Two days after Jeremie Belpois was killed, a funeral service was held at the Hermitage. At around noon, the Stern family showed up and knocked at the door. Answering the door was a distraught Aelita who had immediately recognized them. They had all dressed for the service; even Calvin was wearing the tuxedo Dennis gave him.
"Oh, please come in." She said. "Thanks for coming."
"No problem, Aelita." Ulrich said. "It's just too bad about Jeremie."
"Aelita, we are so, so sorry for what happened." Yumi said hugging her good friend. Aelita just cried into her shoulder. Calvin then went up to her.
"Excuse me." He said. "Is Antea here?"
"Yes." Aelita said turning to face him. "She's up in her room."
"Thanks." He said. As he was heading upstairs, he noticed on one of the couches a brown-haired man he recognized as Michael Belpois hugging a light blonde haired woman, crying softly in his arms. Calvin went up to them.
"I'm so sorry for your loss." Calvin said holding Michael's hand. "It must be hard to lose such a wonderful child."
"You have no idea." Michael said with a tear falling down his face. He then turned back around to comfort his crying wife. Calvin then headed upstairs and went into Antea's room where he found her lying face down on her bed.
"Hey, An?" Calvin asked.
"What do you want?" She said obviously distraught.
"I wanted to see if you were alright."
"Of course I'm not alright." Antea said. "My father's dead. Why would I be alright?" She just continued crying. Calvin then went up to the foot of her bed and sat down.
"I'm really sorry." Calvin said. "Your father was a great person; he didn't deserve to die like this." Antea just continued to cry; Calvin just rubbed her back.
"There, there. It's okay." He said trying his best to comfort her.
"When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Mary comes to me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be." He sang softly.
"Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be.
There will be an answer, let it be." Antea then turned around and faced him, her eyes red from crying.
"That's a nice song." She said.
"Thanks." Calvin said. "Whenever I was upset and needed comfort, Mom or Rumiko would come into my room, sit down on my bed beside me, and sing that very song."
"Who's it by?" Antea asked.
"I don't know. Some archaic rock band Mom used to listen to." Calvin said. "You wanna come downstairs now?"
"Yeah, I guess." Antea said as they both went down to the main floor.
A while later, everyone gathered outside in the backyard as the funeral proceedings were about to begin. Everyone was seated around the closed casket which was to be placed in the ground. Around it were wreaths of flowers and other tributes placed beside it. The priest then went up and began speaking.
"Dearly beloved," He said. "We are gathered here today to remember and honor Mr. Jeremie Belpois, whose life was tragically cut short by a fatal gun wound."
As he continued speaking, Antea began crying some more. Calvin went up and placed a hand around her shoulder. However Antea just moved away from him, as if she was resisting his attempts to solace her; Calvin decided to question this later. After an hour or so, everyone gave their tributes and headed out. Calvin then met with Sam and Dennis, who had shown up as well. Just then, Aelita showed up.
"Hey Calvin?" She said. Calvin turned around and noticed she was holding the white binder. "Jeremie told me to give this to you. Hopefully this will help you with what you're doing." Calvin then took the binder and Aelita walked away.
"Alright guys." Calvin said to everyone. "Right here is where we'll find what XANA's been planning all these months."
"Great." Dennis said. "I've also done some fixing up with the scanners so our next, and last, mission should be shortly."
"How long?" Sam asked.
"I estimate around a month." Dennis said. "At least sometime before…"
"Leave me out of this!" Antea blurted out as she walked away leaving everyone speechless.
"Antea, wait!" Calvin said running after her. "Antea, what's wrong?"
"I refuse to take part in Lyoko any longer!" She said. "I already lost my father because of this."
"That was not your fault, Antea." Calvin said.
"I know it wasn't."
"Then why are you angry?" Calvin asked. "Talk to me and I can help you."
"You can't help me." Antea said.
"Yes I can. That's why I'm here." Calvin said. "So please…"
"Listen to me!" She shouted turning around to face him. "You can't help me with my problem because you are my problem!"
"What?" Calvin said. "Antea, I…"
"If you hadn't shown up and dragged me into this mess, XANA wouldn't have noticed me and my father would still be alive!" She shouted. "Think about it, Calvin! How many more of your friends lives are you willing to risk? Next, it could be me, I can't risk that!" She then just walked away, leaving Calvin speechless.
"Okay, now you're just being stubborn!" Calvin shouted. "In case you've forgotten, I DIDN'T WANT ANY OF THIS TO HAPPEN EITHER!" Dennis just went up to him and placed a hand on him.
"Forget it, man." He said. "She just needs some time to herself." Calvin didn't say anything; he just swatted his hand away and ran off. Nobody else said anything.
Yeah, definitely one of my shorter chapters, but I really couldn't think of anything else.
Please Review.