23: Happenings at the Hermitage
AELITA
Aelita woke up to the sound of soft snoring, in a room that wasn't hers.
Right, she had gone to Bryan's room. It was light outside. She must have fallen asleep while waiting for him to get up. There was a blanket wrapped around her, and she felt a warm hand in her own.
Her face turned beet-red. Bryan must've tucked her in, but that would mean that he had gotten up; he had regained consciousness. Aelita was surprised he didn't kick her out, or ask for an explanation. He let her stay the night.
Bryan's sky-blue hair was all over the place and…she could see a trickle of drool leaking from his mouth. She smiled, it was quite cute.
She then realized that she had broken curfew by eight hours, and that if Jim caught her in Bryan's room, it wouldn't bode well for either of them. And so, she gently detached her hand from Bryan's and slid out of his bed. She left his keys on the desk and heard mumbling behind her.
"A…tan?" Aelita turned around to see Bryan just opening his eyes and glancing at her direction. Wanting to see him all better and actually seeing it were two different things. She strode over to his bedside.
"You came back and saved me," she whispered, her eyes wide-open.
Bryan smiled. "Of course. But you were right all–"
Aelita shushed her friend by putting a finger to his mouth – careful to avoid the drool spots – and placed her forehead over his.
"I'm really sorry…I – I didn't want to hurt…fighting is stupid," she blurted. She always had difficulty forming complete thoughts and sentences when talking to him.
"Nah…it's healthy for friends to argue once in a while. It strengthens bonds…somewhat…not really," Bryan admitted, which made his friend chuckle.
"I'm sorry too, for everything I said. But…the more I thought about it afterwards. I was wrong."
"Huh?"
"You should know what I knew. I should've told you that you held the Keys. You've been through so much. I didn't want to put more responsibility on your shoulders. I…care about you."
Aelita sniffed. Bryan was only looking after her. How could she stay mad at him? "Still. I shouldn't have yelled at you. It's not your fault that I'm a…I'm a…"
Tool.
Bryan shook his head. "Why do you think that way? Your father kept his most important secret with you. He had so many places to conceal it and yet…he chose you. Do you know why?"
Now it was Aelita's turn to shake her head.
"He chose someone trustworthy. The one who stood a chance against XANA. The one who wouldn't be tempted to use the supercomputer for their own ends. The person he loved the most."
Aelita was at a loss for words. All this time, she only thought of the burdens of being LYOKO's guardian; how she put others in danger. However, it also proved to be a blessing. Had none of this happened, she'd never have such good friends that stood by her side through thick and thin.
She found it hard to hide a growing smile. Bryan…Jeremie…they always knew what to say to make her feel better.
"Bryan?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm glad we're friends."
The boy smiled as well. "Yeah."
"Can you promise me something?" Aelita asked, holding out her pinky finger.
"Promise me that you'll always be honest and tell me everything – good and bad – okay? I know you're looking out for me, but I don't want to be left in the dark either."
Bryan was hesitant at first, but crossed his pinky with hers. "Deal."
She beamed. "I should get ready for class. We'll talk later?" Bryan nodded and she headed for the door.
Everything will always surely be alright, she recited to herself happily.
BRYAN
Two-on-one fights were really unfair.
Bryan was sent flying back against the wall. He coughed and could taste the blood in his mouth. Every single muscle in his body ached. He was slow to get up as two men approached him.
His shirt was in tatters, and his knife laid several metres away from him. Bryan reached for the weapon, but his arm was met with a sickening crunch. He screamed in pain.
He was afraid – not by the likely impending death – but by how it came about; why was he being targeted? And what were they thinking; were they planning to prolong things? Torture him?
The two men wore fine black suits that bore no scratches, and were observing the broken boy with some curiosity. They talked in low tones and didn't notice a shadowy figure sneaking up on them from behind.
But before anything else happened, Bryan's dream shifted. He was skating at lighting speed, away from a group of jeering teenagers.
"What's up with his hair?" some of them murmured loud enough so he could hear them.
"I heard he slept with Valerie last night."
"Great, now our school is gonna be full of nerdy babies," another said with a fake groan.
"Where are you going, freak?" a girl's voice snickered, followed by laughter from the crowd.
The voices faded away, but the insults stuck. Bryan wanted to turn around and take on the bullies, but he kept moving forwards. He looked down; the grassy path had turned into the concrete slab of a skyscraper.
Bryan tried to stop and looked for something to grab onto – he was already over the ledge. Within seconds he began to plummet. Just as he hit the street surface below, the scene changed again.
He was on LYOKO in his Jedi outfit, with six orange-haired bodies by his side.
XANA never really stood a chance. Bryan mowed down monsters without as much as moving his fingers. His Six Paths of Pain moved fluidly in a 3-2-1 formation, executing every motion with utmost precision. But he wasn't satisfied.
Then William appeared and swiftly decapitated one of the bodies with a sudden slash. But the body didn't burst into data, it slumped forwards and the head rolled towards Bryan.
It had Ulrich's face.
The head however, began talking in Jeremie's voice. Bryan could only catch bits and pieces:
"found Meyer,"… "not too many details," … "company head, until he disappeared"…
That vision dissolved as well, and Bryan was back in his room, on his bed with Aelita sleeping right beside him, holding his hand…
And that's when Bryan opened his eyes. He moved his hand around the bedside shelf until he found his phone. It was past nine.
Fortunately, it was also a Sunday so he had no classes. Just as Bryan was about to roll over and fall asleep again, his phone vibrated. He ruffled his bedridden hair and picked up on the third vibration.
Bryan yawned loudly and heard laughter on the other end.
"Good morning sleepyhead. I take it that you're still in bed?"
"Actually Aelita, I'm back in Canada fixing leaky roofs on the Parliament buildings."
"Oh, right. Saw it on the news. Congratulations on a job well done. Do you still have time to escort me to my humble abode then?"
"Sure. Meet you at the cafeteria in…ten minutes?"
"Sounds good. I'll be waiting."
Bryan stretched. Today was going to be a good day. The sun was shining, there was no homework, no classes, and Bryan was sure he wouldn't have to punch anyone.
And yet, he couldn't shake off the latest hobbled collection of dreams. He could vividly remember some that actually happened, and others were frighteningly new. Ever since he revived Aelita, he started having more nightmares, dreams, whatever you called them.
He just didn't know what to make of it all.
AELITA
Jeremie was gone for the weekend. He and Herb were representing Kadic Academy in a team robotics competition. Feeling in the mood for a walk with company, Aelita asked Bryan instead if he wanted to come along with her to the Hermitage, her former home before she wound up on LYOKO.
"We almost there, A-tan?"
Aelita looked at him quizzically. Bryan had begun calling her that for the past couple of weeks and she didn't know why.
"What was that?" she asked with a hopeful smile.
"What was what?"
"A-tan."
"It's nothing."
"I don't believe you."
"Well, I believe me. I actually feel quite confident in myself rather lately."
She grabbed Bryan's arm and spun him around. He was smiling.
"You really want to know what it means?"
Aelita nodded.
"Okay."
Bryan put an arm around her shoulder to get her walking forwards again. With the wind blowing against them, Aelita found herself cuddling closer to him. She waited patiently, but he didn't say anything.
"Well?" she asked after a minute.
"Huh?"
"A-tan."
"Oh. It's…nothing."
"Bryan!" she smacked his arm.
"Ow! What? You wanted to know what it means. And I acknowledged you. It doesn't mean I'm going to tell you," he added with a lopsided grin that Aelita found absolutely adorable.
Nevertheless, his shoulder hurt a bit more after that.
ODD
'Fortunately, it was also a Sunday' doesn't always work out for everyone.
Odd was serving his second detention in as many weeks, as he was found guilty of taking the cafeteria's entire stock of chocolate-frosted sprinkled donuts. In his defence, the donuts were lying out in the open and no one was around. That cut his penalty by ten minutes, and he still had kitchen duty for the next two days.
Nevertheless, one bright spot in this situation outshone everything else. He had a date with one of the most popular and hottest girls at Kadic.
Alright, so Catherine didn't really say it was a date. Nevertheless, it was going to be just the two of them. And who knows? Maybe his search for 'the One' will finally end.
He thought back to their food fight, how he made her laugh – oh god, her laugh was absolutely intoxicating; the sky could be falling and he wouldn't have noticed. He hardly knew her and yet, he was comfortable 'being Odd' around her, something which she tolerated.
Odd hit himself in the head.
Food Battle. He had forgotten to record it. He could've been the next YouTube sensation, with a video of several million views.
He sighed. There's always next year…
BRYAN
The Hermitage was the second-largest house Bryan had ever seen. The interior was even bigger than the exterior suggested, and was designed in the simplistic modernist style. The cupboards and shelves were mostly bare and only large rectangular furniture remained sitting on the polished wood floors. Despite being vacant for over a decade, the house seemed to be in good condition, albeit a bit dusty.
When Bryan saw the piano, he asked if Aelita could play. She nodded but muttered along the lines of: "not really that good, haven't practiced in a while…"
Mimicking her persuasiveness, Bryan tugged at her arm and stuck out his bottom lip. Unlike him, Aelita had yet to develop immunity to pouting. She playfully shoved him to a chair, before she sat down in front of the piano. She thought for a moment, and began striking the black and white keys.
Practice or no practice, Aelita was good. Her fingers danced gracefully up and down the instrument as she played Mozart's 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' from memory. And when she finished, Bryan applauded politely in the manner as the Austrians would back in the 1700's.
After a typical teenager lunch of sandwiches, cookies and apples – courtesy of Food Battle 2006 winner Catherine Horvath – Aelita and Bryan were relaxing amiably on the living room sofa.
"Aelita," Bryan said quietly. "What do you think about Alan Meyer?"
The girl placed her hands under her chin; she had no answer. Alan Meyer turned out to be just another piece of an incredibly large puzzle.
According to Jeremie, the supercomputer did have something on the man whose name Bryan had mentioned. But it seemed like a dead end; there was no distinct connection to him, LYOKO, or Project CARTHAGE itself.
As far as details went, Alan Meyer had been former acquaintances with Aelita's father. Indeed, his name popped up twice in Dr. Schaeffer's diary.
The only other details about him in the supercomputer were encrypted. However that was a non-factor; Jeremie was just that awesome in programming.
Alan Meyer, President of Deckard Incorporated.
A further search on the company 'Deckard Incorporated' came up blank; there was nothing to show that such an organization had ever existed. But when Jeremie told that to Bryan, the latter could've sworn he had seen or heard of that name before.
"What's your take on all of this?"
"I think Uncle Alan is a real swell guy who was good friends with your father in high school. They had moustache growing contests and were good poker players. In fact, Dr. Schaeffer was impressed by his deck shuffling tricks that he encouraged his friend to start his own card store. That store was called Deck of Cards Inc. – and was shortened to Deckard Inc. The end."
Aelita giggled, surprised that she had listened so intently to such humorous nonsense. Even on such a serious topic, Bryan had some way of showing off his wit.
"Moustache growing classes? That's a pretty…interesting theory. I would've never thought of that."
The boy nodded. "Most people don't."
"Because it's silly."
"Until it's proven false, Uncle Alan's poker store is our main lead."
"And if you're right, I'll dye my hair blue," Aelita snickered.
"Challenge accepted," he grinned.
AELITA
"Hey, you want to see my bedroom?" she asked all of a sudden. Not waiting for a response, she pulled Bryan off the couch and up the stairs.
Like the house in general, her room was spacious, with a nice bay window overlooking the front of the house. The curtains were dusty, but a faint bleached pinkish shade was evident. There was a queen-sized bed, a small wooden desk and chair, several bookshelves and a chest at the opposite corner.
"So, what do you want to do?"
She thought about it for a moment, before her face lit up.
"Read to me."
Bryan looked away from the window. "I'm sorry, what?"
"Read to me. It's story time," Aelita repeated excitedly.
"Isn't it too early for a bedtime story?" Bryan smirked, but Aelita wasn't paying attention as she searched her bookshelf. She took out a book that she had read countless times, but it was one of her favourites.
Alice in Wonderland. The paperback book itself was yellowed, but otherwise in very good condition; the pages were smooth and there were no tears.
She handed it to him. He smiled and patted the floor next to him. Aelita obliged and sat down obediently.
Bryan cleared his throat emphatically, and began reading.
"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. By Lewis Carroll, with 42 illustrations by John Tenniel. London, Macmillan and Company. 1865. The right of translation is–" he felt something hit his shoulder.
"Fine, I'll skip all the important exciting copyright stuff," he let out a sigh of disappointment.
Aelita smirked. "Good. Carry on then."
Several chapters in, the sun's rays were now penetrating through the large windows. Aelita could feel her eyelids droop, as she stretched her legs and wiggled her toes while Bryan read to her.
She decided to try something, so she took his arm in her own, and rested her head on his shoulder. Bryan stopped in mid-sentence, surprised; his body had tensed after feeling something come down on his right shoulder. It felt so warm and soft.
"Umm…"
"Mmm?" Aelita mumbled, instantly regretting what she had done. I knew this was a bad idea.
"Is something wrong?"
"Huh? Oh, n-no. It was just…unexpected, that's all."
The moment she made contact with him, Bryan felt uneasy. Not in a bad way, it just felt so foreign. He wasn't about to tell Aelita, but he had a sudden vision in his mind, a memory.
He had been in the exact same position, sitting on the floor, when he felt something on his shoulder. He turned and saw a girl resting her head on his shoulders – just like Aelita. She had long curly hair and parts of it were gently touching his face. But he couldn't make out her face. And worse, he had no idea who she was – or whether she was actually real.
"Do you not like it?" Aelita's cheeks were flushed bright red.
"Umm…" He saw his friend's worried expression. And to be honest…
"No, I like it." With a bit of uncertainty, he wrapped his left arm around her shoulder. Aelita smiled as she rested her head comfortably on his shoulder once more.
With the initial shock wearing off, Bryan contentedly returned to the novel and re-immersed himself in Wonderland; a place where cats speak riddles, queens possess highly combustible soldiers and a young girl, who was in the midst of taking on a brave new world.
BRYAN
Bryan's eyes snapped open upon hearing a beeping noise coming from his mobile.
He would've sprung up if Aelita wasn't resting on him. Careful not to wake her up, he slid his hand into his jean pocket and pulled out his beeping phone. But no one was calling him.
It was the signal informing him of an activated Tower; Jeremie had recently installed the application on his phone so he'd know when there was trouble.
Impossible, it's only been several weeks. XANA shouldn't have the Keys already.
As much as Aelita looked too peaceful to be disturbed, Bryan gently nudged her and she began to stir.
"Huh? What?" she asked groggily. She noticed her room had gotten much darker. How long had she been asleep?
"XANA's back," said Bryan in a worried tone.
Aelita's senses kicked into high alert. Jeremie was still away, so she tried to get a hold of the others first. However, she couldn't get her call through, there was limited connectivity. That rarely happened.
"Your service is down too?" asked Bryan. She nodded.
"We should get going then," he said, placing Alice in Wonderland back on the bookshelf, before leaving the room with Aelita behind him. Five stairs down, Bryan came to a halt.
"What's the matter?" she asked, drawing level with him.
He didn't respond though his mouth was agape. Instead, he raised his hand and pointed in front of them. She gasped.
Two tall and slender shadows were moving along the walls, the silhouettes illuminated by the dim moonlight protruding through the large curtainless windows that were slightly ajar.
"Get down," Aelita whispered urgently, but Bryan remained frozen in shock. She forced him on his knees with her arm and they crept down the stairs. They then crawled over to the living room sofa.
Aelita could hear only two things: the periodic ticking of the grandfather clock and a pair of crisp footsteps that were getting louder. She secretly hoped that it was just Ulrich, Yumi or even Odd. She couldn't resist and took a tiny peek from the edge of the sofa…
And saw two fully black-suited men with matching dark shades coming into view. Aelita ducked back and turned to Bryan, his eyes staring blankly ahead at the wall.
"Men…in black…?" Aelita showed the faintest of nods. Had he been able to sense their presence? For the first time, she saw fear in his blue eyes. He was trembling as he placed his hands over his ears.
Great, two things to deal with at once? But Valerie said the trail disappeared…how did they find us? Bryan felt his strength sapping away. He was conscious, but his body wasn't responding to his thoughts.
Meanwhile, the shadows grew larger. Suddenly, it was if the men weren't altogether solid; their shadows flickered, phasing in and out. Aelita had seen that happen before, and it began to make sense.
" …I think they're XANA's spectres." However, the fact they weren't the agents that haunted his dreams did little to sooth Bryan's nerves.
Aelita patted his shoulder, but the boy didn't move. Now she was getting increasingly distraught, she needed his help if they were to get out safely. So she scooted over and squeezed his hand. It was cold.
"Bryan…" she pressed her forehead against his and rubbed circles on his back, trying to get his attention.
"I'm scared as hell right now," he muttered, looking down as if he was ashamed to admit it. Real or not, the presence of the agents rendered him helpless.
"Oh…umm," Aelita felt lost and alone. She clung onto Bryan, trying to conceal her own fears and comfort him at the same time. And she could only come up with one source of motivation.
"Everything will surely be alright," she whispered. Aelita felt Bryan's head twitch up and down. And that 'invincible phrase' seemed to restart the creative mechanisms in her head.
If they did nothing, XANA would eventually corner them. Who knows what it had in store for the LYOKO children. Aelita had to do something. She tried to drown out her own nightmares.
She couldn't explain it in words, but whenever she was around Bryan – be it in the real world or on LYOKO, he had always kept her from harm's way. There had always been others protecting her. Aelita was frequently the damsel in distress.
Now it was her turn to protect those she cared about.
"Bryan. I…I think I have an idea."
Aelita got out her phone and removed the data chip. Bryan looked at her curiously.
"What are you doing?"
"Setting up a distraction," was her curt reply, as she then turned the volume of her phone up to full, hoping that no one would actually call her. She headed to the back door and opened it slightly.
Bryan caught on to her plan. Spurred by her determination, he knew he had to have courage as well. Forget about the past… He closed his eyes in an attempt to shut off his current train of thought.
"How far can you throw?" he croaked.
Obviously, she didn't have the arm of an NFL quarterback – okay her throwing capabilities were mediocre at best – she might not buy them enough time. Bryan crouched down beside her.
"Swap phones. You make the call," he said, and they exchanged cell phones.
Bryan took one step outside and threw the phone into the forest as hard as he could, while Aelita counted down in her head.
At zero, she pressed 'call' and moments later she could hear her discarded phone picking up, her Kingdom Hearts ringtone blaring into the quiet night. From the exposed sliver of the door, Aelita could make out two figures swiftly changing course and heading for the forest. Bryan held his breath. It had worked.
Just as the spectres reached the edge of the forest, they stopped and faded into darkness, leaving Aelita and Bryan stunned.
They were gone.
Aelita looked down at Bryan's phone. There was no longer any flashing red light; no activated Tower.
"It's over…?" she said hesitantly.
Bryan too was shocked, but he was already regaining his senses. "Looks that way," a very relieved he muttered, his whole body clammy and plastered with cold sweat. He wrapped his arms around Aelita as if she was a giant teddy bear – warm and soft.
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it… Uh…shall we get going?" said Aelita, face red as a tomato. Deep down inside though, she didn't want to break off the hug just yet.
Even though it was getting darker and the walk back to Kadic had an undoubtedly spooky atmosphere, Bryan didn't feel as scared. Besides, he had Aelita by his side, though every so often he'd glance down at his phone, to make sure that none of the Towers on LYOKO were reactivated.
Aelita wanted to ask him about the men dressed in black suits. Were they really secret agents from her past? But she didn't want to distress Bryan. Even though they were only spectres, he was clearly uncomfortable at the sight of them. And that led to another problem.
"Hey."
"…Hmm?"
"What do you think that was all about? I thought XANA was incapacitated." With the amount of data it had retrieved from her, they assumed that it'd be months before XANA struck again.
Bryan nodded wearily. "There's no way it could return so soon."
They walked in silence, until Aelita had a notion. "Hmm…what if it's like XANA's excess data…like a ghost file?"
"You mean like an essence?"
"Yes. After all, XANA has attacked more frequently this year. Maybe there are still traces of it around LYOKO that can trigger Towers…like lingering sentiments."
They looked at one another. If XANA's 'conscience' was capable of activating Towers, the any hope for a brief period of stability and a return to typical high school drama just went out the window.
A-TAN
(I mean, AELITA)
The past half hour had been tense, but Aelita and Bryan got back to school safe and sound, just in time to grab some dinner.
"Well…this day ended with a bit more excitement than usual," said Bryan, as they headed back to their dormitories.
"I think that's a big understatement," Aelita laughed.
"I think you're right." Bryan seemed to be back to normal. "Excluding the last part of today, it was awesome. Thanks for showing me around your old home."
"No problem. I'm really glad you came. I had a lot of fun."
"Same. And what you did back there against those…spectres…you were incredibly brave. I'd be lost without you."
Aelita blushed. "Um, no problem. Most of the time it seems to be you being the hero and saving me. So I thought I'd return the favour" she replied bashfully.
"Ah. Still, I'm really grateful. I owe you one."
"Hmm…okay for starters, you can escort me to get a new phone."
"Seems reasonable. Done."
"And you have to finish reading Alice in Wonderland to me," Aelita added, prodding the boy's arm.
"I did. It's not my fault you fell asleep."
"What if I said please? Can you finish reading Alice in Wonderland to me, please?" she insisted.
"No."
Aelita crossed her arms. Bryan ruffled her pink hair and laughed at her attempt to straighten it out. "You realize I'm only joking, right?"
"Maybe. I don't know. You're so…deceitful. Especially to me," she pouted.
"I won't deny that. But when was the last time I actually refused to take you up on any of your requests?"
"Chemistry lab two weeks ago. When I told you to add more potassium into the beaker."
"You do realize that would've caused a large explosion and even worse, detention with Mrs. Hertz."
"Alright. You never told me what A-tan means."
"What's that?"
Aelita let out an exasperated sigh. "Aren't you ever going to tell me?"
"…Maybe one day…when the time is right."
"You admit to calling me 'A-tan' then."
"Call you what?" Plainly, this conversation was going nowhere.
"Why don't you just Google it?" Bryan suggested.
"Well…I…because I want your explanation." Of course she could Google it. "You're a good storyteller. Almost as good as Odd," she hoped the complement would spur him on.
"I know I am," Bryan said cheerfully.
"Well?"
"Right…A-tan is short for Athena."
The Greek goddess of wisdom. But that didn't help her one bit. "Can you please elaborate?"
"Sorry A-tan, maybe some other time."
Aelita stuck out her tongue. "Fine, I'm going to bed."
"Same. It's…it's been a long day," said Bryan, letting out a yawn while rubbing the back of his head. Aelita smiled and hugged him. Just because.
"Good night sleepyhead," she murmured contentedly into his ear.
"Y-yeah. You too," Bryan murmured back, hoping that 'sleepyhead' wouldn't become his de facto nickname.
Fragmented Legacy Fun Fact 023:
Similar to how people frequently tell Odd to 'shut up', Aelita playfully hitting Bryan's shoulder (usually left) is another recurring tradition within this story.
A|N's:
Sorry for the late update; snowstorms grr. I know I've been focusing a lot on Aelita these past chapters, but next chapter will definitely include the whole team!
Feel free to leave a comment, and as always, thanks for reading Code LYOKO: Fragmented Legacies =)