the gang really tell me the whole story? If this really is Aelita's house and she is the 'Key of Lyoko', then there must be something Lyoko-related here." I said to myself, feeling slightly betrayed by my friends. I looked out the window, noticing Jim's flashlight in the far distance near the cafeteria. Great, now Jim is looking for me most likely. I was still in my school clothes so I can't make the excuse that I was sleep-walking. I was about to question how long I was in this building, but I pushed that thought away. "Just one more room to explore then I'm out of here." I muttered, about to leave Aelita's room when a glimpse caught my eye. It was a necklace, free of dust. The chain was sterling silver fashioned into a compact series of delicate links. The ornaments on the necklace were two rings, like wedding rings, but were a seamless mix of colors as if someone heated up a mood ring and quickly cooled it with ice. I couldn't help myself but take it for two reasons: One, as proof that I know about this house. And two, it felt like it fit me. I looked at the rings closer and saw some inside engraving of names, saying 'FRANZ HOPPER' and 'ANTHEA SCHAEFFER'. I put the necklace in my pocket as I left the room.
"Just five more minutes then I'm getting out of here." I absent-mindedly told myself as I entered the second open room, which look like a miniature library. The room was in disorder, bookshelves lying on the ground, easily hundreds of books thrown around randomly. Whoever ransacked Aelita's house was spending their time here searching for something. My eyes scanned through the titles of the books until one caught my eye, A dictionary-sized book labelled Lyoko and the study of the Digital Sea Vol. 2/4. I remember Jeremie talking about how the Digital Sea could hold some secrets on how to fix the return to the past program, so I actively started to search through the pile of books, finding the other three volumes after a few minutes. A fifth book caught my attention. It was a slightly smaller book called "Skíðblaðnir, Norse Ship of Ships". The corners of the book were worn, as if read many times. I placed the five books on each other and grabbed the bottom one, letting out a breath as the books were heavier together than I thought.
I left the house, books in hand and necklace in pocket. I quickly, but casually, made my way to the Dorm buildings. I was about to enter the building when a bright light suddenly focused on me. "Sero, what were you thinking, staying out after curfew for a good hour and a half? You better have a good reason I should not give you a full day of detention!" A voice that was definitely Jim's said to me. I was at the house for over two hours? It felt shorter than that, but I didn't want to correct Jim. I made up a quick lie in my head.
"Oh sorry Jim! The librarian need help with her books, so I choose to help out of my free-time." I said, putting on my best fake smile that didn't look over-done, which was hard since I rarely smile to begin with. Jim scratched his head before he grinned slightly as he patted my shoulder. "My apologies Sero, It's just I've never seen someone with such an open heart help others like this, but isn't this the door to the dorm rooms?" Jim replied, slight confusion in his voice. Clearing my throat, I answered him. "I know, it's just that I've finished helping and she let me take some books to read in my free-time." I replied, keeping my fake smile on. "Alright then, but I will want to see some proof next time got it?" Jim said as he opened the door for me. "Thanks Jim, I'll remember next time." I said, entering the dorm. Before I went to my room, I checked if Jeremie's door was unlocked. A slight push on the door told me so.
"Jeremie, you need to lock your door more often..." I said to myself in silence as I looked inside. Strangely, Jeremie wasn't sleeping in his bed or on his keyboard. "Jeremie? Are you there?" I said, confused at the situation. Maybe Jeremie is staying all night at the factory, but today is a Monday. I decided not to worry about it until tomorrow at breakfast. I placed the four books about the Digital Sea near his keyboard and reached for a pen and paper, writing that I knew about the house. After putting the paper on the books, I was about to leave the room when I remembered the necklace in my pocket. I pulled it out and looked at it again. I felt so attached to it, even though it was most likely belonged to Aelita's parents or guardians, but at the same time I felt guilty for having it. I looked out Jeremie's window and saw Jim still patrolling outside.
"This necklace needs its true owner." I muttered, putting the necklace back in my pocket. I felt like giving the book about the norse ship Skidbladnir to Aelita along with the necklace. After a good minute or so, I was in front of Aelita's door. I placed the book down on the ground then placed the necklace on top, moving them right in front of the door. I let out a yawn, my body reminding me that I need some sleep now. As I was out of view of Aelita's door, I sent a text to her saying, "I know about the building in the forest. Tomorrow at breakfast, I want to know the rest of Lyoko that you guys didn't say when I joined. Open your door, there's something for you." After a few seconds, I heard a door open for a few seconds, quickly closing after. Walking back to my room, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. I flipped my phone open and looked at the text. (AN: Yes, Sero uses a flip-phone, if those still exist anymore.)
"Sorry for not telling you everything, we didn't trust you 100%. We'll tell you the rest but thanks for the book & my parent's rings. BTW, do you know if Jer came back from the Factory?" Aelita's text said. So Franz Hopper and Anthea Schaeffer were her parents, which makes the building Aelita's old home. I started texting a reply to Aelita as I neared my room.
"It's OK, I understand. And I guess Jeremie is sleeping at the Factory or something, his room was empty when I checked in on him. I'm going to sleep now." I sent the text to her, not bothering to check the quick reply she sent back. I slowly opened my door, making sure not to wake up my sleeping room-mate. I quietly changed into my pajamas and looked at my alarm clock, which said 10:57 PM, SEPT. 1st. I guess I was more tired than what I originally thought, because I already started to drift into much-needed sleep when my head hit the pillow...
(Jeremie's P.O.V, Third person.)
Meanwhile at the Factory, one of the three scanners started to hum with electricity and release steam. The scanner opened, showing Jeremie inside, clutching his head from slight pain. "I hope that was long enough to restrengthen my immunity to XANA. I need to check the computer." Jeremie said, exiting the scanner. He took the ladder back up to the Supercomputer. Getting off the ladder, Jeremie sat at the computer chair and inspected the screen. The screen showed Jeremie's human self on the computer with an arrow pointing at the head, showing the number "100%". Jeremie opened a secondary window, which showed that no towers were activated on Lyoko.
"It looks like the experimental program worked on the activated Tower, but XANA already made the towers immune to it. At least it deactivated the tower before anyone noticed, but the effort was not definitely worth it..." Jeremie said to himself, working on the reaction times of programs. His experimental program took the entirety of the summer to make, plus each tower was unique, meaning that Jeremie had to make one for each tower. All that work was all for naught with this simple XANA attack. Jeremie didn't want to work on the time reversion at the moment, since he already tried all possible solutions that wouldn't compromise the program. Needless to say, none of the solutions worked. Jeremie was now sure that the Digital Sea held some answers. Jeremie checked the time on his phone, which said 1:08 AM, SEPT. 2nd.
"I can't just sit here and sulk on my slow progress. Oh well, might as well go to bed." Jeremie said to himself, letting out a long yawn as he started to make his way out of the Factory and back to the school. due to how late it was, Jeremie didn't need to worry about Jim, who was most likely asleep now. Eventually, he made his way to his room. Too tired to even change clothes, Jeremie simply lied on bed and fell asleep, not noticing the books or note that Sero left him.
AN: And the Chapter is now complete! Sero discovers the Hermitage, which leads him to finding books about the Digital Sea. Will the books be any use? Will the gang tell Sero the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about all the Lyoko information they left out? Wait for the fourth chapter and find out!
Before anyone asks: No. Jeremie is not trying to become a fighter on Lyoko anytime soon. I added that part in because I think that Jeremie would need more consistent visits to Lyoko to keep his resistance to XANA. (Like you can't put sunscreen on only once and always have protection.) Besides, his only 'true' visit (That we know about, anyway.) to Lyoko was on the episode "Mister Pück", and this story is basically in an altered 4th season of Code Lyoko.
Now that I (Mostly.) understand my available free time, I will change my schedule for upload to be every two or three weeks. I know that WILL be enough time for me, but expect some chapters to upload earlier due to school breaks.
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