Book 2: Autumn

Episode 1: Aftershock

28th of Ferventis

The leaves had turned from fading shades of greens to yellows and oranges, though the red and brown leaves had not yet arrived. To keep warm as Lyoko grew colder, the Heroes had layered their clothes. However, no amount of layering could protect them from the cold atmosphere that had spawned around them.

After Aelita had been sent away, the teenagers had fallen into subgroups that took a different stance on her exile. Jeremie, Laura and William were for it, as they knew the dangers a blood magician posed. Ulrich was firmly against it, to the point that he'd spent hours trying to find her, as he knew Aelita would never hurt them. Yumi and Odd were being torn apart, for they were undecided on the issue. On one hand, Aelita was their friend and had shown no animosity towards them, but on the other, she had made a deal with a demon, and there was no telling if she would do it again.

This left the group in an awkward position. All of them, spare Ulrich and William to an extent, walked on eggshells, knowing that one false move would cause the group to shatter. Laura had stopped advising Ulrich about his health, since he would snap at her every time. Yumi and Odd refused to speak of Aelita at all, and for the sake of unity were forced to pretend she hadn't existed in front of the others. Ulrich had stopped speaking to Jeremie altogether—he no longer even turned to Odd or Yumi to pass messages as he had in the beginning, nor did Jeremie offer reconciliation by checking in on Aelita.

Not that he could have anyway. Aelita had found a way—the Wise Man wasn't sure how—to block him from her mind. Evidently, she did not want to be found, wherever she had gone. Wherever she was though, she wasn't far away—she'd arrived one night and collected some of her things, and she had put leaves in the fire, making the camp smell like the branches of a vhenadahl.

On this morning, Jeremie had found three violet hyacinths on his chest. These flowers were commonly used when asking for forgiveness and he held them delicately in his hands, thumbing the purple petals. Was Aelita asking for forgiveness from him? He tried to contact her telepathically, and he managed to get a glimpse of the opening of a cave, probably carved into the side of a cliff. However, she pushed him out of her head almost instantly. He sighed and studied the hyacinths, pulled back to reality only by his fiancée grabbing his shoulder.

"What have you got there?" She asked as she took the flowers from his hands, which he protested slightly before placing his hands back in his lap. "Have you done something that you intend to apologize for?" Laura asked, her tone suggestive, but Jeremie didn't pick up on it.

"No, I think Aelita brought them to me in the night." Jeremie said quietly so as to not attract the attention of the other Heroes.

Laura tightened her grip on the flower stems. "How does she keep getting back to camp?" She asked angrily, "we should double our sentries."

Jeremie shook his head. "I don't think she's doing this to hurt us, Laura. She just wants to be close. Besides, she shapeshifts; she'd just take an animal form and sneak past them."

Laura sighed. "I suppose you're right. Still, we should make it clear that she isn't welcome here." She tossed the hyacinths into the flame, which Jeremie considered protesting, though ultimately he decided not to. Instead he watched them burn, the orange flame curling the lovely violet petals before consuming them, leaving nothing but ashes and smoke.

Half an hour later, William doused the fire while Yumi and Ulrich packed up the aravel. The group pressed forward. Jeremie walked by Laura's side, though his eyes were focused on the northern horizon, where he could see the mists rolling in from the cliffs. William marched behind them, his eyes scanning the trees for threats. Ulrich walked on the other side of the aravel, his hands twitching near his katanna. Yumi and Odd were at the very back, and the Colonist sighed in frustration. "This has gone on for long enough." She said firmly.

Odd shrugged. "I agree, but what can we do? Even if Aelita's return would force them to make up, we don't know where she is."

Yumi shook her head. "I don't know." She looked back up at the road, and she whispered, "I have a feeling, though, that she will return when the time is right."

"We can only hope."

It was late, though Jeremie insisted that they keep moving, since the map showed a town nearby. Odd tried to convince Jeremie that stopping in that town would cause misery, but Jeremie stood firm, saying that even a town filled with wicked people deserved to be warned about Xana's advances. So they kept moving, trudging onwards through the steadily darkening forest.

The sun was beginning to set behind the far-off mountains, and Odd was preparing to go "hunting"; the full moon was rising again. However, he stopped when he heard footsteps. Their steps sounded like magistrates, though they were a larger group—magistrates tended not to run in groups of more than three or four, yet Odd counted six distinct footsteps. "Magistrates headed our way."

Ulrich glared at Jeremie, William and Laura. "If any of you mention Aelita, I swear that I will cut you down where you stand."

The magistrates arrived minutes later, obviously impatient. The leader examined the faces of the teens, and he ordered his men to attack. The group did their best to fight them off, and Ulrich even managed to kill one of them, but they'd been taken by surprise, and it wasn't long before the magistrates had tied them up and forced them to their knees. "What is the meaning of this? I demand an explanation!"

The magistrate shook his head. "We got word from one of our sister outposts that the Veil was torn open by a witch, and that they found dead guards on the road with obvious signs of victimization at the hands of blood magic." He crossed his arms. "They did a bit of investigating, and they found traces of your camp nearby. After you crossed out of their district, we took over and tracked you here. Which one of you is the witch?"

Jeremie seemed confused. "Yes, we were in that area, but those weren't guards, and she… the witch is gone." He admitted.

The magistrate shook his head. "Lies, all lies!" He declared. He paced back forth as he elaborated. "Do you think the magistrates would be so clumsy as to mistake someone for a guard? And they found no evidence that the witch left your company!" He stopped pacing and bent to look Jeremie in the eyes. "Now, you know what they did find? An old tome written by witches to increase the abilities of those who prey on mortals. Now, why would a group of teenagers need that kind of book unless they are harboring a blood magician?"

Laura spoke now. "You don't know who you're dealing with! I am princess of Lyoko! I will not tolerate my friends and I being treated this way!"

The magistrate looked at her. "Perhaps, then, you should be worried about keeping a hold on your kingdom and not on protecting a witch."

She narrowed her eyes. "What have you heard?"

"There have been problems in the province of Replika ever since the Great Colony War, though your father has always managed to keep control of it." One of the other magistrates explained. "However, there have been reports of… unrest in the east since the drow attacked. The elves there have grown bolder, and unhappy revolutionists have driven the soldiers and the magistrates out of Cortex. It won't be long before all of Replika is involved in the Revolution."

Laura was surprised that the revolutionists of Replika had chosen now as the time to revolt, but she couldn't say she was surprised that they'd done it. Replika was never really under Lyoko's control, though they did abide by Lyoko's laws whether they liked it or not. She feared what would happen if the rebels aligned themselves with the drow.

William had a different concern. "How did you know about the dark elves?" He asked. "Did the magistrates tell you about them?"

"Yes and no," The helpful magistrate explained. "We've felt a disturbance in the Veil for a while now, though we hardly thought anything of it. The Veil in this district is notoriously thin anyway. However, the disturbances were getting stronger and more frequent, so we knew something was awake. Our brothers did tell us about Xana, though."

The leader stared at him. "If you're done flapping your lips, we have a job to do." He turned his attention to the Heroes. "If you won't tell us which one of you is the witch that murdered the guards, then we will do this the hard way. We'll keep you here all night if we have to, and for every hour that passes, we will kill one of you. Eventually, you will tell us, or you'll all be dead. Seems fair enough, no?" He laughed as the sun made him appear to glow. It had almost hidden completely behind the mountains. Yumi looked nervously to Odd, who was tied up beside her.

He trembled as the moon began to call to him. The hair on his arms was growing thicker at an alarming rate, and she could only hope that the magistrates wouldn't notice. Even if they didn't, eventually the moon would change his form entirely, and the magistrates would kill them all for hiding a werewolf from them.

For fifteen minutes, the teens sat in silence as Jeremie tried in vain to convince them that the blood magician was gone. He tried to convince them that the "guards" were bandits, though the magistrate simply called him a fool for trying to trick him. Odd hung his head, trying to hide his increasingly obvious transformation—or, at least it was obvious to Yumi. She bit her lip. Either they would all be killed by the magistrates for keeping secrets, or someone would have to agree to go with them to save the others. "It's me!" Yumi shouted, trying her best to make it sound like the pressure had broken her. "I'm the witch! I killed the guards! Take me away, but don't hurt the others!"

"Yumi, don't! Have you gone mad?" Ulrich shouted, shocked. She looked at him and nodded.

She turned her attention back to the magistrate. "I will go with you. Please, leave them be."

"Smart girl. Come on, now. You're coming with us." The leader of the magistrates grabbed Yumi's bound hands and forced her away from camp. "Leave the others. No doubt they'll want revenge for us stealing away their damager."

The magistrates left the camp while the teenagers struggled against their bindings. Odd, however, seemed more preoccupied by the moon. He struggled to hold back the wolf-blood, though soon it overpowered him and he howled, his eyes turning orange and fierce. His body shifted, his clothes ripped and his arms were freed from his bonds. He stood up and freed his friends. In a low, menacing growl, he spoke, "We must rescue Yumi. We've entered into Knight Templar Thomas Vincent's district, and he does not tolerate blood magicians, especially those without roots in Lyoko."

Jeremie stood, amazed. "You can speak in werewolf form? You never could before."

"This may be a side effect of being exposed to the Codex. It doesn't matter; we're wasting time." Odd growled, and the Heroes nodded. They'd wasted ten minutes after Yumi had been taken by the magistrates—certainly they had to catch up before the magistrates reached their outpost.

Yumi heard Odd's quickened pace, and she turned to look in his direction, though the magistrate forced her to turn her head around. The werewolf howled when he caught their scent, and it was only then that the corrupt magistrates bothered to turn around. "Werewolf! Werewolf! Prepare the silver!" The leader shouted, and the magistrates sheathed their steel swords in favor of silver weapons. "You there! Keep going! Don't let the witch get away!"

The magistrate nodded, and he dragged Yumi off towards the outpost, even though everyone knew that they weren't close. Behind him he could vaguely hear the others get into a blocking formation over the sounds of Yumi struggling to break free of his grasp. She dug her feet into the ground, stumbling herself and forcing her captor to stop and yank her up.

Odd appeared and pounced on the smallest of the magistrates, tearing out his throat before the man could even try to attack. The other magistrates swarmed him, striking with their silver weapons. Odd roared in pain as the silver tainted weapons left horrible looking burn marks across his skin then turned and slapped them aside with his great arm. As the disoriented magistrates struggled to rise in their steel plate armor Odd turned and roared in the face of the leader. Undaunted, the leader sliced at Odd's snout, causing the blood vessels in one eye to burst and creating a burning scar near his mouth.

"Run! Get the others!" Yumi shouted at the werewolf, as she continued struggling against her captor, knowing that by doing this she could very well doom him.

He looked at her. "They are coming!" He roared just before ripping out the throat of a nearby magistrate. He tackled the obviously dead man and ripped at his chest, throwing pieces of flesh over his shoulders.

Yumi cringed, both at his twisted voice and at his display. An owl landed on her hands and started ripping at the rope. She struggled to get her head to an angle where she could see it, but all she could tell was that it looked like a barn owl, elegant with white-gold feathers. It looked at her through wise, green eyes. "Aelita?" She whispered, and the owl cooed. The magistrate, pulled from his shocked stare at the werewolf ripping his comrades to bloody shreds, roughly shooed the owl away. 'Too late,' Yumi thought towards her captor as she tested her bindings and felt that the ropes had been weakened. The others appeared and joined the fight, with Ulrich and William fighting the leader.

Yumi spun and struck the magistrate binding her, though her success was only enough to guarantee her freedom. She reached for the mask that now rested at her side, but the magistrate caught her hands. While they struggled against one another, the leader of the magistrates shouted, "Don't bother bringing her to the outpost! Get rid of her. NOW!"

With a mighty shove the magistrate threw Yumi to the ground and unsheathed his sword. Yumi scrambled backwards as he advanced until she could pull herself into a standing position. Her opponent lunged forward and she twirled out of the way. Using her momentum she continued spinning, grabbing the Magistrate's armor and pushing him forward as she moved behind him. Her telekinesis ripped the sword away from her attacker before a strong punch from a steel gauntlet ripped away her focus.

Coughing, she forced herself to fall back, but in the wrong direction. The magistrate advanced, his plate armor rendering Yumi's attacks fruitless as he pushed her to the edge of the cliff. Ulrich spotted this and sprinted her way. "No!" He shouted as the magistrate pushed Yumi over the side of the cliff, and she screamed. Ulrich drove his katanna through the magistrate's neck, and he looked over the cliff. "YUMI!" He shouted. An owl swooped over his head, and it changed form, but it happened too quickly for Ulrich to identify the person. He had a guess, though.

The person grabbed Yumi, and a boulder came flying from the cliff on the opposite side of the divide. There was spinning, and the boulder struck the shapeshifter, sending them both into the cliff, where they vanished from sight. Ulrich could only imagine they'd been forced into a cave. He sighed, relieved, then looked up at the other Heroes, who had finished off the magistrates, and smiled at them. "She's alright!" Ulrich informed them, causing the group to release a collective sigh.

The Heroes joined Ulrich by the side of the cliff, and Jeremie noted aloud that he'd seen the place before. Yumi peered warily out of the cave. "Down here, hurry! Send Laura!" She shouted up at them.

Laura peered over the edge and sighed. "I hope you don't expect me to climb down there! I'm no good at rock climbing!" Odd instead hung over the side of the cliff, almost monkey-like in his posture, and he offered a strong, clawed hand to the Fair. "Oh, for the love of Minerva." She muttered as she took Odd's hand. The werewolf swung her carefully, and threw her into the cave.

Yumi helped her into the cave, and near the back, she saw a figure. "She needs your help, Laura. I think she may be dying." Yumi said gravely, and Laura rushed to the figure's side.

She glared at Yumi when she recognized the face. "What is the meaning of this?"

The Colonist narrowed her eyes. "Aelita is our friend, and a Hero! She saved my life, and I think she's due the same courtesy!"

Laura huffed, admitting defeat. She studied the Outcast's body. She'd changed her robes, going from her short clothes to a dress with slits up the side, and chainmail beneath. Attached to mithril hoops on her shoulders was a ratty old brown cloak, and hanging from her side was a dirty white sheet, obviously serving as a carrying case for her things. Aelita's face was covered in tiny scars, like she'd been in a fight with a small animal. Perhaps she had been; the Fair had no way of knowing. Her ribs were dented strangely. "I can heal the scars on her face, though I am reluctant to; they aren't life threatening. However, I believe her ribs may be broken, which could prove harmful if left unchecked." She sighed. "I can set them for now, but I'm a priest, not a doctor. I can't heal broken bones. Only time can do that."

Yumi pressed her hands together. "There must be something we can do! She'll die if we do nothing!" She looked at her hands, her eyes filled with worry. "Gods, I don't know what I'll do if she dies because of me!"

Laura thought for a while. "Maybe we can do something. It's risky, and it may cause some more damage, but it may also save her." She tried to sound helpful, but Yumi noted the bitterness behind her voice. She explained her plan—the two of them would carry Aelita to the edge of the cliff, and then Jeremie would use his telepathy to strengthen Yumi's telekinesis. Then, Odd, since he was the strongest due to his current form, would carry Aelita to the aravel, where they would take her to the next town they came to.

Yumi agreed, and though Aelita put up a fight when Laura touched her, she obviously knew that her life was on the line. The human girls carried the Outcast to the edge of the cliff, where Jeremie and Yumi collectively helped her to the top. Odd passed her off to Ulrich, since William refused to touch her, and then the werewolf helped the human girls back up.

The Heroes returned to the aravel. Aelita was silent, probably due to her pain. She made one small gesture, however—she waved Jeremie closer to her, and presented him with another violet hyacinth. He took it, and she smiled at him, though his face did not change. Sensing the tension had not dissolved yet, Aelita frowned and averted her eyes.

Odd placed Aelita on one of the cots inside of the aravel, and the group tried to calm Rorkal, still shaken by Odd's transformation. "We must turn back. There's a town about a day back." Ulrich said firmly.

"We can't go back! The magistrates want us there! Don't you think that they've got others looking for us?" Jeremie disagreed, a poor start to the first conversation they'd had in days. "The best we can do is move forward and hope the news hasn't reached them!" The animosity between them was almost visible, and Jeremie sighed. "Listen, I wouldn't normally suggest going there, due to our current company and since I sent William to deliver a message so we could avoid it, but if we hurry, we can reach Falcon's Bridge by morning."

Ulrich narrowed his eyes, but he nodded. "Very well. I'm going to watch over Aelita; I don't want her condition to get any worse."

He stormed into the aravel, and he jerked as it began to move. "I missed the sound of the creaking aravel." Aelita murmured, and Ulrich approached her.

"We missed you. Well, most of us." Ulrich sat down next to her. That was the same spot Jeremie had sat in when Dhaune had lied in their aravel, but this time was different. This was Aelita, not the heartless she-bitch who'd hurt Yumi. This was the gentle Kitten that Jeremie had barked at and driven away. "You saved Yumi's life, Aelita. You should be proud, not moping." He teased her.

She looked up at the ceiling of the aravel, and then out the window. She tried to sit up, as if to open it, but Ulrich gently pushed her down and opened it for her. "I saved Jeremie's life, too, on that day, but I am no more proud of that than I am of this or anything in my life." She sighed. "Everyone I care for thinks that I'm a monster."

"You aren't a monster, Kitten. You're my sister." Ulrich said with a smile. She smiled back weakly, though it vanished quickly. "We're taking you to Falcon's Bridge. With any luck, the doctors there—"

"No!" Aelita shouted suddenly, jerking up and startling the Mercenary. "We cannot go to Falcon's Bridge! I cannot go to Falcon's Bridge!"

"What's wrong? Why can't you go to Falcon's Bridge?"

She rolled her head so she wasn't looking at him, as if this would hide her shame. "If we go to Falcon's Bridge, you won't like me anymore."

Ulrich laughed. "Oh, Kitten. That could never happen. Besides, I'd rather see you alive." He smiled. "Maybe you should get some rest. I'll watch over you, and I won't let any harm come to you."

"If only words could make it so, lethallin."

29th of Ferventis

The Heroes reached Falcon's Bridge just as the early morning rabble began. They were stopped at the beginning of the bridge that led into town. It was built to resemble a falcon, hence the name of the town. Their adversary, a dwarf in iron armor carrying a battleax stood at the bridge before them. He had short brown hair and scruff on his chin, as well as a bandage wrapped under his eye and around his head. "Veata, travelers. My name is Jim Morales, and I'm captain of the guard here. Do you have any wilders with you, or is this aravel looted from dead ones?"

Yumi spoke. "Are wilders not allowed into Falcon's Bridge?" She asked.

"For the most part, no. Not since that episode five years ago, but I'd rather not talk about it." He crossed his arms. "However, the mayor leaves it to me to decide who gets into town or not. If you have wilders with you, I will decide if they can enter."

"We are travelling with a wilder, but she is injured and in need of a doctor." Odd explained. "She's inside of the aravel."

Jim and Jeremie entered the aravel, where Ulrich looked up at them. Aelita was asleep on the cot, though every now and then her breathing appeared pained. "By the gods! Is that…?" Jim rushed to Aelita's side. He examined her, and he exclaimed, "It is! That's Maya Tyron!"

Jeremie furrowed his brows. "What? No, that's Aelita Stone-Hopper. She's a wilder. Maya Tyron is a human name."

Jim glared at him." Maya Tyron was a close friend of my great-nephew, Murray. I saw her almost every day since her parents came back from their trip to Replika, though admittedly it has been five years since I last saw her. Regardless, how many elves do you know with pink hair?"

Ulrich looked at Jeremie. "Aelita did say that she didn't want to come here, and that I wouldn't like her anymore if we did."

Jim looked at Ulrich. "Her parents, Eleanor and Lowel Tyron, still live here with their other daughter, Milly. I'm sure they'll be very excited to see her again."

Jim escorted the Heroes into town and to an apartment building, despite Ulrich and Yumi's protests that they bring her first to a doctor. He pointed them to the third floor, and consoled Ulrich and Yumi that Lowel was a doctor and could help her. Unsure of what they would find when they reached the apartment they were headed for, the teenagers nervously climbed the stairs. Jeremie knocked on the door, and a human woman, probably in her late thirties, with long strawberry red hair answered. At first she seemed happy to receive visitors, but when she looked at Aelita, she covered her eyes. "Oh, for the love of Juno, please tell me that skinny, tanned thing with messy hair and ears exposed is not my daughter."