I apologize for the wait. I could make a bunch of excuses, but I won't. You might want to scan over the last chapter real quick as a refresher. I had to. And it's my story. xD

This chapter is dedicated to my beta, AngElle. Again. If anybody's interested, she's also known as AMIR, or AmIReallyTheOne. If thanks go to anyone for this chapter... or this story in general, it's her.

(Macas P.O.V.)

I hear sirens start up in the distance, but not too far away. I don't have too much time, because I don't want to be seen near this guy when he's picked up. Using his jacket again, I make sure that all my fingerprints are gone before I stand up and walk away.

Grabbing my jacket, I begin to jog, nice and steady. There's no need to run, but walking is out of the question by now. After I've jogged a couple blocks and rounded a few corners, I deem it safe enough to walk again.

By now, I've reached the forest.

I've been gone for almost a whole day now. I should probably go back now.

I walk into the forest, meandering along the paths. I'm not too familiar with the forest itself, but I have a pretty good sense of direction and I know that sooner or later I'll end up back at the school.

I'm walking along the path, when over to my right I hear movement. It's too loud to be a small rodent or anything, so it must be a person. Checking the time on my cell phone, it's nearly midnight.

Ignoring the noise, I keep walking until I hear another one, similar to the first. Then I hear a branch snapping and a quiet 'whoa.' And the whoa sounded really familiar.

I walk through the underbrush for a short distance before I come upon another path that runs nearly parallel to my own. Seeing a broken branch lying on the ground, I look up in the tree to see Jamie sitting there, staring at me.

"Jamie?"

"Macas?"

"Jamie? What the hell are you doing out here, in the middle of the forest, at midnight of all times? It's not safe for you out here!"

"What are you talking about? It's not any safer for you than it is for me, and you've been out here for two nights now!"

"God damnit Jamie, it's a lot safer for me than it is for you! Say some mugger walks by. Who do you think he's going to rob, me or you? What about a rapist? He's sure not going to rape me! Besides, I can take care of myself, I've been through worse. You know that," I say heatedly. She just looks at me as though I'm an idiot. And suddenly, something clicks in my mind.

"I… I haven't ever told you, have I?" I say. She shakes her head at me, and suddenly I feel like a complete jackass. Which, essentially, I am.

I sigh and lean my head back, breathing deeply.

"Okay Jamie. I owe you a story. Would you like it now or later?" She just looks at me for a moment before she nods her head.

"Now."

"Alright then. Give me a sec, and I'll be up there." I say, looking around. Unfortunately, I believe that Jamie broke the easiest branch to get up in the tree. So that means this won't be exactly easy. I circle the tree for a second, looking at it. When I find a suitable branch, I jump up to grab it.

I miss it, but not by much. So I jump at the trunk of the tree and push myself back off, launching myself upwards. I grab the branch and swing up deftly, landing softly. I reach over and grab a branch, beginning to navigate my way over to Jamie.

(Jamie P.O.V.)

I watch in awe as Macas climbs over to me. He looks so comfortable in the tree, even jumping a little bit from branch to branch. I never knew Macas was this agile. I mean, on Lyoko is one thing, but I never knew that he was so deft in real life.

He finally settles on a branch right next to mine, and just slightly above me.

"Macas?" I venture to ask, "Where have you been? I mean, have you just been wandering in the woods all day?" He shakes his head at me, looking away.

"I've been everywhere. The woods, the school campus, the city. Not too far, I didn't want to get lost."

"Why didn't you come back sooner?"

"I needed to get away. I mean, finding out your father has been lying to you all your life isn't exactly easy to take in, you know." I nod, even though he probably didn't see it. I lean back against the trunk of the tree, and notice that he had the same idea at the same time. So we're sitting right next to each other in a tree, in the middle of the woods, at midnight. I don't think I can say I've ever done this before.

"I believe I have a story to tell you." He says quietly. I just murmur an 'uh huh.' Not really being able to form words very well at the moment. From what I've gathered, Macas must have some horrible traumatic event in his past. Supposedly, he's able to take care of himself just fine for days on end.

"What would you like to know? I'm an open book," He says calmly, opening his arms as if inviting me. After a moment of silence from me, he prods me on further.

"Go ahead. Ask any question."

"Any question?"

"Sure. As long as I don't deem it too personal, then it's fine."

"Well, okay. Yumi said you've been through a lot worse than a night alone in the woods. What did she mean?" I ask, and he smiles at me sadly.

"Well, let's just say my whole childhood was a night alone in the woods."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, let me start at the beginning."

"Okay."

"I was born in the United States. It doesn't really matter where, because by the time I was six, I had lived like everywhere. France, England, Russia, Canada, you name it. My... supposed father, Robert Keloly was married to Kathryne and she gave birth to me. A year later, she gave birth to twins, Karyssa and Kailynn."

"Karyssa has a twin?" He frowns, looking down at the ground below us.

"Had a twin."

"What happened to her?" He just shrugs, looking off into the distance.

"Same thing that happened to my mother," He trails off, still staring off into the trees.

"What happened?" He starts to talk without looking at me.

"My father happened." I sigh quietly.

"You're being very vague."

"…Sorry. Let me tell you a little about my father. He was abusive, an alcoholic, heavy smoker, a drug dealer, and most importantly, he hated his little girls. I was constantly abused and hit, and Karyssa and Kailynn weren't much better off. Of course, that was before the… incident."

"What was the incident?" He takes a deep breath and continues.

"It happened a couple years ago, I was about nine at the time. Kailynn stayed home sick from school that day. I can just imagine little eight-year-old Kailynn walking out of her bedroom, sick and coughing, clutching a blanket. She hears her parents arguing again goes out to find out what's wrong."

"What did he do to them?"

"I don't know, I wasn't there. I came home from school to find an ambulance in front of the house. My mother and sister had been shot, and my father arrested. Mom died in the ambulance, Kailynn later in the hospital."

"He shot them?" Macas sighs and bounces his heel against the trunk of the tree.

"Yeah. He did."

"Did he go to jail?" Macas nods a few times.

"Yes. But he plead guilty and got off easily. Something about drunken insanity, I can't remember. I was nine at the time. He had good behavior and got out after about four years, with a court order to never drink again." He says with frustration evident in his voice.

"But that didn't stop him, did it?" He shakes his head.

"Not a chance. He went right back to his old ways, to his old partners."

"Partners?"

"He was a drug dealer, remember? I don't think he took them, he just sold them. And guess who got to deliver."

"He had you do it?"

"Made me do it. Pulled me out of school and sent me all over the city. We were in New York City at the time, which is huge and dangerous for a thirteen year old. Got beat up more than once, and had everything stolen from me. Didn't help that my father would beat me again when I got home."

"So that's why you can take care of yourself." He nods slowly.

"Yeah. I mostly just had to run, though. A thirteen year old kid doesn't stand a chance against a drugged up nineteen-year-old. So I got pretty good at running and jumping and stuff. Hopping fences and the like."

"Can you fight?" He laughs quietly.

"Kind of. Not nearly as well as Ulrich. A twenty-year-old guy by the name of Turk helped me out, taught me a little bit of street fighting."

We sit in silence for a little while, the rhythmic 'thump' of his heel hitting against the tree reverberating around us.

"Any other questions?" He asks after a minute.

"Why do you always say your 'father,' instead of your 'dad.'?" He just shrugs.

"Habit. He never really earned the affectionate title of 'dad.' So I always call him my father."

"Oh, okay." The silence resumes.

"Is that really all?" He asks after another moment. I just shrug.

"I'm not really a very curious person."

"Don't you want to know what happened to Karyssa?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like why she's memory impaired?" I blink in surprise.

"I just assumed it was something she was born with." He shakes his head again.

"No. Have you ever been watching Karyssa, and it just feels like she's incredibly smart?" I tilt my head to one side, thinking.

"Yes," I say, nodding. "It does feel like that sometimes."

"My father did it to her. She used to be incredibly smart. Like, Jeremie smart. Aced all her tests, got all A's at school."

"So what happened to her?"

"My father again."

"He shot her too?" He shakes his head.

"No. Well, one day she came home from school, crying and upset. She'd missed like two points on a test, gotten a 98 percent. My father came home in a drunken rage, I think he was upset over a deal that had fallen through."

"What did he do to her?"

"Well, if there's one thing he despises, it's crying. I haven't cried in a long, long time. So, drunk as hell, he grabbed a butcher knife from the kitchen and stabbed her in the head."

"He… he… how in the world did she survive?"

"I don't know. Miracle of modern science, I guess. Got her rushed to the hospital, she underwent hours of surgery and ICU. I don't know how, but my dad passed it off as an accident and received no punishment for it."

"So that's why she can't remember anything?"

"Yeah. I worked with her for months on remembering me and who I am, but generally, she can't remember anything for more than twenty-four hours or so."

"Then what happened?"

"After a few months, my father sent me here. After only a couple of weeks, he sent Karyssa too. You pretty much know the rest."

"My god." Is all I could say. He turns to me and looks me in the eyes.

"There's something I need to show you then. It completes the story, more or less." I tilt my head, looking at him strangely.

"Think back Jamie. How many times, besides the pool, did you ever see me without my jacket on?" He asks me. And as I think back, I realize that the answer is never. I just look at him, and he understands.

"That's mostly out of habit now. My father used to beat me. Hard. He's not a small man, if you remember. I wore a jacket so that my friends would not see the bruises and scars he inflicted upon me." He says, pulling his jacket off.

"The bruises are faded, most of them gone completely. The scars are old and they've faded as well, but you can still feel them. It's too dark out to try and see them, so..." He says, and I get the picture. I reach over and rub my hand along his arm. He's right, in the daylight they're nearly invisible. But I can still feel the scars lacing over his arms. Some short, some long, some more prominent than others. I feel down along towards his wrist, and he pulls away from me.

"C'mon. Let's go back to the dorm. We've had enough of my sappy, traumatic past for one night." He says, smiling in the faint light. Without warning, he drops down from the branch to the ground, landing silently. I look around, but I realize that the branch I broke off is the only way down.

"Um... I'm kind of stuck." I say, and he laughs slightly.

"Just jump." He says, holding his arms out. I look down, and suddenly it seems a lot further. After I don't move for a minute, he calls out.

"Do you trust me?"

"Of course." I say without hesitation.

"Then jump. I'll catch you. Don't worry." He says. After just a second of steeling my nerves, I slide off the branch and down the twelve feet or so to the ground. Macas catches me in his arms so easily, it doesn't even feel like I stopped.

"I told you not to worry." He says as he puts me down. We walk along in silence for a moment before I realize that he's not wearing his coat, he's just carrying it.

"Aren't you going to put your jacket back on? It's cold out here." I say, and I see him hold it up.

"Nah." He says, and in a surprise move slides it onto my shoulders.

"You look like you need it more than I do." He says as we continue walking. I would never tell him that, but I was starting to get cold. I hug it tightly onto me, feeling it's warmth and comfort as we walk along in silence.

When we reach mine and Jeremie's room, I stop.

"Thanks for telling me Macas." I say, and he smiles at me.

"Thanks for listening." He replies. I try to give him back his jacket, but he refuses.

"Keep it. I don't need it anymore." He says, and I just stare at him. After just a second, he wraps me up in a hug.

"G'night Jamie. I'll see you in the morning." He says, and kisses me on the cheek before he walks away. I watch in silence until he enters the stairwell and goes down, completely soundless.

He's really not a shy person... just private.

"G'night Macas... I love you." I whisper to myself before I open the door and walk inside my room.

If you're still watching and waiting for updates from this story, please do me a favor and leave a review saying so. Give me some critique, tell me what bothered you. What you liked, whatever. Just to let me know that people are still reading this. I'll finish the story whether people are or not, but I'm not going to bother to post the next story if no one is going to read it.

Anybody remember my quotes? Here we go again!

599. Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.

597. Girls are always running through my mind. They don't dare walk.

607. Sharks don't eat you, they bite you and spit you out. Scientists don't know why. I know. When a shark bites you, you crap in your pants.