A really short chapter, but I had to take a break from All's Fair in Love and War, and this story just felt incomplete to me. That and, in updating it, maybe I can get more fans. So enjoy this absolute final chapter, and please continue to support me in my other works!
Aelita dropped to the ground, looking around uneasily. The place was strange to her. Everything looked wrong. She looked at her hands and her own clothes. She didn't own clothes like those. It looks like a forest, she thought as she looked around. "Daddy?" she called. "Daddy, where are you?" She was growing nervous. Surely her father wouldn't leave her alone in such a strange place.
"Here I am, Aelita." Aelita looked behind her. However, instead of seeing her father's familiar face, she only saw the many floating orbs of light that was Franz Hopper.
"Daddy!" Aelita was alarmed. Why didn't her father look normal?
"I can't materialize myself into human form yet as you can, Aelita," he explained. "I still have more work to do on Lyoko. This world needs to develop more." Aelita reached out, touching him. She could feel his presence, even if he didn't look the same.
Suddenly, a noise like machines moving drew closer. Aelita turned around, spotting the weird creatures on the ground in front of her. "Daddy, there are some strange looking creatures over there," Aelita said cautiously. Without warning, the creatures fired lasers at her.
"Run Aelita! Run!" Franz yelled. Aelita did as she was told, trying her best to avoid the shots of the robots.
"Daddy!" Aelita cried in fear. She saw something up ahead and ran towards it. A laser hit her arm and she stumbled, but kept running until she reached the tower, following her father through the walls. The inside was blue, with a symbol on the ground that lit up as she walked.
Aelita sat down, curling up in the centre of the eye, feeling scared. "Aelita," Franz called to her. Aelita looked up at him.
"Daddy," Aelita replied.
"Aelita, I have to make contact with XANA," Franz informed, drawing closer to his daughter. "To persuade him that we can live in peace with him."
"Who is XANA?" Aelita asked innocently.
"A multi-agent computer programme I created," he answered, knowing that his bright daughter would understand the complexity of the situation that most twelve-year-olds wouldn't. "It has achieved self awareness and autonomy, and it's trying to eliminate us now."
"But why, Daddy?" Aelita asked, growing scared. Eliminate? Franz didn't answer. Instead, he disappeared, one orb after another. Aelita looked around the tower, wanting an answer. "Daddy?"
"Whatever you do, don't leave this tower," Franz's voice instructed.
"Daddy!" Aelita was shocked. Why would Daddy leave me here? "Daddy? DADDY-Y!" she cried. She sat down on the tower floor, upset that she had been left alone in the strange room. She wanted to be with her father.
She could hear more lasers being fired and, the closer she listened, she could tell they were just outside the tower walls. "Daddy!" she cried, standing up. "I'm coming, Daddy!"
"No, Aelita! Get back to safety, in the tower!" Franz yelled, avoided the shots of the flying creatures and trying to protect his daughter. Aelita was scared. "You possess the keys to Lyoko, Aelita. XANA must get his hands on them. Do you understand?" More shots were fired, and Franz pushed Aelita back into the tower. "It's over, Aelita. XANA is too powerful, he's become a threat to all mankind. I've got to shut down the supercomputer."
"Does that mean we'll die?" Aelita asked. The tone of her voice when she asked the question nearly broke Franz's heart in two.
"No!" he answered, his voice shaking. "But you mustn't forget me. Ever. Never forget, Aelita."
Aelita sat on the floor of the tower once again, and in only a few seconds, everything was dark.
You know, watching Aelita's memories to get this chapter, I'm surprised she ever forgot him. I mean, as many times as he said Aelita and as many times as she said Daddy, it almost drove me crazy.