The next morning on March 31st at the Hermitage, Jeremie woke up to the smell of a fresh cooked breakfast. He went downstairs and found his wife and daughter at the dining room table enjoying a nice meal of pancakes and fresh fruit. Aelita then came to him.
"Morning dear." She said. "You want anything?"
"No thank you. Just some coffee." He said. Aelita could tell that something was troubling her husband.
"Is something the matter?" She asked.
"I can't tell you." He said quickly.
"Why not?" Aelita asked.
"Because my life could be at stake." Jeremie said. "You see…" But he was interrupted by a large stone that broke one of the windows and landed on the table.
"Get down!" Jeremie said as he, Aelita and Antea hid under the table. Just then the sound of machine guns firing echoed throughout the kitchen. Bullets flew all around destroying everything they touched.
"Dad, what's happening?" Antea asked.
"Why are these people trying to kill us?" Aelita asked.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Jeremie said. "Now listen, go to my office, on one of the tables, there should be a heavy white binder, you can't miss it. Take it and guard it with your life, and don't look inside it. And the next time you see Calvin, give it to him and only him. And whatever happens, you and Antea are to not leave this house, it's not you they want."
"But what about you?" Aelita asked. Jeremie just sighed.
"I love you all so much, don't you forget that. Especially you Antea."
"What are you saying, Daddy?" Antea said.
Jeremie just ran out from under the dining room table and threw himself out of the nearest window. He then got back up and ran as fast as his legs could carry him. As he was running, he turned and noticed three men with guns running after him. He then ran into the deepest part of the woods hoping to lose them.
Back at the Hermitage, Aelita ran upstairs and into Jeremie's office, taking, or rather dragging, Antea with her. She began frantically searching for the white binder that her husband had mentioned. After less then ten seconds of searching, she found the binder and immediately ran into her room. She pulled out a safe from the closet and locked the binder inside of it. Aelita then ran downstairs.
"Hey. Where are you going?" Antea asked.
"To find your father." Aelita said.
"But he told us to stay here."
"Right now your father needs our help regardless of what he said." Aelita said. "Now come on." Antea then followed her out the door.
Back in the woods, Jeremie found that, unfortunately for him, these men were unable to be lost so easily. Like most humans, he began to slow down, tired from running. However, his adversaries were not showing any signs of weakening, almost as if they weren't human at all, but something different. After a short time, he came to the ledge of a small cliff. Despite not being the best climber, he scaled up the ledge, hoping to escape and get help. However, when he got up, he noticed Mr. Xavier standing adjacent from him.
"Jeremie Belpois." He said. "We meet once again and for the last time."
"XANA." Jeremie said.
"Still the same Jeremie I remember." XANA said. "Unfit and oblivious to his doom."
"How did you find me?" Jeremie asked.
"That message you left for Calvin last night? I traced it down and found you here." XANA said. "I congratulate you. You've evaded me for so long after my return, and even before then you and your friends have kept my existence in hiding from your future offspring, or at least attempted to. And now your family has gathered to witness your downfall."
"What do you mean?" Jeremie asked.
"Look behind you." Jeremie did just that and noticed his wife and daughter running towards him.
"Jeremie, wait." Just then Thomas, Alain and Jean-Claude appeared and held them back with their guns.
"Alright, back up." Thomas said.
"I told you guys to stay in the house." Jeremie said.
"You see Jeremie? Not even your family can help you now, nobody can help you. We settle this together, just you and me."
Jeremie then ran up and punched him square in the jaw. XANA then got up.
"You're stronger than I remembered." XANA said.
"Thanks." Jeremie said. "Those Pencak Silat lessons from Ulrich really…" But he was interrupted by a blast of lightning that sent him flying back a few feet.
"However, I am stronger." He said. "And you're not half as strong or half as smart as me."
Jeremie then got up and tried to land blow after blow against the computer program. However, XANA intercepted every attack and landed even harder blows against him. XANA showed no signs of weakness, but Jeremie, bruised and battered, was just lying on the ground exhausted.
"And to think you felt you were any match against me." XANA said. "You couldn't destroy me thirty years ago, you won't destroy me today or ever. That second-rate magician Franz Hopper died in vain and now you will too, and his daughter will continue to be protected by me."
"Wait." Jeremie said. "What do you mean 'protected'?"
"You really though I had no motivation into imprisoning my master and stealing Aelita's memories?" XANA asked. "Being a program spares her pain. As a human she suffers."
"That was not protecting her!" Jeremie shouted.
"When her mother was kidnapped and her father was targeted by the government, I knew I had to spare her from the suffering, that's what Franz Hopper designed me to do." XANA said. "When Franz Hopper tried to intervene, I knew he had to be imprisoned. With him out of the way, I took her memories and used them to keep her bound to Lyoko even if she were to escape. But years later you came along, you released her from her sanctuary, and you returned her memories which caused her suffering. Now I'm here to undo the wrongs you have brought upon her."
"You're wrong." Jeremie said. "Her suffering wasn't caused by her painful memories, it was caused by you and how you stole her life from her!"
"I was only following orders."
"And yet you turned against your own master. The one who gave you those orders." Jeremie said. "Or at least how you interpreted them."
"I was ordered to protect Aelita and that's what I did." XANA said. "I gave her safety and freedom from reliving her troubled past and you brought her back and let her suffer."
"Because I loved her and I wanted to help her."
"And yet even with the discovery of Code: Earth, you still treated her like another program, you pushed her aside until you found your precious anti-virus. But when you did, or at least you found out the truth, what happened after? You still put your research above her. Your virtual ship, your translation program, all of those you put before the girl you claimed to love; you didn't even want to go to her first concert the first time. You see, Jeremie. If you really loved her, you wouldn't have put her second."
"You're wrong again, XANA." Jeremie said getting up. "Maybe I did make her feel like she was just another program. Maybe I did rather want to spend time with destroying you then with her. But maybe you've forgotten why I wanted you gone so badly. Not just because of your desire to take over the world, because of the danger Aelita was in because of you. I knew Aelita would never be safe with you in the picture. That's why I exhausted myself to the bone to make sure that you would never lay a finger on her, even if it involved leaving Aelita herself out of the picture."
Aelita had heard this; she then felt a tear run down her face.
"And not a day goes by where I regret it." She said to herself.
"You see, XANA. It's not that I don't love her, it's that you don't know what love really is."
"Typical." XANA said. He then shot out a blast of lightning, which sent Jeremie falling down the cliff and into a small stream. Thomas, Alain, And Jean-Claude each shot a bullet in his chest to make sure he was truly dead. XANA and his thugs then disappeared.
"Dad, no!" Antea said as she and Aelita ran up to her dying father. Aelita then walked up to him.
"Jeremie, please don't…" She said holding him in her arms. Jeremie then turned his head and faced her.
"F…Forgive m…me, A…Aelit…ta." He said in his dying breath. He then collapsed in her arms.
"Please don't die." Aelita said with tears in her eyes. "Jeremie, please." However, no response; he had indeed passed on. Aelita then sobbed loudly, still holding Jeremie in her arms.
"Is he dead?" Antea said also on the verge of crying. Aelita sadly nodded her head. Antea then knelt down and cried in her arms, Aelita then went over and hugged her, both crying in each other shoulders.
To my faithful reviewers: No. Jeremie will not be coming back. That would just be stupid to build up so much drama and have him come back through some dumb deus ex machina thing or something. Besides you never complained when I mentioned that Odd, a much more popular character, was dead.
Also, John, I'm sorry but there will not be a sequel. The reason being that I currently have no plot ideas aside from a love triangle drama between Calvin, Antea, and another boy, and I probably never will. You can catch more adventures of Calvin and his friends in my future collection of oneshots, which I plan on making after this story is finished.
Please Review.