Title: Time and Again
Rating: T
Series: Code Lyoko
Summary: (Ulrich/Yumi) (Jeremie/Aelita) AU: X.A.N.A. has won; this is how the survivors fight to take back the future.
Disclaimer: Code Lyoko belongs to France 3 and Canal J and whatever other party they are involved with, be it MoonScoop or AnteFilms, or whichever other production company they decide to use.

AN: Rated T for violence and heavy doses of science, so the scientific squeamish should be warned. [Mwuahahahahahahaha!] Oh, I also made all the characters older. Believe it or not this story was inspired by a poem I wrote, not really a surprise to those who have read some of my other works.

AN2: This story is going to be a long read; 66 pages and 28,836 words (at the time of posting, it will be longer once completed), easily the longest single part story I have written to date. Just a warning. I may in the future break it up into chapters if there is enough demand for it, but I doubt it.

Scientific Explanations (In Brief. for more detailed information please look on Wikipedia):
Novikov consistency principle: The Novikov consistency principle asserts that if an event exists and that would give rise to a paradox, or to any "change" to the past whatsoever, then the probability of that event is zero. In short time won't let a paradox create itself.
Daniel Greenberger and Karl Svozil proposed that quantum theory gives a model for time travel without paradoxes. In quantum theory observation causes possible states to 'collapse' into one measured state (Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle); hence, the past observed from the present is deterministic (it has only one possible state), but the present observed from the past has many possible states until our actions cause it to collapse into one state. Our actions will then be seen to have been inevitable. (Look on wiki under time travel).

Italics – narration
Bold – thoughts/emphasis
Bold/Italics - Poem

AaAaA

How many times have I cheated death? How many times has a Return to the Past kept me alive? Yet now, as I kneel here before you I almost wish that I wasn't so lucky. I continually wish that this future wasn't the one that existed, I pray for a future where things turn out differently, a future where we don't have to live in shadows and exist in the darkness.

Exist. That seems to be all I have been doing for these past few years, hiding in the shadows to stay alive, if you can even call that an existence. Yet now, as I am once again able to look upon you, I wonder why I haven't just given in, just given up the fight and let him win; totally and completely, if only so I could be with you again.

With a sigh I glance toward you. Reaffirming the fact that I can't give in, once again showing me why I fight. I know in my heart that you would want me to keep up the fight, keep trying to find a way to make the world better, no matter what. For you I would go into hell itself and slap the devil, if I'm willing to do that, then I must carry on, I must fight to the bitter end.

And what a bitter end it will be if I am caught. Knowing that my time is short I must leave. But I promise that I will return to see you again soon.

As I get up to leave, I look around us at our friends, all of them silent as I begin to rise, their very presence strengthening my resolve to carry on. It is said that hope is a powerful thing, I can tell you that's true. Hope is all that I have had since the incident five years ago, since the day I had to leave you and our friends. I hope that one day this war will be over and I will once again be reunited with you, my love, and our friends. Until then, I'll keep fighting, keep on living, knowing one day, we'll be together again, even if it is in death.

Moving to stand before you, I gently trace your name, the angel watching over you smiling sadly as I do.

Yumi Ishiyama
Born - March 18, 1988
Died – April 17, 2006
Beloved Friend and Daughter, You Will Be Missed

My reflections are broken when a siren blares in the distance, setting off a chain reaction as the alarm carries across the night sky, much like tornado sirens of old.

The curfew siren tells me that my time here is up, I can't be picked up by any of his agents, I must return to the shadows. Moving silently I leave the cemetery, even as I leave you I make this solemn promise; Yumi, I swear that I will return to you, and when I do I'll confess my feelings, before it's too late.

Passing the cemetery gates, I pull my gray hooded sweatshirt over my head. Moving toward what once used to be a park, I slip into the shadows and disappear into the encroaching night.

My name was once Ulrich Stern, but he no longer exists, he died five years ago in the same explosion that claimed his friends. Now I am simply call Ishiyama, the name that once belonged to the only girl I have ever loved, now I am a freedom fighter. I fight for the freedom of humanity from the control of a super computer virus called X.A.N.A.; this is my story of survival and my fight to take back my future and my past.

I am one of a handful of people fighting for freedom, yet even as I walk away from the cemetery, I know my friends are with me, I know I'm not alone. I'm never alone, not if I hold their memories in my heart.

What happened to them, you may be asking, what is this incident you mentioned? A good question I say, one deserving of an answer, if not for any other reason than for when I am dead, I want the world to know that we at least tried to stop him, that we never gave up the fight, but above all that I want the truth to be known.

This tale of woe begins five years ago, back when we still went to Kadic Academy, back when there still was an Academy.

Time and again the memories come, while all else fades away,
Reminding me of all I've lost, now that you are gone.
Times spent together and memories shared, but fragments of our history.

AaAaA

"Ulrich, pass the ball," Odd yelled as he ran down the soccer field toward the goal. Ulrich looked up and nodded before kicking the ball to him.

Ulrich Stern, star player of the Kadic Academy soccer team. He was a young man of 17 years; he had brown hair and brown eyes. He stood a good five foot six, not tall but still not short like Odd.

Odd received the ball and ran; he ran as hard as he could before kicking the ball into the goal. Almost as if in slow motion, the ball passed by the outstretched fingers of the goalie, landing in the net.

"Yes!" Odd shouted as he pumped his fist in victory, that had been the winning goal.

Odd Della Robbia, age 17 years. He's a blonde with a purple streak in his hair. No one knows where the spot came from or if it's fake or natural. He has brown eyes and also has the distinction of being Ulrich Stern's best friend and roommate. Odd is only a few inches shorter than Ulrich.

"Good job, Odd," Ulrich said as he approached to celebrate with his friend.

"Well, it was a team effort," he replied as he put his arm over Ulrich's shoulder and began walking toward their bench where their coach, Jim, was waiting with the rest of the team.

"All right guys, good game," Jim said as Ulrich and Odd joined them. "But don't let it go to your head. We still have two more teams to beat before we're in the finals. But don't worry about that now, go hit the showers."

As the team began filing into the showers, Ulrich glanced to where Jeremie, Aelita, and Yumi had been watching the game. When he did he saw them wave in acknowledgement, but what caught his attention was when Yumi winked at him. Pondering this, he and Odd disappeared into the lockers, a light blush tingeing his cheeks.

Yumi Ishiyama, the oldest of the group by one year. She was a Japanese transfer student who moved to France with her family when her father got a promotion. She had shoulder length black hair and gentle black eyes. Her style of dress could be considered Goth, yet it wasn't. All she ever wore was black, no strange makeup or torn clothing, she was also the tallest of the group standing at five foot nine. It was a well-known fact among the rest of the group, but unknown to Ulrich, that Yumi was in love with him. What Yumi didn't know, but the rest of the group did, was that Ulrich felt the same way. Confused? Join the club, so was the rest of the group.

Jeremie Belpois watched the interaction between his friends with amusement, silent as it may have been. Grinning at his lovelorn friends he pushed his glasses back up onto the bridge of his nose. Storing his laptop into its carrying bag, he slung the strap across his shoulder. Jeremie was the brains of the group, with Ulrich being the brawn and Yumi the leader. Odd, he was the comic relief, Aelita was harder to classify, but she was the heart of the group. Jeremie smoothed the wrinkles out of his pale blue turtleneck sweater before running a hand through his blonde hair. His brown eyes were twinkling in amusement as he watched Yumi head toward the cafeteria, lost in a little world with just Ulrich and her.

"Thinking about Ulrich no doubt," he said with a chuckle as Aelita approached him.

Coming up beside him was Aelita, the girl he loved. Her soft pink hair waved in the breeze while her inquisitive brown eyes followed Yumi. Taking a moment to straighten her pink overall skirt, she turned to Jeremie and asked the question that was on everyone's mind.

"Do you think they'll ever realize how much they love each other?"

"I'm not sure, but I hope so. This is Yumi's last year at Kadic."

"Well, I'm sure everything will turn out alright," she replied, always the bright part of any day.

"I sure hope so Aelita."

AaAaA

After showering and changing into their normal clothes, Odd and Ulrich left the locker room and began heading to the cafeteria. After a game like that they both needed some dinner.

"So, do you think there will be anything edible?" Ulrich asked as they approached, the various smells coming from the stoves of the cafeteria quickly putting the 'edible' theory to rest.

"Don't know, but that all depends on your definition of 'edible'," Odd replied nonchalantly with a shrug. Ulrich could only sigh and shake his head at his friend. It was well known that Odd would eat anything that was put in front of him, once he almost ate the lunch tray. When this was brought to his attention he only said that it needed a little hot sauce, his comment achieved the humor he was looking for, removing the embarrassment from him, sort of.

Performing a quick once over of the food, Ulrich decided to skip dinner tonight, for some reason the mystery-meat 'Chicken' Parmesan just wasn't doing it for him.

"Uhh, I think I'll get something later, you can have my portion Odd," Ulrich said as he quickly stepped away from the chicken that appeared to be moving on its own, he didn't even want to mention the fact that he thought he heard a 'cluck' come from it.

"Really? You don't know what you're missing."

"I'm sure, and honestly I don't think I want to find out," Ulrich replied with conviction when he heard a burp come from the chicken on Odd's plate. He quickly made a hasty retreat to the table that Yumi and the others occupied.

"Hey guys," Ulrich greeted as he sat down.

"Hey," Yumi responded as she looked up from the salad she had bought from the cafeteria, to Ulrich it looked fairly safe.

"Good game Ulrich," Jeremie congratulated even as he continued to type on his laptop.

"Yeah, it was one of the best games I've seen in a long time," Aelita said with a smile.

"Uh, Aelita, it's only the second game that you've seen," Yumi replied.

"Well, that still makes it the best game I've ever seen," she stated as she stuck her tongue out at Yumi.

All Yumi could do was laugh, transforming it into a shy smile when she saw Ulrich watching her.

"So, no dinner?" Yumi asked Ulrich to break the silence that fell between them, only punctuated by the sound of Jeremie typing.

"Not hungry," he began to say, but just as he completed that thought his stomach betrayed him by letting out a growl, cutting off anything else he was going to say.

"Traitor," he whispered as Yumi broke out into laughter again, his face flushing slightly in embarrassment.

"Here," she said as she pushed an apple toward him.

"Thanks," he replied with a blush, both from his stomach's betrayal and from Yumi's hand touching his as she passed him the fruit.

"Ahhhhh! Isn't that cute, the lovebirds are sharing food," a voice laced with bitterness said behind Ulrich. Instantly he went on the defensive as his posture straightened from the partial slouch he had been resting in, hand almost crushing the apple.

"What do you want Sissi?" He said with venom in his voice.

"I just wanted to find out if you've decided to give up on her and date a real woman."

"We're not dating," Ulrich and Yumi said at the same time, blushing when they realized this, their eyes making brief contact before looking away.

Before Sissi could form another reply, for you could tell she had one by the evil smirk on her face, a new voice broke in, cutting her off.

"If you're a real woman, I think I'd rather die a bachelor," Odd said as he placed his tray on the table beside Ulrich who shifted away from the chicken, afraid it might try to grab him.

You could see the fury build up in Sissi, but she controlled her outburst enough to only say one thing before she stormed off, Nicolas and Herve behind her.

Before she stormed off, she said one thing and one thing only.

"Be careful what you wish for Odd, it may happen."

With that she was gone.

"Ok, that was weird," Yumi said as the furor died down.

"You can say that again," Ulrich replied. "Thanks for the apple Yumi."

"No problem," she replied with a blush creeping up her cheeks, a matching one on Ulrich's face, their embarrassment from the dating comment forgotten by their new embarrassment, sharing food. After that small blush session, there was the basic banter among friends. Unbeknownst to them, Sissi was glaring at them the entire time.

Secrets we shared, secrets we made,
I could tell you anything.
First we were friends, then it was love,
how simple things were then.

AaAaA

Dinner led to the inevitable conclusion of the school day, what this meant for Odd, Jeremie, Aelita, Yumi and Ulrich was that they had homework, as much as it pained some of them, namely Odd. Parting ways outside the cafeteria, the friends said goodnight as they went their separate ways for the night.

"Good night guys," Yumi said as she began walking away from the others and toward the street that would lead her home.

"Night Yumi," Ulrich said with a wave making her blush. She did manage to keep walking though, returning the wave with a small one of her own.

Once she was out of sight Odd began in on the conversation Ulrich knew was coming.

Aelita and Jeremie had already disappeared to do whatever it was they did together, probably work on a program to defeat X.A.N.A.; at least Ulrich hoped that's what they did.

"Why don't you ask her out?" Odd asked as they began the climb to their dorm room.

"Odd, we've been over this before, we're …"

"Just friends, that's what you keep telling me, but I still don't believe it. I see the way you look at each other, even if you two don't. Don't think that Jeremie and Aelita have missed it either, they haven't."

Ulrich sighed as they opened their dorm room door.

"I just can't come right out and tell her, you know that. No matter how many times you or Jeremie say she loves me, I can't believe it. Why would a girl like her ever like a guy like me? She's so beautiful why would she want me when she could have any guy at school? Besides, you know there are things in my past that she can never know about. Even if I say anything I know that she won't return my feelings, I don't want to lose her friendship. I'm not so sure I can live without her, even if it's just as a friend."

"Don't be so down on yourself Ulrich, you two will get together eventually, and then you won't have any worries about losing her." He replied with a grin, his dog Kiwi barking once in agreement.

"Whatever Odd, come on, let's get started on this math homework."

AaAaA

"Hello?" Yumi groggily asked as she fumbled to answer her cell phone.

"Yumi."

"Ulrich? What's wrong?" she asked as she sat up, pulling the comforter around her to guard against the night's chill, it was 1:30 in the morning after all.

"Meet us at the factory as soon as possible."

"Is it X.A.N.A.?" she asked.

"Jeremie doesn't know for sure, but get here fast," he replied.

"Understood, I'll be there soon. Bye Ulrich."

"Bye Yumi," he said as the line disconnected.

Yumi quickly dressed and sneaked out her window, careful not to wake her parents or little brother.

Reaching the edge of the roof she jumped off, rolling as she hit the soft grass. Rising to her feet she quietly made her way to the front gate and out into the street. Once safe on the sidewalk, she began running to the old factory.

AaAaA

"I'm sorry I called you all out of bed for no reason," Jeremie said once the gang had assembled in the control room.

"Why, what happened?" Odd asked as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"Nothing, that's the problem," he said with a weary sigh.

"I'm not following Jeremie," Ulrich said after glancing at the confused expressions on Odd and Yumi's faces.

"A tower had activated itself, that much I know. Beyond that I'm not sure what happened."

"Why don't you talk us through it," Yumi suggested with a smile.

"Ok, I'll try." He took a deep breath and began to retell what had apparently happened.

"I received an alarm about an active tower. I came to the factory to make sure, once I confirmed it, I called you guys. Before you guys got here something weird happened, the supercomputer sent out a short-wave radio signal. I wasn't able to trace it before it shut off, after that the tower deactivated and everything went back to normal."

"So, no attack?" Odd asked still half asleep.

"Apparently not," Jeremie replied with a shrug, "I guess you can go back to bed then."

"Huh, ok Jeremie. But call us if anything weird happens." With that, Odd left the factory.

"Yeah, call us if anything happens," Ulrich said as he and Yumi left as well. The only reply from Jeremie was a grunt, drawing a giggle from Aelita who had been silent the entire time. As Ulrich and Yumi were leaving Aelita mentioned that she would stay with Jeremie to help if she could.

Once Ulrich and Yumi were outside, he turned to her.

"Yumi, can I walk you home?"

"I'd like that," she replied with a blush, "thank you."

"No problem," he replied as he blushed as well.

AaAaA

Reaching her house, they turned to each other and just stared into the other's eyes.

"Yumi," Ulrich began, but was cut off when her watch beeped, it was now 2am.

"Ulrich, I have to go now. Thanks for walking me home; it was very sweet of you." She said with a blush as she leaned over and kissed his cheek.

"Good night," she said even as a blush bloomed across his face, her own still in place as she stepped toward her house.

"Good night Yumi," Ulrich replied as he watched her climb onto her roof via the tree located on the side. He waited until she had entered her room before he turned and walked away, hands in his pockets and a smile on his face.

Maybe the others were right after all.

AaAaA

With a Herculean effort, Ulrich managed to drag himself from his bed and across the room to shut off the ever-annoying hell spawn he erroneously called an alarm clock. Once again he was glad to have not purchased the clock that would roll out of the way when you tried to turn it off; he knew he would have thrown it out the window long ago. Stretching so that his spine gave off a series of little pops, he waited as his sight returned from the rush of blood to his head. He'd learned from watching Odd that moving around when you get a blood rush was a bad idea, after all Ulrich did have to take him to the nurse more than once, apparently Odd was a slow learner.

Giving a yawn to match his stretch, he moved to his dresser to grab a pair of clean clothes and his towel. Opening the dorm room door he glanced out into the hall before stepping out and closing the door behind him.

Ulrich liked to wake up early so that he could beat everyone else to the showers. While he normally achieved this he didn't get much time to enjoy the hot water, there was only so much to go around at any one time. For him, a nice long shower was something to savor and enjoy.

So, with great reluctance he finished his daily hygiene ritual by brushing his teeth. The shower had been especially relaxing this morning for some reason, or maybe he was still high on the kiss he got from Yumi the night before. Even if it was only on the cheek, it was still a kiss from the girl he loved.

Making his way back to his dorm, he found that Odd was still asleep. With a sigh he walked to the comatose Odd and began shaking him.

"Odd, time to get up, you need to take a shower before we can go to breakfast."

Whether it be the shaking or the mention of food, Odd sprang out of bed and grabbed his own towel and clothes. Before Ulrich could blink his roommate was gone.

Giving a small chuckle, Ulrich set about gathering everything he'd need for the day; wallet, keys, cell phone, and schoolbooks. All were stored away in pockets or book bag.

By the time he'd finished looking for his ever-elusive math book, Odd had returned from the showers.

"You ready to go Odd?" Ulrich asked as he put his book in his backpack.

"Just let me get my shoes on," the blond replied even as he was pulling his sneakers on. "There, ready to go."

Giving his friend a pat on the shoulder, Ulrich led the way out the door to the cafeteria, hoping to not blush too much when he got near Yumi.

AaAaA

In the time following the explosion, the news ran the story as either a possible terrorist attack or just long unused chemicals exploding. Of course, we all now know what the cause was, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Breakfast that morning followed the usual routine, Odd eating as much of our food as he could, Jeremie and Aelita talking about the anti-virus that would free her from X.A.N.A and the supercomputer, even as Odd ate their breakfast, and Yumi and I sneaking small blushing glances at each other. Fortunately Sissi decided to not bother us this morning. Truth be told, we didn't even see her when we entered the cafeteria, Odd thought she may have been sick. How wrong he was.

AaAaA

Following breakfast and a fine job of hiding their glances from the other, Ulrich and Yumi followed Odd from the Cafeteria and into the courtyard for a little relaxing and sun before classes began. Aelita and Jeremie were already stationed on their bench, having left to make sure no one else took it since they skipped eating.

Ulrich and Yumi smiled at each other as they listened to Odd go on and on about his newest song.

"…It'll have a lot of drum beats mixed in with some digital synth and …"

Shaking their heads they exchanged a silent signal as they walked behind him. Acknowledging the other they slowed their walk until Odd was several feet ahead of them. Once that was completed they took off running at an angle, trying to beat Odd to the bench.

They did this for one reason, to prove that he really didn't pay any attention to what went on around him.

After arriving at the bench ahead of their friend, Ulrich and Yumi sat down as they tried to catch their breath. It was rather difficult to do considering they were still laughing like they had been as they pulled their little trick on Odd.

"Now that," Yumi began as she struggled to get her breath, the giggles preventing the completion of the action.

"Was funny," Ulrich finished as he too fought to stop laughing even as they unconsciously leaned against each other for support.

"Did you two ditch Odd again?" Jeremie asked without looking up from his laptop.

"Maybe," they said in unison which had the effect of setting them laughing again.

"Hey Einstein," Odd said as he reached the bench but stopped when he noticed Ulrich and Yumi. Turning to look behind him he realized that he wasn't imagining them in front of him as they weren't behind him.

"Hey!" he exclaimed with a pout as he realized what they had done. "That's not funny."

"Yes it is," Ulrich said with a glance at Yumi that sent the two back into a fit of laughter.

"Ya know, one day I'll be gone, and then you won't have me around to make fun of," Odd protested as he crossed his arms across his chest in mock irritation.

"Odd," Ulrich said as he rose to comfort Odd as Yumi was still laughing. "That's not true, nothing will ever happen to you or anyone else as long as I'm here."

"Yeah, same here," Yumi said as she too comforted Odd, her hand accidentally covering Ulrich's as she placed it on Odd's shoulder.

Their eyes met for a brief second behind Odd's head before they turned away, a light blush tainting their cheeks.

Before anyone could say anything into the silence that followed there was a beeping coming from Jeremie's computer.

Quickly switching to the window he needed he announced what everyone already knew.

"X.A.N.A."

Without a word all five of them turned and began to make their way toward the building that housed the boiler room and the path to the factory that lay within.

Before they could reach the safety of the school they were stopped, or more accurately Ulrich was stopped, by Sissi.

"Ulrich, my father wanted me to tell you something."

"What is it?" he asked with a sigh as he saw the others stop to wait.

"It's not something for them to hear," Sissi replied with a nod in the gang's direction.

"Go on without me, I'll meet you guys in Jeremie's room."

His answer was a nod from his friends as they took off and left him to face Sissi alone.

Once they were gone and he had stolen one last look at Yumi's disappearing back, he turned to face Sissi as he crossed his arms.

"Ok, they're gone, what do you want?" he asked.

"Ulrich dear, you don't need to take that tone with me, your friends are gone now, you don't need to pretend." She said as she moved to his side and slid her arm through his. He pulled his arm away from her and took a step back.

"I'm not pretending anything, Sissi. I really don't like you." With that he turned to walk away before her voice stopped him short.

"I know about Lyoko, Ulrich." She said with a smirk. "I know all about Aelita too."

His blood ran cold as he turned to face her.

"How could you possible know about that?"

"Oh, I know all about you and your friends," she began as she started to circle him like a vulture. "I know that you guys aren't going to Jeremie's room, you're going to the factory to stop X.A.N.A., but I can tell you it's not going to work. You can't stop him, he will rule the world and you can't stop it."

"Are you crazy?" he asked in shock as he stared at her.

"I have never felt saner in my life. You know that you will all die once he comes to power, some sooner than others." This time there was a victorious smirk on her face, a smirk that grew as she spoke again. "Join us Ulrich, rule the world with us. It's the only way you'll survive you know."

He ignored the last part as the threat of 'sooner than others' rang through his head.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Hmm? Do you mean the promise of death? Well that's simple Ulrich dear, even as your friends approach the factory they are approaching their death. You see X.A.N.A. is free now. He doesn't need the supercomputer any more. As we speak your friends are walking into a giant bomb."

She stopped to throw another victorious look at him.

"You can try to call them, but it won't work. All cell phone service has been terminated. If you want to save them you'd better start running, once they hit the scanner room it's all over."

He didn't even wait to hear the sound of her laughter or to see another person appear beside her.

"You did well my love," he said as he put his arm around her and gave her a kiss on the temple.

"Thank you," she said with a smile as she returned the kiss. "Do you think he'll make it?"

"No, he'll get there in time to watch them die." He replied with a hollow laugh.

"I love you, Sissi," he said as he leaned down to capture her lips with his own.

"I love you too," she said just before their lips connected, "William."

AaAaA

Ulrich couldn't remember a time when he had run faster in his life. But he also never had a reason to run like this before, now he had four reasons, one more important to him than the others.

He could feel his muscles begin to burn as he ran; he knew he had to push his body to the limits and beyond. Even as he ran his breath came in short bursts as his body struggled to draw the life giving air that was starved from his muscles.

He grew hopeful as he saw the factory loom on the horizon; he pushed himself even harder as he raced down the street and through the park.

Even as he reached the bank of the river and moved toward the bridge connecting it to the factory's island he had hope. He had hope until the very moment he was within a hundred feet of the bridge. It was at this point that time slowed to a crawl and all sounds ceased, all but the rumble that came from the factory and the faint flash that appeared from the windows.

The last thing he knew was a deafening roar as the light, sound and heat of the explosion took him off his feet and threw him back into the trees where he collided with a particularly large one.

Even as consciousness left him and the dark oblivion took him, he could think of nothing but his friends. He knew without a doubt that they had all been inside. His last thoughts were those of regrets for the things he'd never said to them. His biggest regret was never telling Yumi that he loved her.

My love belonged to only you,
we'd be together forever,
but oh how short that really was.
Stories told of happy endings, always speak of forever.
But forever isn't long enough to cherish those you love.

It was with the regret of not telling her he loved her that he lost to the pull of the darkness and succumbed to the bliss that was oblivion.