Author's Notes: Well, this is it. The last segment of 'Regression.' After this, the story is over. I will admit, I put off posting for a little bit simply because I'm kinda sad to see it end. Sigh. Oh well, it was totally fun to write, and I hope to be posting more in the Code Lyoko category in the near future. Thank you to all who gave me reviews and suggestions, you guys are all such awesome readers! I hope you all like the ending. I've been holding off on the angst that I love to write so much, and this is where it all comes out…bwuuaa haa haa…

: Epilogue :
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"Jeremie?"

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"Jeremie?" Aelita's voice filtered through the computer speakers in Jeremie's room, sounding forlorn and empty. "Jeremie, are you there?" Her screen opened automatically, revealing her familiar features as she gazed out from the computer.

A moment passed as Aelita seemed to look around. Not finding what she was searching for, she gave a small sigh and disappeared from the screen, the window closing on its own.

Jeremie remained where he was, unmoving, crouched in the small space between his bed and the wall, out of sight of the computer screen. He heard Aelita sigh as she left, and he closed his eyes, a pained expression etched on his features.

The door to his room opened slowly, and another visitor entered; one that he couldn't hide from. He knew she was in front of him, but he didn't raise his eyes. "…go away…" he whispered.

"Why won't you talk to her, Jeremie?" Yumi's voice held nothing but concern and sincerity.

He looked up at her through dry, haunted eyes, holding both hands out slightly, palms up, in a helpless manner. She could see the skin on them, angry and red, as though they had been rubbed raw. "I keep washing them…and I know that since we went back in time, the blood never existed…" He closed his eyes. "But I can still feel it."

She looked at him, silent.

"…I…I killed someone, Yumi…and not only that, I did it at the sacrifice of someone else's life…" Jeremie drew a shuddering breath. "I knew…I knew that he was taunting me…that I shouldn't lose control because of the things he said…and I knew that if…if I gave in, and I killed him…that Aelita would die, too…" The expression on his face was one of pure helplessness. "…and…I did it anyway…" Jeremie suddenly buried his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably as silent sobs wracked his body. "I can't face her, Yumi…I can't…not after what I did…oh, god, I knew…and I did it anyway…"

Yumi extended a comforting hand, and let him cry.

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Odd whirled, letting himself slide on the icy ground. His figure flew across the frozen surface, underneath the hovering body of a Frolion. The wasp-like creature spun in midair, following the rapid movement of its target, preparing to fire a laser blast.

Odd controlled his slide, twisting his body onto its side and raising an arm straight up, releasing an arrow with deadly aim.

The Frolion shattered.

In the next instant, Odd dug a clawed hand into the ice, halting his sideways motion. Then, with a hard kick, he flung himself into a back flip, expertly evading the incoming fire of two more Frolions. Half upside down, Odd twisted his wrist, sending another arrow straight into one of his targets.

Two down, one to go.

The remaining Frolion immediately took evasive action, zipping behind an outcropping of ice and out of sight.

Odd didn't so much as blink before he sent two more arrows, one right after the other, aimed straight for the ice behind which the Frolion had taken shelter. The first arrow shattered the ice, creating an explosion of frozen particles and snow. The second arrow followed through on its course, slinging through the clouded explosion and straight into the hiding Frolion.

A burst of light and shattered monster joined the icy shrapnel.

Odd stood, now alone on the glacier plane, panting even though he knew he technically didn't have lungs when he was virtualized. Throwing his face up to the sky, he shouted harshly, "Ulrich! Give me more arrows and point me in the next direction!"

It took a moment of hesitation before the other boy's voice answered, filtering statically through Lyoko. "Odd, you've been through two areas already—"

"I want a target, Ulrich, not a lecture. Just reload my arrows and show me where the next batch of monsters is hiding!"

Ulrich sighed heavily. "There are a few Blocks on one of the glaciers to the south. They're just past the deactivated tower."

Without so much as a 'thank you,' Odd turned on his heel and took off running as hard as he could in the indicated direction.

From atop an overhanging outcrop of ice, Aelita watched his virtualized form with a sad gaze. Turning, she spoke to the air. "How long has he been at it, Ulrich?"

Another sigh. "Almost two hours, now."

"And he still will not listen when we ask him to stop…" she said forlornly.

"He's not listening to anyone right now, Aelita." Ulrich answered. "I hate to see him do this to himself, but there's nothing I can do…"

Her fragile features creased with uncertainty and worry. "I could access his virtualization sequence like we did last time, to lower his life points so that he would rematerialize…but he'll be angry again."

Ulrich shook his head. "He's already angry, Aelita. And he'll be furious when he's forced to rematerialize, whether it's now or later. But personally, I'd prefer that it be now."

The humanoid nodded slowly in agreement. "He probably won't speak to me after this, so give him my apologies if you get the chance." Closing her eyes, Aelita concentrated, focusing her connection with Lyoko, honing in on a furiously running figure…

In mid-stride, Odd's form began to destabilize, stripping down to a simple grid, and then into nothing.

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A scanner hummed to life, activating the materialization sequence automatically. The doors slid open, and Odd practically fell out, landing awkwardly on his hands and knees on the floor of the scanner room. For a moment, the only sound was the echoing of his heavy breathing. Then he slammed a fist hard onto the floor, giving in to a cry of frustration.

A pair of shoes stepped into his line of vision, and he looked up to see Ulrich standing over him, still wearing the headset, along with a worried expression. The dark haired boy extended a hand.

Gritting his teeth, Odd slapped his friend's hand away. "Dammit, Ulrich! You let Aelita drain my life points again, didn't you?" Odd hauled himself angrily to his feet, facing the taller boy with fury drawn in his features.

Ulrich tried to reply gently. "Listen, Odd, you're only going to hurt yourself if you keep this up. We're worried about you and we're trying to help…"

"I don't need anybody's help!" Odd shouted back heatedly. "I am not a weak link, and if any of you were really my friends, you'd stop treating me like one!"

"Just because we care about your safety doesn't mean that we think you're weak!" Ulrich shot back.

"And what about when you switched my sequence to Aelita, huh? I wasn't in any danger then, so it wasn't an issue of safety. I still had eighty life points, and you just took them away and forced me to rematerialize!" Odd yelled.

"That was completely different!" Ulrich argued.

Odd ignored his comment and stomped past, heading for the elevator.

"Aelita was about to be deleted, Odd, I had to do something! I didn't have any other choice!"

But Odd still wasn't listening. He punched the elevator button hard. A moment later, he stepped through, and the doors closed over his figure, leaving Ulrich alone.

The dark haired boy shut his eyes.

Aelita's voice filtered softly through the headset. "…I'm sorry…"

"Don't be," Ulrich replied. "You didn't do anything wrong. Odd's just having a really hard time with this. The stuff that Xana said really got to him, and the fact that Jeremie flew off the handle with the same issue just made it worse."

Pain edged Aelita's voice as she answered. "Jeremie hasn't spoken to me, either. It's almost like he's afraid to."

Ulrich nodded, even though no one could see him. "I know. But…it'll be okay, Aelita. We'll get through this." His hand moved absently to his side, pressing lightly against the place where there should have been a scar. "…we all just need some time to heal…"

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On a parallel plane of existence, a strange mind performed analyses and calculations, lines of code and binary flickering rapidly across a nonexistent surface, interrupted occasionally by coherent lines of text that resembled remnants of the thought processes of something biological…

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27: Success

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Download: Analyses

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Save: Analyses

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…enjoy your 'time to heal', humans…because it will not last long…

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Somewhere in the plane of nonexistence, a pair of green eyes flared with expectation, and a sinister face broke slowly into a wide grin.

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End