((A/N: Yargh! Firstly... I'm sorry about the rather long wait. I kept getting writer's block, but I've overcome it. For now. In any case, I've finally completed Chapter 5! Yay! Secondly: I'd like to thank William's fight for Yumi, Lyoko-MiNts, and elly755 for their super awesome reviews, and I'd like to thank all of my readers for... well, reading, and for being patient while I attempt to wring my brain for the next part of my story. Thanks! Read and Review!!))

((Disclaimer: Still don't own Code Lyoko.))

Chapter 5: Tolerance

"You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist."—Friedrich Nietzsche

Odd and I stood in the park alone, scowling at each other furiously. He was holding my pills close to him defensively, looking at me as if they were some sacred relic or something very valuable that we both desired.

I was absolutely irate. First, he's a big dick to me for no reason; then he tries to ask me out when he barely knows my name; and now he's stealing my stuff! Odd was a jerk, for sure. And I was getting those pills back, even if I had to beat him to a bloody pulp to do it.

He seemed to realize my scathing attitude, however; he registered no surprise when I lunged toward him once again. In fact, he immediately reacted, using one hand to hold me away from him and holding my pills away from me with his other hand. He glared at me while I tried to reach around him to the pill container.

"Just tell me why you need them!" he growled, pushing me away only to have to hold me back again.

"It's none of your business!" I snapped, pushing his hand away and reaching for the bottle again, just in time for him to jerk around so that I was reaching over his shoulder instead.

"It is my business!" he declared, struggling to keep the pills away from me. "If you're on antidepressants, that means something's wrong with you, and I don't want to say something stupid that—" he paused, though he continued to play keep-away with my pills. He anxiously looked over his shoulder at me and I noticed how close his face was to mine. I also noticed how incredibly vivid his deep blue eyes were. "I guess, what I'm trying to say is that I don't want to be responsible if you flip out and kill yourself or something," Odd finally continued as if he'd never stopped. "Not that I'm trying to give you ideas or anything; I don't want you to die or anything. And a lot of times, I'm a speak now, think later kind of guy, so the chances are rather high that I will say something extremely stupid and send you off to do something that I really didn't mean for you to do. You know what I mean?"

I stared at him, my arm left arm still stretched toward my pills. He didn't seem to notice, because his eyes were still staring into my amber ones. "Well, gee," I said, trying and failing to include an unpleasant tone. Damn those eyes. "I didn't know you cared so much, Odd. But I'll tell you a secret: stealing things from other people doesn't tend to raise the level of trust between two people. Yeah, I know, you're serious," I interrupted, seeing him open his mouth to tell me so. He scowled and I sighed. "And I suppose that, since you care enough to steal them from me, I ought to tell you why I have them." I'll just leave out details. Hmm, now how much to say.

"Okay..." he said slowly when I was silent for a matter of minutes. He shrugged out from under my outstretched arm, turning to face me and putting my pills behind his back with a stubborn look. I definitely wasn't going to get away with telling him nothing; but maybe the bare minimum would satisfy him.

"Like you said, they're antidepressants. They keep me from getting too depressed." He glared at me. Maybe that was too minimal? "My dad died almost a year ago, and then my mom tried to kill herself." It would have been funny to see Odd's glare drop off his face and his complexion pale considerably, if I hadn't been preoccupied with the obvious fact that he was pitying me and with wondering whether I should be glad or frustrated with that. "After her attempt, they diagnosed her with clinical depression. They decided to test me too, and in the end they diagnosed me with atypical depression. That doesn't mean I'm suicidal or anything," I continued warningly, scowling at how everyone assumed that because one was depressed, I was going to try to kill myself. And anyways, I hadn't taken those damn pills in a few months. I think I was building up tolerance to them, because after about two months, they'd stopped working as well. Besides, I really wasn't depressed. I didn't really have any reason to be anymore, now that I knew my dad was still alive. The reason the pills were out on Aelita's desk? I'd been dumping the ones I should have taken by now down the toilet... Of course, Odd really didn't need to know that. "And while I'd rather not talk about it," I carried on, seeing his impatient expression at my thoughtful pause, "I'm not going to go off and kill myself just because you're an idiot, mostly because I already knew that you were."

His glare returned, and then faded away again. Instead, Odd shrugged. "Okay. As long as you aren't lying to me." He held out the bottle to me, but he jerked it back as I reached for it. "You weren't lying, were you?"

"Lying? Me?" I asked, giving him my most innocent expression. Lying? No. Not telling the whole truth? Yes.

"That look just makes me more suspicious." But he held out the pills again, and this time he let me take them. It was oddly silent for a few seconds.

Then I poked him in the shoulder threateningly. "If you ever steal something of mine again, you're dead; you got that?" But I didn't wait for him to answer. Instead I turned and walked away. He didn't follow, but I got the feeling that he was staring at me the whole time I was in sight.

~$*ODD*$~

Odd bit his lip and scowled at his drawing of Kiwi, barely listening to the teacher's voice droning in the background. While World History wasn't his worst subject, it certainly wasn't his favorite either. In any case, he was too busy thinking of what had happened yesterday. The fact that Gabby took antidepressants worried him: regardless of what she told him, he was still concerned that if he said something dumb she would run off and start cutting or something. She didn't really seem like she would, and she had argued that she wouldn't; but then, you never knew, right? So Odd was careful when speaking around her, thinking more about his words than he ever had in his life. To be honest, he didn't even know he knew words like triskadekaphobia and nomenclature, but the harder he thought, the bigger he realized his vocabulary was.

Gabby, meanwhile, was pretending that nothing had happened. In fact, she had gone from being scathing and rude to being cold and pretending that he didn't exist. He would have said this was better, but instead it seemed to make him feel rather lonely. As maddening and annoying as it was to be around her, Odd had to admit that he still liked her. She was unlike any girl he'd ever dated before, and she was beautiful no matter how obnoxious she could be. And she did have her moments.

Of course, he wasn't going to tell her any of that. If she hated him as much as she acted like she did, all he would end up doing was making a fool of himself. Odd wasn't stupid, after all.

"Odd Della Robbia and Gabrielle Bursley."

Odd's head jerked up. "Huh?"

"Mrs. Agestone is pairing us up for the research projects," Ulrich told him, grinning. "And you just got paired up with Gabby."

Odd got the sudden feeling of horror, and it felt strangely like slamming against a wall at full speed. Ulrich was laughing hysterically, presumably at Odd's horrorstruck expression; but Odd hardly heard him. He had the most bizarre suspicion that he wouldn't be alive come next Monday.

~$*GABBY*$~

My life hated me. That much was obvious. How else would this happen? Was it too much to ask that Odd and I have nothing to do with each other? A week-long research project, and my partner just had to be Odd Della Robbia. Of course. And why not? He was intruding upon every other area of my life; he thought I was clinically depressed; he was looking shell-shocked at the very prospect of being my partner. We were the perfect match: as long as he stayed the way he was now, gaping at the teacher with his mouth half-open, we'd get this project done easy.

And then he turned to look at me, and I realized: there was no way it would be that easy. Fate was pulling us together, and it was utterly infuriating. I would have been happier working with a four-headed Minotaur. But Mrs. Agestone had decided, and we were stuck with each other, as long as neither of us died first.

Hmm... that might work...

"Okay then," Mrs. Agestone went on, oblivious to my murder plot and the clear tension that had risen after she'd read off all the pairs. "I want everyone to sit with his or her partner for the rest of the week. I want each pair to choose a country their interested in, and then tell me right away. Each country can have only one group, so it's first come, first serve. Get to work."

With those magic words, people began to move, struggling to find seats that were close to their friends, but with their partners at the same time. I was pleased to see that Jeremie and Ulrich were paired together and were sitting close to Odd and Aelita. Aelita was wearing a sour look, and there was really no speculation to be made as to why. Sissi Delmas was sitting next to her with an identical look. Odd, meanwhile, still looked partially in shock, though he had recovered enough to be giving me a smug look.

"Looks like we're stuck together, huh?" he said, bringing me back to my idea of killing him as I sat in the chair next to him.

"Unfortunately," I growled.

"It won't be that bad," Ulrich insisted with an amused smile. "It's only a week long project. You two can deal with each other for one week, right?"

Odd snickered and leaned back in his chair nonchalantly.

"That would be a miracle," I muttered.

Ulrich and Jeremie both shook their heads. "You're telling us," Jeremie said. They shared a look before shrugging and getting to work.

Which left Odd and I to our own devices.

"Okay, here's the deal," I told him. "The only way we're going to make it through this week is if we're all business. No wisecracks, no teasing; just work. Otherwise, one of us will snap, and then we'll both fail, and I do not fail."

"Oh, good, this'll be my first passing grade this semester!" I groaned and rolled my eyes. "I was kidding! I was kidding! I may not be passing with an A, but I've got a C, which is better than most of my classes!"

I sighed. "Of all the people I could have been stuck with..." I muttered mournfully, closing my eyes and shaking my head. "Okay, fine, let's just get this over with. What country should we do?"

Odd stared at me. "Uhhhhhhhhhh..." he droned. "I dunno... you can choose."

"Oh, gee, thanks," I said sarcastically. I strained my mind, trying to choose a country that was interesting, but not frustratingly easy. I'm the type that likes a bit of a challenge, but seeing how Odd was my partner... Around me, people were picking countries like France, Greece, Japan, the U.S., etc. Finally, I sighed. "How about this: we'll randomly point to a place on the world map, and that'll be the country we choose?" Odd just shrugged. I rolled my eyes at him and pulled out my history book, opening it to the Atlas. "Go for it," I ordered, pushing the textbook across the table at him.

He glared at me; but he closed his eyes, held up his hand, waving it around emphatically, and let it drop onto the opened page. He opened one eye nervously.

"Mali." I frowned and leaned towards him to get a better look. From where I was sitting, it looked like he was pointing to Algeria, but he was indeed pointing to Mali.

"Mali," I sighed. Well, at least it wasn't something like Vatican City. I have nothing against either country, but Vatican City, being the smallest country in the world, might be a bit difficult to do a report on. Well, I thought resignedly, this is going to be a long week.

~$**$~

"It won't be that bad," Aelita told me as we walked back to our dorm room, repeating exactly what Ulrich had said. "Just one week. Besides, you might actually find that you two would get along well if you would be civil."

I would have laughed, but Aelita was looking so hopeful that I just shrugged instead. "Right. We'll see."

"You guys seemed to be a little better with each other today..."

I blushed. "Yeah... well, we had that little scene yesterday, you know." I paused, not wanting to go into details.

"He stole your pills," Aelita finished for me. I stared at her.

"H-how did you—"

She turned pink, her face nearly matching her dress. "Well, you kind of left them out, and I saw them... I'm really sorry; I shouldn't have been so nosy, Gabby! That whole thing between you and Odd was my fault. I must have left them on my desk, and of course he'd be curious and look at them. I'm sorry!" She looked at me nervously. I sighed.

"It's okay. I guess it's probably more my fault. I did leave them out; I should have put them away after I du-took them. It's my fault. But... next time, maybe you couldn't look at them?"

Aelita nodded. "I'm sorry. I won't. But really, I think that this will be good for you and Odd. It's hard for the rest of us, you know, being friends with you two while you hate each other."

There was a glimmer of guilt in my gut, but I ignored it. After all, how difficult could it be to deal with two friends who hated each other? She was right about the fact that we had been kinder today: I'd ignored him, for the most part, and he'd ignored me, for the most part.

"Yeah," I said tonelessly. "Sorry. He just pushes all the wrong buttons, you know?"

Aelita smiled. "I understand. But I really think that you two could at least try to be friends. For all of our sakes."

I scowled but nodded. "I guess I could try. I'm not gonna promise anything, though. We're gonna start that stupid project tonight. With any luck, we'll finish early."

Aelita laughed and rolled her eyes. "I see. Well, try not to completely destroy the dorm then. I'm going to be with Sissi working on ours."

"Which country did you choose again?"

"Brazil."

"Ah. That'll be... interesting."

"With Sissi?" Aelita laughed dryly. "We'll be lucky if we get anything done! At least Odd won't bore you with talk about how beautiful he is, or how popular he is, or how much he wishes Yumi and Ulrich weren't dating so that he could steal Ulrich away."

"She not that bad..." I muttered, though I kind of had to agree. From the week that I'd known her, I could tell that Sissi's father spoiled her, and that her popularity and looks made her think of herself as near royalty at Kadic.

"Well, neither is Odd," she replied, setting her things on her bed. But I couldn't bring myself to admit that she may be right.

~$**$~

"One more day," I told myself, aware that two younger students were staring at me like I was crazy. Then again, I was talking to myself. That does tend to give off the insane vibe. Nevertheless, I repeated, "One more day. One more day, and we'll be finished with this damned project, and I'll be free of Odd again. If I can just make it through this one more day..." I knocked on the door, took one last breath, and plunged into Odd and Ulrich's room.

I gasped, closed my burning eyes, and started coughing as I was hit by the scent of feet, B.O., and dog. As many times as I'd been in there this past week, I just couldn't get used to the odor of two teenage boys. I dared to open one eye, seeing Odd laughing at my reaction (again...) and Ulrich fishing through one of his drawers. Ulrich looked up at my coughs.

"Oh, hey, Gabby," he said, a smile playing on his lips. "I was just heading out. I'll leave you two alone so you can finish up."

I scowled at him, imagining I looked a bit like a pirate but not really caring at the moment. "You don't have to, really."

"Nah, me and Yumi are going to practice some Pencak Silat. I'd be going even if you weren't here working."

I sighed, a big mistake as I inhaled the dirty smell. My sigh turned into a gag. "God! I don't how you two can live like this!"

They laughed. "I can't!" Ulrich told me. "Why do you think I'm leaving?" With that, he waved and passed me to the fresh air.

I resisted the urge to plug my nose as I crossed the room and sat in Ulrich's desk chair (I figured that was probably the safest place in the room).

"Okay," Odd started, taking a seat in his own chair. "Where were we?"

"Sundiata," I replied, pulling out my notes and my computer.

"Huh?" I glared at him. "Oh, right, Sundiata! That one guy who led the people against what's-his-name and took Mali into a period of peace." I rolled my eyes. I had grown to hate these smart-ass moments when he showed how good he could do in school, but didn't because he had the attention span of a goldfish.

"Sumanguru," I corrected. "He overthrew Sumanguru."

"That's what I meant." He got a confused look on his face. "What's that smell?"

"That would be your disgusting feet and your smelly dog."

"No, not that! And Kiwi isn't smelly! I meant the good smell!" He sniffed. "Like oranges..."

"Ah," I nodded. With a smirk, I drew from beneath my shirt... "A car freshener. Sunny Citrus!"

For a second, Odd looked stumped as he stared at the bright orange pine tree car freshener I'd pulled out of my t-shirt. Then he frowned at me. "It doesn't smell that bad in here..."

I grimaced. "Sure, not to someone who lives in here. But come from Aelita's and my room, this place smells terrible."

Odd pouted, but he shrugged. "Right... well, we should finish up today, and then you don't have to deal with it anymore. So what's next?"

"Mansa Musa," I told him, opening my laptop. "He was the grandson of Sundiata's half-brother."

"Ooohh, I hate history!" Odd groaned, slumping in his chair. "It's so boring!"

"No it's not!" I argued.

"Yes it is!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Yes—you know what, let's just finish this, okay. So, this Mansa Musa? What did he do?"

"He ruled during the peak of the country. Helped increase trade by taking over the cities of Timbuktu, Gao, and Djenne. Made a pilgrimage to Mecca."

"I didn't know Timbuktu was in Mali."

"Well, it is."

"Hm... I'm bored."

God, please let us finish this today, I thought desperately.

Hours later, there was a loud crash outside. Odd jumped to his feet, racing to the door in the time that it took me to get up. Damn, that kid was fast. Within seconds, he was out the door, streaking down the hallway with his phone to his ear.

But for some reason, I felt sluggish and tired. Maybe it was the air? My citrus air freshener hadn't helped the room at all. Regardless, I ran down the hallway after Odd, reaching the stairs and taking them at full speed. When I reached my floor, however, I froze.

Aelita, Odd, and Jeremy were sprinting towards me, away from what looked suspiciously like leftover spaghetti from today's lunch. Except that it was moving quickly towards me too, and I was vaguely certain that spaghetti didn't usually move at all, unless of course my mom made it (lord knew what that woman used in her spaghetti; luckily, we had chefs and cooks to make us food that was edible). I swallowed as Jeremy and Aelita yelled at me to run, growing ever closer as they came at me. I tried to obey them, tried to pick up my feet and move, but I was so tired. As the three reached me, someone took my hand, pulling me along with them; but I was just too tired. I felt my body go limp, and my vision went black.

~$*ODD*$~

Odd couldn't describe the terror, even to himself, that he experienced when he felt Gabby's body go limp and stumble as she collapsed into him. He nearly collapsed too as her full weight fell into his body; he let out a cry of frustration, causing Jeremy and Aelita to look around and rush back to help him. They somehow managed to get Gabby onto Odd's back, though how they did it before the spaghetti monster caught up to them, Odd would never know. Panting, the three of them returned to their fleeing, taking the stairs three at a time in an effort to regain their distance. They reached fresh air and kept running, seeing Yumi and Ulrich running towards them.

"Man, she's heavy!" Odd groaned as they met in the middle of the courtyard. They lost the spaghetti monster; it was nowhere in sight.

"What's happening?" Ulrich asked. "Odd, what did you do to her?"

"I didn't do anything! She just fainted when the spaghetti came at her."

"What are you talking about?" Yumi asked, looking at Odd with an eybrow raised. She couldn't help thinking that they looked really cute together. Odd scowled at her, getting the feeling that he knew what she was thinking, but Aelita and Jeremie saved him the trouble of answering.

"Our lunch is taking its revenge. Aelita and I were attacked by a spaghetti monster," Jeremie told the two.

"X.A.N.A.'s probably behind this. Let's head to the—"

Aelita was interrupted by screams from the building they'd just exited. All five of them looked around; Odd was surprised that Gabby didn't wake up, it was so loud.

"I got it," Ulrich said, already running in that direction. "You guys get to the lab and deactivate the tower!"

"I'll help Ulrich. Odd, Aelita, can you guys handle this?"

Odd smirked. "Oh yeah! It'll be easy!"

Aelita and Jeremie rolled their eyes simultaneously, while Yumi shook her head at him, already sprinting after Ulrich.

"Let's go," Jeremie told the other two. He and Aelita started off for the sewers; Odd took a deep breath and tore after them.

Five minutes later, Odd discovered that it is very difficult to skateboard with a girl on your back. Jumping over the sewers proved near impossible, but somehow the four of them made it to the ladder, safe and dry. Odd could help but think that it was miraculous.

As it turned out, getting Gabby up the ladder, and then down into the factory, was just about as impossible. But again, they managed to get her to the lab with only a few minor bumps and scratches. Odd gently leaned her against the wall, trusting Jeremie to take care of her while he was in Lyoko. Then he and Aelita headed for the scanners.

"Okay, I've launched the scan, and this time you'll be in the forest sector. Transfer. Scanner. Virtualization!" The usual flash of light and gust of wind, and Odd and Aelita appeared in Lyoko. Odd landed on his feet, but Aelita still wasn't used to it again: she landed on her feet, and then fell to her knees with a small cry.

"Yeah! Okay!" Odd yelled, stretching. "Lyoko hasn't changed a bit!"

"How can you land on your feet, Odd?" Aelita asked, getting to her own feet and brushing off her pants and watching as Jeremie virtualized the Overboard. "It's been three years; you'd think you'd have grown a little rusty by now."

"Odd Della Robbia doesn't get rusty, Aelita! I'm too good for that."

"Right..."

"If you two are done, Ulrich and Yumi are being attached by spaghetti, so do you think you could hurry it up? The tower's to the north."

"Gotcha, Einstein! Let's go, Princess!" Odd jumped onto the Overboard, and Aelita jumped on behind him, and they zoomed off.

Within minutes, however, they were forced to come to a stop. In fact, Odd would have come to a full stop if Aelita was standing next to him, yelling at him to get his ass in gear. His attention was focused on the fiery orange-haired girl standing in his path.

"Odd!" Aelita screamed, and Odd jerked the Overboard to the left just in time to dodge Gabby's bullet.

"But that's—there's no way!" Odd yelled, shooting a laser arrow at the block next to Gabby and looping around one of the gargantuan trees to dodge her next attack.

"Odd, we've already established that X.A.N.A. created a Gabby clone," Jeremie yelled. "Just hurry up and get rid of her!"

"No, what I meant was—There's no way that's a clone!"

"Odd—"

"I know you guys don't believe me, but I just... I know it's her! Something about her—I just know she's the real Gabby!" Odd came to a stop behind a tree, allowing Aelita to jump down.

"Odd, Gabby's still here with me," Jeremie told him, sounding frustrated. "Still out like a light. She can't be in both places at once!"

Odd bit his lip as he peeked around the tree and narrowly avoided being hit by a laser from another block.

"Well," Aelita said with an anxious frown, "whether it's her or not, she's in our way. The tower is on the other side, and we're on this side."

"Yeah," Odd nodded. "Okay, I'll distract her and the monsters. You just get to the tower." Aelita nodded. "Okay. Ready... go!" he yelled, zooming around the tree and firing his laser arrows at Gabby and the blocks. All he had to do was distract her, he thought desperately. Just let Aelita get to the tower.

~$*GABBY*$~

I opened my eyes to the sight of trees, the biggest trees I'd ever seen, stretching into beyond everywhere I looked. I was laying flat on my back on one of the many paths that wound between the trees, and like in the desert, the edges of the path dropped into seemingly nothing. I groaned, sitting up. Was this another part of Lyoko? What was I doing here? One second I'd been at school, watching a giant thing made of spaghetti come my way; the next second I was here.

"Gabby..."

I jumped up and spun around to face the speaker; but it was only my dad. My heart fell at the sight of him. So then, had our last attempt at materialization failed? I opened my mouth to ask him.

"Yes," he answered before I even got the question out, a grim expression on his face; "we failed. But I've brought you back here to try again. Last time... last time, you failed me. You allowed them to get past you. But this time, you will win. Do you understand me?"

I grimaced at his cold, disappointed tone. I nodded quickly. He shot me an icy look and left me standing there, wondering how my father had gotten this way. What had happened to my kind-hearted father, the one who had praised me when I did things, no matter how bad we both knew I'd done them?

I swallowed, sighing and turning about. Might as well explore a bit. If I was lucky, I would find them before they found me. I set off down the path I was on, in the opposite direction as my father.

I managed to find the supposed enemies rather quickly. It was actually rather easy, as they were zooming towards me on a snowboard/skateboard thing, hovering above the ground. Odd was in front, and Aelita was standing behind him, arms around his waist. For some reason, the sight of them that way made me angry.

Oh, god, I thought as I drew my gun, don't tell me I'm actually starting to like him. I took careful aim at the pair as some strange block-shaped monsters joined me.

"Odd!" Aelita cried as I pulled the trigger, and they swerved, dodging the bullet. I fired again as Odd shot off an arrow of sorts and destroyed the block next to me; he circled around one of the trees, zipping between them to evade the attacks of me and the blocks. I scowled when they went behind a tree and didn't resurface. What were they doing behind there? Plotting some way to beat me?

"Come on, Odd, Aelita," I muttered, taking a step towards the tree and cocking the gun. "Come on out."

Muffled conversation was all that answered me. I watched as the blocks edged past me, but they had hardly come within five feet of the tree when Odd jumped out on his hovering board, screaming, "Go!" He was shooting his arrows, "Laser Arrows," at the monsters and me, and I heard them whistle past me, making contact with the monsters and causing them to explode. I fired my gun at him multiple times, only hitting him once. He flew backwards off his board, tumbling across the ground. Now, there was just me and one block against Aelita and Odd. Aelita, taking advantage of the fact that my focus was on Odd, fired one of her pink energy balls, hitting me in the arm and knocking me sideways. I felt that tingling sensation as the field of energy stretched to cover my body; I shook myself, trying to get rid of the feeling as I jumped up.

"Run, Aelita!" Odd shouted, shooting at the block and hitting his mark. The distraction was all that I needed to hit him with another bullet. He recoiled as it hit him, and I twisted around and fired at Aelita. She dove behind a tree. I stumbled forward as Odd shot me in the shoulder. Turning to face him again, I flicked the switch on my gun to "BOMB." I was done messing around with him; and I didn't want my father to be disappointed in me again. I aimed the gun and pulled the trigger as Odd fired his laser arrow at me.

I had time to see Odd fly backwards, dissolving into small pixels, before I felt myself doing the same.

I woke up in the factory. I knew it was the factory, because there was the big computer that I'd turned on. Jeremie was sitting in the chair in front of it, typing frantically and saying something into the headset he was wearing. My left arm was numb, presumably from Aelita's attack, and my shoulder was bleeding. If Jeremie just turned around, he would probably see the blood dripping down my arm.

"Hurry, Aelita!" Jeremie cried. "Yumi and Ulrich—" His jaw clenched, and I shifted silently to a more comfortable position, unsure if I should reveal that I was awake or stay silent. Looking around the lab, I saw a ladder leading both up and down. I rose to my feet, edging quietly towards the ladder. By my movement came a bit too late; across the room from me, the elevator slid open and Odd stepped out. "Odd, there you are. Ready for a return trip?"

Odd's eyes met mine; his mouth opened slightly; his arm came up to point at me.

"Return to the past, now."

A blindingly bright white light enveloped us, and then I was sitting at the lunch table eating spaghetti with my friends and Odd. Odd was observing me carefully, his eyes traveling to my shoulder. I blushed; if I didn't get out of there, the blood would probably seep through my shirt, and he would probably notice it. I edged back in my chair, trying desperately to think of an escape path. Odd was still staring at me as if he could see my thoughts, and now that I was basically cowering in my seat, I'd drawn the attention of the others as well.

"Are you all right?" Aelita asked me in concern.

"Uh, yes; actually, no. I, um, I don't feel good, I think I'm going to go to the infirmary..." I muttered, quickly standing up and rushing out of the cafeteria, nearly running to my dorm room. Once I was there, I shut the door and hastened to my desk, where I'd kept the spare gauze Nurse Yolande had given me for my last wounds. Stripping off my shirt and sweatshirt, I was pleased to see that blood had only soaked through my t-shirt slightly. As I bandaged my newly acquired injuries, I wondered how much Odd had seen before Jeremie had (clearly) returned us to the past.

I sighed and put on a new t-shirt, wishing vehemently that I didn't have to go to class.

~$**$~

I knocked on the door, breathed in the fresh air, and stepped into the room. And was greeted by—

A clean room. Gabby couldn't stop her jaw from falling to the floor. Well, not literally. But she was definitely surprised: it smelled normal.

"Uh, what happened here?" I asked. Odd was laying on his bed, playing a video game and looking tired, and Ulrich, once again, was rummaging around in a drawer. At the sound of my voice, Ulrich straightened up, laughing.

"Odd had a sudden change of heart and decided he'd rather not live like a wild animal. Who knew, huh? Anyways, I'm heading out."

"You don't have to go," I told him with a pleading look. "Really—" But I already knew what he was going to say.

"Nah, I promise Yumi we could practice our Pencak Silat today. Don't trash my room while I'm gone," he said half-jokingly. He smiled and passed me, still snickering. "Have fun."

I glared at his back until the door shut behind him, and then turned to Odd. "So what's this about?" I asked, gesturing at the refreshingly clean room. "What brought this on?"

"Huh? Well, I guess I just got tired of you whining about it. And it did smell a little weird." He grinned as he shut off his game. "So I just tidied up a bit."

"A bit? This is... a miracle." He was clearly lying about his reasons, or it would have been clean the last time that I'd come here (at this same time, actually, but... well, you know); but he seemed to be in a better mood than normal, so I decided not to press him for the truth. Instead I took Ulrich's seat, still looking around in awe. "I can't believe you did this..."

"You sound disappointed," Odd laughed, taking his seat across from me. "So... We just finished Sundiata, right?"

I stared at him. "Um... yes."

"Great. So next is... Mansa What's-'is-face, right?"

"Mansa Musa?" I corrected, though in truth I was quite baffled. He certainly hadn't known all this stuff last time we'd lived this day. So what was different this time? Did he know that today wasn't the first time we'd lived this time? Did he remember, like I did, what had happened before Jeremie had pressed that button and sent us back into the past? He was staring at my shoulder again, as if by staring at it, he would see the secret injuries that I managed to hide so well. "Yes. Mansa Musa."