Hello, everyone! I hope all is well! I'm finally back again with a new chapter after four long months. I was writing this intermittently, so I had to reread and edit some parts while also trying to follow my rough outline. Thanks again for the reviews, and sorry for the long wait! Anyway...here's chapter 35! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, they are all property of Namco.
Things would have been so much easier for her if everything had gone as planned. Had it not been for his unpredictable behavior, she would have been able to get this unprecedented circumstance under control. Now that all her plans had been thrown askew, everything felt like a disastrous free fall. There were too many variables thrown into the already unbearable shit storm they were in, and she was forced to improvise.
Chasing after him was dangerous in itself for several reasons. It had been hard keeping up with him as he ran recklessly through the battleground with pure chaos ensuing around them. Ever so often, she'd have to stop her pursuit in order to take cover behind an army jeep or tank to avoid the bullets flying around from both enemy and friendly fire. Even so, she tried her best to keep him in her sights as he, miraculously, seemed to be impervious to the gunfire around them. She knew it was no miracle, but the entity within him protecting him somehow.
After firing a few rounds from her assault rifle to dispatch a few enemy soldiers firing in her direction, she took a few deep breaths to prepare herself to run back out into the fray to find her wayward employer. She looked down at the corpse of a fallen comrade and retrieved his ammo. In the end, he would be just another number on the list in a report. The blonde shook her head before continuing her dangerous pursuit. With skillful dodging and maneuvering through the chaotic battlefield, she finally caught him in her sights again.
It seemed that he was intent on finding whatever or whoever it was he was looking for without fear or compunction of his actions, and for those that got in his way…
She shouted his name, as if he could hear or would actually listen to her, when he encountered a group of G Corp soldiers with their weapons drawn on him. She swiftly sprinted towards him and fired her rifle to dispatch the soldiers that tried to surround him from behind. A dark, purplish aura swirled him before a powerful shockwave of energy blew everyone around him several feet away from him.
Nina fell back from the blast, but it was only a minor pushback. Sand blew around the area, forcing her to shield her eyes until it subsided. She regained her footing once it cleared and searched for him again. Her mouth fell slightly agape as she noticed the soldiers that were once around him had now littered the sand, some with blood leaking from their bodies where the close impact from the blast must've ripped open their flesh. Jin slowly stalked towards a wounded soldier that crawled away from him on his back with his blood smearing across the sand as he tried to escape. Once close enough to his prey, Jin reached down and seized the man by his neck and lifted him from the ground with ease.
She dashed a few more feet towards him, but she halted in step when he slowly turned his head towards her with the man within his grasp, screaming and kicking his legs weakly in the air. An eerie grin painted his face as he stared at her from about thirty feet away. Her heart began pounding from the inhuman glow possessing his eyes. Whilst looking at her, he crushed the man's neck with the ease of crushing a soda can. Those inhuman eyes remained fixated on her as if he were pointedly showing her how easy he could've killed her in their past encounters. She exhaled after a long while as the man's lifeless body hit the sand. 'I can't help him…not when he's like this…I won't be able to get through to him,' she thought dejectedly. It was then that she realized she had no plan. She foolishly thrust herself into the jaws of danger without rationally thinking things through, and soon she would face the consequences.
He continued boring into her with his insidious eyes, almost smugly daring her to make her next move now that she witnessed the carnage he was capable of causing. It was amusing to see her standing there frozen in place as he glared at her. Even with everything occurring around them, he fixed his gaze on her in amusement. Her heartbeat was as thunderous as the cannons booming around them, and she finally submitted to him the fear he'd always wanted from her. She was a quarry worthy of his interest. As he stalked towards her with ill intentions in mind, a strange aura wave resonated over the area, completely halting him in his tracks and he took off in the opposite direction away from her.
She had already taken a few steps away from him in retreat before she noticed that something else had now diverted his attention from her. Before she could breathe a sigh of relief, from her peripheral vision she noticed another group of armed G Corp soldiers approaching her. She acted swiftly and swung towards them with her assault rifle and began firing while dodging out of the way to avoid their fire in return. During the fire battle, she still tried to keep her eye on Jin to keep track of where he was going. She couldn't locate him and instantly became infuriated that the bumbling G Corp grunts had distracted her. This motivated her to quickly dispatch them to continue her pursuit of him.
Nina focused in on her targets with her assault rifle and skillfully fired quickly incapacitating, if not fatal, shots at the men, taking them down one by one while being tactful in her evasion to avoid their return fire. After she had taken down the men, she exhaled deeply and wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her gloved hand. The temperature was soaring as the high noon sun was unrelenting on everyone on the battleground. All she wanted was to find Jin and somehow devise a miraculous escape plan to leave this mess behind. Despite her unrealistic, unattainable goals nearly causing her to forfeit, she still decided to keep pushing forward. 'It's complete chaos right now…and I have a gut feeling something is even worse on the horizon,' she thought as she quickly collected more ammo from her fallen foes.
As she was quickly reloading her rifle, a loud shot rang behind her, causing her to duck in alarm with her freshly loaded gun, ready to fire. Her eyes widened a bit when she noticed a G Corp soldier wielding a knife falling to the ground from a bullet wound to the back. Her eyes furtively scanned the area until she noticed Eddy approaching her with his gun ready. A faint smile tugged at her lips as she realized that she was actually grateful for his backup. She was not one to rely on comrades and backup, but she appreciated his appearance, for had he not arrived, the enemy would have successfully pulled off his sneak attack on her from behind. Her mind was so distracted and wrought with worry that she nearly made a rookie mistake that could have cost her life. She could almost feel her father frowning on her from beyond the grave.
` Just as the two comrades were trying to make their way to each other for a quick regroup, a large blast from a missile exploded as it hit the sandy ground near them, blowing them both several feet back. There was no reprieve from the ceaseless chaos and madness ensuing around them; it was always out of the frying pan and into the fire constantly as the battle raged onwards. For a moment, she felt like she was soaring through the air before she collided into the ground roughly and tumbled down a sand dune. Once she stopped rolling, she just laid there in pain and shock as her blue eyes stared upwards into the sky. Her chest heaved up and down as her heart was pumping from the adrenaline coursing through her body. The scorching sun in the sky was completely merciless, making it much harder for her to muster up the energy and motivation she needed. Nonetheless, the weary blonde finally peeled her body up from the sand and slowly got back on her feet. Sand cascaded off of her body and she shook it off in irritation before squinting her eyes to look over the rolling dunes. It seemed that she was thrown from the immediate heat of the battle, but she knew not to let her guard down, as it was evident that G Corp soldiers had her on the top of their list of targets to capture, or kill. Her breath hitched in her throat.
In the far distance, nearly a half mile away, she could barely see two figures in the distance, casually approaching each other. She didn't know if it was a mirage or the heat frying her brain, but the two distant figures seemed to be glowing with different auras.
'Jin?! It has to be him!' she thought with a mix of relief and apprehension. 'Then...there's no doubt that the other one is definitely Kazuya.' Her stomach sunk as she feared how the rest of this would play out. The icky feeling of malaise engrossed her as something about the strange energy in the area made her feel ill. Her hand shot up to her head as a brief flash of those otherworldly red, glowing eyes burned back into the forefront of her memory. She took a few deep breaths and shook off her nerves as she picked up her previously discarded AK-47 that she nearly parted with during the after blast of the shell explosion and her trip down the steep dunes.
"Olly olly oxen free, bitch!" a voice shouted from behind.
With a sharp 180 turn, her eyes widened in surprise to see an army jeep barreling down towards at the highest speed it could achieve on the sandy terrain. 'Irvin? Not this fucking idiot again!' she thought as she ran in the opposite direction. The man driving recklessly fired bullets in her direction wildly, narrowly missing the heels of her boots as she ran with all her might to avoid being shot. Nina fired back wildly with her assault rifle at the vehicle in return to prevent the assailant from beading in on her. The laws of physics aided her as the jeep flipped over onto its side near the end of the steep dune and forced the occupant to jump from the vehicle.
She skid to a sliding stop in the sand and quickly aimed her gun at the man and began firing more rounds at him, forcing him to take cover behind the jeep as she riddled it with bullets to keep him away from her. Her teeth were clenched in anger. 'I don't have time for this bullshit!' she thought in agitation and anger as she focused on warding off her enemy instead of making her way to aid her employer. 'I just can't catch a break today!' She stopped firing when she noticed a grenade flying towards her and reflexively swung the butt of her rifle towards it as if it had suddenly become a baseball bat. The grenade exploded midair, which caused her to turn and dive away quickly to avoid serious energy. She belly flopped on the ground after the blast and quickly tried to regain her footing. As she made her way to her hands and knees she felt a sharp kick to her side nearly forced her down again.
"Leaving the party again, Cinderella?!" the crazed man yelled as he ran up on her.
She gritted her teeth in pain and took a small opening she saw to sweep her leg under him to knock the man off his feet as he attempted to lift his other leg to kick her again. The man fell and hit the sand with a thud, and as he tried to get up quickly again and grab onto her leg, he was met with a fist full of sand thrown into his face followed up by a hard right hook from the blonde. He groaned in anger as he stumbled to his feet while quickly wiping the sand from his eyes. "I'm going to kill you!" he exclaimed irately. He saw her going for the rifle in the sand and quickly charged her from behind before she reached it. The air expelled from her body as he landed on her with his full weight and they hit the ground again. Their weight collapsed the sand and led them rolling down another large hill of sand with a confusing exchange of elbows, knees, and fists before the two came to a halt at the bottom. With luck finally on her side, she ended up on top in the scuffle and quickly slipped her bayonet from her thigh strap. She raised her knife and quickly brought it down in a stabbing motion. In a stroke of luck for Bruce, he was able to catch her wrist, stopping the blade mere inches from his jugular.
"You…bitch…" he slipped out through his clenched teeth as he continued to grip her wrist to stop her from reaching his throat. He didn't know whether the heat was affecting him or if she was as strong as a Titan, but remarkably her blade continued to inch downwards until he could feel the sharp steel nicking the skin on his throat. Her eyes were inhumanly cold and never wavered as she remained inflexible in her resolution to kill him.
Her heart was racing and her mind almost blanked as her murderous intent kicked in and increased her drive to dispose of him. No matter how hard he struggled, she kept him pinned as she slowly pressed her blade into his neck, leaving a trail of red wherever it touched. The job was almost done, and after she rid herself of this pest, she could focus on her original mission. Before she could revel in her soon to be victory, she felt a sharp pain in her scalp as her head was yanked back roughly. Her hair was tightly intertwined between spiny fingers while she could feel hard nails digging into her scalp. She ignored the pain and shook off her initial surprise as she quickly swung her bayonet around to fight off her new assailant. The quick strike narrowly missed, but at least it forced her attacker to release her hair. Nina narrowed her eyes and glared at her new foe, who was more familiar than she would've liked.
"Hair pulling, Anna?" Nina chided as she stood to face her estranged sister. "You really didn't learn much back then, did you?"
The brunette sneered for a moment before a smirk appeared on her face. "As if you actually remember anything," she jabbed. "Father never said fighting dirty was bad as long as it got the job done."
Bruce finally regained his footing and wiped blood from his injured neck. He shot an angry glance at his partner. "What the hell took you so long?!" he asked irately. "Were you going to wait until she turned me into a fucking pez dispenser?!"
Anna rolled her eyes slightly at her frenzied partner. She was waiting for the most opportune time to surprise her sister, and it seemed that she succeeded. She thought that Bruce would be able to handle her alone, but she clearly overestimated him. "Don't be so dramatic, it's just a scratch!" she shot back at him before turning her attention to the blonde. She smirked again. "It looks like you've seen better days, my dear Nina." She looked weary and beaten down, and she knew she was baking beneath that tight spandex suit.
Nina held her bayonet tightly as she was now placed in an even stickier situation as her two foes were eyeing her like wild dogs drooling over a juicy steak. She momentarily shifted her eyes to attempt to see what was going on with Jin and Kazuya across the desert, but it seemed that they were still having some kind of deadlock standoff with each other, both of them surrounded by an unique eerie aura. At least they weren't ripping each other or the entire desert to shreds just yet. Even so, she began to doubt if she'd have enough stamina to take on both of them, and she had gotten castaway from the main battlefield away from any potential backup or reinforcements.
'Ugh...it looks like I have no choice but to play with Tweedledee and Tweedledum,' she thought with an eye roll. 'However...a good run is better than a bad stand…but I wouldn't give her the satisfaction.' With her mind made up, she held up her weapon with an exasperated sigh. "Well, what are you clowns waiting for?" Nina boldly jeered. "Let's get this over with."
The brunette smirked confidently. "Indeed, let's," she affirmed as she moved into her fighting stance.
Bruce cracked his knuckles and his neck. "Bad move…but that's expected from a dumb blonde!"
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'Give in to me,' a voice repeatedly echoed in his thoughts, over and over. His body felt like it was being weighed down by anchors.
'You're going to let him overpower you?' the devil said. 'Let me guide you…stop resisting!'
Jin was breathing heavily as he finally faced this ultimate enemy, his father. He snapped out of his frenzy and regained a bit of control, but he still felt extremely vulnerable to giving in again. He and Kazuya were spaced about 30 feet apart, but ever since they came face to face, he had done nothing besides flare his energy level up against his own in an arrogant display of power. He was still holding back and ignoring the devious voice of his father's devil goading him to surrender and his own devil trying to convince him to lose control. 'I…can't hold on much longer…' his thoughts yelled in desperation. He fell to his knees and gripped the sand between his fists. Mysterious markings began to appear on his skin as he felt himself teetering over the edge.
Kazuya sneered and looked down on his pathetic seed with crossed arms. It was time for him to reclaim what was rightfully his, the other half of his devil gene. "After all this time, you still don't know how to control it?" he reprimanded as he pierced him with his bicolored gaze. "You're truly unworthy and a waste of time. Give it to me, and I still show you how to wield true power!"
'Let me back in…and I will destroy him!' his inner demon continued coaxing him to let all hell loose.
'No…I don't…I can't…' Jin's thoughts drifted more towards hesitation and fear. He tried to fight back against his mind and body as he inched closer to giving in to the darkness.
'You hate him and what he did to your mother…how he cursed you with his blood,' the demon reminded, hell bent on manipulating him by exploiting his weaknesses. 'You want revenge, don't you?'
The ominous energy around Kazuya increased as he was trying to force his weakling of a son to present his true self. "The creature beneath the tombs called to me," he smirked as he saw Jin look up in surprise. "This is the fate of the two stars destined to clash, to usher in the apocalypse."
Jin was upset that Kazuya had somehow received this information as well, it definitely gave him a needed boost to forcibly awaken the dormant evil for his own gain. They both had ulterior motives in this war, but he still deemed his to be the lesser of the two evils. "I will be the one to…destroy it," he declared with more vigor as he slowly stood up. "You'll have to go through me." The strange markings over his body darkened as he clenched his fists. He forced himself to focus on his current task, stopping Kazuya from trying to awaken Azazel and hopefully restoring everything to order. With enough focus, he could attempt to control his power without going overboard.
'You'll need more than that to defeat him?' the devil within him cackled. 'Why are you so afraid?'
Jin ignored the voice and tried to keep his focus. He stared down at his palms and watched as they swirled with the demonic energy surfacing from within him. 'Is this the end? If so, this is the only way to end it all..but...' His mind unwillingly began resurfacing random, scattered memories of peach lips on white porcelain, lavender, and warmth that forced doubt back into him, causing a deep ache within him. He inevitably grew angrier and drew up a deep hatred for his ill-fated existence in the world. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists as he violently shook away any distracting thoughts and realized that he wanted nothing more than to completely obliterate the devil in front of him. His eyes glowed inhumanly as he could feel more of the dark power he tried to suppress surfacing.
Kazuya's demonic eye began to burn brighter as he anticipated a long overdue battle with his estranged offspring. "Hmph, that's much better," he smirked in delight as his own demonic energy began surfacing. His eyes were glowing redder and his aura darkened as his form began to slowly morph and distort into something otherworldly. "The end is here."
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Elsewhere amidst the many chaotic occurrences taking place in the desert. A fallen soldier awakened to his limp body being dragged across the hot sand. His vision was doubled and blinded by the scorching sun as he finally came back into the world of consciousness.
He coughed violently, which halted the dragging. He breathed heavily as he blinked his eyes to straighten his sight. Gritty sand in his eyes caused him irritation and a wet and sticky substance against his face along with a headache out of this world caused him distress and confusion. His heart pounded heavily.
"W-Where…?" his hoarse voice uttered followed by another cough. A man's figure hovered over him and became more recognizable with time. "Lars?"
The aforementioned man stared down at him. "Don't worry, we're retreating!" he announced. "We'll get you medical treatment as soon as we're back, Eddy."
"Retreating?" he repeated confusedly. As if he were hit with a memory wave, he was quickly pulled back into his current predicament. He remembered fighting enemy soldiers, seeing Nina, then the blast. What happened after that? How long was he out? He staggered up from the sand and stumbled around in confusion before a strong hand landed on his shoulder to keep him steady and calm him down. "What the hell happened?!" he asked him groggily.
Lars shook his head with a somber expression. "This battle is deadlocked. Both sides are losing too many men. I'm pulling back as many of our men as possible to return to base and then return to headquarters," he informed him as he tried to usher him in the direction of the other Tekken Force soldiers. Gunfire was still crackling here and there, but it wasn't as rambunctious as before. They were holding off the enemies for the sole purpose of distracting them to escape. "I thought you were a goner when I found you laying against the hood of the jeep, but you've just taken a bad blow to the head."
Eddy immediately brought his hand against his head and felt the sticky feeling of drying blood on his forehead. He took a nasty blow from the blast, but what about her? "Nina?! What happened to her?!" he questioned frantically. For all he knew, she could be lying beneath the sand somewhere unconscious, or worse, dead.
The blond man shook his head casually. "I haven't seen her since we left the tower," he reported. "I don't think any of my men have seen her either." He would know her whereabouts if she were spotted, for he had informed his men to always keep an eye out for her, especially as he became more paranoid about her presence as her suspicions of him became more known.
"Fuck!" he cursed aloud in frustration. He reached up for his earpiece but realized it was missing, undoubtedly dislodged from his ear after the blast. "I have to find her...and where the hell is Jin?" he wondered as he fretted.
"If he turns up dead, the war will most likely end," Lars said cryptically.
Eddy turned towards him, completely taken aback by his words. "What?"
"I saw him running through the battlefield, unguarded," he clarified quickly to ease the callousness of his previous statement. "He's a strong fighter from what I heard, but he's not a soldier."
The Brazilian man disregarded the statement as he squinted his eyes as he tried to scan the desert for any sign of Nina or Jin. Lars was right, but he didn't want to think like that. Besides, what would that mean for the fate of his ill master? He continued to look around, despite being woozy and discombobulated from his head injury.
Lars figured the man must've been delirious from heat stroke and his injuries. He wanted to ensure that he was returned back to the base to receive treatment. "Let's go, there's nothing we can do now besides dispatch a search team later after this mess dies down," he said, trying to sway the man to return to base to receive treatment.
"Wait...what the hell is that over there?" Eddy muttered in disbelief as he staggered towards the direction of the sight. It seemed like something was glowing in the far distance in the middle of the desert, like two strange orbs of light. He kept trying to squint to stretch his vision, but the heat and the throbbing pain in his head prevented him from clearly making out the two figures in the distance. He nearly stumbled as he nearly slid down the large dipping sand dune, but luckily his comrade was able to pull him back before he went down. Before he could utter a quick thanks to the man, he noticed three figures down below in the rolling dunes, fighting. He shielded his eyes with his hand to block the sun before he realized what he was looking at. "I think that's Nina!" he alerted Lars.
Using the scope of his rifle, he zoomed in to the three figures down below. It was indeed the blonde assassin, and she was involved in an intense two on one fight against two G Corp officials. From the information from the tidbits of media he had seen from time to time, he surmised that the woman was her sister, and he had definitely seen the other man in previous battles. He focused his sights on the blonde and noticed how weary and winded she appeared, even so, she tried her damndest to keep up with the chaotic and confusing rhythm of the battle she was entangled in. She blocked kicks and dodged punches here and there, but her ratio of successful blocks were beginning to be outnumbered by the strikes that she couldn't avoid from either the brunette or the tall man.
Eddy couldn't make out the intricate details of the battle, but it didn't look good from Nina's end. "Well...are you going to take the shot?' he asked impatiently. Whether he took out the woman or the man, it would be a great benefit to her to turn the tides of the battle. Lars remained silent, and when he looked over he seemed extremely focused, but he wasn't taking action to assist. "Lars?!"
"I can't get a clear shot." He lied. He could've taken any one of them out, even the assassin, but he did nothing but watch. It was only a matter of time before they overcame her, and it seemed that the duo was toying with her, enjoying slowly chipping away at her stamina. The blonde reversed a strike from the brunette and managed to grapple a hold of her arm, but before she could execute her move, the man quickly grabbed her from behind, allowing the woman to escape the grab. After that mishap, they were having at her, delivering blow after blow until she finally fell to one knee.
"Take the shot!" Eddy urged, feeling a rise in anger at the man's inaction. What the hell was he waiting for? Not that Lars was known for being a top marksman, but he knew damn well that he possessed the competency to handle a simple sniper's task. He was moments away from snatching the rifle from him to take the best shot that he could before he finally noticed the Swedish man repositioning the gun to hone in to get a clear shot.
He supposed that it would not bode well for the assassin if he didn't intervene, but part of him felt smug inside as he watched her be humbled. Lars gripped his finger on the trigger and aimed at the man that was kicking her in the abdomen any time she attempted to get back up. Even when the odds were against her heavily, she still refused to fold. It was strangely admirable. His aim on the man was averted when he was distracted by a large explosion of light coming further across the desert. "What...the hell?" he muttered to himself. as he swung his scope towards the chaos ensuing far across the sandy dunes. He tried to focus his vision to get a good look, but he couldn't see anything besides a massive sandstorm obscuring his vision. "Get down!" he yelled out to anyone who was in close proximity to hear him.
Large, rolling sand clouds ripped across the desert after the mysterious blast created a powerful shockwave.
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After the strange blast, she found herself face down in the sand once again after the wave of energy swept everyone in close radius off their feet. A few moments subsided before she weakly lifted her head up and sputtered sand away from her mouth. Sand clung to her sweaty face and to her bloody lip. She felt like absolute shit. The heat was unrelenting, her body felt like it had been steam-rolled, and there seemed to be no light at the end of the tunnel at present. The blonde weakly groaned in pain as she very slowly pushed her beaten and bruised body from the sand. She winced and let out a slight whimper in pain as her abdomen felt like it was on fire, undoubtedly from the repeated blows she had received that probably awakened old wounds that weren't fully healed from her previous battles. At this point, she was literally crawling across the burning sand until she mustered enough strength to attempt to stand once again. Nina lifted her head in the direction of the larger sand cloud. The visibility in the area where the two men were locked in battle was enshrouded in something akin to a large sandstorm. A strange, eerie feeling encircled her as she could faintly make out two lights clashing into each other.
'I feel sick...something bad is going to happen if they continue on like this, but at this point I'm not sure how it can be stopped,' Nina thought despairingly. 'I can't do anything to help him…' Her face was sullen with defeat, but even so, she refused to lay there and do nothing. For a brief moment, she caught a glimpse of something through the obscured battle that caused her stomach to sink while her heart began pounding anxiously. She wasn't sure what she was looking at, but it unearthed unpleasant memories of her past encounters with mystical things she still couldn't fully comprehend or accept. 'Jin...no,' she thought as she stood and staggered in the direction of the cataclysmic fight between father and son.
Not too far off, Bruce and Anna observed her clumsily running towards the action across the desert after they, too, recollected themselves from the sweeping energy blast. "Where the hell does that crazy bitch think she's going?" he remarked, seriously questioning the blonde's mental state as she headed directly towards danger. Not even he was crazy enough to get involved in any mess involving the Mishimas.
The brunette woman briefly observed her elder sister further hurling herself into danger and clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Don't worry, she won't escape from us this time," she claimed as she un-holstered a gun from her hip. "She'll thank me later." Anna smirked as she took aim and pulled the trigger.
A sharp pain stung her in the back of her thigh that slowed her down before she slowly fell into the sand once again. Almost immediately, her brain began to feel foggy and she felt overwhelmed with extreme drowsiness. Her breathing began to slow as her eyelids became heavier. The earth began to rumble again, and soon enough the peculiar images of winged beings and bright beams disappeared as everything slowly faded to black.
End of chapter 35!
Phew! Action chapters are hard to keep track of, especially since it's taking place on a battlefield with so much going on, but hopefully it wasn't too hard to follow. I didn't use line breaks since everything took place in the same setting but in different areas.
Jin is losing control, and poor Nina finds herself in quite the bind. Let's hope for the best! Next chapter is planned and already in progress. Thanks for reading!