Well, kids, this is it. The beginning of the end for Reflections. This is where Big Things (TM) start happening. Two more chapters after this. Maybe three, if the one after this gets to be too long. But probably two. I hope you enjoy this chapter, 'cause it was pretty damn hard for me to do this. *sniffles* Well, you may not mind so much. ^_^ I'm just rather attached to...I've said too much. Read and find out.
By the way, if anyone's been wondering about what's going on in my life, check out my DeadJournal at http://www.deadjournal.com/users/sita_chan
Disclaimers: I don't own anything 'cept Ivy. Nora belongs to Fae-chan.
Warnings: MAJOR Nagi angst, Something Big- Good (TM), Something Big- Bad (TM), quite a bit of sap in the beginning
blah = thought or foreign language
//blah\\ = telepathy
Bradley Crawford was not in a good mood.
I could tell by the way he was storming around the living room muttering to himself. I raised an eyebrow, shrugged, and went back to my cereal.
"What's up with our fearless leader?" Ivy questioned as she plunked down next to me with a banana. I shrugged.
"Not sure. He's been doing that all morning."
"Good morning, everyone!" Nora said cheerfully as she practically skipped into the room in her cutesy bunny-printed pajamas. "Morning, Brad!"
For once in her life, even Nora's extreme cheerfulness didn't work. Crawford stomped around the living room like he hadn't even heard her. Nora raised a single black eyebrow.
"What's wrong with him?"
"Jake turned him down," Schuldig said, appearing out of his room. He smirked slyly. "Braddykins doesn't like being turned down." Crawford paused long enough to glare at Schuldig before going back to stomping in a circle. "You know I'm right, Braddy-Bear!"
"Do NOT call me that. Ever." I smiled to myself as I dumped my bowl in the sink. Crawford was stubborn, but Lyons was even more stubborn. If he said no, he meant it. End of story, thank you ladies and gentlemen. I yawned and headed back to my room.
Ten o'clock on a Saturday morning with nothing to do. I collapsed on to my bed and yanked out a Gravitation manga.
After an hour or so, something cracked against my window.
"What the hell...?" I muttered. Another something hit my window. I trudged over to the window and opened it just as another acorn was being thrown. The said acorn proceeded to whack me in the face. I frowned and looked down as the thrower of the acorns proceeded to laugh.
"Sorry, Nagi!" Youji cried through his laughter. I grinned and extended my middle finger in his general direction.
"What do you want?" He held up a small box and threw it to me.
"Give this to Schu and tell him that I said happy anniversary!"
"Give it to him yourself, lazy ass!"
"Yeah, let me tell you. Just waltz in your front door. 'Excuse me, members of Schwartz. I know we're mortal enemies and whatnot, but I need to hand this over to Schuldig. It's our eight-month anniversary, you know.' I'm sure that'd go over real well," Youji said sarcastically. I snickered.
"I'll be sure to give it to him. Tell Omi I said hello."
"Got it, kid. See you." He waved and ran off, a grin still plastered on his face.
I glanced down at the box with a frown. It was too small to be the edible underwear.
"Youji, what is it?" I yelled out the window. But he had already disappeared back to the Koneko. I shrugged and trudged towards Schuldig's room. "Open up, smart-ass."
"It's open, stupid-ass."
//Good one\\
//I know\\
//I was being sarcastic, you stupid German\\
//...I knew that. Open the damn door\\ I smirked to myself and pushed open the door. Schuldig was sprawled on his bed...reading a book?
"Schu, what the hell are you doing?"
"Revising Hitler's Mein Kampf. The guy had some good ideas, but a totally stupid way of doing them. I can do much better." Schuldig looked up and grinned at the horrified expression on my face. "I'm kidding, moron. It's the Ai no Kusabi novel." I snorted.
"Yeah, and I'm sure you're reading that simply for the intricate plot line."
"Of course!"
"Nothing to do with the graphic sex scenes."
"...Okay, so Iason's sexy...What do you need?" I held up a box.
"Your boy-toy threw acorns at my window for ten minutes to give me this. He says happy anniversary." Schuldig grinned at me and snatched the box.
"What is it? Edible underwear?"
"That's what I thought he was getting, but the box is too small," I replied, peering at Schuldig as he curiously shook the small box. "Well, open it!" Schu raised an inappropriate finger before tearing off the silver wrapper and opening the small box inside.
He said nothing.
"Mein Gott," he whispered quietly as his eyes grew to the size of saucers.
"What is it?"
"Oh, my dear God..."
"Schuldig, what is it?" By this point, I was just about dying from curiosity. "Tell me, god dammit!"
"He- I- Oh, fuck..." I jumped on the bed behind him to get a good look at the contents of the box.
In the center of the plain, black box was a simple platinum ring with three tiny emeralds on it.
My jaw dropped as I read the note included within it.
Schu-chan,
Happy anniversary, you horny bastard. I've been thinking for a while. I told you that I love you, and I mean it. I'll say it again. I love you with all my heart and all my soul. Yeah, yeah, stop laughing. I know it's corny, but it's true. I was thinking about it, and I realized that I'm in this for the long haul. As in...forever. So, what do you say, Schu? Are you in it for the long haul, too? I was going to be more formal, but fuck formality. Who needs it? I like this way better. No big-ass ceremony or anything. How about it?
Love always,
Yo-tan
P.S: The emeralds remind me of your eyes. That's why I picked it. Stop laughing! I know, I'm a sucker for sap.
"Wow...Schuldig, I-"
"Is he asking what I think he's asking?" Schuldig asked quietly. His hands started to shake.
"That's...I think so." I still couldn't believe what I had read. I suddenly realized that there was a whole other side to Youji that I hadn't even begun to discover yet. I looked at Schuldig who was staring down at the box in his hands. "What are you going to say?" He didn't answer. His shoulders were shaking. I realized with a shock that he was crying.
I'd never seen Schuldig cry before, and he hasn't since.
When he looked up at me, the biggest grin I'd ever seen spread itself across his face.
"What do you think I'm gonna say?!" His grin, if possible, grew wider. "Come on!" He grabbed my arm and dragged me towards the window.
"Where the hell are we going?!"
"To the Koneko!" The flower shop?!
"Now? In broad daylight?! With his PARTNERS home?! HAVE YOU LOST IT?!"
"I lost it eight months ago, Nagi, and now I plan to keep it!"
"That didn't even make sense!" I struggled wildly as he yanked me out of the window and into the tree. He dragged me down through the branches and into the Schu-mobile (as I liked to call it).
The trip to the Koneko took less than three minutes.
He screeched to a halt a block from the shop and leaped out of the car.
"Come on, Nagi!"
"I can't. I have whiplash."
"Get whiplash later!" He flung open the passenger's side and dragged me out of it. "Move it, move it, move it!" I trudged after him as best I could without damaging my jarred and very angry neck muscles. I looked up. Schuldig was already halfway up the fire escape on the side of the building.
I swear, somewhere, if there's a God, (s)he hates me. And (s)he's laughing at me.
Grumbling, I struggled up the fire escape and, thankfully, reached a balcony. Schuldig had pressed himself against the wall and was listening closely to a conversation being held inside.
"It was a stupid thing for me to do," I heard Youji say dejectedly. "I've probably scared him off and ruined everything.
"Youji, don't say that!" The pain in my neck disappeared as I realized that it was Omi who was speaking. I got that weird fluttering feeling in my stomach that I always get when I'm around him. He does things to me that no-
Whoa, Naoe, snap back to reality.
"Omittchi, what if I did scare him off? What if he's really gone? I...I don't think I could take it." Schuldig had apparently heard enough. He threw open the window, jumped inside, and tackle-glomped Youji, taking him to the floor. I couldn't help grinning as I climbed in the window. As much as I wanted to focus on Schuldig and Youji, I couldn't help but admire Omi. He was watching them both with a huge smile on his face. He looked up and our eyes met. "So...is that a yes?" I heard Youji ask tentatively.
"What the hell do you think?! It's no, you idiot. That's why I tackled you and stuck my tongue in your mouth. Of course it's a yes!" I still hadn't looked away from Omi. He smiled sweetly as he closed the distance between us and pressed his lips to mine.
"Missed you," he murmured, burying his face in my chest. I smiled.
"Missed you more."
Schu finally rolled off of Youji and stood up.
"So this is it, huh?" he asked with a grin. "Now were mar-"
"Don't say it!" Youji shuddered. "I hate that word. It's so...I don't know. But I hate it. Let's just leave it at 'in for the long haul.'" Schuldig grinned and proceeded to jump in for another tackle-glomp.
"What the HELL is going on in there?!" a vaguely familiar voice demanded. The doorknob twitched. My eyes darted from the door to Omi to Schuldig to Youji. If we got caught...fuck...
"Don't worry, the door's locked," Youji whispered.
"Youji? Is Omi in there?"
"Yeah, Ken, we're talking! Go do something productive. Something that doesn't involve fucking Aya for once."
"Hey! I resent that!" The person behind the door laughed good-naturedly before the footsteps faded away.
"We should get going," I said reluctantly. I looked down at Omi who peered back up at me with disappointment flashing in his eyes.
Shit...He really was beautiful.
"Yeah...Yeah, we should." Schuldig reluctantly hopped up, followed by Youji.
"But you just got here!" I raised an eyebrow. Youji had a damn good "innocent chibi" act. Schuldig winced.
"Don't do that to me! We really do have to go." I suddenly became aware of the fact that I was stroking Omi's hair. I also became aware of the fact that Omi was purring like a kitten. Pun not intended.
"Yeah."
"We have a mission tonight, so we'll probably see you there, though...not under very good circumstances," Omi said quietly, looking at the floor. I nodded.
"See you later." I lifted Omi's chin and kissed him gently.
I could almost see the shoujo manga bubbles floating around Schuldig and Youji.
"Come on, Schu." Reluctantly, we hopped out of the window and drove back home.
*****
Crawford caught us, of course.
When he was in a bad mood, he tended to be very perceptive.
"...and I don't know where the FUCK you morons go when you sneak out! It. Needs. To. Stop. Period. Do you understand me?!"
//Not a chance in hell, Schu. Shuichi is a much better singer than Ryuichi\\
//Bullshit! Shuichi's songs are crap! I mean, come on. Compare "Rage Beat" to "Sleepless Beauty!"\\
//I must admit, "Sleepless Beauty" is a kick-ass song. But still, he-\\
"HAVE YOU HEARD A WORD I SAID?!"
"We understand," Schuldig said quickly.
"Absolutely." Crawford fumed at us silently for a few seconds before storming into his room. Nora looked calmly up from her trig notes.
"One of these days, he's going to snap," she said quietly as she watched Crawford's retreating back with obvious concern. "And I think it's going to be soon." Farf silently entered the room and sat at Nora's feet.
"Brad's just a big teddy bear!" Ivy said cheerfully as she walked out of the kitchen with a soda. "He wouldn't really do anything to anybody."
"I don't know, Ivy...I just don't know." Nora bit her lip, and went back to her trig notes.
"Nice ring, Schu," Ivy commented. Schuldig grinned.
"Thanks, Ivy."
"Where'd you get it?"
"One of my many admirers gave it to me as a token of his undying love for me," Schuldig replied dramatically. Nora giggled. I grinned at nobody in particular.
If only they knew how close to the truth that was...
*****
"Not once in the entire series do they ever say that Heero and Duo are together." I looked at Ivy and rolled my eyes.
"Come on, woman, how dense can you be? Yuy gives a twenty minute speech about how Duo isn't his friend. Sounds like denial to me. He uses the boy's name whenever he needs a cover, he saved his life, what other proof do you need?"
Ivy and I were arguing about the subtle yaoi in Gundam Wing when we heard Crawford.
"Mission! Mission! We're leaving in an hour! Be dressed and in the living room in forty-five minutes sharp for details!" Ivy sighed and turned off the television right as Quatre was about to go psycho on some guy's ass.
Oh, well. The two of us could watch it when we got home.
Forty-five minutes later, I was attired in a black turtleneck and black pants and on the sofa in between Schuldig and Ivy.
"All right, Schwarz," Crawford began in his most professional manner. "Esset is getting a supply of a new drug that is supposed to be able to enhance the psychic strand of a person's mind and unleash their Gifts. However, this drug has killed half of the users, and the other half became addicted. Therefore, the drug was outlawed." He paced back and forth across the room, trying to look important but actually looking nervous and anxious. "This drug, FKE-3992, is needed by Esset to perform certain tests."
"What kinds of tests?" Farfarello questioned calmly.
"We were not informed." Ivy snorted.
"Typical of those bastards. They barely tell us anything, then send us out and hope we don't die," she muttered bitterly.
"Watch your mouth, Mercoda," Crawford hissed. The two of them had a bit of a staring contest. Ivy was the first to look away. Crawford smirked triumphantly before continuing. "We're supposed to meet the shipment as it comes into the docks and make sure it is unpacked safely."
"The docks again?!" Schuldig groaned. "I hate those damn docks."
"We're not going to be on the actual docks this time. We'll be in the warehouse. Any questions?" Stupid question. Nobody ever asked Crawford any questions. "Good. Let's get going." I stood up, snatched my laptop, and headed for the door. Just as I was about to open it, my stomach started swirling like a washing machine.
Something was going to happen tonight.
Something not very good.
*****
I looked out the window at the buildings flying by as Ivy sang along cheerfully to some American band called Dashboard Confessional. The weird feeling in my stomach was still there. If anything, it had gotten worse.
"You're quiet tonight," she said, frowning. "Is something wrong?" I really didn't want to worry her with my weird gut instinct, so I plastered a grin on my face.
"I'm just concentrating on tuning out your horrible voice."
"Hey, hey, hey! Watch it, kid!" She grinned and smacked me upside the head. I tried to grin back as we pulled into the docks. I guess I did a decent job of it.
//You okay, Nagi?\\ Schuldig's "voice" questioned. //Your mind's a mess\\
//I have a bad feeling. Something...Something's not right\\
//I know what you're saying. I feel it, too. Well, whatever it is, we'll work through it\\
//I hope so, Schu...\\
I hopped out of Ivy's car. Schuldig was leaning calmly against the wall of the warehouse, Crawford was pacing nervously back and forth, and Nora and Farfarello were taking turns skipping rocks across the water.
"Good, you're finally here," Crawford said quickly. "What did you do, stop for a break?" I felt Ivy tense up.
"Calm down," I muttered. "Don't let him get to you; that's just what he wants. He glared at Ivy before turning around and walking inside. Ivy and I followed him, and Schuldig soon fell into step next to me. Nora and Farf walked behind us, chatting quietly.
"I swear, I can't take much more of his shit," Ivy muttered. "I'm sorry that his love life sucks, but he doesn't have to take it out on me."
Ahead, I saw Crawford's hands clench into fists.
"I think he heard you," Schuldig said quietly. Ivy's violet eyes narrowed.
"Let him hear me. I don't give a flying fuck any more. The bastard wonders why we don't respect him."
Crawford's hands started shaking. Schuldig and I glanced at each other. Any second now, I was waiting for Crawford to whirl around and smack the crap out of Ivy. But when he turned around, he appeared perfectly calm. Except that his hands were still clenched into fists.
"These boxes are filled with FKE-3992. They will be unpacked. Our mission is to simply make sure that everything goes well."
"Which of course, they won't," Schuldig muttered. I saw him reach into his green blazer to grip his gun. Random workers employed by Esset began to unpack the boxes.
"Are the sensors placed?" Crawford questioned. Nora nodded.
"Farfarello and I placed them. There are six on the roof and three on each wall."
"Nagi, connect them." I whipped open my laptop and began typing. After a few seconds, I had connected all the sensors.
"Connected. Nothing's getting past those things," I said quietly. I shut my laptop and placed it in a corner.
Nothing to do now but wait.
We didn't have to for long.
After a few minutes, a loud siren filled the room. Schuldig glanced at me and smirked.
"They're heee~eeeeere...."
Glass rained down on us as four silhouettes broke through the skylight and landed on the ground.
Schuldig immediately shut his eyes and concentrated.
//Are we all connected?\\ he asked. //Nagi?\\
//I'm here. Omi?\\
//I hear you. Youji?\\
//Loud and clear, kid\\
//Great\\ Schuldig projected. //All right, Youji. Jump left three times\\
//Got it\\ Schuldig whipped out his gun and shot in Youji's general direction. As directed, he jumped to the left and avoided the bullets.
What, did you think we didn't have this planned? We had to make this look real, after all.
//Nagi, duck\\ Omi projected calmly. I dropped to the ground as three darts whizzed past my head. I glanced over at my other teammates, who were actually fighting.
Ivy had plucked a knife out of the Walrus and jammed it into Siberian's back. That kid had a bad habit of getting knives jammed into his back. Farfarello was calmly sitting back and watching. He doesn't usually get involved in a fight until the last minute. Then, he massacres everything he can reach. Abyssinian was running at Ivy with his big-ass katana. Nora gracefully kicked her foot out and sent him sprawling. Crawford was ordering the workers not to panic and to keep unloading. Abyssinian leaped to his feet, yanked the knife out of Siberian's back, and charged at Ivy with his katana. He slammed her against the wall and jammed the point against her throat. Omi's eyes widened.
//My God, Nagi! Your friend!\\
//She knows what she's doing\\
"Die," he hissed.
"Bite me, kitty boy," she snarled. She grabbed his head with both hands, and I watched as her eyes shifted to that silvery-grey color. Abyssinian's hands started to shake, and he dropped to the ground.
"DON'T TOUCH HER!" he sobbed. "NO! AYA!"
//Nagi, I'm sending the wire at you. Can you do your telekinesis on it?\\
//Yeah, no pr-\\ I stopped in mid-thought as I felt pain rake across my back.
"Fuck!" I howled. I whirled around and dodged just as Siberian swung at me again. I formed my hands into the shape of a triangle and blew him into the wall. I did it again. And again. And again.
Abyssinian screamed. Farf had joined the fight.
I felt my blood drip to the floor.
"You okay, Prodigy?" Ivy yelled as she shot in Omi's general direction.
"I'm fine. I'll live."
I looked up at Crawford. I suddenly realized that he was carefully aiming his gun at someone's head.
Youji. Youji, who was blocking Farfarello's knives from hitting Omi.
Youji who couldn't see that a gun was being aimed at his head.
SHIT!
//Schuldig!\\ Schuldig looked at me, then glanced to where I was pointing. His eyes widened. He stepped backwards, shaking his head in disbelief.
//No...No...No, no, nononononono....This can't happen now! Not after we...DO SOMETHING, GOD DAMMIT!\\
Crawford fired.
The bullet seemed to move in slow motion.
I tried to change the direction, but Abyssinian chose that moment to jam his katana directly through my stomach.
I was barely even aware of the pain as I fell to my knees.
All I could feel was the overwhelming helplessness that was flooding my mind.
Youji was going to die.
And I couldn't do anything to stop it.
I shut my eyes as the bullet hit.
"What the...what the hell?!" Schuldig was staring wide-eyed.
The bullet had hit the wall and ricocheted harmlessly away.
Youji was on the floor.
Ivy had saw the bullet and tackled him.
They looked at each other.
"I...I....Thanks," Youji said, shocked. Ivy appeared just as surprised with herself.
"Any time." She jumped off of him quickly as if he were burning her. Crawford still had the gun pointed forward. He was shaking violently.
I'd never seen Crawford so mad.
Schuldig was desperately trying to restrain himself from tackle-glomping Youji.
//He's okay...He's gonna be all right\\ Schuldig whispered.
//Nagi!\\ Omi cried. I saw him step towards me.
That's about when I became aware of the FOOT LONG SWORD JUTTING OUT OF MY STOMACH.
//Omi, stay where you are! Don't make them suspicious!\\
I felt someone kneel next to me as I began to fade in and out of consciousness. I glanced up into Nora's blood red eyes.
"Nagi, stay awake," she said. "If I take the sword out, you're certainly going to bleed to death."
"But it hurts like a bitch! And I'm so tired..." I really was tired all of a sudden.
"It's the blood loss. Stay awake."
"Mission accomplished!" I heard Crawford's voice bark over the din. "Let's go, Schwarz!"
"Farf, can you carry him?" The last thing I remember was being carried quickly to the car.
So tired...
*****
When I woke up, it was dark.
I sat up quickly, then immediately decided that that was a bad idea. I hissed at the pain blossoming in my stomach and laid back down. I glanced around and realized that I was in my room. The sword was gone, and I was thoroughly bandaged. Schuldig jumped up from his place on the floor.
"You're awake! Nora, he's awake!" Nora immediately raced into the room with a huge smile on her face.
"I knew you'd make it, Nagi!" she said happily. She promptly grabbed my arm and, still smiling, jabbed a needle into it.
"Ow! Hey!"
"Antibiotics." she said. Another needle followed. "Tetanus shot." Another needle. "Painkillers."
"Can't you take those in pill form?! Stop sticking me!" Nora giggled and mussed my hair.
"Glad you're okay, Nagi. I'll go tell everyone that you're okay. We've been worried sick for the past few hours." She smiled again and left the room. Schuldig kneeled by my bed.
"She saved his life," he said quietly. I nodded. "He would have died. He would have died." Schu looked like he was about to cry. "I'd thank her if I could..." I smiled. "Crawford's really pissed. Extremely pissed."
"Ouch...Hate to be her."
"Hate to be you," Ivy said as she entered the room. Farfarello followed her. "How are you feeling?"
"Like shit."
"I see." She grinned at me, dropped to her knees, and gingerly hugged me. "Thank God you're okay." Farf stared at me for a few seconds before leaving the room. Crawford stormed in the room.
"Are you alive?"
"Does it look like I'm alive?"
"Yes. Good." He glared at Ivy. "Mercoda, we need to talk. Living room. Five minutes." He stormed out again. Ivy grinned and shrugged.
"Guess I'm getting chewed out again. Oh, well. Better go take it."
"Afterwards, we're watching Gundam Wing again, and I'm making you believe me about Heero and Duo." She laughed, gave me a quick kiss on the forehead, and left.
Schuldig was solemnly staring at his ring.
"I will never make fun of her about anything ever again," he said quietly.
"Schu, it's okay. It's over. He's fine."
"Yeah...Yeah. He's fine." Schuldig smiled at me and stood up. "I think I'm still in shock. Hope you feel better. I'll try to sleep this off." He left quickly.
I laid there in silence for a few minutes. I could hear muffled yelling coming from the living room. With nothing better to do, I pulled myself out of bed (with great difficulty and a lot of pain) and dragged myself over to the living room to eavesdrop. Not letting them see me, of course. The door was closed, anyway.
"For the last time, Mercoda, this is unacceptable! You nearly cost us the mission!"
"That's bullshit, Crawford, and you know it! The mission didn't have anything to do with Weiß!"
"I'll have to inform Esset of your actions."
"Like I give a flying fuck!"
"Don't you dare take that tone with me!"
"Don't tell me what to do, Bradley-fucking-Crawford!" A frustrated sigh/yell from Crawford.
"You can't let your feelings interfere with missions! You simply can't do it!"
"Oh, yeah, and I'm sure your feelings didn't interfere with anything back when you were fucking Schuldig, right?!"
That was the ultimate insult.
Silence. Complete silence.
Except for the gunshot, of course.
...Wait a minute...
GUNSHOT?!
Despite the staggering pain in my stomach, I threw open the door and fell into the living room. Crawford stood absolutely still, shock written plainly on his face. His hand started to shake violently, and he dropped the gun.
"Oh, my God..." he whispered. "What have I done?" He stood for a few seconds before racing into the bathroom and retching.
My brain refused to believe the sight in front of me.
The white carpet was slowly turning red...
So much blood...
From one little hole in her chest...
I raced over to Ivy, who was lying on the floor.
"Ivy...Ivy, wake up!" I dropped to my knees, not caring that the blood was soaking into my already blood-soaked pants or that the pain in my stomach was practically overwhelming. Her violet eyes snapped back into focus, and she smiled the saddest smile I've ever seen.
"Shouldn't have said that," was all she said before her eyes grew blank.
"IVY!" I heard someone scream. It sounded like Nora. I didn't care.
I started to shake as I finally realized that my hands were covered in blood. I jumped up as my bloody hands started to twitch violently.
Sobs echoed from behind me.
My mind went totally blank.
The only thing I could think of was that we'd never be able to watch Gundam Wing now.
A frantic giggle sounded. I realized that it was mine. More frantic giggles escaped my lips as I patiently waited for Ivy to stop joking around and open her eyes.
C-Come on, Ivy...This isn't funny. Get up. Come on, it's not funny any more. Let's go. Please? Okay, you got me, haha...Just wake up.
Ivy?
Ivy, please...
WAKE UP!
Everything went black as my desperate giggles dissolved into sobs.
OWARI
I still can't believe I wrote that...I've always been rather attached to Ivy. Also, the beginning is a bit too sappy for me. I think I started crying once. Sorry for the angst and sappiness. And for bastardizing Crawford completely. ^_^;;; I really hope you enjoyed it. Stay tuned for the next chapter and pleeeeeease review!
