A/N: Here is the next installment of my Jerlita Roleswap AU. Hope you all enjoy it~
Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko in any way, shape, or form.
Note: Remember, any episodes not mentioned either as the inspiration for a chapter or just in passing are not part of the AU, mainly because the roleswap makes them useless, and those only mentioned in passing are just filler and/or would be the same no matter who has what role.
Beta read by swordsdownforreview
Season 2 finale, part 2!
TW: Suicidal thoughts, suicide attempt (You guys probably already knew that when you saw this chapter's inspiration, but I dive deeper into it, whereas the canon episode kinda glossed it over.)
!~~~J~E~R~L~I~T~A~~R~O~L~E~S~W~A~P~~A~U~~~!
"Thanks to the now decrypted diary, the group finally knows what's really tying Jérémie to XANA. But XANA's not their only obstacle to retrieving it."
Episode 35: Reminiscence
(Based on The Key)
PREVIOUSLY_
"Jérémie, that son...is you. Your real name is Jérémie Périn."
"Jérémie, mon chéri," two voices—one male, one female—spoke together, "we're sorry for all the pain we've subjected you to. Dragging you into our fight with XANA, our creation, is a sin we can never atone for. Forgive us."
The file ended, but Jérémie continued to shake his head in disbelief.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
NOW_
Aelita leaned back in the control chair, exhausted, as the video clip she was watching ended, and the window closed by itself. As she reached over and grabbed the soda can on the left arm rest, the elevator doors swung open.
"Hey, cuz," Odd greeted the pink-ette as she took a swift sip of soda. "You didn't come to bed last night, apparently. We've been looking everywhere for you since we woke up."
Her cousin led the others out into the lab and to the monitor, with Jérémie lagging behind. Aelita couldn't pinpoint the emotions on his face, but she knew he was still processing the shock of yesterday's reveal.
He was Michel and Sophie's son, the one that was sick, the one they were trying so hard to save.
"Sorry," she chose to address Odd. "I spent the whole night reading the Périns' diary to make sure I didn't miss anything."
Also, they had realized that the initials 'M.S.J.' on the diary case stood for 'Michel, Sophie, Jérémie'. Looking back on it now, it was pretty obvious.
She then chose to change the subject, "I'm actually glad you guys are here. There's something I need to show you." She paused and turned to Jérémie, "Or I can just tell you. It's easier to explain it through their words, but if you don't want..." she trailed off, clearly asking for his permission.
All eyes were on Jérémie as he softly replied, "It's okay. Go ahead." He sounded depressed. Yep, he was still working through the shock. No one could blame him. It'd be life-changing for any of them.
"Okay," Aelita said, swallowing down her worry and instead focusing on what she needed the others to understand. Her mind blanked, though, when she saw the listed video clips, "But I can't remember which one it is..." She selected one, and it began playing. "This one?"
"5 November, 1989." A blonde-haired woman was shown sitting in the control chair, a webcam filming her as she spoke—Sophie. She had long-blonde hair in a ponytail slung over her shoulders. If not for her brown eyes, she could easily be mistaken as a female version of Jérémie, complete with the glasses.
"It's not this one," Aelita admitted to her friends. "But what she says here is still important."
Sophie continued, "In 1985, a company that's now out of business hired me to create for them a powerful supercomputer, and given the lack of space we have at the Hermitage, Michel bought the old Renault factory on the banks on the Seine River for me as lab space. By the time I began building the supercomputer, with Michel's help, the company that hired me chose to back out and released me from their contract. Apparently," she looked amused, "they found someone else to build their computer system, because he was a man and thus 'actually knew what he was doing'." She let loose a little giggle, "That someone else did shoddy work, and that decision ended up being the company's downfall. Karma, you could say."
She took a sip of coffee from her cup resting on the chair's left armrest. When she set the cup down, her smile had disappeared.
"So, the supercomputer Michel and I built has been collecting dust ever since. But earlier this year, on 9 October, our dear son, Jérémie, passed out on the playground. The school nurse couldn't wake him up, so she had to call the hospital, and school policy required us to be called as well. Dr. Jean-Paul Toussaint was assigned to our case and told us that Jérémie was given a concussion from the fall, and it had directed his attention to a tumor in our son's brain."
The pain in her face was palpable. The five teens watching the clip remained silent.
She was shaking her head, "He's too young. He's only eight. A couple days later, Dr. Toussaint directed a surgery to remove the tumor, but a small bit managed to escape detection. Jérémie's had two more surgeries since then, with another one scheduled next Wednesday, but according to Dr. Toussaint, the cancer is spreading faster than the usual treatments can catch up. If Wednesday's surgery doesn't do any good, we'll put him on chemotherapy while the doctor contacts other, more experienced physicians. But Michel and I have a different idea. We've haven't told anyone yet, because who would believe us?"
Her voice was filled with hope that she was grasping, trying to catch and hold on to.
She continued, "Both of our minds went to our supercomputer—this one. What if we built a device that cured physical ailments? What if we built something powerful enough to cure cancer? And a timeless world for the cases that need more time? If we're successful, then Jérémie won't be the only one who'd benefit from it. Others would too. But first, we have to build it. That's what this diary will keep track of, in case anything happens to us and someone else wishes to continue our work. Stay tuned, and hang in there, mon chéri."
The video ended and the window closed out. The group was quiet as they digested that. They knew the Périns created Lyoko to cure their son's cancer, but there was something surprising hearing that directly from the mouth of one of the Périns themselves.
Aelita used the keyboard to scroll down the list of video clips until her gaze hovered over another clip. "It's not this one either, but again, it's still important."
"15 April, 1990." It was Michel who was speaking this time. "Sophie and I have finally introduced XANA to Jérémie. We first created it as a friend for him after seeing how miserable he was to be stuck at home all the time. No more school, no more seeing other people besides us, just trapped in that room all day long—it's made him depressed. Fortunately, he took an immediate liking to XANA. He thinks it's a human we've managed to contact and convince to be his pen pal, actually, but we haven't corrected him yet. Neither of us have the heart to tell him he's actually talking to an artificial intelligence, more specifically the guardian of the virtual world Sophie and I call Lyoko, derived from the Japanese word, 'ryokō', meaning 'travel'." Michel took a deep breath before continuing, "While Jérémie now has a friend to talk to, XANA will be able to learn about the world through Jérémie's eyes. Hopefully, nothing goes wrong. XANA is programmed to adapt according to the information it's given, but we trust Jérémie to know what to share and what to keep to himself."
It wasn't your fault, Jérémie told himself. Your parents abused the Return to the Past, and that's what made XANA self-aware. You weren't the one who made XANA crazy...
"Thanks to the towers, XANA has managed to hack into any database that we need to access without repercussions. Using this method, it has helped us finish developing the Return in time function," Michel revealed. "With one press of a button, we now have the ability to rewind time up to three days back while still retaining the memory and data stored within the supercomputer, so if we miss anything with our son, we now have the power of second chance. However, it only works if your image has been uploaded into the database via the scanners, so Sophie and I have done so; we are immune. Furthermore, with each trip, due to being a part of the supercomputer, XANA also gains power, so it becomes twice as strong with each rewind. It's not yet strong enough to take over the functions we have programmed it to control, so we're controlling them manually for now, but with the Returns, soon it will be able to."
The video ended, and the window closed yet again.
The pink-ette hovered over a third clip. "It's not this one either, but again, it's still important."
The clip that played was a familiar one. However, this time, everything was completely clear. "6 June, 1994. Day 2,546."
The group held back a collective gasp. That added up to six years and 356 days! Michel and Sophie relived the same day for nearly seven years!
"Sophie has found a way to increase our chances of completing our project, a brilliant one, or so she says. She's referring to this." An image of the all-too familiar neuronal headset appeared, a much clearer version. This time, they could see notes pointing to various components to explain how everything worked. "She calls it a neuronal headset, and admitted that she got inspiration from how XANA's strength is increased by the Returns. The device supposedly increases your intelligence by amplifying your brainwaves and takes the energy XANA gains during a Return and gives half of it to you. As you can obviously tell, it only works with the help of the Return in time."
He then took a deep breath, sounding as if he'd like to cry. Thanks to the clearer picture, the five teens saw that he indeed looked as if he was about to shed tears, whether due to stress or sorrow, or both.
"What she neglected to tell me was that it damages your mental and physical health the more you use it. Human beings are not machines, and thus do not have the same defense mechanisms that XANA does. Sophie's receiving headaches much like the ones that Jérémie receives, the ones that never go away. When I confronted her about it, she reminded me of our son's situation, how much worse he's getting day after day. I can't deny that she has a point there. The treatments aren't working, not even those proposed by specialists, and the chemotherapy is only delaying his death. This fact weighs on Sophie the more and more days that pass. She doesn't feel smart enough, and we need to complete our project, Lyoko, before it's too late. The neuronal headset is the only way, she feels. I told her that I understood her feelings. I am his father, after all, so I feel the same way. But we need to be there for him. We're all he has in this world, especially since he's stuck at home all the time. We can't do anything to take ourselves away from him, not now. Fortunately, she agreed to quit using it, and promised to never do it again. Both of us have agreed that this is the last time we relive this day, and I even watched as she destroyed it herself."
He then stared directly into the camera, giving off the feeling that he was talking directly to whoever was watching this. Because, he was.
"So whoever finds this, do not attempt what Sophie did. Believe me, it is not worth it, even if someone else's life is on the line."
The clip then ended, and the group was left to stew in the full version of Michel's rant that they had seen a couple months ago. Now that they knew who it was the two were trying to save, it hit differently this time.
Aelita was centered on a fourth clip and she opened it.
Both Michel and Sophie were in the frame this time, with her sitting in the chair and him at her side. "3 October, 1995," Sophie spoke.
"This is it," Aelita told them. In other words, she was telling them to pay close attention to this one.
"After almost six years," Sophie continued.
"For Jérémie," Michel cut in, "Thirteen for us."
"Right," she said with a smile. "After so long, Lyoko and the scanners are finally completed. The virtualization program has been perfected, and XANA has full control over Lyoko's functions, at least, the ones we want it to have control over. The ones who have complete power over everything are the three of us. The administrative controls, as one would normally call them, have been nicknamed the Keys to Lyoko by us. Michel and I share control over one half, and the other half will go to Jérémie."
"We're going to try it tomorrow," Michel explained. "That is, healing him with the scanners. If it works, his cancer will be gone, and he will be able to visit XANA on Lyoko as many times as he wishes. He's been given the Keys that specifically keep XANA in check, to maintain the balance of power."
"We're going to bed now," Sophie said. "It's getting late, and we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."
"Wish us luck!" Michel added, before the video clip ended, this time freezing on the hopeful smiles of him and his wife.
"The Keys to Lyoko," Yumi muttered in realization. "So that's what XANA wants to steal from Jérémie's memory."
"Yeah," the pink-ette explained, as she turned the chair around to face her friends. That was the clip she wanted her friends to see.
"But what purpose does XANA have for them?" Ulrich asked, curiously. "Yeah, they're admin controls, but does it want twice the power over Lyoko's network in order to destroy the world or something?"
Jérémie had quiet up until this point. "No," he gravely whispered. "It wants to escape the supercomputer."
His friends turned to see his solemn gaze locked onto his parents, still showing on the screen, before he suddenly stormed out.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
They found him fifteen-ish minutes later back at school. He was in the cafeteria, at a table by himself, absentmindedly stirring his hot chocolate. The expression on his face was a blank one, as if he was lost in thought. It was disconcerting—they had never seen him like this before.
It had barely been a full day, though, since the diary had been decrypted, so they had decided to give him a pass.
They quickly joined him at the table he had chosen with their own breakfasts in hand (aside from Yumi; she'd already had breakfast at home).
"Jérémie?" He looked up at Aelita upon hearing his name. She ignored her concern upon seeing the sour expression on his face. "You should've stuck around until the end. I didn't get to tell you guys the best news of all."
He turned back to his hot chocolate, as he muttered, "'Best' is a matter of opinion. But go ahead."
The others all took their seats as the pink-ette continued, "You guys know my theory about the virus being a different kind of virus? Well, I was kind of right."
"Really? How?" Ulrich pleaded, "Please, explain it to us."
"Thanks to the Périns' diary, I finally understand the mystery behind Jérémie's incomplete digital profile," Aelita explained. "XANA didn't give Jérémie a virus, or even anything at all, but rather it took something from him."
"It did?" Yumi asked, her hands folded as Ulrich and Odd ate their respective breakfasts. "But what?"
"I don't really know yet," the pink-ette answered, "but it's a fragment that belongs to Jérémie, likely something XANA stole from him twelve years ago. The diary reminded me that it's likely on Lyoko and gave me the necessary parameters to narrow down its location."
Odd began bouncing in excitement, "So the end is in sight! Our actual final mission!"
Ulrich leaned back, smiling as he placed his hands behind his head, "And afterwards, it's time for a well-deserved vacation."
Jérémie suddenly stood up, chair loudly scraping across the floor. "Out of the question!" he denied sharply, before storming out of the cafeteria.
Aelita shared a concerned look with the other three, before running out after him.
Meanwhile, Ulrich's smile had faded. "I don't blame him," he confessed amidst Odd and Yumi's worried confusion. "Just because your parents apologize to you doesn't mean they're entitled to your forgiveness..."
"That's true," Odd muttered. "We know his parents loved him, but he likely doesn't see it that way. Maybe we just need to wait until the shock dies down."
Yumi was staring at the exit used by Jérémie and Aelita, "I can't imagine what's going through his head..."
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Aelita found Jérémie underneath the arches, leaning his head against the wall like he was trying to hold back tears.
"Jérémie!" she called out to him as she ran up to him. "What's the matter?"
He made no sign that he had heard her, or movement to let her know that he was aware of her presence. At least, until he replied to her question.
"I refuse to step foot on Lyoko ever again." His voice was hard with emotion, yet quiet due to not wanting to catch the attention of anyone else.
"Why?" she asked in concern. "This is the final mission. All we have to do is find your missing fragment and we can shut XANA down."
He was shaking his head, though, "I'd be okay if Lyoko was, say, a military project and I just got dragged into it by accident. But no, Lyoko and XANA were both created for me. That makes XANA my responsibility and mine alone, and I can't endanger my friends anymore over something that's my fault. Even if they didn't mean to, my parents stole my life away from me from that alone! Because of those second-rate magicians, I'm nothing...no one..."
His rant only made her more concerned. She placed a hand on his shoulder in hopes it would comfort him, "All of that's behind you now." It was; he no longer had that tumor. "We'll recover the fragment XANA took from you and shut down the supercomputer. Then, you'll be free." She promised him, and there was no way she'd back out now.
"What if it goes wrong?" He immediately asked, solemnly. "XANA now knows that we know what it's after. That means it'll just step up its game, meaning it might actually succeed next time! And I refuse to take a chance and find out the hard way." He turned away, unconsciously shrugging her hand off of his shoulder. "I'm going to end this myself, even if it kills me." He then walked off.
"Jérémie, wait!" the pink-ette called out him, but his image just kept getting smaller on the horizon.
She paused. Maybe it would be best to give him his space right now...
Very reluctantly, Aelita chose to stay behind.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Since today was Sunday, most students were out and about looking for dates for the end-of-the-year dance taking place tonight.
Jim had emerged from his watching-from-the-sidelines to deliver an announcement from Mr. Delmas, "Right. For all you party animals with short memory spans, I'd like to remind you that, uh...what was I saying? Oh yeah! During the end-of-the-year dance, any overly suggestive dancing, wild behavior, or troublemaking will be severely punished! Uh, that's all. Enjoy yourselves."
Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi had claimed the space next to the vending machines. Odd had just said something rather surprising.
"What do you mean you're not going to the dance?" Ulrich asked. He couldn't believe it; Odd was a party person, through and through.
"This party requires a date in order to attend," Odd reminded his roommate, "and the only girl I feel comfortable calling a date is Sam. I asked her earlier this week if she was willing to visit me for this party—because the principal allowed outside guests—but she declined, because her dad wanted her to focus on her finals. If Aelita was DJing, then I would absolutely make an exception, but she's not. So therefore, my date tonight will be Kiwi. My little diggity dog. But don't let me stop any of you from going."
Yumi shrugged, "Fair enough."
"Yeah, it's your choice, good buddy," Ulrich agreed, before turning to his own crush. "So, do you plan on going, Yumes?"
"Actually," the Japanese girl suddenly got nervous—a rare sight—as she began rubbing the back of her neck, "I was hoping to talk to you about that..."
"Oh?" he asked, now curious. What did she need to talk to him about?
However, whatever Yumi was about to say next, a familiar male voice interrupted them, "Hey, Yumi!" It was William. "Can I talk to you for a second? It's important."
"Um," Yumi hesitated, as William approached the trio. On his face was a nervous expression of his own, and this likely helped her make a choice. "Sure."
Ulrich scowled as he watched the two walk away. William was obviously going to ask Yumi to the dance, and there was no way she'd say 'no'.
"Okay, I see how it is..." he muttered, disappointed in himself because he should've been faster.
Sissi was approaching the vending machines, and as she got herself a soda, Ulrich, feeling hurt and vindictive, got an idea.
"Hey, Sissi, are you going to the dance?" he asked.
"I sure am," she replied. Her back was to him and Odd, but they could tell that she was smiling. "Are you?"
"Well, I, uh, I plan to," he told her. "Do you want to go with me?"
Sissi stood up, a soda can in hand, with a frown on her face, "Sorry, Ulrich. Theo's already asked me. Weird. I thought you would've asked Yumi..."
She then left the two boys alone.
Sissi had moved on from him, Ulrich realized. He never thought he'd see the day.
He turned back to his roommate, only to find the crazy-haired blonde shaking his head at him in disappointment, "You moron."
The brunette only blinked in surprise and confusion.
Unknown to them, William didn't actually ask Yumi to be his date to tonight's dance.
"You want to ask Laura Gauthier to the dance?" Yumi asked, slightly surprised but glad that William seemed to be moving on from her.
"Um, yeah," he rubbed the back of his head, still nervously, as the two glanced over near a bench where Laura was chatting with her brother Theo. "Odd introduced us in the library when I told him I needed a math tutor for our final last Tuesday." Yumi nodded, remembering that she had not looked forward to that final either. "We're as different as night and day, but she's actually really fun to hang out with. I'm just not sure if she'll reject me."
"Well, either way," she reminded him, "ask her in private in a casual manner. That way, she won't feel any pressure, and neither will you."
"Right. Don't overdo it," he mumbled. "Thanks, Yumi. You going with Ulrich?"
She snuck a glance back at the brunette next to the vending machines. He seemed to be in a heated discussion with Odd. She sighed, "I hope so."
William patted her shoulder in a comforting manner, "Good luck. You know how he is."
"Oh, I do. That's the problem," she replied, as her classmate walked away, probably to ask Laura to the dance.
She then returned to her friends. Her instincts were correct, as she heard Odd heatedly calling Ulrich out for something. She decided to stay quiet in order to learn more information.
"I say it because it's true!" the blonde was exclaiming. "I can already see the headline! 'Ulrich has lost his head and should have stayed in bed!'"
"Will you shut up?" the German boy asked, clearly fed up with his roommate's antics.
"No! Because you are an idiot!" Odd yelled back. "Yumi was going to ask you to the dance, you moron! And I happen to know a secret about William that I won't share because I promised him I wouldn't!"
Right, Yumi realized. Odd had introduced William to Laura in the first place.
Then came the revelation that sank Yumi's heart. "You deserve all the disappointment I can muster up right now, because you had the nerve to ask Sissi to the dance just to be petty!"
"You asked...Sissi...just to get back at me?"
Ulrich and Odd immediately turned around. Upon seeing Yumi there, Odd immediately cringed, inwardly apologizing; he hadn't meant for her to overhear him. Meanwhile, Ulrich lowered his gaze into a glare.
"Well, you're going to the dance with William, aren't you?" he asked her with disdain.
"Do you know that for a fact?!" she hotly retorted, hurt by the vindictiveness in his voice. "Did you actually hear William ask me or remember me telling you those exact words?!" She sighed. "Forget this. Thank you, Odd. I know you didn't mean for me to overhear, but I still appreciate the honesty. You're a true friend. And you were right. I was going to ask you to the dance, Ulrich, but not anymore. I can't have a date that doesn't trust me."
She then stormed off towards the front gate, clearly intent on going home, leaving behind a silent Ulrich.
The brunette glanced over at his roommate, only to see the blonde in thought. Ulrich sighed in exasperation, "One more of your stupid proverbs or headlines or whatever, and you are dead!"
"Too bad!" Odd retorted. "Because I got another one! 'Ulrich asks Sissi out, risks never seeing Yumi again!' Seriously, jealousy makes you stupid."
"Leave me alone, Odd! I already feel bad enough!"
"Then what are you standing around for?!" the blonde demanded. "Go apologize already!"
Ulrich sighed, before heading towards the front gate, "You're a pain, Odd. You know that, right?"
"And I embrace it!"
He sat back down, leaning against the wall, proud of himself for successfully giving his friend a much needed reality check.
The feeling only lasted for about five seconds, because soon after, his cousin's voice sounded from his right.
"Odd, have you seen Jérémie?"
He turned to look at her, and saw a pained and very worried expression on her face. He felt her pain. He'd been worried about Jérémie since yesterday's revelations.
Odd shook his head, "Nope. Sorry. You try his room?"
"Yeah, he's not there," she admitted, sending the nearby woods a concerned glance, "and he's not answering his phone either. I managed to track it down, though."
He immediately got to his feet. "Where is he?"
"The factory."
He slung a comforting arm around her shoulder and nodded his head in the direction of the sewer passage. Understanding his nonverbal sign, she followed his lead.
She had a bad feeling about how they'd find Jérémie, and she couldn't get rid of it.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The monitor in the lab was completely black. No matter what button Aelita pressed, it wouldn't turn on.
"This is bad, right?" Odd had to ask. He needed to make sure.
"Yes," his cousin coldly replied. It wasn't Odd's fault; it was a sign that she was about to break down. "It means that the supercomputer is unresponsive. It's likely been turned off."
'I'm going to end this myself, even if it kills me.'
Her blood ran cold upon remembering that. "We need to check the supercomputer room," she immediately told her cousin, getting out of the chair and practically running towards the elevator.
She blinked and Odd was already in the cabin with her, pressing the button. Look at the expression on his face, though, she understood that he had the same fear as she did.
And both of them were hoping with all of their hearts that they were wrong.
The room that housed that giant, black obelisk was cold, dark, and lifeless. The supercomputer was turned off, so the lights were off as well. But the light from the elevator illuminated the room just enough for the duo's fears to be confirmed.
Jérémie was lying on the ground in front of the lever, dead. The lever was in the off-position. It didn't take a rocket scientist to put together what had happened.
Their friend had clearly meant it when he said he'd end things himself, even if it killed him. In this case, very literally.
The two cousins immediately jumped into action. Odd switched the lever back on as Aelita cradled Jérémie's cold and lifeless body in her arms.
The lights switched back on when the supercomputer did, indicating that Lyoko was back online. Hopefully, Jérémie was, too...
"Jérémie?" the pink-ette softly called out. "Jérémie, please, answer me!"
Odd knelt by the blonde in blue's other side, "C'mon, buddy. Wake up."
They both breathed sighs of relief when their friend began stirring.
The moment he opened his eyes, Aelita went off on him, her voice filled to the brim with panic, "You're insane! Why did you do that?!"
"You already know why." He sounded so defeated. It was very strange and worrying; they'd never seen him like this before. "To save the world...to save you and the others..."
"Your feelings are valid," the pink-ette softly replied, "but remember what Odd said before: you place your life in our hands the same way we place our lives in yours." Right. It was a two-way contract, so to speak.
But Jérémie was shaking his head, "You shouldn't have to." Tears were filling his eyes. "Things are better off this way..."
Coming to realize that he and Aelita couldn't handle this by themselves, Odd pulled out his phone to call the others, as the pink-ette just embraced Jérémie ever so tighter, coming to tears herself.
He didn't care if Ulrich and Yumi were mad at each other right now; they needed to be here.
This was a crisis.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Ulrich took a deep breath to steady his nerves before ringing the doorbell to the Ishiyama household.
The door opened to reveal Hiroki, who immediately smiled upon seeing the brunette.
"Hi," Ulrich greeted him. "Is Yumi home?"
In response, Hiroki turned around to the inside of the house and cupped his mouth with his hands. "Yumiiii~! Your boyfriend's heeere~!" he called out teasingly.
Yumi was rushing down the stairs in a split second, "Beat it, Hiroki!" Hiroki hid his obvious giggles behind his hands as he ran off. Yumi quickly replaced her brother at the door, and apologized to a red-faced Ulrich with, "Sorry about him." She cleared her throat before crossing her arms. "So what do you want?"
"I'm sorry," was all he said.
"Good," she solemnly replied. "You should be." She sighed, before shaking her head. "We can't go on like this, Ulrich. You and I both like each other, and we know it. Our friends see it and are constantly teasing us over our inability to voice our feelings aloud. But our relationship is not a smooth one. You keep assuming that I like William in a romantic sense when I only like him platonically, and instead of asking me about it up front, you choose to be petty. Of course, I'm no better. Remember, when that polymorphic spectre used your image to kiss Sissi, I immediately assumed that you did it to get back at me."
That day with the spectre was one of his darkest days; he couldn't deny that. It was a dark day for all of them, as it reminded the group that despite them being best friends, XANA could still use their own jealousy against them.
"What do you suggest we do then?" Ulrich softly asked. "We need to fix that behavior."
"Let's not go to the dance," she replied, her voice almost at a whisper. "Instead, let's take that time to actually talk to each other and hammer out our issues."
"Agreed."
The intense silence was interrupted by Ulrich's phone going off. He paused, not wanting to take his attention away from this talk with Yumi. For once, he felt like they were actually going somewhere.
"Aren't you going to answer that?" Yumi asked.
Well, he couldn't ignore the call now. He picked up and answered, "Hello? Yeah, she's with me. What's up?"
Yumi watched with intrigue as Ulrich's expressioned turned from annoyed to alerted in one second flat.
"Don't worry, Odd. Calm down. We'll be there as soon as possible."
He then hung up, allowing Yumi to ask about what Odd had to say, "What's up? Is there a tower?"
"No." To her surprise, Ulrich sounded troubled. "Odd said that the emergency this time was Jérémie."
She gasped in sudden concern, now understanding the sudden change in his demeanor.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Ulrich and Yumi weren't sure what they'd hope to find when those elevator doors opened to the lab, but the other three sitting against a wall, with the two cousins trying to comfort a depressed Jérémie sitting between them, was definitely not it.
The two were immediately alert and constantly scanning for any threats—an instinctual reaction.
"What happened?" Ulrich asked.
Odd glanced up at them, his eyes looking defeated—a clear indication that something was definitely wrong. "Jérémie turned off the supercomputer himself."
That was all he had to say.
"What?!"
"Why?" Yumi asked, trying and failing to keep the emotion out of her voice. It ended up cracking at the 'y'.
It was Jérémie who had answered, "You guys already know why. I'm not worth it." His tone was dark and flat, like he had no hope left.
His response was immediately met with protests.
"Yes, you are!" Ulrich hotly retorted. "You are worth hell!" And he meant it.
"He's right." Yumi knelt in front of Jérémie and placed a comforting hand on his right knee. "Believe us, Jer, if we didn't think you were worth it, then Odd and Aelita wouldn't have turned the supercomputer back on in the first place, Odd wouldn't have called Ulrich and I to come here, and Ulrich and I wouldn't be here at all. If we didn't think you were worth all this trouble, we would've listened to you two years ago and shut everything down. Surely, you understand that." She gently tapped on his forehead with her other hand.
Jérémie couldn't deny that, so he didn't. Instead, he just curtly nodded.
"Good," the Japanese girl offered the blonde a smile. "And surely, the feeling is mutual. You think we are worth hell too."
His response was automatic, "Of course, I do! Why else do I want this all to end?!"
"We want this to end too," Aelita's voice was soft and comforting. "Believe us. But we want it to end the right way. That means, all five of us together, free from XANA and living as much of a happily ever after that life will let us. I made you a promise, Jérémie, to set you free, and there's no way I'm going to back out of it now. I'll find that fragment of yours, and once I do, you'll have your life back."
But Jérémie was shaking his head, "I don't want that life anymore. I prefer the one I have now."
The other four were immediately filled with relief. Finally, an admission that he wanted to live, rather than to die.
And it made sense. Périn was sick and lonely, but Belpois was healthy and able to socialize.
"Glad to hear it," Odd replied. "And truthfully, I also prefer the one you have now. You built it yourself, after all."
"That's not it," Jérémie softly confessed. "It's because it's the life that has you guys in it. Maybe one day, I won't hate my parents anymore—believe me, I don't want to, but I can't help it—but not once have any of you done something that made me hate you."
Of course. Périn only had his parents, but Belpois had a group of friends that were just as good as any biological family, maybe even better.
"I suppose you're right," he finished. "The only way to end this is to retrieve my missing fragment." Still sitting on the ground, he glanced around at his friends with eyes filled with unshed tears, "Hopefully, you guys can hang on for a little while longer."
"Don't worry, we can," Aelita replied with a smile. "Because I've already found it."
"W-What?" Jérémie asked, but the others were flabbergasted too.
Her gentle smile grew into an amused grin, "Yeah, it's in Sector Five. I meant to say it earlier at breakfast, but you didn't let me."
"So we can...go get it now?" The nerd in blue, however, suddenly remembered something and became sheepish. "Oh, sorry. I forgot about tonight's dance..."
"Don't worry," Ulrich softly reassured him. "None of us were planning on going anyway." Truth.
Aelita had declined DJing, so she had no obligation to attend. Jérémie clearly wasn't in the mood to do any partying. Odd didn't want to go without Sam, who had declined his invite to focus on her finals. And Ulrich and Yumi had mutually decided to instead use the time to talk about the future of their relationship. Really, Jérémie had nothing to apologize for.
"And friends are more important than a silly school dance anyways," Odd added, as the five teens all got to their feet. "So, yes, let's go get it now."
"I'll make it up to you guys, somehow," Jérémie responded, his voice just barely above a whisper. "I promise."
"Just live," Yumi told him. "We told you that before, and it hasn't changed."
A real smile finally came to the blonde's face, albeit a tad on the small side. "Deal."
"You guys ready?" Aelita asked. "This is the big one, our final mission. We're going to recover Jérémie's fragment and get rid of XANA once and for all."
"Of course, we're ready!" Odd exclaimed. "Come on, I'll lead the way!" With that, he led the others to the elevator.
"Be careful," the pink-ette warned, before sitting down in the chair and slipping on the earpiece.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
"Virtualization!"
Yumi and Jérémie both fell from the navy-blue sky and landed on the cyan ice below. Ulrich and Odd were waiting for them, surveying the scene to keep an eye out for any enemies.
The three vehicles appeared in front of them. "The edge of the sector is north by northeast."
"Roger that!" Ulrich replied, as they all hopped onto their respective vehicles—Jérémie riding with Odd this time—and took off in the direction Aelita pointed.
As they rode past ice and various glaciers, there was still no welcoming committee emerging to greet them in XANA's usual style.
"No monsters?" Ulrich asked.
"Nope," the pink-ette replied. "The holomap shows all clear."
"Don't you think that's weird?" Yumi asked, bringing up a point that no one else could deny.
"XANA could be saving its energy for when we actually get to Sector Five," Jérémie proposed.
"True," Odd agreed. "This is the final mission, after all."
"And XANA knows it," the blue elf softly continued, reminding them what he told Aelita earlier.
XANA knew that they knew what it was after, and what was really tying Jérémie to Lyoko, so the next time, it would step up its game. This was it. This really was the final chapter, wasn't it? Everything rode on this mission.
Cain and Abel...who would win this time?
In no time at all, the four had arrived at the edge of the sector. Aelita typed in the code SCIPIO, and the Transporter enveloped them before taking them to the center of the virtual world.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The Transporter dropped them off in the Arena. As the walls spun around, Odd looked around, seemingly surprised.
"You okay?" Ulrich noticed and asked. "What's wrong? You feel like throwing up as usual?"
"No, I don't!" Odd shook his head. "That's what I can't understand!" Maybe it was a bad omen, or good; either way, it was a sign that the end result of all of this would be surprising.
"Everybody ready?" Aelita asked. "I'm entering the coordinates of the room where Jérémie's fragment is."
"Get ready," Jérémie warned. "The wall's about to open."
Sure enough, it did, opening right in front of Jérémie. He took off first, with the other three quickly following. The four halted in order to let the wall open up further. Once the passage was formed, they continued on their way.
"You guys have three minutes to find the key and stop the countdown," Aelita told them, as they entered the room.
The floor was completely level, but the walls were filled with horizontal beams.
Yumi pointed to the key, "I see it!"
Odd rolled his eyes, "Out of reach, as usual."
It was high up, entangled in all the beams, giving a clear indication as to who was the best one among them to take on such a task.
Just then, three compartments opened up on their right, with a Creeper each appearing in one of them.
"Watch out!" Odd pointed up to them, as another trio of Creepers showed up on their left in a similar manner.
The Creepers on the right all began firing. Ulrich jumped in front his friends and blocked all the shots with his katana. When the Creepers on the left attacked, Yumi did the same thing, blocking their lasers with her fans.
Odd fired an Arrow, destroying one and letting Yumi head towards the key. He then flipped to another platform and got rid of a second. "Hi there, Creepers," he waved to the last one. "Still as ugly as ever, I see!" It fired at him, but he flipped out of the way, landing on all fours. His Arrow hit the Creeper when he stood up, destroying it.
Meanwhile, Yumi was busy climbing, flipping onto a beam before backflipping to another one across from her. She briefly glanced up at the key to ensure she was going the right way, before using her upper body strength to bring herself up to the beam she needed to be on. She held her arms out to balance herself as she started walking its length.
"One minute to go!" Aelita warned her.
The Creepers continued to fire at the duo down below, with XANA avoiding Jérémie like usual. Odd jumped over the lasers, firing rapidly at them, but he missed. The monsters continued to fire, as Odd ran over to Ulrich and the two shared a high five.
"My turn!" Ulrich exclaimed, as he Sprinted up a wall, before moving to an adjacent column in mid-air. He used the column to launch himself, and with his katana in hand, he sliced through all three Creepers, destroying them in one go.
When the samurai landed, he glanced up at the geisha with an encouraging smile, "Go for it, Yumi."
The geisha swung to another beam, hanging on with all of her strength as she glanced up at the beam she needed to get to.
Swinging to gain momentum, she eventually let go of the beam she was holding onto and flipped through the air, landing on the beam she was aiming for with her legs. Smiling to herself, she reached for the beam with her hands and maneuvered herself to stand on top of it.
Down below, Ulrich sliced through a Creeper, with Odd jumping over another. Jérémie watched as the cat flipped over to a third, both on either side of him, separating his legs just as they both fired at him. The shots missed him and hit the other Creeper, destroying them both. He landed next to the elf, accomplished.
The Creepers were all gone now, and now they were watching Yumi, and waiting for her to press the key.
"Yumi, only ten seconds left! Hurry!"
Said girl was walking down the beam like she was on a tightrope, "I'm almost there."
However, a Creeper suddenly appeared right above the key, clearly guarding it, and started firing at her. She backflipped to avoid it, barely balancing herself afterwards. The monster fired at her twice more, and she flipped backwards all the way to the edge.
She was just running out of time. She had to hurry.
Yumi narrowed her eyes at her opponent, who fired again. This time, she frontflipped repeatedly until she was able to press the key with her foot, before she grabbed the Creeper with both of her legs and throwing it over the edge. She peered over the edge and watched as it hit the ground below and exploded upon impact.
The four teens all heard Aelita sigh in relief.
"Nice job," Ulrich called up to Yumi.
Instead of the wall opening up like normal, this time, the floor separated and turned into a downward-spiraling staircase.
"Wanna see how low you can go, guys?" Odd joked with a grin, as Yumi joined them.
"I thought you were gonna lead the way, Odd," Aelita reminded him.
Jérémie jumped down first—apparently, he was leading the way. The others quickly followed him.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
It took them a few minutes to reach the bottom. Once they did, they were met with a massive-sized chamber. On the other side was a bright cyan light, a series of steps leading up to it, and a long pathway leading to the steps.
"Aelita, there's something shining over there," Ulrich said, all five pairs of eyes focused on that light.
"That's it! That's Jérémie's fragment!"
Said elf took the lead, running down the path.
But they didn't get very far, as a Creeper soon appeared on a platform that moved through the air towards the path.
"Look out!" Yumi cried, before getting hit in the shoulder from behind by a second Creeper appearing on the other side of the path.
Ulrich took off with Jérémie, running down the path as Odd fired at the Creeper that hit Yumi, getting rid of it. Meanwhile, the first one's platform reached the path and it got off, slithering up to them. Yumi hit its eye with one of her fans, only for two more Creepers to block Ulrich's path.
Ulrich remained behind, while Jérémie continued on, unable to take his eyes off of the piece of himself that was so close but still so far away.
Odd and Yumi fended off one more Creeper each. Yumi turned around, blocking the shots from one, as Odd aimed and fired twice, destroying the one in front of him. Ulrich sped over to Yumi's aid and jumped, slicing and destroying the other.
But more continued to arrive.
Jérémie felt a little guilty that he wasn't helping them, but the fragment was more important. That's what they were all fighting for, after all.
Two Creepers fired at Yumi, and she blocked the shots with her fans until one of them was suddenly destroyed. She turned around in time to see Odd blowing on his finger before holstering it as one would a gun, and she gave him a mock salute in return.
But more Creepers continued to pour in through the galleries.
Odd shot a volley of Arrows, hitting a bullseye on a Creeper. Unfortunately, Arrows suddenly stopped coming out of his fist. He looked at it worried.
"Uh-oh, I'm out of ammo! Aelita!" he cried, as he leapt, avoiding more shots.
Before his cousin could respond, he was hit by several lasers, and devirtualized.
Yumi saw this happen. She, too, backed away, before throwing her fans at two Creepers in front of her. The twin fans mowed one down, but others were still firing at her.
She kept backing away, noticing that she was at the edge of the platform. She caught her two fans, but continued to back away from the Creeper that was coming at her, shooting. She suddenly fell backwards over the edge, tumbling into the open air.
From the platform and galleries, the Creepers concentrated their fire on her. Yumi, in free-fall, was hit and fortunately devirtualized.
Jérémie turned around, panicking when he saw that his protectors had quickly dwindled down from three to just one, who was being surrounded by the remaining Creepers.
"Go on!" Ulrich told him, and the elf obeyed, turning back around and continuing the run towards his fragment. The samurai then addressed Aelita, his katana in hand, "Aelita! Yumi and Odd are down!"
With a slash of his katana, Ulrich pierced a Creeper in front of him. The monster exploded, but two more quickly replaced it.
"Ulrich!"
The brunette turned around to see two more Creepers having cut Jérémie off. The blonde was backing up, only to stop when he bumped into Ulrich. The two were now back-to-back, cornered.
Ulrich countered a shot with his katana right when he and Jérémie heard the cry of a Manta. The two turned to the staircase leading up to the Core Zone and watched anxiously as two Mantas entered the room through that opening.
Both Mantas were surrounded by a white halo, floating majestically through the air, as they flew directly at the two boys.
"Um, Aelita?" Ulrich muttered. "It's getting worse..."
Jérémie shared the samurai's apprehension as they watched the two Mantas come towards them. The Creepers, however, had stopped firing, taken aback by the sudden intrusion.
"No, it's getting better!" Aelita exclaimed, a hint of joy in her voice.
The Creepers, still surrounding Ulrich and Jérémie, suddenly directed their fire at the Mantas. The monsters in the air immediately retaliated, firing at XANA's monsters, destroying them.
Ulrich was stunned, "What's going on?"
"It's Michel and Sophie!" Aelita explained. "They've taken control of the Mantas."
"Of course..." Jérémie muttered. "Ulrich, remember that Manta that helped me reach the tower XANA had hidden in Sector Five?"
Right. That Manta had behaved oddly and helped Jérémie by letting him use it as a stepping stone instead of trying to stop him from saving Aelita from being suffocated.
"Yeah," the samurai replied.
By this time, the Mantas had destroyed all of the Creepers. Now, there were none left, not in front of Ulrich, not in front of Jérémie, nowhere.
One of the Mantas flew down and stopped beside Jérémie, facing away from him.
Jérémie frowned in confusion, until Ulrich told him, "I think it's waiting for you, Jer."
The elf paused, hesitating. His parents were controlling these Mantas, but part of him still hated them for placing so much responsibility on him. It'd be different if he had placed it on himself, but no. Unless he was missing something, they had inadvertently placed it on him.
But another part of him still trusted them.
So he jumped off the edge and landed on top of the Manta that was waiting for him.
Ulrich watched in amazement as the monster surrounded in white graciously flew to the top of the staircase, where the fragment was waiting.
The Manta stopped at the edge of the platform, allowing Jérémie to hop off. He briefly glanced back at the Manta, an expression of mixed guilt and gratitude on his face, before turning back to his fragment.
It was a cyan-colored sphere—the same color as the interface—with an image of Jérémie's Lyoko form in a t-pose position inside of it. The eyes were closed, as if the elf was sleeping within it.
He could sense himself inside of that sphere. This was the real fragment.
Wondering how to reclaim it, he grabbed the sphere from either side.
Nothing happened at first, until Jérémie was suddenly able to recall Miss Moreau's face and name, the last teacher Périn ever had. He was at last able to recall the name of the tune his mother always played on that piano. He was finally able to recall the taste of the last tarte Tarin he'd had before being virtualized.
They were just the little things, but he considered them the most important.
He felt an immense amount of relief that grew the more he remembered his past. So that's what XANA took from him—the memories of his past.
Finally, he was about to be freed.
But out of nowhere, the sphere shattered and the memories stopped flowing in. XANA had just taken it back, taunting him by pulling the figurative rug out from underneath him.
A loud rumble then began to sound, and a scared Jérémie called out, "Aelita?"
"Jérémie, get back to Ulrich!" the pink-ette ordered. "It's a trap!"
Just then, the room began falling apart, quite literally. The steps leading up to the platform where the fragment used to be began falling down one by one, as did slabs of brick from the ceiling.
In no time at all, the steps leading back to Ulrich had all fallen, leaving the elf stranded on that platform.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Yumi and Odd had joined Aelita in the lab.
A progress bar had appeared once Jérémie touched his fragment, revealing that to reclaim it, they all had to wait until it reached one-hundred percent completion. Only for XANA to take the fragment back, stopping the process at just twenty-three percent.
And now the room was falling apart.
Of course it was a trap, Aelita realized. XANA wanted to isolate Jérémie from the others, knowing about the hour-long cooldown period, and that the teens knew about it as well.
One of those falling platforms was bound to devirtualize Ulrich—the pink-ette could feel it deep in her gut.
That was why she turned to Yumi and demanded, "Virtualize me!", as she took out the earpiece.
"What?! Why?" Odd asked.
The pink-ette was already at the ladder that led to the scanner room, "Send me to Sector Five! XANA's about to unleash the Scyphozoa and there's no way it will let Ulrich survive those falling bricks!"
"But you'll never make it!" Yumi warned.
"We don't have a choice! I have to try!" Aelita shot back, urgency staining her voice.
Yumi paused, unable to deny that. Fortunately, the pause was quick, as soon after, the Japanese girl slipped on the earpiece as she sat in the chair.
During this time, Aelita climbed down one level to the scanner room and let Yumi send her to the Desert Sector, very close to the edge.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Aelita's premonition was right—Ulrich glanced up at the ceiling, screaming as he dodged numerous platforms coming right for him. One of the Mantas being controlled by the Périns flew towards him, clearly going to offer its help, only for a falling brick to take it out. It wasn't long after that when he himself was crushed by debris in the same manner.
Jérémie was trapped. The Manta next to him was also taken out by debris before he could climb onto it, so all he could do was watch in horror as Ulrich was devirtualized.
He glanced around in utter fear as the platforms finally stopped falling, leaving only the one he was standing on.
Breathing deeply and rapidly as if about to panic, he cried out, "AELITA, HELP!"
"She's on her way," Yumi replied, from the lab. A split second later, she too was panicking, "Behind you!"
Jérémie turned around just in time to feel that magnetic field. This time, it was stronger than he'd ever felt it. Maybe it was his fear, maybe it was XANA's desperation—either way, it was bad news.
The Scyphozoa wasted no time capturing him and invading the deep recesses of his mind.
In the lab, Yumi and Odd could only watch the screen in horror as Jérémie's memory count and lifepoints meters were only decreasing with each passing second.
The elevator doors opened to reveal a remorseful Ulrich, "I'm sorry. There wasn't anything I could do..."
"Hold on," Odd muttered to him, his eyes focusing on the green arrow that was his cousin moving into the Core Zone and quickly pressing the key that was waiting for her. "There's still hope..."
"Hurry up, Aelita!" Yumi stressed, seeing how close it was to the bad ending.
Aelita was using her wings to travel as fast as she could. No monsters were waiting for her, likely because XANA wanted to focus all of its energy on getting those Keys from Jérémie's memory.
After what felt like an eternity, but was really only three minutes, she finally arrived in the fragment chamber. She readied and aimed an Energy Field at the Scyphozoa, only for it to drop Jérémie to the ground on its own.
She watched in horror as Jérémie's body hit the ground. He reached out to her with a weak hand, only for his energy to seemingly run out. He closed his eyes, signifying that the bad ending had finally occurred.
Aelita lowered herself to the ground, de-summoning her wings, as Ulrich softly asked, "A-Aelita...please tell us...that he still has memory left..."
"I can't..." The pink-ette fell to her knees as the entire room went dark. "J-Jérémie's...de-dead..."
She couldn't believe it. It had happened—exactly what they were all trying to prevent. Guess Jérémie was right to be so concerned earlier...
She wanted so badly to cry, but the virtual nature of Lyoko still refused to let her. How cruel...
"Aelita..." Yumi's voice cracked, "All eighty-five towers are being activated by XANA...and the holomap indicates that there's no more life...all the trees and the plants are dying too..."
The pink-ette sniffed, "Because XANA...it got what it wanted. It has the Keys to Lyoko, so now, it will be able to get out of the supercomputer..."
Jérémie...he was gone...
They knew how they felt about each other, but she wished she had put those feelings into actual words, even if he didn't understand what they meant. Too late now.
Outside the factory, a storm was brewing. Thunder rolled and lightning struck, with the threat of rain holding the unspoken notion that all hope had been lost...
Everything was still darkened with Lyoko's death, so a bright flash easily caught Aelita's attention. She looked up just in time to see Jérémie's lifeless being enveloped in a white spherical light.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
One moment, he was reaching out to Aelita with a darkening view, and the next, he was in the hospital with his parents:
"I'm sorry," Dr. Toussaint was saying. His hair was graying from brunette, instead of all-white like his future self. "Unless we do something now, pretty soon, the tumor will spread faster than we'll be able to catch up with it."
"When's the soonest surgery you can perform?" Michel asked.
"Two days from now," the doctor replied. "I've already submitted the request, and they've approved. He'll have to stay here in the hospital until then, though."
Sophie leaned over to him and began stroking his hair, "Take it easy, mon chéri. It's just a couple of days. You'll be back to normal in no time."
Oh. So, his anxiety was that obvious.
"Your maman is right," Michel quickly added. On both of their faces were smiles that they were hoping were comforting. "It was caught in the early stages, which is always good."
Jérémie's smile was pained. "Right..." Early stages or not, he had still been given a death sentence.
The scene changed again. This time, he was ten and resting on the couch in the Hermitage:
He was exhausted from a full day of chemotherapy, but his dad was all too happy to let the boy lean against him as the man read one of his many history books.
"You must really like this part of history," Jérémie softly muttered. "That's a lot of notes." He had noticed all of the writing in red pen.
Michel just smiled, "I'm just planning a scavenger hunt for my students that requires them to remember what they learned in class about Carthage." He was lying—present day Jérémie knew that now—but back then, the boy was still in the dark about his parents' special project.
Jérémie just smiled, too tired to respond, as Sophie played her usual Mozart piece, 12 Variations of 'Ah! Vous dirai-je, Maman', a tune more commonly known as 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' in the English-speaking world.
Today was a peaceful day, one the last few they'd ever get.
The scene changed again. This time, he was eleven and his mother was in his room with him:
She was reading him a story she had written herself. When she said the name of her main character aloud, he reacted with confusion.
"Pück?"
"Yes, Mister Pück. It's the name of an elf." She quickly sighed when seeing the playful glare her son was sending her, "Take it easy on me, okay? I wrote this story way back in le lycée. It's not my best work, I know. But I grew up to be a computer scientist, not an author."
"What do you think I'll grow up to be?" If I ever do, went unsaid. But the Périns didn't like thinking about that. Not yet, at least.
"Maybe a doctor?" Sophie suggested. "So no one else has to suffer the same way you did?"
He shrugged, "I'm thinking about robotics. So I can build us a dog that will never get sick and die!"
Sophie just chuckled. His physical energy was lacking, but he still had a bit of mental energy left. Hopefully, that wouldn't fade any time soon.
The scene changed a fourth time. This time, he was thirteen and resting in bed:
He had just woken up due to the storm outside. Fortunately, his window was closed, so the noise it was creating wasn't too loud. Besides, another sound was covering it up.
"Sophie, you can't do this!"
"What else can we do?! That headset is the only way! We need to complete our project before it's too late!"
His parents were fighting. Jérémie was confused. Why? His parents never fought.
He wanted to get up and find a spot that was closer so he could hear what was being said better, but he only had enough energy lately to sleep. And when he wasn't sleeping, he was feeling the pain of his headaches—where the tumor was, Dr. Toussaint said.
So he could only stay where he was and strain his hearing.
"Sophie, he can't go outside, even if he's feeling up to it, so he can't hang out with any of his friends, even if he had any! Eventually, we're going to have to tell him the truth about XANA, but we've both agreed to wait until Lyoko's ready! All of that just means that we're all he has!"
Oh, he realized. They were arguing about him, for some reason. Why? What was this big project? What was Lyoko? And what did his online friend XANA have anything to do with it?
"We can't do anything to take ourselves away from him."
A brief silence, only filled by a sniffle from his mother.
"I understand your feelings. I am his father, remember. But we need to enjoy our time with him now just in case it doesn't work."
Sophie sniffed again, "Okay..."
He wished he was able to stay awake longer, but unfortunately, he fell asleep right then, cutting off whatever was about to be said next.
The scene changed for a final time. This time, he was fourteen and being taken underground in a now-familiar elevator:
The doors swung open to reveal a laboratory. In the middle was a holographic image of five sectors and next to it was a computer monitor and an old dentist chair.
"Woah," Jérémie muttered, taking in his new surroundings. Michel was carrying him piggy-back, due to the boy's energy almost being completely gone by this point. "W-Where are we?"
"My laboratory," Sophie explained. "This computer houses a virtual world, a world without pain, sorrow, or danger, called Lyoko. Your friend XANA is actually an artificial intelligence that we've created to be its guardian. It's been learning about the real world through you." She sat down in the chair and began typing in some commands, as Michel set his son down against the holomap projector.
"That's pretty cool," the boy replied. "Will I get to meet him in person? XANA, that is?"
"'Him'?" Michel asked.
Jérémie nodded, "Mm-hmm. XANA said he preferred male pronouns. Would that still apply despite him—er, it—actually being an artificial intelligence?"
His parents looked at each other, before turning back to their son. "I suppose," Michel said. "You'll have to talk to XANA about it, though. Face to face."
"Face to face? You mean, there's a way to get into Lyoko?"
"There sure is," Sophie replied. "One level below this room is the scanner room. Yes, the scanners have the ability to send your data to the virtual world, but it also has another, more important property." And the reason they created Lyoko at all. "It has the power to get rid of your tumor."
"I-It does?" the boy was in shock. "For real?"
"There's only one way to find out," Michel said.
Jérémie paused, deep in thought and debate, before he made his choice, "Let's try it."
Because he was sick and tired of being sick and tired. He wanted to be healthy again, so he could go outside and play with kids his own age again. The past six years had been rough, and he wanted it all to end.
Sophie remained at the computer to monitor everything, while Michel used the elevator to carry his son down to the scanners. He placed the boy inside of one, before calling up to Sophie that everything was ready.
"See you in a minute, mon chéri," Michel said.
Jérémie smiled back, "See you in a minute, Papa."
The scanner doors closed, sealing his fate.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
Jérémie's eyes opened with a sudden start, with him letting out a soft gasp as he woke up. Ignoring the white light surrounding him, he focused on what he could now remember.
Where those...his past memories...?
He wanted to cry. At last, he could remember everything. His parents, being friends with XANA, being cured of his cancer, everything.
Aelita watched in amazement as the light suddenly began to surge, enveloping the entire room with it.
"What's going on, Aelita?" Ulrich asked. "All the towers are now turning white!"
"It's Michel and Sophie," the pink-ette muttered. "They're bringing Lyoko back to life..."
The light faded, leaving behind two identical spheres of white energy mixed with shades of blue and pink. The room, however, remained lit, as the two spheres gently lowered their son to the ground.
"Aelita, it's incredible," Yumi cut in, her voice still cracking with emotion. "They're giving him their half of Lyoko's Keys."
"And the missing fragment is now at one hundred percent completion," Odd added.
"Michel and Sophie...are saving their son..." she muttered.
Jérémie's eyes darted around the room and immediately settled on the pink figure still kneeling at the bottom of the staircase he had descended with the other three just a few minutes prior.
"Aelita..." he gently called out.
Her wings were activated and she was by his side immediately. The two spheres moved back a bit to give her and Jérémie some room, as she quickly enveloped him in a tight embrace. It didn't take him long to return it.
In the lab, Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd carefully watched the monitor. So they noticed the message they got from Michel and Sophie, before Jérémie and Aelita's IDs both disappeared from the holomap. Once they were devirtualized, the two spheres were also gone.
In the scanners window, two were shown to be in use, before the green bars disappeared, indicating that their two friends had successfully been sent back to Earth.
Yumi immediately removed the earpiece, "To the scanner room! Quick!"
She ran to the ladder like demons were after her, with Ulrich and Odd hot on her heels.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
The trio got there in time to see two scanners open. One revealed Aelita, and she had tears in her eyes, just like them. The second revealed Jérémie, who couldn't muster up the energy to stay standing. He fell to the ground, only to land right in Aelita's arms.
"Aelita..." He was crying, and they all knew why.
It wasn't just his parents, but everything he now remembered.
Ulrich, Yumi, and Odd quickly joined in on the hug, they and Aelita beginning to shed tears as well—mostly out of relief.
Thank goodness. They had lost Jérémie, but thanks to his parents, it wasn't permanent.
!~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~!
It was late in the evening by the time they all felt well enough to return to Kadic. The end-of-year dance was going on strong in the auditorium, and tomorrow, the group would hear their classmates talking all about it, but right now, they needed peace and quiet. So they had retreated to Jérémie's dorm, and Kiwi had met them on the way.
Jérémie had died today, twice. Once by his own hand and the second by XANA's, an AI that used to be his friend.
But something good did come from today's events.
"The memories of your past," Odd said. "That's the piece that XANA took from you."
Jérémie nodded. Thanks to his parents, he remembered everything.
Kiwi snuggled closer to him, as if sensing the wave of sorrow and pain that popped up in the blonde's mind in that moment.
"Now, you're free, Jérémie," Ulrich softly told him. "Unfortunately, so is XANA."
Right. Because it had one half of the Keys to Lyoko. The half it killed Jérémie to get.
"Michel and Sophie's signals have disappeared from Lyoko," Aelita had not left Jérémie's side since they both emerged from the scanners. His death had left her shaken. "They seem to have just...vanished. I'm sorry; right now, there's no way to tell if they're still alive. But Lyoko is now running on their half of the Keys, so the neutral halo for the towers is now white. Just so you guys are aware."
Jérémie sighed, "It feels like I'm losing them all over again."
Twelve years ago, his parents told him to hide in that tower while they negotiated with XANA, only for them to be forced to shut Lyoko down to contain the evil they had created. They said they'd be back, but they weren't. Aelita was the face that greeted him next.
It felt like history was repeating itself now.
"You still have us, Jérémie," Yumi softly said. "We'll find them. The logs didn't record any IDs getting deleted."
"They also sent us a message right before they disappeared," Ulrich confessed.
"'Take care of him', they said," Odd recalled.
"They said something similar to me when I was trapped in Virtual Limbo," Aelita cut in. "'Out of us three, Jérémie needs you the most'."
Said blonde was smiling. "You guys must be very special, then." The others tried and failed to hide the blushes that appeared on their faces. "Don't be so modest," he reassured them. "Jérémie Périn would freeze up if a girl his age just said 'hello' to him, much less kissed him."
Aelita couldn't stop a smirk from appearing.
Jérémie continued, "XANA keeps trying to break us up out of jealousy—of me, of our bond, of humanity in general, because we can experience all these wonderful things, but it can't; it's just a computer program. But it very likely doesn't understand such an emotion, even after twelve years." He took a deep breath to steady his nerves. "Shutting down the supercomputer won't kill XANA anymore. Since it is my responsibility, I'm going to keep up the fight. You guys can back out—now that I'm free, you don't have to force yourselves to keep going. But fighting XANA is my job."
"No, Jérémie," Aelita softly corrected him, as she gently grabbed his hand. "It's our job."
On his other side, Odd was offering his hands to both Jérémie and Yumi, who had joined hands with Ulrich, who in turn had taken Aelita's other hand.
Tears came to Jérémie's eyes as he took Odd's hand.
"Are you sure?" He had to ask.
They were willing to spend more years of their life for his sake. He didn't want any of them to be forced into this. He wanted it to be their choice.
"We're sure," Yumi replied with a smile.
"We told you," Ulrich added, "that we will not stop fighting until all five of us are able to live XANA-free."
"And if XANA despises our friendship so much," Odd shrugged, "then I think we're doing something right."
This time, Jérémie's tears were those of joy.
!~~~J~E~R~L~I~T~A~~R~O~L~E~S~W~A~P~~A~U~~~!
Next Episode: 36 - Heart to Heart / Summer break is over; it's time for the new school year. But XANA's goals have changed yet again.
A/N: The third clip played in the first scene is the same one as the clip the group saw back in 'Temptation', this time a completed version. In the false fragment chamber, I used the deleted scene, because in the context of the story, it makes more sense. Also, Jérémie's second memory (the one from the Hermitage) is one I teased way back in 'Fragmented Reality'. And 'le lycée' is high school in France.
I've always loved the idea of William and Laura together. Too bad Evolution ended the way it did. Of course, their dynamic here will be different, but still.
A lot of Ulumi fans are still outraged to this day by Yumi telling Ulrich in "Straight to Heart" that they can only be friends due to jealousy issues that they both have. I was outraged too, believe me, until I remembered that "Straight to Heart" directly follows "The Key", A.K.A. this chapter. That's why I rewrote the Ulumi scenes here to emphasize the problem that plagues them both, and what Yumi was thinking about all during summer break.