Do you ever find yourself starting a story, expecting that it won't turn out as much, only to have the plotline go rouge and take over? Well, that's what happened here. What began as an YxU oneshot to the song "I Hate Everything About You" exploded into this story that continues to surpass even my wildest of expectations. Not only that, but I'm not sure that I ever really did regain control of this thing- I was surprising myself to the very end with the things I was typing out. So now I present to you one of my longest works to date- To Fall From Grace. I know that it's a bit...much for a single chapter story, but from the very beginning I envisioned this as a oneshot, and now I just can't find it in me to pull it apart and post it separate. So you instead get this epic short story- it has action, adventure, tragedy, and of course, a sprinkling of romance. Mostly UlrichxYumi (had too keep something from the original idea after all) with a smattering of AelitaxJeremy and AelitaxOdd if you squint and tilt your head to the left. Also, watch out for the order of the story. It's a little scrambly, but I felt that I needed to break up the dramatric bits somewhat. Hmm...I think I've covered everything. Any and all feedback is appreciated, and now- Enjoy the story!

Lasers blasted over head, and Yumi had to duck low to avoid them as they skimmed the top edge of the large rock she was crouched behind. She was breathing hard, sweat beading along her brow and at the back of her neck, her muscles shaking from the exertion she had put them through. Adrenaline alone was all that was keeping her upright at this point. That, and the fact that, if she collapsed now, she might very well cause the end of all humanity.

It was a rather powerful incentive to keep going.

Clutching her fans close to her chest, Yumi shifted her feet slightly apart so that she could turn and raise herself up enough to see over the edge of her hiding place. She ducked straight back down, heart hammering in her throat at what she saw.

Heading her way was an army of monsters. Like some great ominous shadow they came, a veritable tide of Hornets that blotted out the bright sky, only occasionally broken by glimpses of blue. The air reverberated with the thrum of their wings, their masses turning the usual, individual hum into a roar. Below the swarm scuttled a mess of Kankrelats, like some sort of malformed platoon of foot soldiers who were united only by their shared goal- Yumi. As she watched, one of the Kankrelats pulled away from the group, seeming like it had targeted on to her location ahead of the others. Its eye began to glow a bright red and Yumi, who knew an impending attack when she saw one, quickly ducked down behind her rock once more.

A chunk of the top of Yumi's hiding place was smashed off, and, as she shrank lower into the rock's cover, she could only think of one good thing that came from this situation- if Xana had such a concentration of monsters here then he'd fallen for the bait, and Odd would make it.

More of her rock was blasted away. The sound of the Kankrelat who had broken away from the pack and come to boldly explore the rock reached Yumi's ears. Her muscles tensed as the pitter patter of its mechanical legs drew nearer. Tendons strained against her skin, and she could feel her heart beating hard enough to burst. The blood rushed so loud in her ears she was surprised it didn't block out everything else.

Like the still approaching Kankrelat.

Blocking out the buzzing of the distant Hornet swarm and the roaring in her ears, Yumi put all her focus into following the sound of that Kankrelat. She couldn't let it get too close, lest it was able to get in a good shot. If she was taken out if commission now, those monsters would be on her faster than she would be able to comprehend. And as soon as they realized she wasn't the one carrying the program, Xana would know what they'd done. Ulrich, where ever he was, might be able to keep Xana distracted a little longer should she fail, but that was only if he himself hadn't already fallen prey to whatever Xana had sent his way.

Yumi shook her head, she couldn't think like that. Not with everything that was riding on this plan working properly.

A chunk of rock was blasted away just above her shoulder and Yumi ducked away, the bit of debris vanishing in a burst of data as it tumbled to the ground. There was the sound of metal scraping stone as the Kankrelat searching her out attempted to climb up the rock.

The end of her fan dug deep into her hand, she was clutching it so tightly. Yumi was sure if she hadn't been on Lyoko she would have been slicing her palm open. It was amazing the things you could get away with in a virtual world.

Again Yumi forced her focus back to the situation at hand. She couldn't lose focus not now. Not when they were so damn close.

The patter of the Kankrelat was reaching the top of the rock. Shifting, Yumi tucked her legs underneath herself, tensing to spring. Her dark eyes found the top of the little monster as it scrambled its way towards her.

Sudden fear flooded her body, the adrenalin rush was so much that she had to make a conscious effort to keep her arm still and not impulsively launch her weapon too early. A little closer she told herself, trying to take a deep breath. Her lungs couldn't quite relax enough for her to do so.

Yumi didn't have time to worry about it.

The second the monster's eye appeared over the top of the rock, it had Yumi in its sights, its launcher glowing a bloody red. Yumi pounced. The bright virtual sun glinted off of the steel edge of her fan as it swept out.

Yumi didn't wait to see the creature's data vanish. She had bigger issues to deal with.

The second she'd revealed herself the entire encroaching army reacted; as if all receiving the exact same message which, thanks to the Kankrelat's construction, they probably had. "There she is."

For a moment her terror rooted her feet to the ground, constricting her chest so tightly that she couldn't even gasp. The black cloud heading towards her was like something out of a horror movie, the way it swelled and buzzed, the vibrations of thousands of tiny wings making a roar that drowned out all other sounds.

The Hornet swarm was converging on her spot like a great plague.

She needed to move.

She was running before she was even fully spun around, her legs pumping hard as she sprinted away from the approaching army. And then suddenly bright lasers were raining down, churning up the ground and biting at her heels.

Her muscles burned and sweat fell stinging into her eyes, but Yumi kept moving, forcing her legs to move even faster. As heat pricked at the back of her eyes a defiant voice in the back of her head somehow found the energy to rise up and deny that it was tears she felt, that she wasn't really afraid of what was behind her. Of what she had to do.

A laser nicked the back of her heel and Yumi stumbled, hands being thrown down to catch her fall and turn it into a cartwheel that served to move her even faster. She was tempted to toss her fans into the swarm that dogged her, but she couldn't- wouldn't- lose them; not when the attack would be so futile. Her grip on the faithful weapons tightened.

She kept running.

It was like the Hornets knew what she had planned; maybe Xana had already learned it from Ulrich? Their buzzing picked up, their mass moved over the virtual sun, their shadow blotting out the light. It made Yumi try to move even faster, trying to get out from under that horrible shadow. Their laser fire picked up pace, beating into the ground like a pounding rain.

But it didn't matter. Yumi could see her goal. It wasn't far now. Each foot fall threw her closer to the final destination, pushed her nearer her ultimate goal. It was the final sacrifice she would ever have to make in this battle against Xana. She was tired of the battles, of this war. It was a sacrifice she was more than ready to make. And it would serve as her final insult to that vile virus.

He may have taken away her life, her home, her loved ones; but he would never get the chance to take her as well.

The Hornets seemed to catch a tailwind, swelling forward like some great black tide, their lasers battering the ground where Yumi ran. It didn't matter. It was too late for them.

After a sprint stretched to eternity by fear, all of a sudden the end was there, and as the Hornets reached her Yumi leapt from the edge of the mountain path.

"Odd," she whispered as she began to fall, "Make this worth it."

Her legs stretched back behind her, her arms spread wide, each fan in hand, hair blown back by a digital wind she'd been told didn't really exist, Yumi fell towards the digital sea. A single tear slipped free as she shut her eyes and awaited the waves below.

Xana had taken her home. Her family. Her school mates.

But that had not been his ultimate goal. Their lives- her friends' lives- that was what he truly craved. And now he would not have them. Yumi would not let him have them.

She would protect her friends, no matter the cost. They deserved nothing less.

A tower of white light lit the mountain sector and then was engulfed in the shadow of the swarm.

Yumi awoke with a small start, gasping down a breath of the cold, dusty factory air. Even after so long she still wasn't used to it, and it tickled her throat made her cough. She tried to hold most of it back though, not wanting to wake up Ulrich, who was curled up beside her in the pile of pillows and thin blankets that made up their bed on the factory floor. It didn't provide much protection from the cold cement blow, but it was at least something.

Slowly she worked herself free of the arm wrapped around her waist and the blankets tangled around her legs, and climbed to her feet. Stretching, she looked over at the couch that Odd and Aelita called a bed. And found that a certain pink haired girl was missing.

She was clad only in the thin tank-top that she wore under her shirt and her underwear, but the factory air was warm, and at this point the gang was really past any discomfort at seeing one another half dressed, so Yumi forwent pulling on her clothes as she wandered her way out of the small room the group was currently calling home.

By the looks of it, it had once been an office. A large hardwood desk was slowly rotting away in one corner, behind which was a slightly moth eaten swivel chair. One of the walls was lined with a row of heavy, rusting file cabinets. Yumi had looked through them once or twice, but most of the paper was yellowed and crumbling from age, and she hadn't wanted to mess with them at the risk of ruining them completely.

The rest of the office was decorated with a worn and tattered rug that served as a mattress for Ulrich and Yumi, and an old couch that creaked and groaned and was missing a few springs, which Aelita and Odd were sharing. Although right now it held only Odd, curled up in the crease between the back and seat of the couch under a ratty blanket.

Yumi watched him, and Ulrich, for a moment, before slipping out of the room and into the hall outside.

Long and dark and grey, the hallway wasn't very inviting at night. All sorts of debris littered the ground- chunks of concrete and hunks of old furniture lie in the shadows that would trip you up should you step wrong. Doors lined the walls, a few sitting open, their wide doorways gaping black maws that almost seemed like they might swallow you up if you wandered too close. What little light trickled into the hall came from a few of these doors, the ones the group had purposefully left open; which led into the offices that had windows, allowing a little bit of the glow from the stars and the moon to shine in.

Padding almost silently down the hall, Yumi skirted the chunks of rock and wood like someone who'd had plenty of practice, making sure to keep as much space as she could between herself and the dark rooms. When she reached a puddle of light she would slow for a moment, and sometimes try to catch a glimpse out of one of the windows.

And then she was finally out of the hallway and on the factory's main floor. It was open and more lit here, everything splashed with the soft, white moonlight that poured in through the great big windows ringing the building.

Moving quietly, Yumi reached the elevator shaft that would lead down into the depths of the factory. It stood dark and empty. The car that had once traveled up and down the shaft was long gone; all that remained was a jagged rusted edge of metal at the top of the opening where the door had once stood, along with a few loose cables. Seeing the destroyed machine was sad, in a way, like seeing a majestic bear turned into a simple floor rug.

Shaking away those sad thoughts, Yumi bypassed the old elevator, instead reaching the ladder that would take her down to the supercomputer. She climbed deftly down its rungs, hands and feet moving quickly and quietly to carry her down to the next floor. The darkness was thick here, and Yumi kept her gaze fixed on the ladder to avoid falling.

Soon the pale blue light of the super computer reached her, reflecting off of the rungs and making her skin glow. A few moments later and she was all the way in the computer room, stepping down from the ladder and turning to look at the computer screen. It glowed softly, barely making the quietest of hums as coding and numbers and little windows scrolled across its screen in the computer's constant scan for activity on Lyoko.

Yumi watched the computer for a moment, and then, realizing the person she had come to look for was not here with it; she turned back to the ladder and continued on down. It wasn't long before the soft blue light from above gave way to a stronger golden yellow, and then she was emerging into the room that housed the super computer's massive processor. Gold light snaked along the machine's surface, illuminating both the room, with its high walls and tangles of wires and cords, and the person who knelt beside the processor; the person Yumi happened to be looking for.

"Hey Aelita," she said softly. Wide green eyes turned to look her way. Aelita smiled softly, like she had been expecting Yumi, or someone at least, to show up. "What are you doing down here so late?"

"I couldn't sleep," Aelita said quietly. She gestured at the processor. "So I came down here."

"It's not very safe to come down here," Yumi admonished softly.

"I know," Aelita said. She turned her eyes back to the processor. "But it's quiet. I can think better down here."

"What are you thinking about?" Yumi asked, tilting her head to the side. Aelita glanced down at her lap before answering in a whisper.

"Jeremy."

Yumi sighed lightly, her expression softening. None of the group had really talked about Jeremy for- had it really been a whole month already? It had become a touchy subject, and, with the four of them being rather challenged in the 'discussing feelings' department, none of them had really taken any initiative to change that. Yumi knew it would be better for everyone if the group could just sit down and talk about it. It looked like Aelita might be feeling the same.

Padding over quietly, Yumi took a seat beside her pink haired friend.

"Want to talk about it?" she asked quietly. Aelita shrugged.

"I just, I'm not sure how I feel about it."

"What do you mean?" Yumi asked, brows furrowing with confusion.

"It's like, it's like he's still here, you know?" she asked softly, turning green eyes on Yumi. The older girl felt her heart clench at the sorrow hanging heavy in her young friend's eyes. "I keep thinking I'm going to come down to the supercomputer and see him sitting there typing, or I'll come here and he'll be staring up at this thing like he would do, or I roll over in bed a-and I, I keep thinking I'm going to see him there instead of Odd."

Pale green eyes glistened with a sheen of tears, and Yumi wrapped an arm around the girl, pulling her close. Her heart clenched even tighter as she felt how thin Aelita had become through her nightshirt. She was sure she probably didn't feel much better.

"It's okay to miss him," Yumi whispered softly as Aelita leaned against her. "We all miss him, too."

"I know," Aelita said. "It's just so unfair. We were so close."

"You and Jeremy?" Yumi asked, not sure quite what Aelita meant. Aelita nodded.

"The counter-virus we were working on to fight Xana with, it was almost complete when Xana…" Aelita trailed off, but Yumi didn't need for her to finish the sentence to know how it ended.

"We'll find another way to beat him," Yumi said confidently. "He won't win."

"…I know," Aelita said quietly. Her hesitation before answering raised a suspicion that had been lurking in the back of Yumi's mind for some time now.

Not long after the group's conversion of the factory into a home, Aelita and Jeremy had begun working furiously on something they called a "counter-virus". Although she didn't know the details behind the thing, from what Jeremy and Aelita had told the group the counter-virus was basically like a type of firewall and virus scan combined. Once it was finished it would go to work isolating Xana's location and then blocking him in and destroying him. After Jeremy had been killed Aelita had claimed that she couldn't finish the project without him, and that it would have to remain incomplete.

Yumi was fairly certain the boys remained unawares of Aelita's nightly trips to the supercomputer, where, time and again, Yumi caught the girl sitting at the computer, usually with a window of computer code opened before her. A few times Yumi had asked if it was the counter-virus Aelita was working on, but she would always answer no, say that she was simply running a diagnostic or a scan for activity.

Now Yumi was no computer genius, but Jeremy had taught her how to run diagnostics on the computer, and never once had anything he'd shown her looked like the things Yumi found Aelita engaged in. And even Odd knew that the computer ran self scans for Xana activity. But Yumi hadn't pushed the matter, and Aelita hadn't said anything more. Of course, that didn't stop Yumi from having her suspicions.

"How about we go back to bed," Yumi suggested, giving Aelita a light squeeze.

"Not yet," Aelita said. She pulled away from Yumi, turning to look the girl in the eye. "There's something I want to show you first."

A ball of dread appeared in her gut at those words, but Yumi kept her voice and expression perfectly steady as she said, "Okay." She stood up with Aelita, and then trailed behind as her pink haired friend led the way towards the ladder. Small hands and feet made no sound at all as Aelita climbed upwards. Yumi followed, silently hoping that when Aelita reached the supercomputer she simply continued climbing upwards.

No such luck.

Aelita was already at the supercomputer when Yumi entered the blue lit room, forgoing the computer chair as she stood bent over the keyboard, eyes on the screen as her fingers danced across the keys. She hit enter and a list of what appeared to be programs appeared in the screen. Yumi's eyes narrowed as Aelita selected the one named 'Cntr-prgm'.

"I got the feeling you knew I was still working on this," Aelita said as she hit a key and then enter again, a load bar appearing on the screen.

"I had a hunch," Yumi said. "I thought you said you couldn't finish this without Jeremy."

Aelita had the good sense to look sheepish. "We all know that this program is the reason Xana went after Jeremy. I knew that if I told you I was going to keep working on it you would tell me to stop and try to find another way because you would be afraid Xana would come after me too."

"We wouldn't," Yumi said, even though both girls knew it was a total lie. It just seemed as if it were what she should say. "Xana still could have come after you," she added. "Keeping it away from us wouldn't hide your work from him too."

"I know," Aelita said, checking the load bar. "But Xana is less active at night than he is in the day time. It's easier to get past him with this. I don't think he knows I've been working on it."

The load bar finished and Aelita began typing again. A row of the group's Lyoko ID cards appeared on the screen, and Aelita selected hers. She hit another key and then enter, and another load bar appeared.

"What are you doing?" Yumi asked, glancing between the computer and Aelita.

"You remember what Jeremy said about this program, don't you?"

Yumi nodded. How could she have forgotten? It was the one part of the program that Jeremy had worked tirelessly to try and fix- there was no way to download it into Lyoko from the supercomputer. For it to be used, Jeremy would have to download it into one of the gang and then send them to Lyoko, where they would have to carry the counter-virus to the core of Lyoko. If they could get it there, the core would take over and run the program, spreading it through-out Lyoko.

But it was extremely risky, as Jeremy had been unsuccessful in figuring out what exactly the effects of the counter-virus would be on a the person carrying it. But by the looks of it, that didn't seem to be stopping Aelita.

"Aelita, you can't be serious," Yumi whispered. "You know what Jeremy said, this program is dangerous!"

"So is Xana," Aelita countered. "And personally, I would rather be killed because I was trying to destroy Xana rather than waiting for him to come after me."

"But Aelita," Yumi said, flustered, "You…you can't."

"Someone has to do it. And I know more about Lyoko and its workings than any of you. So why not me?

"Because…" Yumi trailed off, struggling for an answer. She racked her brain for something, anything to say that would convince the pink haired girl to stay.

"Odd," she tried. "Odd needs you here."

"He has you, and Ulrich," Aelita said. The computer beeped and she hit enter. "I don't know him like you two; I can't be there for him the way you guys can."

"Aelita," Yumi pleaded. She bit down on her lower lip, blinking hard when she felt the heat of tears at the back of her eyes. Aelita gave her another of her deeply sad looks.

"I know you don't want me to go," she said softly. "But you remember what we said when we came to the factory." It wasn't a question. Yumi nodded anyway.

"We're soldiers now," she whispered. "Xana is our fault, we have t-to see this through." She cringed at her stutter. How was she barely keeping it together while Aelita remained so calm?

"This is my contribution to the fight," Aelita said, pulling up something on the computer screen. Yumi recognized it as the set up for the timed virtualization. "I won't sit back and let Xana win. Not again."

Biting down hard on her lip, Yumi was suddenly hit with a barrage of arguments, all of the reasons that Aelita shouldn't, couldn't simply sacrifice herself like this; in the dead of the night and all alone, armed with nothing but the experimental and untested counter virus. But when her lips parted it was none of these cries and pleas that came forth.

"I'm going with you."

Aelita's expression was surprised, though her smile grateful.

"Thank you, Yumi."

It was icy ground that rose up to meet Yumi, the dark haired girl landing in a graceful crouch, her hands instinctively moving towards the fans tucked into the sash at her back. Turning, she spotted Aelita climbing to her feet.

"You okay?" Yumi asked her friend.

"I think so," Aelita answered, nodding as she looked herself over.

"Good," Yumi said. She had been worried that the counter-virus would interfere with Aelita's virtualization. "So, what do we do now?"

"I set up the transport orb system on a delayed timer," Aelita said, turning and pointing down the narrow ice sector path. "We have five minutes to meet it before it leaves without us."

"Since when does the transport orb have a delayed timer?" Yumi asked. Aelita grinned.

"You'd be surprised at all of the things Jeremy and I created in preparation for this attack."

Yumi shook her head in amusement. Just when she thought the two of them could out do themselves no more…

"We'd better get going then," Yumi said. "We don't want to be late." Aelita nodded, and the two took off down the strip of icy, virtual land. Both girls kept their senses on high alert as they ran, positive that Xana had noticed their arrival. He seemed to be biding his time however, and as one monster free minute stretched into three, the two girls started exchanging nervous looks.

"I think something's wrong," Yumi called to her friend, "normally Xana has a welcoming party waiting for us when we arrive."

"I know," Aelita called back. "Maybe we caught him off guard? We don't usually come to Lyoko unless Xana's already started an attack. He wouldn't be expecting us to be here when there wasn't one."

"You're probably right," Yumi agreed. "But it still makes me suspicious. I keep thinking we're going to get to the transport orb and be ambushed by a bunch of Megatanks or something."

"I'm sure we're fine," Aelita assured her friend. Yumi flashed her a grateful smile.

And then a laser shot between the two, effectively ruining the moment.

Yumi's instincts kicked in right away and she was springing to the right in a series of back-flips before she even realized what was happening. Across the way Aelita had dodged in the other direction, finding refuge behind a small cluster of ice. More lasers peppered the ground where the girls had been standing and Yumi quickly followed them to their source- a trio of Bloks.

"Looks like we spoke too soon!" she shouted to Aelita as she drew one of the fans, flipping it open. She crouched down, the muscles in her legs tensing, and then sprang forward. Using her free hand, Yumi executed a neat spinning flip, using her momentum to launch her fan at the Blok nearest to her. Before the other two monsters could react she had her second fan in hand. With a spin she flung it at another of the Bloks. Like her first attack, she caught the monster square in the eye. The Blok stumbled back from the force of the attack before it exploded.

Catching her fans as they spun back to her, Yumi turned to the last of the three monsters, but was saved the effort of taking down by Aelita, one of her energy fields making quick work of the creature.

"Nice shot," Yumi said as she tucked her fans away.

"Thanks," Aelita said, "You weren't too bad yourself." Yumi grinned, thought it faded quickly.

"We'd better hurry, we still have a ride to catch." Aelita nodded, and the girls took off once more in the direction of the sector's edge.

As she ran, Yumi couldn't help but continually glance sideways at her friend, who was at the moment carrying inside her the program that would finally, after years of fighting, shut down Xana once and for all. It was years of hard work, of blood, sweat, tears, and death, the she carried with her. And when the program was finally used to kill Xana, there was a good chance it would take Aelita with it.

Part of Yumi, a selfish part of her, couldn't help but complain about how unfair it was that she was possibly about to lose another friend, and how stupid Aelita was for risking her life like this.

Another part of Yumi prayed that, if she ever found herself faced with the chance to give up her life for her friends, she would be brave enough to do whatever it took to protect them.

"Yumi, we're getting close," Aelita said, drawing Yumi from her thoughts. Looking up, Yumi saw that the edge of the sector was indeed getting closer. As she watched, she spotted the white glow of the transport orb as it approached. The two girl's sped up their pace.

The sounds of laser fire from behind the girls caused Yumi to cry out in frustration. They didn't need this, not now.

"Aelita, keep going!" she shouted, skidding to a halt and spinning around, using her momentum to launch a fan at one of the approaching Hornets. She gasped when she saw their numbers- well over twenty of the flying monsters were heading for her and Aelita.

An energy field flew past Yumi's shoulder, taking out another of the flying monsters. Looking over her shoulder, Yumi saw that Aelita had also stopped to fight.

"Aelita, get to the orb!" Yumi shouted, throwing her fan and then springing into a back flip.

"Not without you!" Aelita shouted back.

Growling in frustration Yumi caught her fans and then launched them together at the hoard of insects. The creatures had packed together, allowing Yumi's attack to take out three of them at once.

"Aelita, go!" Yumi shouted.

Two more energy fields slamming into the group was the answer she received, and then Aelita was at her shoulder, wings out for an advantage.

"Come on Yumi," Aelita said, grabbing the girl's arm and trying to pull her back.

"No Aelita, go ahead of me! If you get devirtualized then we can't stop Xana!"

"And I can't get to Xana without you!" Aelita shouted back. Yumi took her eyes off of the swarm to glare at Aelita, and found the pink haired girl glaring back, her green eyes hard.

"Aelita-"

"Do you want to stop Xana or not?" Aelita asked. "I can't do this without you, and if we don't finish him now then someone else is going to die! Wasn't Jeremy enough?"

Yumi bit her lip, turning her eyes away as her fans returned to her.

"Yumi," Aelita said, her voice calmer. "It could be Odd next. Or Ulrich. I can stop that from happening, but you have to help me."

Yumi stared at the approaching monsters again, and then back to Aelita.

"Okay," she said. "Let's go."

And then the girls were shooting across the last leg of the ice sector, Aelita ducking and dodging as Yumi spiraled and flipped, lasers tearing up the ground around their feet. The drone of the Hornets behind them made Yumi's heart pound wildly in her chest and adrenaline pump hard in her veins. Leaping forward, she threw her hands down to catch herself in a handstand, then pushed forward to complete her front flip. As she did her hand swept to her sash and back in a lightning quick movement, producing a fan that quickly took out a Hornet that had over taken the rest of the group.

"We're almost there!" Aelita shouted before falling into a spiraling dive, using her momentum to slingshot an energy field at another of the Hornets before pulling back up. And then she was in the transport orb, throwing her legs forward to stop her face from making contact with the orb's inner walls. Yumi was right on her heels, and, as soon as the other girl was in the transport orb, it was circling shut and taking off, leaving the remaining Hornets sitting at the edge of the ice sector, wondering if letting the girls get away in the transport orb counted as failure to Xana. They hoped not.

Inside the transport orb, Aelita slumped against the wall, wings retracting as she caught her breath.

"Still feeling okay?" Yumi asked worriedly.

"I'm fine," Aelita answered, nodding and then flashing Yumi a quick smile. "Really, I am."

"Alright," Yumi said slowly. "Of you say so."

"I do," Aelita assured her. "Now get ready. We'll arrive soon." Yumi took a deep breath, standing straighter and reaching to retrieve her fans and then sliding into a defensive stance as the orb gave a light jar, coming to a rest in the center of its landing pad. As soon as it touched down the curved walls spun away, depositing Yumi and Aelita in Lyoko's fifth sector.

"Everything looks clear," Yumi said softly, dark eyes searching the area for any signs of Xana or his minions.

"It would be nice if Jeremy were here to confirm it," Aelita whispered softly. Yumi barley heard the words, turning to face Aelita when she did. The pink haired girl was standing with her shoulders hunched and fists clenched tightly. Yumi offered her what she hoped was an encouraging smile.

"We can handle this," she said, her voice soft but firm. "We're going to win this."

"You're right," Aelita said, sucking down a steadying breath.

"We've done this a hundred times before," Yumi encouraged. "We know what to do, and we know we can do it."

Aelita nodded, her eyes watching the floor for a moment before rising up to meet Yumi's.

"I'm ready," she said. "Let's go." Yumi smiled.

"That's what I want to hear," she said. She then turned to face the place where she knew the walls would part, allowing the girls access to the labyrinth security system of Lyoko, which Xana was sure to have reset. For what seemed an eternity, the two girls waited for the door to open. Eventually they parted, and a stream of light stretched out to meet the girls. They shared a quick look, Yumi's expression questioning. Aelita nodded, eyes hardening.

Then ran through the opening.

As soon as they were through the doorway one thing was perfectly clear to Yumi and Aelita.

The security system that Jeremy had worked so hard to disable had been reactivated.

Skidding to a stop, the girls watched with dismay as the large blocks that formed the room finished shifting into place, forming a pit surrounded by towers of the haphazardly stacked blocks. And on the wall straight ahead, so high up the girls almost couldn't see it, sat the key waiting to be pressed.

"As if we don't have enough problems," Yumi muttered, drawing her fans and spreading them with the faint sound of metal plates sliding against one another.

"It's nothing we can't handle," Aelita said, "We've done this a hundred times before, right?"

Yumi grinned at Aelita's use of her own words, nodding as the pink haired girl waved her hand over the bracelet at her wrist. Bright pink wings unfurled behind her and Aelita lifted into the air. Looking down at Yumi beside her, she asked, "Ready?"

"Always," Yumi answered. "Stay behind me." She then took off at a sprint through across the open sector floor, Aelita flying close behind. As soon as Yumi reached the first level of the towers, using her hands to pull herself up the ledge and swinging her legs up around from the right to get them up, the creepers appeared. They slithered out from the higher levels on the left and right and immediately opened fire on the two girls. Rolling the rest of the way onto the black, Yumi launched her first fan towards the creeper closest on the right, the other one firing off a second later to the left. Both hit their mark, each taking out a monster before returning to Yumi, who had cart wheeled up another block to dodge the lasers.

"Keep going!" she shouted to Aelita, who was weaving in and out of the red barrage, "I'll take care of these guys!" Aelita nodded to Yumi and then shot upwards towards the key as Yumi's fans returned to her, just in time to block a laser that strayed too close before Yumi took out the monster who had sent it.

Two of the creepers caught sight of Aelita heading for the key and started firing on her. She quickly rolled to avoid the lasers, weaving back and forth as she attempted at the same time to fly even faster. She yelped as one laser came close enough to just graze past her wing and she spun around, flinging off two energy fields rapid fire to take out one of the monsters. By then Yumi had taken care of the second creeper.

"Keep moving!" she shouted up to her pink haired friend, who quickly turned around and pushed herself faster upwards, the key coming continually closer. "Keep going Aelita!" Yumi shouted as she deflected another laser. "You're almost there!"

And she was, the key now only feet from her finger tips. She kicked her legs, trying to move even faster. Without Jeremy at the controls to monitor the clock, Aelita had no way of knowing how much time she had. Maybe it was minutes, maybe seconds, maybe she was already too late.

And then her fingertips were brushing the tip of the key. It immediately glowed brightly, sinking back into its self, and then the wall behind.

"I got it Yumi!" Aelita shouted. The creepers the girls had yet to take out sank away as some of the blocks shifted, opening up a doorway.

"Great job," Yumi called, holding both of her fans up defensively as her gaze swept back and forth, making sure any and all enemies had gone. Aelita landed lightly beside her, her hand on Yumi's shoulder pulling the girl's attention towards her. She could see the silent question echoing out through Aelita's eyes.

Ready?

Yumi nodded, and then two girls turned and hurried through the opening in the wall. They knew they didn't have much more time.

The journey to the core went past in a blur, Yumi unable to give the trip her full attention. Something else was vying for position in her thoughts. Now that they were so close to reaching their destination, and there were no monsters currently attempting to destroy them, Yumi found herself able to apply more of her mind than she would have liked to thinking about what Aelita was planning to do.

She couldn't help but remind herself that this counter program was completely experimental, not so much as a simple test run with something non-organic had been run to see what would happen. There was absolutely no telling what it would do to Aelita when they attempted to use it.

They didn't even know how to use it.

None of this was helping Yumi's already low confidence about how this was going to turn out.

"Yumi?" Aelita called softly, shaking Yumi from her thoughts. Turning to look at her friend, Yumi was surprised to see that they were standing beside the entrance to the core, its door sliding open and closed only feet away. It made Yumi think of jaws trying to snatch them up and eat them.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Yumi asked just as softly, knowing this was her last chance to ask.

"Yes," Aelita answered. He tone was both determined and resigned. She stood a little straighter, squaring her shoulders. "Are yousure you want to do this with me?"

"Yes," Yumi said immediately. Aelita's expression softened.

"Thank you Yumi," she said. "For coming with me."

"I could never let you do this alone." Aelita smiled. It wasn't a big, toothy grin, but the happiness in it was so powerfully overwhelming that Yumi suddenly flung herself forward, scooping her friend into a hug. Aelita returned it, clinging to Yumi for a few moments as tightly as she could.

"I'll go through first," Yumi said as they broke apart. "You follow right behind me. Stay close."

"I will," Aelita said, nodding.

Sucking down a deep breath, Yumi turned to face the core's entrance, watching the door closely as if flew open and shut.

"Into the belly of the beast," she muttered wryly before leaping forward and diving through the door.

She landed on the other side in a crouch, senses screaming as she searched for any sign of monsters. She heard Aelita land behind her, hardly a second later, and shifted protectively in front of her.

"Do you see something?" Aelita whispered, worried. Yumi looked around a little longer before shaking her head.

"No. But that doesn't mean we won't. Don't forget what happened in the ice sector."

"Right," Aelita said softly. Yumi would have preferred to stay where they were, since it seemed that no monsters where rushing in to get them, but she knew that such inaction was not feasible in the least. She straightened, keeping her weapons at the ready.

"Alright," she said, motioning along the stairs in the direction of the core. "Stay behind me." And then she was running along the giant steps, spiraling her way towards the core. Aelita stayed close, right up behind her.

They had made it almost two thirds of the way when the ground around them was suddenly peppered with lasers, the eerie, musical calls of Mantas filling the chamber.

"Get to the core Aelita!" Yumi shouted, skidding to a stop to search for the monsters. She heard Aelita's wings unfurl behind her and the girl take off as the trio of Mantas swooped into view. They flew in a wedge formation, the two blue Mantas flanking the red and black one at the front.

So, Xana had come to fight them off personally. Yumi's mind exploded in a flurry of thoughts and plans as she tried to think of a way to keep Xana from Aelita. At the moment the best she could come up with was to distract him.

Shouting louder than was necessary, Yumi flung her first fan at the group of monsters, watching with satisfaction as it connected with the monster on the far left of the group. Xana swung his head to stare at the place where the Manta had been, and then back to Yumi. He called something in the Manta's singing voice, and then the remaining blue Manta broke away, heading towards Aelita.

This was good. A single Manta Aelita could handle. Yumi was sure she could keep Xana busy long enough for Aelita to do what she had to do.

Tensing, Yumi caught her fan as it curved back to her, holding both weapons defensively as Xana flew closer. He circled around her in a wide arc, swooping lower until he floated in front of her, only a few feet from the ground. He then exploded into a cloud of black smoke, which hovered for a moment. Then, with a flash of light, the cloud reformed.

Yumi's jaw clenched tightly at the mock Ulrich that now stood before her.

Shifting her feet, Yumi planted herself more firmly as the Xana-Ulrich drew his swords.

"If you think I won't attack you because you look like my friend, you're mistaken Xana," Yumi hissed. She was sure that had been what the virus was going for. But it had the opposite effect, making her angry enough to lunge forward and tear him apart with her bare hands.

The Xana-Ulrich simply smirked, spinning one of his swords as he bent his knees, crouching in a ready position. Had this been the real Ulrich, Yumi would have sprinted forward and leapt right into the fight. But with this Xana double she knew she would need to be more cautious. So instead she took a small step back, waiting for her opponent to make the first move.

Xana took a step forward, feigning a lunge. Yumi immediately bounced backwards, fans raised defensively. The Xana-Ulrich grinned, yellow eyes glinting.

"You don't scare me," Yumi told him. She was proud at how strong her voice sounded when, on the inside, she was in a panic.

The Xana-Ulrich gave what could have been a derisive snort, and then took another step forward. Yumi held her ground this time. She wasn't going to be scared back by him.

A scream from closer to the core tore Yumi's attention away from her attacker, her eyes going wide.

"Aelita!?" she screamed, trying to find the pink haired girl. Xana-Ulrich took advantage of her distraction and raced forward, wiping his swords back and then swinging them forward with lightning speed.

Yumi pulled herself together in enough time to back flip away from the first swing, her fan sweeping around to block the second. The two weapons impacted with a clang, the collision jarring Yumi's arm so badly that she thought it might just shake out of its socket.

Xana-Ulrich was too close for Yumi to throw her fan, so she just swung her arm around and smashed him across the face with it. Xana-Ulrich stumbled to the side, not having expected the sudden attack. Seeing her opening, Yumi sprinted away, flipping to the next step and then continuing through a series of agile flips and leaps that she knew would give her the edge over Xana-Ulrich.

Ulrich may have been faster than her on flat ground, but when the terrain was rough, it was all her.

After a moment, Yumi spotted Aelita up ahead. The other Manta had her pinned against a wall. Aelita was attacking it with a constant volley of energy fields, which succeeded in keeping the monster too occupied to launch his own attack back. But the Manta was agile, ducking and weaving through the barrage.

"I'm coming Aelita!" Yumi shouted, forcing her legs to pump harder, trying to get to Aelita that much faster. She saw the edges of a flash of light behind her, but ignored it- Xana in his Manta form would be easier to fight off than Xana-Ulrich.

And then a weight was colliding with Yumi's back, throwing her to the ground. She skidded along a few feet before finally coming to a stop, after which the weight on her back vanished. There was a soft thud in front of her. Surprised that a Manta, even a Xana-Manta, would tackle her, she looked up in confusion-

And was met with a pair of unfamiliar purple eyes, set into a very familiar face.

Yumi knew that she may have been able to outrun Xana-Ulrich in this place, but she had no chance against Xana-Odd. He crouched in front of her, looking every bit like a cat about to pounce, and grinned. Slowly he rose to his feet, continuing to grin as he raised his arm towards her. Tilting his head to the side, Xana-Odd closed one eye as he stared down the length of his arm, adjusting his aim slowly and carefully.

Yumi was flooded with anger- she was going to fail. Fail at saving the world, fail and defeating Xana, fail at protecting Aelita. Fail at stopping this hideous duplicate of her friend from destroying everything.

The sudden explosion from behind had Xana-Odd's head whipping around so fast that, were he human, Yumi was sure his neck would have snapped. Looking around Xana-Odd's legs, Yumi spotted the cause of the sound- Aelita, sprinting away from the fading bits of destroyed Manta and towards the core.

A roar like sound tore from Xana-Odd's throat, and he spun around and took off after Aelita, leaving Yumi behind on the ground. Realizing she had been given a second chance, and not about to waste it, Yumi threw herself up and hurled herself after Xana-Odd. Catapulting herself at him with a spectacular front flip, she crashed into him just as he leapt into the air. The two tumbled to the ground and skidded into the wall, hitting it with a crash.

Screaming again in frustration, Xana-Odd thrashed underneath Yumi. She tried to pin him down, but he was able to jerk his arm free of her grasp. A moment later his fist collided with Yumi's jaw, easily tossing her aside. He leapt to his feet, preparing to continue his pursuit, and then froze, a look of horror transfiguring his face. Yumi stared too, although her expression was mixed sorrow and triumph as she watched Aelita, wings spread wide, hurling herself towards the glowing orb that marked the heart of Lyoko.

Xana-Odd screamed his fury as the core started to glow brighter, so bright that Yumi about had to look away. It then collapsed in on its self, shrinking down to a spot of light so tiny Yumi almost couldn't see it any more.

And then, with a boom that shook all of Carthage, it exploded.

Yumi tumbled from the scanner, landing in a heap on the floor. For a moment she allowed herself to lay there, her body aching and her mind spinning as it tried to piece together the events that had just occurred. It was like all of the thoughts were whirling around her head, like a bunch of little spinning tops.

And then one of the tops spun to a stop, sliding into place.

Gasping, Yumi shot upright, ignoring the throb of pain that echoed through her body at the action. Her eyes were trained on the other scanner, watching it intently.

"Come on Aelita," she whispered. Her fingers curled into fists as she continued to stare down the machine. "What's taking so long?" she hissed, eyes narrowing in impatience.

It wasn't until the first tears started to leak down her cheeks that she started to think that something had gone wrong.

When the first sob tore through her throat, she was suddenly certain that Aelita wasn't coming back tonight.

And as she curled up on the cold ground, knees hugged to her chest, she knew that she would never see her friend again.

Yumi couldn't be quite sure how long she lay there on the ground, mourning the loss of her friend. It was agonizing, realizing that she had lost yet another loved one to the monstrosity that was Xana. And yet, at the same time, there was a level of surrealism around the entire situation. It was hard for Yumi to take the image of Aelita vanishing on Lyoko and reconcile it with death. Because, on Lyoko, you just didn't die. You were devirtualized, but then you appeared a few moments later here, in the scanner room.

Even when she reminded herself of the explosion of light, or Xana's raging screams, Yumi just could not see what had happened to Aelita as death.

She wondered vaguely if it had anything to do with the lack of evidence.

When Jeremy had died, even though Yumi hadn't been there to see it, there was proof that the death had taken place. Little puddles still dotted the floor of the factory's basement, and the ceiling was blackened with scorch marks. The broken pipes had never been fixed- no one had wanted to venture far enough into the basement to fix them- and still dangled from the walls. The room was filled with reminders, with proof that something had happened.

For Aelita, there were only witnesses.

That thought sent an unexpected burn of fury and anguish through Yumi, and she tucked herself more tightly around her knees, trying to force all of the unpleasant thoughts from her mind.

It was some time later- exactly how long, Yumi couldn't be sure- when voices floated into the scanner room from up above, muffled slightly by the floor between them. She could hear someone calling her name, and then Aelita's.

"Where could they be?" someone asked. Yumi recognized the voice as Odd's.

"I don't know," a second voice answered softly. "We've looked everywhere. But they wouldn't have left the factory, they know we can't-"

"Look at this," Odd said, cutting the other person- Ulrich- off.

"What?"

"I think…It looks like someone was using the delayed scan. But why would-?"

The two boys gasped at the same time. There was a scramble as they practically hurled themselves down the ladder to the scanner room.

"Yumi!" Ulrich shouted, before landing with a thud. He hurried over, dropping to his knees beside her, and Yumi felt his hand gripping his shoulder. She scrunched her eyes shut, not wanting to look. "Yumi, are you alright?" Yumi could feel Ulrich's warm breath ghosting across her face, and suddenly she needed to see her friends, confirm that at least some of them were still there.

Her eyes flew open, and she gasped when she found herself face to face with a pair of yellow eyes. And then she blinked, and it was Ulrich's chocolate brown eyes that were watching her, clouded with worry and fear.

"Yumes?" Odd whispered, dropping down next to Ulrich. While she wanted to see him, confirm that he was alive too, Yumi couldn't bring herself to look Odd in the face- afraid she might see a flash of purple where blue should have been. She instead focused her gaze around his chest.

Sucking down a deep, unsteady breath, her eyes wandered back to Ulrich's face. "I'm sorry," she whispered. Ulrich looked bewildered by her words, and for a moment she too wasn't sure why she had said them. And then an image of Aelita flashed through her mind.

It seemed the boys understood.

"Yumi," Odd whispered, "Where's Aelita?" His voice shook slightly.

"She…she sacrificed herself," Yumi said. She was surprised by the bitterness in her voice. Odd and Ulrich gasped, but neither one spoke. Ulrich's face disappeared from Yumi's line of sight, so she assumed that the two boys were having one of their silent conversations- the kind made up of nothing but facial expressions and understanding. Just as their silence was stretching on to an uncomfortable length of time, Odd sighed, and then Ulrich's face was back in front of Yumi.

"Come on Yumi," he said softly, "let's get back upstairs. You can tell us what happened later." Ulrich helped Yumi to her feet, waiting patiently as she stretched out the kinks that had formed from lying scrunched on the cold floor for so long.

"You okay Yumes?" Odd asked when Yumi winced as she stretched out her shoulder, the joint protesting with a loud pop.

"Yeah, just a little stiff," Yumi answered. She was again hit with the surrealism of the whole situation- Aelita had just given her life in a spectacular explosion that, more than likely, had shook Carthage to little tiny pieces, and Odd was asking if she was alright. "Can we go back upstairs now?"

The two boys nodded, exchanging looks that Yumi couldn't quite interpret before leading the way to the ladder.

They motioned for Yumi to go up first, and then trailed behind her, Ulrich so close that she feared she might kick him in the head if she wasn't careful. She was sure Odd was following just as closely behind the brunt.

Keeping her eyes trained on the rungs as they passed through the computer room, Yumi scaled the ladder as quickly as possible. As soon as she immerged out onto the factory's main floor she was scrambling away from the opening to the ladder, to allow Ulrich and Odd pass. They were only seconds behind her.

Once they were all out, the boys again took the lead, heading towards the hallway at the far end of the factory that would take them back to their office-bedroom. Ulrich wrapped his arm around Yumi's shoulders as they walked, leaning close to whisper a quick "You alright?"

"'m fine," Yumi told him, just as quietly, glancing up at his face as she side stepped a pile of crumbled wall. She then returned her focus to the debris littered floor, focusing entirely on the ground in the hopes that Ulrich would understand that she wasn't really in the mood for talking. After a moment it seemed that her message reached him, and he dropped his arm from her shoulders and didn't try to strike up any more conversation.

When they finally reached their room, Ulrich immediately tried to lead Yumi towards the couch, probably figuring that Yumi had spent enough time lying on the floor for one night. But Yumi didn't much feel like jumping into Aelita's unfamiliar bed the second she was gone. Shrugging Ulrich off, she veered towards her own heap of pillows and blankets. Burrowing into it, she rolled over so that her back was to the two boys hovering nearby.

"Come on Ulrich," Odd whispered, when, after a few seconds had passed, Ulrich continued to stand beside Yumi's bed. "Let's let her sleep."

"We should find out what happened," Ulrich told him. Yumi tensed. Was he really going to try and make her talk about this now?

"We will," Odd said, and Yumi heard him walk over to Ulrich. "But later, when she's ready."

"…Fine." There was a rustle of fabric, and then a pair of footsteps heading for the door and eventually disappearing down the hall.

"Thank you, Odd," Yumi whispered, and then sighed and snuggled deeper under her blankets. She knew that Ulrich meant well- he was worried, and not knowing what had happened made it harder for him to comfort Yumi. But right now Yumi wasn't sure she would be able to make it through a re-telling of the drama that had unfolded on Lyoko.

Sighing again, Yumi closed her eyes, wondering vaguely if she would be able to sleep after all she had witnessed.

She was unconscious before she could finish the thought.

It seemed like only a few minutes had passed when she woke again. For a few groggy moments she just lay still, trying to figure out what could have awakened her. She couldn't hear the familiar breathing of other bodies, so she assumed the boys had yet to return.

With a groan, Yumi sat up, letting her blankets pool around her waist. She blinked a few times to clear her eyes of sleep and then, with a quick stretch, rolled to her feet and stumbled her way into the hall.

"Guys?" Yumi called softly as she began to weave her way down the hall.

The rooms with widows were letting in a blue glow that made the hallway look washed out and a little eerie. It made Yumi uncomfortable, and she hurried to get to the factory's main floor. Emerging out into the open, moonlit area, Yumi felt immediately more at ease, and was able to manage a casual stroll as she headed for the ladder to the supercomputer. There was only one place the boys would be, if not asleep.

Reaching the ladder, Yumi grabbed one of the rails and prepared to lower herself down, when something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. Turning to look more fully, Yumi's mouth dropped open.

What had caught her attention was the elevator, which was no longer a mangled mess. It instead looked about as perfect as it had when the group had first discovered the factory a few years ago, as if it had never been ravaged by Xana's attacks.

Immediately on alert, Yumi stepped forward cautiously, eyeing the elevator. Moving around to the front of the machine, Yumi sucked in a breath- the elevator's freight door, which had been ripped away almost three months ago, was now back in place, looking exactly as it once had- a little rusty, and dented here and there, but entirely whole.

Suspicion flooded Yumi's system, and her every sense was on red alert, and yet she couldn't quite stop herself from flitting forward and pressing her fingers to the keypad that would open the elevator. Her finger tips danced across the familiar number sequence and then pulled back quickly. What if this is a trap? Yumi wondered suddenly. She would be walking right into it, without even the slightest hesitation. Maybe she wasn't the first one, what if Ulrich and Odd had as well?

As Yumi's mind spiraled with thoughts of schemes and capture, the elevator rumbled to life and, with a familiar grinding of gears, the freight door slid upwards, revealing the doors of the elevator car. A moment passed and then those, too, slid open with a hiss.

Staring into the elevator car, all thoughts of attack left Yumi's head, pushed aside by a sudden rush of emotion. Seeing the elevator waiting to carry her to wherever she needed to go, it was like an old, beloved friend had just appeared in front of her.

Yumi didn't even hesitate as she stepped forward, pressing the red button that would take her down to the supercomputer.

As the elevator rattled its way down, Yumi chewed her lip in thought, letting her hand ghost along the walls of the car as she tried to figure out how it could possibly have been fixed. Certainly Odd and Ulrich hadn't done it- they didn't posses the kind of know-how required to fix an elevator. And even if they did, she hadn't been asleep that long.

For one wild moment, Yumi thought that maybe the boys had initiated a massive return trip before remembering that the time traveling program was no longer functional, destroyed by Xana after he realized that the benefit he received from it didn't outweigh the disadvantage of his enemies getting a second chance at stopping all of his attacks.

Shaking her head, Yumi turned her attention to the elevator doors as the machine bumped to a gentle stop and, with a burst of the electricity, the doors slid open.

And then something flew into the elevator, slamming into the back wall.

Yumi screamed in surprise, jumping back as whatever it was that had hurtled into the elevator slumped to the ground. After a second Yumi took a step forward to see what it was. Gasping, Yumi's hands flew to her mouth as she recognized the boy lying, unmoving, on the ground.

"Ulrich?" she choked out, her voice raising a few octaves with her terror. There was no response from the prone boy. His eyes were shut and he lay still. Yumi noticed belatedly that his hair was thick with something black and shiny. It took her a moment to realize what it was.

Blood.

"Oh god," Yumi whispered, rooted to the ground by her horror.

A dark chuckle from the computer room snapped Yumi's attention up and away from Ulrich and to the other boy in the room. He was standing to the side of the computer, his eyes trained on a holographic image hovering where the map of Lyoko usually was. Yumi realized he was looking at a picture of Carthage, the sphere like sector rotating slowly.

That didn't make sense. Carthage had been destroyed by Aelita and her program- Yumi had seen it exploding into oblivion.

"You know, for a moment, I was sure you had beaten me," the boy looking at the map said softly, drawing Yumi's attention back to him. "But something went wrong." The boy chuckled again. "You failed."

And then Odd turned his gaze from the map to Yumi and the dark haired girl stumbled backwards, a cry of horror on her lips.

A grin stretched Odd's lips as the computer's pale blue glow illuminated the boy's purple eyes.

Yumi flung herself upright with a gasp, her blankets tumbling away from her as her head snapped about wildly, searching for the purple eyed monster whose laughter still rang in her ears. She panicked when she didn't find him right away, though the panic slowly faded as she recognized her surroundings. Staring at the familiar, rotting desk, Yumi's fingers dug into the blankets.

A dream. It had all just been a dream.

The elevator was still mangled scrap.

Ulrich wasn't lying on the ground, bleeding, maybe dead.

Carthage wasn't still in one piece.

Odd wasn't laughing at all of this, a minion of their most hated enemy.

The sudden rush of relief brought tears to Yumi's eyes, and she curled in on herself, arms wrapping around her knees as she sobbed quietly into her chest, struggling to not make any noise lest the boys hear her.

Fighting with her own inner turmoil, it wasn't until she was able to calm herself down that she realized she wasn't entirely alone. Outside of the office, Odd and Ulrich's voices echoed softly as they conversed, trying to stay quiet enough to not wake Yumi.

Yumi felt a rush of affection towards the boys for not simply wandering off and leaving her alone.

Taking a deep breath, Yumi perked her ears, hoping to catch some of their conversation.

"-doesn't make any sense," Ulrich was saying. He sounded frustrated. "Why would they not tell us about this?"

"Jeremy must have thought the first one was enough," Odd answered, sounding weary. "I bet it was just a last resort type thing or something."

Ulrich snorted.

"Well, I think we're at that 'last resort' time."

Odd sighed.

"I can't believe he was able to get away," he said, so softly Yumi almost didn't hear him.

"At least he's weakened," Ulrich said, just as softly. "This second program should be enough."

A wave of horror washed over Yumi at Ulrich's words. At least he's weakened. Did they mean Xana? They couldn't possibly; he had been destroyed, hadn't he? He couldn't have survived after what Aelita had done.

But what if he had?

Suddenly Yumi was lying on the ground again, Xana-Odd's arm pointed at her, taking aim with his weapon as Aelita fought alone against the Manta.

"No," Yumi moaned, curling in on herself again.

She really had failed.

Out in the hallway the two boys sat, each with their back against the wall, facing each other from either side of the hall.

"So, who…?" Ulrich asked, not able to look at Odd. He focused his gaze on a hole in the wall just past Odd's shoulder.

"I will," Odd answered. Ulrich's eyes jerked to Odd's face, widening at the look of desolation that twisted his friend's features.

"Odd-"

"No Ulrich," Odd whispered softly. "You need to stay here. Yumi's going to need you when this is over."

Ulrich quailed away from the idea of Odd sacrificing himself the way Aelita had. He couldn't picture a world where they had won the fight against Xana without Odd in it with him. But as he watched Odd, as the blonde allowed himself to be engulfed by his misery, Ulrich realized that Odd had already resigned himself to his self appointed fate.

His best friend was already dead. He had died along with Aelita. Ulrich's heart twisted painfully at the idea of a life without his best friend, his pain doubling at the fact that there was nothing he could do to stop it.

However, there was something he could do.

"I'll help you," he said. "You're not doing this without me."

A small smile flickered across Odd's lips.

"Thanks," his whispered.

Crouched low behind a thick tree trunk, one hand resting against the tree, the other on the seat of his overbike, Ulrich leaned forward as much as he dared, to survey the fork in path up ahead.

About fifty feet away from Ulrich's hiding place, the forest sector path split off in two directions. One of these splits lead to a quick dead end, but the other would take Ulrich all the way to the other side of the sector. That was the one Ulrich needed to take.

It also happened to be the one guarded by two Krabes.

Ulrich quickly ducked back behind his tree when one of the Krabes turned his way. He heard the clanking of the Krabe moving, and for one tense second he thought the monster was heading his way. But the noise only lasted for a second and, after a few more seconds passed in silence, Ulrich chanced peering back out from behind the tree.

The Krabes had returned their attention to the path, both now with their backs to Ulrich.

The Lyoko warrior grinned- this was just the opening he was waiting for.

In one smooth movement, Ulrich swung his leg across the overbike, revving the engine and taking off down the path. In less than a second he was at the fork, skidding sideways as he hurtled towards the Krabe standing in the path he wanted. His bike leaning so far to the side that his knee almost skimmed the ground, Ulrich drew his sword just as he slid underneath the Krabe, raising his weapon to slice through the monster's belly.

Kicking his leg out, Ulrich shoved himself and his bike back upright as the Krabe erupted in a shower of data squares. Before the second Krabe could get it together enough to open fire on Ulrich, his was already speeding away.

Grinning with the exhilaration of a fight, Ulrich pushed his bike to go even faster, the forest path vanishing under his wheel in a blur of green, the trees smearing into twin walls of brown. There was no chance of the Krabe being able to keep up with him.

A scowl crossed Ulrich's face at that thought, and he jerked his bike into a sideways skid that brought him to a very sudden halt. He wasn't supposed to be trying to avoid the monsters, he reminded himself. They needed to see him, to pursue him.

Kicking his bike back into gear, Ulrich continued along the path at a slower pace, hoping he hadn't blown everything with his reckless driving. He tensed, fighting the urge to turn back and find Xana's monsters again.

His nerves were eased when his ears picked up on the clanking, mechanical sounds of a Krabe- most likely the survivor from earlier- trundling after him. An easy grin slid across Ulrich's face as he turned to look over his shoulder, to see how quickly the Krabe was gaining on him.

His jaw dropped open and his eyes about bugged out of his head at what he saw.

A good two dozen Krabes were storming their way along the path, swarms of Kankrelats weaving through their knife like legs. Suddenly, turning back around wasn't looking like such a hot idea.

Turning to face forward again, Ulrich almost slammed on the breaks at the site just up ahead. Another equally impressive army was making its way quickly along a side path two hundred feet from where Ulrich was now- a move that would effectively trap Ulrich between the two legions of monsters.

With a hissed curse- how had he not noticed the approach from in front?- Ulrich leaned low over his bike and forced it to rocket forward.

As he drew closer to the fork where the little side path joined with the main trail, the platoon of monsters picked up its pace, the ones at the forefront of the group letting loose a barrage of lasers.

Continuing to spit curses, Ulrich pressed himself flat against the overbike, now furious at himself for having ever slowed down. He was forced to swerve dangerously close to the edge of the path to avoid the lasers raining down around him, as he careened closer to the looming army attempting to blast him to pieces. The ground around him exploded in little bursts of destroyed data under the salvo, but Ulrich was able to avoid any direct hits.

Until he pulled even with the swarm, and his luck ran out.

A laser, fired from the Krabe leading the charge, slammed into the side of the overbike with enough force to toss the vehicle into its side. Its forward momentum sent it skidding off towards the edge of the path with frightening speed, and Ulrich found himself fighting back a rush of fear fueled adrenaline as he struggled with the bike, trying to get out from under it before it drug him into the digital sea.

With barely a second to spare, Ulrich planted one of his feet on the seat of the overbike and pushed off, while at the same time spearing the ground with his sword. The force of his push shoved the overbike off of his leg as his grip on the buried blade's hilt jerked him to an abrupt stop. Lying on the ground, still clutching at his weapon, Ulrich watched with wide eyes as his bike tumbled out of view.

He didn't have long to spend observing, however. His tumble hadn't carried him all that far, and the two groups of monsters were still after him. A quick glance backwards told him that the two groups had reached the intersection, and were quickly molding together into a single, larger unit.

"I hope you're having better luck where you are than I am here, Odd," Ulrich muttered as he rolled to his feet. He left his sword where it was, not willing to waste the time needed to yank it out of the ground. With one more glance at the ever approaching swarm, Ulrich turned and sprinted off down the path, leaving nothing but a ribbon of yellow light in his wake.

As he ran, Ulrich mentally plotted his course. He was supposed to follow sector all the way to its edge, where he would reach the final tower located here. Xana would assume he was going that way to deliver Jeremy's backup program, and retaliate by focusing his attack power in the forest sector, which would give Odd the time and space he needed to activate the actual program.

Although he was still entirely against Odd's decision to be the carrier of the backup program, the tactical side of Ulrich couldn't deny the genius underlying the plan. When it came to the group, everything about Odd made him the perfect choice as bait- he had a good defense in his shield, and he was more agile than himself and Yumi, both of which would come in handy in keeping back lasers and avoiding a pursuit. Also, Xana was well aware of the fact that, should they group decide to sacrifice someone as a decoy, Odd would be the obvious pick- not only because of his abilities, but because he would be adamant that the job be given to him.

Add in the fact that Xana was too cocky to admit that humans could outwit him, and it made this plan of theirs fool proof.

A laser connected with the ground just behind Ulrich's heel, causing him to stumble, and he realized that if he didn't get his focus back on the here and now, it wouldn't matter how fool proof their plan was- once Ulrich and Yumi were out of the picture, Xana would focus everything on Odd, and the plan would crumble.

The thought of failure urged Ulrich to run faster.

That, and the chorus of mechanical legs bounding after him, the noise now almost deafening with the size of the group, combined with how close they were getting. Ulrich could feel the last of his adrenalin burning through him as a terrible thought stuck him- he wasn't going to be able to outrun the group all the way to the edge of the sector.

Spitting a stream of curses, Ulrich skidded his way around a turn. And what he saw ahead of him almost had his heart exploding with joy. A break in the path- small enough that he could jump it, but too big for the Krabes and Kankrelats to follow him. A grin split Ulrich's face as he thanked whatever deities were watching for his amazing luck, and then tried to force just a little more speed out of himself.

He didn't slow down when he reached the break in the path, pushing off from the edge without breaking stride. For a few long seconds he flew through the air, legs still kicking and arms flailing. And then the ground was there, rushing up at unexpected velocity to meet him.

Ulrich was barely able to turn his crash landing into something more controlled, and ended up sprawled on his back, blinking as his stunned brain worked to shake off the shock of his hard landing. Once all of his brain cells had organized themselves back into place, Ulrich rolled over, wanting the satisfaction of watching the monsters coming up short when they reached the opening.

To Ulrich's horror, they didn't.

The chasm flicked for a moment, and then, at the edge of the ground across the other side of the gap, new ground began to materialize.

"You have got to be kidding," Ulrich growled as the herd of monsters rounded the bend farther back. Continuing to mutter under his breath, Ulrich pushed himself up onto his feet and, with one last angry look over his shoulder at the steadily shrinking chasm; he continued sprinting towards the end of the sector.

As he ran, trying to block out the sound of the monsters who it seemed were unavoidable, Ulrich started to think again about Odd. And, he began to worry. I didn't seem like he had been running from these monsters for all that long, and he knew that the end of the sector wasn't very far away now, he could make out the image of the sector's last tower in the distance. At the pace he was keeping now, it wouldn't be long before he reached the end of the path, with nowhere to go.

For the first time, Ulrich was considering the possibility that he wasn't going to walk away from this fight. The realization shook Ulrich to the core. He had to focus all of his attention on the tower coming ever closer to stop his shock from rooting him to the ground.

He was going to die. He was really going to give his life for this fight.

Xana was going to kill him.
And there was nothing he could do to stop him.

Ulrich narrowed his eyes, focusing more intently on the tower, and continued to run.

The monsters, which had been slowed down by the gap in the path, were once more gaining ground on Ulrich. He could hear them behind him, looming over him like a massive predator hunting down its prey. The fear Ulrich had felt earlier, the fear of defeat, was nothing like what he was feeling now- a mind numbing terror that gripped his chest and caused him to stumble. No matter how hard he tried, with the image of the advancing army in his head, he could no longer keep from thinking about how this was it, how he wasn't walking away from this fight.

Ulrich was forced to throw out the anchor as he arrived at the sector's final platform, throwing his hands out to stop him from smashing face first into the base of the last tower. He then slipped behind it, drawing his remaining sword as he prepared to make his final stand.

Just because Xana was going to kill him, that was no reason for Ulrich to simply roll over and make it easy for the virus.

Holding his sword out in front of his body, both hands gripping the handle, Ulrich turned around to face the direction the monsters were coming from. Slowly, he took a half dozen steps backwards, giving himself enough room to begin deflecting lasers.

As he moved backwards an almost defiant smirk began to spread across his features, the beginnings of an idea taking root in his mind. His smirk exploded into a grin as he quickly put together his little plot.

And then the monsters were swarming the platform, and there was no more time for thinking.

Never had Ulrich seen a barrage of lasers like the one that came pouring around the sides of the tower as the Krabes and Kankrelats jockeyed with one another, all of them trying to force their way to the head of the group.

Where he stood, Ulrich was pretty much protected from the onslaught, only a few random lasers coming close enough to hit him. And these were easily knocked away with a flick of his blade. But, as safe as Ulrich's spot was, he knew he couldn't stay there. As soon as the monsters came around the sides of the tower they would pin him in on either side, and, even with his level of skill with a sword, he would have no chance of keeping back their shots.

The monsters pushed forward, and Ulrich compensated by moving back, his sword waving back and forth faster and faster to keep up with the increase in the number of lasers reaching him. A few dozen Kankrelats appeared suddenly around the sides of the tower, and Ulrich, thrilled to have something to aim his reflected lasers at, took out half of them in as many seconds. The sudden, violent attack on their numbers caused the Kankrelats to hesitate, though they were spurred back into motion by a Krabe appearing over them. They didn't want the larger monster's more powerful weapon taking away their kill.

Ulrich's blade became a blur as he continued trying to keep back the volley of attacks. But even thought his blocking was becoming more frenzied, his focus became split between the taller Krabes and the ground level Kankrelats and shots began to slip through his defense. It didn't help that he was continuing to move backwards steadily, allowing more and more of the monsters a better view of him.

One shot got past Ulrich's blade before he could swing down to catch it, and caught him in the leg. He stumbled, but didn't fall, instead picking up his backwards pace. He didn't risk a glance over his shoulder, but he knew that the edge of the sector couldn't be much further away. He moved even faster, determined to get to it before another shot reached him.

As he had ducked behind the tower, preparing to take on his un-winnable fight with Xana's monster army, Ulrich had realized something. While there was no chance at his surviving, it didn't mean that he had to wait for Xana to be the one to take his life. That would be the ultimate victory in the eyes of the killer virus.

And Ulrich had done nothing, if not fight to stop Xana from gaining victory.

Which was why, when his heel came down over empty space, Ulrich didn't even hesitate, allowing himself to drop off of the edge and fall towards the digital sea below.

Yumi wasn't sure how much time had passed, certainly a few hours at the least, but Ulrich and Odd eventually came in from the hall and settled down to sleep. Yumi was glad that Ulrich decided not to curl up close tonight, instead lying across the other side of their makeshift bed. Lying still and silent, Yumi waited until both boys' breathing had evened out with sleep before she climbed slowly out of bed, moving carefully so as to avoid waking anyone.

With a mixed sense of foreboding and déjà vu, Yumi tiptoed out into the hallway. She sucked in a deep breath, shocked by the sudden rush of thoughts that hit her when she immerged into the pale hall, images flashing through her head of the supercomputer, Lyoko, the core, her dream, Aelita. She shoved them forcefully away, throwing all of her attention on watching where she walked.

It helped some, trying to put all of her brain power into dodging each little rock and pile of dust. But, while it kept those memories from the forefront of her mind, she could still feel them on the edges of her thoughts.

She stumbled a little when she thought of them as memories, realizing it had only been a few hours since she had woken up and gone to find Aelita. The realization that so much had occurred in such a short time- in between the sun's setting and rising again- brought Yumi up short.

As quickly as the thought had come, Yumi chased it away again, and continued moving.

Once she was out of the confines of the hallway she paused, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, which she let out slowly. She tried to push her tension out with that breath. It wasn't very effective. Sighing, Yumi continued on.

Unlike the last time, when Yumi had come out onto the factory floor and headed straight for the elevator, this time she took an abrupt left. She passed a few doors and hallways along the way, but didn't turn down any of them. She eventually reached the back wall of the factory, and turned left again. She didn't have far to go before she came to an old stairwell that hugged the factory wall, leading up towards the roof. Yumi continued forward, climbing the steps two at a time.

At the top of the stairs was a door, its paint flaking and peeling away, a layer of rust visible on the metal underneath. Yumi hesitated, eyeing the door's metal push bar. She chewed her lip, glancing over her shoulder as if checking to see if she'd been followed, and then, after another unsure moment, leaned against the bar.

At first the door didn't budge. Yumi scowled, wondering for a moment if it was locked. She shoved it again, harder this time. Under the heavier force the door gave way, groaning in protest as a shower of rust rained down from the ancient door frame. Yumi pushed the door just far enough that she could squeeze through and, with one more quick glance behind her, slipped out onto the roof.

The immediate rush of cold, fresh air that greeted her did what her deep breath had not. With just one gust, the breeze swept all of her thoughts out and away, clearing her mind of everything but the feel of the outside world on her skin. After so long in the factory, Yumi had almost forgotten the taste of dust free air, and she gulped down great lungfulls of it.

The air was thick with the sweet scent of flowers, causing Yumi to smile. She stretched a few times, listening to the satisfying cracks and pops that issued from her stiff joints, and then strolled over to the edge of the roof. She leaned her crossed arms on the railing, eyes wide and bright as she looked out over the city she had been unable to lay eyes on in almost four months.

The sea of treetops that marked the forest swayed gently back and forth, like dark ocean waves. Past the trees, the lights of the city twinkled in the darkness, as if trying to compete with the spray of stars in the sky above. Off to the left, the moon was hanging low in the sky, larger than Yumi had ever seen it. It glowed a dark yellow-orange color. Looking straight down, Yumi could see the water that flowed past that factory. It sparkled with the reflected light of the stars above it.

Taking another deep breath, Yumi sighed. Of everything she had been forced to give up when she moved into the factory, the simple act of being outside was quite possibly the one she missed the most.

A breeze picked up, and Yumi shifted her weight, turning so that she was facing into the wind. She sighed as the wind caught her hair, picking it up and swirling it across her face. Yumi shook her head, tossing her hair behind her shoulders as the breeze continued to ghost across her face.

The sudden groan and clang from the roof door didn't startle Yumi, as it broke into her solitude- she had been expecting that one of the boys would notice her missing and quickly scramble to find her.

"What are you doing?" Ulrich asked, his voice terse as he made his way across the roof towards her. Yumi shut her eyes, refusing to look at him.

"I'm getting some fresh air," she told him. She could practically hear Ulrich's teeth grinding together at her flippant answer.

"You know we're not supposed to be out here," Ulrich hissed. "You're a sitting duck out here on the roof. What if Xana gets a hold of satellite, or a missile? Jeremy said it was dangerous!"

"Yeah, well, Jeremy isn't here, is he?" Yumi snapped, turning her head at glare at him. "He spent all of his time cooped up in the factory, and look where it got him! And what about Aelita, she's not any better off!"

Panting, Yumi glared knives at Ulrich, all of her emotions bubbling to the surface in response to Ulrich's own anger at her. Her frustration was smothered quickly when she caught the look on Ulrich's face- was staring at her in shock, eyes wide. Yumi was immediately mortified as she realized what exactly she had said, and she quickly turned to look back out over the forest.

The air suddenly felt very thick and uncomfortable, and Yumi mentally prayed that she had startled Ulrich enough that he would just go away. Maybe he would send Odd up later. That would be nice.

Not that Yumi didn't want to talk to Ulrich. No. It was just that he had become so…protective lately, that it made being around him hard. However, she hadn't realized how annoyed she had become with it until now. Scowling, Yumi continued to glare out over the forest.

As she looked out over the leafy ocean, her anger started to slowly subside. Not because she was trying to calm down- if she could have, she would have stood there and fumed at Ulrich for hours- but because it seemed that she couldn't hold onto any unpleasant feeling while she was standing out in the fresh air. It was kind of nice actually.

And a little annoying.

As the last of her anger faded, Yumi was once more filled with embarrassment at her explosion. Had she really just screamed those things at Ulrich? Had she really been that insensitive? She could feel her cheeks burning as she blushed scarlet. She realized that she needed to apologize to Ulrich, quickly, before he got it in his head that she had actually meant the horrible things she'd said.

Turning to look over her shoulder, apology on her lips, Yumi did an abrupt double take when she realized that Ulrich was no longer standing behind her. He must have really left Yumi realized. What if he goes and tells Odd what I said? I'll never be able to face them again! I'll have to move out here on the roof and-

The rail that Yumi was still leaning against suddenly shook, and Yumi jumped, he head snapping around to face the other direction. Her eyes were met with the side of Ulrich's face- he had walked over and propped himself against the rail beside her. He'd left about a foot of space between them.

"I'm sorry," he said, before Yumi could gather her wits enough to say it herself. "I shouldn't have gotten mad at you. You're not the only one who's been craving fresh air."

"No," Yumi said, shaking her head slightly. Ulrich turned to look at her in confusion.

"No, what?"

"No, you shouldn't be the one apologizing," Yumi clarified. "I should never have said those things. And I didn't mean any of them," she added. "I was just…"

"Stir crazy?" Ulrich suggested. Yumi gave him a flat look. The corner of Ulrich's mouth twitched up in the beginnings of a smile.

"Not quite the word I would have used," Yumi groused. She turned to look out at the city again. "So, how did you know I was up here?"

"Uh, yeah," Ulrich said, sounding suddenly self conscious. "About that. I actually didn't. I was sort of just going to come up here for some air."

It was a struggle, but Yumi managed to avoid turning her head to stare at Ulrich.

"Oh," she said after composing her thoughts. "Well, I have a good excuse to be up here," she said stiffly. "What's yours?"

Ulrich sighed, and the sound was so utterly defeated that Yumi couldn't stop herself this time from turning to look at her friend. He was staring down into the water below, his jaw clenched, looking twenty years older than he really. Yumi was reminded suddenly if the infinitely sad look that had graced Aelita's features. Maybe this battle was starting to make them all look more tired and weary.

"Yumi, when you and Aelita went to Lyoko something…something went wrong with the counter program." Yumi nodded, having deduced this from the conversation she had eaves dropped on earlier. "It destroyed the core, and weakened Xana considerably. But it didn't kill him." Yumi nodded again. This, too, she had assumed for herself. "But it seems like Jeremy and Aelita thought that this might happen, so they prepared a backup program. It would work to finish the task that the first program couldn't. But, like the first one, it's very likely that whoever uses it will be killed."

"You're going to use it," Yumi said, all of her muscles going tense. "You're going to sacrifice yourself."

Ulrich shook his head, and part of Yumi quailed internally. When had they all started looking so painfully sad?

"No, I'm not going to use it," he said softly. "Odd is."

It felt horribly like someone had clutched Yumi's heart and squeezed. It was a feeling she was getting used to tonight.

"When?" she choked out. Now even the fresh air and cooling breezes couldn't keep away the horror and sorrow swelling in her chest.

"Odd wants to do it tonight," Ulrich said. "He thinks its best that we strike now, while Xana is weakest." Yumi nodded, seeing the inelegance behind the move, even if she didn't wish to acknowledge any plan that resulted in her friend's death as intelligent.

"He's not doing it alone," Yumi said, taking a deep breath.

"I know," Ulrich said. "I'm going with him."

"And so am I."

Ulrich's head snapped around and he glared with such ferocity that Yumi had to look away.

"You are not going back to Lyoko," he snapped, "It's too dangerous."

"It's just as dangerous as it will be for you and Odd," Yumi told him, still not looking his way.

"No, it's not," Ulrich growled. Yumi's eyebrows furrowed.

"Why?" she asked. "Because I just fought with Xana and you didn't? Because I know what to expect when you don't?" Yumi took the silence that followed her question to mean that Ulrich was contemplating what she had said. She felt on odd sense of triumph at the fact that he hadn't simply ignored her.

"You're right," he said after a few seconds stretched by in silence. "I don't know what it's like to have gone through what you just did."

"But you will," Yumi told him softly. "If you insist on going alone with Odd." The image of Aelita, wings spread, falling into the core, flashed through her mind. "And I can tell you, it's not a good feeling."

The pair lapsed back into silence after that, the sigh of the wind in the trees the only sound that passed between them. Leaning forward against the guard rail, Yumi strained her ears, wondering if she could hear the sounds from the city. For a brief second, she thought she heard a horn blaring.

"What are you doing?" Ulrich asked, the barest hint of laughter in his voice as he watched Yumi lean even further forward.

"I'm trying to hear the city," she said. The leaned forward a little more. And then a hand was fisted in her top, pulling her back to the roof.

"Careful," Ulrich warned. "It would be a shame if you faced down Xana himself and lived to tell about it, only for you to fall off the roof." Yumi rolled her eyes.

"It would be a nice way to stick it to Xana," Yumi replied. "Kick his butt, and then ruin any chance for a rematch."

Ulrich, who had moved closer to snatch Yumi back over the rail, shook his head with a sigh as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. A small smile pulled at the corners of Yumi's lips and she leaned against him.

"You know, even with all of the danger," Ulrich whispered, resting his cheek on Yumi's hair, "it's still a very beautiful night." Yumi snorted softly with laughter.

"Even if Xana is watching us with a satellite?" she teased. She could feel Ulrich's chest shaking with his own quiet laughter.

"Yes. Even if Xana is being a peeping Tom." Ulrich's comment brought to Yumi's mind the sudden image of Xana-Odd peering over the edge of a window sill. Though the thought that provoked it was humorous, being reminded of that purple eyed Odd duplicate swept all of the mirth out of Yumi.

"Ulrich, is Odd still asleep?" she asked. Judging by the way Ulrich tensed slight, Yumi had her answer.

"No. He's getting everything ready for the trip to Lyoko."

"Why aren't you with him?" Yumi asked curiously, doing her best to not make the question seem like an accusation.

"I told him I was going to go find you first."

"We you planning to do that before or after your trip up here?" She could practically feel Ulrich's eyes rolling in his head.

"I was going to look after I was done up here. Luckily, I was able to kill two birds with one stone."

Two birds with one stone. Images of Aelita, wings spread, and Odd, grinning at her, flashed through her head. Yumi cringed.

"What?" Ulrich asked. "What's wrong?"

"We should head inside," Yumi said softly. "Odd might need some help. And we need to get ready."

"…Alright," Ulrich said, his tone and expression both confused as Yumi pulled away from him. They vanished however, when Yumi turned back and took his hand in hers, quickly twining their fingers together. Ulrich blinked, and then smiled a small half smile. Yumi smiled back, and then lead the way back across the rooftop to the rusty, creaking door that would take them inside again.

They made their way down the stairs quietly, their footfalls the only sound they made. They walked close together, keeping their fingers tightly locked as they crossed the factory floor. They only let go when they had reached the ladder leading down to the supercomputer.

"Ladies first," Ulrich said softly, motioning for Yumi to go ahead. Rolling her eyes good naturedly, Yumi lowered herself down and began descending ladder. As soon as she was far enough away, Ulrich started to climb down after her.

It wasn't long before the glow of the supercomputer was filling the small tunnel. Soon Yumi was out of the tunnel completely. Jumping down from the ladder, she landed with a soft thud. Odd's head appeared around the side of the computer chair when she did, and he smiled when he realized who had come to visit.

"Hey Yumes," he said, giving her a quick wave. "Where's Ulrich?"

"Right here," the brunet answered. A moment later, and he was jumping down from the ladder, Yumi scooting aside so as not to get landed on. "What've you got?"

"I think I've almost got everything ready," Odd said, turning back to the computer. "I think Jeremy and Aelita were expecting that one of us was going to have to set this up. They had all the programs pre-set. I'll I've had to do is push buttons."

"Sounds like a good job for you, Odd," Ulrich said, leaning over and ruffling his friend's hair. He then had to leap back to avoid the swipe that Odd sent his way.

"Play nice you two," Yumi scolded lightly, stepping up behind the computer chair. With one hand on the chair back, Yumi leaned forward to look at whatever it was Odd was working on. She frowned at the lines of computer code that flashed across the screen.

It seemed that, even when making a program Odd friendly, Jeremy and Aelita just couldn't manage to make it legible as well.

"What is all of this?" Yumi asked curiously, turning instead to look at Odd.

"I don't know the details of it," Odd admitted with a shrug, "But basically, I'm taking the second program and downloading it into my Lyoko form."

"That's what Aelita did with the first program," Yumi said. Odd hummed thoughtfully at this information.

"How did she use the program?" he asked.

"You mean, how did she deliver it?"

Odd nodded.

"She threw herself into the core. It caused an explosion. That's what destroyed Carthage."

Silence followed Yumi's words. Beside her, Odd was staring blankly at the computer screen. Yumi felt it was safe to assume he wasn't reading the coding in front of him.

"Is that what Odd will have to do?" Ulrich asked softy from behind the pair at the computer.

"No," Odd answered immediately. "This program just has to be delivered to a tower."

"But you can't get into the towers," Ulrich said, appearing at the side of the chair opposite Yumi.

"I can now," Odd responded, sounding almost smug. "The program includes a smaller program that will let me get into the tower I need."

"How will we know which tower to send you to?" Yumi asked. "We won't have time to check each one."

"Jeremy and Aelita thought of that too," Odd answered. Something on the supercomputer beeped. Odd hit a key on the keyboard, and then continued. "They included a scan that would find the tower that Xana connected himself to when he was kicked out of Carthage. Well, he's connected to one in each sector, but one is like, his main tower. So we need to take the program there."

"And where is that tower?" Ulrich asked.

"The desert sector."

"Alright," the brunet said, nodding. "Okay, so when we get to Lyoko, we'll do like when Aelita was still trapped there. You head straight for the tower, while Yumi and I keep Xana's lackeys back."

"Sounds like a good plan," Yumi said.

"No, it's the worst plan you've ever made."

Ulrich and Yumi both turned to stare at Odd.

"What are you talking about Odd?" Yumi asked.

"Xana will be expecting us to do that," Odd said. "And if we do that, then he'll just focus all of his fire power on us. We won't last a minute if he does that."

"So what do you suggest we do?" Ulrich asked, looking irked.

"We split up."

"Over my dead body," Ulrich snapped. "If it'll take a minute for Xana to take us down together, it'll take half that time for him to stop us if we're alone."

"Ulrich," Odd said patiently, "we have to split up. We each go to a different sector and each head for one of the towers Xana is attached to. Then Xana will split his forces to go after us."

Ulrich didn't answer, his teeth grinding together as he glared at the wall. As much as he hated to let his friend sacrifice himself, and how much he really hated the idea of Odd doing it alone, he couldn't argue that the strategy was sound. Yumi watched him for a moment, and then turned back to Odd.

"Where will Ulrich and I go?" Yumi asked softly.

"I'm going to send you to the mountain sector. Ulrich will go to the forest."

"Okay," Yumi said. She took a deep, steadying breath. "When do we leave?"

As soon as Yumi asked the computer gave a loud beep, a green exclamation mark appearing on the screen. Odd grinned a humorless grin at the image.

"Right now."

Odd landed on the desert sector platform in a crouch, holding completely still as he listened intently for any sounds of approaching danger. Although reluctant to waist what little time he was sure he had, Odd knew that rushing blindly into the attack would prove just as dangerous as waiting around for the enemy to come to him. So he kept himself still, knowing that we needed to be sure that it was safe to continue.

A full fifteen seconds passed before Odd figured he's held still and silent long enough.

Standing up right, Odd scanned the plateau for any sign of the tower he was supposed to be finding. According to Jeremy's programs, he should have been transported to as close to the tower as possible with the materialization program. But there was no tall white pillar sticking up from the ground anywhere near Odd, and it made him worry. If he hadn't been materialized near the tower, then he had no chance of finding it on his own.

Turning around, hoping that the tower would be somewhere behind him, Odd was surprised when it was another familiar sight that met his gaze.

A huge hole in the middle of the plateau, ringed with a path that spiraled all the way down to where the land ended and open air began.

"Déjà vu," Odd muttered. For a moment he contemplated taking the path to the opening that he knew he would find further down. He then decided that he had wasted enough time hanging around, on the lookout for nonexistent enemies. He would just take a short cut instead.

And so, just like that time a few years back, Odd took a few steps backwards and then raced forward, leaping over the edge of the plateau.

His claws dug deep into the virtual rock as he ran down it, moving as if he were running on just another flat surface. As he bounded along he tired to mentally judge how far he would need to go before he reached his destination. He tried thinking back on the last time he had hurled himself down this hole, but it didn't prove a very useful memory. At the time he had been a bit more focused on Aelita then he had been on taking careful measurements.

Deciding to wing it, Odd dug his claws deep into the rock. The sudden halt in his momentum threw him into a forward somersault, and the jerk of his falling body against his steadfast grip about wrenched his shoulder from its socket.

"Ow," Odd muttered, allowing his body to swing against the wall behind him as he looked out across to the other side of the hole.

His eyebrows raised in surprise when he saw the cave opening he was looking for staring back at him. Well, at least now he knew where it was.

Glancing downwards, Odd was pleased to see that the curling path was only a two foot drop away, and retracted his claws. With his grip on the wall effectively loosened, Odd dropped down to the path, again landing in a crouch. Standing up and planting a hand on his hip, Odd gave the cave a lopsided grin.

"Well, well, well," he told the cave. "We meet again."

With that said, Odd turned and bolted down the path, curving his way upwards towards the cave. Excitement swelled within Odd's chest with each step that brought him closer to the opening, each foot fall reminding him that this was it- the last time he would ever have to come to Lyoko and battle Xana.

Would he miss the cool powers and getting to battle monsters and saving the world? Sure.

Would he miss the daily, unending struggle against an enemy that seemed impossible to destroy? Would he miss having to lie to keep the supercomputer hidden away from innocent lives?

No, that part he would not miss.

Odd scowled as a part of his mind rose up to remind him that, after today, he wouldn't be around to miss any of it anyway.

Odd quickly shoved that thought away. He decision was made, and nothing was going to change that. Especially now.

Not when they were so close to ending it all.

To winning.

Odd was so lost in his thoughts that he almost bypassed the cave completely, having to skid to a stop and backtrack a few steps to reach it. For a moment Odd stood still, staring into the depths of the long, winding cave, thinking back on the last time he had been here. When he and Aelita, who they still believed was nothing more than a computer program, were working together to stop Xana's attack.

An attack which had involved the evil virus possessing a teddy bear. Odd frowned.

Why couldn't Xana have just stuck to stuffed animals, and left the rest of the world alone?

Sighing, Odd took off down the tunnel.

He was surprised by just how eerie it was being down that tunnel again. Even though it had been so long ago, Odd could easily picture Aelita running next to him, and he swore that once or twice the thick bundles of wires protruding from the walls flashed red. All that he needed to complete the scene was a Megatank rolling along the tunnel after him. In fact, he could practically hear one coming now.

Wait. What?

His brow furrowing in confusion, Odd looked back over his shoulder.

And gaped at what he saw. A half dozen Megatanks were thundering after him. They barely fit in the small tunnel, their silver sides scrapping the walls constantly. If they were to catch up to Odd, he would have no chance of getting away from them- they'd crush him flat against the floor. With a surge of panic, Odd leapt onto all fours and bolted down the tunnel.

Had this cave always been so long? It suddenly seemed like it was stretching on forever. Maybe there was another tunnel that Odd should have taken instead of this one? What if he was lost?

Stop that! Odd hissed to himself. He couldn't freak out, not now. The tunnel could only be a little longer, and then he would be out in the clearing that he knew this cave opened in to, and he would vanish straight into the tower. The Megatanks wouldn't get a chance to so much as open their shells.

As soon as the thought filtered through Odd's mind, he was able to make out the beginning of light in the tunnel. Grinning, he pushed himself to go faster. He could have sworn he heard the Megatanks speed up as well, but pushed that thought from his mind as the light grew brighter.

Odd shot out of the tunnel like a cannonball from the mouth of a cannon, and he didn't slow as he thundered his way towards the tower, the Megatanks pouring out of the cave behind him.

And then he was brought to a very abrupt halt as he collided with a very solid tower base and toppled to the ground.

Odd lay on the floor, stunned for a second. But only a second, because that was how long it took for one of the Megatanks to get it together and fire at Odd.

The laser wall missed Odd by a fraction of an inch. The almost hit threw Odd's brain back into gear and he rolled to his feet, pausing for the briefest of moments to glare incredulously at the tower before he dove around the side of the tall pillar. And just in time, as another attack slammed into the tower.

"What is going on?" Odd hissed, slamming his fists against the base of the tower. He was supposed to be sliding through it, entering the tower and downloading the program that would save the world from Xana.

A rumbling sound caused Odd to spin around, the blonde dropping into a defensive crouch. Two Megatanks had rolled around from either side of the tower, and were now both popping open, their eyes both aimed right at him as they charged their attack.

Odd was acting on his plan before he had even fully realized what it was, charging out across the expanse of land between him and the Megatanks. He ran towards the space between the two monsters and, like two eyes crossing as they followed a nearing object, they turned to follow Odd's path. It was as Odd passed directly between them that they fired their attacks. As the blonde leapt to safety, the Megatanks caught one another with their lasers, both exploding in a shower of destroyed data.

Another rumble announced a third Megatank's approach. Again, Odd's legs were carrying him forward before his brain could stop to think of a plan first, the cat like warrior lunging at the Megatank just as it slid it's shell open. He landed on top of the monster, feet planted on the bars either side of its laser, his fist inches from its eye. As soon as he had fired the laser arrow, Odd flipped away, leaving the monster to blow apart.

As the remaining Megatanks moved around to the back of the tower to try and corner Odd, Odd scampered back around to the front. He had decided that he must have come to the wrong tower, so he was just going to have to go back and find another one. It couldn't be far from the one he was at now.

Odd was halfway to the tunnel entrance when he skidded to a stop, eyes going so wide that they were in danger of popping right out of his head.

Pouring out of the tunnel was a thick, opaque black smoke. It didn't take a computer genius like Jeremy to know exactly who had just joined the party.

"Xana," Odd hissed, taking an instinctive step back. His mind reeled, trying to understand what Xana himself would be doing here. Odd's immediate thought was that, if Xana was here, then he wasn't going after Ulrich or Yumi. At first Odd swelled with relief at this thought. But then he asked himself why wasn't Xana going after them? The reason that came to mind wasn't one Odd was very fond of.

If Xana was here with Odd, it was because he has already dealt with his Yumi and Ulrich.

That thought was followed quickly by another thought- of Aelita, also killed by trying to stop Xana, having given her life by throwing herself into the core of Lyoko.

Throwing herself.

It seemed that Odd would be forever destined to act before he thought, his body throwing its self forward in a mad dash at Xana before he had even considered asking it to do so. When he was close enough, Odd launched himself off the ground, diving at the black mass that continued to pour into the clearing.

It seemed that, if he wasn't going to be able to attack Xana through the towers, he was just going to have to take a more direct approach.

It was a good feeling, Odd realized suddenly, knowing that you were giving your life to save others. Just as Aelita had.

The black cloud under Odd suddenly parted at that moment, revealing a Megatank, its shell open and laser charged.

The last thing Odd saw before he was devirtualized was a blinding flash of red.

Jeremy flailed in the water, the absolute darkness around him making it impossible to know which way he was to go if he wanted to surface again. His lungs burning with the need for air, he kicked out in a random direction, praying that the next thing he felt was his head breaking the surface.

Instead what he got was a blinding pain shooting through his head as his skull collided with a crack against the basement's concrete floor. All of the air left his lungs in a stream of bubbles as he cried out in pain. He then clawed at his throat as he realized he had just lost the last of his air.

He wasn't entirely sure how he did it, but Jeremy was able to cling to what little bit of reason he had left. It told him that of what he had just hit was the floor, then the surface was in the opposite direction. With more flailing of his arms, Jeremy was able to get himself flipped over so that his feet touched the basement floor, and then he pushed off and up.

But before he could reach the surface, the blackness above exploded in a flash of orange light. For a second Jeremy just stared in bewilderment. But then, even from where he was under the water, he began to feel the heat. His jaw dropped open in shock, and he swallowed down a mouthful of liquid in the process. Not that it mattered, he had no chance of escape now.

Not now that Xana had set the surface of the water on fire.

Aelita pressed her back against the wall, palms held towards the Manta as he faced her down. From somewhere further back, she could hear Yumi shout her name. She didn't dare look though, she couldn't take her eyes away from the Manta. Not for a second.

Scowling, Aelita fired an energy field at the monster. It dodged away from the attack easily. She fired again, and again the monster dodged. Aelita's eyes narrowed. She couldn't keep this up for much longer. She had seen the black Manta veer off and go after Yumi, and she had known right away that it was Xana come to try and stop them personally. If she didn't end this staring contest soon, Xana would finish with Yumi, and then come after her.

Quickly, Aelita fired off two energy fields, one a second after the first. For a moment she feared that her plan might not work. But then the Manta dodged her first attack- which placed it right into the path of the second one. Grinning, Aelita didn't wait to see the monster be destroyed, instead continuing her sprint towards the core.

As soon as she was close enough, Aelita waved her hand over her bracelet, her wings unfurling in a glow of pink light. She launched herself from the edge of the path with a powerful flap of her wings, propelling herself towards the core.

She wasn't exactly sure how she planned to pass the counter program into the core of Lyoko, but she knew that whatever she did, she needed to do it now.

As soon as she made contact with the core, Aelita realized exactly how she was going to pass the program over. She could feel the core pulling at it as soon as her fingertips touched its surface. The more of her that made contact with the core, the harder it pulled. Although it was uncomfortable, almost painful, Aelita curled herself as best she could around the heart of Lyoko, allowing it to rip the program from her body. She could feel her data being torn apart by the force of the pull, the core ravaging anything coming between it and the program.

As the last of her being was being shredded, Aelita thought of her friends- Ulrich, Yumi, Odd- and she hoped that they would finally get to live normal, happy lives- now that they didn't have to fight anymore.

The scanner doors slid open with a hiss, dumping Odd out onto the floor. He curled up on himself, his entire body echoing with the pain of being blow apart by a giant laser. He was content to just lie there, consumed by his phantom pain forever. It was all he deserved to do, after what he had done.

After he had failed.

But he wasn't going to get to wallow in self pity and failure for very long. He hadn't been lying there two seconds when a rumble shook through the factory. For one wild moment Odd thought it was another Megatank, come to finish him off once and for all. But that didn't make any sense. He was on earth again. There were no Megatanks here.

And then another rumble shook the room, causing dust to rain down from the ceiling.

It wasn't a Megatank Odd realized, as the room continued to shake.

It wasn't just this room shaking either.

It was Xana. And he was bringing down the factory.

Odd wasn't sure how he knew it, but he did, and he realized in that moment that he needed to get out of where he was- he needed to find somewhere safe before he was buried alive.

Stumbling to his feet, Odd hurried towards the ladder that would take him back up to the factory floor. And that would take him to the door, and that would take him out onto the bridge and across to the woods. To safety.

A shake, stronger than the ones before it, almost threw Odd off his feet, and he had to wrap his arms around a scanner to stay upright. As soon as things were stable enough, he continued forward again, one hand reached out towards the ladder rungs, ready to grab them the second he was close enough.

And then the room shook again, and Odd was throw sideways, away from the ladder-

And down into the empty elevator shaft.

For a few seconds he tumbled, freefalling, and then Odd's body smashed through the ancient, rusting elevator car's roof with a crash that reverberated through the shaft, echoing off of its self, getting louder and louder until it was absolutely deafening. Lying on his back, surrounded by hunks of metal debris, Odd stared up with wide, blank eyes.

Around him the building's shaking grew more and more violent. A chunk of concrete tumbled down the elevator shaft, hitting Odd in the chest and then bouncing off. The blond didn't react to the impact, continuing to stare up as if looking for something, searching for something.

It was only the pool of blood, spreading slowly from beneath the boy's back that hinted that Odd wasn't going to find whatever it was he was looking for.

That he was never going to find safety.

All around him the factory broke apart, walls collapsed down under the force of Xana's onslaught. Up on the roof the old, rusty door shook free of its aged hinges and tumbled down the stairs, smashing against each step with the screech of metal against stone.

The small office, home to a sagging old couch and a makeshift rug bed, crumpled in on its self, the falling walls knocking the filling cabinets to the ground. Their old yellowed papers scattered across the floor, disintegrating into dust.

In the supercomputer room a giant chunk of the ceiling broke loose and fell, crushing the computer under its immense weight like a bug under a shoe.

Eventually the entire factory roof caved, taking the whole of the building down with it, the once proud factory crumbling into a massive pile of broken concrete, twisted metal, shattered glass, and dust.

A black, liquid like cloud poured out of the broken factory, climbing up into the sky in a pillar of swirling darkness. As soon as it reached the clouds it spread outwards, turning the puffy white billows heavy and dark, blotting out the stars. The dark clouds echoed with thunder, crashing and rumbling and almost completely blocking out the roaring laughter of the computer virus.

He had done it. He had finally done it.

After years of battling, of losing, he had finally done it.

He had won.