Code Lyoko: The New Girl (BK 1)

Chapter 7

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There was a weird light flashing on and off that kept bothering Saphire. Her eyes were still shut but she could sense its shine over her face. It was annoying.

It felt similar to the blinding light that invaded her cornea the first time she had been stuck in the scanner to be virtualized on Lyoko, back when she was a tiny eight-year-old child.

At the mention of that, everything came rushing back to her: Lyoko, Franz Hopper, Reverie, her adopted Lyokian family, making new friends, starting a new life, uncovering her Earthian past, finding out about Aelita, running away from Lyoko, barely escaping X.A.N.A., finding Jeremie, Odd, Yumi, Ulrich. Snippets of each memory hitting her upside the head.

Saphire's eyes snapped open and with a loud gasp, she shot up like a rocket. Her hand flew to her throat, gripping the base of it. The feel of her fingers against her skin revealed she was awake this time. Her eyes blinked rapidly, trying to understand her location. It was dark save for a flash of random light coming from a ceiling window.

The interior was too different from her bedchamber back in Reverie. The last thing Saphire remembered was running through the Desert Sector, blindly moving to avoid the shots from the army of Krabs and Megatanks X.A.N.A. had sent after her. Heart burning, head throbbing, body sweating, and the back of her heels burning from the few shots that made it all the way over to her, she finally got herself into the Way Tower that transported her from one Unknown Sector to the next. Finally, after much hiding and running, Saphire was able to find a secure sector, one that had been unregistered on Lyoko for too many lifetimes to count. It allowed her to finally catch her breath and begin her research.

That random tower became her home for the next four or five months. Saphire had tried to keep a steady count over the time that was fleeting by, but it was hard. For one, it was so close to the Earthian world, the time difference was one she had never dealt with before. Also, there were too many times when she had fallen asleep and stayed asleep for days at a time. There was no way to track her own movements without alerting X.A.N.A. of them as well.

For the time being, X.A.N.A. had lost her and Saphire was free. But now, she had very little time before X.A.N.A. was able to locate her again and was back on her tracks.

Saphire blinked and suddenly, she remembered a few more suppressed memories: locating Aelita, helping Jeremie, reaching out to Odd via his dreams, arguing with Yumi, convincing the group that she was harmless and should return to Earth with them.

Earth. Was she there now?

The air. It felt light and easily breathable, so different from the dense and heavy Lyokian air she took lifetimes to get accustomed to.

Saphire quickly looked down at her hands. She touched her face. Her body. Her clothes. The cool floor. She let out a startled laugh. She had done it! She was on Earth. In the Factory, to be precise. Saphire picked her head up and her eyes locked on Aelita and Yumi standing on the other side of the room. Both their eyes were on her. Yumi's dark pupils were narrowed and she seemed to be tracking Saphire's every move. Aelita's small eyes shifted from Saphire's face to the floor and then back up at Saphire and then at Yumi.

Saphire leaned her head back to ascertain where in the Factory she was. She remembered passing out in the Scanner room, which was aglow with lighting. They must have moved her to the computer room. Saphire could hear Jeremie clicking away on the keyboard.

She wanted to go over and see what he was looking at, but her body held her down. She was still too weak to move too much or too quickly.

Saphire swallowed and looked back over at her sister and Yumi.