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(Yang Pov)
"You weren't kind this time either." I drove my motorcycle through my mother's gateway without a backwards glance. Weiss clung tight to me as we passed through the swirling shadow.
My uncle was on the other side just as my mother had promised. He was the same as ever except for the chair. My eyes ran down it to his legs, then quickly back up to his face.
Jaune was there too, the two seemed to be sharing a drink on a Mistral vista with a broken piece of wood in Qrow's lap and a flask in one hand.
I missed whatever they had been talking about; guess our entrance had interrupted whatever they were discussing.
I drove the motorcycle to a shuddering stop in front of them and Weiss dismounted behind me. Qrow's face broke into a grin while Jaune just sort of stood there looking gobsmacked. Typical Jaune stuff, really. Except he was bloodsoaked.
"Uncle Qrow!" I let loose at the sight of the missing limbs. "What happened?"
"It was one fucking fight." He clenched his fist and jaw. I took the moment to really take them in, Jaune looked off from my memory of him at Beacon. His silhouette was different, with a different set of armor and a larger sword across his back. He also looked roughed up a little.
I heard the portal shut behind us. Good riddance.
"And Jaune?" Weiss murmured beside me. "What happened to you?"
He nervously shuffled. Classic Jaune; something else was off, though. "Bit of a bar scuffle. Nothing super serious. Haha." He laughed it off. Or tried to.
It looked serious, though, more serious than any bar scuffle I'd been in, if not as serious as Qrow's missing legs had to be.
"Seriously, what happened to you?" I demanded addressing my uncle. My mother had just given me the run-around for a solid half hour. Maybe I was short of patience.
"Fought this big Grimm, on my own. Didn't go well. Your little sister found me, bought me the chair, and carried me to Mistral. Had some help from this guy, too." He bumped Jaune. "Come on, your sister will be happy to see you. Both of you." Jaune handed his drink to Qrow and got behind the chair and started pushing in what looked like a fairly familiar routine.
Weiss and I exchanged a glance before we followed them inside. The view from the vista was fine and all but I wanted to see my sister.
"I'm back!" Qrow called once he entered the place.
"Be right there!" My sister answered from inside the rustic Mistrali house. Low ceilings and wide rugs with the occasional plant potted here and there all built around a central garden. "No I'm not. Shut up." Ruby said to somebody else out of view.
"Hey-uh-Ruby." Qrow called out again.
Ruby came waltzing out of what must be the kitchen based on the smell, carrying a full tray of tea and biscuits. "We didn't know how much to make so we just-"
To be honest I rather had my fill of the stuff in Raven's tent. Maybe it was for the best then, because when she looked up she dropped the tray, shattering the pieces across the hardwood floor with a slight gasp.
"Yang! I'm s-so sorry I s-should have stayed I should have talked to you more, I just- I wasn't sure if you wanted me around-" I crossed the distance between us and took my little sister in my arms.
I did my best to silence her tears. "I love you."
She continued to cry. "I love you too."
I turned and gestured to Weiss but she already averted her gaze out of some sense of respect for us. It wasn't needed or wanted from either of us.
"Weiss." Ruby murmured. Together we held out our arms for her and she pranced over to embrace the two of us in a big three way hug.
I noticed Jaune slip by us after hanging his weapons on a clothes rack. He was acting shifty. This spot of affection did not blind my sisterly eye.
When we released it was evidently time to eat. For the rest of us, that was. I could hear a shower running upstairs where Jaune was.
Nora set an enormous bowl of ramen on an inset table and we were sort of expected to tuck in. "It looks so good." Nora let out.
"I know!" My sister squealed back. I was glad she had had somebody to squeal with.
It took me back to Beacon and the food fight I once had there surrounded by these friends. Thinking about that just made me think of Blake, and Pyrrha, too. I did my best to avoid that. I focused on the conversation of new things my friends had gone through. New was good. It was distracting.
Conversation flowed around me about the adventures we'd been on. Weiss told us stories about Atlesian parties and Ruby, Nora, and Ren beguiled me with a tale of tramping across anima.
"So what's up with Jaune?" Weiss asked, she must have been as curious about our missing member as I was suspicious.
"Oh I bet he's just washing up. Hehe." My sister shrugged off. "He was probably pushing Qrow around all day."
"He was covered in blood." I countered.
"Oh well-" Ruby faltered as Jaune entered the room. He sat down next to Weiss. He was out of his new huntsman garb, just wearing a hoodie and some jeans. His new cotton t shirt and long pants must have been in the wash.
He gathered a bowl of food only to look up when he must have noticed our attention. "Did I miss something?"
"We were talking about the state you were in." Weiss pointed her chopsticks at him.
"Bar fight, Qrow and I spent the day looking for some of his old hunter buddies."
"Did it go well?" I asked sardonically.
He just laughed. "Not really. All we found were you two. Reports indicate that all or most of them are dead."
"And the bar fight?" Weiss pressed.
"I had aura and the other guy didn't. I didn't know that and one thing led to another."
"Oh Jaune did you-"
"Hey let's not." Jaune interrupted Ruby. "People are trying to eat."
He took a long drink from that glass he'd been sharing with Qrow. Finished the entire thing in one gulp. I got the sudden sense I wasn't the only one who had had a long day.
"So…" I trailed off. "They were telling us about the Knuckelavee."
Jaune gasped off the last of the alcohol he was drinking. "That's the one that took Qrow's legs. You asked earlier."
"They were telling us you killed it."
He frowned. "Ren killed it."
"After you nearly cut it in two." Ren countered. "You used your semblance and everything."
"Some Grimm are like that, though." Jaune countered. "And I wasn't alone."
"You unlocked your semblance?" Weiss wondered. "What does it do?"
"It well," Jaune thought for a moment. "It makes me change states. Then it makes me stronger and faster and there's a charge I can spend."
"Its better than that!" Nora cried, disparaging her leader. "You make it sound boring."
"Well... you use it once or twice..."
"When Jaune's semblance is active he is stronger and faster this is true, but I've also seen him hover across the ground." Ren butt in with a little clarification. "Then he can spend the charge he has stored up in an attack. That was also true. But it doesn't really do the concept justice."
"I hover?" Jaune asked.
"You know it reminds me a little of yours, Yang." Ruby cut in.
"But mine just makes me stronger."
"And mine isn't tied to my emotions." Jaune clarified. At my look he continued. "Ruby told me a little about yours. Yours sometimes activates when you're angry. I have to hold still and charge mine."
"Holding still in a fight?" I wondered.
"It has its drawbacks." Jaune noded. "It also can activate when I deal or take enough damage, too."
"I said they were similar, not identical! Speaking of, Yang! You have that shiny new arm!"
"Sure it's no replacement for the original thing, though." I stood up and flexed with my new arm. "Trying to make good use of it anyways."
My little sis dashed up to get a closer look. "Ooh. And it's just as strong?"
"Yep." I smirked down at her. So short.
Thud. Nora set her arm on the table. "You wanna bet? Jaune you want in on this?"
"Jaune?" I laughed.
"Oh he might surprise you." Nora rolled her fingers. "I bet I'm more than enough to take you on, anyways."
"Nora please." Weiss sighed and rolled her eyes. She pretty much set in stone that I had to do it with that. "Now's not the time for these sorts of games."
I walked over and set my arm down across from Nora. Despite Nora's words Jaune didn't get in on the action. Instead he was content to root for his teammate from the sidelines.
He was… bigger than before I suppose. Wider soldiers, thicker at the tricep, that sort of thing. The way they all talked about him was like he really had changed. And of course, I could hardly ignore the way he had looked soaked in somebody else's blood and casually drinking with my uncle.
Alarm bells went off for that one.
Mid match, I popped my arm off and the momentum sent Nora cartwheeling into one of the walls. I suppose we were truly lucky she didn't go through it. Oh well no harm, no foul.
She gave a cry and launched the arm back at me and I deftly caught it laughing all the while. Weird shit with Jaune or not it was good to be back. All there was to do with my Dad was eat and crap sometimes.
"Do you mean to tell me we ate all of it?" Nora bursted out. "I wanted another bowl."
Jaune was stacking all of our plates in the center bowl so he could carry it away. He joined late and by the sound of things hadn't been involved in preparing the food.
"Looks like it. I bet there's some more snacks in the kitchen if you're that hungry."
"Hey Jaune," I perked up. "Remember back at Beacon when-"
"If I wanted to remember Beacon I'd go to bed early." Jaune shot back from the doorway.
"What's his deal?" I demanded of the remaining table.
"He does seem a little… off." Weiss added, noting her own two lien.
"We all have different ways of coping." Ren seemed content to shrug it off. "It's been a long time. I won't confess that Jaune's methods are particularly healthy, but he does get through each day. We've all grown in different ways."
"Maybe I should talk to him." Ruby cut in. "Whatever happened today probably didn't help. Last time-"
"Last time what? Last time he killed someone? That's what he implied." I continued, unabaited.
"It was an accident last time. I was there. He used his semblance on a bandit and it just…" Ruby trailed off.
"Oh." I didn't have much to say to that. It was hard to think of vomit Boy as a killer, but Ruby wouldn't lie about that.
"Besides, if you were Jaune would you want to think about Beacon. All of his memories are tainted by what happened towards the end." Ren continued. "Your uncle's been training him during the weeks we've stayed here and since then he's picked up some of his more… unfortunate habits. We've all changed, though." Ren repeated like a mantra.
"He's not the only person who lost things." I murmured.
"I'm sure you changed as well." Ren continued. "Or looking back would you say that you were perfect. I just wager that Jaune has more reason to look back and be disgusted by what he sees than the rest of us."
"Oh Lord." Weiss put her face in her hands, probably remembering something Neptune-related. Or perhaps even having to do with Ruby if you went back far enough.
"I suppose." I finished. It didn't give him the right to be rude to us. Though thinking back his comment seemed less directed at me and more at himself. I might be taking it a bit personally even now. "I suppose I may be a bit gung-ho."
"You?" Ruby shrugged. "I tried to take on an adult nevermore on the second day of school."
"Well that embarrassment and desire to tell yourself not to be so stupid just shows you're not who you once were and you never will be again."
"I don't know. I was pretty flawless." Nora looked her fingernails over for emphasis.
I snorted. "Even at the dance when you spilled-"
"Yes especially at the dance!" She shouted over me. "Thank you Yang!"
"How can five kids eating dinner be so loud."
I turned. It was Jaune, Qrow, and a short boy in farming attire waiting at the kitchen entrance. To my surprise and Ruby's visible disappointment, Jaune was drinking from Qrow's flask.
He gasped from the alcohol and handed it back to the man in the chair who shook it. "Did you have to take so much."
"I told you that you don't need as much. You exceeded your weight loss goals, so this would just be too much for you."
"If I wasn't in this chair…"
Different but the same. Different but the same. Well so long as Ruby was alright and mostly uninvolved with whatever was happening to Jaune, I'd be happy.
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(Weiss POV)
A few hours was not enough for me to truly grasp the maidens, their power, and the secrets which had been shared with me. It had been one thing to hear it from the bandit warlord that was Yang's mother. It was easy to not trust her. Oscar, or rather, Ozpin had been harder to mistrust.
Plus Ruby evidently believed in it. So there was that. Perhaps their more trustworthy and disabled uncle had told her as well. The whole matter was wrapped up in Ruby's and Yang's family which did nothing but make it more complicated.
Magic was real. Real magic as opposed to dust sorcery or semblances. Powers beyond the standard mortal coil.
It was hard to grasp and Ozpin hadn't been specific about what those powers were. They existed and could be used to unlock the relics. That seemed to be enough for the others but I confessed a certain curiosity. I wanted to know more about the powers themselves, was that so wrong?
Ozpin had sent us to bed before I could ask anything after Yang's little standoff with him. Everyone except Jaune, that is, who was out in the yard with a hose spraying off his weapon.
Ruby promised to talk whatever happened over with him and of anybody I trusted her to make things right, irregardless of what happened. Ruby just had that about her. Still, I thought I might try my hand at it. I knew how tactful Ruby could be.
"Jaune, do you mind if I join you?"
"What?" He looked up at me for a moment. "Um no." He hosed the blades a moment longer before he pulled a cloth and took it to the broadsword.
Blood had clotted up in the interworking and unlike Grimm gore it wasn't turning to black smoke. Jaune was grimacing as he scrapped it away.
Now that I was here I wasn't sure what to say. I'd been silent about my capture at the hands of a group of bandits and Jaune had killed at least one bandit but I doubted that made for a decent conversation starter.
Jaune had other ideas in the silence, however. "Ruby helped me design the new form."
"I'm sorry?"
"My sword's new form. Ruby helped me design it. Who am I kidding? She designed the whole thing."
"The broadsword suits you." I tried awkwardly. I cursed myself as I watched him scrub the finer joints of metal. It wasn't like the Titania would rust or become brittle under the blood but Jaune still wanted his blade clean of whatever he had done this evening.
"What happened to you this evening?"
I could respect that. My own weapon had fewer crevices and creases where grime could get caught but I still tried to keep Myrtnaster clear of any such things.
"It's really not worth going over but… we needed information from this guy and he acted tougher than he was. I nearly cut him in two for it. Makes you think."
He picked up his blade by its long handle and started doing jump squats with the blade as a weight while I watched.
"Did it remind you of you?"
He paused at the question. "Yeah. What would have happened to me if I hadn't been partners with Pyrrha, you know? And I killed him."
"And that's worth getting moody about?" I hadn't meant to sound so critical but he laughed it off.
"Well it only happened today. When else am I supposed to be moody about it."
"I meant the parts with Pyrrha." I corrected softly. "I heard what happened to her."
"Yeah. She's worth dwelling on too." He set the sword down and leaned on it, looking at me. He meant it, though. "So is what happened to her."
He didn't look offended or upset. He just seemed sort of curious where I was going with it. "I admired her too. But everyone can see you trying to destroy yourself over it."
"Oh. That stuff."
"So you agree you're doing it. With the drinking and the implied violence."
"I'm not looking to kill myself, if that's what you mean. A lot has happened to me since Beacon's fall. A lot. I'm not who I was when Pyrrha died. You don't need to break your back over it. I swear."
"You've changed and I'm concerned it isn't for the better."
"Easy, Weiss."
"Well what are Yang and I supposed to think? What does Ruby think about all this?"
"Ruby will tell you what she thinks if you ask her, I bet. You have a special place in her heart."
"Do you know what she thinks? Everyone can tell she's worried about you."
"Ruby worries about everyone. You should know that. It's what she does. She cares." He sounded exacerbated, tired.
"So you do know what she thinks about this."
"Are you asking me to tell you what she thinks? She's told me. We've had some little talks." He said that bit almost teasingly. Like he was mocking me.
"Ruby doesn't need to be trying to look after you on top of everything else."
"So this is about Ruby? And here I thought you really might care."
"That's not what I meant. It's obvious Ruby is being groomed by Ozpin to be one of the maidens. She has enough to worry about without you flying off the handles."
"Ozpin can have Ruby over my defiled corpse. After what he did to Pyrrha." He had some real venom. Guess I finally hit a nerve. I'd been prodding for one for a bit and hadn't found one. Still, now that I did...
"What did Ozpin do to Pyrrha?"
"I thought you heard what happened to her." He snorted. "Ozpin picked Pyrrha as the new fall maiden. Cinder came for the power and Pyrrha tried to stop her."
"That sounds like Pyrrha's choice." I refuted right back.
"I've heard this before from Ruby." He seemed content to dismiss whatever I had to say. "But it was in Pyrrha's nature to do what she did. Ozpin must have known that."
"And that's worth dwelling on?"
"It certainly keeps me up at night. Especially with the knowledge of what Ozpin plans for my friends, you included. You'd probably make a fine maiden, too. Ozpin's thought about it. I know he has." He said grimly. "Why shouldn't I?"
"You should worry about yourself."
"Same back to you." He murmured. "I don't need whatever this is before you've even had the chance to talk to Ruby."
"But are you stable, though? Are you safe?"
"Aw you do care. I'm fine Weiss. Ruby's been looking after me." I opened my mouth. "I know. I know. I shouldn't be worrying her. But it's in her nature to look after strays like me. Like you, too. She missed you." I closed my jaw.
I wasn't sure what to say to that. I'd come out here to reprimand him a little and in the end he was here trying to comfort me. I wanted to work him into shape and find out what was wrong. Now I wanted to see if Ruby and her sister were done so I could join them. I'd given them some space and now maybe it was my time to intrude a little on them.
I'd seen how drinking had destroyed my family and maybe it was just the impression he'd left us with but maybe he wasn't throwing himself into alcoholism. Maybe it was just one bad day where he'd had to kill one dude who maybe had had it coming. Alright, it sounded excessive but he made it sound like an accident. That had to count for something. And underneath it all he still sounded like the same old Jaune. Was it possible I was worried over nothing? I know Yang had seen a little of what I did and Ren mentioned unhealthy coping mechanisms but what else could we expect?
"Then, good night?"
He nodded. "I'll just be out here getting some late night workouts in. Good talk."
I nodded and left for the door, for some reason I was even more unsure of where he stood than before.
"And Weiss," he called out. "It is good to have you back."
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As it turns out I didn't get the chance to catch up with my team until the following morning. I braced myself before I intruded on the two sisters out in the courtyard in the morning dew.
"What are you doing up?" Ruby asked Yang.
"Can't fall back asleep."
"Ah-me neither."
"Well fortunately." I got their attention. "Coffee exists." I walked over and handed a regularly creamed and sugared drink to Yang before moving over to the problem child.
"No please." Ruby pleaded.
"Don't worry. I put in blasphemous amounts of cream and sugar. Just for you." I may have been laying it on a little thick. So sue me.
I was happy to see them again.
"Ah yeah. Nice Weiss strikes again."
"I will pour this on you and it will burn," I threatened. I had to balance it out somehow.
She laughed nervously but accepted the drink in two cupped hands just the same.
I set the tray down before kneeling in the dirt to join my team.
"I can't believe we're actually in Mistral." Yang murmured over her cup.
"That's what you can't believe?" Ruby wondered back.
"Well yeah. And all the other magic and stuff but- okay you know what I mean."
"I honestly wasn't sure if I'd ever see you two again." I held out my cup to clink it against Yang's while Ruby slurped hers down behind us.
"Well, here's to defying expectations."
"I just wish Blake could be here with us," Ruby murmured.
"Yeah well, she made her choice." Yang leaned back, setting the coffee beside her.
Ruby and I shared a look. "What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.
"I mean she could have been here if she just stuck around." Yang wouldn't look at us. "It's no big deal though. We'll be fine."
"Don't you want her here?" Ruby asked.
"Why would I want her here." Yang smothered the thought.
"Are you still mad at her for leaving?"
"Oh whatever gave you that idea, Ruby. I'm totally fine, I'm great."
This wasn't going at all how I wanted. "Okay. Calm down."
"Don't tell me to calm down." Yang's eyes flashed red at me.
"Whoa, Yang." Ruby mumbled.
Yang stood up, snagging her coffee. "Whatever."
"Should we go after her?" I asked.
Ruby shook her head. "It might be best to let her cool off for a minute or two."
Ruby and I shared a look and I got the sense that now wasn't the best time to talk to her about Jaune. The chickens weren't in order in my own house so who was I to go knocking on other doors when Jaune could at least maintain a conversation.
Even if the subject of that conversation made him uncomfortable, it wasn't like he had snapped at me. Both blondes had a great deal to be upset about but Jaune seemed to be handling it. He openly admitted Ruby had had to help him, but he was handling it.
Murder aside, he was doing well. We couldn't really say the same about Yang. At first glance at least. Yang wasn't hiding her emotions whereas Jaune talked like he had something to hide. He'd kept me distracted from the real subjects whatever they happened to be. I had enough experience with it with my father and the company he kept.
Yang had always worn her emotions on her sleeve and Jaune at least used to. It was good to see that she still did and disheartening news to see that Jaune felt he had things to hide. Well, he hid things from me at least. There was no telling what he felt he had to hide from Ruby.
Or maybe I was just reading into things. Jaune had plenty of reason to feel uncomfortable around me and I had more or less cornered him. He hadn't really shown any signs of his former infatuation with me, though. If anything he seemed a little wary of me.
I had enough about that, though. I was back with my best friend. But now that she was here alone with me I was struggling for something to say. So I just said it.
"How have you been, Ruby?"
"Oh uh…" She was caught off guard by the question. She recovered quickly enough. "I've actually been good. Things have been good for me. Even if they're not so good in general." She took a sip from her coffee. "Is that bad of me to say, even with how my uncle got hurt?"
"No Ruby, you don't have a bad bone in your body." I took a drink myself.
"Well, I'm a little worried about Jaune and what happened yesterday. No doubt he blames himself for whatever happened, even if it's an accident. We haven't really had the chance to talk about it yet."
"Jaune and I had an interesting conversation last night." I took a drink of my coffee. "But besides that everything is good?" It didn't sound so bad. Ruby was always the optimist so just getting to Mistral might be enough to get her sprits up.
"Oh you did? Did he say anything interesting?" Ruby seemed to hesitate.
"He was pretty tightlipped actually."
"Oh that makes sense, I suppose."
Was she thinking about how Jaune asked me out to relentlessly? It made a certain amount of sense that way. "Why does that make sense?"
"Oh uh well-" Ruby seemed to be hesitating on the cusp of telling me something, though. "Jaune and I became a couple."
"Oh." I had not been expecting that. I was sure I was looking at her wide eyed. It made a certain amount of things make sense. Perhaps Jaune had been waiting for Ruby to tell me. That explained how tightlipped he was, murder and Pyrrha aside.
"I know what you must be thinking but I've always sort of liked him. I like how emotionally open he is and how strong he has become. Not just anybody with any attitude can keep pace with me." Ruby began to ramble.
"I wasn't thinking about that." I denied. I'd been mostly too stunned to get much thinking done. "He keeps pace with you?"
"You should see how strong he is now, the kind of hunter he's becoming. His instincts. And I don't just mean with his huntsmanship either." She clarified for me. "He's emotionally strong too. I like it alot. We spent Valentine's day together and it was awesome."
"I see." I struggled. I'd never managed a romantic relationship and here was little Ruby Rose telling me she's managed it for who knows how long. "I would just be worried after well- you know."
"After what?"
"Well… Pyrrha."
She didn't seem too off put. Instead she just nodded. "We've talked about her. He's not completely over her but, well, I can't really blame him. I wouldn't really want him to be either, you know? What kind of person would he be if he could totally move on so soon. But they were never a couple." Ruby seemed almost relieved to have somebody to share this with. It tugged at my heart a little, how much she trusted me. "Plus he and I were always close and it just sort of happened. We sort of fell together."
She took another drink of coffee while I wrapped my head around all this. It sort of put last night in perspective. Jaune had been waiting for Ruby to decide to tell me. That explained what he had been avoiding.
"And don't tell Yang or my uncle." Ruby continued. "I want to wait a bit and tell them on my own. Jaune must have not mentioned this to you, he must have been waiting for me. He's thoughtful like that. Plus I told him not to tell my uncle. I was waiting for them to become a little closer."
"Well, they seem close."
"Maybe I waited a bit too long." Ruby gave a nervous chuckle. "They have gotten maybe even closer than I would have liked but uncle Qrow likes Jaune's instincts and Jaune is like a sponge for his pessimistic wisdom. Jaune was always pessimistic, though."
"And what about Yang?" I had to wonder.
"Well you see how emotional she can be. She can also be a bit overprotective. Jaune and I have been going out for a few months now and I don't exactly need her opinion on it, just her support."
I felt a little whiplashed. I'd been so suspicious but maybe Jaune had just been being a good boyfriend? I… wow. I couldn't really imagine it for myself but it made a certain amount of sense for Ruby.
"But enough about me, listen to me gush, how have you been? How was Atlas, really?" Ruby reached over and took my hand and I inhaled a shaking breath.
"It was hard. My family is like that."
"Is that all?"
"I didn't find a boyfriend while I was there, not like you."
"Oh posh." Ruby dismissed my dismissal and she squeezed my hand a little tighter. "I know being around your father is hard."
"Well luckily I'm not around him. I'm around you now. He was abusive, both physically and emotionally but nothing new."
"Oh Weiss."
"But I'm over him and past that. Or as much as I can be. "
"It's never that easy."
"No it's not but… well I'm happy to have Salem as a distraction. Is that weird? I'd rather have a world ending threat than think about my parents."
"It's sad. I'm sorry Weiss."
I wiped a tear from my eye. It was hard to talk about but this was Ruby. This was my real family.
"I'm going to go try talking to Yang. I think I can help." I let go of Ruby's hand and stood up.
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