Ghosts in the Machine (fanfic)



Ghosts in the Machine is an Alternate Universe / After the End / Limelight Fic for Code Lyoko by Carth. It was released on Fanfiction.net on February 14, 2011. It can be found here:

The story is taking its sweet time to unfold, but here it is thus far: After a largely unknown and nigh unstoppable cataclysm leaves France and some areas of the surrounding countries completely uninhabitable, the few survivors are evacuated to overcrowded and chaotic refugee shelters on the surrounding islands. The story centers on Sissi and Jean-Pierre Delmas, who have settled at Avenshire Academy, an Irish private school turned privately-run refugee shelter. Jean-Pierre is trying his hardest to find stability in this new world, but Sissi can't find settled ground, or figure out whether to reject her memories and attachments to the world she has just left. The story is only just beginning, so it is uncertain where these feelings will take her...

Nine chapters have been written in total. The fic is split into three acts - Act I will have 13 chapters, Act II will have 6, and Act III's chapter count is as of yet uncertain.

Working titles for the fic included "Teddygozilla", "The Day Everything Went Wrong", and "2/14/11." It is rated T.

Has nothing to do with Ghost in the Machine.

Ghosts in the Machine has resumed production.


 * A Day in the Limelight: Sissi is the main character of this story. The Lyoko Warriors have barely been mentioned, bar the prologue.
 * More recent chapters, especially chapter nine, provide far more insight on the other characters, insofar as Sissi knows about them and their whereabouts.
 * Character Development: Sissi begins the fic as her usual selfish, short-sighted, strident self. She matures throughout, and has even begun to humorously self-deprecate and crack the odd joke.
 * Darker and Edgier
 * Empty Shell:
 * Facial Horror: The "Sweetheart Man" from Chapter 4.
 * Fake-Out Opening: The prologue, which is a rather light-hearted conversation between Odd and Jeremie about supercomputer mechanics.
 * In Medias Res: The story begins after the fall of France, with only the vaguest hints as to what happened to bring it about.
 * Never Trust a Trailer: The early release of the prologue, combined with this signature image, led some readers to believe the story would be about Ulrich and Yumi's relationship. It was hilarious.
 * Original Character: So far, the other non-Ishiyama or Delmas denizens of Room 404: the Mermond family, Luisa, and caretaker Martha Flynn.
 * Translation Convention: Since 95% of the characters speak and/or are French, everything in quotation marks is technically French, 'translated' into English. But because Act I of the story takes place in Ireland, brackets are needed to denote English being spoken. In short, “This is French,” [This is English], and everything else is translated in the endnotes.
 * Wham! Line: "It was a beautiful day at Avenshire Academy."
 * Then, "The one lonely road that lead out of Avenshire's valley was not usually very well-traveled, especially not in the middle of a Saturday, but the military caravans didn't have any reason to keep this pretext."
 * Then,
 * Whole-Episode Flashback: Chapter nine.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Magali, Lucille, Céline, and Sandrine Mermond all have lavender hair.