Code: Apocalypse- Chapter IV I/II [Animal I have become]

William Dunbar

"They need me…" he whispered to himself, looking down into his reflection in the steadily growing pool of water in his sink. "They need me… to prove I'm worth it… to prove I am still the William they had known and trusted before I stupidly went to battle the very thing they told me to stay away from… they need me because they know that I have grown up…"
'Ah, yes, but what about the things you have done while being a slave of XANA, hm? Don't you think that counts too?" his conscience mocked.
"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" William roared, trying to ignore the persistent pest that was his mind.
"I will not be silenced. I am your doubts… I am your darker side…"
"Go away!" He yelled, now sure that his neighbors had heard him yelling at nothing for no apparent reason.
"You know that I won't go away, Dunbar. I am you. I am the part of you that haunts your dreams, that stalks behind you in your shadow. I am the thing that keeps you up at night, the very essence of your fears…" it mocked again.
"I… Leave me… leave me alone…" William moaned.
"Then accept the fact that you are a monster…" it hissed back, its slithery tone making William cringe a little.
"No… I am not a monster… I am not, and was not a willing puppet of that accursed virus…"
"You cannot deny what you are inside…"
"No!" William screamed closing his eyes and panting heavily.

William groped blindly around and shut off the faucet, listening to the dripping of the leaky faucet he had forgotten to fix. The voice in his head continued to try to persuade him that he was nothing but a puppet for his hated arch enemy, and nothing but such. When the voice dissipated into the recesses of his mind once again, and he opened his eyes, he saw himself in the water, as a scared child. William bent closer to the water, and saw that his reflection was cowering in the shadow of something. William's reflection seemed to turn towards William himself, its eyes as wide as dinner plates. The reflection soon disappeared, and soon changed to the darker teenage version of himself; committing horrible acts in XANA's name.

William angrily glared at the water before slapping the still surface, causing some water to spill out the side of the sink while the remaining water vibrated and rippled within the porcelain. Without missing a beat, William cupped some water in his hands and splashed it upon himself several times, dousing his face and hair thoroughly. Like a wet dog, he shook his head and torso vigorously- the water droplets splashed everywhere in his bathroom, panting afterwards as he grew a little dizzy from 'drying' himself.

"Always…" It his again, startling him from looking at the draining pool of water into straightening upwards and facing the mirror.

His mind made him see things in the mirror- images from his past that he wished he had forgotten. While it was assumed that he had not remembered anything during his possession that XANA had taken over his body and used it as a puppet for his schemes, William begged to differ. He had seen everything that XANA made him do through a tortured purple-colored haze, and see them struggle in vain as they fought to ward off his attack. He had felt his powers crackling under his skin, the powers XANA had forcibly bestowed upon him waiting to be unleashed onto his next victim. The almost inhuman strength that was part of his powers were always screaming for something for them to main, or even murder- it was a constant nuisance that caused him to be irritated- something XANA used to its advantage. He had known the anger and contempt XANA had for the Lyoko Warriors, who were trying to save the world from him… from the animal he had become.

Anger rushed through him as his saw the dark reflection in the mirror, the reflection staring back with an evil, taunting grin. The reflection's eyes leered down at him with an air of superiority. William's mouth curved downwards as he bared his teeth, the sudden urge flowing through him to punch the reflection in the face, to destroy the smirk his reflection had on its 'face'. Without fully realizing it, he had cocked his right hand back, and with a loud crash accompanied by the tinkling of glass, the mirror shattered under the force of his punch. William cursed and cried out in pain as some glass shards became embedded into his fist, some shards tinted red with the flowing blood that was now issuing from his bleeding hand.

The rest of the glass shards were scattered around the bathroom, glittering in the light as it shone upon them. William was careful not to tread on them as he removed the glass from his hand, dropping them gingerly into the nearest garbage can. The smirk from the reflection was still there, even though the mirror was gone- it was burned into his mind by William himself, who wanted to use his anger and frustration whenever he would cross paths again with XANA.

"They say anger is like a rush of adrenaline. When strong enough, it can turn the weakest of people into someone's worst fear, and turn an ordinary punch into a train colliding into the target." William muttered as he nursed the cut, kicking glass and aluminum cans alike out of his way as he strode to strode over to the couch.

Something caught his eye again as he plopped down onto the couch. The screen was still on, like a beacon in the sky for a hero to rescue to world again. William stared at it for a while, finding the animation of the eye of XANA blinking on and off over a picture of an envelope strangely hypnotizing. For several moments he contemplated before sighing and getting up again, walking away from the cell phone to a large, roughly made wooden cabinet nearby, and opening it. He had something important to do, and there was no avoiding it. William smiled as he saw the contents of the cabinet still there, untouched from the time of its unused, and brought one item down, the cold metal sending a shiver down his spine.

"Long time, no see, but I suppose you're still pretty, even after the years have passed…" he murmured as he stroked it, and reached for similar items, being careful not to drop them as he removed them from the shelves they were currently resting on.

[Page Break]

Code: Apocalypse- Chapter V

There was dust everywhere, the soft, gray 'snow' resting on everything in the attic, even on the cobwebs of spiders long gone as the light shone through the window. Several chests stood, forgotten on the ground, their golden locks dulled to a brass color over time. A musty odor of air not circulated for long periods of time permeated throughout the attic, and it was strong enough to cause anyone to gag. The gray lining of the chests lay undisturbed, that is, until a flurry of rainbow-colored feathers descended upon it and stirred it into the air again. The wielder of said feather duster coughed as the fine particles rose into the air, tickling her nose as they floated upwards.

A sharp intake of air, and a moment later, a loud sound echoed in the rafters as Antea sneezed, her older brother poking his head above the mountain of boxes looking at her with an amused expression on his face. Antea frowned and stuck out her tongue, Waldo frowning and attempting to do the same. Both of them continued to try to one-up each other, but Jeremie, noting what they were doing, smiled in amusement before gently escorting them downstairs. Both of them continued trading weird facial expressions- until Antea found the air horn that was lying under her parents' bed after much jostling of the small aluminum metal box that contained it. Figuring out the code for the padlock that was the apparent preventative measure was easy for her, compared to being the younger sibling.

"Aelita, find anything yet?" Jeremie called, sifting through the long-forgotten boxes in their attic. "Ugh, it's surprising how much junk we have acquired over the years, huh after graduation from college?"
"Yeah, it's amazing how much we squirreled away, but never realized it until we actually look at this stuff. I mean, after we got this house, we basically took the things we didn't need, and dumped them without looking until now- several years later." 'Aelita' replied, continuing to rummage through the items. "Oh! It's your marriage picture…" 'Aelita' near whispered, handing over the photograph to Jeremie, who wiped some dust away from the protective plastic covering.
"Oh… I remember I was so nervous, every part of my body was shaking with fear." Jeremie admitted, running his hand through his hair. "… and here's yours!" Jeremie declared after a moment of rummaging through a small chest, grinning as broadly as the sun during the daytime. "... Aelita's what's wrong?" he asked, suddenly noticing her troubled expression.
"Couples aren't supposed to lie to each other, especially married ones, correct?" she asked, looking down at her now shaking hands instead of looking him in the eyes.
"Correct…" Jeremie responded, unsure of where this is going.
"How long have you known?" she asked, her head suddenly jerking upwards, facing him with a small frown.
"Err… How long have I known what?" Jeremie cautiously replied, aware of what he next question might be.
"How long have you known me as the fake? How long ago did you notice the inconsistencies- the differing behavior and the false emotion that I put into my actions in the past weeks?"

Jeremie sighed and stared at the ground. It was true that he had known that this would come up sooner or later- it was just a matter of time before it did. However, he felt this occasion to be quite unexpected- to have her riffling in the attic through memories that were never hers in the first place, and then her suddenly throwing the question out there, into open territory. There was no escaping from the question, and even as loud blasts continued to echo from downstairs, he knew that if he would go and separate the kids now, the Aelita clone would keep following him, asking the same question over and over until he was quite sure that he had gone insane.

"Quite a while now, actually." He muttered, "You see, I knew you were a decoy, a replica perhaps, of the real thing. The dagger under the bed, the attempted murder… god… I played along with this charade and gave you a kiss… one of betrayal, perhaps. Oh, I knew you were a fake from the second Waldo called me on the phone… weeks ago, and told me about it… the grocery trip… the supposed Microsoft company seller… the whole thing was a lie! Everything I said to you during the past few weeks was a lie! I've asked myself countless times why I didn't just find your programming and delay XANA for a while with your deletion!" Jeremie ranted, breathlessly 'explaining' to her his actions during the past weeks in question. "A question still haunts me though…" Jeremie said, breathing heavily, straightening up and looking her sternly in the eye. "Who or what are you?"

For once in the relatively short amount of time she had been on this world from her creation from the real Aelita, she was speechless. For the first time, she had experienced this type of reaction from the normally soft-spoken man she came to know as who the original copy was married to. Jeremie started pacing back and forth, muttering incoherently while breathing hard. Once in a while, he would whip around and look at her before continuing to pace, muttering strange things as he ranted and raved. It was only after two full minutes without any answer from her did he suddenly turned around, and lifted one of his hands, still curled into a fist, a gold diamond ring sparkling on one of his fingers.

"See this?" he asked, making sure her eyes were focused on it. "This is the same wedding ring I wore about eight years ago. I don't care if you're a copy. You're still part of Aelita, copy or no copy, and I know my Aelita would tell the truth, marriage or no marriage. You want to know how I know you're part of Aelita?" he asked, waiting for her to nod. "You're a copy, which means you're basically like the original, but only having one difference- the trait being in originality. Now, answer me, who are you?"
"My… name is Aelita… or that's how I was programmed to think…" the clone murmured, somewhat uselessly. "Created either June 5th, or June 6th –my memory files are being corrupted, I apologize- I was sent here to eliminate targets for XANA, mainly you and the rest of the group of friends that constantly thwarted my … err… XANA."
"…You're not calling him your master? That's odd…" said Jeremie, titling his head to the side as he continued to watch her. "Elaborate."
"Many a time I have heard a voice speaking to me. It was not XANA, and it wasn't yours. I think it was mine, but slightly different. It wasn't full of hate or malice it was… I don't know what it was… Anyway, I don't feel very obliged to call him master- stop staring at me like that, it's rude- I just don't know why. He… or it hasn't really paid very much attention to me, so I don't see why I have to serve him. I owe him nothing. My creation, stolen memories, and 'life' as you humans would call it would have been nothing had Aelita not lived. My life is indebted to her, not XANA. I guess I am doing the thing you humans would call 'breaking away'."
"So… err… I'm sorry if I got hysterical all of a sudden earlier…" Jeremie apologized, rubbing the back of his head apologetically. "Have you had any contact with him, lately?"
"You mean within the week? Uh… today is Wednesday, right? So… no, I haven't reported for over a week… and I think I don't want to do anymore. He has to get his own information now. I' guess I'll be a little rebellious, with a slight hint of lazy."
"So… I guess you're an ally now?" Jeremie cautiously inquired.
"I guess." She replied, shrugging.
"… So that means it's my turn to tell the truth again, huh?" he asked, earning another shrug from her. "I guess I have to tell you about why Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi have been hanging around here increasingly, huh?"
"Go ahead." She responded, tongue cheekily sticking out between the lips that now formed a small smile. "Lie to me."

[Page Break]

It was Jerlita week supposedly last week, but I hadn't submitted anything. ...And so the tide will turn, the seasons will change, though a sense of doubt will always remain...