He remembers everything.
"Don't ever forget me."
— Ulrich
I Will Remember You is a Darker and Edgier Code Lyoko fanfic written by Brezifus. It follows Ulrich Stern as he is dragged away from his life and sent to live with his father. In no time, Ulrich is horrifically abused and mentally destroyed by his father. After years of taking it and gaining many scars in the process, he throws his father through a wall, and is sent back to his old life under a new name: Reese Anders. He finds his old friends have changed greatly, and only Aelita seems to recognize him.
Living under this alias is hard enough for him, but when his father begins stalking him and his friends, he is forced to confront his worst fears.
Originally written from 2007 to 2009, and accompanied by many illustrations on DeviantArt, it has received wide acclaim in the Lyoko fanbase, a spot on the show's Fansite, and even a Webcomic
remake by the author herself.
It can be found here
Tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Ulrich/Reese suffers greatly at the hands of his father.
- Adaptational Villainy: Ulrich's father. While never an overt villain in the original material, he is turned into a sadistic, murderous, and just plain evil man.
- Ambiguous Ending: It is never made clear if Reese’s true identity is discovered by the rest of the group.
- Anti-Hero: Reese would qualify, seeing as he becomes a Jerkass to every person except Aelita.
- Archnemesis Dad: Ulrich's dad. He's a horrific Domestic Abuser towards his wife and son, murdering the former and ultimately breaking Ulrich utterly. He's so bad the story makes XANA irrelevant in comparison.
- Author Appeal: The story has many subtle references to various forms of music and film.
- Author Avatar: Many of the characters embody a portion of the author’s personality.
- Berserk Button: Bring up Ulrich in front of Yumi. Reese is fond of pushing it.
- Big Bad: Ulrich's father.
- Bittersweet Ending: Ulrich survived, but both his parents are dead and he is covered in scars. Not to mention he is still living under an alias and has completely lost his identity as Ulrich Stern.
- Bloodier and Gorier: There are scenes that David Lynch would cringe at, namely Ulrich finding his mother's mutilated corpse, and the dream sequences that follow
- Body Horror: Present in Ulrich/Reese's nightmares.
- Chekhov's Gun: The Yin-Yang Shard. Also the katana.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Tara is introduced early on and is mentioned a couple times after Ulrich goes back to his old life. She bumps into Reese near the end of the story and nearly blows his cover.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Odd Della Robia really got nutty while Ulrich was gone. Lampshaded by Aelita.
- Cluster F-Bomb: Reese has one in Chapter 8 while he's alone.
- Coming of Age Story: A brutal example; Ulrich's tortured experiences make him move from childhood to adulthood though he's thoroughly broken in the process.
- Conspicuous Gloves: Reese wears fingerless gloves to cover up scars.
- Covered in Scars: Ulrich/Reese's body is cluttered with scars from beatings and other forms of abuse.
- Darker and Edgier: Much more so than Code Lyoko.
- Deadpan Snarker: Reese and Yumi seem to compete with each other to see who can be the bigger one.
- Death by Adaptation: Both of Ulrich's parents.
- Disney Villain Death: Ulrich's father, severely injuring Ulrich in the process.
- Domestic Abuse: Ulrich's father.
- Doorstopper: The story is just under 140,000 words, and many chapters are quite lengthy.
- Every Scar Has a Story: Subverted. When Reese tells Aelita the origins of his scars, he can only identify what caused the scar, not the actual story.
- Fan Disservice: Word Of God says Yumi's nudity in Chapter 19 is this.
- Fanservice: Reese's chiseled physique is impressive, but his grotesque scars could qualify as Fan Disservice.
- Groin Attack: Yumi delivers one of these to Reese after he angers her.
- Growing Up Sucks: During the course of the story, Ulrich experiences, among other things and in no particular order, the death of his mother, which his father (who actually did it) convinces him was his fault, having to leave the friends he thinks of as family, his own near-death trying to stop his father and the near-complete loss of his own identity. And things still aren't completely better at the end.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Played with in the final showdown when Ulrich saves Nevaeh from falling by kicking her back and letting himself fall from the roof with his father. Ulrich survives the fall, but is severely injured.
- Hope Crusher: Ulrich’s father.
- Important Haircut: Odd gets one of these while Ulrich/Reese is gone.
- Improvised Weapon: Ulrich’s father uses anything at his disposal to attack his wife and son, including a cheese grater.
- Jerkass: Reese is this in spades. He chooses to be, though.
- Katanas Are Just Better: Ulrich uses one in the first chapter, and in the final showdown as well.
- Made of Iron: Ulrich falls off a roof with his father, leaving his father dead and him seriously injured.
- Manipulative Bastard: Ulrich's father subliminally convinces his son that he killed his own mother
- My God, What Have I Done?: Reese has one these when he hits Yumi's face, making her bleed from the zipper on his glove.
- Never Mess with Granny: Mrs. Periwinkle is incredibly resilient and even stands up to Ulrich’s father
- Nightmare Sequence: Reese has many, and some qualify as Gorn.
- Oh, Crap!: Reese has a moment like this when his father appears at his school.
- Original Character: Several, most notably Mrs. Periwinkle, Nevaeh, and Tara
- Physical Scars, Psychological Scars: The abuse Reese suffered left him horrifically scarred emotionally and physically.
- Plot-Irrelevant Villain: XANA
- Precision F-Strike: "You... What the fuck are you doing here?"
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Ulrich's father is implied to have raped his wife many times. In a
Tear Jerker moment, Ulrich has to help her get into the shower after one of these occasions. - Reset Button: Just like on the original show, the Return to the Past is used. It saves Ulrich after he is shot in the stomach, in addition to more than likely saving the lives of Odd, Nevaeh and Yumi. Averted in the first chapter, leaving Ulrich with his facial scar and Yumi to recover from her injuries.
- The Reveal: Nevaeh is Ulrich's sister.
- Scars Are Forever: Ulrich/Reese lampshades this several times.
- Shout-Out: Ulrich's facial scar is a nod to Rurouni Kenshin.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: Stairway to Heaven is used to creepy effect as the calling card of Ulrich's father.
- The Stoic: Reese, and to an extent Yumi.
- Title Drop: By Ulrich in Chapter 4.
- Wham Line: "Since I was four?"
- "X" Marks the Hero: Reese has an X-shaped scar on his face from a X.A.N.A. attack.
- Xanatos Gambit: Ulrich's father unintentionally invoked this. At the end, with Ulrich killing his father, the latter left his son a broken and damaged person. If he had let him live, his friends in addition to himself would probably all have died. Either choice he made, Ulrich was royally screwed.
