A/N: The only part of The Theory of Evolution you need to keep in mind when reading this chapter is the very last scene, Day 358. That's it, I promise.

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Lyoko or CL: Evolution in any way, shape, or form.

Beta read by FP7ETDP43

!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~E~V~O~L~U~T~I~O~N~~~!

"Aelita falls into a XANA trap, by a spectre masquerading as her lost mother. The only way to save her is by deactivating the tower."

A World Without Danger

Code Lyoko: Evolution Rewrite

Season 5, Episode 11: Rendez-vous

Deep in the bowels of Sector Five, a recently-created tower's halo turned from white to red.

Pulsations raced towards it, as XANA hoped the Lyokowarriors' beloved superscan didn't pick this one up until it was too late...

!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!

Early in the morning of 2 September, 2009—the first day of the new autumn term—Aelita tossed and turned, being plagued with the usual nightmares.

Unbeknownst to her, an electrical pulse began travelling from an outlet, up a cord, and into Aelita's desktop computer. The pink screen booted up. Over the photo of her with her father (the one she found in the Hermitage) that she had set as her screensaver, the images-displayer window opened without any prompting.

A quick montage of images from the pink-ette's childhood—photos that she never knew existed—began flashing past. It stopped on a photo of Aelita with her parents, all of them carefree, and then a photo of her mother holding an armful of lilies.

After hesitating for a moment on those two pictures, the ultra-fast montage started up again.

Aelita returned to the interface, knowing Jérémie was right, and enlarged the multi-agent program window. But she was too late. The sphere that was her father exploded soon after, and the girl cried out, "No!", distraught, before pressing her hand to the screen...

The car teared away through the snow. Wolves howled as Aelita continued to chase after the car. "Maman! Maman!" she cried out, breathless, before collapsing. She sat up, crying, as the snow continued to fall. The car was long gone...

Both taken away from her, both taken off the board without her permission. Who was next..?

Aelita sat up in bed, screaming. Tears were streaming down her face. She wiped them away with her blanket, but they continued to fall. Her heart aching for her parents, she drew her knees up to her chest and hugged them, before burying her upset face.

She may be a decade older than her friends, but deep down, she was still a little girl who just wanted her parents back.

Was that wish really so hard to fulfill?

!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!

Unfortunately for XANA, Jérémie had updated the superscan way back when the AI had created that hidden tower in Sector Five, the one it used for the Fake Hopper Incident (as the Lyokowarriors had dubbed it) in order to hide from the group that it wasn't the real Franz Hopper they were talking to. Now, it was programmed to pick up new towers as well.

Jérémie himself was sleeping soundly, the barely visible sunrise peeking through his window, when his desktop and transwatch both began sounding the same alarm, giving him quite the rude awakening. Groggy, he grabbed his glasses and checked his computer (out of habit) to see what was going on.

Activated tower in Sector Five.

He wished it were a cup of coffee instead, but it was still a good wake-up call. Now fully alert, he began to get dressed as he called his friends and filled them in on the situation, to make sure they were aware that XANA was attacking. Yes, the transwatches were relays of the superscan, but some of his friends were rather deep sleepers.

All the while, he wondered what XANA had in store for them this time.

!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!

Yumi and William met up in the park, her from her house and him from the dorms. The sun was just barely starting to rise. Everyone was still sleeping, even the birds. As they headed to the sewer passage together, both of them were keeping careful watch, for XANA as well as anyone who could possibly see them enter their secret passage.

Especially William. Ever since the revival of XANA earlier that spring, he had essentially grown eyes in the back of his head. Likely a side-effect of his possession by XANA. The others couldn't blame him.

"It's alright," Yumi whispered to her friend. "The way seems clear for now."

He shook his head, before placing a finger to his lips, "Shh. We're going to get spotted."

She looked around in confusion, "By who? There's no one around."

"Watch out!" he harshly whispered, before holding her back by her shoulders—partly to protect her, partly to keep her from running away.

Yumi finally spotted what William was seeing. She barely held back her laugh when she saw who it was.

It was Jim. He was doing Tai Chi at 5:08 in the morning. He looked so ridiculous that the two teens were having trouble holding back their urges to burst out laughing. If Milly and Tamiya were around, they'd definitely be getting a picture to post in that morning's edition of The Kadic News.

"I can't believe it," William whispered, softly chuckling. "Jim doing Tai Chi..."

"No wonder the birds are sleeping," Yumi quipped. "They're not too fond of this kind of sight."

William snickered at her joke, before the two resumed their journey to the sewer passage, tip-toeing past their phys. ed. teacher, who remained none the wiser.

!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!

While the others made their way to the factory, Aelita was in the midst of getting dressed when she caught sight of the fast photo montage occuring on her desktop. Curious... What was going on?

The montage then stopped on the photo of her mother's arms full of lilies.

An e-mail alert sounded, and Aelita sat down in her chair as she opened the message. It was titled 'CONFIDENTIAL'.

It read, 'If you want to know more about your parents and your past, come to the Hermitage. Do not tell anybody. Come alone.'

Who had sent her this? How did they know about her parents? Her thoughts immediately went to Tyron and his supposed beef with her just for being born. It was possible.

Next to her mouse, her cellphone started ringing. Normally, she would pick up, as it was likely one of her friends checking up on her, but something—she didn't know what it was—took control of her hand and pressed the hang-up button without even bothering to look at the caller ID.

All of her focus was on this mysterious message. She tapped her fingers on the desk as she re-examined what was typed out in front of her. She then typed in a command, hacking into internet to bring up the username used by her mystery contact.

'lily '

"Lily..." Aelita murmured, "lily...", as if the word meant something to her. It did.

Her green-eyed gaze turned back to the photo still on the screen, the one with her mother's arms full of lilies.

"That's right," she muttered. "Lilies were her favorite flower...Maman?"

Her blood ran cold. For so long, all she had left of her parents were just a few memories, some faded, and most of them were of her father. Now, she had evidence sitting in front of her, evidence of something that seemed impossible until now. If this contact knew that her mother's favorite flower was the lily, then it was likely that they knew her personally.

Now full of energy, she hurriedly changed the rest of her clothes before running out of the room, leaving the message and photo both open on her screen. The back of her mind began to nag her of the possibility of this being a trap, of this being a bad idea. After all, two separate enemies were currently out for her blood, for different reasons. But she didn't care.

Hope was quickly outweighing any strand of common sense she'd ever had...

!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!

The moment Jérémie's call to Aelita went straight to voicemail, despite the call connecting, was the moment the others knew something was wrong. She currently was not mad at him, and even then, she never ignored his calls.

This was a better wake-up call than the superscan alert on their transwatch, or even a good cup of coffee. They had all traded the warmth of their beds for the coldness of the lab, but none of them would rather be anywhere else, knowing XANA was on the move.

"What's wrong with Aelita?" Odd asked. "Why did she just hung up on you?"

"I don't know," Jérémie shrugged, from his chair. "But she turned her phone off." On the screen, the phone call window opened, with Aelita's virtual ID attached, only to immediately close.

"Why?" Ulrich asked, as he shared a concerned glance with Yumi.

"I wish I knew," the blonde shrugged again. "But according to her vitals, her heartbeat has increased, like she's being physically strained or she's excited..." The blonde genius took off the earpiece and placed it on the keyboard, before getting to his feet. "I need to go find her."

Yumi was quick, "No, you need to deactivate the tower, Jérémie."

He halted in his tracks at the reminder. She was right; without Aelita, Jérémie was the only one available to take care of the tower.

"She's right," William replied. "Whatever's going on, the tower takes precedence, so we should act like she's not coming. One of us will head out and search for her."

Jérémie sighed, the stress and anxiety he was feeling palpable in the breath he let out. "Fine." He turned back to face his friends, "Any volunteers?"

"I'll go," Ulrich replied, heading over to the open lift. He pressed the 'up' button. As the doors closed, he promised, "I'll keep you updated."

Jérémie nodded in gratitude, before turning to the others. "I'd prefer one of you to stay at the controls."

That was all he had to stay. William stepped up to the monitor, "I'll do it." He placed the earpiece in his ear, with his Lyokowarrior handbook placed in his lap. "Go on."

The other three—Jérémie, Yumi, and Odd—took the side ladder down to the scanner room.

"We're ready, William!" Yumi called out to him, over the comm system.

"Okay, here we go," William replied, warming up the virtualization process by first selecting the code for Sector Five, using his handbook as his guide. "Transfer Yumi, transfer Jérémie, transfer Odd." He selected their ID cards one by one, before watching as their avatars loaded in, "Scanner Yumi, scanner Jérémie, scanner Odd." Once they were fully loaded, he pressed the 'enter' key, "Virtualization!"

Three arrows appeared on the holomap, which was reading Sector Five's Arena—two green and one yellow. One second later, a countdown window also appeared.

!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!

"Uh, guys?" William called out, as the trio got to their feet. "I have a timer here, counting down from five minutes. What does it mean?"

The wall continued to spin, as Yumi answered him, "It means that XANA's regained control of Sector Five. We have to stop the timer by triggering a key mechanism, or else the walls will cave in on us."

"Don't worry, Will, we're on it," Odd said, punching an open palm. "We've handled this before. Just tell us where the key is."

The spinning stopped, and the wall opened to reveal a passage. "Through the path that just opened up," William replied, sounding confused. "But I'm getting two separate readings..."

The trio ran through the doorway, only to stop at the next wall. The passage opened further, revealing a simple, curving hallway. They were then led into a room loaded in the Core Zone. Said room was large, with the floor and ceiling both level. The walls, however, were a different story.

The wall on their left was filled with very narrow platforms jutting out from the walls. Above all of them was the key.

Or one of them.

Because the wall to their left were filled with long, horizontal beams. Entangled in all the beams, there was a second key.

Now, they understood what William meant by getting two separate readings.

"They have to be pressed at the same time," Jérémie realized. "Like those two towers XANA used to send Creepers to last semester's dance, they're relaying each other."

"Better hurry," William warned. "Four minutes left on the timer."

"Okay, we've got this," Odd psyched them all up. "XANA's used these layouts before. I'll handle the left wall. Yumi, you get the right."

"Got it," she replied, "Good luck!", before running over to the wall with the horizontal beams.

Meanwhile, Odd sprinted up to the well with the narrow platforms and jumped up onto the first one.

In front of Jérémie, the floor opened and out climbed a trio of Creepers. The wall in front of him also had small sections open up and three more Creepers poked their heads through. Great, he thought to himself.

But he could handle this. He formed a dagger in each hand before engaging the trio of Creepers that emerged from the floor.

!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!

Ulrich arrived at Aelita's dorm. Her door was closed, so he knocked. "Aelita?" he softly called out, aware that everybody else was likely still asleep.

There was no answer. He stuck his ear to the door and was disconcerted by the fact that there was no noise emitting from the room, not even the quiet breathing of someone sleeping, or the thrashing of someone having a nightmare.

(Even if she tried to hide them, and didn't talk about them, the others knew she was still having nightmares.)

He opened the door and his suspicions were confirmed. The room was completely empty. Aelita's bed, however messy it was, had her pajamas laying on it, indicating that she had at least gotten dressed for the day. So she was aware that XANA was on the prowl. Good to know.

But what jumped out at him was the active computer screen, most notably the windows still open—an e-mail and a photo of Anthea Schaeffer holding a bouquet of lilies. Apparently, whatever she was sent, it was important enough for the girl to completely ignore her duty concerning stopping XANA.

Ulrich read the message, titled 'CONFIDENTIAL', sent from 'lily ', reading 'If you want to know more about your parents and your past, come to the Hermitage. Do not tell anybody. Come alone.'

Ah, no wonder. She had received a message concerning her parents.

But re-reading who the sender was, and looking back at the photo of Anthea. Lily...lilies...

It was her mother. Or, in the very least, someone who knew her parents.

The samurai's blood went cold. Call him paranoid, but every single nerve ending in Ulrich's body was screaming at him how bad an idea it was to fall for this. It was a trap; there was no way that it wasn't.

XANA had pulled this trick on them before—tricking Aelita using her father. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility. The AI once had a hold over Aelita's past memories, and it likely studied them in full, so it knew what Anthea looked like and that she liked lilies. It also knew about the Hermitage, and Anthea being taken was what forced Hopper and Aelita to move to the Hermitage in the first place. How could the real Anthea know about that place?

If they were wrong—if Jérémie deactivated the tower and Anthea was still standing—then they'd apologize to their pink-haired friend. But right now, XANA was on the prowl, and it always paid to be cautious, knowing their greatest enemy.

Ulrich bolted out of Aelita's room and ran down the stairs, his destination: the Hermitage. He had to warn his friend before she stepped into the lion's den.

Once in the park, the brunette pulled out his phone and called the lab, "Whoever's there, we have a problem!"

"It's William," came the answer. "What's wrong?"

"I think Aelita's heading into a trap!" Ulrich hastily explained. "I first checked her room and found an e-mail from an anonymous sender, telling her to be at the Hermitage alone if she wanted to get more information about her parents."

"Well, that explains why she wasn't answering Jérémie's calls," William muttered.

"Probably," the brunette continued, "but the problem right now is that Aelita is about to meet one of XANA's spectres wearing the face of her mother, who will then trick her with sickeningly sweet words to keep her preoccupied while XANA sucks Jérémie dry of his half of Lyoko's Keys!"

He knew William was being shaken by the frankness, but he needed to hear it like it was, the truth about what was at stake here.

"Got it," William solemnly replied. "It's up to you, Ulrich."

"I'll keep you updated," the samurai promised, before hanging up.

He could only hope that he would get there in time.

!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!

It was almost daylight when Aelita arrived at the Hermitage. The light of dawn painted everything in a gold color, making her old childhood home look like something out of a fairy tale. Oh, how she wished it would be that, and not turn into a horror story...

"Anybody here?" she cupped her hands to her mouth and called out. "Hello?"

The only response that she received was the rustling of the wind against the tree branches. But she refused to give up. The possibility of this being a trap still lingered in her mind, but it was continuing to be vastly overpowered by her curiosity about finding out about her parents. Especially her mother, it seemed.

She walked inside, through the front door. Thanks to the group's cleaning follow the first XANA's defeat, it actually looked livable. There was still some work to do, but it would take time to make this place look like time had not passed.

No one was in the living room, or in the kitchen, or in her father's study. She went up the stairs, and once up there, something took over her body and led her directly to her old bedroom.

Standing there, looking out the window was a familiar pink-haired woman, dressed in her favorite pair of jeans and blue-grey turtleneck...

It was the woman who had hand-sewn and given her Mister Pück as a Christmas gift, who had joined her father in reading Viking Legends to her before bed, who had once made with her a gingerbread house that they never finished because they got preoccupied with eating all the icing, who she desperately wanted to be when she grew up because the woman was smart yet embraced music more...

"I got you!" Anthea laughed as she swept her daughter up in her arms as the girl ran by.

"Nooo!" Aelita cried with glee, giggling as her mother starting tickling her side.

"You can't escape me!" the woman smiled. "I'm the tickle monster!"

A camera clicked from off to the side. Both pink-ettes stopped laughing, though still smiled, and looked over at Waldo, who was holding a camera.

"Sorry. I couldn't help it," he gave his own smile. "It was too good a photo opportunity to pass up."

Anthea and Aelita shared a knowing glance, an unspoken plan emerging between them. Anthea turned back to her husband, "I can't blame you, love, but you still must be punished by the tickle monster."

"And Maman knows your secret!" Aelita chirped in.

And that was the fact that Waldo Schaeffer was ticklish too. He'd never reveal it to anyone under pain of death. But he was happy to subject himself to the fun.

The woman Aelita never thought she'd see again, the woman who was shoved into the back of a black van that Aelita tried to chase after to no avail.

"Maman?"

The woman turned around, fondly gazing at Aelita with her warm brown eyes. There was a soft smile on her face, "Hello, Aelita."

The girl was frozen in place, wide-eyed and confused. She barely felt herself shaking her head, "No, this is impossible. They took you away..."

Her rationality was warring with her longing for this to really be her mother. She found herself unable to move in any direction. This was a trap, it had to be, but her mother was right in front of her, she may not get another chance!

"I managed to escape," Anthea replied, her smile remaining as she took a step forward.

Aelita didn't dare to move. "H-How? The men in black..." She trailed off.

But her mother already had an answer ready. She was right in front of her daughter now; all the girl had to reach out to touch her. "That doesn't matter. We're together now, and that's all that matters."

Anthea gently stroked Aelita's cheek, sending some green sparks across the girl's skin. Aelita's eyes glazed over and a dopey smile appeared on her face as all her rational thought immediately disappeared from her mind.

The girl relaxed completely—there was no way that this wasn't her mother—and fell into Anthea's arms, welcoming her embrace...

!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!

Jérémie jumped to the side to avoid a laser, before producing and throwing a dagger. His target was hit and promptly destroyed, leaving two Creepers left.

Meanwhile, Yumi hung from a beam, swinging her legs back and forth to gain momentum, and then flipped over to a higher beam. From there, she pulled herself up onto a beam next to her, getting up into a handstand and then gracefully returned to her feet. She held her arms out for balance and walked slowly and cautiously towards the end of the beam.

On the opposite end of the room, Odd made his way up the wall towards his key, jumping from block to block. A Creeper, from below, suddenly shot him in the back, knocking him off balance. He started to fall backwards, but he managed to catch the wall with his claws, saving himself just in time.

Hanging off the wall, he looked at Yumi to check on her progress, before then glancing down at Jérémie.

"Jérémie, watch out!" he cried out.

The blue elf turned around in time, seeing the Creepers he was facing fall back, only to make room for the Scyphozoa as it entered the room through an open doorway that promptly closed behind it.

He had no room to run, so it was no wonder that it quickly captured him and began draining his memory of the Keys.

Yumi had seen this too. "Jérémie!" She made a move to jump down and free him.

But William stopped her, "Don't! Focus on the key mechanisms! It may be what saves him!"

He was right. The timer was still counting down, and they likely had to stop it in order to access the tower. Aelita was counting on them too, remembering what William had relayed to them from Ulrich.

"Okay," Odd said, before resuming his climbing. He used his claws to reach the next platform.

"Just hurry! You guys only have two and a half minutes left!" William informed them.

Yumi jumped off the beam, flipped off a second one, and grabbed onto the edge of a third, hanging off it. She swung her legs for momentum before flipping to a higher beam in front of her, landing with her legs hooked around the top of it. She then pulled herself up.

Jérémie and Aelita were both in danger, and they were quite literally running out of time.

!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!

Ulrich arrived at the Hermitage, only to see that he was too late. Aelita was already in the arms of her so-called mother. She had fallen for it...

"No, Aelita!" he cried out. "Don't!"

Startled, Anthea broke the embrace and glared at Ulrich with eyes blazing with anger. Meanwhile, Aelita seemed very dazed, if not disappointed that the hug had abruptly ended.

"What...?" the girl asked. "What's going on?"

He had to get her out of here. Knowing this, Ulrich ran over to his friend and began prying her from Anthea's grasp. The woman's grip was strong, though, so with a bit more force than he felt comfortable with, Ulrich roughly forced Aelita out of the hug and pulled her out of the room, down the stairs, and finally out of the house by the hand—his own grip just as strong as Anthea's was.

But it had to be. Aelita was fiercely struggling. "Don't!" she was crying out, tears filling her eyes. "You can't do this! You can't take her away from me again!"

Ulrich's heart twinged with sympathy. Again, if he was wrong, he'd apologize once the tower was deactivated, but this was likely a trap, and Aelita's safety was his top priority.

"I can't let you go back, Aelita," he sternly told her. "That woman is not your mother!"

She managed to yank herself out of his grip, but he was quick, managing to catch her again, this time by clasping his hands on both her shoulders from behind and then turning him around.

Her forest green eyes were blazing with anger, "Hey! What's your problem?!" He had never seen her this mad before.

"My problem?!" How could she ask that? "My problem, Aelita, is that you threw yourself into the arms of a spectre! Willingly!"

She gave him a stony glare, "Do you have any proof? How did you find me anyway?! I promised her that I'd be alone!"

He scoffed, "Well, first of all, you're the idiot who kept the e-mail open on your computer! Where anybody can read it! Second, I know you want information on your parents, Aelita, but you've been able to keep a level head in the past and know when it's actually a trap laid out by XANA!"

Aelita immediately stopped struggling, as her expression turned into one of shock.

Ulrich continued, "Listen to me. That woman is a polymorphic spectre controlled by XANA. Surely, you know that her knowing about the Hermitage when she's never been there before is a red flag! Now, let's head to the factory! The others need our help!"

But she began struggling again. "NO! I can't! I have to go back to her! I have to be in her arms!" she desperately cried out. "Nothing else matters!"

"Not even the threat of Jérémie losing his half of the Keys to XANA?" Ulrich couldn't believe what he was hearing.

Aelita never directly answered that. She instead continued to struggle against his grip. "I can't leave her! I can't go to the factory! I have to be in her arms! Nothing else matters! She's here! She's alive! I have to be in her arms! Please, let me go!" She kept saying that. Why?

It was quick, but in that moment, Ulrich saw a hint of green electricity shining over Aelita's eyes. That was...unusual. Almost supernatural. Something disturbing suddenly came to mind.

"Aelita," he asked, with less force than before, "do you even recognize me? It's me, Ulrich. One of your friends. You can trust me." Not once did she call him out by name. "Do you really think I would lie to you on purpose to keep you from seeing your mother?"

"Stop it! LET ME GO!" she cried out, and with one surprising surge of strength, she managed to rip herself out of his grip.

She ran back to the Hermitage—which was a small speck on the horizon by now—and Ulrich called out to her, "Aelita!", before chasing after her.

But his instincts were correct. She didn't once use his name, all she could think about was her mother's arms, and she didn't answer any of his questions directly. It was like she wasn't all there, mentally. Like she was addicted to her mother, to the spectre...

And given the green electricity he had seen in her eyes, it wasn't out of the realm of possibility. It really was XANA masquerading as Anthea Schaeffer, and it somehow had Aelita under its spell.

While running, Ulrich used his phone to call the lab, "William! Spectre confirmed! But something's wrong! I think she's addicted to it!"

"I can see her vitals," William replied. "They're elevated as if she's on a drug of some kind."

"That would be the spectre!" Ulrich breathlessly replied. "I don't know how XANA managed to do it, but something tells me we're running out of time! Tell the others to hurry up and deactivate the tower!"

"I will. Good luck," the elder teen replied, before hanging up.

!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!

"Hurry, guys! Jérémie's Keys are halfway gone!" William warned.

Odd dodged a Creeper's shot aimed at his head, just barely, before reached the platform that was just one jump away from his key.

"Don't worry. We're here," the cat replied, glancing back at Yumi.

The geisha was making her along along a beam towards the wall where her key was, arms out wide for balance. A Creeper appeared on top of the key. It shot at her and she immediately backflipped away. As the monster kept shooting, she turned around and flipped to the very end of the beam.

She glanced back at Odd, in time for him to call out to her, "It's now or never, Yumes!"

"Right!" Yumi replied, before flipping all the way back to the wall, avoiding the monster's lasers. She was in a handstand when she reached her key and pressed it with her foot. She then reached up with both legs and grabbed the Creeper's neck, pulling it down from its perch. Yumi ended up in a seated position on the beam, watching as the Creeper fell to its death.

At the same time, Odd jumped towards his key. The Creeper that was attacking shot him in mid-air, but he managed to hit the key before he was hit, causing him to fall all the way back to the ground. Once there, he fired a cluster of Laser Arrows at the monster, destroying it.

The two, as well as William in the lab, watched as a wall erupted from the floor and ascended between the Scyphozoa and Jérémie, cutting off its grip and releasing the elf. The wall cut off the monster from its victim, leaving the teen with his two friends and protectors.

On William's screens, both countdown windows stopped with a few percentage points to spare. He sighed in heavy relief.

Yumi and Odd both immediately rushed to Jérémie's side as he sat up, regaining his bearings.

"You okay?" the geisha asked him, as the cat kept a sharp eye out for any surprise attacks from behind.

Jérémie lightly groaned, "I am now. Did you press the keys?"

"Yep, both of them," Odd replied, as Yumi helped Jérémie to his feet.

The ground beneath their feet suddenly shifted, startling them. They watched in surprise as the blocks in the floor moved and fell away to form a long, winding staircase leading somewhere deep down below them.

"The tower's down there," William cut in. "Better hurry. According to Ulrich, the spectre has somehow wiped Aelita of all common sense."

"Then let's go!" Jérémie ordered in response, leading the other two as they began to make their way down the staircase.

!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!

Aelita re-entered her old childhood bedroom with a relieved smile. Her mother was still there, having waited patiently for her to return. Happy tears filled the girl's eyes as she raced back into her mother's arms. The woman warmly welcomed her back.

But Anthea's brown eyes were immediately replaced with the emblem of XANA the moment Ulrich ran through the door, halting in his tracks when he saw the situation in front of him.

The spectre outstretched its hand, now sparking with green electricity—the same kind he had seen earlier in Aelita's eyes—and shot a jolt of lightning at him.

Ulrich managed to duck in time to avoid it, though felt it just narrowly miss the top of his head by a couple of hairs. Behind him, the bolt of electricity hit the wall, leaving a burnt, smoking circle in its wake.

He tightly clenched his fist in anger. XANA would not win today. It couldn't! He wouldn't let it!

He just hoped that Jérémie was just about to deactivate that tower.

!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!

The room at the bottom of the staircase was familiar—a very large room with a single pathway down the middle—but instead of Aelita's missing fragment at the end, it was a tower with a red halo.

Jérémie took the lead, running down the path towards the tower, with Yumi and Odd hot on his heels.

"Watch out!" William warned. "Two Megatanks are appearing behind you!"

The trio turned around to see red wireframes form colors, creating two Megatanks at the foot of the stairs. Both of them opened up.

"Focus on the tower, Jérémie," Odd said, facing the monsters. "We'll handle these guys!"

Jérémie didn't say anything, only turning back around and resuming his journey to the tower.

"One for each of us, Odd," Yumi said. "Let's go!"

The cat smiled before running at his Megatank on all fours. It charged its massive laser before firing. He jumped into the air, narrowly managing to avoid the laser, before firing a flurry of Laser Arrows. His target exploded upon its eye being hit.

Meanwhile, the geisha jumped backward, summoning her fans mid-air, before launching herself at the remaining Megatank just as it opened up. She landed on top of it, and threw her fans at its eye before it could charge up its laser. She then jumped off to avoid the resulting explosion.

Odd watched her catch her fans and promptly close them with pride, before sighing with relief as Jérémie entered the tower.

!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!

Ulrich's body was aching all over as another jolt of lightning threw him back against the opposite wall. The Anthea spectre's eyes were smoldering with silent fury, as if XANA was daring him to come closer.

JEREMIE_

And Ulrich dared. Aelita was his friend, after all. Her safety, right now, was his top priority.

But, this time, when rushing at the spectre, it grabbed his neck instead of shooting him with more lightning.

CODE_

It tightened its grip on both teens, comforting while Aelita but threatening for Ulrich. To add insult to injury, its grip on Ulrich was quickly accompanied by another jolt of electricity.

LYOKO_

Fortunately for the samurai, the pain didn't last long. The spectre suddenly released its hold, and Ulrich dropped to the ground, passing out as soon as he hit the floor.

Aelita blinked in surprise and confusion when the spectre whose arms she was in suddenly disappeared. Her eyes turned clear as she regained her senses, just in time to see the dark cloud evaporated into the ceiling. What just happened...?

It felt like she just had a dream, one that followed you into the waking world, and you needed to stop for a moment and realize that it never actually happened. Something had come over her, but she didn't know what it was.

Then, she saw her friend lying unconscious on the ground and immediately gasped in worry. She knelt at his side in a panic, "Ulrich!" Shaking him by the shoulder, she felt tears of subconscious guilt fill her eyes. "Ulrich, wake up!"

She breathed a heavy sigh of relief when he began to stir, eventually opening his brown eyes. "Aelita?" He slowly began to sit up, rubbing away the soreness in his neck. "Do you recognize me?"

The pink-ette blinked in confusion, "Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?" She paused. "What are we doing at the Hermitage? What happened? Why were you out cold?"

He paused. "You don't...you don't remember what happened?"

She adjusted her position so that she was sitting next to him, pretzel-style. Something had come over her, she repeated to herself as she began racking her brain for her most recent memories. "I remember the transwatch alert and getting dressed to go the factory, only to become preoccupied by a mystery message."

"I read it," Ulrich bluntly told her. "You left it open, despite its title being 'CONFIDENTIAL'."

"Well, reading it is the last thing I remember clearly," the pink-ette quietly confessed. "I sort of remember going to the Hermitage, but it's all blurry. Someone stroked my cheek, and that's when my memory goes blank."

"As I suspected," the brunette muttered. He then glanced back up at her, meeting her eyes. His expression told her that what had happened was serious. "That message was a trap laid out by XANA. It lured you to the Hermitage, where a spectre wearing your mother's face was waiting for you. Your memory is probably so fuzzy because the spectre had you in a trance of some kind, and William admitted that it was showing in your vitals. When I arrived to stop you, you couldn't stop fighting me. You kept saying that you needed to go back to your mother's arms. You didn't even recognize me or react to me reminding you about the danger that Jérémie was in by going to Lyoko in your place; your mother was all you could think about."

Each word he spoke as he revealed the truth to her was like a heavy weight smashing against her heart. She remembered thinking that the mystery message sender was her mother. But it turned out that XANA, once again, had tricked her with that picture-perfect life where she lived with both of her parents, where all three of them were alive and happy.

She fell onto her back in disbelief. "So it was a lie..." she muttered, as she felt her eyes fill up with more tears. "All a lie. None of it was real." She sniffed back her tears, but failed, as they kept coming, "While in the trance, all I can remember is being happy. I don't remember anything else. I should have realized, Ulrich." She sniffed again. "There were so many red flags right up front. It was all a lie..."

Ulrich laid down next to her and grabbed her hand, before gently squeezing it to comfort her. "But this is no lie. I'm really here with you, I promise."

"I'm sorry..."

"It's not your fault," he softly replied. "I know how much you want to find your mother. We all do, even if you keep it all to yourself."

She gently squeezed his hand in return here, "Because I don't want you guys to worry about me."

"We always will," was his quick response.

"I know," she quietly replied. "But it's also because I don't think you guys would understand. I mean, you all still have parents and families to come home to."

"Don't we?" he asked. "Well, maybe the others can't relate, but just because my parents are alive, doesn't mean they're any good."

She envied Jérémie's home life the most, because it was very warm and comforting, and she had witnessed that warmth herself. William's home life had become a bit strained lately due to his parents' understandable concern over his clone's behavior. Odd's home life was filled with overly positive parents and mean jokester sisters. Yumi's home life consisted of parents who tended to argue a bit too much and an annoying little brother.

But Ulrich's? He was right. He was the one (out of their group) who could understand her desire for loving parents, because his own parents were so painfully absent from his life. His father was always berating him about his grades and his choice in friends, and most recently his girlfriend, while his mother never stepped in to defend her son. Yes, she cared about Ulrich, but oftentimes, her devotion to her husband won out.

Aelita turned her head and met Ulrich's soft brown-eyed gaze, as he continued, "We will find your mother, Aelita. Maybe not today, and maybe not her being alive. But some way or another, we'll get closure. For now, just don't be afraid to lean on us more. We're your family just as much as you guys are to me. Okay?"

She tearfully smiled, "Okay."

!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~~!

A half-hour later, Ulrich and Aelita were sitting on a bench in the park, watching the sunrise. The duo heard footsteps approaching them and turned to see who their company was. It was their four friends, returning from the factory.

Aelita's eyes brightened the moment she laid eyes on Jérémie. She immediately got to her feet and wrapped her arms around his neck. And she felt better when the genius asked no questions, only returning her embrace.

"XANA's plan," Yumi softly explained, "was obviously to preoccupy Aelita to keep her away from Lyoko until it had stolen Jérémie's half of the Keys. Then, it would lead Aelita to Lyoko so it could steal her half too."

"I'm sorry," Aelita muttered into Jérémie's shoulder.

"It's okay," William softly told her. "It's not your fault. XANA probably programmed that spectre specifically to keep you occupied. Knowing how smart you are, it placed you under a trance to keep you from asking questions."

As she had against the Blok pretending to be her father in that simulation bubble. XANA 2.0 probably studied up on that and adjusted this new plan accordingly.

"I'm still sorry," the pink-ette's voice was almost in a whisper. "I'm sorry for believing it was my mother..."

"We told you," Odd replied, his own voice soft, "that it's not your fault. You have nothing to apologize for."

Yes, she did—Aelita felt. She was apologizing to herself. For getting her hopes up enough to take that message seriously.

Even if the others didn't understand that, Jérémie did. She knew he did, and that was enough for her.

He remained quiet as he said to her, "XANA is...a formidable enemy. It sets traps for us. It taps into our deepest pain and uses it against us. But it makes mistakes. You're not alone, Aelita. We'll defeat it once and for all. I promise you that."

She nodded in response, emotional. She believed him, feeling a warmth in her chest that had formed because of his comforting words.

The embrace between lovers soon turned into a group hug, and Aelita felt the warmth in her chest expand in genuine happiness.

Unfortunately, the moment was ruined by a sudden voice calling out to them, "Hey! Belpois, Stones, Stern, Della Robbia, Ishiyama, and Dunbar!" All six of them nearly jumped out of their skins, before turning to see Jim marching up to them. "What are you six doing out here?! You should be getting ready for autumn term! It starts in just a couple of hours!"

"Sorry, Jim," Odd quickly fibbed, luckily for them. "Aelita had a nightmare last night that really upset her, so we all joined her in watching the sunrise to cheer her up."

"I'm sorry to hear about your nightmare, Miss Stones," Jim replied, his tone changing and calming down. "But watching the sunrise is a good thing. There's just something about the sun peeking out after a full night without it that just calms you down. That's why I recommend doing Tai Chi at this hour! It's the perfect time! Just creates an calming energy that follows you for the rest of the day!"

Before any of the six teens could react, Jim began performing the same funny-looking movements that he was doing earlier. Again, he looked so ridiculous, so it was difficult for them to hide their resulting laughter.

But it made Aelita smile, and she pulled Jérémie ever so closer to her as she enjoyed the moment while it lasted.

'Maman, I know you're alive out there somewhere,' she mentally vowed. 'Give me a sign, just one. Let me know that you're okay. That's all I really care about.'

!~~~C~O~D~E~~L~Y~O~K~O~~E~V~O~L~U~T~I~O~N~~~!

Inspiration: CLE's "Rendez-vous", plus an idea from Tumblr user 'a-queenoffairys'

Up next: Episode 12, Friday the 13th - "Odd thinks he's the sole winner of the national lottery, but in reality, he has to share his win with millions of other winners. But that's just the start of Odd's bad luck."

A/N: Chapter Meaning: 'rendezvous' means 'to meet or come together at a particular time and place'; it's the same as the title from the canon EVO episode

-This chapter takes place in early September, following summer break. This means that a new school year has begun, with Ulrich, Jérémie, Odd, and Aelita now being eleventh graders, while Yumi and William are now twelfth graders

-This chapter is the first time I have added deleted scenes back in (plus one from EVO's 'The Trap'). Given how most of those scenes listed on the .fr website concern Aelita and the Anthea spectre, I held no qualms about using them.

-The tower room is inspired by the room from 'The Key'.

~Evolution Concepts~

'Rendezvous' is one of my favorite episodes of EVO, along 'Espionage', mostly because of the Jerlita stuff in both of them (Jérémie proves that he wants Aelita to find her mother, but he doesn't want to risk giving XANA the win). That being said, 'Rendezvous' has its flaws like every other episode. The one I really want to talk about, concerning the change I made with the trance thing (the idea from 'a-queenoffairys'), is the fact that Aelita, in EVO, doesn't question anything. She believes its her mother and refuses to believe Jérémie when he tries to tell her that it's not her mother. In 'Distant Memory', which I call out in the chapter, Aelita has enough common sense, despite her happiness at seeing her supposed father again, to question the red flags. In EVO, she doesn't do that, doesn't ask her mother how she escaped or how she knows about the Hermitage. By placing her under a trance, Aelita then has a reason for all common sense to be flung out the window.

I replaced canon-Jérémie with AWWD-Ulrich because Jérémie, in this story, is the only other person who can deactivate the tower. That's all; otherwise, I would've had him play the same role.

As for the exclusion of Laura, it's self-explanatory. This story's version of Laura is not in the group, so I instead had William take up the controls in order to prove himself to be able to handle them without assistance.