And here's my new chappy!

(Ulrich P.O.V.)
And then Macas passes the ball to me, and I shoot for the goal. It's going to go in, and Yumi blocks it.

It's just after we returned to the past, and we are at our game of soccer. Macas and I are ahead by three, because Jeremie didn't call me over, and it looks like my team is going to win. Then Macas stops.

"Hey, does anybody feel like we've done this before?" I look at him suspiciously. He remembers the return to the past? No one else has ever done that. I give Odd a look that says shut-up-and-let-me-handle-this.

"No, not really…" I say, and start playing again. Just like before I swerve around Odd, but he kicks it the other way. Just like before, he goes for the goal. But Macas is there and stops him. That didn't happen before.

"See, I knew you were going to go that way, like I've already done this soccer game. And aren't you guys going to be late for your concert?" He asks, looking to each one of us.

"What concert?" Odd asks. I cringe.

Thanks a lot Odd, for blowing my story… wait, I can still fix it.

"Oh well, I guess Odd knows now anyway. We were uh, having a surprise concert for Odd, he um, passed a math exam with good marks." I turn to Odd and Yumi and mouth COVER STORY. They nod back.

"Cool a concert? Let's go!" Odd yells and runs off towards the park. I figure he's headed towards the factory… even he knows he wouldn't pass a math exam with good marks.

"I'll go make sure he doesn't get over excited and do something embarrassing." Yumi says, walking over to Jeremie and Aelita. Then they all run off towards the park together.

And of course they leave me to take care of Macas. Oh great, how do I explain that he returned to the past after we fought an artificial intelligence who's trying to take over the world. Um…

"Ulrich, aren't you going too?" Macas asks me, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Yah, but how did you know about the concert?" I say.

"I really don't know. I just feel like I have already done this day. Maybe I dreamed it. At the end of my dream, Jeremie called me and said I had to get everyone out of the school before this huge plane crashes into the auditorium. The plane did crash, and I had to throw myself in front of this little boy to save him from thousands of shards of glass. I blacked out and showed up here, playing soccer again."

I just stare at him. He jumped in front of a small kid to save him? And I guess I was right, Macas was dying before we returned to the past.

"That's a weird dream. Would you really jump in front of someone to save them?" I ask.

"Yah, I think I would."

"That's really cool of you. I bet most people wouldn't even think about sacrificing themselves for the sake of others… well I gotta go, I'll see you later Macas."

"See you later, have fun at the concert."

"Thanks!" I yell back as I run off towards the factory.

(Odd P.O.V.)

I took off running towards the factory, hoping the others would follow. We needed to talk about this privately. If Macas could remember the return to the past trips, he might have to be added to our group. But we also don't know if he's trustworthy.

Those bruises on his arms, we don't know where they are from. He could have been part of a gang back in America, he could have had an accident, he could have done a lot of things to get those. Unless he is willing to tell us, we just can't trust him.

I grab the rope and swing down to the lower floor, waiting for everyone else to arrive. I didn't have to wait long, Aelita, Yumi, and Jeremie quickly came down as well.

"I trust Macas. He seems to be very kind, and there's no way we can keep this a secret for long if we have to keep returning to the past." Says Aelita quickly. Always the sweet one, she is.

"I'm not so sure. He is a nice guy, he made sure everyone was out of the gym when the plane hit, but we don't know if he can be trusted with this kind of information. He could go and tell everybody. Remember what happened with Taliea?" Yumi says.

"I'm pulling a no-vote. He is a great guy and all, but he seems to be avoiding things. I don't think we can trust him. Also, we've only known him for a couple of days. I think he will prove trustworthy later, but for now, he's not." Jeremie says.

"I don't know if we can trust him. He's very athletic, much better than me. He lost by one point when we played soccer, and that was only luck that I scored the last goal. But there is another side to him that we have to be careful of." I say, looking to each of my friends.

"He has bruises and scars all over his arms. From what, I don't know. But they are there. That's why he didn't want Aelita to check and see if that soccer ball did any damage."

Everyone looks shocked at this news. Why would he have bruises on his arms?

"Well, that's one four, one against, and two not sures. How are we going to solve this?" Jeremie says.

"Don't I have a say?" Ulrich says, just now arriving.

"Of course you do." Aelita says.

"We can trust him. He told me that before we returned to the past, he stood in front of a small boy to save him from thousands of shards of glass hitting him. In the process, he was extremely injured, he nearly died. We can trust him."

Everyone, including me, stands in shock with the realization of what that means. He was willing to sacrifice himself in order to save a little child? I recover from my shock and ask the question that is on everyone's mind.

"What about the bruises all over his arms? We can't know exactly who he is until we know where he got those." His eyes widen in shock.

"How did you know about that?"

"He showed me his arm while we were playing soccer. I hit him with the ball and wanted to make sure he was alright. It doesn't matter how I know though, he has them and we need to figure out how he got them. Otherwise, there's too much about him we don't know." I say, knowing my argument is enough to persuade the group to not let him in.

"I know here he got them." He says. My eyes widen in shock again.

"W-what? How could you possibly know where he got them?"

"He told me."

"So where did he get them?" Yumi asks.

"I-I can't tell you. He made me promise. I wouldn't tell you anyway. This is his problem, and I won't betray his trust."

"You need to tell us Ulrich, we won't ever look at him the same now until we know what happened." Yumi says quietly.

"Don't ask me to do that, I just can't." Ulrich says.

"Ulrich we need to know." Jeremie says more forcefully.

"I can't do that!" Ulrich yells before turning away and running from sight.

"I'll go talk to him. He is obviously in turmoil, whether to tell us or to keep his promise to Macas. We shouldn't have done that." Yumi says and walks away after him.

Jeremie, Aelita, and I then walk back to the school, not saying anything. We are lost in our thoughts. Can we trust this mysterious boy?

A minor cliffy... I like cliffies. I didn't want this story to end, so I decided that, against prior thoughts, Macas does survive, and will still play a major part in the story. Please R&R, I had like 6 reviews in my inbox earlier and I was like 'holy crap, people like my work!' Thanx for all the great reviews!