Athena

Chapter 14: Into the Darkness

When I landed in Lyoko I felt cold for some reason. I noticed then that I was in Sector 5. I shivered and looked around for someone. 

"Jeremy?" I asked and got nothing in response. I got up slowly still looking around, it was much darker than the last time I was here, but I didn't know why. "Jeremy?" I called out again, but again I received no response.

"Welcome to my world, Athena." I turned sharply to see Xana standing there with an grim smirk on his face. I backed away a few steps until I was on the edge of the ledge. I looked back seeing the endless darkness below. 

"What happened to Sector 5 and why is it covered in darkness?" I asked.

"I changed it to my own pleasing, seeing as you never come home, I thought you didn't need it anymore." He said laughing. I shook my head and looked around some more. I couldn't believe he had changed Sector 5 like this. 

"Xana, this is horrible, why would you do this?" He laughed again.

"Haven't you been listening? I'm changing Lyoko one sector at a time until you finally realize you belong here. Or if you want to continue I'll make sure you regret it for the rest of your human existence." I frowned. He started walking towards me.

"Jeremy please answer me!" I called out.

"Hang on, Dawn. I just cracked the code to let everyone into Sector 5. Hang on a little longer." I heard and looked at Xana. He glared at me. 

"You leave me no choice then." I saw Odd and everyone else coming from the inside of the dome. 

"Dawn!" He called as Xana pushed me off the edge of the ledge and I started falling into the darkness, but for some reason even though I knew I had wings, they wouldn't come out.

"Surprised? I made sure your wings wouldn't be able to open no matter how hard you tried. Have a nice nap, Athena." I disappeared into the dark before I could say anything.

Odd's POV

We watched in horror as Dawn fell straight into the darkness below Sector 5, Xana told her that her wings wouldn't come out no matter how hard she tried. I guess that was true. I glared at him and shot him with three laser arrows making him disappear. 

"Odd, we'll find her." I shook my head and looked over the edge where she had fallen. 

"It's impossible, she told me that if you fell there, you could never be found or come back. It was infinite darkness, which will never end." I looked at my feet wishing what she had told me wasn't the truth. 

"I'm going to bring you all back, we need to figure out a different plan of action." Jeremy said and I watched as I started devirtualizing. 

"I'm so sorry, I wish I had gotten here sooner..." I said quietly as I appeared in the scanner with the others. I stepped out and waited for Yumi and Aelita. 

No one said anything, we just headed upstairs to the lab and waited for Jeremy to stop typing on his computer.

"Anything?" Aelita asked finally when he turned to look at us.

"It's just as Odd said, I can't find any trace of her, she's gone. And this time we can't send anyone after her, because they'd disappear as well." I looked down.

"I wish I was wrong... for once I wish I was..." I said and went to my knees.

"Odd, we got there as fast as we could, Dawn wouldn't want us to blame ourselves." Ulrich said. I sighed and looked down at my hands. 

"We really should head back to the dorms and get some rest. Tomorrow we'll figure out what to do about Dawn." Aelita said and started heading towards the elevator. 

"What can we do? She's gone forever..." I said rising from my knees and following her to elevator. The others joined us quickly and we all stayed silent as we headed back to the school aside from Yumi, who probably was happy to get away from the sadness that was all around us. 

The next day, I woke up from a horrifying nightmare only to realize it was still true. Dawn was gone forever...

It reminded me of when she dived into the digital sea to find me. Why couldn't I do the same for her? Why couldn't I have been born a digital being like her? I sighed and got ready for the day. Ulrich must have already left because his clothes were gone. Kiwi looked at me sadly. He hadn't seen Dawn in forever and he loved her so much.

"I know buddy, I miss her too..." I said petting his head and finally heading off to the showers. Maybe the school day would drag on and I could forget for even a few hours about her. But I knew that wouldn't be the case, I'll think about her ever second I can... Until it hurt.