Disclaimer: I do not claim to own Code Lyoko, Code Lyoko Evolution, or any of the characters of the Code Lyoko Franchise.

"The Devil pulls the strings which make us dance;

We find and delight in the most loathsome things;

Some furtherance of Hell each new day brings;

And yet we feel no horror in that rank advance."

-Baudelaire

CHAPTER ONE

The lab was in ruins, small fires burned aimlessly, several machines and monitors were smoldering wrecks. The cold air of the Swiss Alps was blowing through holes in the building. A visibly pregnant pink haired woman was sitting on the floor, holding a pair of broken eyeglasses. Tears were welling up in her eyes and she began to wail like that of a wounded animal. She was flanked by four figures: three male, one female. The tallest of the group slowly approached and put his hand on her shoulder. She shirked it violently away as she continued to cry. "Jeremy…"

PARIS, FRANCE

FOUR MONTHS PRIOR

EIGHT YEARS AFTER THE DEATH OF FRANZ HOPPER

Around a decade prior, Jeremy Belpois was a nerdy kid. He didn't have any friends, but it didn't really matter much to him. He was the smartest kid in the school, hell, he was smarter than the adults, he wasn't really interested in connecting with people. One day, he was looking for spare parts that he could use for a robot in the abandoned factory near his school when he discovered the supercomputer. When he turned it on, he discovered that the computer was home to an AI named Aelita. She appeared as a human girl about his age, and she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. She was not alone in the supercomputer, however, as another AI, XANA threatened not only Aelita's existence, but the existence of the entire world. Refusing to leave Aelita in her digital prison, he enlisted the aid of two of his classmates, Odd Della Robbia, the class clown and self-proclaimed casanova; and Ulrich Stern, the moody jock. Ulrich brought with him Yumi Ishiyama, his martial arts sparring partner and a Japanese goth with whom Ulrich was infatuated with but could seemingly never bring himself to ask her out. They all agreed to keep the existence of the supercomputer a secret. Brought together for a purpose, it didn't take long for the four to become friends, bonding over their shared double life.

Using high-tech scanners, Jeremy frequently virtualized Yumi, Ulrich and Odd into the supercomputer and into the virtual world of Lyoko, where Aelita and XANA lived. From there, they could counter XANA's attacks on the real world and protect Aelita. Jeremy was Aelita's main contact with the human world and they discussed various aspects of life together. She grew fond of speaking with him, as he grew fond of speaking with her, someone about on his level of intellect. Eventually fondness grew into a mutual infatuation. Eventually Jeremy managed to figure out how to materialize Aelita into the real world and enrolled her in their school under the pseudonym "Aelita Stones." Finally, they could be together, although the fight against XANA often kept Jeremy from spending as much time with Aelita as either of them would have liked. Aelita found other interests though, such a passion for music, and at one point found herself as the opening act for the Subdigitals.

Eventually, Aelita was revealed to be a human girl, the daughter of the man who created the supercomputer, Franz Hopper, alias Waldo Schaffer, who disappeared around ten years prior. After his wife, Anthea, was kidnapped by government agents, Franz Hopper created Lyoko as a virtual world without danger, a place where he and his daughter could be safe, but there was seemingly no sign of Franz Hopper within Lyoko, and Lyoko was far being from a world without danger. The Lyoko Warriors continued to fight XANA off but eventually needed to bring in another member. They recruited William Dunbar, a rebellious youth who competed with Ulrich for Yumi's affection. Shortly after he joined the group, William was kidnapped and brainwashed by XANA to do his bidding. William became a constant threat that plagued the Lyoko Warriors. After a long campaign, they were able to rescue their friend from XANA's clutches, though they were largely distrustful of William after he returned; only Aelita was willing to forgive him for what wasn't his fault. Eventually after a couple of years of fighting XANA, Jeremy, with the aid of a resurfaced Franz Hopper, was able to create a multiagent program to destroy XANA. Franz Hopper powered the program with his own lifeforce, killing himself in the process. After reflecting the past couple of years, the group shut down the supercomputer closing the book on this chapter of their lives. Or so they thought.

Around a year after they shut down the supercomputer, and year after Franz Hopper died, Aelita was worried that XANA was still around in some capacity. As Jeremy could never bring himself to deny his girlfriend a request like this, he turned the supercomputer back on to discover that XANA had indeed survived, although it was extremely weakened. XANA had taken refuge in a replica of the supercomputer owned by a man named Professor Lowell Tyron, an old colleague of Franz Hopper who worked on a secret government project called "Project Carthage." Franz Hopper was so ashamed of his work on Carthage that he created XANA specifically to target and destroy all remnants of the project. As it turned out, not only had Tyron stolen Franz Hopper's work, but he had also orchestrated the kidnapping of his wife. Anthea Hopper was now married to Tyron. When Aelita found out where her mother was, she tried to contact her, which drew the attention of Tyron. The Lyoko Warriors in turn were also trying to destroy the virtual world on Tyron's replica so XANA would not be able to take refuge there any longer. They enlisted the aid of another student, Laura Gauthier, another teen genius on the level of Jeremy and Aelita, to program a virus to do the job. Aelita was distrustful of Laura and afraid that Laura would steal Jeremy away from her. Eventually, Laura proved to be untrustworthy (just not for that reason) and was kicked out of the group, and her memories of Lyoko wiped through a Return to the Past, a function of the supercomputer that allowed time to be rewound a set period of time. Tyron eventually discovered where the Lyoko Warriors were based and attempted to make a deal with Aelita, if she were to leave his computer alone, she could see her mother again. Aelita refused his deal and they released the virus on Tyron's replica. They then shut down their own supercomputer in order prevent XANA from being able to take refuge there. They had beaten XANA and they had beaten Tyron, but Aelita would never see her mother again, and Tyron was technically her legal guardian.

In the years following the pyrrhic victory over Tyron, Aelita's stepfather, the Lyoko Warriors prepared for the worst. They expected Tyron to return and take Aelita away; they expected XANA to somehow return. Neither of these things happened. They experienced a long period of peace that they had seemingly forgotten. They led normal lives, as far as it goes.

Ulrich and Yumi had finally decided to make it official and went out. Then they broke up, then got back together again, reaching a sense of stability at long last. With the threat of XANA lifted, Ulrich dedicated at least some of his time to his studies, improving his grades, for what it was worth. Yumi and Ulrich still sparred with each other in martial arts, but the frequency waned as time went on. They moved in together a couple of years ago. Very recently, they had gotten engaged.

Jeremy and Aelita had no such problems. With XANA and Tyron both gone, Jeremy was able to be a more attentive boyfriend. Even without an enemy, however; Jeremy still kept up the fight. Uneasy about the forces behind Project Carthage, Franz Hopper's old government project, Jeremy pursued any and all information he could find about it, legally or otherwise. He had become quite the proficient hacker. Aelita's success with the music industry had waned since her first gig as the opening act of the Subdigitals. This setback did not deter her, and she found great success online. The loss at a reunion with her mother dulled with time, but still floated in the back of her mind. For the most part, she had accepted the loss and done her best to move on. Through it all, Jeremy and Aelita grew even closer and decided to get married not too long after they were out of high school. At this time, Jeremy and Aelita lived surprisingly in a upscale apartment. It was probably for the best that nobody looked too hard at how the Belpois could ever have afforded such a place. When asked, the usual response was something to the effect of Aelita inheriting a lot of money from a relative, and Jeremy had already made the proper adjustments in various databases to prove it. By this point, the whole thing was old hat. He had been hacking and redirecting funds to pay for Aelita's needs for so long, that he no longer really considered the moral implications; she too had gotten used to Jeremy's cybercriminal activities that she didn't even think about them. Neither of them were particularly interested in examining what direction love took his life.

Odd remained Odd. As the others matured and evolved, Odd remained the self-styled casanova slacker. He didn't care what he did with his life, just as long as it was the way he wanted. He was a self-invited guest who lived on Ulrich and Yumi's couch. His relationship with Ulrich had never been stronger, although Yumi had cooled on him ever so slightly in recent months, which probably had something to do with his locust-like effect on their refrigerator, or god help you, the noise whenever he had a girl over.

William had remained much the same as well. He kept his rebellious, romantic heart, often time operating outside the law. As time passed, so did his obsession with Yumi. He had accepted that Ulrich had won her heart, and that was that. He managed to cultivate more of a friendship with Ulrich and Odd, now that he was no longer competing with Ulrich for Yumi's affection. As the years went on, he also grew increasingly closer to the Belpois, but in particular, Aelita. He never forgot that when he was freed from XANA, she was the one who offered him immediate forgiveness and kindness. He would often help Jeremy when his research was more in the legal gray area, so to speak, and they struck up an acquaintance. Aelita became much like the sister he never had. His relationship with Jeremy was based more around him being the needed muscle for some of his investigations as Jeremy hacked in remotely, not unlike the old days where Jeremy commanded the Lyoko Warriors from the comfort of his chair. William was coming back from one of those very trips around this time.

One morning, Aelita woke up in her apartment bedroom with a pounding headache. She got up from the bed to discover Jeremy was missing from his side of the bed. This was normal because he always got up before she did and worked on whatever project on his computer. She went into the bathroom and took acetaminophen. As she left, she headed into the living room and sure enough saw Jeremy, pouring into his laptop, hard at work on god knows what. "Some things never change, huh Jeremy?" She smiled.

Jeremy looked up from his laptop, flashed her a half-smile. "You're more right than you know." He adjusted his glasses. "I've been looking into Project Carthage more and more recently, and I don't think…"

Aelita frowned "Jeremy, I don't want to think about that, or my father, or my mother, or how ten years of my life were taken away from me. Just leave the past where it belongs. It's hard enough as it is." Aelita stormed out of the room.

Jeremy closed his laptop and followed after Aelita. He slowly approached her from behind, and gave her a side-hug, his head leaning on hers. "Aelita, I'm sorry, I'm just trying to…" He spoke softly and apologetically.

"I know Jeremy…" She sighed and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I just want it to be over. It seems like it has been for years now. I need it to be over" She put her arm around his back. Jeremy sighed; his thoughts began to trail elsewhere.

"Some days, I just want to stop worrying about everything and just fly away, you and I…" Jeremy eventually said. They remained in an embrace until the moment passed, and they resumed their morning routine as if nothing had happened and left the apartment.

Ulrich and Yumi's apartment wasn't quite as big or as nice as Jeremy and Aelita's, but it was still nice enough, and in a good neighborhood. In their apartment, Odd was snoring loudly his limbs flopped in all directions on the couch. A bucket of water splashed him in the face, waking him up with a start. "It's time for you to get a job." Yumi barked at him.

Odd blankly blinked at her. "Aww, Yumi, I already have a job, I watch the apartment while you and Ulrich are away. It's a tough job too, you really outta pay me, or at least get better food for me to eat, and besides, I can't leave, they're bringing back Hospital of Horrors as a limited series, they even brought back the original visionary director!"

Yumi was flabbergasted. "I don't believe this; do you know how much more we spend on groceries every month since you moved in here? Your bottomless stomach was amusing when I didn't foot the bill, but we aren't at Kadic anymore."

"That's for sure, Rosa was a waaaay better cook than you, Yumi." Odd replied as Ulrich walked into the room.

"Ulrich, you talk to him, I have to go." Yumi left the apartment in a huff, leaving Ulrich alone with his svelte friend.

Odd sat up and made room for Ulrich on the couch. "What crawled up her butt?" Odd asked.

Ulrich rolled his eyes "I don't know, Odd, maybe the fact that she's had to live under the same roof as you for months now with no end in sight."

Odd frowned "But we lived in the same dorm room for years and you don't have a problem."

Ulrich smiled "Let's just say I built up an immunity. Seriously though, you need to tone it down. It's because of me that you have a place to stay."

"To which I am eternally grateful." Odd interjected. Ulrich's smile disappeared.

"Then show it with a little restraint and try harder to get along with Yumi. It's putting a lot of stress on me as well." Ulrich got up and started heading out of the apartment.

"We still on to watch Hospital of Horrors: The Return tonight?" Odd asked. Ulrich scoffed amused and nodded his head as he left.

Later in the day, a motorcycle pulled up to the apartment complex that the Belpois resided at. The rider removed his helmet and scratched his messy black hair. When he reached their apartment, he found the door locked. He took a lockpick out of his pocket and soon enough, he was inside. He flopped on the couch and waited until the apartment owners returned. Which wouldn't be a few hours yet. When Jeremy and Aelita finally got back, they were mildly surprised by their visitor.

"Let yourself in I see, William." Jeremy commented as he walked by.

"Yeah, I figured you'd enjoy the irony." William reclined on the couch. "How are you doing, Aelita? He treating you alright?"

Aelita smiled "Can't complain, William. I recently released an album online and it's set the whole net ablaze."

William raised an eyebrow, incredulous. "The entire internet's crazy about it?"

Aelita's grin widened, and she rolled her eyes. "Well, you know, the indie crowd. They're the only ones that matter."

William nodded. "Damn right. Screw all those mega corps, and their critic lackies telling us what is and isn't good. Leave it to the people who actually give a damn about music to decide!"

Aelita laughed. Jeremy returned holding his laptop and approached William. "I believe there's something we need to talk about in my study." He led William into the study and they both sat down. Jeremy put his laptop on the desk and turned on the TV to mask their conversation. William put his feet up on Jeremy's desk and pulled a memory card from his pocket. He tossed it at Jeremy. "That's everything we got from last night."

Jeremy took the card and slotted it into his laptop. For a few minutes he typed up a storm. Eventually, he opened up. "Hmm. It's as I thought. They've restarted Project Carthage. I'm seeing references here to monitoring, intercepting and changing communications, and something here referred to as DIDO…" Jeremy reclined in his chair. "Combined with the information that we got last month and the bits I was able to gleam while I was jacked in…" Jeremy paused; William was looking at the TV.

There was a news report about a break in at a French government facility, the same facility that Jeremy had sent William. A red headed woman was reporting the story:

"This is Amelia Solovieff reporting live from the scene. Just last night, this government facility was broken into and it appears that the servers were breached. It is unknown at this time what information if any was accessed but early reports are indicating that this was yet another act of terrorism committed by the organization, L'albatros, who have been making headlines more and more these past…."

Jeremy muted the TV. William looked concerned. "That's the fourth time now they've hit the same facility we have. What do you call that?"

Jeremy leaned back and folded his hands. "Fantastic luck. Their attacks cover up our tracks, and we always seem to beat them there so what are you worried about."

"I'm starting to think that it's us that they're tracking." William mused.

Jeremy pushed his glasses up on his face. "Don't be ridiculous." He tossed William a wad of banknotes. "Here, I'll let you know the next time I've got something."

William caught the wad, pocketed it, and got up. Just before he left, William addressed Jeremy. "You know, I don't really do this for the money, God knows I should ask for more, I do this because it's fun, a thrill, but I don't have anything to lose. You do. Aelita needs you, you're all she has left. The rest of us are her friends, but you are her family. I know she hates this, even if she won't admit it to you. You should be thinking about what she wants; her needs; her safety. You could be putting her in danger with this crusade of yours." With that, William left Jeremy alone with his thoughts.

"I know William, believe me, I know…"

As evening set in, back in Ulrich and Yumi's apartment, Ulrich and Odd were watching Hospital of Horrors: The Return. Ulrich shook his head. "I don't get it, what does all the stuff with a nuclear bomb test have to do with Doctor Shrank? How does that make any sense"?

"Uh duh, it makes total sense, Ulrich! Weren't you paying attention?" Odd remarked stuffing his face with a mouthful of popcorn.

"I just don't remember this show being all that pretentious and self-indulgent back in the day." Ulrich remarked, getting up.

"That just means you weren't paying attention to the true genius that was Hospital of Horrors, it had lots of subtext and nuance that would fly right over the heads of a casual watcher like yourself." Odd quipped. "Where are you going?"

Ulrich headed to the bedroom. "I'm calling it a night; I've absorbed all the genius I can tonight." His phone rang before he reached the door. It was William. "William is back in town?" Ulrich wondered then answered the phone. "Hello, William? What's going on?"

"Ulrich! Get Odd and let's get have a boys night out. I'm down at the bar by your apartment." William replied over the phone.

Ulrich hung up the phone and turned to his slacker friend. "Odd, get your coat, we're going out."

"Awww what for?" Odd whined.

"William's back and he wants to catch up." Ulrich was putting on his coat.

Odd got up and crossed his arms. "Well, alright, I've already lost the subtle genius of the story here, so I might as well."

Ulrich and Odd walked out of the apartment and down to the bar. From his booth, William saw them enter and signaled for them to join him. They sat across from him.

"William! What have you been up to? We haven't seen you in a while." Ulrich began.

"Oh, you know, working with Jeremy on whatever conspiracy thing he's up to this week." William smiled, amused.

"Einstein still paranoid the government is out to take away his precious Aelita? You'd think he would have mellowed out with married life. He's worse than before." Odd quipped.

"It's not all that bad, besides, the information we got this time sounds like he really might be on to something. Plus, it feels great to be fighting back against the powers that be." William looked off thoughtfully.

"Just can't stop being 'a little rebellious,' can you?" Ulrich laughed.

William smiled. "That's how I live, that's how I'll die. I'll never sell out to those corporate fascist authoritarian dickwads."

Odd was getting bored with this line of conversation. "Can we please talk about something else, like what we're drinking?"

The three drank heavily and got plastered quite quickly. They talked for hours about a great many things. Eventually, Odd headed off to the restroom; William and Ulrich continued their conversation.

"Man, I can't believe you're actually engaged to Yumi after all this time." William drunkenly observed.

"Yeah, I guess the best man won, didn't he?" Ulrich bragged.

"Yeah…well, I still had her." William smirked.

"What?" Ulrich could not believe this, he would have trouble understanding the concept sober, let alone inebriated.

William shook his head "This was years back; you were on the outs with here and she came to me for comfort and…I guess I gave it to her." William laughed.

Ulrich's temper was rising "I can't believe this. You slept with Yumi?"

William was also getting annoyed "This was something like half a decade ago, Ulrich, once. Get over it. Let it go."

Ulrich dug in his heels. "So, this was your plan all along, get me down here so you can make a fool out of me."

"Alright, fuck this. I wanted to catch up with old friends, but I can see now that was a mistake." William got up in drunken stooper and left the bar. Odd returned from the restroom.

Ulrich rested his face between his own palms, slightly rocking his head. "I can't believe it, Yumi slept with William!"

"Aw man, and he just came back into town too, he moves fast! I really gotta step up my game." Odd quipped

Ulrich shook his head. "This was years ago, when Yumi and I were taking a break."

Odd looked thoughtful for a brief moment and finally responded. "Hmm. Then why do you care?"

Ulrich looked uncomfortable and shuffled around for a few seconds. "Well, Yumi's the only one I've ever…"

Odd smiled. "Aw, poor pure-as-the-driven-snow Ulrich! It's amazing how na?ve you are after all these years."

"Not everyone is a walking STD like you are." Ulrich snarled.

"So, she slept with one other guy, once, during a period in which you weren't going out. You can't hold that against her. She certainly never cheated on you. You're really blowing this out of proportion" Odd fired back.

Ulrich had a realization. "You already knew about this?"

Odd shrugged. "Well, yeah, we pretty much all knew. We didn't tell you because judging by your track record, we figured you'd flip out. Hey, we were right."

Ulrich frowned. "How is it that I never found out?"

Odd shrugged. "We all see what we need to see. Anyway, it's not a big deal. You should just get over it."

"Well, it's not just that, it's…well, now I can't get the mental image out of my head. From now on, every time I'm with her, it's like I'll see the mental image of her with him and…" Ulrich grimaced.

Odd began to laugh "And you're afraid you won't measure up!"

"I don't know why I even bother talking to you." Ulrich scoffed and began walking out.

"Nobody's holding a gun to your head." Odd chuckled following right alongside. A thought blipped into his mind and across his face. "You know, I can't remember, why does Einstein do all his clandestine ops through William nowadays?"

"Because we turned him down." Ulrich's response had a slight air of wistfulness. He stumbled along with his blonde friend.

The next morning, Aelita woke up to discover Jeremy's side of the bed empty. She felt slightly nauseous, as she had off and on for a week now. She entered the living room to discover Jeremy was not there. His computer was there, but Jeremy was missing. She went into his study and he wasn't there either. She listened to see if she could hear him amongst the ambient noise; she could not. "Jeremy?" She called out to him. There was no response. Her heart raced. "Maybe he just stepped out, he would have left a note!" She thought to herself. She frantically checked all the usual spots. No note. Her nausea began to overpower her, and she rushed to the bathroom to vomit. Groggily, an obvious fact dawned on her: she had missed her period. She searched through the medicine cabinet and pulled out a home pregnancy test. As she waited for the results, she picked up the phone. She tried calling Jeremy's cellphone; she heard it ringing from the bedroom. She hung up and dialed Yumi's number.

Yumi was roused from her slumber. Still in her bed, she reached for her phone on the nightstand and answered the phone. "Hello?"

Aelita sounded increasingly nervous. "Yumi, I can't find Jeremy. Have you, Odd, or Ulrich seen him today?"

"I haven't seen anyone today." Yumi rubbed her eyes. "Hold on, let me see if the boys are up." She got out of bed, put on her slippers and shuffled toward the living room. It was empty. "It looks like they're gone too. That's strange."

"Do you think they all went out somewhere? It's strange that Jeremy didn't take his phone with him or leave a note." Aelita suggested, a spark of hope beginning to flicker.

Yumi shook her head, a slight smile crossed her face. "I don't think anything could rise Odd this early, my guess is they're still out from last night. I'll call Ulrich though, see what he knows. Ok, Aelita?" There was no response on the other end. Eventually, Yumi broke the silence. "Aelita? Are you ok?"

Aelita finally responded. "Yumi… I think I'm pregnant."

EXCERPT FROM THE DIARY OF AELITA SCHAFFER/STONES

DATED FOUR YEARS AFTER THE DEATH OF FRANZ HOPPER

I found out why the record company finally got back to me. I was shocked to hear from them after their pretty definite rejection. Jeremy had hacked into their servers and gotten me a new record deal. I was furious. My mixes are personal to me, they are me pouring my soul into digital form. I don't want some hollow approval stolen for me. My successes are my own, so should be my failures.

I spent the day stewing in my anger, and yet, as I was all set to confront him about it, my anger subsided. Even if his actions were wrong, I know why he did it. He was still protecting me, showing his love the best way he knew how. Jeremy has never been particularly good at showing affection in the conventional way; he defers utterly to me in matters of love, and always has. This particular incident was an attempt of showing me that he loves me as much as I do him.

I told him that I was rejecting the record deal and he was crestfallen when I told him why. I held him close, gave him a kiss, and told him that he didn't need to prove anything to me. I already know that he'd always be my lucky star, leading me home when I was lost.

I will never forget the promise he made after my father died, as he held me in his arms. That he would always take care of me; that no matter what, I could count on him. All things considered, I couldn't ask for a better boyfriend, mon proxy-pupuce.

…If he messes with my music again though, I think I'm going to kill him.