Start Date: June 7, 2022
Windwillow
Final Fantasy VII
After threatening Don Corneo, the party found out just how bad things had gotten: Shinra was going to dismantle Sector Seven's plate, dropping it down and wiping out AVALANCHE... and everything else in the sector.
Now, they hurry through the Train Graveyard to Sector Seven. There, the battle for the fate of AVALANCHE and its home will begin.
Chapter Eight: Assault on Sector Seven
Scene One
Whereas the older Train Graveyard now lay in smoking ruins, the main terminal remained untouched. The train was still there, yes. The Sector remained standing, yes. But it was the swarm of Shinra soldiers that differentiated this place from the former.
As they ran forward the party listened carefully for attackers. It was as they entered the terminal that they were greeted by several soldiers they hadn't seen before. One was a sword-wielding second lieutenant, while the others wielded dual-edged blades they used to hover and fly - Aero Combatants.
The second lieutenant deftly drew his sword. "Hurry!" he ordered, pointing his sword straight at Cloud. "Suppress the terrorists!" His sword was quickly cut in half and his jaw broken by a hard right hook from Cloud, followed up by a kick that slammed him into the train and dented it from the impact.
One of the Aero Combatants lunged, slashing wildly with both dual-edged swords. Cloud lightly parried, clashing and severing one of the blades. The Combatant then spun its remaining blade like a helicopter, lifting into the air and sending Cloud flying back with a hard kick.
Cloud recovered quickly by vaulting back to his feet with a handstand. He twirled the Buster Sword in an arc and his sword struck the Combatant's swallow blade, this time repelling it long enough for the mercenary to sever the soldier in half by bending his body back and then forward.
As she snapped her staff opened, Aerith was set upon by two Aero Combatants. Caught by surprise her staff clanged against the swallow blade, reverberating back and forth again to nail the soldier with the butt of the weapon with an upward swing. She quickly slammed her free hand to the ground.
From her palm a series of red cracks formed, opening up into a pillar of fire that burned off the remaining Combatant's face, followed up by Aerith's second blow launching the soldier into the distance.
Tifa was targeted by a single Combatant, the only one left. It spun one blade in the air and lifted off. As it swung the remaining swallow blade Tifa agilely ducked underneath and delivered an uppercut that broke the soldier's jaw. The last of them fell, and Cloud immediately broke into a sprint, followed by his companions.
Scene Two
Sector Seven had fallen into chaos. That does go without saying, but as the people of the sector gathered together they found themselves tied down by a platoon of Shinra MPs. Many had been rounded up from their homes and huddled into a corner by the central tower's base.
"Let us go!" Johnny's mother begged, grasping the arm of an infantryman. "Why are you doing this to us?!" In response the soldier slugged her hard, sending her flying to the ground. The soldier stood above her, rifle trained on her head.
"This is what you get for harboring terrorists!" the commander barked, following up by smacking her with the gun and slamming her bleeding head to the ground with his boot. He placed the gun at the back of her head. "And that's what you get for defying Shinra! None of you will leave here alive!"
Before he could pull the trigger Tifa's boot dislocated his jaw and sent him flying into a chunk of rubble. She followed up by disarming a nearby MP and smashing him in the face with his own rifle. Tifa slid to a halt in front of Johnny's father, whose head was now in the crosshairs of another soldier.
"How dare you!" Tifa hissed, her glove tensing in anger. She promptly sucker punched the Shinra trooper and busted open his face, following by several furious punches and kicks that disabled another several MPs.
Though a dozen of them trained their rifles on her, Tifa cupped her hands to her side and thrust them forward. The shockwave blew them back with scars and bruises on their faces, many losing a tooth. Within moments another dozen had her in their sights; these, she didn't have time to avoid.
Bending his body and flailing his arm Cloud cut through those dozen soldiers, severing some rifles while also killing others with a furious barrage of slashes. Another dozen approached, rifles drawn.
"You want a fight?!" Cloud snarled as he hoisted his sword horizontally. "You got one, punks!" With a side slash the Buster Sword cut down the soldiers, leaving only a dozen standing. Those dozen were promptly dispatched by the combined effort of Tifa's martial arts and Aerith's staff, leaving all fifty soldiers either dead or heavily wounded on the ground.
In the crowd, the remaining citizens huddled together in terror. Felix and his friends had already been executed, their bodies thrown on a heap of garbage. Imad lay unconscious, cradled by a wounded weapon store owner. Only a handful had enough strength to stand. Tifa's knuckles tensed and cracked, her fingers clenching together and straining her gloves to the limit.
"Where are they?!" Tifa snarled, darting back and forth between the survivors. "Where are the rest of the townspeople?!" Hearing the pained screams of the wounded from inside town, she took off in a hard sprint with Aerith following close behind.
Seventh Heaven had been heavily damaged, only a charred husk remaining. Tifa quickly broke down the doors, finding an unconscious adult, seemingly convulsing. She grabbed him and tried to turn him around only to find he was already dead. The source of the movements was Marlene, struggling beneath him.
"Tifa! Tifa-a-a!" Marlene wailed, tightly embracing the barmaid. "Everyone... This man tried to protect..." Tifa's eye turned to a broken vase containing the remnants of a beautiful flower tipped over beneath the bar. The flower Cloud had given her...
Th-the bastards!
Tifa cradled Marlene as Aerith stumbled into the bar's ruins. Holding her tightly, she lightly brushed ash from the young girl's face. Her tears had already blurred them together like washed-off makeup.
"Oh, God!" Putting her hands to her mouth, Aerith dropped to her knees. "Is everyone in town...?!" Marlene swallowed hard, but choked down her tears.
"Most of the people ran away... Then they started burning everything!" she wailed. "Tifa, your flower! I'm so..." Tifa's eye twitched violently as she observed the damage to her bar. While she wanted to hunt them all down and make them pay, she had one priority left here.
"Aerith!" Tifa shouted, turning her head to the flower girl. "This girl's name is Marlene! Take her away from here, and get yourself to safety too!" Though Aerith opened her mouth to protest, her jaw immediately closed and she assented. She gathered Marlene and ushered her away.
As she rose Tifa's knuckles cracked in fury. Her worries weren't over.
"Tifa! Come here!" Hearing Cloud's voice she turned and sprinted back to the tower, where a dying man had fallen from the top of the tower.
"Wedge...?!"
Coated in dirt and bearing several bullet wounds, Wedge lay sprawled on his back barely breathing. Tifa quickly knelt beside him, as Cloud laid his hand on Wedge's chest. A soft blue light surrounded his body, causing it to convulse repeatedly. Cloud could only grit his teeth.
He's too far gone...
Wedge hacked up blood, opening his eyes to see Cloud's face. Through the dust he cracked an embarrassed smile.
"Wedge, hush..." reassured Cloud, cradling his hand in his arms. "You're gonna be okay... We're gonna get through this..." A slim trickle of blood trailed from Wedge's lips as they contorted into a smile.
"You remembered my name... Thanks, Cloud..."
"Where are Barret and the others?!"
Wedge swallowed hard, feebly lifting his finger towards the plate's support tower. As his smile faded into a grimace, Wedge looked Cloud eye to eye.
"I'm sorry... I couldn't do anything... Biggs... Jessie... Barret... They're all still fighting... don't let them die, please!" More blood trickled from his jaw. "The Shinra are gonna drop the plate... you can't let-" At that his head went limp, as the remainder of his life drained from his face.
Tifa made it to his side just as Wedge died. Dropping to her knees she caught his head before it hit the dirty ground. She and Cloud exchanged only a brief glance before hurrying up the tower, pausing only to softly lay Wedge to rest.
Scene Three
Shinra's assault force against AVALANCHE primarily consisted of infantry, most of whom had just been annihilated by Cloud and his friends. There remained a number of Aero Combatants as well as a handful of junior Turks sent to guarantee the mission's success.
The tower itself was structured as a series of spiraling paths, with several small offices located every few floors. The two remaining members of AVALANCHE were still further up, engaging the enemy in guerilla warfare while Barret guarded the top section.
Barely clearing the first stairway, Cloud and Tifa met a pair of Aero Combatants as they swooped down from above. Both of them landed and used their dual blades at once, trying to literally cut through their opposition.
Cloud wasn't having any of it. Tightly gripping his sword he reared back and cleaved a massive vertical slash that cut open one of the two, sending its blades spiraling to the wayside. Tifa passed by the falling swords and landed an explosive uppercut that blasted away most of the soldier's jaw before they even touched the ground.
They passed through several staircases before entering the first office. To conserve space Cloud reattached the Buster Sword and Tifa assumed a neutral stance as they carefully made their way through the hallways.
"How many of them do you think there are?" Tifa asked. "Besides the two goons we took out on the way in, I don't see anyone else..."
"Quiet," shushed Cloud as he inched forward in the darkness. "Can you hear that?" Tifa nodded. Bootsteps, and the sound of a pistol moving around. Cloud's fingers softly brushed his blade's grip as the noise came closer. With a silent nod they readied themselves.
They revealed themselves, sword outstretched and fist taut, met by the click of a gun aimed straight at Cloud's forehead. When they saw the ragged red bandana Cloud and Tifa swiftly loosened up. He was in rough shape. Gunshots, sword wounds, and the stench of blood and sweat hovered in the air.
His eyes narrowed, Biggs' finger tensed on the trigger. Even upon seeing who was standing in front of him his hand never wavered. It only hastened his heartbeat and tightened his throat. They were the eyes of a man with nothing to lose.
"You came back," he stated coldly, taking in a deep breath Biggs lowered his pistol. "I thought you said you didn't care about the Planet."
Cloud's grip loosened and his arm lowered. "Never said I didn't care about you..."
"And I never stopped caring..." whispered Tifa. "How bad is it?"
"Bad as it gets..." Biggs sighed. "Barret and Jessie went up ahead, and I stayed back to... well..." Pausing, he closed his eyes. As he opened them, a thin streak of blood dripped down his face. "I stayed to wait for you," he said quietly. Cloud's eyes widened as he said that.
As she saw blood continue to drip from Biggs' bandana, Tifa began to panic. The blood on his forehead seeped from the red of his bandana, a solitary drop falling over his eye. He'd taken a fatal head wound.
"Biggs!" Tifa gasped, hurrying to mend his wound. "We can-" She was shushed, as Biggs put a finger to her lips. He shook his head, tiny red drops flicking onto her cheek, soon joined by her own tears.
"Go," he rasped. "Just... go..." He fell forward into Tifa's arms. As she gripped him tighter, her tears came faster. By the time his head touched her chest he was gone.
Tifa swallowed hard, slowly carrying her friend's body to the floor. She brushed aside the blood-soaked bandana, sighting a gunshot wound that had grazed his head. During all the chaos, he'd managed to take out the agent who came to terminate him; his corpse lay just behind him in a crumpled heap.
It was all she could do to dry her tears, silently closing her friend's eyes for the final time. As she did Tifa lightly brushed Biggs' face, a sheen of red coating her glove. She laid him down softly, her body trembling, quaking with emotion.
This is too much...
Tifa felt a hand brush her shoulder. She turned her eyes up to see Cloud's own narrowed like a hawk's. He turned them to meet her eyes, quietly rolling them up towards the next floor. There wasn't any time to mourn. As her heartbeat quickened, her resolve became stronger than steel.
Cloud detached the Buster Sword and angrily cut through a nearby pillar. As the rubble slid past him he silently turned to face the upcoming staircase, eye rolling back to Biggs' bloody bandana.
I'm sorry...
Scene Four
After exiting the second floor office, it was back to the railways outside. What had once been footsteps became heavier than stone, each step carrying more and more rage with it. They soon quickened their pace and came to a halt as three Combatants descended towards them with their double-edged blades outstretched.
Gritting her teeth hard enough to draw blood, Tifa furiously lifted her leg and slammed it into the soldier's neck, breaking it instantly. She immediately followed up with an uppercut that shattered two swords and left a gaping neck wound in the second Combatant. The third soon lost his head to a single swing.
As she swallowed hard, Tifa's fingers flexed wildly, uncontrollably. They tightened into a fist that shattered the door, leading them straight to the fourth floor office. The halls looked deserted, but she took no chances and strode forward with a careful eye.
Slowly searching from side to side Tifa stepped gingerly into the wrecked office, where the sight of two dead Shinra agents and a smoking pistol opened her eyes wide once again. She whirled about to see Jessie, breathing heavily and armed with her personal weapon. Jessie was scratched and covered in dust, but had taken no injuries.
"Jessie!" Cloud gasped as he saw her nervous smile. "Are you-" Jessie simply shook her head. She fell back onto the nearby wall, bracing against it with her free hand as she panted hard. Cloud extended his hand to catch her, but she waved him off.
"No... no..." Jessie sighed, dragging herself back up to her feet. "This has to be karma... Maybe someone upstairs is finally making us pay the piper..." She flashed a fake smile. "I'm just sorry I didn't get to..." Cloud tilted his head. Her smile faded into a grimace. "No... forget it, it's nothing..."
I'm sorry I didn't get to know you better...
Jessie took a deep breath and shook her head.
"Listen..." she rasped, staggering to lift her pistol. "Barret's on top of the pillar. Please back him up, Cloud. I'll guard this place."
"Jessie, you-" Using her free hand, Jessie brought her mouth to Cloud's. For a few brief moments their lips touched, then they parted. "Jessie!" A smile crossed her lips as she began to laugh.
"Sorry, Tifa..." Jessie muttered, mostly to herself. Tifa could only choke back her tears, not offended in the least. Jessie drew her pistol up, aiming towards the door leading below. "If anyone comes, I have your back. Just go, and don't look back..."
Cloud slowly closed his eyes and nodded. He ushered Tifa up the stairs as Jessie's gaze focused on the door before her. Her pulse quickened and she gasped for breath, eyes intent on the targets she knew were closing in.
One hundred and twenty three... I want to sear that number in my brain before I die.
From the doorway two men entered, each wielding a pistol. With one shot she downed the first, and the second was a mutual hit; they both fell to the ground, her with a smile on her face.
Scene Five
The next several floors had no impediments, and the final two pursuers lay in the fourth floor office with bullets in their heads. Both surviving members of AVALANCHE passed stairway after stairway, finding at the top the sole man left standing surrounded by Aero Combatants.
Breathing a heavy breath, Barret began unloading into every soldier he could aim at. The ones he couldn't down rushed from behind him, but they were quickly cut, beaten, and burned to death by Cloud and Tifa. As the final enemy fell, Barret lowered his Gun-arm slowly and turned to his friends with a tear in his eye.
"They're gone... aren't they?" Cloud nodded solemnly. Barret's fist tightened, his veins flexing with adrenaline. "Damn Shinra... They keep taking away everyone I care about..."
Cloud shook his head. "It wasn't just them," he murmured quietly. "We started all this and people died because of us. They died knowing that this was their penance. We all have their blood on our hands."
"Don't give me that!" Barret snarled. "I..." He slowly shook his head.
Sorry, Marlene... I ain't got no right to carry you no further...
The sound of a helicopter broke their trances. Barret began to fire with everything he had, but just as quickly as the copter came it lifted off and away from harm. It took a few moments before they heard the keyboard input.
They whirled around to see Reno, hastily typing into a terminal in the center of the tower. Before Barret could turn his weapon on him, Reno finished inputting the command.
"And that... is mission complete," Reno said coldly. Filled with rage, Cloud lifted up his sword and swung hard, only for Reno to sidestep it effortlessly. He grappled the Buster Sword tighter, lifted it again and swung. And swung.
Every hit was narrowly dodged. Reno nimbly evaded his every strike, and landed a hard kick to Cloud's face. As he dropped to the ground Tifa rushed forward and threw a punch that barely nicked Reno on the cheek, drawing a thin scrape of blood. Her fist tightened and drew back again.
"You bastard!" Tifa snarled, but her second punch was caught by Reno's free hand. His primary hand thrust a small baton into her chest, striking her with a violent jolt of electricity that sent her flying backwards to the ground.
Barret furiously began to fire point-blank into Reno's head. Instead of colliding with his face, a golden pyramidal barrier surrounded his body and stopped the bullets. Regardless, Barret continued to fire.
"Fight, damn you!" Barret screamed, but made no dent in the barrier. "You gonna face me like a man or hide behind that shield?! HUH!? TELL ME!" He slowly tapered off, lowering his Gun-arm with fury on his face. "Or do you not have the balls to?!"
Reno shrugged. "Who says I'm fighting? The countdown's already started, folks." Barret's eyes widened, blood pulsing through his face. The Turk tapped two fingers to his head. "Got it memorized? Good." He extended his hand like a gun and pulled the 'trigger.' "See ya, kiddies."
As Barret frantically rushed towards the console, Reno sprinted towards the tower's edge. By the time his feet left the plate Reno had already grabbed on to the same helicopter that carried him in, and it carried him out.
Barret's eyes frantically examined the console, trying to find any way to stop the countdown. If typing was involved, he was S.O.L. with only one hand. And hitting the wrong button might speed it up. His eyes kept turning back to the glowing red button that Reno had hit. His fingers slowly reached towards it.
"Ggh, DAMN it!" he snarled, fist slamming into the console. "I can't stop it, can I?! Dammit!" He thought of his fellow AVALANCHE members, of Cloud and Tifa, and as Marlene's face entered his field of view he angrily aimed his Gun-arm at the terminal.
"Don't, Barret!"
Lowering his arm, Barret looked back to find Cloud supporting a still-recovering Tifa with his shoulder. Tifa heaved in a deep breath and Cloud stretched his neck, easing their injuries. Cloud shook his head slowly, signaling that there was nothing that could be done.
"What, that's it?!" Barret growled, dropping to his seat. "We give up?! The hell with that! Cloud, you know techie crap, right? Figure it out!"
"I'm not a technician, dammit!" Taking in a deep breath, Cloud grabbed the Buster Sword and reattached it to his back. "But there has to be a way! Maybe there's a sequence? Some kind of aborting button?!" He slammed his fist into the tower. "Dammit, there's no time!"
The sound of a helicopter echoed in their ears as AVALANCHE turned to find one hovering just above them. Inside was a handsome, brown haired man in a dark suit, his hair fluttering from the wind of the copter's blades. While they didn't know it, he was Tseng, head of the Turks and Reno's superior.
Barret furiously aimed his Gun-arm at Tseng, but before he could fire he saw he had a hostage: a young girl dressed in pink, her hands tied behind her back. With a scoff he lowered his weapon, but kept himself ready to shoot if he had to.
"I'm afraid you won't be successful," Tseng warned with a chuckle. "Only Shinra executives know the code to deactivate the bomb. Give it a few more minutes and Sector Seven will be no more..." Barret lifted his arm, but Tseng raised his own first. "Before you fire, think of this young beauty. Would you really murder someone ELSE to get to me?"
"Shut your damn mouth!" Though he wanted to kill the bastard, the desperate eyes of his hostage forced him to lower his weapon. "You Shinra bastards don't have no damn humanity in you! Cowards! Let 'er go, and I'll rearrange your face!"
Tseng tilted his head. "All the more reason NOT to. And I'm afraid I don't bargain with terrorists."
"Aerith!"
Barret whirled about to see Cloud, his blade drawn, glaring at Tseng. Though he was still winded, his eyes were lit aflame.
"Let her go, you son-of-a-bitch!" Cloud snarled. "Lay one finger on Aerith and I'll make you pay for it in BLOOD!" With a chuckle, Tseng threw back his hair. "What's so funny?!"
"Oh, nothing..." Tseng taunted. "I just find it amusing you know each other. Consider yourself lucky you get to say goodbye to her." Staggering to her feet, Tifa glared at Tseng. Then her eyes turned to poor Aerith...
Aerith struggled against her bonds. "Don't worry, Tifa!" Aerith yelled with a desperate smile on her face. "She's safe!"
"Quiet!" Tseng ordered as he aimed his pistol at Aerith's head. With a dry smile, Aerith stared him in the eye.
"You won't shoot me!" she said defiantly. "You need me alive, don't you?" Snarling, Tseng lowered his gun.
"True, true..." he chuckled. "At last we've captured the final Ancient. If I were to kill you, I'd be forfeiting my own life as well. The President requests your presence at HQ." Cloud used all his self-restraint not to blow the copter out of the air; it would mean Aerith would die with the rest of them.
The tower began to quake as its support pillar cracked open, a shockwave piercing up through it towards the plate above. What began as small breaks in the pavement extended into wide, gaping holes. Snarling, Cloud narrowed his eyes at the Turk.
It's starting...
"Sayonara, AVALANCHE!" Tseng said as his copter lifted up, carrying Aerith with him. "The curtain has fallen. This is what you've wrought, so take your medicine and die." The helicopter sped off into the distance, escaping just as the plate began to tremble and fall.
Scene Six
They'd lost. The self-destruct sequence had already started, and Sector Seven's death sentence had been declared. Everyone below the plate - and the unfortunate ones above who had nothing to do with AVALANCHE - would die at the hands of the men they revered as their leaders.
"Aerith... God DAMN it!" Cloud reattached his blade to his back. "Some bodyguard I am!" He clenched his fist and tightened it hard enough to draw blood. "We've been beaten..."
Tifa shook her head. "There has to be a way out!" she shrieked. "Is there anything... wait... what is that?!" Their eyes turned to a conspicuous wire, the only one left after the sequence began. All the others had broken away.
Cloud sighted it just as Tifa did. "Everyone, get on Barret! Hold onto that wire and pray for salvation!" With an indignant roar, Barret flipped Cloud off.
"Get on who now?! Punk! I ain't your frickin'-"
"Barret, there's no time!" Barret turned to see Tifa climb on top of his back, followed quickly by Cloud. Turns out he was the only one big enough to carry them all. Muttering a foul word, he grappled the wire, said a prayer, and launched himself off the landing.
The plate's foundations began to give way. What began as small cracks broke open into huge chasms, and everything finally surrendered to gravity. The tower they had been on shattered to pieces, debris dropping to the ground in massive chunks.
Sector Seven's citizens looked up and saw their demise. Johnny's parents' only wish was for their child's safety, while everyone else felt nothing but terror. Above the plate the streets of Sector Seven broke apart, whole communities falling into a cavernous maw of death.
Within minutes the plate completely collapsed, crushing every living thing below and decimating everything above with a monstrous explosion. Roads were torn open, houses crushed like tin cans, with feeble flesh suffering even more heartless pain.
There were two spectators to the devastation. One was President Shinra himself, looking out at the carnage as he sipped a glass of his finest Sherry. The other resided in his own quarters, far from the devastation but caught in the middle of its flaming demise in the depths of his own soul. His legs buckled, and Reeve fell to the ground hard enough to skin his knees. He slammed his fists down in abject frustration.
Dear God, they did it...
For AVALANCHE, the lone wire proved their salvation. The party rode it down through the chaos, exiting the Sector just as everything fell to ruin. They fell to the ground in the Sector Six playground, soon devastated by the crushing weight and rains of steel shrapnel that broke it apart and left it in ruins.
The three fell to the ground, bouncing off what used to be the children's slide, immediately being thrown into the sides of the sector's end as everything man-made was blown to pieces. They rolled from the sector walls, bouncing up and down, beaten back and forth before landing in the dusty aftermath.
All of them were bruised and bloodied, and in Cloud's case his right arm was broken from being slammed against the swings. Tifa was the first to rise, staggering to her feet clutching her battered body. Barret soon joined her, as Cloud dragged himself to his knees. Tifa dropped to one knee, totally winded.
"It..." Tifa choked and coughed up blood as she slammed her fists into the earth. "It's all gone..." Blood dripped from her forehead as she trembled in rage. "Everything... everyone..."
Barret stared at the broken sector wall, covered in debris. His team was gone. And so was everyone else he'd cared about - for the second time. Shinra took his soul and ripped it apart AGAIN.
"Biggs..." he gasped. "Wedge... Jessie... God DAMN it!" He began to fire wildly at the rubble, bullets denting the broken steel and digging in, but unable to penetrate into what was no longer there. Falling to his knees, he slammed his face into the ground over and over again.
Marlene...
As Cloud stared at the aftermath, his emotions were unreadable. His teeth chattered, his blood boiled, and he fell back in exhaustion. He hardly felt the bones in his arm creak.
Aerith...
Tifa began to sob uncontrollably. She fell flat on her face in defeat. AVALANCHE was no more, and all of Sector Seven shared their fate. For a handful of criminals, Shinra killed thousands of innocents. Was there no hope left?
Wait... Wait!
Taking a haggard breath, Tifa rolled onto her back with a heaving gasp. What Aerith had said... Her final words...
"My God..." she breathed. "She saved Marlene... That's who she was talking about! She's still alive!"
Author's Notes
Well, this was depressing to write. I mean, I wanted to give each member of AVALANCHE their final moment, and I think I succeeded. Having them go out with a final bang seemed right to me - give them one final hurrah. But it's so frickin' depressing...
It also occurs to me that I might be overdoing the drama, the gnashing of teeth, beating your head into the ground... But that's what I wanted to write: raw emotion. If I'm overexaggerating, I apologize, but it is what it is.