Rich Princess in Peril

Note: Code Lyoko fan-fiction. This takes place a couple of months after the arraignment, trial and incarceration of Mr. Greene. After being absent for quite some time XANA makes an appearance again to steal Elisabeth into the realm of Lyoko and force her to become his Queen. What is the creepy debauched virus after this time, beyond the inevitable ?

"I didn't ask to be Princess, but if the crown fits…"—A message from one of the t-shirts for little girls I've seen working at K-mart

Chapter 1—Good News from Ms. DuPrix

Claire called Sissi up to her desk with an important announcement. Sissi was slightly fearful that the news wasn't so good as she had recently thought, but when it came to math she couldn't help but feel a bit paranoid. Until recently, she had been doing better on her work and hoped she could continue improving despite what she had been through in the past. She didn't realize how resilient she was until she was faced with a crisis that had gripped the entire school. Only now had the crisis been met and matters had returned to "normal".

"Sissi, I am incredibly proud of you. You've shown definite improvement in your math, and your comprehension is impeccable.", Claire said, smiling sweetly at the child. Claire was a rather sleight African woman with colorful dreadlocks and usually wore bright summer dresses, usually in bold colors like red, orange and yellow. Sometimes she wore fuchsias or shades of pink, but her colors were always welcoming as well as the tropical fragrances she wore.

"Thanks, Ms. DuPrix. I couldn't have done it without my friends.", Sissi admitted, turning a little red at Claire's compliment. At the rate she was going, she was due for other honor roll and another party held by permission of her father.

Sissi knew that she would still have to work hard to keep her grades high as they were. There wasn't any doubt in her mind that the final in math would be challenging. Herve already knew of Sissi's concern and let her know that he would be ready to help her whenever she needed it. Jeramie too, offered his assistance as well. She was glad she had such incredible brain power on her side. Without them as her 'translators' in the strange 'land of mathematics', she never would've gotten this far, let alone understood how easily difficult equations could be solved with the right kind of tools and logic.

Chapter 2—Odd's Recurring Dream

Odd had been sleeping fitfully despite the fact that he was pleased Sissi had been doing so well and that she was on better standings with her father. Sissi's father seemed to be closer to her, and he believed their relationship was better than it had been in the past. At least now, he was paying more attention to her and not being so strict with her when she needed his help.

Odd couldn't dismiss that he had been having the same dream about Sissi every night since the trial of Mr. Greene had been brought to a close and justice had been met. It had only occurred to him now that none of the Warriors had been warned to any activity on Lyoko. It was strange that Lyoko hadn't been active for such a long time. Could it have been that XANA had given up ? With XANA, such a thing didn't exist, though he had retreated before to gain his power back after battle. There hadn't been any returns to the past like in previous battles. Jeramie knew that such action resulted in XANA gaining strength. But what they didn't know is that he was gaining strength to return.

The dream had always been similar.

"Odd, help me ! I need you !", was all that Sissi said before her entire body had been swallowed up by what seemed to be a black mass. The black mass itself looked like a deep, iridescent pool, mixed in with novae and fragments from left-over comets and other stellar debris. He heard a scream and saw her body engulfed until her fingers were the last things to sink into the black mass.

No matter how many times he had seen the same frightening images and hearing Sissi's bloodcurdling scream without being able to do anything to help her (it seemed that he was always held back by invisible chains or restraints) wasn't helping him feel any better. Before he knew it, he had bolted out of his bed and gone to check on Sissi, but she was already missing from her room. Her bed hadn't looked as if it had been tampered in any way. In fact, nothing seemed out of sorts, but he didn't stay in her bedroom long. He pushed a few buttons and called the Warriors to come together and speed themselves to Sissi's aide. But the rescue of Sissi was up to him. This time, it was personal.

Chapter 4—In the Arms of Her Beloved

When Sissi awoke, she found herself dressed in a stunning black gown with one shoulder exposed. When she realized where she was, she had a terrible sense of foreboding and déjà vu. She had only come to grips that in her dreams she had contacted Odd to tell him she was going to be in grave danger. She never realized just exactly how prophetic her dream had been.

"Ah, Princess. What a pleasure it is to finally reunite with you again.", XANA said, taking Sissi's hand. No matter how hard Sissi tried, she couldn't remove her hand from XANA's grasp. She tried to avoid looking into the third eye that was opening, but it was useless to resist, because his grip was too strong.

"You're mine now, and Lyoko will be ours. Together, we can rule Lyoko, Carthage, the entire Wired and the world will soon follow thereafter.", XANA said, euphoric to have his beautiful princess by his side. Just then, a laser arrow went speeding by his face and it broke his concentration. Stunned and broken from the mind-control, Sissi began to fall face forward into the ground, but Odd caught her.

"XANA's all yours, guys.", Odd said, as he whisked Sissi to a tower far away in the middle of the forest sector while the others prepared for battle as they were whisked away to the desert sector.

While being watched by Odd, and seeing if she could be roused from her slumber, but nothing he seemed to do worked. He felt his eyes welling up with tears and feared she might be dead, but then decided to try the oldest method of waking up a princess, kissing them. Leaning over to kiss her, he could feel the warmth coming back to her hands as well as to her face. She fluttered open her eyelashes and questioned,

"What just happened ?"

"You were under XANA's spell, but my kiss awakened you.", Odd said, hugging her warmly and stroking her hair lovingly.

"What about the others ? Why aren't you with them ?", Sissi asked, curiously. Even in this time, she was more worried about her friends than herself. She wasn't in any position to be going out and fighting against the one who had brought her there.

"Don't worry about them. I'm going to stay with you here until they give me the go-ahead to go back to Earth. So long as you're here, you're safe. You shouldn't be moving, XANA took a bit of your strength. Just rest a bit. I'll watch over you.", Odd said, kissing her hand and watching her close her eyes to rest after her encounter with the nefarious virus.

Meanwhile, the Warriors were battling an embittered XANA and he had multiplied himself thousands of times other.

"You think you're the only one with triplicate powers, Stern ?", XANA asked, laughing manically.

"Which one is which ?!", Samantha asked, clearly becoming confused like the others.

"Look for the third eye. It's not as pronounced now, and is beginning to close, but it will be noticeable.", Jeramie said. The others saw how the clones seemed to be more transparent and the static version of XANA stood out as the glowing red eye was beginning to close.

William came from the side with a kick to XANA's ribs, and Taelia hit the eye with a sai, quite unexpectedly.

"Exceptional hit.", Aelita complimented.

"It was nothing. In Russia, I was combat trained for such instances.", Taelia said, with a hint of a smirk. XANA had been hurt badly and had disappeared. Even if the Warriors felt he had been defeated so swiftly, it wasn't so simple. Surely though he had been struck through his third eye, it was merely a clone and not the real XANA. XANA had been drained quite a bit from the physical battle with the Warriors and would have to wait until his next attack. It might take a while for him to heal, but his next plot would be far better than this one. For now, the Warriors had won, but one day he would have what he desired; the Wired, the World and his Gothic Princess.

Chapter 5—Surprise !

Sissi hadn't remembered much of what had happened to her on Lyoko. It seemed that the mind control XANA had used made the incident that occurred more like a dream than actual reality. She simply dismissed what had happened as another subconscious thought that was rattling around her brain and worked its way out through sleep. Sort of like a 'bat in the belfry' if you will. With her strength regained, though, it didn't really matter. She was simply glad to be playing a game of soccer against an opposing team of younger friends in the academy.

After the team of friends won the game against the youngsters, they had a special surprise planned for their friend with the recent achievement in earning the Honor Roll once again. They had told her to keep her eyes closed. Feeling a little fearful, but trusting her friends and the fact they were holding onto her arm to guide her, she knew that she could go anywhere even with her most important sense taken from her momentarily.

By the time Sissi had opened her eyes, she was outside of the mall.

"Congratulations on your grades !", everyone said in unison. She was also surprised that her own father had done the driving. It seemed he had been doing this more often, though his schedule was always hurried and he had so much work to complete.

Sissi was delighted she had been taken to her favorite mall and went to the arcade first along with her friends. Her shopping spree could wait until later, but playing games and having fun only lasted for so long. She knew the truth in that sad fact, but though bittersweet, she enjoyed the entertainment of the arcade and laughed so hard she thought her sides would split. It had been sometime since she had let loose and allowed her playful side to come out. It was good to just act like a kid and not worry about looking silly.

After shopping a bit, her father pointed out that it was late. Sissi and her friends gathered themselves together and loaded themselves into Jean-Pierre's van and returned to the Academy and soon went to sleep after saying goodnight to one another.

Epilogue

Before long, it would be time for a much needed break in the student's curriculum before they returned to the usual mania of homework, tests, plays and competitions. Everything seemed to be predictable, except for the occasional outburst of screams and laughter coming from the teens as they played in and amongst nature.

All the while, XANA watched sadly from his grotto. He would return at another time when he was stronger and complete his goal of marrying his princess, turning her into his queen. Everything would fall into place someday, yet for the time being, it would all have to wait until another, more auspicious moment in history.

Keeping themselves mindful and watching their indicators from time to time, the Warriors continued to hone their skills and sharpen their minds for anything XANA might have at his disposal. Albeit that school kept them busy, the team would be prepared to fight XANA no matter if they were still in junior high or if they were in college. So long as there was evil to be fought and earth needed saviors, the Warriors would always be there to keep everything equalized.

The End