AUTHOR'S NOTE (3/13/2023):
Yo, guys! It's DΛIKIZΞN! (Originally Sir Europa, I have too many pen names.)
In July of 2021, I began this story after rewatching CODE LYOKO for the fifth time in my life and playing CONTROL, an experience that has forever changed my view and creative writing vision.
When life got a little hard, I couldn't focus on this story as much as I liked, and it kinda fell by the wayside. But I was looking at TV Tropes the other night, and I saw that someone named "Flameal15k" had made a page about it! I was so psyched!
They got a lot of the tropes right on the page, and it's the first time someone's really done something like this for something I've made! It inspired me enough to come back to the project to rewrite and hopefully continue it! :D
The original chapter was just one big wall of text, so I'm gonna split it into two to three parts for pacing. I've also gone through and fixed mistakes and added a TON of new story elements as I try to rewrite what I had originally wanted to do for this fan work, so not everything's the same!
Again, I don't know how far this'll go – life's been pretty nonstop – but I want to come back to this project again!
Thanks to those that have read and reviewed this story, and I can't wait to start writing new chapters again!
Enjoy!
It was a warm morning on the campus of Kadic Academy. A coveted boarding school with plenty of promising students and devoted staff and faculty. It is one of the highest-rated boarding schools in Paris, boasting affordable tuition and coverage for room and board. People from all over Europe, Asia, and Africa were able to attend for the chance at higher education.
Nothing was ever out of the ordinary…or at least that is what one would believe.
The students of Kadic roused themselves from their slumber and went about their morning routines. The separated dormitory bathrooms became full of boys and girls showering and cleaning themselves up for the school day ahead.
Ingrid Layton was one of these students. A late transfer student, she tried her best to fit in with everyone else…walking the walk and talking the talk. Anything she could do to not stand out too much.
She stayed in a dorm room with a roommate that she rarely saw or spoke with. They had their own group of friends and weren't too keen on sharing a room with someone else. It made Ingrid feel like a bit of a burden. If she could live off campus she would, but she couldn't afford to miss anything.
Standing in front of the mirror in her room, Ingrid would twirl the two long bangs shaping her face around her fingers. Her jet-black hair grew fast, like her father's. Seeing herself with long hair only made her miss her mother, as they looked almost identical. She tried to keep it at a reasonable length, maintaining a very discreet undercut pixie style with a bit more length than normal, but she never wanted to look too punkish.
Heading to the mess hall for breakfast, Ingrid took a seat at one of the tables after getting a tray of sausage and eggs. From under the table, she pulled out an ornate notebook that was the size of a chemistry coursebook, flipping through pages filled with notes and hastily drawn images of untraceable origin, until she landed on a mostly blank page, where the only thing drawn on it was an ominous eye-like symbol with question marks scrawled around it. Staring at it with contempt, she tuned into a conversation happening next to her, pulled a pen out from under her sweater top, and started writing about anything interesting she heard the students around her say.
Ingrid was very prone to secluding herself. She wasn't a great conversationalist, but she could make small talk when she needed to. She would often smile sweetly while talking to people and respond bluntly but respectfully. Her voice was somehow firm and soft at the same time, and her face would light up when people would ask about her always-closed eyes. People seemed to think she was very approachable.
Though Ingrid seldom went out of her way to talk to people. She preferred to sit back and observe. Quiet, but never ignorant. She would eavesdrop and keep up with gossip, always being in the know.
In fact, she had an affinity for reading the Kadic News, which was a recent undertaking led by two young girls on campus. Amelia Solovieff and Tamiya Diop – a redheaded girl, and her darker-skinned camerawoman. Despite being so young the girls were very talented, and praising their work in person was the only time that Ingrid seemed to break this mysterious air about her, garnering a friendly back and forth between herself and the junior reporters.
Surprisingly, Ingrid even accepted an exclusive interview a few days prior, being asked about who she was and where she was from, and why she wore so much white. She could especially recall that last part as she dug into her eggs and sausage…
"…Ingrid, why do you wear such strange clothing?" Milly asked, pointing the microphone to her interviewee. "The students of Kadic have been talking about it ever since you arrived."
Ingrid always had a particular way she liked to present herself. Ingrid always valued comfort over everything and never liked showing too much skin, though she did admit her outfits were very…striking, but not for conventional reasons.
"Uhm- It's a…different style I'm trying out," Ingrid cautiously answered.
The ensemble was unordinary…a bit too brutalist with a dash of dystopian flair. There were no rounded cuts or playful flairs to any of her outfits; all were angled harshly and meticulously symmetrical and were only a single solid color. No irregular or chaotic designs were found on them. The fashion seemed…functional. Though the one shape that seemed to accent the outfit was white pyramids.
A white sleeveless turtleneck bodysuit and black stockings underneath, white ankle booties. A scarlet midi panel skirt and sweater to wear on top of everything. A pair of white pyramidal earrings that – if one would look closely – hovered close to Ingrid's earlobes…the lobes themselves were never pierced.
"We didn't take you for a fashion guru! Sissi might have to watch out if you become the talk of the school! Do you have a name for this style?"
Tamiya zoomed the camera into Ingrid's face, trying to capture all of Ingrid's emotions. "Yeah, what's your inspiration?" She asked, earning a glare from Milly.
"I call it…White…Pyramid," Ingrid picked apparently random words, passing them off as something niche. "It uses very predictable and basic shapes with mirrored symmetry. It enforces a sense of control and foundational strength."
The sweater was the only outlier. Striped and oversized with sleeves so long that they covered her hands. The hemline was just high enough to show a bit of the bodysuit's midriff in the front but hanging past her knees everywhere else.
The sweater was special to Ingrid. It was one of the last things her mother gave her. Her outfits would revolve around this sweater, and she could never be seen not wearing it, even during the hotter days. A peculiar aspect about the sweater was that it seemed to shift in color depending on whatever other colors Ingrid wore at the same time. That way, it would match no matter what.
Both reporters ooohed and ahhhed at Ingrid's explanation. "Is there a specific place you get these clothes from?"
"Yeah, th-they're all custom-made," Ingrid cleverly replied. "Top secret. I can't give the name of my tailor."
Milly and Tamiya pouted. "Come onnnnn, tell uuuuuss! Our readers are dying to know!"
Ingrid sighed, shaking her head. "Maybe another time. My tailor wouldn't want the publicity."
"Oh, okay…-" Milly finally relented.
Pretty trivial questions for sure, but Milly and Tamiya were desperate for a new scoop and Ingrid felt that she had to oblige them. They were too cute to deny.
"…Those two are always looking for the next big scoop. I have to respect their dedication to upholding the importance of the press," Ingrid smiled at the memory.
After breakfast, Ingrid walked amongst the student body in the courtyard. Her gaze drifted to whatever would catch her attention. There were so many diverse students at Kadic. Even after being a student for two months, she couldn't believe just how well this school was doing for itself, and with such a small faculty, too.
Her mental drifting came to a halt when she was suddenly stopped by a boy, slightly taller than her with dark hair and eyes that seemed to stare through her closed ones.
"You're the new girl…uh, Ingrid, right?" His voice was deep…deeper than someone his age probably should be.
"You would be correct."
"Cool. You hear about the prom tonight?"
"The school dance?"
Ingrid had forgotten about prom. There was a lot of buzz about the night's events, and students were starting to ask others to accompany them.
"'Course. I was wondering if you wanted to go together," the boy asked.
Now including her, apparently. She definitely wasn't expecting that. Hm.
Ingrid enjoyed get-togethers and small parties; they were fun with the right people. Unfortunately, Ingrid barely knew anyone other than her uncle Max and those young reporters very well. It would be difficult for Ingrid to try and ask someone out.
"I'm flattered. But I intend to go on my own," Ingrid replied bluntly.
"Oh, uh-" The boy looked embarrassed, watching Ingrid politely waving at him while walking away.
This happened a few more times, twice by a girl. Ingrid greatly underestimated the reach the Kadic News had. Everyone must have watched her interview. Everyone knew who she was now. She wasn't sure if this was a good or a bad thing just yet.
Ingrid wandered into the auditorium, hoping that there wouldn't be as many students there. But lo and behold, Milly and Tamiya were there reporting.
"Hello, fellow students of Kadic Junior High! Ace Reporters Milly and Tamiya here with an exclusive cover of the preparation for the annual school prom dance!" Tamiya zoomed her camera to get a closer peek at the interior of the auditorium, which they weren't allowed to enter. From there, Milly continued her coverage.
"Unfortunately, our cameras were not authorized to film the preparation," Milly said with a hint of ire. "…But I assure you from where I'm standing that this will be a grand affair!"
Turning around, Milly spotted Ingrid watching them cover the story. Ingrid waved at them with a big smile. The youngsters were happy to see her and decided to get her into the story.
"And here we have one of our very own special students, the mysterious new transfer, the illustrious White Pyramid, Ingrid Layton!"
"Is that what they're calling me?" Ingrid mused. "I'm more surprised it caught on."
"Ingrid, are you going to attend the dance this evening? There have been rumors going around that you've been asked out by a couple people already! You're a heartthrob with the students, have you decided who you'll be going with?"
Word traveled fast.
"Yes, I do intend on going to the dance, but I won't be going with anyone. I believe I will go by myself."
"But there HAS to be a special someone, right?" Milly pressed further. "The readers of the Kadic News are dying to know who it could be!"
Ingrid smiled awkwardly. "There's no one, honest!"
"Well, could you at least tell us about the secret behind your eyes?"
"My eyes…?"
"Your eyes! We forgot to ask before," Tamiya interjected. "They're always closed, but you never seem to bump into anything or anyone."
"Come on, Tamiya! Who's asking the questions here?" Milly pouted at her friend, who rolled her eyes and continued shooting.
"My camerawoman does have a point," Milly continued. "How do you see?"
Ingrid's eyes had been closed since birth. The doctor that delivered her hypothesized that it could be nerve damage, but after it was discovered that she didn't need them open to see - which the doctors questioned but could never answer - it wasn't necessary to perform surgery.
Participating in class brought up other issues. The faculty assumed that she may be blind or assumed she never got enough sleep. It had been misconstrued so many times that Max would have to write a note to the Principal explaining her strange behaviors.
Ingrid decided to play to her strengths, pressing a finger to her lips and grinning mischievously. "It's a secret for a reason," she teased.
"Aww, come on! One of these days you have to tell all!"
"Okay, okay…I'll tell you," Ingrid looked around, playing up the secrecy even further and leaning close to the girls. "Even with my eyes closed…I can still see the both of you."
"What?!" Milly exclaimed. "You're lying! What do I look like, then?"
"Pink sweater, brown mini skirt with dark brown leggings, black boots, and red hair adorned with pigtails. Very cute, I might add," Ingrid answered matter-of-factly, her last compliment making Milly's cheeks go red.
"Whoa, and you've never opened your eyes once!" Tamiya said in awe. "How do you do it?"
Ingrid laughed enigmatically, playfully returning her finger to her lips. "Maybe I'll tell you two one day. But if I didn't know any better…I think a much bigger scoop is walking in as we speak."
The young girls looked over to the entrance of the auditorium, and in walked the daughter of the principal, Elisabeth "Sissi" Delmas with her two cronies, Herb and Nicolas.
The junior reporters shifted gears almost instantly. "Oh, and look who it is, the girl who's projected to be our crowned Beauty Queen tonight - as she was the year before - our very own Principal's esteemed daughter, Sissi!" Milly introduced Sissi to the camera, egging Tamiya to get a close-up shot of the most popular girl in school.
Sissi looked on with perpetual annoyance at being filmed by these two kids. Milly continued despite this aura of hostility, even Ingrid could feel it from where she stood. "Sissi, can you share a few words with our audience about the prom and what we can expect for tonight's festivities? Has your father prepared anything special?"
Ingrid glanced at Sissi, she's heard quite a bit about her and had run into her a few times when she first transferred to Kadic, though they never spoke or shared more than a passing glare, while Ingrid looked blankly back at her. Sissi had a lot to prove, Ingrid knew. Being a late transfer, and many of the students having their eyes on her, Ingrid was inadvertently taking the spotlight off of Sissi, and the "star diva" of Kadic didn't take very kindly to it. Ingrid did her due diligence to stay out of Sissi's way; she wanted no quarrel with the Principal's daughter.
If anything, Ingrid did agree that Sissi was very pretty. It was no question where her popularity came from. Herb and Nicholas looked precisely what a cute girl's henchmen would, one was scrawny and timid, while the other was more rounded and somewhat distant-looking like he never truly was where he stood - his mind probably being somewhere else.
Sissi dismissed the young reporters condescendingly. "Sorry, munchkins. I only talk to real reporters. I don't have time to waste on a couple of paparazzi wannabes."
Herb reached for Tamiya's camera and covered the lens, stopping any further recording, much to Tamiya's dismay.
"B-But this is for the school news program! H-Haven't you heard about the freedom of the press? We have a right to-"
"Oh, hush it, Milly," Sissi cut Milly off. "You little dipsticks are far too young to know anything about freedom. Who even wants to be talked to by a baby anyway? What do you even know?"
But Ingrid wasn't oblivious to the fact that beneath all that beauty, a rotten shell stirred deep.
"Besides, you still have a problem, don't you? You need a date to go to prom, and who would want to go with a baby like you? I bet if you tried asking, all the boys would turn tail and hide!" She scoffed.
As if cementing her point as fact, Herb and Nicholas displayed exaggerated gestures of disgust when Milly glanced in their direction.
Milly was shaken up by Sissi's teasing. "I-I can find a date to the prom!"
"Then go ahead and get one! Oh, I've gotta see this-" Sissi anticipated Milly's impending humiliation.
Turning back to the auditorium entrance, Ingrid noticed some other kids working inside; one girl was on a ladder hanging up decorations, while two other boys held the ladder steady. Milly's eyes began to well with tears as she got the attention of one of the boys.
"U-Ulrich?" She called out. The boy in question turned to face her. "Will you be my date t-tonight…?"
Ingrid's gaze shifted over to the boy in question and his friends. She knew of them and had seen their group all over campus. Though Ingrid had never been this close to them before now. Even with her eyes closed, she attentively watched them. She's had her suspicions about them…and has several pages of her journal dedicated to sightings and emergencies that – though ranged wildly in premise – seemed to always center around one of the four of them.
That couldn't be a coincidence.
Ulrich was flustered by Milly's request. The other boy heard the question and chuckled playfully towards Ulrich.
"Uh…s-sorry Milly, I…I don't think that'd be a great idea, you know?" Ulrich's voice was careful and finicky as if he wasn't trying to hurt the poor girl's feelings the more. "I'm too old for you...and…I already asked to go with Yumi."
Ingrid watched as Yumi climbed down the ladder. From how she and Ulrich looked at each other and shyly broke their gaze, it was apparent they were infatuated with each other. The boy in purple, Odd, teased them silently as they tried to sweep their moment under the rug, prompting Ulrich to shut him up.
Sissi laughed out loud, thriving off of Milly's despair. "You see, what did I tell you? No one would go out with a baby!" She then stopped short. "Wait, Ulrich. You're going with…her to the dance?! With Yumi?!"
It was no secret that Sissi had a massive crush on him. Ingrid knew this much and had heard about Sissi's incessant flirtatious advances towards him through gossip and the Kadic News.
"Why would I want to go with you?" Ulrich retorted. "You bully little kids for fun. Not very attractive in my eyes."
Milly began to whimper, holding back tears as Tamiya put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her friend. Ingrid was compelled to walk over and kneel in front of Milly, also trying to shield her from Sissi. Milly held onto Ingrid tightly. Ingrid felt a strange warmth leave her and…into Milly. Suddenly, she had a strong, instinctual need to protect Milly from Sissi.
After recovering from her shock towards Ulrich, Sissi continued her verbal assault on Milly, but the spite in her voice was thick. "W-Well, maybe there'll be someone in the 'Sandbox Prom' waiting for you, twerp. So why don't you give up and go play with your dolls?"
Milly had enough. She pushed herself away from Ingrid and sprinted through the exit, crying to herself as she ran away. Tamiya gave chase. "Milly! H-Hold on, wait up!"
"Serves her right," Sissi giggled to herself.
Ingrid interjected suddenly, slowly getting back onto her feet while staring daggers at Sissi. "You really are as cruel as everyone says."
Sissi turned to face Ingrid, her face already judging the latter's fashion sense. "Oh, look who it is…Snow Blind. You shouldn't be wearing all that white, you know. You could blind someone else."
"You should apologize to Milly, Elisabeth. That was not right of you, and you know it." Ingrid replied sternly.
Sissi tried to assert her dominance over her. "As if. And don't call me Elisabeth!"
Sissi hated being called by anything other than her nickname. Ingrid knew this.
"What are you even doing here, anyway, Snow Blind? Don't even think about trying to ask Ulrich out. He's mine."
Ingrid's face remained neutral; Sissi's insults didn't faze her. "I'm going to the dance on my own, Elisabeth. You don't need a date to enjoy yourself. However, it seems to be on some sort of checklist that validates someone in your eyes. Like some sort of depreciated Ritual."
"Ritual…?" Herb mumbled to Nicolas puzzledly, who just shrugged his shoulders in response.
"That's funny; you know you're too ugly to get a date, so you've already given up! You're hopeless," Sissi laughed, the other two lemmings that stuck to her like glue guffawing in unison. "Maybe if you'd actually open your eyes, you'd be able to see that you really don't stand a chance against my beauty!"
"Societal definitions of beauty are flawed, and you are part of the problem," Ingrid crossed her arms. "There are things that are greater than you or I. Things that do not care what you or others see in yourself. Things that if you were to witness them, to discriminate and judge them as you do your peers, you would lose your grip on reality. You will never know just how insignificant you truly are. You are dust, a speck on a planet that no one knows yet is watched by distant eyes."
Ingrid stepped forward, gaining momentum. "Your beauty is only skin deep. You don't hide your true colors because you're so shameless, your mind churns with a foreign and disgusting essence that not even a mother could call their own.
"I will not speak for him, but I'd doubt someone like Ulrich would want to spend his days being fed off by a truly unidentifiable parasite like you."
Sissi was visibly shaken up by Ingrid's dressing down of her character, especially when mentioning her mother. Herb and Nicolas stood there with their mouths hung open in bewilderment. The three friends were just as shocked but were loving every second of Sissi getting a taste of her own medicine.
"You…Y-You talk a lot," Sissi managed to collect herself and retort back, targeting someone else instead.
"B-Believe me, Ulrich just…d-doesn't know what he wants yet, but once he sees what I'm wearing to the dance, he won't have anyone else on his mind. Too bad he's always blubbering around that wretched crow, Yumi."
"Someone belongs in a cave, all right," Ulrich huffed.
"And do you know what a group of crows is called, Sissi? Because I'm really tempted to show you." Yumi balled her fists up threateningly. "I hope you're proud of yourself. Couldn't even swallow your pride for a child. How twisted can you be?"
Sucking her teeth, Sissi waved them away. "I-I don't need to waste my breath on low lives like you."
"You know, one day Milly and Tamiya will become famous world-class reporters, and they'll have more viewers than anything you'll ever get. I know I wouldn't watch a brainless zombie if she was on my screen," Odd cackled. "Well, unless she was getting her head cut off…"
Sissi's face burned with anger. "Shut it, dorks! Ugh, come on, Herb, Nicholas. We're leaving. I have a hair appointment in my dorm room!" She quickly stalked off, waving at Ulrich and sticking her tongue at everyone else as her little entourage followed her. The boys turned around to make faces in kind.
Ingrid sighed, shaking her head as she watched them leave.
Milly had run off to her room, with Tamiya not too far behind. There, Milly leaned next to her bed, her tears flowing as her friend came to her side, clutching her favorite teddy bear close to her chest.
"Aww, Milly, don't cry…we can still go to prom. Jim said we can stay until nine o'clock! And we can still do the report, too! You don't need a dumb date! " Tamiya reassured her friend. "And then, we can have fun at the dance afterward, huh? How about it?"
"Oh, it's nothing but a waste of time!" Milly angrily retorted through her cries. "The big kids don't care about us. Just because they're older and bigger, they think they can look down on and walk all over us! Don't you get it? Little kids have no rights, just like Sissi said."
"That's dumb, Milly; Sissi was just mean! She's a mean ol' witch…and that's that," Tamiya seemed sure of herself. "Plus, Ingrid was more than ready to come and stand up for you."
"No one cares about our newscast…or about us!" Milly stands up, balling her fists as her tears dotted the floor, her emotions getting the better of her as a part of her knew that wasn't true. "Oh, I hate them…all of them! I hate every single one of them…I…I hate everybody in the world!" She cried out.
Taken aback by her friend's rash proclamations, Tamiya continued to comfort her. "M-Milly, you don't know what you're saying!"
On the monitor of their computer screen, that ominous eye flashed for a split second, clouded by a dark interference. Tamiya thought she saw something, but she blinked and brushed it off as the reflection of the sun beams through the window.
Sharply jerking herself away from Tamiya, Milly moved to the door. "Oh, I'm sick of you too, just leave me alone!" Grabbing her teddy bear and rushing through the double doors, Tamiya could only watch in patient frustration.
"What could Ulrich do…? He already had a date, and he let Milly down easy," She spoke aloud. "…Still, it doesn't mean Milly's not gonna be upset about what Sissi said. She'll be back soon. I-I'll give her some space…maybe I'll ask Ingrid to talk to her."
Running into the woods, Milly cried and cried until she found the old gardener's shed, where the groundskeeper kept all of his tools. Closing the door behind her, she sighed as she clutched her bear tight to her chest, leaning against a large crate of mulch.
"They'll never understand what I have to go through...no one will. But you...you've always been there for me, haven't you?" Milly spoke aloud to her stuffed companion, who remained silent, as normal teddy bears tend to be.
"I'm glad you're here...you're the only one who listens, who understands...I'm just so mad! Why can't life be fair? It's like all the big kids get to have so much fun, and they just walk all over the rest of us little kids...it's just not right!"
The plush bear continued to stay silent as the light above Milly flickered slightly. "I-I didn't mean to yell at Tamiya...she's really my only friend. She cares about me a lot...and I care about her, too."
"And Ingrid's really nice, too. She's always willing to do interviews with us, and loves our stories…and is so encouraging…" She found her face going red again.
Shaking it off, Milly turned to her bear again. "M-Maybe I should apologize...what do you think?" Milly asked her bear.
As if taking its silence as a yes, Milly grinned. "O-Okay, I'll go and find Tamiya and Ingrid, but you have to stay. I don't want people to see me carrying you around and teasing me about you."
The flickering light fell out of its socket and crashed onto the ground. A dark reddish specter oozed from the socket of the light, and slinked its way towards the bear and Milly, covering them in an inky blackness as the once blank eyes were filled with a crimson eye-like insignia, with Milly sharing the same symbol in hers.
"You know what…?" Milly's voice became deeper in pitch and warbled as if she was speaking through a broken radio. "I think apologies can wait. It's time we take our revenge on the big kids…what do you think?"
The bear begins to twitch, and audible tearing could be heard, the bear's head and limbs shift, turn, and twist as it began to grow in size, a possessed Milly standing in front of the bear as it grew.
"Repeat the word, repeat the word, repeat the word…" Milly begins chanting as an unknown power begins to take over her mind. "You want to hurt…you want to hurt…you want to hurt…"
The bear fully stands up, destroying the garden shed with its enlarged body. Blood-red claws grow out of its plush hands, covered in pulsating veins. A red, thick liquid dripped from them and pooled at its feet.
Millie floats on top of its head. "It's time to show them who the big kid on campus is…"
"She's even more horrible on prom day," Odd sighed, watching Sissi and her cronies leave before glancing at Ingrid. "Hey, that was pretty cool of you, standing up for Milly like that."
"There aren't many people who find the courage to tell Sissi off. You must be the new girl everyone's talking about," Yumi grinned. "I'm Yumi. That's Odd and Ulrich."
At this point, Ingrid had never spoken to any member of this group of interest. By standing up for Milly, she had gained some sort of respect from them. This was what she was looking for. A way in. She continued the façade.
"I don't do well with mistreatment," Ingrid replied. "I'm Ingrid. It is nice to meet all of you."
"You wanna help us set up the auditorium for the dance? We could use an extra pair of hands," Ulrich asked, holding up a few extension cords.
"Sure, I'd love to help," Ingrid walked into the auditorium, her gaze shifting to all the decorations and confectionery, even the giant disco ball hanging from the ceiling. "You guys have really done up the place."
"It's a group effort," Odd began undoing the microphone wires. "Though you can say I'm the head of this entire operation."
"Yeah, your head is surely bigger than everyone else's," Yumi retorted, getting a laugh out of both her and Ulrich.
"This normal-sized head will be the talk of the whole school at the prom tonight. Just you wait," Odd promised with confidence.
Ingrid giggled at their tongue-in-cheek banter. She must admit that they had a very interesting kind of chemistry.
"So, you're from the U.S., right?" Ulrich asked, having watched her interviews. "What made you want to come to France?"
Ingrid hesitated for a moment before answering. "My uncle got a job at a research facility here, and we had to move because of it," Ingrid explained, helping tape wires to the floor.
"Woah, cool! Your uncle's a super-secret scientist?" Odd chimed in, forgetting he was speaking through the microphone. Yumi swiped it from him and turned it off with a deafening screech. "Maybe that's not something she wants the whole school to know, Odd."
Ingrid reassured them with a smile. "You might as well be right. I know that he's here because of bizarre things that have been reported to be happening around this area and France as a whole, and he wanted to corroborate sightings."
Ingrid sighed. "I've wanted to help him. This kind of stuff is my calling. I'm something of a paranatural investigator."
The trio of friends glanced at each other awkwardly.
"I-I know it sounds strange but hear me out. I've been doing some investigations here at Kadic since I arrived. I always get so close, but I can't seem to hold onto any leads long enough to reach a conclusion. Honestly, I'm beginning to think that there's nothing here at all," Ingrid tore off another piece of masking tape. "It's a little disappointing, but…I'm not one to complain about things being peaceful."
Odd sat over the side of the stage, tugging at his collar. "Yup, nothing weird or crazy going on here, it's just a normal school with normal people and normal prom dances. It's as normal as it can get here. Normal, normal, normal."
"Normal's a good thing," Ulrich sighed, standing up. "The wires are all taped down…Jeremy should be on his way to set up all of this soundboard stuff any moment now."
"Do you know Jeremy, Ingrid? He's got the biggest brains in the entire school. Top student," Yumi said, turning to her.
Ingrid tapped her chin. Of course she knew of Jeremy. "I can't say I haven't heard of him. He is very intellectually gifted. Why do you ask?"
"Ah, Einstein. That's what we call 'im." Odd swiped a candy bar from one of the bowls nearby. "The smartest kid in school, AND he's a tech-whiz. If there was anything strange going on, my money is that he'd know about it first."
"I'm glad my reputation precedes me," a new boy walked up to the group. Ingrid recognized him. Those thick glasses, the short blonde hair, blue sweater, and brown highwaters…that was Jeremy, all right. "Who's this? Someone new?"
Jeremy could have sworn that he'd seen Ingrid around…probably a bit too much. She was a new transfer, and they had never spoken to one another before now, but why was it that Ingrid was always close by or in any area they were in? Was she following them? Was it just him that was noticing?
Maybe he was overthinking things. Maybe not. Jeremy couldn't be too sure, but he knew what he saw.
"She's been all over the Kadic News. She's giving Sissi a run for her money in popularity," Odd said.
"I don't read the Kadic News. It's full of gossip and trashy rumors. Hardly anything intellectual," Jeremy rolled his eyes.
"Well, this is Ingrid; she's cool. She told Sissi to buzz off when she was harassing Milly and Tamiya," Yumi explained.
"Calls herself a 'paranatural investigator,' too. Pretty cool, huh?" Yumi continued, trying to gloss over Ingrid's more serious claims.
"That so? An enemy to Sissi is a friend of mine," Jeremy grinned. "Pleasure to meet you, Ingrid."
"Jeremy, it's great to see you, too," Ingrid nodded, her brows raising a little. "Your friend Odd said that you'd know about any strange happenings that would or could go on here. Have you witnessed any? Say…of a paranatural nature?"
Ulrich gave Odd a glare, who shrugged and chuckled shyly. Ingrid was pretty forward about this.
"Of course not. Nothing happens at Kadic. This is real life, not some sci-fi flick," Jeremy responded laconically. "You shouldn't listen to Odd. He's got his head all mushed up with monsters and mad doctors."
Ingrid didn't answer immediately, only staring at Jeremy, who looked a little uncomfortable. Ingrid's suspicions only mounted. They all seemed pretty eager to dismiss the subject. But Ingrid knew Kadic was not all that it seemed. Either the group of friends was truly oblivious, or they were hiding something. "I see. Well, if you see anything, be sure to tell me."
The friends exchanged a concerned look. They began to catch on that Ingrid really wasn't joking about her little "investigation."
Odd decided to change the subject again, which Ingrid noticed. "Soooo…how are you liking Kadic so far? Classes okay?"
She decided to play along, smiling as she spoke. "It was hard at first, but I think I can manage much better now."
"You seem a little old to be in my grade," Jeremy said.
"I'm 15. I'm in the 10th Grade, according to French education standards," Ingrid answered. "It's been hard…trying to fit in with everyone. French isn't my primary language…so I'm lucky to have some people around who can speak English while I learn."
"Being bilingual has plenty of advantages. However, taking up French would help in the future a lot, especially if you're planning to live here," Jeremy advised. "I'm sure there are plenty of people here that can teach you a phrase or two."
"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you, Jeremy."
"I can even teach you some Japanese; being trilingual is even better than being bilingual," Yumi chuckled.
Their banter continued, with Ingrid becoming more and more comfortable with the group's dynamic. She wouldn't talk too much, mainly letting them converse amongst themselves, only chiming in when one of them asked for her opinion.
It slowly became apparent to Ingrid that she wasn't going to get any further with them now. So she made up an excuse to leave, the group seemed comfortable around her, so there was little chance of them rejecting her advances at a later date. "Oh, apologies everyone. I have to go. I need to study for a math exam. I wouldn't want to be a sitting duck at my desk on test day."
Odd shook his head. "Ugh, math…the bane of my existence. Who needs to know how numbers work when you have calculators? Isn't that the reason they exist?"
"Mental math is great for practicing your critical thinking skills, Odd. But, you know, Math isn't just about the answer. It's about being clever enough to know how to find it," Jeremy advised his friend.
"Yeah, and I'm clever enough to know how to slip a cheat sheet past the teacher. Guess I'm good at math after all!"
Yumi shook her head, turning to Ingrid. "Good luck studying. We'll see you around, Ingrid!" Yumi waved after her. "Are you coming to the dance?"
"Of course!" Ingrid asked with a smile. "If you guys are going to be there, we can all have fun together!"
"A prom isn't a prom without Odd Della Robbia! I'll be there."
"It's a 'maybe' for me," Jeremy sheepishly answered. "I have some computer stuff to catch up on."
"I'll be seeing most of you tonight, then!" Ingrid lightly jogged to the door, waving at the group one last time. Ingrid was quite happy; she didn't think she would be making friends so fast.
Walking through the sunny courtyard and into the library, Ingrid knew that they must be hiding something. She wasn't close enough to them to warrant them telling all about any of their secrets, no matter how well-liked she was in the student body. But she couldn't start making accusations from mere hunches. She needed something to confirm her suspicions.
Jeremy was certain in his denial…but "no" didn't always mean that…especially when it came to the unknown.
When Ingrid was finally out of earshot, Ulrich turned to Jeremy with a disparaging glance. "Ain't trying to be the cynical one here, but she might become a problem, Jeremy."
Jeremy nodded as he set up the soundboard. "I don't know how adamant she is on uncovering the truth…but if she's that determined, we should distance ourselves from her. I notice her around often, especially when we're together. She's always just out of sight…I don't know what her deal is."
Yumi crossed her arms. "Maybe you're seeing things, Jeremy. I don't know why we can't still be friends, Jeremy. I mean, she seems like a nice girl. She's cool with pretty much everyone. You know, minus all the paranatural detective stuff."
"X.A.N.A is much too dangerous of a secret to let slip out. It doesn't matter how 'nice' she is," Jeremy cautioned. "I think she's onto us."
"We just met Ingrid. It's not like we can trust her, Yumi," Ulrich said. "Besides, the bigger our group gets, the harder it's gonna be to keep things secret."
"I'm not saying we should blindly trust her. I'm saying it doesn't seem right to kick her out," Yumi said defensively. "But I guess you're right. There's no telling how she'll react if she were to find out about Lyoko."
"Just gotta be careful what we say around her, is all. It's not like we have to be around her 24/7," Odd chimed in. "Who knows? Maybe she can keep a secret, too. Maybe her uncle is super chill. Besides, if she discovers the factory, a quick Return to The Past and she'll be back at square one. Simple."
"No matter what, X.A.N.A and Lyoko are always our top priority. And Ingrid can't fully be trusted. Who's to say she won't figure out a way to bypass the Return to The Past?"
"Okay, Jeremy. Now you're reaching. As long as she doesn't get scanned, she'll never remember anything…right? That's how it worked with you the first time," Yumi said.
"If Ingrid's words are true, then her uncle must work at the CNRS…which might explain her fascination with the unknown. They do specialize in the fundamental sciences, all of which has to do with the expanding of all kinds of scientific theories…many of which can be quite outrageous,"
"You're rambling, Einstein," Odd said.
"What I'm trying to say is that I'm chalking her fascination up to an active imagination, an infatuation," Jeremy continued.
"No one's imagination is more active than Odd's," Ulrich jokes.
"Still, I can't shake off the feeling that she's onto us. If there's even a slight chance that she suspects something or she's more than just some student at Kadic, we should cut her out. We can never be too careful when it comes to the Supercomputer's whereabouts."
"I guess you're right, Jeremy. Well, such are the trials of leading a double life; we must work in the shadows, our heroics never to be seen to the masses," Odd dramatically sighed.
Fixing the soundboard, Jeremy brushed his hands off in satisfaction. "There. That should do it." He suddenly snaps his fingers. "Ah, I forgot to check on Aelita; I had wanted to see if she had felt any pulsations on Lyoko."
Yumi shrugged. "You can go. That soundboard you fixed was the only one that was prepped. As long as the rest are ready before prom, no one'll care if you left for an hour or two."
"I-I won't be long, really. I'll be back."
"Ah, don't be so worried, Einstein. You and Aelita have some catching up to do! Get to it, Casanova!" Odd grinned.
The brainiac's cheeks were dashed with red. "Uhm…-"
"Speed it up, Jeremy. These soundboards aren't gonna set up themselves," Ulrich said, egging Jeremy on to leave.
In front of his computer, Jeremy had begun conversing with someone on the screen.
"Aelita, do you read me? It's Jeremy," he called out to her. "Aelita?"
"Jeremy, hello there!" Her voice was pleasant and dreamy, though put through a digital filter. "How are you?"
"I'm doing well. How about you?"
"I'm okay. If you're here to ask about the Towers, I haven't felt any pulsations," Aelita said. "It all seems quiet here. For the moment, at least."
"That's good; X.A.N.A's been quieter than usual lately. I'm still on edge that he might be planning something…" Jeremy spoke cautiously. "Hey, you know, Aelita…I-I'm making a lot of progress with my materialization research, s-so you can come and live with us!"
The pink-haired girl's face lit up in excitement. "The key to materialization? Have you found it at last?!"
Jeremy rubbed the back of his head, sheepishly stuttering. "Uh-…w-well, n-no, not yet. B-But trust me, I'm working on it! Soon, X.A.N.A won't be able to harm any of us, including you. It's only a matter of time, I assure you."
Aelita hampered her excitement a fair bit. Nevertheless, she had all the confidence in the world that Jeremy would be able to materialize her one day. "That's great, Jeremy. Thank you for all of your hard work."
Continuing to work, Aelita could see that Jeremy was pensive from the way he typed on his keyboard. She would listen to Jeremy type away for hours, exchanging small talk and "real-world" advice and trivia as he compiled his programs. But now, his keystrokes were heavy and slow, and he'd press the backspace key a lot more than he would normally, if ever. Something was bothering him.
"Is something the matter, Jeremy?" She asked after a few moments of silence.
Jeremy perked up. "Is it that obvious?"
Aelita smiled. "The way you type on your keyboard. It's changed. I listen, you know."
"Well…there's a new girl in school now, and she's kinda…well…different."
Aelita suddenly became interested in this other girl. "What's she like?"
"Her name's Ingrid. Apparently, she moved to France from the United States. She's become pretty popular in Kadic in a short time, and she's a self-proclaimed 'paranatural investigator,'" Jeremy explained. "She's suspicious about the things that happen around Kadic. You know, the X.A.N.A attacks. I'm a little wary that she might suspect us of hiding something. It doesn't help that I see her everywhere, just out of sight, as if she's following us."
"Hmh, interesting. Is it possible for people to still remember events before a Return to the Past, even if they were never scanned?" Aelita asked.
"That shouldn't be the case. I forgot everything that happened before the first time I ran a Return to The Past. If it were possible to evade The Return to The Past, we'd definitely have been found out already," Jeremy scratched his chin. "But something tells me that Ingrid isn't just some normal girl…call it a hunch, but she gives off such a strange air."
"You don't think X.A.N.A could be behind this? Maybe a possession or maybe a clone?"
"Impossible. X.A.N.A can't materialize or possess people. Plus, she seems decent; she even stood up to Sissi earlier today."
"I see. This Ingrid sounds like a very sweet person."
"I'm still going to keep an eye on her. I also want the others to keep their distance, too. If there's even a chance of her remembering snippets of the past, it could pose a huge problem should she report the factory to the authorities."
"I agree, Jeremy."
"No matter what, I'm far more intrigued by you, Aelita. Nothing on Earth will change that."
On the other side, Aelita smiled. If she could blush, she would have. "Thank you, Jeremy."
Sissi marched to her dorm room, tailed still by Herb and Nicolas.
"How dare that girl talk to me like that?!" Sissi lamented. "She thinks she can waltz into Kadic and embarrass me in front of my Ulrich? Think again! Something has to be done about her."
"She's creepy. I don't like the fact that she never opens her eyes." Nicolas shuddered. "How do you know if she's looking at you or not?"
"If we could find a way to embarrass her instead, she'll never have the gall to talk to Sissi like that again!" Herb cackled deviously. "Her reputation will be tarnished, and Sissi keeps her spot at the top!"
Sissi shook her head. "No, no, no! Tonight, I want to focus on becoming Beauty Queen. I don't want to have to worry about any schemes or pranks or anything that could ruin my standings. Ingrid's day will come, believe that. Besides, when I win the award tonight, no one will care about that blind brat."
Sissi pulled out her phone to look at the time, groaning impatiently. "I hope that girl from science class is ready, I need to have my hair styled before tonight!"
The trio finally reaches Sissi's door. As Sissi turned the knob to open it, Nicolas looked down and gave a frightened yelp. Herb and Sissi jumped in surprise.
"D'oh! What was that for?!" Herb snapped at him.
Nicolas didn't reply, he just pointed at the ground. Herb followed his gesture and gave out a scream of his own.
When Sissi looked down, she noticed the pool of red liquid seeping from the bottom of her door, covering her shoes. "Wh-What…?"
Herb began to back away. "What the heck is this…? Could it be some prank?"
Sissi stomped her feet. "Well, if it is a prank, then it's not funny! When I find out who did this, they'll get in trouble with my father for SURE!"
Opening the door in a huff, Sissi stopped in her tracks, her eyes widening in horror.
Her room was coveredin red ooze, dripping from the ceiling, and ruining her bed, clothes, boy band posters, and all her expensive hair equipment and makeup. Even the brand-new outfit she had her father buy for prom was ruined. The sun shining through the stained window gave the room a bright red haze, making everything sheen with the invasive color.
And standing in the middle of it all…was Milly. Though her head was hung, staring at the ground, not reacting to Sissi opening the door. Sissi was furious.
"Why you!" Sissi yelled. "It was YOU who did this, huh? What do you have to say for yourself, you little twerp?!"
Sissi marched into the room and grabbed Milly's arm. "Oh-ho, just wait 'till my FATHER hears about this, you'll get suspended! No, expelled! I-I'll sue you for all the damages! How am I supposed to get ready for prom now?! You little minx, you've ruined EVERYTHING!"
As Sissi tried to pull Milly out of her room, she realized that Milly wasn't budging. Sissi was far bigger than Milly. Sissi should be able to drag her to the principal's office, no problem. So how could Milly resist so much?
"Hey! Start walking, you idiot!" Sissi used both hands to tug at Milly's arm but ended up falling and ruining her clothes, sending her into a screaming fit. "Oh, you're dead, you hear me?! You're gonna pay for all of this!"
She turned to her two lackeys. "Don't just stand there! Help me drag her out!"
Though the boys were hesitant, they knew what would happen if they didn't obey Sissi. Just when they were about to help take the young girl away, Milly suddenly snapped her head up to face the trio. The three older students visibly cringed from the sound of bone cracking.
Sissi clammed up immediately, disturbed by Milly's erratic movement. "H-Hey…w-what's wrong with you?!"
Milly spoke, her voice distorted and warbled, making the trio panic even more. "We've never been better."
"Who's 'we'…? J-Just what the heck are you talking about?! Why did you mess up my room? What is all this red stuff?!"
Milly giggled. "Elisabeth Delmas. Your purpose in life bears no weight. You are useless. Formless. Your song is a burden on the ears. It needs to be rewritten."
Sissi took offense to that. "Try saying that to my face, you twerp! You don't scare me. And DON'T. CALL. ME. ELISABE-"
Sissi's shrill tantrum was cut short, her gaze drawn to the window. She could see a massive eye peering into the room, staring at her…her pupils shrank in horror.
"We are not to be feared. We only mean bring you a gift," Milly continued.
"W-What k-kind of gift is this?! M-Make it stop! I don't want it!" Sissi yelled, trembling in fright, trying to stand up and run away, but she only kept slipping.
"The choice is not yours to make," Milly said. "We…are your…salvation."
Then, the entire wall of the room buckled in, sending Herb and Nicolas onto their backs from the force and staining their clothes with the red ooze, and covering Herb's face with Sissi's stained prom outfit. They could just catch a glimpse of something like a giant bear reaching its claws into the room, grabbing Sissi, and taking her away. Milly stood with her back to the doorway, watching in silence as Sissi called out for Ulrich, begging someone to help her.
"Holy…-" Nicolas was too frightened to move.
Herb, however, found the courage to pick himself back up and run towards Sissi's door. Before he could step inside, Milly's head turned to face him, her torso locked in place. Giving him one last eerie smile and giggle, the door slammed in his face, knocking him to the ground. Writhing in pain as he held his bashed nose.
Nicolas forced himself up and lunged for the handle, opening the door to save Sissi somehow, but…
They were gone…and the room was intact and clean. Everything was normal, with no evidence of weird red liquids or destruction. It was just…Sissi's room again.
Herb and Nicolas stood there in disbelief, closing and re-opening the door, again and again, to see if what they were seeing was their imagination. After Herb walked into the room and looked around, he confirmed that everything was back to normal.
"What…What happened to Sissi?!" Nicolas finally blurted out.
"I don't know, but we have to tell Principal Delmas and call the Police!" Herb ordered, bolting out of the room with Nicolas awkwardly following him, grabbing Sissi's ruined prom outfit as evidence as the pair navigated their way through the rubble that was left behind.
Ingrid had busied herself writing everything she had listened to from the group's conversation…but realized there was nothing of substance. She knew they wouldn't talk about anything sensitive with her around. That meant she could only get valuable information from afar.
Packing her things and walking out of the library, Ingrid's gaze shifts to the group of students gathering near the entrance of the dormitory building. She turned in the direction of the fussing crowd, slowly approaching as she gauged what was going on.
Principal Delmas – Sissi's father – lifted his hands up towards the crowd of students. "Please, everyone, calm down."
"Please sir, you have to believe us!" Herb pleaded with Delmas. "Sissi was abducted! It was that kid Milly's fault! The one who runs the newspaper. Her giant bear covered her room in this red stuff, destroyed the wall, and carried her away!"
"Yeah! A-And when we went to open her door again, everything was back to normal, but Sissi and Milly and the bear were gone without a trace!" Nicolas showed Delmas Sissi's new outfit stained in the mysterious red liquid. "See? Here's the proof! A-And there are pieces of the wall and other stuff around her dorm room, too!
The other kids now had a reason to worry.
"What happened?"
"Is Sissi okay? Where did she go?"
"Was it a monster? Or a kidnapper?"
"Will it come for the rest of us?"
Delmas held Sissi's stained clothes with trembling hands. The visible despair on his face was palpable, making the other students uneasy.
In the crowd Tamiya could only see the red stains on the clothes, covering her mouth in disbelief.
"Milly wouldn't…she couldn't!" Tamiya thought.
"Everyone, go to your fourth period classes and remain with your teachers until further notice. None of you are to leave said rooms until we have gotten to the bottom of this," he tried to assert his authority, but it was hard when he was wracked with worry…A father fretting for the life of his missing daughter.
He gestured to Herb and Nicolas. "You two are coming with me. And if one of you finds Jim, tell him to come to my office immediately!"
Ingrid spotted the ruined clothes, and immediately her body was overwhelmed with an encroaching sensation that prevented her from moving. That…wasn't what she thought it was…was it?
"No…No, it can't possibly be that…!" Ingrid thought in desperation.
The group of friends Ingrid had met before had been eavesdropping on the commotion. They spotted Ingrid standing there and even locked eyes before running into the dormitories. Ingrid went in a different direction. If this was what she feared it could be, then no one should be near the site. It could still be…infected.
"It can't be…it just can't!" Ingrid said as she rushed into the building.
Ingrid now was on a mission. Her "quirky schoolgirl" act was just a provisional pretense she had to keep up...but no longer.
As Herb and Nicolas said, there was rubble and dust all over the halls. Something clearly happened here. The group stepped over the shards of drywall and bricks that were strewn about, finally making their way to Sissi's dorm.
Odd reached for the knob and opened the door. Sissi's room was just fine.
Ulrich was the first to speak. "I don't get it. What did they say happened again…?"
"Something broke into Sissi's room and abducted her," Yumi recounted. "But there's no sign of damage inside the room…but there's proof that the room was damaged at all because of the mess out here in the hall."
Jeremy paced back and forth, looking at the bits and pieces across the floor. "They weren't wrong about the red liquid, either…" He pointed to one of the shards of painted drywall, only to see that it was stained red.
The group was horrified. "That's not what I think it is, is it…?" Odd asked with dread.
"No…it can't be. Sissi can't be…-" Ulrich couldn't believe it.
Yumi – though just as horrified – still maintained a cool head. "Wait."
Odd and Ulrich trained their attention on her. "What is it, Yumi?"
"This…This isn't blood."
"Huh?" Odd gave her a confused look. "Come on, Yumi! That's definitely blood! Sissi's blood!"
Yumi shook her head. "No, blood doesn't look like this," she points to a particular stain. "Look, there are patterns. Repeating patterns, like inkblots."
The others came to investigate, and Jeremy adjusted his glasses to confirm Yumi's claims. "You're right, Yumi! Blood does not look like this…and it couldn't have dried already, it's only been an hour. And when considering the sheer amount of the stuff that's been deposited everywhere-"
"Hold on, hold on, hold on…" Odd cut them off. "Just how do you two know so much about blood?"
"Forensics elective. Yumi and I just happened to take it," Jeremy explained.
"Guys…? Guys, come look at this! The patterns…they're…they're moving."
"What? Give me a break Yumi, that's crazy," Ulrich said.
"See for yourself!" Yumi said, holding up the piece of drywall to Ulrich's face.
Squinting, Ulrich gasps when the patterns in the liquid began to move and pulse as if it was…alive. The motions were almost hypnotizing.
"What the heck?!" Odd exclaimed, taking a look for himself. "T-This is right out of a horror movie! Only thing is, I don't think I want to be in it anymore."
"Jeremy? Do you think it could be X.A.N.A?" Yumi asked.
The blonde genius scratched his head. "I don't know. X.A.N.A's never attacked like this before. And you'd think he would abduct one of us…Why would he go after Sissi?"
"Wait, Milly was there too, and her stuffed bear, apparently. Herb said something like that," Ulrich pointed out. "If Milly really was there, could she have really done something to Sissi?"
"She was really mad at what Sissi said. Believe what you want, there's a motive," Jeremy said. "But she could never be capable of this."
"A little girl like Milly? No. She's harmless. The kid might have a temper, but she wouldn't hurt a fly," Odd said.
"None of this makes any sense!" Yumi growled, punching the wall. "What does any of this mean?"
"You won't be able to understand any of it. You can't."
The group all turn around and see Ingrid standing in the hallway. It's quiet for a moment before Ingrid continues.
"You are dealing with forces far beyond you or me. But clearly, you have the means to try and understand or combat it. Is it this X.A.N.A you keep talking about? What is Lyoko? You must tell me."
"I knew there was something off about you," Jeremy spat. "You've been following us, haven't you? What do you know?"
"Enough," Ingrid bluntly replied, conjuring her notebook out of thin air.
"I've noticed strange happenings going on in Kadic. They're frequent. About two to three times in a single week." Ingrid slowly began to flip through the countless pages in the book.
"And though the occurrences were rarely consistent, the one thing that never changed was your response. Going to a factory. Lyoko. Someone named...Aelita."
Jeremy clenched his fists at the sound of Aelita's name. "Just how do you know so much? You're not supposed to remember anything!"
"That's what confused me, too. But then, I was able to get my hands on this. A book that superimposes whatever is written on it into its own reality, separate from the one you and I inhabit, preventing any information stored within it from being erased or altered.
"If your 'Return to The Past' does exactly what it says on the tin, then whatever I wrote down would survive the temporal regression, allowing me to catch myself up on what I missed in the event that my memory becomes compromised."
Ingrid dismisses the book with a snap of her fingers. "If you know something, you have to tell me. It's far too dangerous for you to handle. I would much prefer you be safe."
"We're not telling you anything!" Ulrich exclaimed. "It's none of your business, so go away."
"It is entirely my business," Ingrid pressed on. "I know what this is. And you will not be able to stop it. It will destroy you, and everything else here if you don't tell me what you've been hiding."
"Okay then. Since you're so knowledgeable on the subject, why not give us a lesson, teach?" Odd retorted. "What's so big and bad about splotches of spooky blood?"
Ingrid exhaled sharply from her nose. "That information is classified."
"Classified? Shucks, pot calling the kettle black."
"How do you expect us to trust you when you can't even be transparent?" Yumi countered.
"You're wasting time. The longer you keep up this charade, the further away Sissi and Milly get," Ingrid said. "And there's no telling who's going to be next. If you could just tell me what you know, I might still be able to save th-"
"HEY! YOU FOUR!" A booming voice came from the other end of the hallway. A voice that the group knew all too well. "STOP RIGHT THERE!"
"Oh no, it's Jim!" Ulrich said.
The gym teacher. Something of a makeshift enforcer on campus. Ingrid knew not to get on his bad side. Despite his rotund build, the man was surprisingly athletic. He commanded the students as if he was the principal, though he was dull enough to be fooled by someone who knew what they were doing. Getting caught by him wouldn't be ideal.
"What are the four of you doing here? Principal Delmas said that everyone should be in their fourth period classes until further notice!"
"It's not just the four of us, Jim, there's a fifth one right-" Odd pointed in Ingrid's direction, only to realize that Ingrid was no longer there. "…What?"
"Oh very funny, Della Robbia. You must take me for an idiot, huh?!" Jim scoffed.
"But she was just right here!"
Jeremy began to speak. "Jim, we were just leaving-"
"Nope! Not a word! This isn't one of your sneaky pranks or jokes. This is SERIOUS! A student may be in danger, or WORSE! You four need to follow instructions. In fact, I have a great idea. Because you four think you're above the word of the principal, why don't we spend this lockdown in detention?"
"What?! Jim, no!" Yumi protested. "I have to go back home! My parents will be worried sick!"
"Once the police have collected all the information they need, your parents can come and get you. For now, all of you! To the library!"
The kids tried to protest still, but Jim was not having any of it. Defeated, the group led the way to the library with Jim following them in a huff, leaving the hallway empty once again.
Peeking out from behind the corner, Ingrid's suspicions were confirmed. Once she was sure the coast was clear, she approaches the wreckage and sees the "blood." She inspects it and saw the moving patterns. Suddenly, she was overcome by flashes of bloody imagery, crimson splotches pulsing and streaking across a white limbo. Whispers of unintelligible noise fill what was once silent.
Holding the sides of her head, she staggers from side to side. This feeling…like her mind being invaded…a feeling that Max hoped she would never have to experience.
The Hiss.
Clenching her teeth, Ingrid's knees buckled from the stress. After what seemed like forever, she began taking deep breaths, tightening her grip on reality and forcing the whispers away. A cleansing warmth coursed through her body as she felt at ease…but she wasn't at ease. She was panicking.
Ingrid growled, taking a few steps back in fear. "Th-That's impossible…D-Director Faden had g-gotten rid of The Hiss. Wh-What could have happened?!"
Muffled sirens could be heard coming from Sissi's window. Ingrid frowned. This just got more complicated.
"Delmas called the police…" Ingrid said. "This is getting too much attention. It'll be hard to continue my search with officers around. I can't really do much of anything here…
"Calling in the FBC would be risky. An American agency has no reason to operate on French soil, and it's not like we can just get permission on such short notice, either. Not without explaining what we're all about."
Ingrid paced back and forth. "That's it. I just have to figure this out on my own. I'll find Sissi and Milly.
"But there was something else those guys mentioned…something about a factory? What could be in a factory that going there is an immediate response to something like this? And this 'X.A.N.A'…and 'Lyoko'… what are they? Who is 'Aelita,' and how are they related to The Hiss?"
Ingrid shook her head. "So many questions, so little time…rescuing Sissi and Milly can come later. I have to find out how the Hiss returned and destroy it immediately. If I do that, then saving those two will most likely solve itself."
Delmas' voice grew louder – explaining what happened to the police as he approached Sissi's room. Ingrid ran to the exit. She racked her brain, trying to figure out all the places she would have to check. It was nigh impossible to predict where the Hiss could be hiding…and with police arriving, she was trapped on campus and wouldn't be able to find a discreet way out.
As she reached the bottom floor, she could hear someone crying in the corner under the stairs. Turning around, she spotted Tamiya with her knees to her chest, sniffling. Ingrid came over and knelt down next to her.
"Tamiya?" Ingrid called for the junior camerawoman, who jolted with shock. She didn't think anyone would find her.
"Ingrid…?" Tamiya blinked as if trying to make sense of her being there. "W-What are you doing here?"
"You need to go to a classroom, it's too dangerous to be sitting out here," Ingrid warned.
"I've been looking around for Milly everywhere…a-and I can't find her!" Tamiya desperately admitted, holding back her tears. "She ran away to the garden shed in the forest after Sissi humiliated her in front of everyone. She took her bear with her and everything."
Ingrid took a moment to think. "Why would she go to the garden shed? I thought it was off limits."
"It's where she always goes when she wants to be alone. We used to play around there when the big kids would give us trouble – until Jim caught us and forbade us from ever going there again. A lot of the big kids harass us because we run the school paper…we just wanted to write interesting stories a-and keep everyone informed, you know, add a bit of spice every now and then. We don't really mean anyone harm…
"…You see, M-Milly and I…we made a promise to each other. When we were big kids we'd travel the world and start a little blog that would document our journeys in the style of a newscast. S-So we decided it would be best to start practicing now."
Ingrid nodded. "I understand. You and Milly are intelligent and ambitious girls. Getting the facts and finding answers is not easy. People who search for the truth aren't always appreciated and are almost always in the most danger."
"I…I miss her, Ingrid. I don't know where she is, and if everything those two meanies Herb and Nicolas said were true, it means Milly had something to do with Sissi disappearing, and I refuse to believe it." Tamiya took a long sniff. "I…I just hope she's okay."
"Tamiya, I'll bring Milly back. I promise."
"How? Delmas ordered everyone to be in class. It won't be long until someone finds out you and I are missing. I'm just gonna let them come find me…but you? I don't think it'll look good if you get caught snooping around. You're a big kid, so you're bound to get into more trouble."
Ingrid smiled, playfully putting a finger to her lips. "Don't worry. I'll be fine. I can be sneaky too, you know."
Tamiya cracked a smile of her own. "Thank you, Ingrid. Be careful…please."
Patting Tamiya's head in an embrace, Ingrid peeks out the exit doors of the dorm building and rushes into the woods. She would start her investigation at the garden shed. Maybe clues to the Hiss' revival hid there.
Ingrid weaved in and out of the dense vegetation in her hasty search for the garden shed. She shuddered as she spotted splotches of that Hiss-born liquid staining the dirt and foliage. She grits her teeth. Just seeing traces of the Hiss was enough to put her in a horrible mood.
"X.A.N.A…" Ingrid pondered. "Jeremy and his friends spoke of this acronym as if they were familiar with it. Could this X.A.N.A be behind it…? And why does that acronym sound so familiar to me? Could I have read about it in our records?
"I wish Director Faden was still here…she'd know exactly what to do when it comes to the Hiss." Ingrid lamented.
"I have to attack this situation as she would. Faden would have made the Hiss her top priority. Expelling it is always the most important thing. If it were left alone long enough, it could spread to others and infect them, too, making the job exponentially more difficult. As far as I know, only Milly and Sissi might be infected after spending so much time being directly exposed. All I can hope for now is that they're able to resist long enough for me to rescue them. For it not to have infected everyone here already means that it has been weakened somehow…but how?"
She could see the garden shed in the distance…or at least what she thought was a garden shed at one point. The entire building was destroyed, covered in red liquid. As Ingrid approached, she spotted gardening tools and torn bags of mulch strewn across the perimeter. She could see massive indents in the ground, like giant footprints.
"I guess Herb and Nicolas were right about it being a monster…and huge," Ingrid knelt down to run her fingers across the sunken earth. Another group of footprints could be seen a short distance away. Ingrid knew that whatever this monster was, it returned here at least once. Maybe this was its makeshift home.
"Should I stake it out?" Ingrid wondered aloud. "Maybe it'll come back if I wait…but just how long could that take?"
Ingrid approached the remains of the shed, looking for any evidence of Milly or even Sissi being there. But other than the copious amount of Hiss remains, she found nothing. But Tamiya was sure that Milly had gone here…and with her bear, too. So, when she stepped on something soft, her suspicions became a little more assured.
"Stuffing…?" Ingrid murmured, kneeling down to pick up a tuft of soft, white cottony material. "…Tamiya said that Milly went here with her stuffed bear. Could it have been damaged when the shed came down? Maybe Milly tried to escape…whatever was chasing her. Milly must have run away before Sissi was abducted."
Ingrid walked around the remains of the garden shed, lifting up broken equipment and brushing dirt off of things. She couldn't find anything else…but she was certain that there was something that she was missing.
"Maybe…there's something Polaris can see that I'm not looking at." Ingrid took a deep breath. "Polaris…let me see through your eyes. Show me the path to the Hiss' demise."
A wave of powerful resonance burst from Ingrid's body, draining the world of color. Ingrid slowly opened her eyes, looking around for anything she had missed. That's when she began hearing voices.
"They'll never understand what I have to go through...no one will. But you...you've always been there for me, haven't you?"
Ingrid turned around. An echo. Something playing through her mind as if it was being projected onto her. She could see the shadow of a small girl pacing back and forth. "Milly?" Ingrid whispered.
"I-I didn't mean to yell at Tamiya...she's really my only friend. She cares about me a lot...and I care about her, too. M-Maybe I should apologize...what do you think?"
Ingrid listened to Milly speak to her bear as she did earlier that day. Was this power unique to Ingrid?
Suddenly, the world around her began to shift and corrupt, as if she was viewing it through a camera and the feed was tearing. Red filled her vision like a thin film over her eyes. She saw it – reaching down for Milly and her bear, covering them in it, digging its way into her skin.
"Repeat the word, repeat the word, repeat the word…
"You want to hurt…you want to hurt…you want to hurt…"
An incantation Ingrid was familiar with. No way…Milly had been possessed?!
Ingrid backed up as she watched the shadow of the bear grow to almost ten times its height. Milly's shadow floated to perch on its head.
"It's time to show them who the big kid on campus is…"
The bear and Milly walked out of the shed, right towards the school. As they left, the red film began to fade, and the color returned to the world as Ingrid eyelids became heavy and shut once more.
"Milly's become possessed by the Hiss…no, no no! This can't be!"
Ingrid was so wrapped up in her inner turmoil that she didn't notice her arm being grabbed by someone. Looking up, she was met with the face of a policeman.
"Just what are you doing here, young lady?!" The policeman demanded to know. Another one stood close by.
Ingrid didn't respond at first. She was too busy trying to figure out what she was going to do about Milly. "If Milly really has been taken by the Hiss, then she must have been the one to take Sissi away. It would explain the rubble that was left behind because the bear destroyed her room…then the Hiss covered everything up. But why would it do that…? Unless it was trying not to get caught…"
"Hey! Hey! Can you hear me?! Answer me! Were you the one that destroyed this shed?!" The policeman continued to harshly question Ingrid. The more levelheaded policeman gave the other a look of exasperation. It was his first big job, and he might have been taking it a little too seriously.
Ingrid gasps. "It has to know that I'm here. If it knows I'm here, why would it not come after ME instead? Why attack Sissi? It shouldn't be interested in Sissi…"
"That's it, I'm taking you to the station for questioning!" The eager policeman reached for his cuffs. The other one stopped him.
"Frank, what the hell are you doing?"
"B-But, Mr. Tenant, she's not answering any of my questions, a-and she's resisting!"
"She's a kid," Mr. Tenant was quick to point out. "Look at her, she's passed out standing up 'cause of your screaming."
"…Oh."
Ingrid finally snapped back to reality, pulling her hand away from Frank's grip and backing away. Mr. Tenant was cautious but firm.
"Hey, hey…calm down, little girl. We're not here to hurt you. We just want to ask you a few questions," Mr. Tenant said.
"But I don't have time for questions. I need to find Milly and that bear!"
"…She still isn't responding, Mr. Tenant. Maybe we have to be a little more assertive," Frank suggested.
"I'll do the talking from here on, okay Frank?" Mr. Tenant retorted.
"I'm sorry, officers. But I'm in the middle of an investigation of my own," Ingrid said.
Sticking her hands out to point at the officers, she says one word. "Seize."
Before Frank could reach for his gun, he could feel his mind being overwritten. Something was taking control of it, same with Mr. Tenant. Their eyes became glossed over and they stood straight, looking blankly into the forest as if they were waiting for orders.
"Stay here, and don't move a muscle," Ingrid commanded them.
The policemen nodded, doing as they were told while Ingrid made a mad dash back towards campus in a different direction. She had a lead. A MASSIVE lead.
Milly was taken by the Hiss.
I hope you guys enjoyed this rewrite so far! I'm trying to treat these episodes as mini-arcs, and have a lot more mystery and action in them, mixing with the school drama the show's known for and the eldritch horror found in Control (though played up a little more).
I'm glad you were able to make it this far. Chapter Two is coming very soon, I'll try my best to get it out as fast as possible. There are new powers, and mechanics that'll affect combat on Earth AND Lyoko and tie the dimensions together. I can't wait to expound on that in Chapter 2 and beyond, as well as the power of Polaris and Ingrid discovering what it truly means to be the Director.
I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Reviews, Favs, and Follows are always nice! See you in the next chapter! :D