Hello and welcome to my Kingdom Hearts Fanfic. This is an Alternate Universe story so that means some of the original characters will be appearing and some of them may not be appearing at all. This story is also credited to Xth Form Keyblader because he is my co writer in all of this as well. There will be no set time that I will update a chapter. It is just that we will be updating as soon as we finish a chapter in the RP and that I can rewrite it as well. Thank you and I hope you enjoy guys!
As the sun started to rise on the tiny tropical islands, the children started to row their boats and rafts onto them to play on the smallest one. This was how Destiny Islands worked. As children, they would come and play on the islands as if there was an endless summer. Well It was summer and the children were out of school, but it seemed like the seasons never really changed on the sandy beaches and clear blue waters. This was where our story began.
Standing on the beach already was a young girl with short black hair that was looking off to watch the sunrise. Her hair was about shoulder length and pin straight with her bangs getting into her face like normal. Her dark blue eyes gazed at the horizon as she started to stare through the viewfinder on her camera. She starts to take multiple shots as the camera recorded the pictures digitally. She stood up and anybody could tell... She was short. She had the frame of a petite girl. She had a pair of silver, star earrings on her ears, a black choker necklace, and a pair of black long sleeved gloves. She was also wearing a sleeveless black dress with a big purple belt that is above her waist to give her a figure. Lastly, some light purple tights and black boots covered her bottom half.
She looked at the camera screen and was happy with the shots, "Got ya!"
While the girl did this at the docks, she accidentally takes some pictures of a group that was slowly paddling to the islands. One was a young male with gray hair, red eyes and a slender build. While his appearance could scream scary, he is the one to have a smile on his face. He's abnormal looking, rather dashing, although he won't say that he is himself, and has a nice aura around him. He is wearing a plain red shirt and black shorts with white sneakers. After all, wearing anything else here would feel uncomfortable.
The second person that the girl takes a picture of is another dashing male as well, with black hair, black eyes, and a slightly muscular build. Although, this mostly comes from doing all the chores that he has done, as he refuses to become a muscle head. He has gray sleeveless shirt with a black sleeveless jacket over it and dark blue jeans. His aura reads more of confidence and coolness. He's not one to get riled up about many things, although he is one to act cold towards people in general. He's one to coolly read a situation and then act on it, instead of the other way around. It's just all within his character. It helps that he's in the center and that he seems to be leading the group of them. After all, they all seem to agree inaudibly that he is in some cases the leader of the group.
Then the last picture was a girl with brown hair and purple eyes that seem to easily portray her emotions. Her fingers have calluses from all of the practicing that she does in archery. She is wearing a yellow shirt with blue girl shorts and sandals. She is, however, the balance between the two of them. She's stern but kind, energetic but also self-conscious, and she also has some imperfections of her own.
"Almost there!" she yells out to the other two as they continue to paddle.
As the girl with black hair hears this, she ends up running away. She didn't want to be caught by this group of kids. The girl had a job to do while the other children would play on the island. Even though she wasn't a resident, she knew how things would work on this island after living there for a few years. The kids would come and play on the island all day and then go home at night. Sometimes the parents would come out as well if their children were too young to row out to sea. She had many memories on this island, but her job of researching came first after all.
The children who finally docked their boats didn't notice the black haired girl though. They finally tie up their boats onto the dock as they soon look at the islands. It looked as normal as it ever did. As the male with the black hair begins to walk off, the other two blink to themselves before the gray-haired male says, "That's Kenji for ya.
"Yeah. As distant as ever," the girl says before the two of them begin running after the male.
As the black haired girl watched them through the hiding place in the bushes, she was quite happy and relieved as they ran off. She exits out of the bushes as she sees another girl coming from the cove and walking towards the docks in curiosity. She had long brown hair that was in light waves. A pair of goggles pulled her hair back as she was looking at the area with her green eyes that had black spiral pupils. She was probably more developed than most girls her age. She wore a yellow turtleneck tank top with a pair of blue jean shorts. She also wore a pair of brown boots and a pair of blue long sleeved gloves. She had a little blue device in her hands that she soon places in one of the pouches attached onto her hips.
As the girl came out from the cove, she had a curious look on her face. The black haired girl knew exactly that she was from a different world just by looking at her face that was in awe and her clothing. She could feel a familiar presence from her that was also similar to her own. Her aura felt the same and it felt as if she was a friend at first glance. This was the first person that she ever felt this connection to before. As she walked nearer into the area, the black haired girl took her camera and started to focus in on her and take pictures. This would bring them in together, "You are just like me."
The brunette girl looked confused. Just like her? She started to feel the petite girls aura as well. It felt familiar to her as well. She gave a smile as she looks over to her, "I guess so. Her eyes widened and sparkled as she saw the little machine in the girls hands. The brunette girl always had a fascination with anything that was mechanical. She started some small talk with the small girl, You look like you are having fun too with that little machin - e! That is a camera right?"
The girl nodded as she looked at her camera, "Yep. It records the information digitally so I can upload them to my mom's computer later. The brunette girl almost drooled once she heard this. She needed to spend more time with this lovely machine. The petite girl noticed that the silence was getting more awkward as time went on so she decides to introduce herself, "My name is Lili. Who are you?"
The brunette smiles as she could tell that Lili is stumbling a bit, "I'm Miranda, and then she looks around the area, How long have you been here for Lili?"
Lili turned back towards the ocean and starts to take more pictures of the horizon. It would make good souvenirs for her family, I just got here. I am trying to gain the courage to go and see some old friends, but I doubt that they would remember me. We were really young."
Miranda looked at Lili as she began to take more pictures. The sound of the shutters clicking rang in her ears with one click after another. Miranda started to notice the other people on the island and their clothing. Lili and her stood out compared to the rest, but it made sense on Lili possibly visiting. She looks at her before asking the foreigner, Oh I see. Do you mind if I tag along with you? This is my first day here too."
Lili gives an enthusiastic nod and says to Miranda, "Sure! Let's go to the Spot!" She grabs Miranda's wrist as she walks over and into the shack and climbs up the steps. She rushes across the little wooden bridge with Miranda trailing behind her. There was another little island across there with a large tree that bended in an unusual shape of a seat for at least a few children to sit on or a child to lay on it. Once Lili was there, she jumps onto the tree, sits down, and starts to shoot some more pictures of the ocean.
When Lili was distracted, Miranda looks at the tree that she is sitting on. It was unlike anything that she has ever seen in her life. She traced the tree until she ran into the golden star shape fruit on the tree. As Lili finished with her pictures, she crawled around as she looked at the star shaped fruit. Her eyes lit up as she says in happiness, "The Paopu Fruit are ready!"
Miranda pointed over at the trees fruit before asking, "Paopu Fruit? I have never heard of that kind of fruit before"
Then the older, black haired male named Kenji started to head towards the spot. He spots the two girls on the Paopu Fruit tree as a look of disgusts comes to his face. That was his spot. Everyone on the island knew that spot was his spot. He had a personal attachment to that spot. As he walks up closer, he notices the two girls talking about the Paopu Fruit tree. He also notices that the two girls looked like foreigners to him. He gets a closer look at them before asking in a demanding tone, "Who are you two?"
Lili turns around as she spots Kenji from her spot on the tree. She turns around and hoped that he would not recognize her if she even knew him at all. She thought he was rather rude though since he almost demanded the girls names like they were common criminals. Miranda on the other hand wasn't offended. She nodded as she looked over at the stern male, "I'm Miranda. A pleasure to meet you."
Lili muffled her voice as she muttered out to the boy, "Lili." She hops off the tree, hides her eyes, and grabs onto Miranda's wrist again before she could even hear Kenji respond with his name. She looks over to Miranda as she says with an attitude, "Lets go Miranda. I can talk to you about the legend of the Paopu Fruit as I show you around." Then as she walks past Kenji, he trips her before she could even take two steps away from him, but Miranda catches the petite girl from the fall.
Lili could tell that he was annoyed with her. It was written all over his face as an even more annoyed look came across his face. But then his face started to change a bit to a questionable look. Lili looked at him with the same look before suddenly turning away from her. "Shut up, chibi," Kenji says coldly. Lili could tell that he was confused on where this even more cold attitude was coming from. Her coldness towards him also felt so familiar to her as well. Then he said to her with the same attitude again, "If you're going to say hello, say it with more dignity and kindness, shorty."
Chibi? Shorty?
Who the hell did he think he was? A king? It was really beginning to piss Lili off. Lili tore away from Miranda's grasp and then started to shout at the guy, "What the heck was that for? Who the hell do you think you are!? Who the hell are you anyways? It is rather rude to ask for our names when we don't even know who you are!"
Miranda soon rushes over to the married couple who was bickering back and forth. She was failing at this though as soon as the two started to have a staring contest with each other. Lili was obviously waiting for an answer and Kenji refused to give it to her. It also seemed like the two were use to this type of fighting and coldness from each other. Everyone on the island was bound to hear both of Kenji and Lili's loud mouths and their shouting matches. It was bound to get ugly soon. Rumors of the two were bound to appear on the island as well. That wasn't the best for either one of the people who were arguing.
Then at that moment when Miranda looks up, the gray - haired male and the brown-haired girl move towards the Spot, knowing that they could tell that Kenji and someone was arguing. At catching sight of Lili, however, the brown-haired girl stopped before she whispered something into the gray-haired male's ear. Listening to her attentively, his eyes widen before he smiles a little bit and then moves over towards Lili. The brown - haired girl hits Kenji on the shoulder before he says, "Together again, just like old times." She puts on a smile before the gray-haired boy walks over to her and looks at her face. "Isn't it great, Kenji? Your wife came back after all this time. Even better, your vows haven't broken either. The ones you made on the Paopu Fruit."
Then as the girl said this, Lili and Kenji both turned bright red. Married to each other? Please. That would never ever happen in a million years Or that is what they were possibly thinking. Then the gray haired male was starting to get a better look at her. "Yep, that's Lili alright!" the male exclaims. "She's as filled with energy as usual. You were the only one who could keep up with Kenji, after all. Even now, though... You two haven't changed at all."
Then Lili snapped out of her argument to look at the gray haired male. That was Kenji that she was arguing with? He changed Physically and personality wise Physically, well, it wasn't a bad thing. She would be the first one to admit that he did look hot to her and that she was attracted yes. His personality though was much different. She didn't exactly like this new, cold side that Kenji had put up. She took a glance at the gray haired male and the brown haired female. They haven't changed too much to her at all. They were Jaxen and Hikari. They were her childhood friends after all. She became really close with them and Kenji while she was on the island the first time. She soon looked up as she saw their enthusiasm. She wished that she could be this happy too... But things were really starting to get worse as time went on. Her head suddenly went down in sadness as she says to the group, "I'm only here for a day or two. I came to check up on a few things and then I plan on leaving." Then she started to walk away from the Spot and onto the bridge. She waves her hand as she starts to walk down it and to the shack, "You guys should forget about me as quickly as possible. I don't want you all to be caught up in my problems."
Lili ended up going past the large waterfall and into a cavern that was hidden by the overgrowth of the plants on Destiny Islands. This was the Secret Place. Many of the children would come in here to draw on the walls and spend time alone from the others. She remembered spending time drawing on the walls as well with Kenji, Lee, Hikari, and Jaxen. She traced over the drawings that she once did: One of the Paopu Fruit. Another of her and her brother. One was of Kenji even though he never would know that in a million years. She also noticed a few recent drawings from the other people who would come onto this island. Then she turned around and saw a black door.
Lili has never seen this door in the cavern before. It was pitch black with a golden edge surrounding the frame. She walks over to it and touches it. Lili retracts her hand as she soon feels the coldness from it. It was like an ice cube. Kenji suddenly walks in from the doorway of the cavern to see Lili and the door. He steps over to the side as he walks over to a wall. Once Lili heard the footsteps from behind her, she did what came naturally to her. She magically made a scythe with a silver blade appear. It had a long black handle and a purple star at the top. She quickly goes to slash at the intruder, but as soon as she sees that it is Kenji, she stops only centimeters away from his neck and before she could make a clean shot. Her eyes widen as she drops the scythe as his eyes widen from being almost scared to death. It disperses as her eyes go wide with worry, fear, and shock. Her eyes start to water up as she places her hands over her mouth and then ran out of the Secret Place. She bumps into him before she leaves the exit as she says apologetically, "I'm sorry..."
Then Lili ran directly out of the Secret Place and to the cove. She keeps on running until she runs directly into something that felt metal against her forehead. She rubs her head when she runs into the thing as her head started to pound. Then she knew what it was It was a Gummi Ship. It looked like it was light blue in color and it was a little small to fit a bunch of people into it. It wasn't hers. She knew that since she used Merlin to teleport her into the area. She knew who it belonged to though Miranda. Once she figures this out, she starts to run to where Miranda, Hikari, and Jaxen were on the beach. Once she arrives in a hurry, she looks at the group before asking them while she was out of breath, "Do you guys mind if I talk to Miranda?"
Miranda looks at Lili as she knew something happened. It was written all over Lilis face. She was worried that the girl found her Gummi Ship and that she was about to blow it in front on her friends. Jaxen and Hikari both give a nod as Miranda gave them a formal Japanese bow, "Please excuse us. We need to talk in private."
They soon walk over to the wrecked boat and sit on it near the railing. Some of the kids would hang around there, but not today. It seemed a little emptier than usual. Lili looks over to Miranda before stating to her, "You and I both are from different worlds, but... I don't sense a hint of darkness in you... What are you doing here Miranda?"
Miranda smiled as she looked at the sea and the fish in it, "I'm looking for my Dad. I saw that there was a foreign person that was on this island too... But it ended up being you. So I wanted to ask if you have seen him." Then she takes out a photograph of her dad.
Lili takes it in her hands before she shakes her head, "No I haven't. I will keep in contact with you though Miranda..."
Miranda soon looks at Lili before pressing her lips together in disdain. She then suddenly asks, "I know you are from another world like me right... But... Why are you causing so much pain to your friends? What are you exactly doing on this island?"
Then Lili looks down. She really didn't want to push her friends away. She just thought that this would be a safer alternative for them so they didn't get involved, "I just found out that I am a Princess of Heart." Miranda's eyes widened. Lili suddenly continued, "I came back to Destiny Islands after reading a few reports that Ansem wrote. This is a special place. I thought that there might be clues here. I told everyone to forget about me because... I don't want them to end up dead... I don't think they are strong enough to handle this sort of enemy..."
Hikari soon appears and stands behind the girls as they were talking. She started to become interested once she overhears them talking about being from different worlds and decides to go and hide in some bushes nearby to hear more. Her eyes widen, somewhat interested in what is going on at the moment. Hikari persistently jumps out of her hiding spot and then says, "A different world?" Hikari then walks over to Miranda and Lili before she says, "Please tell me! How... How do we get to different worlds?!"
When Miranda and Lili turned around to see Hikari, their faces paled. It was one thing to go and talk to someone who was of a different world. It was another thing when the resident of a said world didn't know that other worlds existed until this conversation. They were both trying to think of ways to get out of this conversation with Hikari. Lili wanted her not to even get involved with this. Lili soon waved her hands frantically and then said to Hikari, "We didn't say anything about other worlds we just - !"
Miranda sighed as she looked at Hikari. It was going to be annoying to tell her the truth on where the two actually came from. Since the world order was destroyed when the Heartless appeared, Miranda thought it was fine until they would tell where exactly they were from. She places a finger over her mouth before nodding, "The world order is already destroyed as it is with the Heartless running around... So we might as well tell her..." She then said to Hikari, "You need to not tell a soul though. Even your friends.... Because what we are going to tell you might get you into a lot of danger."
Lili nodded. Having Hikari in a fight with the Heartless would pose a problem and especially if her older brother Lee knew. He would probably never talk to her ever again if he found out. He always had a very close connection to Hikari just like Lili had a very close connection to Kenji. She soon pleads to Hikari, "Promise me Hikari that you won't go off with us or tell Kenji and Jaxen. Lee would never ever forgive me if you three were to get hurt. I wouldn't forgive myself either. That is why I told you guys to forget about me."
Hikari blinks a couple of times as she looks over to Lili and Miranda both. She places her hands behind her back before she says to the group informatively, "But, we somewhat had an idea of there being Heartless. Jaxen's perverted brother said that he was looking for it and then he disappeared." She places a finger over her own mouth then saying, "But, my lips are sealed. Promise."
Miranda and Lili accepted her offer, but were confused on how the group would know about the Heartless though. Someone else from the islands was out there? Now that Lili thought about it, she did see Ryzen every so often in Traverse Town sometimes and getting rejected by girls. Lili soon looks at Hikari before biting her lip. She could tell her, "I could at least tell you... But please don't tell Kenji... He has... Enough to worry about..." This was always a sensitive topic for the girl in general. As she thought about talking about it to Hikari, her eyes started to well up with tears, "When we were little, my mom was doing a project called the Dress Spheres here in the Destiny Islands. She didn't want them to fall into the wrong hands especially since my own home world, Radiant Garden, was having a power shift. Ansem was working on a project that was experimenting on the powers of the heart. By the time we got back to Radiant Garden, the Heartless were created and we had to leave home again. Apparently the Heartless were looking for the Princesses of Heart and they ended up finding one. Me." Lili looked down sadly, "Dad protected me until his heart was taken, and Mom, Lee, and I traveled to another world, Traverse Town, with the other residence. Lee and I have been there since and have been training. So you understand my concern right?" Lili closes her eyes and places a hand on her heart, "I never wanted to leave here... But I had to... And I didn't want you guys to get involved. You guys are too important to me."
Miranda looks over to Hikari before giving a smile and explaining even more on how she got there to the islands, "I guess you are wondering how we travel right? Most people travel by Gummi Ship to other worlds. It is like a little rocket ship. I'm actually from another world called Spira. We don't have as many Heartless problems as the other worlds... But we do have some problems dealing with the government and how they treat the residence..."
Hikari blinks a couple of times before before she picks her ears, hearing about Ryzen. She then listens to what Miranda and Lili have to say before she says, "Oh... Don't worry. My lips are sealed, right?" She then winks to Lili before she continues, "And your husband might not like the fact that you're keeping secrets from him..." She then begins to walk off before she stops slightly. "Just... Don't tell us to forget about you. That's really mean, Lili."
Lili watched as Hikari walked away from her. She blushed at the comment about Kenji... He wasn't her husband! They just argued with each other! Miranda gave a giggle, "Everything is fine Lili. Don't worry about it. Hikari seems really nice."
Lili lightly nods as she glances at the sky. It was starting to turn an orange color meaning it was time for the group to get off the island. It was going to be dark soon and sometimes it was rough trying to get to the island when it was that time of the day. Lili knew that Miranda and her needed to find a way to get off of the islands. Hikari was already leaving for her boat as well as Kenji. Lili also looked at Jaxen, who was staying over in the Spot, and looked like if he was deep in thought. Lili looks to Miranda and hoped that she would have a solution to their dilemma, "It is turning dark... We should get across to the other islands."
Miranda was confident. She already thought up of something that was stored away in her Gummi Ship if she had to make an emergency landing, "I got a plan!" She grabs Lili by the wrists and leads her through the jungle part and back to her Gummi Ship. From the Gummi Ship's back, Miranda pulls out a little bright yellow life raft with two wooden paddles. She inflates it before the two ended up inside the little raft and paddled all the way onto the main island. Once the two were at the docks, Miranda deflates the raft as she looks over for an inn. The two, now travel companions, needed a place to stay. Miranda points into a random direction as she says to Lili, "I'll go the other way so we can find the inn alright! Just meet here if anything happens."
With that, Miranda leaves. Lili stands by the docks for a few moments as she wondered where she would go visit first. She knew where the inn was, so she wasn't rushed too much. Then she thought about visiting her old house. Lili starts to walk to path to the residential area and notices that the urban area, if you would ever call it one, was becoming less and less of one. She knew if they didn't move at all, that Kenji, Hikari, and Jaxen all lived in this area as well. Then she stops in front of a little old house. It looked as if it was unkept and the vines were overtaking the outside of the building. The grass was long and the plants seemed to be out of control. Some of the windows were dusty and others were cracked. The Destiny Islands did get some powerful storms that blew in from time to time. This was her old house that she used to live with her family though. She remembered those memories vividly as if they were yesterday. Lili started to drift into a deep thought and suddenly doesn't hear when Hikari, Kenji, and Miranda all come up behind her.
Hikari then stops as soon as she notices Lili and Miranda and says, "Heya, girls!" She then runs over to them; Kenji brings up the rear. "So, how's life?" As soon as she gets the words out of her mouth, she begins to see the sky darken with large black clouds quickly. "Eh? Was it always this dark...?"
Coming out from the shadows were little tiny bug like creatures. They twitched about with their yellow eyes shining in the darkness. They had long antennas and long black claws. A coldness in the air appeared along with these creatures. These were the Heartless just as how Lili knew them well. She could easily distinguish them as Shadow Heartless. They were small and appeared out from the shadows. They were the most common out of all the Heartless. Lili soon makes her scythe appear magically as it always did and she twirls and twists it around her body as she starts to slash through the Heartless which seemed to multiply with time. Lili notices how scared Kenji and Hikari look from their faces while Miranda starts to fight alongside Lili. Miranda does a side kick as she looks over to Lili who seemed to be holding her own against these things, "Lili! I'm going to go and get my Gummi Ship! Maybe we can save the residence here!"
Lili gives a nod and agreed with the plan. They needed to save as many people as possible from this island. She noticed the Heartless soon going after her feet as she looks over to Miranda and yells, "Okay! But first give me a toss please!" Miranda holds out her hands as Lili runs over and steps onto her feet. Then, Miranda tosses her in the air like it was no big deal. Even with the push, Lili could feel how strong Miranda was. She would have been scared if she ever made Miranda angry. Miranda soon rushes off towards the docks as Lili does a flip in midair and slashes down onto a group of Heartless. Acrobatics were her thing along with dancing, but if you told Lili to walk in a straight line, she couldn't do it and would trip face first. She does a back flip after the attack as she stands guarding both Kenji and Hikari from some of the blows the Heartless were dealing towards them, "You won't touch them! You will never touch them even if my heart is taken! I will promise you that!" She starts to slash a path away from the black little bugs as she looks at Kenji and Hikari, "Come on! You guys need to get somewhere safe along with your families!"
Quickly noticing the path in front of him, Kenji rushes off towards his house. Hikari is about to do the same before then saying to Lili, "Jaxen's moms is right next door, so I'll get her too. Lili gives a slight nod as she holds the Heartless while Hikari runs off to get her family and Jaxens family both.
Once the families come back after a few minutes, she could see that they looked very distressed. The Heartless were a new thing after all. Lili catches sight of Kenji's mother when Jaxen's mom, Hikari's parents and sisters, and Kenji's mother comes out. She watches before she notices his mother muttering out, "Lili-chan, right?" She soon becomes quiet as Lili gives her a nod. She was just happy that everyone was still doing well, but now was the time to protect them and fight.
Then Miranda's Gummi Ship flew down as it hovered in the air. Miranda opens up the door, while Jaxen is sitting in the seat. He looked just as distressed as the rest of the people on the Destiny Islands compared to Miranda and Lili both. Miranda looks to the group as she says to them, "Come on! We need to get out of here! Especially you Lili! You gotta jump on now!"
Lili jumps onto the ship with ease as she holds out her hands to the group, "Come on! We got to get to a place where you guys can be safe at! I know Traverse Town is pretty close... And a little safe... But that can work for now! You guys can all live with my family!" She tries to reach out as much as possible in order for the group to have some help to get up and onto the ship, "Just take my hands if you need a lift up!"
Kenji's mother grabs onto Lili's hand as she starts to pull the woman up along with Kenji who was helping her. Jaxens mother though comes up on her own and sees Jaxen and Miranda together. She gives a thumbs - up. "So, this is the reason why you were gone for so long!" she says, putting a smirk on her face, knowing exactly how Jaxen would respond.
Jaxen puts on a large blush as he stumbles over his words, not sure as to how he could explain himself very well in this situation. As his blush only gets larger with every thought that he has, he then opens his mouth and says, "Can you please sit down, Mom?!" Jaxen's mother, with a larger smirk on her face, goes to her seat.
As soon as Hana and Kurai, Hikari's little sisters, are safely on the ship, Miranda soon types on the ships computer the coordinates out of Destiny Islands. The door soon closes as everyone takes a seat and the group flies into deep space. Lili goes over to Miranda as soon as she looks outside to see the blackness of space. Miranda asks quietly to Lili to disturb the group that was reuniting with their families, "Which area did you say would be a good place possibly?"
It takes almost no time for Lili to answer as she soon says to her, "Traverse Town. Lots of people from other worlds are there including my own family. They would be safe with living with my family for now until all of the mess on Destiny Islands will be cleared up... Hopefully..."
As Miranda works on the coordinates now, she asks Lili seriously, "You think that world will be swallowed up by the darkness?"
Then Lili shakes her head and shrugs, "Who knows... I just know that if we get to Traverse Town quickly then we will all be safe..."
