I Don't Own Anything I'm Just A Crazy Fan.

Chapter 74: Je veux que tu sois à moi.

In the chambers of the French National Assembly two hours later.

"I wanted to extend my gratitude to the French Republic for giving me this chance to speak today." Seth began his speech in French. He had just signed the treaty with French president. It was one that allowed trade and a mutual defence agreement along with a few other things. Charlotte was sitting on the second floor where guest sat. On the other side of the room, she saw her father Albert, along with his wife Rozenta and Diana Dunois was with them. Her eyes briefly met with her half sister and in return Diana glared at her. Charlotte turned away quickly. When she looked back towards Seth, she saw that he was staring at her momentarily before he turned back towards the crowd. Once the speech concluded Seth entered the hall where he was jumped upon by the press.

"Fairs! Any comments regarding the recent statement made by the United States?!"
"How were you able to get such advanced technology?!"

"Is the rumor regarding you and the princess of Luxemburg true?!"

"I'm not taking questions at this time. I have scheduled a press event later on in the week. Please hold all questions until then." Seth responded as he made his way towards a car to get away.

"Oh man, they're vicious." Seth said as he breathed a sigh of relief. He saw Charlotte was inside the car with him. On the opposite side of the limousine.

"You're really popular today, Seth." Charlotte said with a slight smirk on her face. She was amused by the fact Seth uncomfortable compared to his usual composed self.

"I really don't like dealing with the press." Seth said as he took out a bottle of water and drank it in one sitting.

"To think the man changing the world is afraid of reporters." Charlotte said with a slight chuckle.

"If I say anything remotely vague they'll turn it into something completely different. That's downright evil." Seth said with a smile on his face. After sensing her distress during his speech, he wanted to know how she was holding up.

"Char, I wanted to ask you something?"

"Hm?"

"During my speech, I sensed you were upset. Is everything alright? If you want to talk, I promised that I would help you." Charlotte stood up and stared down at Seth.

"It's none of you-" The car they were in took a sharp turn and she fell forward towards Seth. The Emperor caught the french girl.

"You alright Char?" Seth's orange eyes met violet as she was embraced. Charlotte's heart twinched with pain as she now looked at how they had changed. When they first met, his red eyes looked so full of hope and kindness, but now they were different. The things she noticed

"Why...?"

"Char?"

"Why didn't you tell me?! Why did you keep everything a secret from me?!" The emotions Charlotte had been bottled up were unleashed. Her frustration that had been building over the past months final came out.

"I was scared of getting you involved. Plus would you have believed me?"

"I would have! I would have stood by your side!"
"Would you, even now? Even after knowing everything I've done?"

"Seth I-" Charlotte was cut off by her body moving by itself and locked lips with Seth, allowing the pleasure to consume her. She let out a soft moan as she felt Seth begin to caress the back of her head, holding her evermore closely. Seth's tongue battered the inexperienced girl, letting lose feelings she had never experienced before. She no longer supported her own weight with her legs and allowed herself to sit on Seth lap, placing her arms over his broad back, resting her hands on his shoulders.

This was what she was missing, these past months she had been feeling a void in her chest and now it was being filled. Seth broke off the kiss as he knew Charlotte was running low on air, yet once he heard her take in a deep breath, she grabbed Seth head and pulled him back in. She only stopped once they felt the car stopped.

Charlotte didn't say anything as she got up and open the door, only for her to be shocked at the sight in front of her. Instead of the hotel she expected, they were in front of her childhood home. After taking a moment to absorb her surroundings, she turned back around to Seth who had stepped out and had a key in his hand. He grabbed Charlotte's hand and placed a key in it. When her mother died, her father and his wife had taken control of the property and sold it off saying they would just house her instead and give her the money when she became an adult. She wept for days learning that the place she grew up in was no longer her home. All those fond memories made in this place with her mother were all she had before today.

"I was planning on giving you this when you graduated from the Academy. However, something is telling me now is the best time to give this. And I have a request." Charlotte looked eye in his orange eyes, once more.

"Can I crash at your place? I don't like staying at hotels." Seth said as he pulled out a small suitcase. He was only going to stay for three nights in France.

"But your security detail-"

"Already taken care of. The Royal guard has set up a defensive perimeter 10 kilometers around the building. Plus if things get really bad, the [Nobunaga] is stationed in orbit. I doubt that my ship will be needed." Seth said.

"So can I stay with you? I'd like to continue where we left off, if possible." The Emperor asked once more.

"Ok." The furiously blushing french girl replied as she unlocked the door to the house and led him inside. Once inside, the situation dawned on Charlotte.

"Did I just become a mistress?" She slowly turned around. It seemed she, like her mother, went after a married man. After all they had just entered a battle with their tongues and it takes two to play that. Sensing what was wrong, Seth responded.

"You know, my family knows what I'm doing right now. They're okay with me adding more girls, as long as I don't force them. Plus most of them really like you."
"I'm not a mistress then?"

"I guess the more correct term would be my paramour. Or as the French say, Par Amour (By love)."

"I really do take after my mother don't I?" Charlotte said to no one in particular. She was suddenly embraced from behind. The two just stood there enjoying each other. That was until she heard a rumbling coming from behind her.

"When was the last time you ate?"

"Last night." Seth answered. She glared at him, cause him to rub the back of his head.

"Sorry, I got too busy to eat."

"I don't even have any food in this house. Jeez I'll order something for us. You have a few hours before the ball."

"We have a few hours you mean. I was hoping you would be my date for the night." Charlotte became slightly flustered.

"I would love to, but I don't have anything close to appropriate to wear at this event." The party tonight was for the elite of the elite in French society. The most extravagant dress she had was her French air force uniform, that she got when she became a representative candidate. She didn't want to embarrass Seth and she didn't want him to spend a lot of money on a dress for one night.

"Good thing I came prepared. Check this out." Seth said as he pressed the black collar on his neck. His suit began to disappear and morph into a suit of segmented armor. His chest formed a glowing white Marker symbol.

"Tabane been experimenting with nanotech. Pretty cool right. It can take on any preset form." To show this again, the suit of nanites transformed into a pair of swimming trunks before Charlotte's eyes. Once again impressing her. She knew magic was an actual thing, but that was the only thing she could compare the new suit to.

"That's amazing. I don't see how-" Cutting her off, Seth opened the smaller suitcase, which let out a hissing sound as some white vapor leaked out. It revealed an elaborate necklace with a large violet colored gem in the center.

"Sorry if it's a little gaulty, but the nanites need a place to stay." Seth said in relation to the large gemstone, as he handed her the necklace. It was a vibrant violet that matched her eyes.

"It's beautiful. I can't take this. I wou-" Cutting her off, Seth used the force to lift the necklace from her hands and placed it on her neck. The nanites immediately formed an orange strapless dress, with a long flowing skirt that fit her figure perfectly.

"Huh?!"

"Mumu has a keen eye for fashion. You look ravishing." Charlotte entered her old room, which had a full body mirror. She was in shock at her appearance. She never would have imagined herself wearing such a dress.

"Seth I don-"
"This dress was meant for you to wear. No one else. I really want you to be with me tonight. So what do you say?" Seth said as he grabbed left hand with his right, and intertwined their fingers. Charlotte melted in his affection. She could not say no.

"I'll go, if it makes you happy." She spoke in a bashful tone. Agreeing to this meant confronting her family who would be there without a doubt. As if he could read her mind, he spoke again.

"Charlotte, whatever may happen, I'll stand by you. I will help, you have my word." All the french girl could do was smile, and hugged the man she was infatuated with.

Later that night.

It was around eight at night when Seth and Charlotte arrived at the party. Blaze and Flame had done her hair, while Seth was appearing in a more formal suit with an orange bow tie matching the color of Charlotte's dress. She also put a small amount of makeup. The party was held at Château de Versailles, and the palace emitted French architecture. As the two of them entered the palace main hall, Jeannette Delaplace greeted them.

"Both of you look charming." The French President said.

"Thank you. You look marvelous, madam." The Emperor replied.

"You flatter this old lady. Come with me, there are many people you should meet." The two were led around the party, where they met many important figures of the government. High ranking military officers and people who held positions of power in the government, like the prime minister, minister of finance, and minister of the armed forces. After associating with them, they moved on to the representative of the private sector who were invited. There were a few well known figure heads, like the current CEO of Louis Vuitton, to ones more military hardware related, such as the CEO of Nexter System. Finally the two were face to face, with the head of the Dunios company and his family members. One was an older woman in her mid to late thirties, the second was a teen girl, who shared the same color of eyes as Charlotte, but her hair was a platinum blonde like her mother.

"Your Majesty, this is-"

"Albert Dunois, pleasure to meet you at last." Seth said as he extended his.

"Likewise, It good to meet you at last, Fairs." Albert said as he took the hand and shook it.

"Ah, that right, [Joan of Arc] was a joint project between your company and the Empire. Of course you two would know one another." The president assumed.

"Something along those lines." Seth remarked, while he was speaking, Charlotte and Albert locked eyes with one another and at that moment, Seth sense the mind of the head of the Dunois company. What he felt surprised him. His face showed a stoic expression, but his mind was running with worry and longing. He has missed her dearly, much to the shock of Seth.

"Wait, he missed her? He was worried about her? What?!" If he probed anymore in the man's mind, the CEO would start to feel the effects, he would have to do this the old fashion way. He has an idea of what might be going on, but he couldn't be certain until he got Albert alone.

"You two lovely ladies would be?" The first to talk was the older woman in a red party dress, with platinum blonde hair.

"Rozenta Dunois, it's wonderful to finally meet you. My husband has told me so much about you." The woman said in tone, that most could tell was not genuine.

"Charming." He turned his head to the younger girl and saw a face with glee on her face.

"Your majesty, I am so glad to meet you. I'm Diana, and I'm a huge fan of you!"

"..Really.. I'm flattered that such a beauty is fond of this fool." Seth was not expecting this reaction. Sure, he knew when he was announced to the world, he had his fair share of fans, but he didn't think they were still into him after revealing his Empire. Diana looked at the girl in the orange dress, and once she recognized her, Seth sense anger building in the young girl.

"Oh Charlotte, I barely recognized you." Diana said with a smile on her face, but it was evident that she hated her sister.

"It's good to see you as well Diana, you look wonderful in that dress."

"Of course I look beautiful. The finest tailors in France made this dress. And who made yours?" Diana noticed that the dress Charlotte wore was of exceptional quality. In fact it seemed to be made just for her.

"This is-"

"It was a dress made by my personal tailor. I had it made for my dear friend." Seth answered leaving Diana stunned.

"Dear friend? How close are you two?" The malice was no longer being held back in her voice, surprising both of the girl's parents that she would act in such a way in public, especially at such a high class event.

"Very close, isn't that right Char?" Seth said as he looked at the blushing blonde.

"He isn't wrong about that. Hehe..." Charlotte let out a few playful chuckles. Normally she wouldn't be able to look at the three people in front, but she had a new found strength with Seth standing by her side. Diana's face shifted from her regal expression, to one with anger. Seth looked back at Albert and saw his face with a troubled expression, and he felt he was feeling a terrible pain internally.

"Mr. Dunois, If it's possible I'd like to have a discussion with you."

"Regarding?"

"A man to man talk. If you'd be so kind." When these words left the Emperor's lips, the head of the Dunois company became tense. His wife was about to interject, when they heard a loud whining beeping emanating from Seth's coat pocket. He pulled out a holoprojector from his coat and answered the call. A hologram of a male officer aboard the [Nobunaga] appeared.

"Your majesty, we information you'll want to hear."

"Hold on. I need to get to a private area." Seth made his way towards a room that wasn't being used for the event. Once inside he ordered the officer to report.

"Sire, the IIB have been tracking possible Phantom Task movement since the assault on the arctic base last month. They have following a lead and a shipment of suspicious origin has left the port of Dunkerque."

"Like with South Korea, what's in the package."

"Description of the package has changed several times, as it's been handed off to different shipping companies 23 times. As of now it left the port of Dunkerque, and 3 trucks are heading towards Paris via Autoroute A1."

"Have the [Nobunaga]'s sensor scan the trucks before it arrives within the city and inform both the DGSI and DGSE of your findings."

"Right away sire, should I prep your shuttle for extraction."

"No, We'll need something larger. I'll have [Mother] prepare herself."

"Yes, my lord." The hologram disappeared and he returned to the group.

"Is everything alright." The president of France said, once Seth returned to the group.

"You should be getting a call any minute now." As Seth said that, her phone began to ring. Soon Seth got another call from the same officer.

"Sire, we have detected a large concentration of Thorium in one of the trucks."

"Thorium? And the other trucks?"

"Unknown at this time, but there is a large surge in energy emitting from the other vehicles. Far larger than a normal vehicle."

"Thorium can't be used for a nuclear bomb. Could it be a dirty bomb? Wait, is that how the anti-IS field generators are powered?" Seth didn't have time to investigate the generators last time since his main goal was getting Samus and Akikaze out of Seoul.

"Scanned the shoreline, see if there are any ships that could launch a missile. Check at least 300 kilometers out."

"Yes my lord." The officer answered before the hologram faded away. Everyone near Seth, minus Diana could speak english well and were now staring at the former Sith lord. Jeannette just got off the phone and immediately made her way towards the secretary of defence, who was not far from her. Seth made his way towards her. As soon as she saw Seth approaching. She began to protest, but Seth cut her off.

"Madam president I have a warship in orbit. I could order its ion cannons to fire on the trucks and have a strike force capture it in 45 seconds."

"A ship with a what?"

"Imagine if you could contain the properties of an Electromagnetic pulse and fire it from a cannon. In theory it should be cause any major damage. However, it would completely fry all electrical devices and infrastructure within one to possibly six kilometers of the blast."

"One to six kilometers?"

"We never tested it in atmosphere. I'm guessing on the lower side, but it's a capital ship grade weapon."

"Madam, I know the Empire is now our ally, but I cannot condone this action the Emperor is asking." The secretary of defense said.

"How soon can we get a team at the trucks?"

"In 15 minutes. Maybe 10 if we get an IS there first before local law enforcement can set up a roadblock."

"In the time you need, it will be closer to the Paris metropolitan area. The likelihood of civilian casualties will increase drastically the closer those trucks get. Let me help, please." Charlotte noticed Seth moved his hand is a slight wave like motion as he spoke.

"Very well. Have your ship fire, and you get our people there to provide assistance." A smirk appeared on Seth's face as he brought out his holocommunicator.

"Commence the operation."

"As you wish, my lord."

In orbit above Europe, the [Nobunaga] loomed over the continent. On her bow, two compartments opened up to reveal a single barrel turret on each side. Blue energy form inside them before the main hangar door of the ship open and several droid gunships raced towards the surface. Because there was no organic lifeforms being transported, the gunships could travel far quicker than the [LAAT]. The new ion cannons unleashed four blue blast from the cannons.

On autoroute A1 the three trucks were cruising down the roadway when directly in front of them, the ion blasts hit. Since it was late at night there weren't many cars on the road, but there were a few who drivers suddenly found themselves unable to steer their cars.

One poor man was relatively close to the trucks and saw these blue blast of energy hit the road in front of him. His car dashboard suddenly shut off, as did his headlights and he soon learn his power steering was no longer working as well. With his car failing he grabbed the emergency break on his car. This caused the car to begin to spin out of control.

He spun out of control, and the small sedan slammed into the divider. Airbags deployed and the driver felt as though his face struck a brick wall. The driver blacked out for a few seconds, but once he looked up, he saw a pair of glowing white eyes staring at him through the window of his car.

"Remain calm. We are here to help you." The lone commando droid said in a monotone robotic voice. It ripped the door off the damaged sedan and pulled the man out, who began to scream in terror. The droid handed him to a B2 rocket droid who flew the screaming man away from the highway. This action was repeating itself for those who were caught up in the ion blast and had their vehicles damaged or were injured.

"All civilians within the area, have been evacuated. Drivers of the trucks have been secured. Commencing second phase." The same droid reported in as he and the other droid got closer to the trucks. The four droid gunships were hovering around the three trucks, ready to obliterate them at the drop of a hat.

"B2-32416, Open the door of the truck on the left."

"Roger roger." The B2 said in a lower tone then the commando droid. The B2 droid approached the truck on the left and broke the lock that was keeping it shut. Once the droid force the door open, it raised it's arm with its wrist mounted twin blasters. It's optical sensors registered a dozen men in the truck with small arms and there was a rocket launcher on the wall.

"Come out of the vehicle one at a time. Failure to follow directions will result in your termination." The men in the trucks wanted to reach for their weapons, but realized how futile it would be once they saw one of the gunships aiming all its barrels at them and saw the missile pods on it. They surrendered. As the men were coming out of the vehicle, their weapons were handed to another B2 who was bending the barrels so they couldn't be used.
The second truck was more or less the same. With men armed with automatic rifles, two inside had light machine guns. A surface to air missile was inside as well. Lastly the truck in the middle was checked and they found two people inside wearing radiation suits. Machine inside that had a light orange glow emanating from it.

"Detecting high levels of radiation." A droid said as his sensors picked up on the emissions coming from the machine. The two in the radiation suits were forced out and the droids began to remove the device.

The captives were led to law enforcement as they arrived. One of the Droid gunships used a grapple beam to latch on to the device and took it away. A new gunship came to replace the now occupied one and the droids redocked with the gunships. They left the area, leaving at a few hundred people out of power.

Back at the party.

The guest in the main hall were watching the feed Seth had put up for the president and her defence secretary, but soon everyone was looking at the live feed. After the terrorists were captured, a perplexed look appeared on the Emperor's face. Noticing this, Charlotte speak.

"Umm.. Seth are you alright?"

"That's it?..." Seth said with a slightly disappointed tone. This caused everyone who heard him to stare in disbelief.

"Are you by any chance, disappointed the situation didn't escalate?" The Secretary said with an almost shocked tone.

"No, I'm glad that my droids were so efficient, it just feels like something it off. The IIB had been tracking this shipment originating from Umbrella, and they're not this sloppy, nor this small scale." Seth stated.

"Seth, you did state that you've been fighting Umbrella more aggressively. Is it possible that you've limited their capabilities?" Charlotte's words did cause him to think. They had been attacking Umbrella at every possible avenue. They targeted lines of supplies, bases, and were killing major people in the organization. The one person that they couldn't kill was Wesker himself, and that clone. Apart from the antarctica base raid, they had obliterated a major base that was underwater in the depths of the atlantic ocean, with [Perseus].

The situation could be like Charlotte said. They could have crippled Umbrella to the point where they aren't able to do large scale incidents anymore. Could they have begun to focus on weapons dealing, like they had sold Phantom Task dozens of Unmanned machines, but with the loss of the North Korean factories, they could be stretched too thin.

"Madam President, I want to request access to the captives tomorrow. This situation doesn't sit well with me." Seth turned toward the French leader as he spoke.

"That can be arranged. I owe that much for preventing a larger incident from taking place tonight." She responded.

"Regarding the electrical disturbances my ship caused, I can have engineers assist tomorrow in repairs and of course, the Empire will cover the cost of the repairs."

With the whole ordeal over, and the party wrapping up, Seth was again mingling with the members of the French Government who were enthralled with the efficiency and speed that the Empire showed, in this unexpected operation. Charlotte and Seth exited the party and were once again inside the limo traveling back to her house. Charlotte heard Seth let out a deep sigh before he tapped the collar on his neck and the suit transformed into more casual clothing.

"I'm glad that over with."

"Did you not enjoy the party?" Charlotte asked with a slightly shocked tone.

"Oh the party was great, I just hate the politics of the whole situation. Normally I let Lelouch handle these things, but as the head of state, I've got no choice, but to come here myself. I honestly feel out of my element." This got a small chuckle out of th French girl.

"So you don't like politics and you aren't a fan of the press. Seth, you're the leader of your nation. You need to work on dealing with them."

"You're right about that. Oh If you want to change out of the dress, just tap the center gem twice and a hologram with options will appear." Charlotte did as Seth instructed and a holographic screen appeared in front of her with several options. She shifted through them, and took note of some the choices before her.

"Naughty nurse, seductive teacher, submissive schoolgirl, bunny girl?!" She said with a shocked tone, as she continued to scroll down the outfit options.

"Oh, those were in there by default. I'll send Tabane a message to remove them."

"Why are they here to start with?"

"Uhh, for sex." He stated bluntly. A furious blush raced across her face.

"Ah, of course." Charlotte began to fidget in her seat as she began to absentmindedly began to scroll over all the options, only to have her press on outfit, causing the nanites to take on a new form from the dress. A tight fitting, navy blue leotard with black tights appeared over Charlotte, cause the girl to begin to stammer.

"Oh, very bold of you Char." Seth said as his eyes began to absorb the new outfit, allowing a smirk to cover his lips. However, once he noticed that she was too embarrassed to move. A hologram screen appeared in front of Seth and he forced a change to a more simple outfit of a white skirt and an orange tank top.

The rest of the car ride was in silence as Seth had begun to work on some documents on a hologram screen. Charlotte couldn't help herself and began to look over Seth's shoulder, but soon realized she couldn't read any of the symbols one the screen. Seth noticed her looking and figured there was no harm to letting her see what he was working on. It wasn't anything too classified. He switched the language from Aurebesh characters to French. As the read the screen, the French representative candidate she saw several names that piqued her interest and they had several small diagrams beneath the names on the screen.

"[Avenger], [Revenge], [Admiral Yi], [The Black Knight], [Bismarck], [Napoleon Bonaparte]! Huh? [Emperor's Mistress]?" Seth immeditated hid away this one, but Charlotte noticed that this ship was thinner than the others, but he hid it so quickly she didn't get a good look. The [Avenger] and [Revenge] looked similar to the new grey ships she saw arrive above the academy on the news. The other four appeared to be the same as the Venator-class that the news had been talking about for the past few weeks prior to the others ones.

"We got a new model ships, if the Imperial-class works we'll integrate them into the fleet. Honestly, it's like a battleship, but the Venator can do that decently while being a carrier, especially the redesign, that the other four ships are made after. As for the the [Napoleon Bonaparte] and the [Admiral Yi] are meant to cement our alliance with the New Republic Korea and the French state, and hopefully after my meeting with the Germans later this summer, [Bismarck] will as well. Right now, I was just finalizing the names." [The Black Knight] was Lelouch's new flagship, but

"Why are you making so many ships? Won't other nations consider it a threat?" Charlotte asked.

"Charl, these ships are not meant to attack other nations. If I wanted to, just three Venators would lay total annihilation to the surface of the planet with orbital bombardment. It would take roughly two days to kill a majority of people on the planet and make the surface uninhabitable. Plus I already have other means of completely destroying the planet." Seth thought letting Charlotte know of other weapons, like the reversed engineered Nova nuclear warheads, of the UNSC. Or the terrifying amount of WMD that the Forerunner's created and stored within the [Giver] Relic.

Before Charlotte could ask another question, they had returned to her childhood home. The two entered the house and Seth entered the guest room he placed his items in earlier. Charlotte was laying on her bed in her childhood room, when just as she was about to sleep, but she heard muffled speaking.

She tried to put her ear to the wall, but it wasn't clear enough. She had a glass of water, and quickly drank it, before she placed it on the wall. Now the voice was clearer and her chest began to tighten. Of course Seth was speaking, since he was the only other person in the house, but that second voice she knew well. How could she not know the voice of her father, even though she had only had him a few times before.

"Why is he talking with my father?" She wondered as the talk continued.

"So I assume you had a reason besides talking about the retrofit that [Joan of Arc] has undergone, considering you put this device in my pocket without being noticed." Albert Dunois said. As he said, Seth slipped a holopad in his pocket while everyone was distracted with the operation live feed. The older man was baffled as to what this thin device did, as he removed his coat and felt the unfamiliar device.

"I'll be blunt, what is your objective with Charlotte?" The face of the young emperor became stern and his tone turned cold. So cold that Charlotte's body couldn't help but shutter internally.

"And what brought this along?"

"I sensed your feelings during the party. A sense of longing and regret."

"Sensed my feelings? You honestly expect to-" Her father stopped talking mid-sentence as he felt a pressure surrounding his neck, only to begin to wheeze.

"Mr. Dunois, I have powers you couldn't even imagine. Now I don't care what you believe, I want the truth. Don't even think of lying to me. Is that understood?" Seth waited before he saw the man nod to release him.

"Now then answer my question."

"Isn't obvious for a father to miss his daughter." Albert said bluntly./

"Base on your actions, such as sending Charlotte to the academy disguised as a boy and the fact you had to hide away she was even your daughter to the general public, I was under the impression that you did not love her."

"I didn't have a choice. It was all I could do to protect her."

End of chapter.

Author Note: Hey guys what's up. So Sorry for the delay. Been really busy for me recently. I just moved to a different university and its hard adjusting to my new environment. Currently looking for a new job. As for the nanite armor, I did base it off of the bleeding edge armor and was planned a while back, but now its more well known with the MCU. Anyway, it might be awhile till the next chapter, but I'm thinking a new arc should start soon. Till next time.