Ahem Yes, well I guess I should apologize for the lengthy wait for this chapter after such a long one for the last one. I can tell school's starting from all sides though. My writing's coming slower, though I swear I'll still try to get a new chapter in every week, and the reviews are slowing down. Not that I'm complaining, the ones that I do get make my day! Pretty cool reviews, dudes! And I'm proud to say that I'm keeping up with responding to everyone personally, well, those who reviewed signed in anyway. So thanks to: BlueFox of the Moon, Poet Bucky, ramen-is-my-goddess, SarahXxUnlovedxX, Aindel S. Druida, Takara Zizumea, Tinker16, NightmareFairy, Bitter-Sweet Beauty x3, The Flurry of Destiny, XfallenXshadowX (Yami), Silver Butterfly07, Ivy J., yumie-darkness123, Yours For all Eternity, -IvyBlonde-, Lady Stars, Scootkadoot! Go, reviewers, go!

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Roxas leaned his head back against the metal bars, inhaling deeply as he closed his eyes. He knew that he told Riku he would be alright, but he hadn't realized how dark it would be. He couldn't see anything past the bars of the cage, even the edges of his cage were shrouded in shadow. He hadn't thought that it would bother him that much but it did, it really did. Everything was black outside his small space, anything could be going on.

And worst of all the shadows seemed to move. Roxas knew it was probably just his eyes playing tricks on him but he could swear that he saw things shooting by out of the corner of his eyes, twisting and slithering past. And then there were noises. The creaking of wood, a small scuffle every hour or so. They all sent chills down Roxas's spine. It was all he could do to pull his legs up to his chest.

He was also hungry. He hadn't eaten anything since dinner however many days ago, and at the time he had been too worried about Cloud and Leon to eat all that much. He was regretting that decision as his stomach gave another complaining rumble; it had basically been the only thing he had had to listen to for the past few hours. Well, besides the occasional terrifying sound from outside his cage. Of course, he knew he really shouldn't have been bothered by small creaks and other sounds, but the darkness had made him paranoid. The hunger and exhaustion also helped, as well as the pain in his chest and in the rest of his limbs from having to sit on a hard ground for so long.

Riku still hadn't come out of that room. Roxas wasn't entirely sure how much time had passed, but he knew that it had been a while. The more cynical side of him told him that he had probably been momentarily forgotten, but that was mainly to cover up a deeper sense of dread. If something bad had happened to Riku, well then he would be on his own.

With a quiet groan, he reached up to rub his eyes. He really wanted to get out of this place. At this point he'd be happy with just about anyone coming to get him, as long as that person was normal. Screw it, he'd even be happy if some criminal broke in and rescued him at this point, or even a friendly ghost. He could deal with that.

He sighed, letting his hands fall back to his sides. "Damn it, Axel, where are you…?"

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At the moment, Axel was standing outside the building he, Zexion, and Demyx had been investigating when Leon found them the last time they had been in Hallow Bastion. Leon had them circle around once, checking for any other exits other than the front door from which Maleficent could escape. He was also looking among the surrounding alleys to familiarize everyone with the setting, and in case Roxas or Riku had managed to get away and were somewhere nearby. However, with no trace of either of the boys, and no other exits out of the building, they made their way back to the front.

Axel had been silently seething during the time wasted to walk around the building, even if it was beneficial, and took great satisfaction in kicking the door open as hard as he could after Leon's signal. The rusted metal hinges shrieked as the wooden door splintered and it only took one more kick before it cracked open, the door splitting apart. Axel stepped past the wreckage, Demyx following closely behind him.

The blond's face was cautiously curious as he looked around the dark and dusty warehouse space, but his hand closed on Axel's shoulder tightly nonetheless as he saw that the red head was about to bolt. "We need to stay together." His voice was light but at the same time warned Axel not to argue. "Who knows what's in here, right? And we wouldn't want one of us to get hurt when we have Roxas and Riku to worry about."

Axel growled under his breath but waited beside Demyx, his foot tapping restlessly as the others filed in. Zexion was the last inside, his disgust for the place showing clear in his expression just before it disappeared behind a black sleeve as he lifted his jacket sleeve up to cover his nose and mouth.

Cloud's nose wrinkled as well. "Ugh, what's that smell?"

Leon sniffed once then snorted the scent back out as he recognized the stench. "Rats mostly. Hallow Bastion's full of them. You're probably getting some smell of trash and waste trapped in here from the outer alleys too."

"Let's just get this over with…" Zexion muttered, reaching in his side bag for his holy book. He flipped open the book then scowled when he realized that he couldn't read his text in the dark room. "Does anyone have a light?"

Both Leon and Namine turned on the flashlights they had brought, casting two roving spotlights about the walls. The warehouse was full of boxes of various sizes spread out in a seemingly random fashion, their painted-on labels having worn away from age. There weren't as many spider webs as to be expected, but everything was covered in a thick layer of dust.

Demyx grinned sheepishly at his sister as Leon and Axel moved forward, catching her attention as he motioned down to the flashlight. "Heh, I knew I was forgetting something!"

Namine shook her head but smiled sweetly anyway and handed him the light as she reached for her own shoulder bag. "Here, hold this for Zexion while I get the charms."

"Do you sense something already?" Demyx asked, his eyes flashing over to Leon and Axel worriedly, watching as they slowly picked their way forward. His fingers tightened around the flashlight and the beam of light wavered a little over Zexion's book but Namine shook her head.

"No, not yet, not directly anyway. There is something here though, but it's either very faint or else powerful enough to mask itself from my senses. I'm guessing that unfortunately it's the latter since I know who we're dealing with." Suddenly her hand froze halfway into the bag and her head snapped up, eyes darting to a corner of the room as a rustle echoed from the same direction.

Zexion's sharp gaze had also risen from his book. "A rat?" He asked, his fingers tightening on his pages. Obviously for him the idea of a rat was much more disturbing to him than a ghost.

Namine shook her head, her voice small. "No."

Cloud frowned, having listened in to the conversation and barked over to Leon. "Heads up, something's coming!"

Leon waved his hand to signal that he had heard, his hand slipping down to the gun on his belt. At the moment, he and Axel were virtually surrounded by rows of boxes, definitely a bad strategic location because, unfortunately, most of the wooden crates were chest-high; easy shields for anything that was crouching over. He turned to Axel, "You heard him, keep sharp."

"Oh believe me, I'm ready for them to come." Eyes narrowed, Axel pulled out a switch-blade, flipping it up in the air before catching it in a ready position.

Leon eyed the weapon briefly before turning back to the boxes ahead of them, his eyes and ears focused on the shadows just as much as the areas lit by his flashlight. "For some reason," he murmured, the pauses in his speech showing that he was paying more attention to the situation at hand than the conversation. "I expected you to have a different weapon than a knife. It doesn't really seem to connect to the supernatural all that well."

"First off, it is made of iron, which spirits can't stand. And secondly, it's not my weapon of choice, but those are back at my apartment in my room and are a little too big to carry out on the city streets. Perfectly legal though, I swear."

Leon merely grunted in response, both of them tensing at a clattering sound off to the side. Axel craned his head to look over Leon's shoulder just in time to see a flash of moving shadow shooting out toward them on the ridge of boxes, outside of Leon's peripheral vision. With a sharp yell, he pulled Leon over just as the thing leapt off of its high perch, the clattering sound of its fall masking Leon's curse of surprise.

Stumbling a few steps to catch himself from falling into Axel, Leon quickly whipped around with his flashlight, his and Axel's eyes widening as the light locked onto a small armored creature picking itself up off of the cement floor.

In the distance, Axel could hear the others' shouts as they ran toward them. One of his hands was still locked firmly on Leon's sleeve as the creature shook itself off, its armor rattling noisily. So this was one of Maleficent's minions? Axel's grip on his switch-blade tightened a little at the thought. Leon seemed to snap out of his shock at about the same time because in a heartbeat his gun was up in position. The creature, which looked almost like a bird of sorts, cocked his head to the side at the sight of the weapon then made both men jump as it put a hand up to its mouth and shouted in a too-human squawk. "They're armed! Sound the alarm!"

Axel's eyes widened. "Shit, shoot it!"

"What?"

"Shoot it!"

Leon growled but pulled the trigger. The armored bird disappeared in a puff of ash but it was too late, more clanking could be heard coming from all directions. Scowling, Leon grabbed Axel's arm, "Back to the group!"

Axel didn't argue, both of their weapons out and ready as he followed Leon back toward where the others were standing. Their pace quickened as the metallic running sounded louder in the echoing warehouse. Axel had to keep his eyes on the path ahead to make sure he didn't trip over anything that the flashlight hadn't picked up but out of the corner of his eyes he could see things climbing over boxes, coming closer toward them, their movement matched in time to the sound of the clanking. It wasn't much of a surprise then when, about five yards away from the other four, a shadow shot in front of them, cutting them off.

Both Leon and Demyx's lights came down on it simultaneously, showing a glint of metal just fast enough for Leon to dodge a heavy axe as it came swinging at his leg. As Leon jumped back out of range of the weapon, Axel struck forward and sliced through the creature's chest plate, the armor ripping open as if it was made of paper. The creature spun off to the side, letting out an animalistic squeal of pain as it scurried off in the direction it had come, too fast for Axel to give chase.

Axel apparently kept his eyes on the thing for too long though as beside him, Leon suddenly shouted, "Demyx, get down!"

Demyx immediately obeyed and Axel got a glimpse of another creature standing on a box right behind the four just as Leon fired his weapon. Once again, the creature disappeared into an ashy haze. Demyx stood up uneasily, though a smile flickered across his face as Leon and Axel finally made it to them. "Thanks, I didn't even see that there!"

"Me neither…" Cloud muttered, his own pocket knife in hand, "It didn't make a sound."

Axel smirked as Leon moved over to stand beside Cloud. "Well at least we know we're in the right place." His gaze moved over to Namine. "What the hell are those things anyway?"

Shaking her head, Namine reached into her bag, her hands trembling slightly. "Nothing I have ever seen personally. Their aura is strange though, did you sense it too Demyx?"

Demyx nodded. "Ya, it was like a natural aura, the kind from like and animal or something, but it was…ugly or something."

Hearing that her brother felt the same, Namine added. "Most likely these things were animals sacrificed for dark magic. A powerful spell could have turned them into these demon minions."

"Speaking of which," Axel cut in, "I haven't heard anything from our beastie friends in a while."

"If they can actually think, they might be hesitating since we can fight back." Leon suggested gruffly.

"No," shaking his head, Axel looked around them, "I don't think these things have the capacity to hesitate. They're probably just following that witch's orders; which means she's probably waiting for us to make the first move." He frowned, running a hair anxiously through his red spikes. "What are we supposed to do now?"

"Keep searching." Zexion snapped his book shut as he continued. "If we keep together and they come at us one or two at a time, we will easily be able to hold them back. This room isn't that large and we know that Roxas and Riku have to be around here somewhere."

"If they're here, why haven't they given us any indication yet?" Namine asked quietly.

Frowning, Zexion tilted his head toward her before his eyes went back down to his book. "For all we know they could be gagged or even unconscious. There are plenty of more reasons why they wouldn't be able to respond to us. Do you have your charms out yet?"

Namine nodded as she pulled her sketch book out of her bag. When she opened the front cover, scraps of paper almost tumbled out. She caught them with a small gasp then brought them under the light to reveal that they had been marked up with different Wiccan symbols. Cloud's eyes narrowed curiously. "What do all of those do?"

Glancing up at him, Namine smiled almost shyly as the blond man inspected her work. "They're basically spells on paper. I have magic stored up on most of them so that Demyx and I don't have to exhaust ourselves using the energy we have right now. Most of them correspond to a certain element too, to make things simpler."

"Enough explanations, let's get moving." Axel said. Namine sighed lightly but besides that seemed to take no offense; she was apparently sympathetic to Axel's concern enough to let his words go without argument.

As they started to search, the most obvious change in the room was that it was now completely silent except for the sound of their own movement. It was like the creatures were just waiting, their presence thick in the air as they just watched the small group of humans explore the area. Everyone was tense and Axel could feel his hands starting to sweat a little as they continued on, every new row of boxes leading to greater disappointment when they found no trace of either one of the boys, no trace of the room being even touched by a human for years.

They reached the far end of the warehouse in ten minutes and Axel twisted around. "This can't be all there is here. This is the place where they're being held, it can't be empty."

Demyx bit his lip. "We might have gotten the wrong building, maybe they're next door?"

"Then why would those demons be wandering around here? Why did they attack us if we weren't getting to close?" Axel threw his hands up in the air, exasperated.

"I think the real question," Zexion, whose nose had practically been buried in his text the entire search, murmured, "Is why is the ceiling so low?"

Axel paused, his arms falling to his sides as he looked up. The ceiling was low. From the outside, it had looked like the building had been two stories tall or more. But this room was, at most, fifteen feet high. "There's a second floor." He glanced down at Zexion, "That's what you're getting at, right? The fact that there's a second floor?"

Zexion nodded absently. "From the outside, the building was notably one of the taller ones on the block. Furthermore, there were two stories of windows, even though all of them had been boarded up. Unfortunately, I didn't notice any staircases or even any hatches in the ceiling that could have been accessible by ladder, so the actual way up must be cloaked somehow."

Demyx turned to Namine. "Can you sense any spells?"

"Faintly, I wouldn't be surprised if you couldn't, they've been very well masked." She closed her eyes for a moment. "I'm getting an image of a group of crates, one tall one has metal rivets holding the sides together. A lamp is hanging above them but the image is focused on the floor." Her eyes fluttered open and she looked around the room. "I'm sorry I couldn't be anymore specific, but there is a spell around here somewhere."

Axel sighed, running a hand through his spikes again. The only problem with Namine's psychic outlet was that getting images wasn't always the easiest way to locate something. But as he scanned the room, following the searching beam of the flashlights, his eyes fell on a particular lamp hanging from the ceiling and a tall crate underneath it that had metal rivets. "Over there, that might be it!"

He led the group over to the spot, his eyes locked onto the ground as soon as they had made it under the lamp. It was Demyx though, who found something first. "I found the spell, but it looks really complicated."

They all crowded around him, Leon and Cloud keeping their attention outwards in case anything tried to jump them as Namine, Zexion, and Axel leaned over to look. It was a concentric circle carved into the ground, each level of the target-like shape gouged out by sharp-edged symbols. Axel frowned as Namine gingerly traced one of the small symbols with her finger. "What does it mean?"

"It's a high-level illusion spell. Truthfully, I've never seen anything like it before!" Swallowing, she pulled back from it a little. "I can't unlock this, Axel."

"What? Why not?"

"It's too…too big, too evil. Even with Demyx helping, we'd both probably faint before even undoing half of the spell from all the magic we'd have to use." She looked up at Axel with wide eyes, "It's one thing to cast a black magic spell, all you need is the right kind of sacrifice. But it's another thing altogether to try and undo it with white magic."

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Axel hissed. He twitched as Demyx touched his arm lightly.

"Namine and I need to go back home. We need to meditate and fast for a few hours, and probably call Auron to help us out with this."

"Or we can just break down all the frickin' walls, the stairs are hiding behind one of them, right?"

"We couldn't do that. The illusion is so set that even if we did break down the right stairs, we would run right through the staircase itself and be out on the street. This spell is making it invisible to every one of our senses."

"Could we destroy the spell then?"

Zexion frowned. "The spell is carved into the concrete. It would take just as long to find the tools to break into it as it would take Namine and Demyx to ready themselves. Either way, we're can't save Riku or Roxas just yet."

Growling, Axel slammed his fist down on the symbol "Damn it!" His shoulders fell. "We're so damn close."

Suddenly a snarl drew all of their attentions away from the mark on the ground, their gazes flying up to the source of the noise. It was one of those creatures, perched on top of the crate with the rivets, its pig snout twitching as it bellowed out. "Attack the intruders, they've found the seal!"

And suddenly they were surrounded. Without a sound of approach there were not just by five or ten creatures but by dozens of them. Snarling, Leon raised his weapon as the apparent leader jumped, hitting it straight between the eyes before moving on to the next closest demon. "I've only got twenty-one more rounds!" He yelled over the sudden din of crashing metal, still firing despite his shortage as Cloud moved so that they were back-to-back.

The blond grimaced, slashing out at one as he kicked out at another that went for his leg. "Then you're going to have to use that thing as a blunt weapon!"

Not two feet away, Axel couldn't even hear what Leon and Cloud were saying as he sliced through another demon's thick layer of armor, his iron knife cutting through them easier than Cloud's but still not as fast as he needed. The things were piling on top of each other trying to get them and it was just a matter of time until-

"Demyx!"

Axel turned to see Demyx swaying on his feet, his left hand clenched around his right arm, Zexion holding him upright as Namine stepped in front with a charm that blasted his attacker back a yard or so with a burst of air. Even in the dim light Axel could see Demyx's sleeve darkening quickly as the Wiccan boy leaned against Zexion for support and gritted his teeth. Zexion's face was livid with anger and he began to mutter a prayer under his breath as he held onto his boyfriend. Axel imaged whatever demon was on the receiving end was going to disappear slowly and painfully.

Seeing his eyes on them though, Namine quickly passed Axel a scrap of paper. "Quickly, this is a fire element, use your lighter!"

Not needing to be told twice, Axel cut at one more demon with his knife as it charged him then fished into his pockets for his lighter. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Leon punch one of the creatures square in the jaw but before he could guess as to why the cop wasn't using his gun, his fingers closed around his lighter. With a flourish, he pulled it out and snapped it open, kicking back a spear before holding up the charm and lighting it up.

The charm remained stagnant for a moment, and for a brief second as he watched the creatures closing in, Axel thought that it might not do anything but burn. Then the writing on it suddenly glowed and Axel had to brace himself as a spiral of fire tore out of the charm, singeing every demon that it touched. "Now this is the firepower we need!" Axel said, grinning as he burned through the swarm shadowy creatures, leaving piles of ash in his wake. The fierce fire of the charm burned out quickly though and Axel had to drop it as it burned up, the heat soaking through his leather gloves at the last moment.

However the fire spell had definitely helped, and Axel threw himself back into the fight with renewed vigor, switch-blade in hand. Luckily, the demons were usually pretty thick, and moved slowly, their weapons the only thing that was really a threat. But still, more than once, Axel found himself thrown onto the ground. Dodging a blow from a particularly nasty looking sword, Axel again fell back, this time bumping into another warm body. Craning his neck back he saw that it was Zexion, who gave him an annoyed look, apparently having been interrupted mid-prayer by the way he continued. "-In nomine patrii, et filii, et spiritus sanctii. Amen."

The effect of the prayer was immediate and as soon as Zexion had said the last word an invisible force rippled out from Zexion and pushed the demons back, away from the four of them and virtually uncovering Leon and Cloud, who had been hidden by a wall of moving shadows. Leon's leg was bleeding as heavily as Demyx's arm but with Cloud's help he managed to limp over to them. Zexion's attention however, was fully on Demyx. "That prayer should give you about one minute." He pressed a vial into the other's hands and Demyx nodded.

"Alright. Nami, the charm." He looked up when he felt Axel's gaze. "You did such a good job with that fire charm, I figured if I could get a strong water one, we could beat these guys. But this one needs to be set on the ground, so Zexy gave me a little space! And provided the holy water, which should be extra helpful." He set the piece of paper onto the floor, kneeling down next to it. He appeared to be pointedly ignoring his wound at the moment as he uncorked the vial of water, his eyes closing as he sprinkled it onto the paper.

The symbol on the paper instantly glowed and Demyx's eyes flashed open as the first geyser of water sprung out of the solid concrete, washing away three of the demons at once. The first was quickly followed by more bursts of water and Axel watched as Namine put her hand on Demyx's shoulder, giving him more power. It was certainly a thing to see when they brought out the strong spells. The water was coming up almost rhythmically, each burst hitting multiple creatures.

When everything finally settled the room was wet, cold, but empty. Demyx was the first to move, laughing weakly as he peeled the sopping and now blank piece of paper off from. "Yay, it worked."

Cloud frowned then sat Leon down onto the floor, crouching down beside him. "Alright, the coast is clear. Now lift your leg and roll up your pants so I can see the damage."

"Cloud, this probably isn't the best time…"

"Squall, lift your damn leg." Leon scowled but did as he was told, resting his ankle on Cloud's leg as Cloud turned to Zexion. "I'll take a look at Demyx in a second. I'm pretty sure I have some bandages in the saddlebags of my bike so it would be good if you could just try to roll up his shirt past the wound. Be careful around the wound itself though."

Demyx looked over at Cloud curiously. "Why do you have bandages on your bike?"

"When you travel with our family, it becomes mandatory. I should have some antiseptic too ever since Roxas bloodied up his knee on that hiking trip." His voice trailed off as he rolled Leon's pant leg up far enough to inspect the wound and he looked at it carefully. "The good news is that it didn't seem to hit bone or any major arteries. It's deep but some how the worst of it seems to have cauterized already, meaning the blood right now is just from the skin level. I should be able to treat it without a trip to the hospital. Now hold tight while I check on Demyx."

After a moment, Cloud had decided that while both of the wounds looked bad, they weren't particularly fatal and that he would be able to treat and bandage them outside.

Although all of the demons seemed to have disappeared for good, it still felt a little like they were retreating from the building as they exited. But there wasn't anything they could do for the moment, the illusion spell cast on the upper level was too strong, and they would have to come back.

Knowing that there was nothing he could do did not improve Axel's mood any. He only looked back at the building once though, the frustration of being so close yet so far slowly eating away at him.

But they'd be back soon, they said it would take only a few hours to get ready, and Axel would make sure that they stuck to that schedule. Leaning against the side of his van, he watched as Cloud began to wrap Demyx's wound, Leon on his cell phone with Sora as Zexion and Namine talked quietly about how they could get themselves ready as best they could.

It was going to be a long day.

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Sora sat up straight as his cell phone rang in his pocket and fumbled to answer it as Kairi put the movie they were watching on pause. It had been the best thing she could think of that would keep his mind off things but it obviously hadn't worked as well as either of them would have liked. He had managed to snap out of his shock completely after his initial breakdown, but now all he could do was worry.

"Hello?"

"Sora, its Leon."

"Leon, what's going on? Are Riku and Roxas okay? Did they say what happened-?"

"-Sora." The tone of his father's voice made Sora stop immediately. Leon sighed. "We weren't able to get them out yet. There were complications and we can't get upstairs, which is where they're most likely being held. Cloud and I are going to go to Axel's apartment so call there if we don't pick up our cell phones for whatever reason. But I want you to stay at Kairi's, probably overnight if it's okay with her family."

Sora frowned, sitting up a little straighter. "No. I don't want to stay here all night!" He looked sheepishly over at Kairi, "No offense, Kairi."

She rolled her eyes fondly as Leon sighed again on the other end of the phone, this time with more exasperation. "Sora…"

"No, Dad, I want to help. I can't just sit here while Roxas and Riku are in trouble, I need to do something. Axel's apartment isn't that far from here, you or Cloud can come pick me up on your way there."

"Sora, we're not bringing you along. It's dangerous. There are things carrying real weaponry down here. Demyx has already been hurt. Not to mention the fact that the whole thing's in Hollow Bastion. If you stay at Kairi's Cloud and I won't have to worry about you."

"Dad, I'm not a kid anymore, I'm eighteen." Sora stood up. "I'm an adult and right now my little brother and my boyfriend are out there, maybe even dying, and I need to help find them. Because even if Roxas is fine, which he probably isn't, I know Riku is going to be in trouble. I'll walk to Hollow Bastion if I have to but I will get there."

"I can drive you." Kairi offered.

Sora grinned, putting his free hand on his hip. "There. Kairi just said she'll drive me. So either you pick me up or I'll meet you there, but one way or another, I'm going to be there."

There was a long pause on the other end of the line before Leon spoke up again. "You're set on this, aren't you?"

"Yep!"

"Alright. I'll pick you up in my squad car in fifteen minutes."

"Thanks, Leon. Love you, bye!"

Sora's grin melted away as he hung up and he sunk back down onto the couch beside Kairi. "That was scarier than I thought it would have been."

"What, talking to your dad?"

"No, disagreeing with him!" Sora smiled sheepishly as he straightened up, "I've never not done what he's said before." He blinked, "It was actually pretty easy. Weird."

"Well, you should have heard yourself talking to him. I don't think anyone could have said no to that." Kairi smiled sadly as Sora looked down at the cell phone still sitting loosely in his hand and reached over to pat his leg. "It's going to be okay. I'm sure Roxas and Riku are fine, or, they will be fine once you get there. You have to stay optimistic."

"I know. I'm trying."

Kairi wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "I know you are. You just need to try a little longer."

Sora nodded. He would get Riku and Roxas back. And he was going to be there when they were rescued. He wasn't entirely sure he could really be of any help with fighting ghosts or casting spells, but no one else had known Roxas or Riku for as long as he had, and he would rather that they all face danger together than on their own.

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