Chapter 63 Reunion (Distant Memory)
A.N. – For starters, I want you to read the A.N. at the end of this chapter. I have a big announcement, and if you don't read it, you'll be surprised next week. Let's begin!
Short Summary – The holidays has come and Aelita wants one thing, to see her father. She may get her wish, but in an unexpected way.
Disclaimer – I do not own Code Lyoko or the story idea. I am just a fan of the show, and the story idea is submitted by James Marshall.
A was in the volcano replica, reflecting on what was happening. She knew Christmas time was approaching and it was one of the most heartfelt and eye opening experiences for her. She didn't tell Xana about it, or he would take extreme measures to makes sure he completed his ultimate goal. Even though Xana would achieve victory by the end, he couldn't do it now. She needed Jeremy and Aelita's drive to defeat Xana to remain high. And she knew this upcoming attack would achieve that. She did remember the first Christmas the group did spend after Xana's defeat.
Flashback
It has been almost a full year since the group defeated Xana and saved the world. Though no one would know the risk they took and what they did, they enjoyed the glory of being unsung heroes of everyone. It was also in this time they tried to be better friends to William. With Xana gone, the threat of him becoming Xana's pawn again was gone. This Christmas, they decided to spend it together as a family, rather than with theirs. Everyone of their families agreed and it would be just this one time and many more in the future. This was the first time the group could actually enjoy their time a normal teenagers without worrying about how Xana would try to kill them tomorrow. It was a happy time and stayed that way for years.
If A could cry on Lyoko, she would. It was heartbreaking for her working for Xana, but the only reward that would come out of this would she save William from the nightmares of this past.
Aelita's Point of View
On a snowy day in the mountains, a little Aelita was heard laughing, rolling a snowball. "Look at my giant snowball mommy!"
"Stay near the house darling" her mother replied.
"Well done my angel!" Franz says.
Aelita suddenly hears a wolf howl, growing scared. "Mommy! Daddy!" She turns around and sees two men in black suits staring at them. "Help!"
"Aelita!" her mom yells as she is taken away. "Aelita!"
Aelita runs towards her. "Mommy! Mommy!"
"Aelita…" Her mother gets taken away in a van.
"Mommy!"
Aelita trips and kneels as the snow starts to fall.
Aelita is crying in her sleep while holding Mr. Puck, wiping away her eyes with the blanket. She turns up to look up at the ceiling. She got ready for the day and meet with everyone outside.
"Before we head out, me and William have an announcement" Jeremy says.
"What have you two got?" Odd asks.
"When Xana sent A here to destroy the supercalculator, she said I was in her position from her timeline, the original timeline" William said, with no emotion.
"So, that confirms you were Xana's slave back in the day" Yumi adds.
"It's all so hard to believe. Everything that A's doing and is going to do is all something I did."
"How to save her is becoming harder and harder. No matter how hard we try to destroy the replicas and find new ones, Xana applies pressure to the max" Ulrich says.
"Destroying the replicas one by one is impossible. That much is sure. If we attempt to do that, will be fighting Xana for the next decade" Jeremy responds.
"And with A's Lyoko band, he can launch a full scale assault whenever" Aelita adds.
"What's he waiting for then? He has the ultimate weapon to take over the world, but it's like something is holding him back" Yumi asks.
"Maybe it's us. All the hell we give him and A, he probably has no time to conquer the world" Odd says.
"Get real. Without those Lyoko bands, we don't stand a chance against Xana or his forces. He could send an army after us and we're doomed" Ulrich tells him.
"While we're on this subject, I should mention that I'm still having nightmares" Aelita says.
"Still?" Yumi asks as they all stop walking.
"Yeah, they come and go. Almost like the ones I had before I recovered my full memory. I'll be staying behind to keep an eye on Xana and maybe I'll try to get rid of these thoughts."
"Hopefully A doesn't come to pay you a visit" Ulrich says.
"If she does, I'll have Yumi come to protect me."
The group continues walking and they all depart in separate ways. Aelita then walks back to the dorms. She walks into her room, and she holds her toy Mister Puck.
"Oh, he's so cute, I love him! What should I call him?" young Aelita says.
"How about Mister Puck? It's the name of an elf!" Franz says to her.
"Do you like him?" Aelita's mom asks.
"Oh yes, thank you mommy!" young Aelita exclaims, hugging her.
Even though Aelita's life before Lyoko was almost out of a horror novel, all memories of her past weren't all bad. Aelita picked up a book and started reading when music started playing on her computer. She went over and the melody was the same one her father played. A message board popped up on her monitor.
"Daddy?" She sits in front of her computer. "Where are you?" She starts a messaging him, and the next thing she reads has her in shock. "Expecting you here on Lyoko? You're not on the network?" Before she can find out more, her computer starts bugging up. "Oh rats! It's bugging up!" She snaps her fingers and heads out the door.
Aelita enters the computer lab through the elevator. She walks up to the chair and sits down. There's a message waiting for her from her father.
"There isn't much time…not much time for what? Here are the coordinates. See you in a minute, my dear!"
"See you in a minute my dear."
That was the last thing he said to her before they were virtualized together…she opens her eyes and starts a delayed virtualization. She crawls down into the scanner room, running up to one and getting inside. She's transferred, scanned, and sent to Lyoko.
Aelita ends up in the ice sector, landing safely. She gets up and looks around, only to see a giant yellow bubble.
"What's that thing? A simulation bubble?" She runs towards it and comes to a stop. She puts her arm through it before slowly stepping inside. She falls onto snow as she's suddenly in her real clothes. She looks up to see the house from her memories, gasping. "How can this be?!"
She walks across the snow, hearing the same piano tune again…Franz turns around to see the girl standing right there. "Daddy?"
"Aelita," he holds out his arms and she runs into them. "We've got so much catching up to do, and there's so little time!"
Tears stream down her face as she feels the warmth of the embrace. Finally, she could be with him again.
"I thought you were lost in the network!"
"Lost? No, my dear. When Xana destroyed Lyoko, I managed to escape. I have information to give you, but first, I wanted so much to hold you in my arms."
"But how did you-"
"I had to create this simulation bubble so that I could finally-"
"This is fantastic!" She smiles happily. "Everything is just the same!"
"Yes, this bubble will allow us to do many things, my dear. Like spending an evening together at last. As long as Xana hasn't been defeated, I can't rematerialize myself."
"That's good because our plan is to defeat him in order to rescue A."
"Who is this A?"
"She is a future version of me. It's a little hard to explain. Maybe once Xana is defeated I can explain it all to you."
"By the way, how's your fight against Xana progressing?"
"We're hunting him down in the network thanks to our virtual ship the Skidbladnir."
"Hmm, the Skidbladnir? Heh heh, what a strange name."
"Nut you know that name," she points out. "It's in the book of Viking Legends that you used to read to me before I went to sleep."
"Yes, of course, the Skidbladnir. How could I forget?" Aelita was starting to fell like something was off. "Something wrong?"
"Why'd you ask me to come to Lyoko daddy?" Aelita asks.
"Because I wanted to see you. It's been such a long time."
"It's dangerous, Xana could attack at any time."
"Not as long as I'm with you."
"You know…when I said that everything here was the same as I remember it, I meant it."
"I'm glad you liked it. I wanted you to feel as if it was your home, our home."
"It's true, everything's here, nothing's missing…except for one little thing."
"Oh really? What's that?"
"My mother."
"But you remember my dear, your mother disappeared."
"Yeah, and I wan to see her more than ever, and you know that. And since you're a perfectionist, you would have recreated her in this bubble, unless you weren't really my father."
"Aelita…"
"Stay away from me Xana."
A's Point of View
The door opened in front of A, and she grabs Aelita. "What's wrong Aelita? Aren't you happy to see our father?" She taunts Aelita as she holds her. "I don't need Xana's power to overpower you Aelita. I'm a stronger version of you. Not weak like you are, not anymore."
"You'll see how weak I am!" Aelita is able to kick A in the stomach, making her lose grip. She gets down on her knees as Aelita escapes. "Go after her! I'll catch up!" The specter of Franz goes after her.
A goes out and sees the specter transform into a wolf. A then runs after them. The wolf then jumps in front of her, and A also shows up as well.
"It's the end of the road Aelita. You're friends can't protect you now. Surrender, and maybe I'll have Xana spare them."
"Fine I'll surrender. But I got one last request" Aelita says.
She turns around and uses her powers to destroy the bubble. "Lyoko or not. I'm still the better warrior." She turns to see the three boys approaching. "Manta. Keep them busy." Aelita swipes her bracelet and tries to fly away, but the blok shoots her down. "Leaving so soon? Here. Let me help you with that."
A uses her foot to push Aelita over the edge and into the digital sea. The data stream rises to signal her departure.
"No, it can't be! Aelita just fell into the digital sea!" Jeremy says in complete horror.
The three boys charge at A. She activates her wings and flies to a corner. A few more bloks show up to assist her. She looks down at the digital sea, hoping to see what she remembers. As if right on cue, a glowing ball rises from the digital sea. It heads to the surface. "Sorry, but this has to happen. Fire!"
The bloks fire at the orb. "Jeremy, what's going on with that orb?" Ulrich asks.
"Protect it. That orb is Franz Hopper" Jeremy explains.
"What?!"
"We gotta figure out what to do" Odd says appearing next to Ulrich.
"You keep the monsters busy. Me and William handle A."
Odd nods in response. He flies in and destroys one of the bloks. Ulrich and William engage A. She draws her saber and runs at them. The three of them trade blows. A looks over and notices that Franz drops off Aelita. Ulrich and William charge and plan to take out A at the same time. She ducks and they take each other out. "Pathetic." She activates her wings and flies over to where Hopper is. "You knew this was coming. Probably not like this though. You did your job, now it's time to do mine."
"Daddy, no! Get out of here! Energy field!" Aelita fires an orb at A which makes her fall to her knees and Franz escapes back into the network. A runs over to see he has disappeared. She then walks over to Aelita. "Why A? He's our father."
"He may be, but he's also a major threat" A slashes her, devirtualizing her. "Enjoy your Christmas wish. The battle ahead is still long."
Aelita's Point of View
Everyone is back at Aelita's room at the academy as Jeremy explains the situation. "It's quite simple. After Lyoko's destruction, instead of being spread out across the network, Hopper escaped. To get away from Xana."
"And A too right?" Yumi asks.
"No, he didn't know A was now an enemy. His primary goal was making sure Xana didn't know where he was. And Xana knows that he will protect Aelita no matter what, so A's always trying to throw her in to get Hopper to come out of hiding."
"I wonder what A meant. You knew this was coming?" Aelita asks.
"You don't think-" Yumi asks.
"She playing you guys. I thought we already cleared this" William asks.
"We still don't know the depth of what she did. If Hopper was a prisoner of Xana, there's a good chance that A had the right to see Hopper in his prison. She must have relayed information to him about the future, stuff that will eventually happen" Jeremy explains.
"Do you think William eliminated him? No offense" Aelita says.
"None taken. I understand. Original timeline complications" William replies.
"I don't know. If that is the case, I don't know if A will have the will power to destroy her own father of the past" Jeremy says.
"Just makes me wonder what happened in her timeline that made her come back here. Obviously, it must be working if she hasn't left yet."
"Well since Xana made us cut our holiday short, I say we celebrate now" Odd says pulling out his gifts.
Everyone exchanged gifts and their first official Christmas as friends. Aelita, however, couldn't stop thinking about her father. She dreamed of seeing him. She just wish she could also save him from his virtual prison.
A.N. – And thus ends this chapter. A big one to end on. Next one will be Kadic Bombshell I'm thinking. Big announcement: This will be the last chapter for three weeks. I am leaving on vacation soon and will have no internet access on my laptop. So, this story will be on hold for a while. Again, this story is interactive, and ideas are welcome. If you want to submit something, be my guest, but I will not respond after Tuesday. Hope this chapter was a nice send off to a three week hiatus. When I come back, we'll be charging towards the end. This story will end before summer is over. PM me with story ideas! Review with questions or comments! I will respond! As always, till next time! See ya! -lyokowarrior97