Fatal Frame: The Endless Defacement

by Dharknia

1st per POV. FF 1, 2, and 3 A girl must survive the horrors and terrors of a much larger and more dangerous village and its own reason for destruction. New and old spirits make their way into a haunting plot of rituals and deaths. COMPLETE!

10. All of the Lonely Roses, Part One

Disclaimer

Please read: I do not rightfully own the Fatal Frame title or its trademarks. This is only a fan fiction story. It is slightly based on the second Fatal Frame, but includes my own characters, locations, and certain items. Any mentioned subjects that are Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly characters, locations, and certain items are owned by TECMO and used for fan fiction purposes only.

Fatal Frame

The Endless Defacement

Chapter Ten

All of the Lonely Roses

Part One

Once You Get Your Hands on You

"The thorns cannot prick their hands,

And the thorns cannot draw their blood,

It is their blood that draws the thorns in their hands…"

The Red Village Shrine is a strange place, indeed. Upon entering I get the strong scent of vanilla and roses. The air is nothing more but a brisk cold on my exposed flesh. I see the floor is made of a glassy, clear tile. Underneath it runs a flow of red water. Is it blood? I cannot fathom such a thing would reside under a seemingly religious house, but then again this religion is certainly a twisted one. Perhaps having a river of blood forever running underneath your house is a good, saintly thing? In front of me is a wall of portraits and paintings. Most depict the seven Priests and certain areas in the village that are of importance. To my right is a display of hundreds of different types of ropes. Every one of them is labeled. To the left is a very dark area. I believe I can see a red door with the religious symbol on it. Candles are lit near it, burning the vanilla scent that I can smell so well here. Their lighting is not very good, however. It is almost like they only mean to show me the part of the door with the symbol. It is just so eerie.

I head to the rope display first. There may be hundreds of ropes here, but only ten different kinds. The labels are at the bottom where brass statues of a woman's bust hold lit candles burning the vanilla scent. The woman resembles the goddess that I have seen so often. Every type of rope has a short description of the sin that has been committed, letting the Priest know which the right rope to use is. It is written is another language, but I can decipher it for the most part. "Amelia Complex" rope: A sinful love affair has been produced. It is either of the wrong interest of the soul, or the unfaithful heart of the soul. "The On slaughter" rope: One or more murderous intentions from one soul to the other; the killing of fellow souls. "Marian's Flaw" rope: The greed of one soul's riches, possessions (envy); taking from the hungriest souls (gluttony); keeping from others what one soul could give. "Lineage Disgrace" rope: The defaming/blotching of one's family, whether be it by name or word of mouth; disgracing one soul's family by sinning. "Günter Complex" rope: A rage in a soul; hate. "Cutter's Tongue" rope: Deceptive, defilement, lying; telling a lie. "The Red Word" rope: A soul has spoken to a Priest in veil. "Defacing Hands" rope: A soul has stolen; theft of someone else's property. "Blood in the Sound" rope: The telling of secrets; the keeping of secrets; espionage; a soul is entering another's life without permission. "White Face" rope: A Defaced soul; the committing of every sin.

After I read over the last rope I can hear Noriko's voice behind me. She is soft. "It hurts… It only hurts…" Nanako finished her sentence. "…because you never see my face…" I turn around. I aim my flashlight around. Everything is still except the flowing red under the glass floor. I walk to the other side of the shrine. The portraits are next to me. A few show the gates in the village. There are about six or so. There are seven Priests. Their pictures and names are on the wall as well. They are: Miyamoto Okura, Kazame Shimo, Hiroki Yoshiawa, Ijima Sutuki, Tetsu Ogawa, Hiyachi Ohnishi, and Sugimoto Kawamori. Every one is wearing their veils and robes in their pictures. I can't really see their faces. Another portrait shows the Red Water that runs along a Shrine Gate. A part of me already knows that this Red Village Shrine is not the 'official' one. Beyond the second half of the village, which I have yet to enter, is something else… a large tower or something. Perhaps it is the church. I stand before the dimly lit door with the religious symbol. The candles burn out as I touch the doorknob. It's so cold; too cold. My camera and my flashlight both start to act up as I get the fast, flashing images of Nanako's speech (Chapter 9) and the bloody tears, one landing in the darkness and the other on a white rose, (Chapter 9). Something… is behind this door…

When I open the door I can see a tide of red water coming straight for me! I try to scream, but I inhale the liquid. It covers and consumes me. I am engulfed in it completely. It fills the room, it fills my mind. I float around, or at least I feel like I do. My eyes will not open. I keep trying to scream, but nothing happens. My mouth doesn't move. This is… this is a dream. I can't feel anything. I try to move my arms to find the surface, but they just loosely flap in the force of the flowing red. I'm not in the room anymore. I am somewhere else; somewhere darker. It's the black… I am beneath the surface, deep down, somewhere inside of my mind. Gerald's lone cries echo against the force of nature. The rushing water in my ear is hollow. His voice empties it with every shout for his daughter… He calls to me… Calling me, I say… It's not me… It's not… Her name isn't Nanako. He's not calling for her. I struggle to move away from the noise that crawls deep within my head… I want to crawl inside your head… and eat my way out… No, I repeat… It's not me…! Why do I always wake-up here? I don't this time. I can't kill right. If only she hadn't ran… If only… But everyone… died… The twitching of my eyelids possesses me to swim back to reality. I awake to the echo of my rambling nonsense in this red water. My lung burns with a piercing sting. My eyes shoot open and I bit my upper lip. I look straight up and try to find air. I make it to the top only to hit my head on the ceiling. I push to try and make it go away. I look for the door that I opened to cause this rush of red water. I swim through to see the closet-size room. A black bag dances in the current as I get near. I snatch it and aim my eyes upward. There are glistening lights and moving ripples. SURFACE! I take the bag with me and go up. My head rises above the water. I can smell the scent of vanilla here, too, but the heavy odor of blood is all around me even after I plug my nose. I wipe my face clear of all that I can. It looks like a narrow walkway is before me. I climb out of the water and onto a dark hallway. I open the bag.

Blue Rose Book 4: "My mistake was not letting the extra rope into the bag… it was telling Master Tanaka about it… I am now under the eyes of a cloaked stranger… A veiled creature of Siren Voice and Satan Heart… I would never tell anyone else… 1/2 He will decide my fate… Although I love and cherish the Master, the village, and the rituals with everything I have to give to the Goddess… I cannot be sacrificed… not like this… They will have to catch me first. I will be a coward. I will run. If that means I may still live without ever needing to face what those poor daughters went through, I can bear the embarrassment… Please…2/2"

I reach deeper into the bag. Something pricks me. I pull out my hand to see that I am bleeding. It is not serious. I look in and retrieve a very old rope. It is weathered and discolored. I can see red stains all over it. It has to be blood. I hear the warped whisper of Priest Ogawa. I glance up to see his spirit limping down the dark hallway away from me. "I didn't know… I never knew…" I drop the rope and the book and pick up my camera to take a picture. I've acquired the 'Priest Ogawa: Wound' photo (Priest Ogawa suffers an injury to the leg while trying to escape his house). I place the rope back into the bag along with the book. I take it with me and start to head down the dark hallway. Things are quiet until I notice his spirit again after I round the first right corner. I take a snapshot and acquire the 'Priest Ogawa: Close' photo (Priest Ogawa is nearing the secret exit from his house; ready to flee the village). There are a about two more sharp turns that wind to the left and right before I get the whiff of a floral scent. A very bright light comes from what might be the end of the hallway. I get the images from the white face spirit and the bloody tears on the rose and into the darkness once again. When I snap back to the real world I can see Priest Ogawa standing before me. His neck is broken and his head tilts to one side. His face is bloodied with the word 'Endless' spelling out in the forehead wounds. He does not wear his robe anymore. He is actually dressed much like a poor peasant. When he feels like reaching out for me, I snap a picture quickly. I acquire the 'Priest Ogawa: Defaced' photo (Priest Ogawa has become one of the Defaced; Sacrificed villagers due to his mysterious actions).

His spirit turns harmful suddenly. He wretches at my throat and I struggle to keep him away. I remove his tough grasp from my neck and manage to back up from him. Ogawa's spirit raises his hands like someone shined a bright light in his face. He vanishes and reappears behind me. I waste no time in turning around and using my camera on him. One shot is not enough. He keeps advancing and manages to get another pull at my flesh. By this time I am frustrated. It hurts so badly, but yet I resist in feeling the pain. I don't get it. What is keeping me from acknowledging my wounds? After he vanishes once more in the same strange manner I make a dash for the bright light. As I enter it suddenly starts to sting my eyes. I recant in the same way as Ogawa has. I can't leave the hallway yet? He appears from the other side of the white and emerges with vengeance against me. He pushes and hits me. I can feel it now… I scream slightly and raise the camera. I take about three shots; walking backwards as fast as I can to keep from injury between reloading. After a while his ghostly self falls to its second death. The horrid groaning makes me hair stand on end. He screeches for forgiveness and sanctuary. After his spirit fades, I hear his calm whisper one last time… as if he was still an honorable Priest. "I keep with me the Blue Rose, engulfing its veins in sorrow; I dress myself in sympathy from head to toe, knowing there might never be another tomorrow…" A blue rose is left where he vanished. It glows with a blue distortion. I snap a photo. It isn't anything real special. It just looks like the photo I took before that showed the lock doors in the Yoshiawa house and had the faint roses in the back ground, only now one of them is animated. Does this mean that I need to collect all seven roses, place them in the vases upstairs of the Yoshiawa house, and then the basement door will unlock? Sounds easy enough, right?

The white at the end of the hallway has dimmed to a black and white exit. I approach it. As I stand near admiring the ancient beauty of the dull colors I can hear the voice of a young woman calling after "Nina." There is laughter, but suddenly a very overbearing gargle silences the happiness. Afterwards is the whimpering of the woman and the scoffing of a stern man. I push one hand through the black and white exit. It loses its flesh tone and turns sort of grey. I pull it out and examine it. It has the color back. Nothing seems to be wrong with it. I can hear footsteps behind me. I look back to see that from the dark hallway are a pair of opened hands coming at me, and a pale face. In fact, the face is completely white. It's the white face spirit again. She approaches me. I freeze in fear. I am so stupid. How can I possibly clam up at a time like this? She leans close to me. Through the white is a blurry distortion at her face. It's her! It is her! "… No, it's not me… It's not! It's not! SHUT UP!" What…? It has to be… it cannot be her… It's you! You… don't remember me, do you…? As her cold breath feeds my face she lifts her hands to run her fingers over me. She gently graces my hair and my shoulders. Suddenly a bloodied and mangled head pushes through the blurry distortion and the white surrounding it and proceeds to scream at me. It is such a loud, high pitch scream, that my heart beat changes. I cripple in pain. Without realizing it, the deformed head retreats back into the distortion and the hands push me through the back and white exit… I felt everything—everything like the pain, the sorrow, empathy, smiles, hunger, the red water on my back… everything… except the memory…

When I open my eyes I can immediately tell that I am not myself. I feel very different. My clothes are a faint yellow kimono with exceptionally long sleeves and very beautiful rose patterns at the bottom. They are pink, actually. Even though the world is black and white, something in me knows they are pink. My socks are white and my sandals are a deep, full brown. I have long, black hair that I often pull up into a braided ponytail. I let two strands just before my ears hang down. My narrow eyes are a brown to match my shoes. My height is not very tall. My weight matches my height perfectly. I have a kind sense of humor, a rich sarcasm, and a grinning face. My family is one of high honors. My father, Akao Shibata, teaches the children of the village. My mother use to, but she died in child birth while having my little brother, Alsuo. I take care of the Master of the Village's daughter, Nina Tanaka. Master Tanaka pays me well. I am happy to work for him. It is not about the money at all. Nina… she's so precious to me…! Like my very own daughter! I… am, of course, Kaname Shibata.

I am just outside of the Tanaka house. I enter without needing to knock. As soon as I step in, even before I get the chance to look at my surroundings I notice the bleeding body of Nina Tanaka on the ground. A dripping blood trail leads away from her lifeless corpse. Her throat has been slashed. This… doesn't make any sense. She was Defaced, wasn't she? Why is she murdered on the ground? I follow with my eyes the blood drippings on the wood floor. They lead away. I see a pair of bare feet. I start to look up. There is the blade of a knife in someone's bloody hands. They have bare legs, too. Before I can look up any further to see who has killed my precious Nina I feel my back stinging. I look down and my stomach is bleeding. It spreads on my kimono. My eyes roll into the back of my head as I slump down to my knees, dying painlessly. I cannot think of myself now! My Nina… … I think her eyes are open… Is she still alive…! I reach my hand for her… I think she may reach for me, too… Wait, why are my eyes closing…? Why do I feel so weak and powerless…? Oh, yeah, that's right… … I'm dead…

The Tanaka house is behind me. I am leaning against the door, actually. I awake as myself to the slapping of my face. "… Hmm…?"

Dagan throws some film on my lap. "You should really stop sleeping on the job!" He laughs.

"Who is Lee Hatari?" I ask him without knowing that it might strike a nerve. Hatari is one of the outsiders that came to the village with Dagan's father. I understand that this might hurt him. So I quickly say something else. "That Nanako girl returned after the death of her lover…"

He shrugged. "You don't need to pretend that nothing is wrong."

"Nothing's wrong, nothing's wrong, nothing's wrong…" The whispering chant of Noriko echoes in my mind.

I glare up at Dagan. "I'm not the one pretending…"

He threw a purple stone at me and a black-covered book. He shakes his head and starts to walk off into the afternoon fog. He mumbles something about checking out the other side of the village, and that I should keep looking for clues here. I can catch his final words being something about never finding a way out and winding up dead sooner of later just like the rest of his team. Does this mean he found Yumi and the others? I take the purple stone from my lap and look at it. I don't know what type of gem this is, but its shine is really pretty. The black-covered book does not look very old at all. It has to be newer than this village. It has to be! Before I listen to the stone and read the book I look hard at Dagan's shadowy form disappearing in the fog as he heads away. His father is dead. He knows now. I don't regret saying what I said to him. I regret that it hurt him, but nothing more than that. It will only keep haunting and hurting him if he keeps acting like it's not true. He lives in a dream world. We're not immortal, Dagan. We can die.

Woman's Recollection 5: "I'm still trapped here… everything's dark… everything's dark… darker than the woods… darker than the waters… darker than the face that keeps me here… regardless of my cornfield, I am not here for the wooden tables…1/8 Second time this year… speaking with her like I know… like I was here…2/8 He keeps me…3/8 NOT TRUE, NOT TRUE, NOT TRUE, NOT TRUE, NOT TRUE, NOT TRUE…4/8 They drained that red water… the water that was keeping me here… no more faces… no more lights… the garden of my mind… blood… SHUT UP! 5/8 …6/8 …He came back, you, know? He didn't take me, saying I was too weak, too tired. IT'S NOT TRUE! I'm alive… living in you, Brianna… 7/8 THIS IS THE LAST TIME I EVER TAKE ADVICE FROM YOU! YOU CAN'T EVEN KILL RIGHT! KILL ME! KILL ME! 8/8

Purple Stone: (Familiar, female voice, sounds insecure and frightened of her own shadow, background of running water and screams): "I want to crawl into your head… inside of your skull and your mind… and endlessly try to eat my way out… clawing at your every thought, reminding you every time you screw up! You… You can't even kill right! What is WRONG with you? They will find us… shut up… shut up…They know your face… shut up… Once you get your hands on you… everything ends… shut up, shut up, shut up… and everyone dies… SHUT UP! IT'S NOT ME! The blood comes over the railing, over the bridge… The river is drowning him… He WANTED to kill me…He should have when he had the chance to…Villagers are… calling my name… Brianna…" (An overlapping voice (Gerald's?): "Brianna… SHUT UP! IT'S NOT ME! IT'S NOT!"

Oh, my… I let the stone and the book fall from my trembling hands. It isn't by choice. I am so powerless against my reactions right now. That writing… and that voice… it's mine… It's mine! It's me! IT'S ME! I scream for Dagan. I start to run away from the Tanaka house, pass the Shibata house; I round a corner and pass the warehouse and the many empty houses. I keep running. There is the lonely cemetery that whispers my name… Brianna… Brianna… The world goes black and white as I stop just short of a wooden bridge. Gerald's spirit stands before me. His neck is broken and hangs to the side like the others. The bloodied face is marred by the word 'Endless' bleeding out on his forehead. I gasp with tears down my eyes. "I left her something… I left her a name… A name I always wanted to give…" I look behind me by matter of instinct. I see the giggling spirit of Noriko. She smiles. "I told you I bet you couldn't guess who I am!" I shake my head and I actually talk back to the spirits. "I'm not you…" Noriko keeps giggling. "And I'm not you…so let me go… let me go… please…" Her voice turns from happy to more of a begging whine. I sink to my knees. Who am I?

Gerald's spirit groans in pain. I force myself to look up at him. I can tell he is crying. His thick tears start to make clear lines on his red face. I try to tell him that I am sorry; that I don't know who his daughter is; that I have no idea what is going on, but the only thing I can do is cry… cry, cry, cry. Why would I cry for someone I don't even know… Wait… I do know him, don't I…?Noriko's throat starts to bleed from might looks like a slash. She grabs at her neck and starts to sink to her knees. I stand up immediately and back away. Mika Aragaki stands behind her with a large blade. She scowls at me. "Can't you even kill right?" I look to Gerald's spirit hoping for anything helpful. What is she accusing me of? Gerald just stands there watching Noriko bleed out on the ground. I can see his twitching eyes trying to focus on her. He falls to his knees much like I did mine earlier. His spirit seems to be too busy weeping to care much about anything. Noriko isn't Gerald's daughter. Why would these two be here at the same time…? Noriko's eyes struggle to catch mine. She speaks through a gargle of bloodied words. "I tried to tell him… tell everybody…Nanako… she's… she's still alive…I even told Jun… She… she killed everybody… … I'm sorry…I'm sorry…!" Noriko's spirit 'died' before my very stunned self. Mika Aragaki laughs manically nonstop. She steps over and on her body. "She honestly thought people would believe her over me!" Mika gets very close to me. Her ghostly blade nears me. Something is off with this. Mika… she doesn't look like a spirit. She is not transparent and her eyes… It's like there is a soul in there… I can feel her warm breath on my face and I can feel the tip of the blade as she touches it against my throat. That's right… we aren't living in a dream world. We can die.

While Mika takes pleasure in slowly pushing the blade into my throat I slowly reach for my Camera. My eyes look over to Gerald quickly. He is still crying into his open palms. I can still hear him mentioning what he left for his daughter. I can feel the cold material of the camera at my finger tips, then my whole fingers, then the inside of my hands. Once I get my hands on the camera, I clench it, kick Mika away and take a picture. The flash was so bright, even I was affected by it, however, things aren't what I expected afterwards. The flash brought the color back to the world, took away Gerald and Noriko's spirits, but Mika Aragaki is standing right before me. She rubs her eyes and laughs. What…? I don't get it? Once the film loads and she starts to walk after me again I take another, and another after that. She laughs and blinks her eyes a bit; just like any normal person would do. I start to panic. I make haste for any safe shelter. The closest building I can enter is the warehouse…

I head in to see it appears the same way it had when I saw it in the vision where Yumi was hung. There is a board to bar the door from the inside. I did so. The only thing Mika Aragaki really does is continuously knock on the door. She nicely pleads for me to open it; that she only wants to talk; she won't hurt me. I ignore her and slowly walk. The floor boards sing underneath my steps. I wince and twitch in fear. I can hear the frustrated grunts and mumbles of a young girl. She doesn't sound much younger than me, if at all younger. It almost sounds like she is writing feverishly on paper, scribbling, crinkling, and cussing at whatever she writes. A few paper wads are thrown and barely miss me. I can see her bare back and her bare legs. She is sitting Indian-style, facing the other way, writing stuff in various books and on sheets of paper. Her hair is much like mine, only messier (knotted, frizzy). This stranger does appear to be without clothing. She must be freezing! I start to walk closer. When a loud creak from a floor board calls throughout the warehouse her movement and grumbling immediately stops. I am about to say something when she turns her head. It's all blurry! Suddenly Jun Okura creeps from the darkness behind me. I can hear Mika's laughter. Jun holds a rope in her hands, the noose already tied for me. The blurry-faced girl turns back to writing. Why won't she help me? I close my eyes. Just do it, Jun… just do it… I feel the pricks from the straw of the rope as she places it around my neck. I swallow my pride and I don't try to struggle.

"Once you get your hands on you… you will know…" My voice comes from the direction of the blurry-faced girl. My eyes open. Wait… Why am I giving up now…? My fists clench, but Jun whispers into my ear, "This is endless… for the dead… This is what happens when break promises… when you can't kill right… when you don't even know who you are… It's an endless pit of black… They take away your friends… your family… your name AND your face… I trusted you…to come back… to save us…" The blurry-faced girl continues writing, but she starts speaking out loud. "SHUT UP! I didn't promise! It's not me that promised you! It's not…! He brought me here! It's not my fault he wanted to kill me…" I look down at the ground. Gerald…? It's about Gerald, isn't it? My head stings with memories. I can see through someone's eyes being walked through the woods holding Gerald's hand, seeing a village, seeing red waters and reflections, seeing angry villagers, seeing more waters with more faces, bloodied faces, roses without pedals, bloody tears taking away the pedals as they fall… everything flashes so fast… I hardly have time to get any detail or information about what I see. However, something starts flashing up in my mind that is very clear.

What looks like Nanako (or could even be Miaka in disguise) and Jun sit in front of a little girl (resembling me at that age) and Gerald. They sit in the same location that I saw Nanako and Jun sitting when the villagers came and took Jun away. The lips move, but the blurry-faced girl voices what they say for me. Jun glares down at the village. "They don't like outsiders… so, we will meet here, ok?" The little girl smiles. Gerald nods. "I will have a ride waiting for us. We'll be here." Nanako looks down at the little girl. I see things through the girl's eyes. Nanako grins. She whispers, "I appreciate you doing this for me. I'm glad we meant. I'm glad I got to show you the streams, the woods, my village, but most of all… the roses." She hands a beautiful rose to the girl. The little girl gives her a small stone in return. It looks like her eye color (mint green). Everyone seems happy and laughs, but the images change. I can see the kidnapping of Jun and the fleeing of Nanako once more. This time I notice Gerald running up to the gate seconds after Nanako did. He grabs her. She doesn't want to leave, but he insists they can return for her later. He heads down the trail and moments later they approach an old vehicle. The little girl asks the sobbing Nanako where Jun is. Gerald says they have to get her some other time. The little girl shook her head and she runs off into the woods. She starts to head, not by the trail into the village, but by using the woods. Nanako showed her many different paths. "One day, when my sister is old enough, I will show her, too. And you both can play for hours…" The girl is close to the village when villagers show up. She ducks behind some brush. A priest (Ogawa) spots her instantly. He goes over and yanks her from the hiding place. The rose Nanako gave her falls. She goes to keep it from getting away, but the rose head breaks off. The priest carries her away with the villagers looking on…

Things change to seeing Noriko picking up flowers (Chapter One) beyond a long bridge. She was picking them near the cemetery of All God's. When believing her sister was dead, she placed flowers on her grave everyday. Nanako was to be buried in All God's because the Red's cemetery is for Defaced only. I don't know why I know this… but I do… I can see the mint green gem on her neck. Things cut to me tripping and unburying that rose head (Chapter One). Everything… is making sense now… right? The final image is of Gerald aimlessly wandering the village. "I told her not to come back… Where is she…?" I see the black emptiness again. A bloody tear falls. I hear a familiar phrase… I whisper right along with it… "It only hurts… because you never see my face…"

My senses return. I am leaned against the warehouse wall. A red rose is on the ground. There is a blue distortion around it. I take a picture. I see the photo like I did earlier, only now two roses are animated with color. In the place where the blurry-faced girl sat are a bunch of books and scattered pieces of paper. Is she the one writing the recollections? I look through them all, but everything is blank. She must scatter the ones she writes on throughout the village, comes back here, and writes more down… I rub my neck. Yeah, it burns a little, but I'm not bleeding or anything. I remove my hand from my throat. The burning left my throat and is sticking to my hand. I look at my palm. A bloodied face protrudes from my palm. I shake it and start to smack it off the ground. I look back at it. It's normal. There is some knocking on the warehouse door. I can hear laughter from beyond it. It's Mika most likely, but I hear the blurry-faced girl in my mind. "You will know… You will know…"

End

Chapter Ten

Any and all reviews welcomed!

I will revise if needed!

Next time: Part Two

Thank you!

Author's Note

Yeah, that update took longer than expected, however, look at the content of the chapter! I hard such a hard time making this one what I had in mind. It still didn't turn out right. I apologize if it's not like any of my other chapters. I tried to make it good. I am happy with the results, though. Can you believe I actually finished this last week, read over it twice, deleted all of it, and took the rest of the days that I could spare making it again? This one is meant to be confusing, by the way. lol.

Any questions?