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Chapter Three: Turn Back the Dial, Again

November 2, 2015 9:00 P.M.

"What'd you fix?"

He opened his eyes to see Seth's aloof, but curious brown eyes focused on him. Roman's eyes zeroed in on a black compression brace on Seth's right wrist. Quickly, Seth pulled on his long sleeve shirt immediately covering his injury.

"What?" Roman asked, confused by Seth's actions and a bit worried about that brace.

"You just said something about fixing everything. What did you mean?"

Roman glanced around to see the same locker room, which he and Dean had inhabited during the present day RAW in Denver. Roman glanced down to see he was wearing the same Hounds of Justice sweatshirt he stole from his younger self. He grinned excited to see the fruits of his labor, "Nothing."

Seth gave him a look. No, not a look but the look he reserved for moments when he clearly thought his older brothers were insane. Roman had been very accustomed to receiving it during the Shield days, and he couldn't remember the last time he had seen it. Roman's smile grew even bigger as he pulled Seth into a big bear hug. The high flyer stood rigid in Roman's arms.

Seth awkwardly patted Roman on the back. "Okaaaaay, not that I don't appreciate random acts of affection but what the heck, man?"

Roman squeezed Seth tighter. "What? I can't hug my little brother whenever I want?"

Seth carefully extracted himself from Roman's too tight hold; he looked very uncomfortable. "I mean, not really... At least not for a while now."

"What do you mean?"

Seth sighed and leaned against the wall. "You really wanna discuss this right now, Rome? I mean, you know as well as I do when it all started."

Roman stared at Seth confused by what was happening. "Humor me then."

Seth's frown deepened, annoyed by Roman's clueless act. "Probably after the Wrestlemania fiasco and the rematch with Evolution… You know what, Roman? I don't really feel like talking about this crap again. You of all people should know what kind of hell that was… for all of us."

Seth grabbed his vest and started heading out of the locker room. "I'll meet you at gorilla in 30 minutes. You're in charge of finding Dean; I did it last time."

Roman stared at Seth's retreating figure. What the hell? Well, if Seth wouldn't give him answers, then he would have to find them himself.

He pulled out his phone and quickly googled Wrestlemania 2015 and clicked on the first Youtube video he saw, which happened to be the Wrestlemania video package with an attached highlights video. A familiar but gruff voice filled the room narrating the video.

"After the Shield beat us at Payback in 2014, they would have you believe they were still unified and strong. They wouldn't want me to mention how the Architect of the Shield, Seth Rollins nearly sold out and joined the Authority. No, those so-called Hounds of Justice would have you believe they are as close now as they were when they Shield would have you believe their bond is what makes them strong. They sacrifice themselves for one another because they are brothers." Triple H's commanding voice narrated as the man held a microphone in the ring. "But in reality, the Shield has more cracks in it than they would like to admit."

The video cut away from Triple H to several shots Roman could easily recognize: Seth trying to tag Dean or Roman, but finding both gone during their rematch with the Wyatt Family and the familiar scene of Seth walking out on the Shield.

After this point, Roman didn't recognize the clips.

He didn't recognize the one-on-one match where Seth was winning against Randy Orton only to find himself DQ'd as a result of Dean's interference. If Roman hadn't pulled the two apart, they would have started a high flyer's face was beyond livid as he stomped backstage with Roman trailing looking extremely apologetic and a still muttering and cursing Dean following.

He didn't recognize the backstage segment where Dean was apparently waiting for him and Seth. The Lunatic Fringe grew increasingly fidgety as he kept on glancing at the wall clock and muttering under his breath about where on earth his brothers were. However when the sound of footsteps filled the video, it wasn't himself or Seth who greeted Dean; no, it was the Wyatt Family. The video showed the resulting beat down. Roman and Seth didn't show up until after the Wyatts left, and Seth dragged Dean to go to get stitched up.

He didn't recognize the backstage confrontation between him and his brothers where they wondered why Roman was never the target of attacks. Authority goons would corner Seth and Dean, never Roman. Dean especially wondered if Roman had cut some kind of deal with someone in a higher place than them. Seth had snarled it was a mistake he almost made but hadn't; he never betrayed the Shield.

He didn't recognize the Royal Rumble match. Instead of his victory a part of him expected, something very different occured. It seemed like everybody was targeting the Shield. The brothers defended each other to their best ability until Seth was eliminated by a Demon Kane. As Dean turned to Roman beginning to yell at him with Roman yelling back, Kane seized Dean in a chokeslam as Sheamus Brogue kicked Roman. Both men were tossed over the top rope being eliminated from the match.

He didn't recognize the next clip, which depicted the middle of a match with Dean retracting his hand from Seth who was trying to make a tag and started walking out. However, before things turned too awful for the high flyer in the ring, Dean returned to the match and defended his brother who was the victim of a three on one attack since Roman was currently dazed on the apron. The weird thing was, he didn't seem too angry at Seth. Instead, he set up tandem moves with the high flyer, and they continued to move as a perfect team. No, instead of being mad at Seth, Dean seemed mad at Roman for not being able to watch Seth's back in the match without him...

He didn't recognize the next scene where Seth was facing Demon Kane in a match where Dean was banned from ringside. Seth was holding up just fine against the large man until "Line in the Sand" by Motorhead began playing. Seth froze for a second too long as Batista (who was apparently back?), Randy Orton, and Triple H began walking towards the ring. Kane took advantage of this distraction and put him in chokeslam. The impending beat down was difficult for Roman to watch, especially when Triple H shouted Seth had brought this down on himself and where were his brothers now?

"It looks like there are far too many times when the Shield has left their own members unprotected and vulnerable. It looks like Reigns has saddled himself with two men, who will only drag him down: one a gimp and the other a crazy Shield has too many cracks to remain whole after our No Hold Barred match at Wrestlemania, they will be shattered into a million pieces." Triple H smirked at the camera. "Believe that."

The match highlights were difficult to watch. Roman couldn't believe how efficiently the reformed (the re-reformed?) Evolution was able to completely squash the Shield. The match seemed to be relatively short and brutal. The end of the match saw Dean strapped into a straitjacket with additional restraints preventing Dean moving from one of the turnbuckles. Dean should be grateful, Triple H pointed out; his seat was the best in the arena. JBL yelled about how Evolution fixed the Lunatic problem. A prone Seth was dragged into the ring and held upright by Orton and Batista in front of Dean. The high flyer received a sledge hammer hit to the head, which left him completely out of it and one to his right wrist; Michael Cole noted Triple H was making good on his promise to rip the Architect's wings out. Dean screamed bloody murder at Triple H threatening to kill the Cerebral Assassin. Roman was Triple Power Bombed through the announce table; JBL commented about how that would serve Roman right for mouthing off to the boss. Evolution stood tall, mocking the Shield by doing the signature fist pose.

Roman suddenly understood why Seth hadn't wanted to relive this. It was a like living in a nightmare that never truly ended. Roman quickly pulled on his ring gear; he was unsurprised to see it was an unchanged Shield vest and plain black pants. He walked out of the locker room, wondering where he'd find Dean.

After checking catering and a few of the other locker rooms, Roman began to worry. He wondered if he should ask Seth for a hint, but he hesitated when he remembered their cold encounter earlier. He really couldn't blame Seth though; Roman had expected things to go so much better for him and his brothers once they were all back together… He decided to head down to the boiler room to check, that was where crazy Dean normally hung out, right?

"Mister Reigns! Wait a moment!"

Roman stopped as a pretty, young woman in skinny jeans, a blazer, and wrestling t-shirt caught up to him. "Can I help you, babygirl?"

"Did you lose your Lunatic?" She asked, brushing a lock of copper hair out of her face.

"You found Dean? Where is he?" Roman asked wanting to know if his little brother was alright.

"Come on, I'll take you to him." The young woman waved Roman to follow her to one of the offices. "I'm Marie by the way. I work in the marketing side of WWE. I left my desk for less than 5 minutes to grab a report from that damn printer, and when I got back, Dean was there, and he claimed my desk for himself. He asked if he could stay and keep me company while I worked."

Roman raised an eyebrow, marveling about how strange this situation was. "How long is awhile?"

Marie glanced at her phone for the time. "About 2 hours- like I said before, he seemed agitated. He seemed to calm down; it might have been because of the sound of my typing. So I let him stay for awhile because he seemed… very agitated about something, but then I realized Shield has a match tonight. I thought he should go to the gorilla, but he didn't want to."

Marie opened the door to one of the offices. She led Roman to a desk and stopped in front of it.

"Where is he?" Roman asked, confused not seeing his brother in the immediate surroundings.

Marie pointed to the desk adorned with pictures of what he assumed were the girl's family and friends. Then he caught a glimpse of what was underneath the desk. Roman peered underneath it to see a crouching Dean Ambrose. Dean watched Roman as he casually ate a chocolate pudding cup. The Lunatic Fringe didn't have any plastic utensils, but only used his fingers to scoop up another bite, licking them one by one.

"Hello Uce," Dean said in his gravelly voice, but a bit darker than normal, "I like Marie; she keeps snacks in her lunchbox that I can have if I ask nicely."

Roman furrowed his eyebrows. What the hell? For some reason, he couldn't eradicate the mental image of Dean in the straitjacket from his mind. "Come on out of there, Dean. We need to get going. We have a match tonight."

Dean scrunched up his face in distaste at the idea of leaving. "But I like it down here, Uce. It's small but not enclosed. I can see everything. It's safe down here. I'm safe down here."

Roman crouched down, so he was eye-level with Dean. "But we need to go; Seth is waiting for us."

"Sethie? Where's Sethie?" Dean's eyes widened in concern.

Roman began to explain the situation, calmly. "He's waiting for us-"

"Sethie's alone?" Dean shook his head worried. "That's not good. He shouldn't be alone. Sethie gets hurt when he's alone. You shouldn't let him out of your sight, Uce." Dean slowly crawled out from underneath the desk. He nodded at Marie. "Thank you, lady, for lending me your desk."

Marie smiled fondly at the Lunatic Fringe. "No problem, good luck tonight."

Dean gave her a lopsided salute and took off towards the gorilla, the half-full pudding cup still in hand.

Roman rushed to catch up with the Lunatic Fringe. "Where's the fire, Dean?"

Dean glanced at Roman. "With how we've been treated since March? I'd be surprised if he's still in one piece. And I don't care what the little ninja says; his wrist hasn't healed right."

"What makes you think that?"

Dean shrugged one shoulder and gestured wildly with his hands. "It's not how he acts when he knows you're looking. No, it's how he acts when he thinks no one is. Jokes on him. I'm always there, watching my baby brother. He's better than most of the clowns here when it comes to thinking I'm not totally batshit-"

"Dean," Roman said, interrupting him unsure of where all this was coming from, "I don't think you're batshit."

Dean shot him a boyish grin. "Awe, thanks Uce. Nice to hear it even though it's a complete lie. You've told me how you felt enough times... And shh - shh - shhhhh, it's fine. I get."

Roman frowned. How could his brother think that? Still, it wasn't false; the Lunatic Fringe seemed to be even more deserving of his nickname than ever before, but Roman would never tell him that. Right? Right?

Dean dipped one of his fingers in the pudding and stirred it around a couple of times as he continued to say, "Sethie's the one with the most faith in me now, but he still doesn't give me enough credit. I can be a fly on the wall; I notice things. I see him sometimes, rubbing that wrist. And when he's playing in the Crossfit gym, he stays away from the ropes like they're going to attack him. He used to shake those things like a hyperactive chipmunk. Then I see times when he makes a face if he bends it the wrong way. I think that freaking sledgehammer did more damage than he is willing to let on. That's our Sethie: loyal to a tee and never says die even in excruciating pain."

There was a silence between the two men, which was only broken by Dean's messy slurping of the pudding.

"You get the feeling he resents us? Because of the Triple H situation?" Roman found himself asking, unsure if he even wanted to know Dean's thoughts on this.

Dean gave Roman a look like he thought Roman was the crazy one. "You serious, Uce?"

Roman nodded. "Yeah"

"Sethie doesn't have any beef with me, Uce. We're good; we're brothers." Dean scratched his messy curls. "You on the other hand...he's…"

"He's what?"

"He's not the happiest with you. Sometimes, I think he hates you more than Triple H." Dean glanced at Roman out of the corner of his eye. "But you knew that."

"What did I do?" Roman wondered if Seth was mad he turned down Triple H's offer.

"Aside from the obvious? I guess part of it has to do with how you acted when he had the cast on." Dean shrugged. "I think he took it personally that you weren't there for that Wyatt ambush. He wasn't allowed at ringside, and you weren't there for me."

Roman stopped walking; it took Dean a couple of steps before he realized Roman wasn't next to him. "Why wasn't I there?"

Dean shrugged, like the entire occurrence hadn't impacted him at all. "You said you had your reasons. I know you took your little temper tantrum against Hunter very seriously. Don't worry about it. I was only out for a week with the concussion and Wyatts didn't get the chance to turn me into a swamp ape thanks to fucking John Cena and our boy, Sethie."

Roman started walking again with Dean; his mind was reeling with the idea of him leaving Dean to fend for himself. "I just...I feel bad about it."

"I'm not holding a grudge and not just because I can't remember the night that well... We've all made mistakes. Seth almost sold out. You went AWOL. And me? Well, I guess there's always an exception to the rule. "

When they got to the meeting spot, they found Seth warming up by doing a handstand against the wall. His face lit up when he saw Dean. He flipped over and pulled the other man into a hug. "Where you've been, bro?"

Dean grinned. "Around. A pretty girl gave me pudding."

Seth smiled, fondly unsure of how to take that. "I can't tell if you mean pudding literally or if that's some weird slang for something. Either way good for you, man; sounds like a nice afternoon. Better than mine." Seth threw a glare at Roman over Dean's shoulder.

Dean messed up Seth's hair. "You know it's good for you to spend time with each other."

Seth rolled his eyes. "Why don't we just survive this 3 on 11 match and go from there?"

Dean's answer was another casual shrug, and he glanced at Roman. "Sounds good to me. What does Uce think?"

"Sure...Wait, did you say 3 on 11? Why would we be in a 3 on 11 match? We were done with those after the breakup..."

Dean focused wide blue eyes with a look of disbelief at Roman, while Seth shot him a look of great-we're-still-playing-this-clueless-and-slightly-delusional game.

Then Dean burst out laughing; he bent forward, clutching his abdomen. "Man, Uce! You haven't cracked a joke in the longest time! Not since the one about Seth being an over-dramatic skunk head! But, that… that was a good one!"

Seth glared at Roman over the still-laughing Dean. "Over-dramatic skunk head? Really Roman? We're all adults here, can't we act more like it?"

"I didn't...I don't remember saying that," Roman said; his defense sounded weak even to him.

"Yeah, yeah and that just makes it so much better…" Seth bit his lip before taking a deep breath, seeming to keep himself from saying something he would later regret.

"Sierra Hotel India Echo Lima Delta Shield"

Seth spun on his heel and strode out while mumbling under his breath, "Let's get this over with."

Dean smiled at Roman in almost a conspiratorial way. "You know, I think something you said upset him."

"Something I said? And why are we entering through the stage and not the crowd?"

"We haven't done that since April. Don't you remember, Uce?" Dean grinned and practically ran out to catch up to Seth.

Roman sighed even more confused than he already was and followed Dean out to the ring.

For the first time in a very long time, Roman wasn't greeted with a solid chorus of boos. It was strange; Roman was so used to the boos by now that anything else was foreign, erie.

But Roman wasn't greeted with boos; no, he was greeted by nothing. It wasn't silence per se; there was still the general background noises: muffled conversations, flutters of movement when someone got up or switched seats, the calls of drink venders… But no one cheered, and no one booed. The crowd was indifferent.

Roman glanced around at the seated masses, feeling bewildered. Why didn't anyone care the Shield was making its way to the ring?

He could see Seth climb to the middle rope on one of the turnbuckles and throw his arms up to a few scattered, smattering of claps and cheers. Dean did the same on the other turnbuckle to the same effect plus one "AMBOOTY" call. Roman carefully climbed one of the other turnbuckles, and he observed the occasional fan or two politely clap for him.

What was this crap? People loved the Shield before the breakup. They were the very definition of "over." Why weren't the fans cheering now?

Seth and Dean didn't seemed phased by this reaction. They seemed not only used to it, but they had expected this reception. Most of the fans believed the Shield had run its course. And the faction had been together for far too long. They were boring now.

When Lillian announced the the eleven members of the opposing side, Roman was unsurprised to hear they were facing the New Day, Big Show, Sheamus, Wade Barrett, Rusev, Kane, and Kevin Owens. He wasn't expecting her to announce Randy Orton's name, who apparently never turned face or was injured, nor did he expect to hear NXT's Baron Corbin's name. The large man had apparently been called up last month, and Dean practically hissed when he saw the Lone Wolf.

As Dean paced back and forth behind them, Seth (seemingly forgetting his frustration with the Samoan) leaned over to Roman, and with his voice barely audible over the massive cheers for their opponents, Seth muttered, "Corbin's a prick and Orton… He's one episode away from a cushy cell in solitary confinement. I don't like this."

"I...don't know much about that Baron guy." And this was very true. All Roman knew was Corbin was in NXT from when he was from; he hadn't had any encounters with the man.

Seth stopped himself from criticizing Roman for his continuous obliviousness and decided to give him a real answer. "None of us really do. He was called up and interfered with Cena's match with Del Rio. After he caused the DQ, he beat the shit out of Cena. He seems like a wild card here. Watch out for Orton; he seems way too happy right now, which can't mean anything good for us"

"Okay Seth, you usually have a good feel for these situations. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for him," Roman said while he watched Orton climb the ropes to do his signature pose. The Viper smirked at him and Seth.

Seth looked at Roman surprised and actually smiled, like he was surprised Roman would listen to his advice and take him seriously.

Dean stopped his pacing from somewhere behind Roman and Seth to mumble, "Usual suspects. Should be a piece of cake. We got this in the bag."

Seth rolled his eyes but couldn't help the fond grin from forming on his face. "You pumped up, Dean?"

Dean smirked. "I feel good tonight. I could take out all these guys on my own."

"Wanna start out then?" Seth asked rubbing his wrist.

Dean watched Seth rub his wrist and then meeting the high flyer's eyes. "You really needed to ask? I got this, bro."

Seth grinned and climbed onto the apron with Roman following suit. Dean squared up against Rusev.

Dean did not take out all eleven opponents.

Pretty early on in the match, Dean took a bump, which really rattled the Lunatic Fringe and since then, he seemed out of it. He and Seth would tag each other in and out, avoiding tagging Roman.

A part of Roman understood. Seth had so much resentment built up against him, it wasn't even funny. On the other hand, he didn't understand Dean's reluctance to tag him. While Dean and he didn't seem to have the best of relationship, the Lunatic Fringe seemed to at least trust him and didn't seem to hold anything at all against him. Well, Roman doubted if Dean held anything against anyone nowadays; the man seemed... vacant.

The two avoided tagging him, and they would have kept doing this until the end of the match if Dean hadn't been completely rendered senseless on the floor outside the ring after a cheap shot by Baron Corbin.

Seth froze when he realized Dean wasn't on the apron; his hand stopped reaching in midair to the partner that wasn't there. The high flyer looked at Roman and seemed to struggle mentally with himself.

"Ah yes, everything seems hunkey dorey to little-ole me!" A Southern accented voice said before the speaker broke into giggles.

Roman froze and glanced behind him. Sitting in the front row in a Hounds of Justice T-shirt was none other than Marty. How had Roman not noticed her before? The strange woman made an odd show of pointedly looking at a spot on the floor next to the ring, which was strange since there was nothing there... Then she flipped her dark brown hair over her shoulder and smirked at Roman before she made a gesture for him to turn back around and pay attention to the match.

However, it was too late; Roman's moment of preoccupation was too much. During his brief moment of distraction, Seth had tried to make a tag, leaping out with his hand extended; however, Roman didn't tag him. No, the Powerhouse was too busy crowd watching to participate in the match. Seth felt tendrils of rage radiate through him, but before he could scream at Roman, he was yanked backwards by Baron Corbin and effortlessly flung into the opposing corner.

Randy Orton tagged himself into the match. Corbin looked livid for a moment before he decided to exit the ring and hang on the apron. Orton beelined it to Seth in the corner and began to rain down punches on the man. Then Orton picked up Seth in an Exploder suplex, tossing him backwards over his shoulder and Seth landed in a heap face down.

Roman glanced down at Dean who was just beginning to stir. He didn't like where this was heading; he trusted this Orton far less than the one that turned against The Authority. This version seemed far less willing to think for himself than the one away from the Authority had. Perhaps it stemmed from a bratty Seth not trying to steal his golden boy role. Whatever the reason behind Orton's erratic behavior, Roman would protect his brothers. He was just about to enter the ring when the official spun around and held him back, telling him his partners hadn't tagged him in.

Orton made eye contact with Roman who was still being held back by the official, and the Viper smirked at the predicament. Orton's smirk grew and his eyes lit up as though he was just struck by the most brilliant epiphany of his life. He turned back to Seth and targeted the Architect's right wrist with a vicious stomp. Seth screamed, rising up into a kneeling position,clutching his wrist. Orton smirked as he backed up to set himself up for his punt kick.

Orton began charging at Seth, but before he could perform the finisher, Dean flung himself from the ropes and dove into Orton. The Lunatic Fringe began punching Orton in his typical scrappy brawler style.

Dean's defense was halted when he was tossed out of the ring by an interfering Kane, and Roman's was prevented altogether when he was pulled off the apron by Baron Corbin. As the Lone Wolf yanked on his leg, the gold watch fell out of Roman's pocket and skidded across the floor. Roman glanced at it, taking in the sight without really comprehending what he saw. Before Roman could do anything, Corbin put the Samoan into the End of Days. In the ring, a slightly dazed but still smirking Orton hooked one of Seth's legs for a pin. Seth was too busy holding his wrist in pain to kick out.

Seth, still grasping his wrist, rolled out of the ring. He bypassed Roman completely and staggered to Dean. Dean pulled himself to his feet and grabbed Seth into a side hug.

Beneath the noise from the crowd and the sound of their opponents in the ring still celebrating, Roman could hear his brothers muttering to each other.

"Stop that, Dean. It's not your fault."

"How bad does it feel? You think it's broken? I'll kill that snake. See how far he can slither after he meets a weed wacker."

"No, don't do that. You'll end up in jail."

"Not if the pieces left over are small enough that no one finds them."

Roman propped himself up on his elbows to look at his brothers, who were still huddled together talking in hushed tones. A soft peal of laughter from the ringside seats behind him caused Roman to glance into the crowd. Marty bowed her head forward as her body shook with laughter, which bordered on hysterics. She made eye contact with Roman and winked. Roman scowled and glanced back at his teammates.

Seth was shaking his head at Dean in exasperation, still clutching his wrist. "Dean, bad idea, like worse than the the time you-"

"Your dog eats meat, right?" Dean asked interrupting whatever regrettable situation Dean had put him in in the past.

Seth sighed and began to say, "Dean, Kevin is way too small to be-"

"Wait! You're avoiding the question! How's it feel?"

"Like shit," Seth's face was an unreadable deadpan, but Roman could see his eyes were kind of watery, and he was biting his lip.

Dean immediately sprung into action. With his arms still wrapped around Seth's shoulders, he began leading the Architect to the back. The two wasted no spare glances back at Roman as they left him behind.

Sighing, Roman glanced back to the crowd, only to see Marty was gone and n her place was a vacant chair.

Roman got to his feet. He averted his gaze from the crowd, preferring to study the floor instead; he felt embarrassed by the match. It wasn't the fact they had lost, but how they could not function as a team. As Roman began to trudge to the back, he noticed a glint of gold by the ring. His eyes widened as he recognized the familiar watch, and patted his pockets to be sure it was what he thought. Oddly enough, the watch had ended up in the same spot Marty had focused on earlier; was it possible the woman knew it was going to fall before it did? And what was she doing here anyways? Roman snatched up the pocket watch, feeling what appeared to be several superficial scratches on the back of it. Roman then hurried to the back.

Once he reached the Shield's locker room, he collapsed onto the small couch and buried his head in his arms. What was this reality? Everything was supposed to be perfect with his brothers reunited once again. And this...this world wasn't even close to what he'd expected. He thought after his confrontation with Seth, everything was remedied.

Wait, maybe Roman had approached this all wrong! Maybe it was the fact he confronted Seth...Maybe if he had just gone about it more subtly, everything would be different. Roman could fix this. He would fix this.

Roman pulled on the Hounds of Justice hoodie he wore when he arrived at this time. Before he tossed the vest aside, he pulled out the pocket watch from where he'd stashed it in one of his pockets. He could do this. He would do this. He spun the dials once again and closed his eyes to turn back a moment in time once again.

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