Code Lyoko: Revolutions and Evolutions

Chapter 77

AN: This chapter came after a good hard look at the appraisals of various characters both in terms of reviews and alignment with my overall vision for this story. After prayer and a lot of thought, this is the result. I believe this to be the very best I've written so far. I hope you all enjoy it and I'll see you next chapter.

Pagliacci-11.

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the song, The Last Resort by The Eagles. All property rights belong to the appropriate holders.

Aelita awoke; it was early morning, around six in the morning. She looked across from her to find that Amelia was already up and gone. Aelita found it slightly odd that her roommate was always seemingly up before everyone else. However, that said, Aelita more than knew why Amelia was up and gone as of late. She had full access to the gym's workout section, save for Jim, who was usually there anyway, unoccupied.

However, today, Aelita was somewhat uneasy. It had been a week since Sylvia had given her a demonstration of what she was could do just on her own. But in the week since then, it had been eerily quiet. There had been no visits, no thoughts, nothing. Aelita had tried talking to Sylvia, trying to initiate a conversation to get a semblance of a pulse, but nothing.

Aelita lay thinking. It occurred to her as she reflected on all that had happened in the last few of months that something was not right and that something was potentially three floors below them.

Aelita remembered before so much of this had kicked off that when Jacqueline had her exchange for lack of a better word with Yukiko, the simple fact that Yolanda was on a watch list for believed North-Gate operatives. This concerned Aelita more than she'd dare admit at the time. One, because if the records were correct, Yolanda could easily be the inside source that kept her and the rest of the team alive, as Sylvia so adamantly stated in her safeguards beyond safeguards mindset.

Equally, another premise that disturbed her was that if this was indeed the case, Yolanda would be the more than ideal candidate for a means to keep an eye on the group and, through patching them up, keep a closer tab on them. But as Aelita thought on this, there was something that didn't seem to quite make sense. The primary thing is that Yolanda herself was possessed by XANA and had acted accordingly. None would willfully go to XANA's side, which is why the distortion of the voices was there. It was as she'd talked with Jeremy that when one was possessed, the reason the voices sounded a blend of human and monstrous was XANA was a foreign entity trying to command an independent vessel.

In many ways, Aelita wanted to ask Yolanda directly, but she knew such an idea was a genuine fifty-fifty chance of being favorable. If Aelita had confronted Yolanda on the subject, likely Yolanda would either, at best, dismiss her as a bit touched in the head; or her questions could have the worst reaction where Aelita would be compromised in the grand scheme. But why Yolanda equally? Why her of all people of suspected elements of involvement with North-Gate? John Barrow was Sylvia's extension; Aelita knew that. However, he and Yolanda did have a shared history that was also evident.

Yolanda had protested that she had no interest in John's activities, but Aelita could tell this was far from genuine. The thing is, Aelita knew select things about human behavior, for she'd studied many facets of it in Lyoko while Jeremy worked on her materialization as well as in her downtime in searching for her anti-virus. Aelita knew Yolanda was hiding something, but what it was, she couldn't be sure.

Aelita headed to the shower in an attempt to clear her head. She remembered the sporadic attack from before, and she was hesitant at she approached the door. However, she weighed in her mind, and considering Sylvia had not made any communication in the last week; she rationalized, she hadn't much to fear.