The photo was old, the color faded and doing no justice to how vibrant her hair had been, the corners folded over and torn. Sitting alone at the table, she brushed her fingers against the Polaroid's edges over and over again. The only sound that filled the room was that of her soft sniffling. But the emptiness in the room wasn't comparable to that of her own heart.

Hearing him walk in, she tucked the photo away into the pocket of her shirt and let out a heavy sigh. "Are you ever going to let me see her?" Her voice was quiet, and dull.

His response was simple. "Probably not."

There was no argument. She had learned too many times in the past that there was no point. He would always find a way to win. Once more, she sighed.

More silence. For the years that she had been a part of this agency, there had never been so much silence. So much coldness and darkness. Maybe it was because, for the first time in the years she had been here, she was actually forced to witness the cruelty she had hoped to never become directly involved in. She was forced to watch her own flesh and blood be shoved away inside an abandoned bunker, where she would freeze and starve.

Ava's fists clenched against the chair she sat in. Mothers were supposed to look after their children. Mothers did not let this happen to their children, and mothers were certainly not the reason this happened to their children. Ava would not let herself become the reason behind anything worse that Agent Zlo would put her through.

Ava didn't even know what he had already done to her—not specifics, at least. She didn't really want to know, but she felt like it was her duty and right to know. Her responsibility to know, even.

"The same thing I did to you, my dear."

Her stomach churned as his words echoed inside her head. That was enough to let her figure out what had happened—and even worse, what would happen soon if Zlo wasn't satisfied. Ava didn't even know what Aelita looked like, anymore. The only time she had seen her had been for very brief moments with very minuscule lighting. Why was everything suddenly so dark, anyways?

She worked in a high tech laboratory that had blinding light around every corner. So why had her and Zlo only been hanging around in the bunkers? In the darkness and the very depths of Paris?

For her torture and his satisfaction, she assumed. Whenever the association had a new "captive"—they liked to call them—specific persons were assigned to watch over them like a hawk. And what better person to assign to such a task than the one who had found her in the first place, and the one who brought her onto this very Earth?

Wonderful.

The goal of this twisted agency was to get answers, and run the captive into the ground until they got what they wanted. Ava never saw the logic in this. It usually never worked. Thinking about this now, her stomach sank. It never worked because the captives were usually determined and would refuse over and over again.

…Right up until their death.

"Why not?" She finally asked. There would be an argument this time. There was a point this time.

Slightly surprised, he turned around and faced her with his thick eyebrows quirking into a perplexed expression. He looked appalled, even. Wondering how she could so dare to even ask a simple question.

"You know why."

"No, I don't."

"You can't be trusted."

"I've been by your side for over fifteen years."

More silence. It was true. He had no comeback. Zlo, of all people, had no comeback. Perhaps he simply felt the discussion wasn't worth continuing. He smiled to himself.

"What if one of yours was here?" She continued to probe.

Zlo remained with his back facing Ava. But slowly, he glanced over his shoulder, peering back at her for a split second. "My what?" He replied, his voice hesitant.

Ava narrowed her eyes. "What if one of them showed up inside a bunker? You'd want to see them, wouldn't you?"

His fists clenched at his sides, anger beginning to boil inside his blood. He had to retain his composure of course and keep himself from throwing her against the wall, as they were too close to the borders of the main headquarters for someone to not hear the sudden thud.

Believe it or not, disrespect among agents was frowned upon. Friendship and building close relationships was also discouraged, but there was to be no abuse to fellow 'brothers' and 'sisters.' He took a deep breath, running his hands through his slicked hair.

Although he had attempted to ignore the question, she still continued. "You know you would."

He gritted his teeth. "There will be no talk of this."

"The truth sets you free. You said that, not me."

"I say a lot of things."

His polished shoes clacked heavily against the laminate flooring as he stormed outwards, the door slamming shut behind him and jolting the table in the center of the room. Ava cringed at the thud, glowering back at the closed door. Alone once more, she pulled the photo out of her pocket and stared at the child's porcelain features. She turned to face the door again.

When one door closes, another opens.

Ava knew that things were in her own hands now. There would be no way the police would be able to get a lead on Agent Zlo. None of the Men—or Women—in Black ever let themselves submit any sort of fingerprint that could be stowed away in government property. If her daughter were going to get out alive, Ava was going to have to set her free herself.

It was a long shot, but at this point, she honestly felt she had nothing left to lose.

Zlo would be gone for a while, perhaps dwelling or taking his anger out on something—or someone.

Probably Aelita.

All the more reason for her to act quickly.

Aelita grew more miserable each day. She was skinny, malnourished, and constantly cold. She was also frightened, and tired of being alone. Right now, she would rather be on Lyoko fighting against XANA than this. She would rather be doing anything else in the world than this.

She was also getting hungry. That suspicious woman hadn't dropped by in a while, not with water nor some form of nutrition. The sound of her grumbling stomach soon became something she was both accustomed to and also longing for. It reminded her that she was still alive.

Thinking about XANA made her uneasy. Without her around to de-activate the towers, how were they even fighting against him? Had Jeremie programmed a way to get someone else inside a tower? Surely he'd be able to come up with something if he really had to.

Right?

What if he hadn't, though? What if XANA had attacked, and whenever she would finally see the light of day again…there was no more light?

Would she escape from her prison and step outside to see a world embraced in flames?

She shuddered at the thought.

With seemingly nothing else to do, she leaned against the frigid concrete of the walls that encased her and tightly hugged her knees against her chest. Repeatedly, she knocked her head gently against the wall. Perhaps this was all simply a dream, and she'd wake up soon enough. Perhaps, if she closed her eyes tightly enough, she'd open them back up to see the sunlight through her window and the smile on Mr. Puck's face.

But when Aelita did open her eyes, all she saw was the pool of blackness that flooded the room that she was still stuck inside. She wasn't even sure what the room did look like because it was so dark. Was there some sort of secret passage, maybe a hole in the wall? Was there anything other than rock and mildew and little puddles of freezing water dripping from the cracks in the ceiling?

She desperately wanted to do something. To try something. But what?

There was no getting out of this mess. Not alone.

She thought about Kadic and her friends, and even Jim and Mr. Delmas. She wondered if anyone had figured out she was missing yet. If maybe they were already searching for her. If maybe, they were on their way right now to save her. Providing that they were still… well, that they were still there. If XANA hadn't already taken care of them.

She buried her head against her knees and let the tears stream quietly down her face, softly piddling against the cold Earth beneath her. She felt weak and pathetic for not having anything to do, but also felt that resistance was, quite frankly, futile. All she could do was wait and hope that someone would help her. Somehow.

But just as she curled up in the corner of the room and felt that there was truly no hope left inside her fragile mind, a soft rustle echoed from the door of the cage she had been locked away in, and from the light of the crack underneath the door frame she could see something slipping inside.

Eagerly, she crawled over to it on her hands and knees and felt around the darkness and the cold stone beneath her fingers. The dim, golden light coming from the hallway outside shone in just enough to outline a piece of paper against the floor, and surely enough the clamminess of the Earth below turned into a soft yet also rough feeling of a neatly folded sheet. Was it a note? She unfolded it instantly, but was met with another dilemma. She couldn't see it. At all.

Even holding it around the soft glow underneath the door wasn't enough to light up every word. She strained herself and held the note in all directions against the crack, but to no avail. How was she to be able to read a note in such pure blackness? And more importantly—who wanted her to read it?

The most she could get out of the note, by slipping the paper halfway under the door to get enough light just to illuminate the edges, spelled out a most curious invitation.

"Aeli…

I'm hav…ouble getting…ou, but I'm tryi…st know that I w…e there soon. I p…mise. I lo…ou."

No signature. Or maybe there was one, and she couldn't read it. Now she had only more questions to ask herself. For once, she actually hoped that Vuk would return soon. Maybe then, she could catch the note in the light from the door just in time for her to be able to see what the missing letters in between were.