Twisted Guardian
by Mouse
A/N: Okay, I'm only gunna do this once, so listen up, peoples! I don't own Yu-gi-oh, never have, never will.
Summary: Ryou/Bakura It's December, and two weeks before Christmas. In a fit of depression and despair, Ryou decides to give Bakura what he thinks he wants most, and throws away the Millenium Ring. It's up to the girl who finds it to get Bakura back to Ryou.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'Deck the halls with boughs of holly. . .' Ryou thoughts sadly, his face pressed against the living room carpet. Pain shot through him as he was punched again. His brown eyes were clouded with unshed tears as he looked up at his enraged yami, and his sadness was laced with pain as Bakura kicked him in the side.
'Why does he hate me?' What had he done wrong, besides try to be Bakura's friend?
"Hmoh. Weakling. Look at you, you're crying. It's pathetic, YOU'RE pathetic." Bakura gripped Ryou's hair, and pulled him forcefully to his feet before slamming him face first into a wall. Ryou lay still, waiting for the next blow, but it didn't come. He looked up, to see his yami was gone, back into his soul room. He stayed still for what seemed like hours, as the sharp pains in his side and back lessened to dull throbs.
'I really am a weakling. He probably wishes he had a different aibou. . .' Ryou got himself to his feet, and in an hour he was bandaged and clean. He stared out of the window at the falling snow. Two weeks until Christmas.
"A better aibou." Tears flowing, he grabbed the Millenium Ring, and left into the city, to give Bakura what he wanted most.
"Aishiteru, Bakura. . ."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One thing, I don't know why it doesn't even matter how hard you try, keep that in mind I designed this rhyme to explain a few times, all I know, time is a valuable thing, watch it fly by as the pendulum swings, watch it count down to the end of the day, the clock ticks life away, it's so unreal. . .
Bakura blinked in confusion. From his soul room he could hear the sound of music, but. . . he never knew Ryou listened to that type of music. Either way it was loud, and Bakura left his soul room, ready to yell at Ryou to turn it off. But he wasn't looking at Ryou.
Instead there was a girl in front of him, with long grey hair and yellow eyes. Goggles with green lenses were on her head, and her shirt looked like it had once been a straightjacket but had the sleeves cut off.
"Who the hell are you?!" Bakura yelled, not liking this one bit. She just stared at him for a moment, before yelling and smacking him upside the head with a frying pan. Bakura staggered backwards, holding his head in pain.
"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" But this only earned him a knife, and he dodged it, staring as it was embedded in the wall behind him.
"WOULD YOU STOP WITH THE VIOLENCE?!" (1) He yelled again, and she froze, just as she was lifting up a chair.
"W-who are you and how did you come out of the gold thingy?" she stammered, still gripping the chair, as if she was ready to bring it down on his head.
"Gold thingy?" he noticed the Millenium Ring around her neck, "How did you get that?!"
"I was just on the street corner and this guy-- hey you look alot like him. Are you his brother? ANYways he just shoves the gold thingy at me and runs away."
'He abandoned me?' Bakura just stared in horror. 'Ryou actually. . . got rid of me?'
"Hey... Mr. Yelling Guy? Helloooo, are you alive or did you die on your feet?" Bakura snapped back to attention and stared at the girl in front of him.
"Did. . . he say anything?" Or did his aibou hate him so much he wanted to get rid of him as fast as humanly possible?
"Uh. . . just to give you this." She held out a piece of paper to him. Bakura grabbed it and read the single sentence on the paper.
I hope you like your new aibou, sorry I was a weakling.
"Ryou. . ." Bakura stared at the paper, wishing to Ra the words would change and this would all just be a nightmare.
"His name was Ryou? Is he your brother or something? Hello? HEY IF YOU DON'T MIND I'D LIKE TO KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!!!"
"WOULD YOU SHUT UP?!"
"NOT UNTIL YOU TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON!!"
"MAKE ME!!"
"OKAY THEN BAKAYARO I WILL!!" with that she lifted up the chair and chucked it at him. Bakura's eyes widened as he ducked, the chair barely missing knocking his head off.
"ALRIGHT!! I'm Bakura. I used to live in ancient Egypt but I was imprisoned in that Ring for five thousand years and Ryou was my aibou but now I'm here! Now who the hell are you?!"
"The name's Mouse. Uh. . . hot chocolate?" Mouse asked, offering a mug.
"What? You go from trying to kill me to offering hot chocolate?!"
"Well excuuuuuse me for trying to be nice!"
"Nice?! YOU GIVE ME BRAIN DAMAGE, TRY TO STAB ME AND TOSS A CHAIR AT ME AND YOU CALL IT NICE?!"
"I'LL THROW ANOTHER CHAIR INTO THAT THICK HEAD OF YOURS!!" she yelled, putting the mug onto the table and literally forcing Bakura to sit down.
Figuring that yelling at this one wouldn't get him anywhere, Bakura just growled to himself and gulped down the drink.
'I shouldn't have been so hard. I tried to make him stronger and now look. I'm stuck with this. . . this. . . psycho!' He stared into the cup at the brown liquid. The color was almost the same as Ryou's eyes.
/Stupid git is spacing out again./ Bakura blinked, then felt his insides twist. Of course. She had the ring.
//Shut up before I make you. AND KEEP OUT OF MY HEAD!// Bakura thought back, before raising his mental shields.
He didn't even notice as she left the room. He was so lost in his thoughts. And soon he was asleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ryou sighed as he stared out the window of the airplane. After convincing from his friends that he needed a vacation, he had decided to take a trip to New York. It was supposed to be great there during the holidays.
He took out a notebook, and began to sketch as the plane roared to life, and took off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The phone at Yugi's house rang shrilly, and Yugi picked it up.
"Hello, Motou residence."
"Uh. . . hello? Um, thsi is going to sound weird but do you know a Ryou Bakura?"
"Yes, who is this?" Yugi asked. He didn't recognize the voice, but it was a girl's.
"Mouse McIntyre. I have. . . excuse me for a moment. . . HEY! DON'T TOUCH THAT!!" Yugi jerked the phone away from his ear and he stared at it, confused. There was the sound of a crash, and then he heard the girl yelling again.
"You twit! I told you not to touch it!" Then there was another voice, that sounded extremely fmailiar.
"Don't call me a twit! It's not my fault it fell over!!"
"Shaddup and go back into the gold thingy why don't you?!
"WOULD YOU STOP CALLING IT A GOLD THINGY?!" But then there was silence, and the girl came back on the phone.
"Gomen nasai. Where was I? Oh yes, I need to speak with him. Do you have his number or something?"
"Uh, I do," Yugi said, "but he's not at home. He left this morning for a trip to New York."
"A trip to New York? Arigato, and sorry to bother you."
"Bye."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mouse hung up the phone. Brilliant. Just brilliant. New York. How was she going to find Ryou in New York?! She looked over to the table, where the Millenium Ring was laying. Her hand moved to her shoulder, where she had a tattoo. Her eyes narrowed with determination. She had to do this. Her eyes darkened as her fingers traced the lines of the tattoo.
"I'm getting this done if it kills me." With that she picked up the phone again, "Hello, is this the airport? Yes, could you tell me when the next flight for New York is?" A few minutes later, she hung up the phone.
"What were you doing?" Bakura asked, his eyebrow arched.
"We're going to New York."
"New York? Why?!"
Mouse just picked up the deck of Duel Monsters cards that were beside Bakura. Shifting through them, she just said,
"Because we're getting you your aibou back."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bakura stared at the endless city full of people, and nearly twitched. He hated crowds. But according to the Girl, as he called her, this is where Ryou was. Speaking of the girl, he turned to look at her, and she was reading a map, her brow furrowed.
"Damn, that's alot of hotels. Oh well, we'll just have to check each one." she was muttering to herself, and she brushed the lightly falling snow off of the map. Amazingly, she wasn't even wearing a coat, just her sleevless shirt that looked like it used to be a straightjacket. Pulling his own black jacket closer to himself, he wondered, for the fiftieth time, about her sanity. But then, he noticed the tattoo on her arm.
"What is that?" he suddenly asked, pointing at her arm.
"What?" she looked at where he was pointing, "That? I've always had that."
"Always? Why would you have a tattoo that looks exactly like my Ring?!" This only earned a cold stare.
"Maybe I'll tell you, when I feel like it. Right now let's find your aibou. We've got alot of hotels to cover."
Bakura just huffed, and followed her as they began to search the city.
Three hours later, they were seated on a bench at Central Park, with absolutely nothing. No hotel they had checked had had any recent check-ins by the name of Ryou Bakura.
Bakura felt horrible. He had hoped that maybe this would be an end to his nightmare. Not that it wasn't his fault. It was his own fault that Ryou hated him.
'I shouldn't have been so tough. He tried to be my friend and I beat him.' He glared out at the falling snow in anger at himself. Why couldn't he just say the one thing that would have saved them from all this?
/Thinking about Ryou./ came the voice of Mous ein his head. Bakura was about to glare at her, when something troubled him. She wasn't wearing the ring, so how could she talk to him?
//How.. how...// he tried to speak, but he couldn't even think.
/I don't need the ring to talk to you. I suppose now is as good a time as any to explain myself./
//I would imagine so.// came the cold reply.
/You know, that everyone has a card that's their favorite. Well, in a sense, the card is their guardian. Yugi, I believe you know him as, has the Dark Magician. Jou has the Flame Swordsman, Honda the Cyber Commander, Seto the Blue Eyes White Dragons./
Bakura gaped at her, //How do you know all that?!//
/I'm getting to that. Well, everybody has a guardian card. And that card is bound to help them in any way possible./
//And what does that have to do with you being able to talk to me and knowing all of that?!// if she didn't hurry up, he would hit her. He was getting impatient.
/I'm your card, Bakura. The card Mouse The Twisted Guardian./ Bakura's eyes widened. That was an old monster from back in Egypt, a card that hadn't been re-created.
//That's how you can talk to me? That's why you have the Ring tattooed on your arm?//
/Exactly./
Bakura was in shock. No wonder she had been helping him find his aibou.
Mouse jerked her head up, staring out into the park.
"What is it?" Bakura asked.
"I can sense. . . Change of Heart."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ryou stood alone in the park, watching the snowflakes fall down around him.
"RYOU!!" Ryou turned to where someone was yelling his name. His brown eyes widened as he saw his yami running towards him. Usually his instinct would be to run, but soemthing in Bakura's face made him stand still.
"Bakura. . ." Ryou whispered, just before Bakura ran into him and gripped him into a tight hug.
"Aishiteru." Ryou's eyes widened even further, at the word his yami uttered. Feeling as if he would explode in ahppiness, he buried himself in his yami's chest.
"Aishiteru, yami."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A few weeks later Jou, Honda, Anzu, Seto, Bakura and Ryou were over at Yugi's for a Christmas party. As usual, Bakura and Yami had thrown insults at each other until Yami challenged him to a duel. They were using Seto's dueling equipment.
"I put the Dark Magician in attack mode, and destroy your man-eater bug!" Yami announced triumphantly, as Bakura's life points were reduced to 300. Bakura growled, and picked up a card from his deck. His heart nearly stopped. He stared at the card, hardly believing his eyes. Then he closed his eyes, and began to laugh to himself.
"What's so funny?" Yami arched his eyebrow at Bakura.
"I am about to beat you into the dust." Bakura laughed, and he placed the card down, " I summon MOUSE THE TWISTED GUARDIAN!"
THE END
by Mouse
A/N: Okay, I'm only gunna do this once, so listen up, peoples! I don't own Yu-gi-oh, never have, never will.
Summary: Ryou/Bakura It's December, and two weeks before Christmas. In a fit of depression and despair, Ryou decides to give Bakura what he thinks he wants most, and throws away the Millenium Ring. It's up to the girl who finds it to get Bakura back to Ryou.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'Deck the halls with boughs of holly. . .' Ryou thoughts sadly, his face pressed against the living room carpet. Pain shot through him as he was punched again. His brown eyes were clouded with unshed tears as he looked up at his enraged yami, and his sadness was laced with pain as Bakura kicked him in the side.
'Why does he hate me?' What had he done wrong, besides try to be Bakura's friend?
"Hmoh. Weakling. Look at you, you're crying. It's pathetic, YOU'RE pathetic." Bakura gripped Ryou's hair, and pulled him forcefully to his feet before slamming him face first into a wall. Ryou lay still, waiting for the next blow, but it didn't come. He looked up, to see his yami was gone, back into his soul room. He stayed still for what seemed like hours, as the sharp pains in his side and back lessened to dull throbs.
'I really am a weakling. He probably wishes he had a different aibou. . .' Ryou got himself to his feet, and in an hour he was bandaged and clean. He stared out of the window at the falling snow. Two weeks until Christmas.
"A better aibou." Tears flowing, he grabbed the Millenium Ring, and left into the city, to give Bakura what he wanted most.
"Aishiteru, Bakura. . ."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One thing, I don't know why it doesn't even matter how hard you try, keep that in mind I designed this rhyme to explain a few times, all I know, time is a valuable thing, watch it fly by as the pendulum swings, watch it count down to the end of the day, the clock ticks life away, it's so unreal. . .
Bakura blinked in confusion. From his soul room he could hear the sound of music, but. . . he never knew Ryou listened to that type of music. Either way it was loud, and Bakura left his soul room, ready to yell at Ryou to turn it off. But he wasn't looking at Ryou.
Instead there was a girl in front of him, with long grey hair and yellow eyes. Goggles with green lenses were on her head, and her shirt looked like it had once been a straightjacket but had the sleeves cut off.
"Who the hell are you?!" Bakura yelled, not liking this one bit. She just stared at him for a moment, before yelling and smacking him upside the head with a frying pan. Bakura staggered backwards, holding his head in pain.
"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" But this only earned him a knife, and he dodged it, staring as it was embedded in the wall behind him.
"WOULD YOU STOP WITH THE VIOLENCE?!" (1) He yelled again, and she froze, just as she was lifting up a chair.
"W-who are you and how did you come out of the gold thingy?" she stammered, still gripping the chair, as if she was ready to bring it down on his head.
"Gold thingy?" he noticed the Millenium Ring around her neck, "How did you get that?!"
"I was just on the street corner and this guy-- hey you look alot like him. Are you his brother? ANYways he just shoves the gold thingy at me and runs away."
'He abandoned me?' Bakura just stared in horror. 'Ryou actually. . . got rid of me?'
"Hey... Mr. Yelling Guy? Helloooo, are you alive or did you die on your feet?" Bakura snapped back to attention and stared at the girl in front of him.
"Did. . . he say anything?" Or did his aibou hate him so much he wanted to get rid of him as fast as humanly possible?
"Uh. . . just to give you this." She held out a piece of paper to him. Bakura grabbed it and read the single sentence on the paper.
I hope you like your new aibou, sorry I was a weakling.
"Ryou. . ." Bakura stared at the paper, wishing to Ra the words would change and this would all just be a nightmare.
"His name was Ryou? Is he your brother or something? Hello? HEY IF YOU DON'T MIND I'D LIKE TO KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!!!"
"WOULD YOU SHUT UP?!"
"NOT UNTIL YOU TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON!!"
"MAKE ME!!"
"OKAY THEN BAKAYARO I WILL!!" with that she lifted up the chair and chucked it at him. Bakura's eyes widened as he ducked, the chair barely missing knocking his head off.
"ALRIGHT!! I'm Bakura. I used to live in ancient Egypt but I was imprisoned in that Ring for five thousand years and Ryou was my aibou but now I'm here! Now who the hell are you?!"
"The name's Mouse. Uh. . . hot chocolate?" Mouse asked, offering a mug.
"What? You go from trying to kill me to offering hot chocolate?!"
"Well excuuuuuse me for trying to be nice!"
"Nice?! YOU GIVE ME BRAIN DAMAGE, TRY TO STAB ME AND TOSS A CHAIR AT ME AND YOU CALL IT NICE?!"
"I'LL THROW ANOTHER CHAIR INTO THAT THICK HEAD OF YOURS!!" she yelled, putting the mug onto the table and literally forcing Bakura to sit down.
Figuring that yelling at this one wouldn't get him anywhere, Bakura just growled to himself and gulped down the drink.
'I shouldn't have been so hard. I tried to make him stronger and now look. I'm stuck with this. . . this. . . psycho!' He stared into the cup at the brown liquid. The color was almost the same as Ryou's eyes.
/Stupid git is spacing out again./ Bakura blinked, then felt his insides twist. Of course. She had the ring.
//Shut up before I make you. AND KEEP OUT OF MY HEAD!// Bakura thought back, before raising his mental shields.
He didn't even notice as she left the room. He was so lost in his thoughts. And soon he was asleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ryou sighed as he stared out the window of the airplane. After convincing from his friends that he needed a vacation, he had decided to take a trip to New York. It was supposed to be great there during the holidays.
He took out a notebook, and began to sketch as the plane roared to life, and took off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The phone at Yugi's house rang shrilly, and Yugi picked it up.
"Hello, Motou residence."
"Uh. . . hello? Um, thsi is going to sound weird but do you know a Ryou Bakura?"
"Yes, who is this?" Yugi asked. He didn't recognize the voice, but it was a girl's.
"Mouse McIntyre. I have. . . excuse me for a moment. . . HEY! DON'T TOUCH THAT!!" Yugi jerked the phone away from his ear and he stared at it, confused. There was the sound of a crash, and then he heard the girl yelling again.
"You twit! I told you not to touch it!" Then there was another voice, that sounded extremely fmailiar.
"Don't call me a twit! It's not my fault it fell over!!"
"Shaddup and go back into the gold thingy why don't you?!
"WOULD YOU STOP CALLING IT A GOLD THINGY?!" But then there was silence, and the girl came back on the phone.
"Gomen nasai. Where was I? Oh yes, I need to speak with him. Do you have his number or something?"
"Uh, I do," Yugi said, "but he's not at home. He left this morning for a trip to New York."
"A trip to New York? Arigato, and sorry to bother you."
"Bye."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mouse hung up the phone. Brilliant. Just brilliant. New York. How was she going to find Ryou in New York?! She looked over to the table, where the Millenium Ring was laying. Her hand moved to her shoulder, where she had a tattoo. Her eyes narrowed with determination. She had to do this. Her eyes darkened as her fingers traced the lines of the tattoo.
"I'm getting this done if it kills me." With that she picked up the phone again, "Hello, is this the airport? Yes, could you tell me when the next flight for New York is?" A few minutes later, she hung up the phone.
"What were you doing?" Bakura asked, his eyebrow arched.
"We're going to New York."
"New York? Why?!"
Mouse just picked up the deck of Duel Monsters cards that were beside Bakura. Shifting through them, she just said,
"Because we're getting you your aibou back."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bakura stared at the endless city full of people, and nearly twitched. He hated crowds. But according to the Girl, as he called her, this is where Ryou was. Speaking of the girl, he turned to look at her, and she was reading a map, her brow furrowed.
"Damn, that's alot of hotels. Oh well, we'll just have to check each one." she was muttering to herself, and she brushed the lightly falling snow off of the map. Amazingly, she wasn't even wearing a coat, just her sleevless shirt that looked like it used to be a straightjacket. Pulling his own black jacket closer to himself, he wondered, for the fiftieth time, about her sanity. But then, he noticed the tattoo on her arm.
"What is that?" he suddenly asked, pointing at her arm.
"What?" she looked at where he was pointing, "That? I've always had that."
"Always? Why would you have a tattoo that looks exactly like my Ring?!" This only earned a cold stare.
"Maybe I'll tell you, when I feel like it. Right now let's find your aibou. We've got alot of hotels to cover."
Bakura just huffed, and followed her as they began to search the city.
Three hours later, they were seated on a bench at Central Park, with absolutely nothing. No hotel they had checked had had any recent check-ins by the name of Ryou Bakura.
Bakura felt horrible. He had hoped that maybe this would be an end to his nightmare. Not that it wasn't his fault. It was his own fault that Ryou hated him.
'I shouldn't have been so tough. He tried to be my friend and I beat him.' He glared out at the falling snow in anger at himself. Why couldn't he just say the one thing that would have saved them from all this?
/Thinking about Ryou./ came the voice of Mous ein his head. Bakura was about to glare at her, when something troubled him. She wasn't wearing the ring, so how could she talk to him?
//How.. how...// he tried to speak, but he couldn't even think.
/I don't need the ring to talk to you. I suppose now is as good a time as any to explain myself./
//I would imagine so.// came the cold reply.
/You know, that everyone has a card that's their favorite. Well, in a sense, the card is their guardian. Yugi, I believe you know him as, has the Dark Magician. Jou has the Flame Swordsman, Honda the Cyber Commander, Seto the Blue Eyes White Dragons./
Bakura gaped at her, //How do you know all that?!//
/I'm getting to that. Well, everybody has a guardian card. And that card is bound to help them in any way possible./
//And what does that have to do with you being able to talk to me and knowing all of that?!// if she didn't hurry up, he would hit her. He was getting impatient.
/I'm your card, Bakura. The card Mouse The Twisted Guardian./ Bakura's eyes widened. That was an old monster from back in Egypt, a card that hadn't been re-created.
//That's how you can talk to me? That's why you have the Ring tattooed on your arm?//
/Exactly./
Bakura was in shock. No wonder she had been helping him find his aibou.
Mouse jerked her head up, staring out into the park.
"What is it?" Bakura asked.
"I can sense. . . Change of Heart."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ryou stood alone in the park, watching the snowflakes fall down around him.
"RYOU!!" Ryou turned to where someone was yelling his name. His brown eyes widened as he saw his yami running towards him. Usually his instinct would be to run, but soemthing in Bakura's face made him stand still.
"Bakura. . ." Ryou whispered, just before Bakura ran into him and gripped him into a tight hug.
"Aishiteru." Ryou's eyes widened even further, at the word his yami uttered. Feeling as if he would explode in ahppiness, he buried himself in his yami's chest.
"Aishiteru, yami."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A few weeks later Jou, Honda, Anzu, Seto, Bakura and Ryou were over at Yugi's for a Christmas party. As usual, Bakura and Yami had thrown insults at each other until Yami challenged him to a duel. They were using Seto's dueling equipment.
"I put the Dark Magician in attack mode, and destroy your man-eater bug!" Yami announced triumphantly, as Bakura's life points were reduced to 300. Bakura growled, and picked up a card from his deck. His heart nearly stopped. He stared at the card, hardly believing his eyes. Then he closed his eyes, and began to laugh to himself.
"What's so funny?" Yami arched his eyebrow at Bakura.
"I am about to beat you into the dust." Bakura laughed, and he placed the card down, " I summon MOUSE THE TWISTED GUARDIAN!"
THE END