13: All Hallows' Eve - Day

Memories.

Retained recollections that define oneself. The catalyst in writing effective tests and examinations. Mental proof of the amazing world we live in. The thing that everyone takes with them through the journey of life, until the very end.

A scattered memory like a far-off dream. A far-off dream like a scattered memory.

No one can be considered complete without them. And some will go to any lengths to recapture their lost memories, to line up the fragmented pieces. After all, it's one thing to forget about the past. It's a completely different matter when someone – or something – takes it away from you.

AELITA

Aelita opened her eyes and saw a younger version of herself sitting in the living room of the Hermitage, constructing a LEGO house for Mr. Puck.

"And this is where you'll be sleeping," she said happily to the doll sitting next to her as she finished the interior furnishings of the master bedroom. She then heard the front door open and close and looked up.

She saw her father come in and rush upstairs without a word. Several minutes later, he came into the living room. Although his opaque spectacles prevented her from reading his facial expression, Aelita could sense that something was out of place.

Something was wrong.

"Aelita, we have to go. Now," her father said urgently. The girl looked longingly at her partially completed residential complex, but got up obediently.

"Where are we going?"

"…Somewhere safe," was Franz Hopper's curt reply. He strode over to the closet and took out her pink windbreaker.

"Where's mommy?"

Dr. Hopper opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. He jiggled his glasses.

"She's…still at work. But she'll meet up with us when she's done." He helped Aelita into her coat, his hands trembling slightly.

"Why don't you bring Mr. Puck along?"

Aelita broke into a smile, the tense atmosphere pushed back into the recesses of her mind. She reached for her doll and tucked him into her coat pocket. Taking her father's hand, the two headed for the back door of the Hermitage at a brisk pace; she struggled to keep up with her father's footsteps.

Everything then faded into grey static like a malfunctioning television screen, before a new scene came into focus.

Now both father and daughter were standing in front of a wooden shed. Franz Hopper unlocked the door and ushered his daughter in before entering himself and quietly closing the door behind him.

And then…darkness.

Aelita woke up with a gasp. She could feel the beads of sweat on her forehead. She sat up and placed a hand over her forehead while glancing over to her alarm clock.

It was almost five in the morning. The room was still dark, although Aelita could make out some of her surroundings, including her Halloween costume which was perched atop her sock drawer.

That dream…it felt so real. But she could not be certain; she could not recall what had happened before ending up on LYOKO. Aelita felt around her bed for Mr. Puck. She found it and held the doll closely to her chest. It was her sole remaining possession from her childhood.

Perhaps Bryan knew something about this. She made a mental note to ask him as she closed her eyes once more. Her curiosity turned into irritation – if only she had remained asleep for just a bit longer…

JEREMIE

There was nothing better to do on a Tuesday morning than to sit in front of a computer in the library and sift through a massive text file from the 1980's.

Of course, this was according to the biased opinion of Mr. Belpois. The only slight improvement to this current situation would be if he was sitting in front of the computer in his room. However, with Halloween on the horizon, his neighbours were just a tad bit too celebrative and noisy for him to concentrate.

In fact, Jeremie was so focused on reading each and every paragraph thoroughly that he did not notice that someone had crept up behind him.

"Boo!"

Jeremie leapt out of his seat completely bewildered, and tried his best not to scream. Some of the students nearby started laughing at his expense.

And people ask why I hate Halloween, it's almost as bad as April Fools' Day…he thought to himself as he turned around, ready to reprimand the masked irritant.

"What do you think you're–" Jeremie stopped in mid-sentence upon seeing who the perpetrator was. He thought he recognized the voice…

"Morning," Aelita replied cheerfully. She was no longer in her pink hoodie and maroon coveralls. Instead, she was wearing a blue shirt under a dark coat with bright pink flames and swirly patterns along with matching pants and boots. And strapped to her back was what looked like a giant key.

Aelita Stones
Dressed as: Keyblade master
Status: The main protagonist from CL:FL Season I!

"Aeli…wow," said Jeremie. It was all he could come up with.

Jeremie Belpois
Dressed as: n/a
Status: Annoyed to amused, all in less than five seconds.

"Do you like it?" she asked, twirling around so that Jeremie see her outfit from front to back.

He nodded, which made Aelita's smile grow wider. She was slightly more beautiful than usual – if that was even possible. Indeed, some of the other costumed students were stealing glances at her, checking her out. Although Aelita didn't seem to have noticed, this made Jeremie feel uneasy, like he should be protecting her.

"Hey, do you want to go meet up with the others?" he suggested abruptly.

"Sure. I was going to ask you the same thing. You weren't in your room, so I kind of had a feeling you'd be here reading…" Aelita peered over his shoulder.

"That's just the file we retrieved from LYOKO last week," said Jeremie, lowering his voice.

"Anything interesting come up?"

"Well, I didn't get to read it until now because I had to polish off that English essay. But from the abstract, it looks like a reference document, like a journal or something."

"Hmm…I guess it's a start. Maybe it'll tell us how to destroy XANA, or provide some information as to what's happened all these years."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Project CARTHAGE involved more than just three people right? There were others working on the operation. But…I don't know…it just seems that everything and everyone connected to it vanished without a trace."

Jeremie nodded. "I know what you mean. It's kind of spooky," he added, which made Aelita chuckle.

Nevertheless, Aelita had raised an interesting point – what had happened to those who had been working on Project CARTHAGE? When Jeremie first came across the factory, he was surprised that the complex was still in good condition; it was fully illuminated and none of the rooms were locked. If it really was a top-secret operation, surely at least the front door should have been securely fastened?

YUMI

You never ever ever make any crazy stupid bets with Odd Della Robbia after two in the morning.

Unfortunately, Yumi Ishiyama learned this the hard way. And as she made her way towards Kadic, she tried to appear calm and collected as usual. But inside her head, she was screaming curses at Odd and felt downright embarrassed.

"Yumi!"

It was Aelita, Jeremie and Ulrich.

"Oh…it really is you. Umm…nice costume," muttered Jeremie, who was quite surprised. A schoolgirl – albeit of the Japanese variety – was the last thing he expected Yumi to dress up as. She was in a seifuku consisting of a white blouse and blue tie, dark blue skirt and black stockings.

Yumi Ishiyama
Dressed as: Schoolgirl
Status: Wishing that this was all a dream. It wasn't.

On the other hand, Ulrich had suited up as Britain's most prominent triple-digit superspy. He took one look at Yumi and quickly turned his head down, suddenly appreciating how green the grass was.

Ulrich Stern
Dressed as: Bond. James Bond.
Status: Unarmed (school policy).

While he wanted to say that Yumi looked nice…even cute, such comment would surely earn him a kick to the groin. And besides, 007 would never make such a dumbfounded uncool statement like that. So instead:

"I take it you lost to one of Mr. Della Robbia's infamous bets, then?" said Ulrich with an accent that came off as more of a pompous high-pitched articulation. Yumi chortled at his attempt at a British accent that sounded more Scottish.

"Yeah, you might say that. At least he paid for all of this."

"Well, I think you look absolutely gorgeous," said Aelita with a grin.

Always count on Aelita to brighten your day; Yumi felt her insides loosen up. It was only fifteen more hours. Perhaps she can get through the day without losing face.

Bryan arrived next, and he looked like some sort of anime character. He was wearing his roller skates, which now featured bright streaks of paint, and also sported goggles around his neck. His blue hair was spikier and stuck out from a new cap that was full of many colourful pins.

Bryan Green
Dressed as: Sora Takeuchi (who?)
Status: Still Canadian.

"Nice," said Ulrich approvingly. Aelita smiled.

"Thanks. I was thinking of leaving out the skates, but I decided against it. It's not against school policy, is it?"

"Not that I know of. And you wouldn't be Sora without them," Yumi nodded.

"Who?"

"Skater in Air Gear."

"Manga, right?" Jeremie asked. Bryan nodded.

"Wait…we're missing someone."

"Oh, right. Wait 'til you see what Odd's dressed up as," said Ulrich.

"Can't be worse than last year…" Aelita sighed.

"Ah yes. The year Odd chose to dress up as Barney the Dinosaur."

"I mean, it wasn't all that bad, until he started singing and giving big hugs."

"Remember Heidi?"

Even Jeremie couldn't resist laughing. "That most certainly did not go as planned."

"Nothing like having ice poured down your neck."

"Then there were those first-years…"

"Who chased him around the school," added Yumi.

"It was quite amusing to see a purple dinosaur waddling away from children."

"Could've let it go on a bit longer before intervening of course."

"Yeah, but the several pictures we took were sufficient enough."

"Wait, that's him right?" Bryan pointed to the person on top of a bench, waving his arms at female onlookers.

Yumi took a quick glance before turning back to the group. "Well, nothing to see here. We should probably just go someplace el–" she stopped upon feeling a hand on her shoulder and found herself face to face with Odd, who flashed her a thumbs up and blew her a kiss. Her expression was livid.

Odd was in a black and white-striped outfit with black suspenders. His hands and face were chalk-white, with some rouge on his cheeks and a bowler hat on top.

Odd Della Robbia
Dressed as: Mr. Mime (not the Pokemon)
Status: Mum.

"You've…got to be kidding me," said Jeremie.

"Hey, at least there'll be no one to annoy us today," remarked Ulrich contentedly. Odd rolled his eyes and started making hand gestures.

Bryan nudged Aelita. "What's he trying to say?"

Aelita watched as Odd pointed to her then back to his mouth. "Uh…I think he's saying that we…taste good?"

Odd shook his head.

"You have a mouth-ache from not talking for fifteen minutes?" suggested Jeremie. Ulrich snickered.

Indeed, Team LYOKO was never adept in charades. Nor had they grasped the concept of visual communication as Odd shook his head again. He pointed to his belly.

"Okay…your stomach."

Odd nodded and opened his mouth while pointing to the school.

"You…threw up inside the school this morning? Was it in front of spectre-William?"

Odd formed a pistol with his hand and fired two rounds at Ulrich.

"Come to think of it. Have any of you guys eaten yet?" asked Yumi.

Everyone shook their heads.

"Alright then, that's settled. Odd, you can tell…er – act out what you're trying to say once we're there."

The mime-for-a-day could almost feel a large sweatdrop falling from the side of his head.

BRYAN

Halloween on a school day was by no means a festivity wasted.

Although it wasn't a statutory holiday, it did provide a temporary relapse for students. Most teachers would set aside time for fun activities, a little break from two months of hard work and intense pencil-to-paper coordination. In addition, Kadic's student council had put on quite a pleasant change in scenery, with walls laced with black and orange streamers and spider webs. The lights along some of the windowless hallways had been replaced with glowing jack-o-lanterns and tiny white ghosts were hanging down from the ceilings.

It was a day off in English class, as Mr. Hodgson put on The Nightmare Before Christmas. No one enjoyed it as much as Aelita, who apart from being a big fan of animated films, had previously encountered the mild-mannered Jack Skellington when she was playing Kingdom Hearts II with Odd.

At lunch, Team LYOKO went their separate ways after submitting their votes for the best costumes. Jeremie had decided that there was nothing better to do on a Tuesday lunch break than to sit in front of a computer in the school library and sift through a massive text file from the 1980's. Indeed, it was a pretty intriguing file. Ulrich and Yumi went to visit Kadic's Haunted House, which was essentially a wicked renovation of the music room. In addition, Odd was going to be one of the frightening exhibits. How he would scare anyone in a mime costume and being rendered speechless was a big mystery.

This left Aelita and Bryan. Both decided to opt out of joining the others in the haunted music room, citing that their tolerance of fear was exceptionally diminished.

The two had started taking walks across the campus during their free time. Occasionally, they were joined by the others and conversations would range from just about any topic. While LYOKO was seldom discussed, Aelita was always hopeful Bryan would reveal more about the supercomputer and Project CARTHAGE.

But today…

"Teach you how to skate?" the boy asked with an amused look as he fiddled with his pin-filled cap.

Aelita nodded shyly.

"You sure? It might be too much fun for you to handle," said Bryan as he circled around her.

The girl laughed. "Yes I'm–"

Bryan leapt up along the school wall and bent his knees before bouncing off the brick surface. And for a moment, he was up in the wind once more, propelled forward by the air around him. When he landed back on solid ground, Aelita made to grab the boy's arm to stop him from moving. The two stared at each other silently.

"I really do want to learn," she said softly, slowly loosening her grip.

"Then…I don't see why I can't…take on an apprentice to pass down my knowledge of the Wing Road," Bryan murmured.

Aelita raised her eyebrows, though a smile remained etched on her face. Always leave it up to Bryan to come up with a flamboyant way of saying something simple.

"The what road?"

"Never mind. Er, I guess…we can go this Friday to get your skates."

"Sounds good."

"And we'll start with the basic stuff."

"Sure."

"Like tying knots, proper maintenance, telling the difference between Flathead and Phillips screwdrivers and stuff like that."

"Uh…okay?"

Bryan chuckled at his friend's perplexed expression. "Just kidding. Don't worry; you'll be flying before you even know it."

Aelita felt her cheeks heat up. "Ye – yeah."

It was as if he knew why she wanted to take up skating in the first place.

To experience the sensation of flying. To feel free with the wind blowing through her hair. And to experience what it would feel like to be a bird – or even an angel.

Just like on LYOKO.

AELITA

"So, do you have any song requests for tonight?"

"Right…I kind of won't be going."

"You're not going either?" She had also been practicing for the dance during her SubDigitals rehearsals. And since Bryan had been taking her downtown every Friday, she would have really liked him to see – and hear – the fruits of her labour.

The boy shook his head. "I…I promised I'd go trick-or-treating with the kids, and this was before I knew about the dance. Sorry."

"It's alright. No need to apologize. What's this trick-or-treating anyways?"

"You've never heard of it?"

Now it was Aelita's turn to shake her head. "No. From the way it sounds, I don't really think children should be playing tricks on one another just to get treats. Is that what it is?"

Another custom to which she was not accustomed to, thought Bryan. "Huh? No, it's not like that. It's basically dressing up and going to people's houses and getting candy, chocolate and stuff like that."

"They get candy?" she asked interestedly.

"Yep. Though, I did see one guy giving out toothbrushes one year. Then again, it was the dentist's house… And some people go all out and decorate their houses, just like Christmas, except under a spooky motif. It's really fun."

"Really fun," muttered Aelita. Yet another missing childhood experience.

"Can I come with you?" she blurted out.

Bryan smiled. While pouting had absolutely no effect on him – or on Canadians in general – Aelita still looked quite adorable…

"Don't you have something important to do?"

"…Yes."

"And what are people going to do at the dance if there's no music to dance to? No offense to Odd or anything, but do we really want him taking over the sound tracks?"

Aelita laughed. Odd as DJ was the equivalent of Homer Simpson as President of the United States. Probably not a good idea.

"Not to mention all the hard work you've put into tonight's performance," Bryan continued.

"I…I guess you're right."

"I always am."

"Nope." Aelita shook her head, giggling.

"Fine. I may not always be right. But I'm never wrong."

She jabbed him on his left shoulder with her Keyblade.

"Hey, stop that. I need this arm to show off my awesome penmanship skills."

Bryan's straightforward reasoning only earned him another swipe.

"Fine, how about this, I promise to take you trick-or-treating next year. Given the right weather conditions, no full moon and little homework to do on that day."

"I'd – I'd like that."

"And if you be a…good girl…meaning no more hitting, I'll bring back some candy for you."

Aelita's eyes widened. "Really?"

Bryan nodded. "I've gotten everyone else's orders. Caramilk for Ulrich, Skittles for Yumi, Oh Henry! for Odd – at least, that's what I think he was trying to draw – and Wine Gums for Jeremie. How about you?"

"Oh…anything would be fine. But if you can get any…Starbursts and Jolly Ranchers?"

"Sure. No problem."

"Thank you Bryan."

"You're welcome," the boy replied as the bells rang to signal the end of their break, with Aelita forgetting to tell Bryan about the dream she had last night.

ULRICH

As usual, Sissi Delmas had asked Ulrich Stern to be her companion for a school event. And as usual, she was rejected by him. This time, from his ideology that couples were not feasible for a Halloween dance. Of course, Ulrich had no intention of going out with Sissi either way.

At least he was faring better than Yumi, who was telling him about her day while they were waiting in line to see the haunted house.

"Honestly, every time I walk into the classroom before the teacher arrives, the guys all start whistling and staring. It's getting awfully annoying."

"So you're going to break the bet?" asked Ulrich.

Yumi shook her head; she never backed out of anything. "No, but I may have to break a couple of jaws," she said threateningly.

"They're just jealous of you. And I'm pretty sure their girlfriends are pretty pissed off as well right now. I mean, you look awesome…er – not that you normally not look awesome…please don't break my jaw," Ulrich murmured that last part quietly.

Yumi cracked a small laugh and patted his shoulder. "Aww. Thanks for the compliment, 007."

"Just doing my job, ma'am."

"Still not a good British accent."

"Sorry."

"You two have your tickets?" barked Jim. The two had reached the front of the line, where their gym teacher was dressed in a sparkling white suit, gelled hair and sunglasses – even though they were indoors.

Jim Morales
Dressed as: Elvis Presley
Status: Usher (occupation #028).

Looks someone will be boogying down tonight, thought Ulrich as he handed Jim their entrance passes.

"Nice suit. By the way." Jim then lowered his voice. "Watch out for the fake blood as you turn 'round the second corner," he muttered under his breath.

"Ah. Thanks for the heads up."

"Alright then, enjoy yourselves and try not to scream too loudly," said Jim as he led them inside. Mad laughter could be heard from all sides.

"Challenge accepted," Ulrich smirked as darkness enveloped him and Yumi. And it was there that the two realized just how frightening Odd the maniacal mime could be.

In the afternoon, Mrs. Hertz had turned the weekly laboratory session into a Hogwarts Potions 101 class. And while no Polyjuice potions, Essences of Insanity or other complex concoctions were being brewed, overall it was quite fun creating multi-colour, odorous solutions.

Unfortunately for Ulrich, his partner was not only someone who had scared the living daylights out of him half an hour ago, but also couldn't speak or act adequately. This resulted in a complete misunderstanding of instructions and copious amounts of green goo spilled onto the floor.

"Dammit, when you want him to stop talking, he never shuts up. And when you want him to say something, he acts like a total goofball instead," Ulrich muttered to himself as he carefully poured orange liquid into a beaker, with Odd juggling empty vials beside him.

It wasn't until the last class of the day – mathematics – that Ulrich had to take out his notebook.

Unlike the other teachers, Ms. Lebreton went ahead with her full lesson on the transformations of functions. However, she did make Bryan take off his skates, citing them to be 'a safety concern to your fellow peers'. Bryan quietly retaliated, stating that the odour from his socks was probably a greater safety risk, which earned him ten awesome points from Odd and Ulrich, as well as a detention from Ms. Lebreton, who overheard.

And that's how Ms. Lebreton became Bryan's least favourite teacher.

JEREMIE

It was quiet evening inside Kadic's dormitories. The vast majority of students had either gone to attend the festivities in the gymnasium, or had ventured into nearby neighbourhoods for some sweet treats in a rare night out during the weekday.

None of this was of any concern to Jeremie. Shortly after he bade the other LYOKO warriors goodbye, he had an early dinner, showered and was now in his room working on his desktop.

He had just finished reading the contents of what turned out to be Franz Hopper's log book.

Or should he say, Waldo Schaeffer's log book.

A lot of things made sense now, and some aspects were a tad bit ironic to say the least. For example, Aelita's Halloween costume…maybe it was merely a coincidence that it clued in to her true identity.

Her true purpose.

And that was just one of the many revelations Jeremie had discovered, including a potential breakthrough in the fight against XANA. There was also the matter of which Bryan had been aware of all along:

"You do know what happens when Aelita loses all of her memories, right?"

Jeremie now knew, and it did not bode well for his pink-haired friend. Or the others for that matter.

Aelita was a crucial figurehead on LYOKO, being the only one who could deactivate Towers. Yet, she also had a larger role to play; something more critical and dangerous at the same time.

She was The Key. The one who held the entire digital world in balance.

Her father made a bold move. Rather than concealing the Keys within LYOKO – and risk having XANA acquire them – he had decided to incorporate them into the avatar of his daughter as a last line of defence.

That being said, Aelita was also missing an important piece of her memory, which was most likely under XANA's possession. There was a good chance that if they were able to reclaim this fragmented recollection, the bond between Aelita and XANA would be disconnected; the virus would no longer be in control of a part of would be free.

Following the fulfillment of this objective, the supercomputer could then be shut down, having served its purpose. This meant no more XANA attacks and life-threatening missions to thwart evil.

He would be able to lead a more normal teenage life.

Still, there were a couple of lingering questions. Where was XANA keeping this memory? And what was so important about that recollection? Why did XANA steal that particular memory in the first place?

Fragmented Legacy Fun Fact 013:

Aelita and Bryan's costumes are both of a fictional animated character named Sora – one from a video game (Kingdom Hearts), and one from a manga (Air Gear). The quote on memories at the beginning of the chapter was also from Kingdom Hearts.

A|N's:

After a four month hiatus, CL:FL is back! Although I initially planned this 'season' to simply build up towards one of the main focal points of this story, I've decided to add more backbone to the upcoming chapters in order to explore the relationships between the LYOKO warriors as well as some of the other characters. And yes, this means that Odd will finally get his own special chapter! And I'm almost certain the it will have something to do with food.

As everyone knows, October 31 gets awesomer at night, so stay tuned for Chapter 14!

Feel free to leave a comment, and as always, thanks for reading Code LYOKO: Fragmented Legacies =)