Mary slept on the Forest Sector. She dreamed that everything was fine. Everything was over already, X.A.N.A. was already gone. No one had any worries for the future, for they now had a world without danger. Mary was on Earth for real as well. It felt so real, too real for Mary to realize that it was a dream.

But then she distinguished from the rest of the clamor that someone sneaked nearby. Mary opened her eyes and realized that she was on Lyoko. All the previous events had been a dream and, instead, William was now in front of her, ready to destroy her.

Mary rolled to the left just in time to dodge the hasty attack. She got up on her feet, jumped off the edge and flew low for as long as possible until she got up to the surface of Lyoko. She ran until she knew she was far enough from William. He had not followed her this time.

A while later, she realized that she was in the tower she had used as a shelter while meditating before Lyoko's worst era. I have to find a shelter for meditating all the time, always a new one so that I won't be found right away. This situation is starting to be too dangerous already. And frustrating…

The sound of footsteps revealed the fact that someone was behind her.

"Leave me alone already!" Mary snapped, turning to glare at her enemy.

"That will not happen," William said and catapulted Mary out of the tower. Mary started running as soon as her feet hit the ground. She ran faster than she realized but soon she was certain that William had gone past her to make an ambush for her ahead.

Mary slowed down and hid behind a tree. Peeking from behind the tree revealed that she had reacted to the threat just in time. Hoping that her enemy would not notice her, Mary inched to the edge silently and dropped down to glide back the way she came from. She had, once again, avoided her destruction barely.

That time, she found a new place to hide on a replica. She hoped that she would stay hidden from X.A.N.A. there for a while.

A few days passed by without anything abnormal happening. It was a downright astonishing amount of time to avoid conflicts in those times.

Then came the moment when Mary heard someone creeping towards her. This hiding place had come to its end.

"Come out. I know that you're there," Mary blurted. William came forth from behind a corner.

"I'd leave if I were you," he said. "You don't belong here."

"Well that I'll do if you leave me alone," Mary suggested. It would never work in any form – hardly this replica was more special than the others in any way – but it was always worth a shot.

"Fine. Get out of here and you'll be in peace for the rest of the day. I'm not in your way," William said, crossing his arms. Despite of her confusion, Mary left the replica fast. The rest of the way would not be much, but it would be better than nothing. She could investigate what made that replica special on Lyoko too. Or later, when the time of peace, which she had gotten by a miracle, would be over.

There had to be something important in that replica, so Mary went into action as soon as she got to Lyoko. If driving her away had been the most important, there had to be something that would help with freeing William. At the end of the search, however, Mary had to make the bitter statement that the results were next to nothing after all; she could try to destroy all X.A.N.A.'s replicas by herself as well.

Soon, far too soon, the day turned into night and the next day started. The time of peace was now over, so Mary prepared to resume staying alive. However, that day, even the whole following week, was silent. William was nowhere to be seen. X.A.N.A. did not attack. It was quiet as a mouse on Lyoko.

"Has something happened?" Mary wondered by herself while walking on the silent Desert Sector. As a test, she shouted, "X.A.N.A.! I can't believe I'm asking this, but attack me somehow now! It's too quiet here!"

There was no answer to be seen or heard. Mary looked around herself, confused. Something was truly wrong now.

Continues in the next Megastar...

/Code Lyoko (c) Moonscoop, Lyokostar story series and its original characters (c) Me/