And voila – chapter 13! I've been going through an uncreative streak for quite some time now. I mean, I've had some oneshots here and there, but with my longer stories, it's been pretty bleh. But I sat down and forced myself to write, and here is the result. It seems to have cured me... Once I come up with the beginning of a scene, the rest comes easy. Hopefully you'll see my other stories revived soon, too – it's becoming more of a time issue rather than writer's block. Or both – I don't have time to sit at my computer long enough to come up with anything. Eh. Spring break's coming up. Though I may be away looking at colleges... I dunno. We'll see. But for now, here's something to tide you over. :)

Chapter 13

"Where are you?" Aelita cried out as she ran across the blue blocks and platforms, "Where are you?"

But of course, no one answered. Aelita may as well be alone out here. But she wasn't. She couldn't be. Her mother was here. Somewhere... She was here. Maybe she could hear Aelita calling to her. She simply couldn't answer back. Aelita had searched nearly every nook and cranny of this place. And no sign of her mother. But even then, she had to be here. Otherwise all this would be for nothing. Aelita would be alone again... That couldn't be true. So that meant she had to be here... She had to be. Hidden away, some place that only XANA knew. Maybe there was a code behind it. But if there was, Aelita had no idea how to break it. As of yet, there was only one way to find out. And she knew exactly what it was. The question: Was it worth it? Consulting XANA, finding out what he wanted? And if Aelita gave it to him, would he still free her mother?

Aelita's fists clenched as she looked up into the abyss above her. She would have thought that if XANA had to hide anything, it would be there. But no. Nothing was up there. And so Aelita was sure that her mother was somewhere no one could find her. Not without giving XANA what he wanted...

Aelita wasn't completely oblivious. She knew this was a trap. But the thing was, XANA had trapped them before. He'd pushed them so far into corners that they really though there was no way out. She knew it more than anyone... She almost died. She did die. And even then, they still managed to win in the end. If they could avert her death and Lyoko's destruction, then surely they could stop whatever XANA was planning this time. It was like Jeremie said... Not once were the odds so critically against them that they couldn't endure it. So why would this be any different?

Aelita took a deep breath. She didn't have much of a choice, did she? A voice inside of her told her that she did have a choice, and that this couldn't possibly end well. But there was no evidence as to whether this was the voice of reason or of fear. She wanted to ignore it, but she couldn't help but wonder... What if it didn't work? What if XANA was going to kill her mother as soon as he got what he wanted? And what if he was just playing her, and all this was meant to distract them from something even bigger?

There was only one way to find out.

She had to try.

"I know you can hear me," Aelita projected, "Now tell me why you're doing this."

There was a pause. Aelita knew XANA had a voice. He'd always find some way to speak to them... So why wouldn't he now?

"There must be some reason you're keeping her alive!" Aelita called out, "What do you want?"

Anger boiled up inside of Aelita when she was met with silence. XANA was waiting for something, clearly.

"Alright!" Aelita blurted out, "I'll give you whatever you want! Just give her back to me!"

Two words were given to Aelita in return. It was similar to the way Jeremie's voice would just ring out from nowhere... But this time, Aelita knew it was XANA talking.

"You're bluffing."

She knew that wouldn't work. But still, she'd gotten him talking.

"Well," Aelita scoffed, "If you'd just tell me what you wanted, I'm sure we'd come to some sort of agreement."

"Whatever happens," XANA crooned, "Antea will be safe."

"And no one gets hurt?" Aelita asked.

"You have my word," XANA promised.

"And how am I supposed to believe that?" Aelita demanded, almost laughing at such an idea, with no doubt that XANA was giving himself some sort of loophole.

"That's your choice," said XANA.

"Well, first, tell me what I'm expected to give you."

"Actually," XANA responded, the tone of his voice making Aelita worry, "Until you agree to cooperate, you're not leaving."

Aelita let out a quick, mocking laugh, no longer intimidated in the least. "How's that going to work?" she asked, "I can't devirtualize myself? You're going to have to do better than that."

"Oh can't you?" XANA asked slyly, so much that it was starting to give Aelita second thoughts. He'd bugged the devirtualization program was the best thing she could think of. As frightened as she was, though, Aelita was sure that soon Jeremie would find her here and fix the bug. The only question was how soon. There was no telling what could happen between now and then... If that was even what XANA meant.

"What have you done?" Aelita asked, trying to hide the waver in her voice.

"Nothing... Not yet."

"Explain."

"If you so much as lift your arm to fire at yourself as a means of leaving, the guardian holding your mother will dissipate, and she will fall into the Digital Sea to remain there in my realm forever."

Yumi and Odd watched intently as Jeremie typed on his computer at 95 miles per hour. Yumi smiled – just like old times, leaving the cafeteria to go up to Jeremie's dorm and work on some Lyoko thing. They were back in the habit again.

"Anything?" Yumi asked.

Jeremie typed a few more keys, then stopped. He paused, then turned around in his chair to face Yumi and Odd.

"I smell speech," said Odd, for this was always what Jeremie would do before a long explanation or anything along those lines.

Jeremie nodded. "I can't do anything until I hear what you guys think."

"Well, we're listening," said Yumi, "What is it?"

Jeremie sighed. "It doesn't look like we'll be able to wait for Aelita."

Yumi felt a pang of guilt. She owed her friend quite the apology once she turned up.

"And Ulrich?" Yumi asked.

"This concerns him, too," said Jeremie, pointing to the computer, "He can hear everything we're saying, but he hasn't figured out how to reach us from Lyoko. I can only have a back and forth conversation through the supercomputer."

"That's all we need," said Odd, "I get the feeling we'll be going there soon anyway, so he can tell us then."

Jeremie took a deep breath. "Okay... I have a plan in my head for what we'll do once we can go back in time again. And now I think I have a way to get the program working. But there's one thing we need to take into account before we do this... We know XANA. We know how tricky he can be. This could be another one of his schemes."

"We know that," Yumi put in.

"I didn't mean just losing the program," said Jeremie, "I meant the fact that I know how to find it. Whenever we think it's too easy, that usually means something. For all we know, XANA may want us to find that fragment. So the question remains... Are we willing to take that risk?"

Yumi and Odd looked at each other, then at the ground.

"Well?" Jeremie asked after a moment of silence.

"I think..." Yumi pondered, unsure of how to put it into words, "I think we have enough at stake as it is."

"Meaning?" Jeremie asked.

"Meaning at this point," Odd finished, "It's all or nothing."

Yumi nodded. "If we fail, we could lose everything. But the same thing could happen if we don't try. Better to take a chance while we can than to wait for everything to take care of itself."

"So now that the two of us have come to an agreement," said Odd, "Are you sure about this?"

Jeremie paused. He turned and faced his computer, resting his head in one hand and tapping his desk with the other. He sat there motionless for quite some time before he spoke:

"I'm not sure of anything, really. But if you guys think it's best to go for it, then I'm willing to."

"Then it's settled?" Odd asked.

Jeremie lifted his head and turned and faced them.

"I'll be in here working on locating the fragment. When the time comes, I'll give you the signal."

I foresee much fun-ness... For me anyway. Just being able to write "Transfer, Scanner, Virtualization!" feels awesome. Any signature Lyoko line does. I don't know if it's just me or what, but I can't tell you how satisfying it is to see something like that typed out in your Word document...