Early April
Proof
"No way!" Shouted William, startling the other three people. "You are not sending her to Lyoko."
"Why not?" Asked Lily.
"Because going to Lyoko isn't safe, and that was never part of the plan!" Lily looked to Aelita.
"I thought you said that it wasn't dangerous anymore?"
"With XANA being gone, it's really not." The pink-haired woman replied.
"What if XANA comes back when you turn it on!" Argued William.
"We've already had it back on a few times since high school, and no sign of XANA," retorted Jeremy. William was starting to get on both his and Aelita's nerves.
"How could you do that!?" William fumed. "I had months of my life taken aw..."
"Eleven years, William!" Yelled Aelita, having had enough. Both William and Lily shrank away at her outburst. "Sure, you lost months and that was terrible, but I spent eleven years in that machine! My mother died while my father and I were trapped, never knowing about what happened to us, and he had to sacrifice himself in order to destroy XANA for good! While we were still battling XANA, I'd been electrocuted, possessed, deleted, thrown into the digital sea, had my memory violated repeatedly by the schyphozoa, and even had complete cardiac failure multiple times! If anyone knows how dangerous fighting XANA was, it's ME!" Jeremy pulled his shook up fiancé close into a tight hug, which seemed to eventually calm her down. After several minutes he turned his head to address Lily, who was still staring at Aelita in shock.
"It seems that you're not going to just believe us at our word, which is actually pretty understandable, considering what it is we're trying to convince you. That being the case, it looks to me like you've got two options." The brunette woman wrested her attention away from Aelita and listened intently. "You can keep on not believing us and leave here with William..." Jeremy glanced at the dark-haired man who cast his eyes down in defeat, knowing what would happen if they left.
"So you're telling me that we can just go and pretend that this didn't happen?" Lily asked skeptically. "I thought that this was your big secret..."
"Not exactly," Jeremy replied. "You see, there's another function of the supercomputer that allows us to reverse up to a certain period of time, and the only people that know what happened before the reversion are the people that have been already scanned into the computer. Lily's eyes practically popped out of their sockets.
"Wait, you're telling me that you can go back in time!" Jeremy opened his mouth to reply, but Aelita pulled away from his hug and interrupted him before he could further overwhelm the poor woman with his usual technobabble.
"Close enough. Anyway, if you leave here we will execute a Return to the Past and return to yesterday afternoon. You won't remember any of this, but we will and that includes William. That means that now he'll always know that you won't believe the truth if he tries to tell you."
"He'll eventually either need to lie to you about his past, or never tell you at all. Either one will cause a serious breach in trust between the two of you... one that won't go away," added Jeremy. Lily glanced at the downcast look on her boyfriend's face and nibbled her bottom lip nervously. She turned back to Jeremy.
"I don't know if I fully believe that, but I'm also not sure I'm willing to risk it being true either. What's the other option."
"You go with Aelita to Lyoko for proof of what we're telling you. She was going anyway to collect some data for our doctoral theses." Lily thought to herself for a few seconds, then she walked over to William and placed her hand on his cheek.
"I said that I want to believe you, and I meant that. I'm not sure how going to this Lee-oh-ko is supposed to prove anything, but if this will convince me, then I need to do it." William gulped, clearly worried.
"… Ok."
"Are you going to come with us?" Aelita asked William.
"I probably shouldn't, just in case there a piece of XANA left in me." William tapped on the side of his head.
"As unlikely as that is, you're probably right in that it's best not to risk it," confirmed Jeremy. William put his hands on the sides of Lily's shoulders.
"Just make sure to listen to everything Aelita tells you," he warned, "I didn't and that's what got me into trouble." He wrapped her in a tight hug.
"Ok then, I'm going to go start up the supercomputer and then head to the control room. I'll let you know when everything's ready over the intercom." After Jeremy left, Aelita walked over to the hugging couple and put a hand on each of their shoulders. Lily looked at her while William shut his eyes tightly.
"It's going to be alright. We've been to Lyoko a few times since deleting XANA. Even Sissi's been a couple times." William twitched and grunted in surprise, but said nothing. A minute later all the lights turned on, startling the three of them. After another couple minutes, Jeremy's voice was heard over the loudspeaker.
Alright, go on ahead to the scanners.
Aelita took her place in one of the scanners, and with one last hug from William, Lily did the same.
Scanner: Aelita, Scanner Lily
Transfer: Aelita, Transfer Lily
Virtualization!
William gingerly placed his hands on the scanner that Lily was in, and when it opened without her in it he gulped and started breathing heavy.
William, she made it just fine. If you come to the control room, you can talk to her.
The young man rushed to the elevator and slammed the button to go up. When the door opened, he bolted to the control panel and gripped the sides of the keyboard, almost knocking Jeremy out of his chair in the process!
"Lily! Are you there!?"
Yeah, I'm here. This place is absolutely bonkers!
William slouched in relief and sighed deeply.
"Just please get her back in one piece, Aelita."
Not a problem, William.
"Thanks," he replied gratefully.
I'm going to send you guys a visual, I think that William should see what his girlfriend looks like here.
She was in scarlet ballgown with black lace that looked like it came straight out of Victorian England, complete with puffy shoulders and skirt. The torso portion accentuated the curves of her figure in a very flattering way. Around her waist was a wide sash and hanging from it was a parasol that matched the dress. William's eyes perked up.
"Wow, you look gorgeous," marveled William.
Thanks, Willy.
"How are you doing Lily?" Aelita asked with a smile, just as the overwing started appearing.
"I'm doing ok..." she said absently while gazing around at the otherworldly architecture of sector five. "I'll say it again though, this place really is bonkers. Is it normal to not be able to feel anything?" she asked, touching her face.
"Yes, but you get used to it quickly, and the other four sectors are a bit less... bizarre." Aelita assured, while mounting the overwing. "Hop on." Lily looked at the hovering platform skeptically.
"Is it safe?" Asked Lily, causing Aelita to giggle.
"Safer than the drive to get here!" The brunette woman eyed the overwing one last time before stepping onto the floating platform. "Hang on," warned Aelita, then they took off for sector five's terminal.
"Didn't you say that you were coming here to get something for your dissertation?" Asked Lily when they were about halfway there.
"For both of ours, actually," Aelita clarified. "My degree is in physics, and Jeremy's is in health science and technology. Together we're trying to reverse engineer the scanner technology so it can be used in the medical field. As they are right now, they can be used to completely reverse the effects of physical trauma to the body."
"Whoa, that's totally wicked!"
"We thought so too, but they can't be replicated and we have no way of moving them from this location. It's also our opinion that the world isn't ready for full body transfer technology like this. Jeremy's dissertation is on ways to scan the condition of the human body all the way down to a cellular level completely non-invasively. Mine, to put it simply, is in potential methods of breaking down matter to be stored electronically. Together our goal is to develop a method to virtualize, repair, and rematerialize tissues rapidly, a few cells at a time. Eventually, we'd like to see if we can expand its application to diseases and even genetic disorders, on which we're pretty sure it currently has no effect."
"No offense, but aren't you just filching off the tech here."
"No offense taken, and I can see why you'd think that. However, if this technology has an owner, it would be me." Lily gasped. "Anyway, here we are."
Jeremy, could you mute the feed once the program is running? I'd like to talk to Lily in private.
William's eyes shot open and his head whipped toward Jeremy.
"What!? No, DON'T"
It's alright William, Jeremy will still be able to monitor our condition without audio.
Defeated, the young man walked off slumped down against the wall.
"Ok Jeremy, the program is running," Aelita said after plucking away at the translucent terminal of sector five for a few minutes.
Alright, I'm cutting the audio. I'll reconnect it when the program is done.
"Thanks, Jeremy. Ok, where were we?" Asked Aelita.
"You said that all this is yours..."
"Oh yeah, that's right. My father built this. He also programmed XANA, but it got out of control right as he virtualized the two of us for the first time. He ended up having to shut down the supercomputer with us in it. That was twenty... one years ago," explained Aelita, pausing to do some math.
"Wow," Lily murmured breathlessly. "Why did he build it?"
"Let's just say that there are some things that you shouldn't know for your protection as well as ours, This is one of them. You can ask William any questions you have when we're done here, but there are a lot of things he doesn't know either."
"Uhh... ok. So, how did you get out?"
"Almost ten years ago, Jeremy found the supercomputer and turned it on. That's when and how we met. It took him over a year to get me out, and it was almost another one before we managed to defeat XANA." Lily whistled.
"So... he saved you."
"Yes, he did." The pink haired woman replied with a smile. "He was so sweet too. When he first turned on the computer, I had no memories, so we both thought I was just a highly advanced artificial intelligence. Despite that, he treated me like a real living person, and patiently answered any and every question about the real world that my insatiable curiosity would come up with. Once I was materialized, he did his best to provide me with the means and encouragement to live a normal life, aside from the fight with XANA anyway. A few months after XANA's defeat we started dating, and now we're getting married soon."
"Aww, that's darling." Lily said with a smile.
"Thanks, but that's enough about me and Jeremy though." Aelita looked at the other woman intently. "You know that William loves you very much, right?"
"Yes," Lily muttered sheepishly.
"That's why he wanted to bring you here. He didn't want any more secrets between you two."
"Yeah, I get that. It's just that this is all so insane."
"Hmm, are you still having a hard time believing everything, even after coming here?" Asked Aelita with raised eyebrows.
"No, I believe you now, it's hard to deny what's right in front of me. I'm still a bit gobsmacked though."
"That's understandable."
Aelita, Lily, I'm back. The program's done running.
"That took less time than expected," mumbled Aelita, glancing at the terminal. "Ok Jeremy, I think we're done here. Go ahead and bring us in." She turned back towards Lily. "Get ready, this next part can be a bit tiring."
Lily's eyes got wider as she saw Aelita dissolving into a cloud of pixels, and yelped when she saw that she was doing the same! The next thing she knew she was gasping at the waves of exhaustion that came from materialization. The scanner door opened and she collapsed forward into William's waiting arms.
"Well, now I'm quite knackered..." she chuckled quietly as William pulled her closer.
"I'm just glad you're alright." Lily let herself snuggle into her boyfriend's embrace.
"It really was quite safe, just like they promised." She reassured him.
"I think I'll leave you two alone. We'll be in the lab," announced Aelita while she headed toward the elevator. The hugging couple didn't pay her any mind as she left.
"I'm sorry I didn't believe you," Lily whispered.
"It's ok, it's a pretty crazy story. I really don't blame you."
"And I'm sorry to hear about everything you went through." She reached up and cupped his cheek. "I can't even imagine what that must've been like, and you should be rather chuffed for getting over it as well as you have." William pulled away and smiled before he leaned down and kissed her. He rubbed up and down her sides a little causing her to squirm and giggle happily. "I assume that you had me pack an overnight bag for a reason..." she heckled once he stopped, making William blush a little.
"I figured we'd need to get a room for the night..."
"Hmm... maybe we'll get that romantic holiday after all." Lily teased with a coy smirk, closing the distance between them again and walking her fingertips up William's chest. "Perhaps a romantic dinner, then maybe watching one of those overpriced movies that the hotels sell in the room while having a bit of a cuddle..." William's blush darkened at his girlfriend's flirting, and noticed that she was sporting a rosy shade on her own cheeks.
"I think I'd like that..." he replied with a nervous grin. A moment later though, it faded. "We should probably ask if Jeremy and Aelita need a ride somewhere though."
"Yeah, you're probably right." Lily replied with a sigh and pulled away. The couple took the elevator to the main control center and found Jeremy and Aelita busily typing away.
"Hey guys," William greeted with his eyes shut.
"Hi, William!" Aelita returned his greeting cheerfully.
"Umm... are you guys going to need a ride anywhere?" He asked.
"Thanks for the offer, but we're good. We're getting dinner with Ulrich and Yumi later and we've made arrangements to ride with them," replied Jeremy without looking up from his screen. William and Lily grinned at each other.
"Go on and head up, I need to talk to them for a minute." Lily looked at her boyfriend in confusion briefly, but did as she was asked. When she had left, William turned to the pair of geniuses. "I can't thank you guys enough. I don't think I could have convinced her without your help."
"Of course, William," replied Aelita with a grin. "After all this I'd imagine you're planning on marrying her then?" The dark haired man rubbed the back of his neck.
"Yeah, as long as she's up for it. I'll probably ask in a few months to give all this some time to sink in."
"That makes sense. Good luck!"
"Please don't take this the wrong way, but if she says yes, you guys won't be invited to the wedding."
"That's fine. The last thing you want on your special day is XANA flashbacks," said Jeremy matter-of-factly. "I figured that was why you didn't go to Ulrich and Yumi's wedding too.."
"Yeah, and I'm going to have to decline the invitation to yours too."
"We figured that, but we wanted to offer you an invitation anyway," added Aelita
"Thanks for understanding, I appreciate it. I'll talk to you guys later."
"Bye, William!" The young couple responded and he left. The two of them turned back to their computers and continued working while they waited to hear from Ulrich and Yumi.
A/N: Sorry about being a day late, but I got hung up and this chapter didn't come out as easily as I would have liked. The editing also took way longer than anything I've ever written this length before. Anyway, I hope you still enjoy it, and I hope you liked Lily and my portrayal of her.