The Core

Chapter 11: Hidden Secrets

So the time has come for the secrets to come out... or is it?

Aelita's POV

We all were standing there by her bed as she slept. Everything she had said when she had come out of the scanner made no sense. Why was she hiding things from us? Or maybe she remembered something from when she was in the Guardian.

"Aelita, I heard her say it too, but I don't think she would've hid something from us if she remembered." Odd said and I looked down at my feet. I wasn't trying to blame her but I couldn't help it. She had said she was hiding something from me. Ever since she said she knew me on the first day we met her I've been curious as to how she knew me.

I heard her sigh as if she were about to wake up and I jerked my head up. She yawned and stretched her arms, opening her eyes. She took in her surroundings and froze.

"Why are you all in my room?" She asked confused and slightly concerned that we were all watching her sleep.

"You passed out after you came out of Lyoko so we were just wanting to make sure you were alright." Jeremy spoke up and she sat up bringing her knees up to her chest.

"I know you're lying. You want to know about what I said to Aelita before I blacked out, right? Well I don't remember, it disappeared from my mind the second I blacked out. I don't know why I said it anyways." She seemed genuinely confused herself so I decided to speak up.

"I've been meaning to ask, but the first day we met you said you knew me. How do you know me, Dawn?" She sighed and clenched her fists.

"I'm not who you think I am, Aelita." That's when something flashed across my brain.

"Where are you going, Dawn?" I asked as I heard Dawn walking out of her room one night.

"I have to leave, Aelita. But you can't come with me." I jumped out of bed and rushed after her.

"Why? Where are you going?" She sighed and I knew something was bothering her, but she wouldn't tell me what. She had been acting strange all day.

"I have to go back to where I belong and that's not here. I'm not who you think I am, Aelita. Please forgive me." She turned and rushed out the front door leaving me confused and crying on the floor.

I backed away a few steps as the memory came to me.

"We lived together when we were kids. You left one night because you said you needed to go back to where you belonged." I stated. She nodded slightly.

"Yes, you're right so far. When I was a child Franz Hopper brought me to your home in order to learn more about the core of Lyoko, however he loathed me. He didn't want me to corrupt his only daughter, but it seems I did without knowing it. Do you remember the men in black, Aelita?" I vaguely had a memory of men with black suits on coming into our house but nothing really else.

"Vaguely."

"They had found me when I left that night, they waited until the day time to come back to the house to take you and Franz Hopper, however the two of you escaped and virtualized yourselves on to Lyoko. They sent me in after you and wanted me to bring the two of you back, but I never came out of Lyoko myself. Until..."

"Until Odd, Yumi and I rescued you from the tower of light." She nodded again.

"Only I never really wanted to find you in Lyoko. I headed to Sector 5 knowing all too well that you wouldn't be there. I went there for the sole purpose of having Xana destroy me from existence." We all stared at her shocked.

"Why?!" I asked amazed.

"It was the only way to protect the human race as well as you and Franz Hopper. I may not have been his favorite child, but he was a father to me at one point and all I wanted was a family. Something I never had as a child. Aelita, everything I had ever done on Lyoko was in an effort to protect you from Xana." She looked me dead in the eyes and smiled lightly, but it had pain deep without it. "And since I'm confessing that, I guess I should tell you the truth about who I am, I just learned this when I was inside the Guardian..." She trailed off and looked down again.

"What is it, Dawn? We want to help you." Odd said taking a step towards her.

"Stay back!" She yelled and he stopped. "I... I'm not like you. I'm not human and I was never meant to be. I'm a digital being that Franz Hopper managed to bring to Earth. I don't belong on Earth, I belong in the Network and my body will continue to split between the two until the stronger of the two wins. So please, just send me back to Lyoko and let me find the anti-virus that is in Aelita. I'll find it and then you can shut down the supercomputer." She pleaded to us. Odd frowned and then pulled her up off the bed and into his arms.

"You're so stupid, to think we'd care if you were a digital being a lot time ago. Dawn, you're human now, as human as any of us here. Why are you suggesting that we destroy you along with Lyoko?" She looked as if she was about to cry.

"Please. It's the only thing I can ask for now... Let me go knowing that this was for the best and no one is going to be sad if I'm gone." Odd let go of her and frowned.

"Why on Earth do you think that we wouldn't be sad if you disappeared forever?! You're our friend but you're more than that... To me." With that he rushed out of the room and I watched as Dawn looked down at her feet.

"I guess saying goodbye isn't as easy as I thought. Well I guess I can't blame any of you for being upset or hurt or sad that I'll be gone but this has always been for the best." She reached up and grabbed her necklace before any of us could stop her.

In horror all we could do was watch as she disappeared.

"Jeremy, we have to go to the factory and find her." I stated but he stayed planted in his spot. "Jeremy!" I yelled.

"Maybe it is for the best, that way we can end this war with Xana and no one else has to get hurt." Urich and Yumi gave him the same astonished look I did.

"I thought Dawn was your friend?! You're nothing more than a selfish jerk!" I said and rushed out of the room with Urich and Yumi.