Have you ever heard of the butterfly effect? The flap of a butterfly wing can cause a monsoon. Not directly, of course, but through a series of chain reactions. Although...the life or death of Xana is a little less arbitrary than the flap of a butterfly wing. In a way, this situation is also Schrodinger's Cat. When you read the first part of Code Revenge, the part where the story splits in two, it can be said that the program to reconstruct Xana both does and doesn't work.

What I'm trying to get at is, this is a completely different kind of story than the one you're used to. The fact that Xana recovered instead of staying dead...set off a chain of events that made me a completely different person than the Morgan Xanthos you see in the Code Revenge branch of the timeline.

As the title suggests, this diverging timeline is focused on betrayal. It is the story of my life. My entire life, from the day I revived Xana to the day I was destroyed and appeared here, in this world, able to tell my story to you and to heal from the damages I still have.

For you this is an entertaining story. Well...I hope it is. The statistics seem to suggest you guys like it. For me, this story is therapeutic. I'm trying to remember my life. Some...a lot...of memories were lost or made fuzzy in translation from that world to this one. Because this story serves mostly to help me recall my life, I cannot promise this will go entirely in...chronological order. Of course, I will try to make things as chronological and smooth as possible, but if I remember something and want to jump backwards, I will. There are large parts of my life I don't remember, or only remember very vaguely. So, I may work together with Affa to make up probable situations, just to make the story flow better. That's what we did for the first part of this story, after all.

I can't help but notice this writing convention is pretty much the same as Taelia's. I'm more similar to her than I originally thought. I'll let you know why that is when it comes up in the story...if you haven't already guessed. This incarnation of the story was a lot more in your face about it than the last one...

This entire story will be in my point of view, because this is my life. Enjoy.

I stood in the chamber where Xana's remains hung in suspension. It looked like a big orb of light inside a crater. It pulsed red, once, twice, three times, then it slowly began to contract. I watched in wonder. I couldn't help but feel excited. It was working! The pieces were finding each other and reconstructing. I would have a father again. With that, everything else would fall into place.

Over the course of about ten minutes, the light contracted and formed into a tall human form with a black lab coat that liked to flare out behind him like a cape. He also had a dark blue turtleneck and black pants and shoes. He sure did like black and dark colors. What is that quote from The Lego Movie "I only work in black...and really dark gray." That was Xana. Although he also used other dark, saturated colors. He definitely had an aesthetic.

I smiled and felt something like a warmth in my chest as he opened his eyes. I did it. I got back my home, and I got back my father. The Lyoko Warriors couldn't take everything away. I would come back stronger from anything they threw at me.

"Father! You're back!" I wanted to run up and hug him...but I knew those signs of affection were disgusting and not appreciated. I refrained. He didn't respond right away, likely he was booting up again, getting acclimated to the surroundings. He surveyed his domain. By the way, this place was not actually called NegaCarthage. That was a name Affa came up with years ago based on a signature of someone on an old forum saying they lived in the NegaWorld. By the time I came around, Code Revenge was already a long established story. We didn't want to contradict anything. I actually called it home or base or home base. It didn't really have a proper name.

"Of course I am. I never had any doubt. Well done." His voice was deep and rich and dark and slightly intimidating at all times. It had only been two weeks, but I had almost forgot the kind of effect his voice had. I immediately felt excess energy I had from the excitement start to die down, and my racing thoughts began to quiet down. I stood up straighter. His voice had this effect where it would not just be something you heard from outside, but something that would take residence inside your mind and consume everything else so that it commanded your absolute attention.

And he was proud of me. He was proud of me for bringing him back! I was so pleased.

He started to walk, and gestured for me to follow him. I followed at a respectable distance. Well...walk wasn't exactly the right term. It was half walking, half floating, like when you're at the airport on those moving walkways. It's sort of like that. Why was he being so silent? There was so much I wanted to tell him, about how I was progressing. But he hadn't asked me, and if he hadn't asked me, it meant he didn't want to hear it.

We made our way to the Tower Room with the Digital Sea lake at the entrance of the Replika.

"Make the staircase." He told me, his back still to me. Couldn't he make it? I didn't question it, though. I went to the map editor in my mind and scrolled to this Replika, then I switched on the staircase from here to the control room. As soon as I did, blue floating platforms appeared from where we were standing up into the far wall. I went ahead and also opened the wall to reveal the next room. The control room. It was a shame I hadn't been able to sit in his chair more. When I did I felt so powerful, it felt so right. I had all of his resources at my command. It was a great feeling. Now it would be disrespectful to do so.

He sat down on the chair, or throne, whatever you want to call it. He probably would have called it a throne, the melodramatic prick. Although at the time, I wan't much better. He rest his hand on one of the screen panels and the panel scanned his hand. I looked over his shoulder at the readout. He was logging in to the Replika. Oh, that was why he couldn't make the stairs on his own. He was more or less the same program, but because I had to reprogram some of Xana to revive him, he was slightly different. The Replika didn't recognize him. He would have to do the same thing in Sector 5 so that he could access Lyoko's control panel.

I stood quietly behind him. He didn't say anything to me for a while. It seemed he was just checking on the status of everything in his domain. I hoped he would be pleased with what I had done.

"The monsters are still here, and this Replika's integrity is in tact. Excellent." I smiled at the praise. "And how are our friends, the Lyoko Warriors?"

"Alive but scared. I have some rather elaborate plans for making each and every single one of them pay, if you are interested. I've also killed the strongest of them." I explained. Xana raised an eyebrow.

"And who is that?"

"Taelia."

Father suddenly froze. His lips twitched into a scowl. That was terrifying. I froze too.

"I would like a better idea of what you've been up to. I am going to download your recent memories." I stood in place and could actually see my memories being downloaded. A bar appeared on one of the screens. When it was filled, Xana had access to all of my memories from the time he was destroyed up until now. It only took him a second to take in and analyze all of the information that took years to write down.

He twitched. He was...angry. He rarely got emotional at all, but when he did, it was almost always anger. I felt tiny. I felt incredibly small, like a young child again. What had I done to displease him? I did...I did everything right. I did everything right! Was it because I didn't kill them? I wanted to do it in style! That's what he would have wanted...wasn't it? Why was he angry at me?

I looked down. I didn't want to risk angering him further. Something was wrong...something about me was wrong. I could feel a dark aura coming from him and pushing into me, exerting pressure on me. It was the same thing he did to his enemies, and the same thing I tried to do to my enemies. Why me, though? What did I do?

I was very uncomfortable and honestly...scared. I know that's hard to believe, but I was. A villain is a villain for a reason.

More than anything, I wanted him to break the silence. I didn't dare to break it...the pressure he exerted on me was building and building...

And, as suddenly as it had come, it was gone. I felt a hand on my chin and flinched a little. Father kept his hold steady and lifted my chin so that I looked up directly into his eyes. All of his former animosity was gone. It was almost comforting.

"Go to Earth and live at Kadic as a student. Do not interfere with any of my activity. Observe and wait for further orders." His words were not only outside, but inside. His words echoed inside me. He was editing my code. This was my new objective.

"Yes, father." I took a deep bow, like I used to do during training, and headed back to Kadic.