Research & Recovery

"This body is my bargaining chip," "Jeremie" told Yumi, tilting his head to the side ever so slightly. "I know you need a sample of its DNA, after all; you're not going to find any other in this whole apartment. Trust me; I checked."

He bowed mockingly toward her. "And I'll happily vacate; unlike you two, I have no real attachment to this particular body. Indeed, it's honestly kind of...slight...for my taste."

Still bowing, he looked up at Yumi, baring his teeth. "However, I have enemies. Rivals I want taken care of fist. Like that...that...false XANA, that bitch Fief. I want her, and all the others like her, taken care of. I want one piece, from each of them, brought to me, so that I can prove myself XANA's successor, like I know I am. So that no one can ever question that ever again."

He straightened back up, still staring at Yumi with that toothy, hungry smile. "If you and your friends do that for me, I will leave this body and you can dissect it for all I care. THAT is the message I want delivered to your friend."

"Wh..." Yumi paled - there were others? She knew only so much, but seeing what this one had chosen to do... it made her spine prickle with irritation as her imagination raced - what other inhumane things were these beasts capable of? She didn't understand - one of the strongest things Jeremie used to assure them in as kids was XANA had only approximate understanding of human emotions... but this one seemed... knowledgeable. Too knowledgeable; it somehow figured out what buttons to push, making Jeremie's body sound like a useless tool. Her eyes steamed as tears formed, anger keeping the flow in check.

She looked at Aelita, her fists visibly trembling. "W-who is this Fief," she whispered slightly to keep herself calm, eyes lowered into slits to keep her from betraying her exterior. "W... ... Is there any way to contact Jeremie...? I'm... I'm sure you can, I'm sure he's keeping tabs on you," her voice grew more confident as she spoke - it would be alright if she kept her cool... it would have to be... she took a deep breath. "If anyone knows of... something to do about... the 'heirs'," she said bitterly, "it would be him, given some time..."

She looked at Pyrrus again, face red. "Y-you stay here, with us," she managed, pointing at him, resisting her urge to plunge a finger into his chest to drive the point home. "You will stay. Here. Until we can figure this out. Else the deal is off. Do you understand?"

Truth be told, Aelita wasn't entirely sure who this "Fief" was either, but she remembered the mysterious woman Jeremie had shown her before...the sense of evil she had felt from her...and it seemed to click. With her own eyes watering, however, she felt it best to let Yumi keep in charge of the conversation, instead keeping her eyes focused on Jer...Pyrrus, still waiting for any sudden moves or attacks just to be safe. "Think, Aelita, think..." she told herself. "Keep control and think. What do we do now? What do we do with him? I won't let him keep that body. I can't let him keep that body."

"He's not going to attack." Jeremie's voice would be crystal clear in Aelita's head suddenly; she'd feel anger that wasn't her own, coated in a calm, somewhat diplomatic fog. "From my understanding I don't think he's a villain either. At least not yet." She'd almost feel him there, a hand on her shoulder - like Yumi, trying to keep himself calm long enough to speak once more to her. "Tell him I get his... message. Tell him Fief is defeated but not destroyed. Ulrich is on his way here with a topaz off of her attire, but it sounds like he wants more than just her. If he wants personal audience with me, this is as good as it's going to get; I can't leave Lyoko, and if he leaves... me, it's not going to be good."

He looked ay Pyrrus, disgusted - he never guessed XANA was capable of something this vile; sure, she had put them through harrowing experiences and plenty of near-death, but... since none of them had actually 'crossed over' due to her he guessed it was wrong to be surprised at this.

"We're stronger than XANA, remember; no matter how hard she tries, she'll never be human like us; nor can her fragments. It' going to be okay." He emphasized, breathing as calmly as possible. "... Just... Stay strong. Once I'm back ... everything can go back to normal... I'm going to start looking for other fragments... Let me know if you need anything before I finish."

Aelita would feel a small 'crack' as if something had been disconnected or closed.

Pyrrus noticed Aelita's expression change as Jeremie contacted her, quirking a brow in intrigue. Still, it didn't matter to him who she was hearing; he'd given the girls his message, that was all he wanted to get done.

"You talk like you have some ability to make me do anything," he told Yumi. "I'm the one with the body you want so much, though why you're going through all this trouble for such a thin, weak specimen is beyond me. But whatever; if you humans want to make my job easy, I won't stop you."

He began to step back from both of them, the shadows of the room seeming to stretch out again. "Like I said, if you want this body back, you bring me Fief's head on a pike. When you're ready to deal, find my servants on Lyoko, the Mandrills. Let them know, and they'll pass the info on to me. 'Til then? Goodbye, ladies...it's been a pleasure meeting you both."

And then, the shadows consumed him, and he was gone.

The question lingering in Yumi's mind was namely 'what the hell just happened' but she stifled it for the sake of staring where Pyrrus had standing before; her eyes were somewhat empty for a long minute before she gave up her blank stare to look at Aelita, as if unsure how to feel, needing some kind of measurement of what level of emotion to express.

"Obviously things have gone south," she commented, voice a bit high-pitched as if she'd been smacked in the throat. "W-what options do we have?" She pulled her hair out of her face, leaning against the nearest wall, resting her palm against her forehead, trying to register everything happening up to this point. "What do we do? With Jeremie in the computer we can't shut it off and just end this anymore, can we..?"

Aelita, for her part, stepped back, still struggling to process everything that had just happened. Thankfully, the purring rhythm of Maya Figaro in her hands helped calm her, and her Orbs soon stopped their pulsing, reassembling in their normal floating pattern around her. "We keep calm," she said, even as her voice was slightly stressed, "For Jeremie's sake. We rendezvous with him and the others, and we make up a plan together."

She stepped over to Yumi, wrapping an arm around her gently. Her trembling fingers betrayed how shaken she still was, but she kept a strong face. It was her turn to be the strong one now.

And then, suddenly, a burst of wind filled the room as the door flew open. For a moment, it seemed Pyrrus had returned, but the golden light that burst through quickly revealed a familiar face: Ulrich.

As he stopped, he looked to Aelita first, smiling warmly. "Good to see you again, Aelita," he said. "Hope you're doing alright. Jeremie sent me to...."

His sentence cut short, however, as he turned and saw Yumi. And suddenly he was a young boy again, face flush, words dead in his throat. He stared at her wide-eyed for a moment, joy at her safety mixed with bafflement over finally seeing her again wrapped up in a rush of old, long-forgotten emotions he knew he would have to face eventually, but which proved quite overwhelming in the moment. "Y...Yumi...." he whispered in stunned admiration; that was all he could manage for the moment.

"Ulrich," the name came out sounding far more like a sigh of relief than intended - Yumi wasted no time wrapping her arms around the man after crossing the room in a blink; with possibly the best timing possible for the gesture and his arrival, his Lyoko envelope would disintegrate as would Aelita's, falling to the floor like shed skin before vanishing into particles, leaving them both 'normal' for the provided moment.*

She stayed there, squeezing him tightly, burying her face in his chest, her teeth gritted tightly, fingers digging into his back before she pulled back suddenly, remembering her manners and realizing how light and fast her heart felt in her chest. She took a careful step back, clearing her throat, her eyes red and moist with tears. She took a brave sniff and wiped her eyes clean on her sleeve, clearing her throat. "It's great to see you," she managed, her voice cracking. "Y-you just... missed this god-awful..." She choked a bit, clearing her throat, her facade fading by the second as how startled she really was became more and more apparent. She wanted to calm down and catch up but she just had a lengthy conversation with a decaying corpse of one of her best friends; it might be a while. "Jeremie's dead," she managed, as if this would be news to him.

* [[ Permission from Jeremie granted for a 'god mode' post so he doesn't have to log back in. Lazy git! X3 ]]

Aeltia happily greeted Ulrich as he entered. She was a little surprised to see her Lyoko envelope fade away, but did not mind; it indeed felt nice to be...normal? Perhaps the wrong word; not so much on the defensive anymore. That was nice. She stepped back to let Ulrich and Yumi share their moment.

"I know," Ulrich told Yumi, holding her tight in his arms, happy just to be with her again. "He told us on Lyoko."

He stroked her hair gently, wishing so much that those years away from her had not been...that his father hadn't torn them apart just when they'd finally gotten so close. "I'm sorry I couldn't warn you ahead of time, I'm sorry I couldn't be there when you got here, I'm...I'm sorry about so many things. Dammitall, Yumi, I'm sorry I ever left you."

He kept her in his arms but leaned back a little, to soak in those beautiful eyes of hers. "But...I'm glad to see you again."

He took her hand, leading her to the door. "C'mon, I'll take you to the factory. We can regroup with Odd 'n' William 'n' Jer there."

He gave her a smile, filled with memories and hopes. "And then we can catch up better."