Episode 12: Carthage

12th of Pluitanis

Emily looked out over the ocean as Carthage grew ever closer. It had been a year since she'd set foot on that island, and the last time it had only been for a week to sell off a plundered shipment of blackpowder from a Zhonghuo. Blackpowder was this explosive dust that many alchemists used to create explosive grenades and poisons. Some suspicious-looking elf had bought a whole crate of it. Emily heard later that they used it to blow up an entire street. It wasn't her concern what they did with the stuff.

She turned in time to watch the black flag being exchanged for the one that showed the ship was loyal to Lyoko. Pirates, obviously, were not permitted to dock in the cities where slavery was illegal, so they disguised the Skidbladnir every time they docked there. The pirate queen returned her attention to the horizon, and she closed her eyes as the salt spray hit her face. This was her favorite part of sailing—the journey. And she hoped to enjoy it down to the last second.

As they drew closer, the teenagers she had accepted onto her ship gathered on the deck. She looked at them and wondered if it had been worth it to take them on. She wondered if they would sell her out to the guard. As Christophe approached, he noticed her skeptical expression and smiled. "Don't worry. They're much happier to be here than they are eager to burn bridges."

Emily turned back to the sea. "Hasn't stopped them before."

Christophe chuckled, and he leaned against the railing. Carthage was a beautiful city in his opinion, not like the dilapidated walls in the Uncharted South. He didn't understand why the pale-skinned humans didn't explore further, though he had to admit, their architecture was far more advanced. Most of the cities were constructed from mud and straw, though many were still nomadic and lived in tents. He remembered his own home city of Ngemby, and compared it to Carthage.

Carthage was four times to size of Ngemby, making the island city roughly twice the size of Cortex. The walls of the city were dark blue, while the buildings that lay within were made of stone as white as the driven snow. In the center of it all was a dome, much like the black dome of Cortex, though this one shone with bright blue light, as if it were a beacon in the darkness. Christophe muttered to his captain that he'd heard a story that every time a person entered the island city, the paths within changed. "That's rubbish!" Emily dismissed incredulously.

The quartermaster had no time to retort before Heïdi screeched, pointing to the sky. The mortals on deck all looked up, and more than half screamed as a dragon swooped overhead, roaring. Christophe held the railing for support as he shouted, "Talos save us! It's a dragon!"

"Not just a dragon! It's a wyvern lich!" Jeremie shouted back. Indeed it was a wyvern, a type of dragon where its front paws served as wings as well, like those of bats. It was also undead, its facial scales having decayed to show the muscles and bone beneath. There were holes on its ribcage, showing bone and guts where its rusty scales should've been. The only remaining testament to its beauty was its gorgeous golden horns.

Emily shouted for her crew to prepare for a fight, but the dragon simply roared again and flew off. After being assured the dragon had no intention of attacking the ship, they tried to calm themselves down, though all of them wore the expression of having just seen a dragon.

The Skidbladnir sailed into port about an hour later, and there on the docks waiting for them were the families that they had left behind so many months ago. They had sent letters to them the day before, warning them of their imminent arrival. Michael Belpois, Akiko and Takeho Ishiyama, Robert and Marguerite Della-Robbia, James and Shriuque Dendar, and Aren and Mari Stern stood anxiously on the docks, the couples holding hands tightly whilst Michael paced up and down the wooden planks.

The teenagers shouted at their parents, though Aelita and Laura stood behind them, having no one to greet them. When Laura spotted the Dunbar family, however, she knew the responsibility of reporting their son's condition would fall to her.

Odd was the first one off of the boat, and his parents sprinted forward to hug him. Marguerite almost cried as she held her youngest child and only son, stroking his hair lovingly as Robert hugged his wife and son. Michael met Jeremie halfway, holding his son as he wept into his blond hair, whispering into it that until he received Jeremie's letters, he'd thought that he'd died.

Akiko was so relieved to see Yumi again. She'd lost both of her children to the gods-forsaken war, and to see one of her children alive brought her great relief. Unlike Takeho, she could see nothing wrong with Yumi and associated her cold skin to spending too much time on the open sea and not enough time indoors. But Yumi's father was suspicious, and while he was glad to see his daughter, he thought something was strange about her. Yumi looked away from him, but smiled when her father took her shoulder in his hand.

Aren and Mari embraced Ulrich, and despite their differences, Ulrich was glad to see them. His father commented proudly how he seemed to have grown into a fine warrior, and Mari smoothed his hair and coat with a soft, warm hand.

As Laura walked off of the boat, James and Shriuque ran towards her. James smiled and held her shoulders, and sadly, the princess smiled back. Shriuque pushed her dark green hair away from her face. "William isn't with you?" She asked weakly.

Laura looked to her feet. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Dendar. William was kidnapped and brainwashed by Xana Kenval." She admitted quietly.

Shriuque's yellow eyes filled with tears, and she collapsed to the dock. James held her, and Laura covered her face. She held her arms, rubbing them as if they were cold before bending her head to pull her hood over it.

The teenagers caught up with their families as the crew of the Skidbladnir helped unload the cargo. Aelita accepted Rorkal and the aravel from the pirates, stroking the horse's snout lovingly. Then she looked inside, making sure that the Eluvian was within. She came to the rather alarming conclusion that she didn't know where to store the aravel, and a flicker of hope rose in her mind that perhaps a wooded area was nearby. Though admittedly, it seemed like the city covered the entire island. So much, she thought, for sleeping outside.

Jeremie would likely allow her to stay in his family home, though she wondered about many things should that be the case. Would he expect her to sleep with him? What would his father say if he found out? What if she had second thoughts, or what if she had a nightmare, or what if he expected to wake next to her, even though she wasn't ready for such a thing…?

Yumi looked up at her, distracted long enough to notice the worried expression on her face. "Aelita, if you want, you could always stay with us. We've even got a stable where Rorkal can be with other horses. Right, Mom?" She said, looking lovingly at her mother. Akiko and Takeho didn't seem to like the idea of an elf staying in their home who wasn't a servant, but they missed their daughter too much to argue.

Aelita smiled, consciously thinking not to look at Jeremie. She loved him, but avoiding his family seemed to be the best course of action at the moment. "That would be very kind of you, lethallan." She accepted gratuitously.

Jeremie smiled that Aelita was finally starting to open up again, though of course he felt bad that he hadn't offered to house her first. Odd opened his mouth to say something, and the Wise Man immediately said, "Odd, if you intend to say something dirty, close your mouth right now or I will push you into the pier." Odd sighed and closed his mouth.

There came a loud fanfare, and a group of eight soldiers in the Lyoko military approached. A lieutenant approached Laura and explained that, due to recent events, her father was worried that an attack on his life would be made should he greet her himself, so in his stead, he sent soldiers to escort her to the castle safely. "Oh, okay. I… guess I'll see you all later, then." Laura said, waving goodbye as she entered her typical position between her guards. The lieutenant closed off the box, obscuring her from sight.

Yumi and Aelita sat in the gardens near the Ishiyama estate. Their backs were facing each other as Yumi braced herself. She took Aelita's dagger and cut open her stomach so the solid contents could spill into the hole the two girls had dug. One of the negative side effects of being a vampire was her inability to digest solid food, but she couldn't avoid eating or her parents would be suspicious. The fish prepared for them that night had tasted wonderful but it made her stomach ache and caused her great pain when she moved. The disgust of seeing her food again was lessened as her feelings of sickness faded.

Yumi limped to Aelita, who nonchalantly offered her wrist for feeding. Unlike the others, it didn't seem to bother the Outcast except at the very end, when the Colonist removed her fangs. "This city is so big and confusing! Have you been here in the past?" Aelita asked, moving closer to the koi pond. Yumi smiled as the elf kicked up some of the water, but looked sadly at her hands when she spotted the fish.

"Only once. My dad was here on business or something and he brought us along. I was really little, and Hiroki…" Her voice trailed off for a moment. "…Hiroki was just a baby."

Aelita decided to change the subject before her past upset her more. "I can't imagine living here all of the time. I… can't imagine living in any city but this one least of all." She said.

"I guess you just get used to it." Yumi shrugged. "Gods, look at all of the stars."

Aelita looked up. The sky was littered with sparkling silver dots, each twinkling speck a sign of hope and a promise of destiny. "I'm surprised you can see so many of them here. The lights never seem to go out in Carthage."

"I suppose you're right. I mean, in Capital Lyoko, every night you could only see a handful of stars. But here… it's like we're still on the road, or out on the ocean." She said, lying down on the bench beneath the sleeping sour cherry tree. "That's the part I like most. Just looking up at the stars on cold nights, when the moon has that silvery halo… it is magic."

Aelita lay down as well, remembering the night as Heartwood with Jeremie. The ancient stories were true, and she'd found her love. And yet, as her face darkened like a new moon, she wondered why she felt she could not stay with him. He loved her so much, and no matter what he'd never try to hurt her, and yet every time they were together at night, she was never there when he woke.

She sat up. "I'm tired. I'm going to bed. Good night, Yumi." She said brusquely. Yumi sat up a bit, calling 'good night' after her. She tilted her head, her orange eyes glowing in the night. She then looked to the koi pond, catching sight of a grey koi with white markings on one side of its face. Angrily, she snatched it out of the water, her fingers digging into its scales. As the koi squirmed, Yumi's fury faded, and gently she released it back into the pond. Its blood left a trail wherever it went.

Unable to sleep, Jeremie lit a candle and slid his spectacles up his nose. He carried the flame in through the apartment. Michael had said they'd owned it for years, and barely, Jeremie remembered being inside with his mother. As he thought of this, he caught sight of a painting of his mother and father before he was born, likely right after their marriage. The inscription read, 'MICHAEL AND JEANNE BELPOIS'. Jeanne. Jeremie had almost forgotten his own mother's name. Jeanne Belpois.

He noticed two other things about the painting. One, both his mother and his father wore amulets like the one found on the corpse in the werewolf's den that summer and both also had tattoos that depicted the sun and twin crescent moons, just like the graphic that decorated his book bag. It explained why his father always wore high-necked shirts, and why he could never remember seeing his mother's wrists. What could the symbol mean, he wondered. The second thing he noticed was that the painting had been done by Robert Della-Robbia. If Michael and Jeanne had known Odd's family, why had Jeremie only met Odd at the ball before the drow attacked? They might have had a falling out, but if they had, why had they kept the portrait? Why had Michael never mentioned Robert or Marguerite?