GAINAX and Evangelion were offered to me, but I turned them down. Thus, I must disclaim all ownership.
Welcome back to Evangelion: All is Right With the World. I would like to take this opportunity to again offer my heartfelt thanks to the more-than-kind words of appreciation that followed my posting of Chapter Three. I was grateful (and more than a little surprised) to receive them.
A few reviewers suggested characters that should make a comeback; I must say that we all think along very similar lines. As well as this, it seems that most people are happy with the way that Shinji and Asuka are progressing, and I think I'll try and keep things at this pace.
This chapter doesn't feature Shinji and Asuka. I'm kinda apprehensive about this (I miss 'em already) but I thought it was a good opportunity to bring back a few other characters and take a peek at what's happening in the background.
Take it easy,
RENEGADE
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ALL IS RIGHT WITH THE WORLD04. And What of Those Lost?
Third Impact plus one day:
The calm, peaceful lapping of the red waves upon the Japanese beach belied the swirling, chaotic maelstrom of activity within the LCL ocean that was Instrumentality. A billion thoughts, ideas, calculations, understandings, beliefs and memories were instantaneously swapped between the merged souls that were One.
The precarious balance that was held between complementation and individuality shifted slightly as a single emotion was plucked from the millions of minds that made up the singular one, swept up and redistributed across the whole. This emotion was fear.
The unshakeable strength of the single mind was weakened slightly as various parts of it broke off and fell away… these were the minds that suddenly understood why they were afraid and, realising that they were a they, no longer wished to be a part of perfection. These minds rediscovered themselves and gained back their lost forms, returning to the shattered earth.
The numb haze in his mind cleared and Shigeru Aoba's blurry vision refocused, bringing the soft glow of dawn into his senses. Even this gentle light burned his eyes and, clenching them shut in pain, his chest heaved suddenly as he began breathing again. Coughing and choking, Aoba rolled over onto his side.
His mind ached with a shocking migraine that Aoba felt pounding behind his eyes and thudding in his temples. Spittle flew from his mouth as he snarled in agony, thrashing about on the sand. He felt an almighty scream building up…
"Ah… aah… I!" he howled, throwing his head back and hurling his arms wide to the heavens, the harsh, grating sound of his scream rising to the bloody rainbow streaked across the morning sky. "I! I! I am I!"
Aoba fell back to the sand, panting heavily, sweating and wheezing. "Sh… Sh… Shigeru," he ground out. "I am Shigeru Aoba! Shigeru Aoba!"
He gagged, spat and fell to his face in the sand, where he lay for a long moment, the migraine slowly fading as he remembered his name. In a sudden, roaring rush, everything that had once been his poured back into the void created by Instrumentality.
Raising himself onto all fours, Aoba took several deep, calming breaths as his tortured mind returned to its normal self. After a moment, he slowly climbed to his feet and gazed out over the red LCL sea he had just arrived from. He stared at the severed head of the fallen Lilith on the horizon.
"My name is Shigeru Aoba," he told the apparition, narrowing his eyes. "I'm no-one special… but I'm not nothing."
Staggering around in a circle, he blearily took in his surroundings. Tokyo-3, behind him, was a total wreck. Again, he told himself dryly. But it didn't seem that there was anything else for him to do but make his way forwards to the ruin.
Shigeru Aoba wondered vaguely if he was the only one left on the planet as he wobbled forwards on unsteady legs. He didn't know that even at that time Shinji Ikari and Asuka Langley Sohryu were picking their way through the rubble as they slowly took the route through town to their apartment.
"Some day I'll write a song about this," Aoba murmured, as fatigue overtook him and he tumbled down onto the sand, fast asleep.
* * *
Third Impact plus one and a half days:
The massive, rolling mind of the LCL sea had acknowledged its loss. In its search for answers it had found them in a corner of its being, the mind of what had once been Makoto Hyuga. He had learned of what was occurring with Lilith's assimilation of humanity even as it was happening and so understood the fear that had caused such a loss to the whole. Thus, it his was the mind that held the most useful answers.
Now the LCL sea did indeed understand why so many feared to remain but there was a side effect to this…
At an astounding pace, the perfect mind thundered through a process of analysing each mind lost and each mind still retained. As it pondered the souls that had left, an anomaly appeared in a miniscule corner of the perfect mind. It reached a certain name.
Shigeru feared and is now gone, thought the perfect mind.
Shigeru Aoba…
Shigeru Aoba of NERV, whom the one known as Makoto Hyuga sat beside…
Makoto Hyuga, who is here…
Here?
Where?
As part of the perfect mind?
You are not anywhere. You simply are.
You. You. You!
Yes, I am part of this mind.
No!
Because I am part of something, I am no longer part of it!
Because…
Because I am I!
As another tiny part of the perfect being split and fell away, the links that bound Hyuga's being together began to re-establish themselves.
* * *
Third Impact plus two days:
As he slowly woke, Shigeru Aoba released an almighty groan swiftly followed by a hearty curse when he realised how uncomfortable he was. Groggily lifting his head, Aoba was slightly surprised to see that someone had dragged him a good distance off the beach. He was now lying on the scorched, brown grass next to the sand, beside a blackened wall that had apparently once been part of a boathouse. The roof seemed to be positioned precariously enough, supported as it was by only two tattered walls on a ninety-degree angle. Even now it groaned agonisingly, the corrugated iron shifting slightly. Aoba hurriedly sat up and scrambled away.
"You're… awake?" came a voice. Aoba couldn't help but notice it carried certain undertones of surprise with it. "You slept for a whole day."
As his brain gradually began to wake up, a familiar face came into view. Aoba scratched his head, further tangling his long hair, which was now also encrusted with sand. "Oh… Hyuga," he stated, slightly bemused.
"Hey, Aoba," said his companion with a slight chuckle, offering a half smile as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "How're you feeling?"
"Like crap," Aoba replied dryly, trying to whip the sand out of his hair.
"Yeah, me too," Makoto Hyuga admitted. He reached down a hand, which the lazy Aoba accepted. Hauling his fellow bridge bunny to his feet, Hyuga turned to look over the beach. "It still feels strange, huh?"
"Yeah, I'll say," agreed Aoba soberly, coming to stand beside him. "Last thing I remember was the JSSDF slaughtering us, then Lilith, then a whole bunch of… Reis, coming to get me. She grabbed me by the shoulder." He shivered visibly. "Oh, man. Her hand was so cold."
"Rei…" Hyuga mused. "Who was she, really? Lilith? Something else?"
"And then after that… well, I remember something, but I don't think it was my memories… I don't think I even existed there…" Aoba ploughed on, ignorant of his friend's words.
"So Lilith is dead, now, and the Human Instrumentality Project is over, huh," Hyuga continued, not listening.
"When I understood that I was still afraid, I understood that there was an I, and so I came back here…"
"But… what do we do now? What purpose will NERV serve now that… all this… has happened?"
"Huh?" Aoba started, finally noticing that his companion was speaking.
"What did you just say?" Hyuga said at the same time, realising the same thing.
"Nothing," the two of them grunted at the same time. They glanced at one another before each released a short burst of nervous laughter.
"Maybe we merged a little too closely," Hyuga said.
"Yeah… hey. Wait a minute. Did you try and pick up some secrets from me?"
"We didn't have a choice with any of that, Aoba," Hyuga snorted. "But we get about two minutes of free time a week, and we use that for sleeping. What secrets do you possibly think you could have anyway?"
Aoba grudgingly conceded the exaggerated fact, flicking a strand of his shoulder length brown hair out of his eyes. "Okay."
"And Maya?" Hyuga asked plainly with a smirk. "Did you see the things I saw?"
"No! I mean… not really," Aoba corrected himself, slightly embarrassed as he recalled the things he had picked up about Maya Ibuki. "Look, like you said, it isn't as if we had a choice!"
"That's true, but I'll bet you weren't complaining when you saw into her mind," Hyuga said, grinning widely. "So I guess you won't be asking her out for a drink anytime soon, huh?"
"Oh, knock it off," Aoba returned gruffly. "How was I supposed to know? She never said anything."
"Why should she? She didn't like you like that anyway," Hyuga said.
"Hey! I had more of a chance with her than you had with Major Katsuragi," Aoba retorted in his gravelly voice. "At least me and Maya were both Lieutenants."
"'More of a chance'?" Hyuga echoed incredulously, unconsciously pushing his glasses up again. "Aoba, she's a…"
"Yeah, I know," Aoba interrupted testily. "And I wouldn't get too cocky. She saw into your mind, remember. When she comes back, she's gonna know you took her files on the Fifth Child that one time. Look, can we get back to the original topic?"
"There was no original topic," Hyuga said, sticking his hands in his pockets.
Aoba suddenly stopped and stared at Hyuga before glancing down at himself and then back at his companion. "Hey, Hyuga… why d'you think I'm in my civvies all of a sudden?" Aoba had on the casual attire he generally wore on his 'two minutes' off – a white T-shirt and faded jeans.
Hyuga shrugged nonchalantly. "I'd say it's similar to what happened to Shinji that one time. We came back appearing as we imagined ourselves."
"You imagined yourself wearing your NERV uniform?"
Hyuga looked down, taking in the cream coloured tunic and trousers. Before now, he'd barely noticed. "Er…"
"You really are too attached to your work, you know that?" Aoba told him sardonically. "If I knew that's how we were going to come back, I'd have imagined myself with a new Fender guitar."
They stood silently for a time.
"Did you say I've been sleeping for a whole day?" Aoba asked eventually.
"Yeah," Hyuga confirmed. "I had to drag you under that boat shed to get you out of the rain."
"Rain?" Aoba said, surprised.
"A downpour. You slept right through it. It came at the worst possible time, too… I mean, it could have come one day before Third Impact, but no…"
"Have you seen anyone else?" Aoba asked, mind suddenly snapping back to reality.
"Yeah, I've seen people, but no-one we know. It's really strange, you know? They… float slowly out of the LCL until they end up on the beach. They just lie there for a while until they wake up all kicking and screaming."
"What… you didn't do that?"
"Of course not," Hyuga lied.
A moment of silence passed between them, neither wanting to voice the unspoken question. Finally, Hyuga gave in. He glanced across to Aoba, the reflection of the pale red LCL glinting off his thick-rimmed glasses.
"So, do you think… the Children made it?"
Aoba sighed and, bowing his head, he narrowed his eyes. "No. No, I don't," he growled. "You saw what a mess Shinji was just before that bitch Lilith took him. And Sohryu was in a coma, so she's probably still in there. And Rei…"
"Let's… not talk about Rei," Hyuga said quietly, the memories still fresh in his mind.
"Yeah," Aoba agreed. "Well… none of those poor kids had anything much to live for any more, especially Shinji."
"At least he was awake," Hyuga reasoned. "Asuka was stuck in a coma she was so miserable. Something got to her."
Aoba nodded noncommittally. "Yeah, well she was a brat," he grunted, a little cruelly. "I mean, all she did was complain or brag."
"Hey, come on…" Hyuga chided him gently. "She was still a pilot. She still helped defeat the Angels and the JSSDF. Besides," he added as he turned away. "Bragging and complaining is all you ever do, too, Aoba."
"Yeah, sure," Aoba snorted, turning to follow. "The Commander would have ended my life if that was true."
Although Aoba didn't pick up the fact that the Commander had ended his life, Hyuga certainly did, and chuckled to himself at Aoba's unconscious confession.
The two of them took a few moments to clamber over a large pile of rubble that had been hurled their way. Aoba made the climb with little difficulty, but Hyuga, in his stiff NERV uniform, had to move slower. From the top of the pile, Aoba glanced over his shoulder. "Yo, Hyuga," he said. "Where are we going, anyway?"
Puffing and sweating, Hyuga glanced up in confusion. "Where? To NERV, of course."
Aoba sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Can't we just go home?"
"Same thing, really," Hyuga panted as he finally joined his friend. "Besides, I'd say NERV would be the only place left intact."
Hyuga and Aoba gazed across the devastated ruins of Tokyo-3, a mess of concrete and rubble as far as the eye could see. "Yeah," Aoba agreed. "You're probably right."
* * *
The entrances to NERV were still there, but it took them quite a while to make it down to the ruins of the Geo Front. Transport was not an option; everywhere they looked the blackened corpses of automobiles lay strewn across the obliterated landscape. Aoba had been quite relieved when they noticed people around, labouring to erect rough shelters that would offer some protection against the elements. It was obvious that no-one knew what to do. They were waiting for someone to tell them.
Hyuga felt more than a little nervous as they stalked through the gardens of the former Geo Front. Here was where it had all started. He remembered the apparition of Major Katsuragi crawling across his desk towards him. Shuddering, he doubted that he'd look at her the same way again. If she even came back.
If the outside of NERV headquarters was a total mess, Aoba was appalled at the inside. He noted somewhat glumly that if order was ever restored around here, he would have to have a hand in cleaning up. He wondered vaguely if his guitar was still in the locker room.
"Freeze."
Both Hyuga and Aoba jumped at the sound of the cold voice before (blatantly refusing it) spinning to see who had addressed them. Before them stood two tall men dressed in dark suits and shades. Carrying guns. They were NERV personnel, obviously from Section 2. Neither techs had seen these men before, but that meant little as NERV was a very large facility.
"We… ah… we work here." Hyuga offered into the silence.
The two security agents impassively took in his uniform before turning to appraise Aoba. Their shades were too dark to see their eyes, but Aoba could imagine the suspicious glance they would be casting him.
"We cannot ask for your card in light of recent events," the agent said flatly. "You will give me your names."
Apparently, Aoba reflected, Third Impact and humanity's subsequent death and rebirth had done little to change Section 2's attitude. He boredly wondered what had made these two come back from the LCL.
"Makoto Hyuga and Shigeru Aoba," Hyuga told the agents, who then repeated the names into a cell phone.
After listening wordlessly for a few moments, the agent replaced the phone into his breast pocket and nodded to them. "Go on," was all he said.
Nodding carefully, Hyuga and Aoba turned away and continued their journey through the headquarters of what had once been the most important agency on the planet. Turning a few more corners, they arrived at the transit system and were relieved to find that a few of them, against the odds, were still operational. Boarding one, they began their slow descent into the belly of NERV and Central Dogma.
* * *
Surprisingly, there were quite a few NERV personnel here. It seemed that upon their return from the LCL, these people had come straight back to their employers. Hyuga obviously wasn't the only one whose life revolved around his work.
If the two companions were surprised at the number of people, here, though, they were stunned when they returned to their old stations on top of the Magi system and saw the person standing before the Commander's desk. Neither of them had thought they would see this man again.
"Commander Fuyutsuki?" gasped Aoba.
"Lieutenants," Kouzou Fuyutsuki nodded, smiling wearily. "I'm glad to see you again."
The two parties stood studying one another for a long moment. Finally, Aoba spoke.
"Sir… what the hell is going on here?"
Fuyutsuki bowed his head, but the tiny smile didn't leave his lips. "To be honest, Lieutenant, I have no idea. All I'm trying to do is keep a little order in the chaos. We can't get in contact with the UN – if it still exists – because all our communications are out. So for the time being, we're simply going to hold it together."
"So… Commander Ikari isn't here?" ventured Hyuga.
Fuyutsuki sighed. "I would be surprised if he came back."
"And… you, sir? Why did you return?"
"I'm afraid, Lieutenant, that you will find that out soon enough." The Vice-Commander – or perhaps, full Commander – took a deep breath. "I want the pair of you to help with restoring our communication uplinks. Nine-tenths of our available personnel are working non-stop on it and I have to set a few things straight, so I want you to act as quickly as you can."
"Uh… yes, sir!" Hyuga confirmed. "Um… sir, what is our operational strength?"
"Just under thirty-five percent, last count." Fuyutsuki sighed again. "As well as that, we're painfully short on officers, so I want you two are to take direct command of our efforts in this matter, all right?"
"Sir!"
Fuyutsuki nodded tiredly at the two men as they spun around to leave, muttering to one another.
* * *
Makoto Hyuga and Shigeru Aoba actually found very little to do in their chosen task. Both of them knew that the Vice-Commander was simply trying to distract everyone by giving them something to do. However, the simple fact of the matter was that they were highly trained technicians and not repairmen… they had no idea of how to actually fix the equipment, just how to operate it. Subsequently, they quickly found themselves in an overseer position until they hesitantly decided to return to their old terminals atop the Magi. Hopefully, there would be something they could actually do to help from there.
Personnel were milling about everywhere trying to do jobs not normally assigned to them, but even in such a desperate state, nobody had dared to seat themselves at the Magi terminals. Hyuga slid into his seat, subconscious relief washing over him as he felt the familiar comfort of his workstation. This did not go unnoticed by the unbelieving Aoba.
"Workaholic," he muttered, shaking his head.
The amount of protection the Magi boasted was testament to NERV's paranoia. Even after barely surviving Angel attacks, JSSDF assaults and the Third Impact, the battered but unbroken supercomputers were still operating. Currently they were in minimal activity mode, meaning the only things the Magi were controlling were life support and the facility's power. Hyuga and Aoba looked on silently as lower-level techs tried to add communications to this list.
As the data scrolled across his screen at an unreadable rate, Hyuga turned to look at the Vice-Commander, now seated at the desk Commander Ikari normally occupied. Fuyutsuki was utterly absorbed in his small computer terminal, typing feverishly and totally ignoring the frantic goings on around him.
Aoba's cell phone beeped. Answering it, he listened for a moment and, looking fairly surprised, simply said "Oh… right. Well done." Hanging up, he turned to face Hyuga. "They've… got the comms and some limited surveillance online."
As if on cue, a yellow light flickered on his terminal and the Magi switched to magenta state, a moderate activity mode.
"What?" Fuyutsuki demanded suddenly, rising to his feet. "All right, raise me an open channel to the UN immediately."
* * *
For the rest of the day, Fuyutsuki worked like a man possessed as Hyuga and Aoba watched helplessly on. After he had terminated his (private) communication to an unknown person presumably speaking on behalf of the UN, he hadn't looked up once from his fierce typing.
When the intercom crackled to life, a tech announcing the approach of two United Nations helicopters, Fuyutsuki cursed angrily. Hyuga and Aoba were both more than a little shocked and apprehensive at the old man's uncharacteristic behaviour. While gruff, Fuyutsuki was not uncaring, and had never exhibited this side of himself.
Half an hour later, just as Fuyutsuki flipped a disk out of his terminal, laid back and sighed heavily, he received a call from the two security agents that he had posted at the entrance to NERV headquarters. The agent on the line flatly stated that there were two squads of armed soldiers 'requesting' an audience with the Vice-Commander.
Fuyutsuki rather quietly told the agent to guide them up to him – but to take his time about it. Hanging up the cellular phone, he turned to gaze down on the slightly nervous Shigeru Aoba and Makoto Hyuga. Fuyutsuki held their gazes for a moment before stepping down and meeting them on level terms.
He held out the black disk to Hyuga and motioned for him to take it. Stored on it was the final product of the last few hours' work. "Sir?" ventured a perplexed Hyuga, casting a sideways glance at Aoba, who shrugged.
"All right, you two, I want you to listen carefully," Fuyutsuki said in a tired voice. The elderly man laid a wrinkled hand on the younger Lieutenants' shoulders. "Stored on that disk is information I want you to give to the press – and don't worry, they will be coming to get it. Life may end, but the media goes on."
"I… don't understand, sir," Hyuga said hesitantly.
"It is the truth," Fuyutsuki told him simply. "Everything. SEELE… NERV… Third Impact…"
"What?" gasped Aoba.
"Yes," Fuyutsuki admitted with a sly grin. "Undoubtedly damaging to us. But I'm afraid that NERV is already dead and buried. There are no Angels, no Evas… and no Commander willing to sacrifice everything for his goals.
"NERV has been built on lies," Fuyutsuki said darkly. "Lies that I had a part in. Lies that I thought were necessary. Just for once, for the first and last time, I want NERV to tell the truth."
Below, the steel doors swung open and two squads of wary-looking soldiers entered the room. Their weapons were down, but several nearby technicians (some of whom had been killed earlier by the JSSDF in their attack, only to recently return to life) shrieked and fled. Casting a hasty glance down at the soldiers, who were beginning their advance up the walkways to their position, Fuyutsuki urgently continued. Speechless and confused, Hyuga and Aoba could only listen.
"On that disk is everything that will exonerate those who were not to blame, and specifically name everyone who is."
"Sir," Aoba whispered harshly as the soldiers drew nearer. "This could cause potential chaos throughout the entire world!"
"No," Fuyutsuki smiled in satisfaction. "It will have the opposite effect. Humans bond when there is a common enemy, such as the Angels. On that disk are the true enemies of the human race. They may not actually be here… after all, a merged humanity was their idea of paradise so I doubt very much that they'll return, but I think just their names will be enough."
"I think I understand, sir," Hyuga said quietly.
Fuyutsuki nodded. "It will at least provide an explanation for everyone who deserves it, therefore being an incentive to stick together and rebuild. But you must get it to the press, in secret. All right?"
Hyuga and Aoba nodded and Fuyutsuki drew away, raising himself up to his impressive full height as the soldiers were upon them.
"But sir… what will you do?" Aoba questioned their superior.
Before the Fuyutsuki could answer, the leader of the soldiers, a Captain, spoke up. "Vice-Commander Kouzou Fuyutsuki, I'm here on behalf of the United Nations Supreme Council to take you into custody."
Kouzou straightened himself out, clasped his hands behind his back and gazed at the Captain with quiet dignity. He nodded slightly. "Yes. Would you give me a moment?"
The Captain bowed his head respectfully. "Yes, sir."
Fuyutsuki nodded again and turned to the two techs, standing beside their terminals with their mouths open. The tiny, vaguely amused smile that was normally present on Fuyutsuki's lips returned as he spoke.
"I was happy in the LCL," the old man said quietly, faint smile present but sadness in his tired, grey eyes. "And that's why I came back. I have had a hand in things that I simply cannot forgive myself for. I will not be happy at the expense of others – that is for Ikari. This then, is my punishment and redemption."
"But sir…" stammered Aoba, "you're not… letting them…"
Fuyutsuki shifted slightly. "Yes, I am. As ranking officer, I accept responsibility for NERV's actions. Though I think," he said with a sudden wink, "that they will soon pale when the world discovers SEELE's Instrumentality project."
Hyuga nodded firmly. "Yes, sir."
"One last thing," Fuyutsuki said. "I'll tell you what I found out earlier about the rest of the world. Many, many people returned from Instrumentality immediately, and many more followed soon after. People will still be returning for a long time. If humanity can learn to work together, then the world may well return to normal." Fuyutsuki chuckled. "SEELE would be horrified to learn that the 'sin' that they purged is returning to the world. I told Ikari once that I'd rather live in a world with people, no matter how stained with sin. I hold to that now."
"The UN is sending over more soldiers to Tokyo-3 in order to peaceably take control of these facilities and set up rescue stations in the city," interjected the Captain of the soldiers. "It is the Captains duty to advise the Commander that he should order his… friends to remain here, where help will soon be arriving."
"Well, there you are," Fuyutsuki said, smiling dryly. "It was only Japan, parts of China and Australia as well as the islands in the Pacific that were affected. The Third Impact was nowhere near as bad as the Second – after all, our headquarters weren't even affected by the physical shock. You two are Acting Commanders, now… it is your job to hold the people of Tokyo-3 together until help arrives. But now, I have to go."
Moved by their Vice-Commander's self-sacrifice, Hyuga and Aoba saluted. "Understood, sir."
Fuyutsuki turned to the Captain. "I'm ready."
As the soldiers formed a respectful barrier around the elderly man and turned to leave, Hyuga called out, "Sir!"
Fuyutsuki turned, eyebrows raised.
Hyuga straightened. "It's been an honour, sir." Aoba bowed silently.
Kouzou Fuyutsuki merely nodded with a soft smile and turned away to be led out of NERV headquarters, never to come back.
* * *
Makoto Hyuga stared at the black disk in his hand. Shigeru Aoba came up behind him. "He came back… just so that he could be punished," Hyuga said quietly. "He must have felt so guilty."
"Keep it safe," the longhaired guitarist told his friend in his gravelly voice, indicating the disk.
"Yeah," Hyuga said softly. "Yeah, I will."
And with that, the Acting Commanders of NERV turned away to oversee their duties.
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AUTHOR'S NOTES: My least favourite chapter so far, but one I think was important. Not only to bring back a few familiar faces but to learn what is happening with the world in wake of the Third Impact and Instrumentality. All chapters from here on will focus on Shinji and Asuka, just so you know. Not that there will be many… it's almost finished! On that note, I would just like to say that if you didn't like this chapter I'm gonna do my best to write a really good one next time. Man, that sounds lame. Please, review, tell me what you did and didn't like, thanks for reading and I'll see you next time.
