Thank you very much for the reviews and feedback after the last chapter! I honestly have no idea who else is still following this story and how many people are even still in the fandom. I do hope to take this story to its eventual conclusion – and not take too long with it!
Septimo
"I was looking after the kids like usual when Rosewood burnt down."
Martha started slowly, speaking one word at a time, her eyes fixed on Yusei's face.
"It was a scorching night, as I remember. The stuffy air didn't help with dissipating the suffocating heat, or the smell of the burnt building and the ashen ruins. All that terrible smell stayed in the air and lasted all the way into the morning, just a big blanket of terrible dark fog on top of Satellite. Crow, you must remember that too, don't you?"
Crow nodded mutely, and Martha continued.
"And the day after that, when the Security forces landed in Satellite, Crow came running to me. He looked more flustered than I had ever seen him, and practically begged me to take the kids he was looking after. I knew something was wrong then, but Crow wouldn't tell me, and I didn't know how to ask. I was almost worried that maybe he was the one who started the fire, and Security was actually looking for him."
"Sorry." With lowered head, Crow mumbled.
Martha sighed. "Even though you didn't want to tell me, I just knew it had something to do with Rosewood. The entire Satellite was talking about it and no one could think of much else. It was something that really startled everyone." She paused briefly. "It is unfortunate that Satellite has its full share of gangs and crimes, but people kinda take that in their stride. The events with Rosewood, though, spooked everyone out."
"The violence in Rosewood that time was too thorough. The silence that followed from the authorities scared us, too. With the gangs here, nobody ruined communities to the degree that they couldn't recover from it. Satellite is a poor place. Depriving others of everything means no one could make a profit from them ever again. But Rosewood was gone. It was beyond repair. Then there was the silence, the absence of any announcements, no explanations, and no story about it at all. Usually the government would have a crackdown and a curfew whenever Satellite got out of control, but even they were scared, and it was like they were too terrified to know what to do. Unlike the other violence that happens here, Rosewood's fire felt... meaningless, and we couldn't understand it."
Martha took a deep breath. "People were scared, real scared. That hospital had been here for a long time. People thought it was going to be a part of their lives for many more years, but it was gone. And there were lots of rumours being passed around about what happened that night. Lots of people died, far more than we thought were hospitalised there, and that was scary too. Some people said it was an accident, some said it was deliberate arson by the staff, some said it was planned by the City folks... all sorts of wild theories. All I cared about was the safety of the children here, though." Her eyes fell on Jack and Crow, and a small smile showed itself briefly on that maternal face. "No matter what happens in Satellite, no one touches Martha's orphanage. That was the unspoken rule. I knew Crow was in some sort of grave danger when he left his kids here, and I was worried about what was going to happen to Satellite. When I finally got a visit from Kiryu and Izayoi Aki, I saw for myself what kind of danger it was."
"So... they came here?" Jack cut in, his face a mixture of fury and fear. "I didn't think Kiryu would want to set his foot back in here, with what he's done..."
"He wanted her to see me." Martha replied firmly. "And if you saw her then, you'd know she needed to see someone, fast."
There was an uncomfortable silence after that, during which Martha turned to Yusei.
"Yusei-kun, can you tell me what you think of Izayoi Aki? Before she was sent here? Can you describe her to us, based on what you know?"
Yusei wasn't expecting that question. He looked straight back at her, a sliver of uncertainty flickering past his blue eyes.
"We grew up together." He paused before he started to reply. "Her parents found out about her Psychic Duelist abilities soon after she started to play around with Duel Monsters at a very young age. The kids at Tops used to play together. Our parents only gave us Duel Disks when we got into school, partly because of Aki... And because of her ability, she never really fit in with anyone at Tops."
"As soon as she entered school, she had to be given special attention and was sometimes physically separated from other children. I was probably her only friend growing up. Despite going to duelling schools like many of us and getting outstanding grades, no one wanted to duel her unless absolutely necessary, and if they did, they would never use a Duel Disk. That was why when she was egged on, when those kids called her names and said she didn't actually know how to duel, she lost control of herself so completely... and caused the death of Misty's brother."
"That's all nice and all, Yusei-kun." As Yusei came to a stop, Martha's voice spoke up. "That's what happened to her. But tell me, what do you think of her? Who - what kind of a person – is she?"
"I –"
Yusei opened his mouth To his shock and embarrassment, he found himself momentarily at a blank.
"For me... she is someone I have always wanted to protect." Yusei took a breath. "I have always felt I should help her, that I should give her emotional support and allow her to believe in the potential of good within her. She appears strong, but she needs someone to care for her, and I don't want that soft Aki to keep getting hurt because of her powers. Despite her powers, she can be like everyone else - that's what I always told her. I was away at the world championship when the incident with Misty's brother happened... I tried to make it back, but the honour of Neo Domino City was on the line at the championship. The support staff on my team begged me to stay, saying legal procedures against her won't go through that quickly. But no… that didn't happen. She was whisked away before my return flight even landed, and she... she was gone."
"Yusei-kun, please allow me to ask you something sensitive." Martha lowered her voice. "Did you ever love her?"
Yusei looked up, straight into Martha's eyes.
"I've never felt as attached to any other girl as I do towards Aki." Yusei replied, his voice resolute. "I care for her wellbeing. I want the best for her. I would do everything I can to save her. If that isn't love, then I don't know what it is."
"But did you ever understand her, or worse, accept her?"
Faced with Martha's question, Yusei furrowed his brows.
"Martha-san, what do you mean?"
"Because I don't think you did."
Yusei's gritted his teeth at the reply, but Martha ignored him, and continued with her story.
"Kiryu and Aki-chan came to me four days after what happened with Rosewood. Kiryu did the majority of talking at first. He started with telling me what was happening in Rosewood behind the scenes. The actual institution seemed to be a housing area for those whom the City wished to keep alive despite their crimes, for reasons that even Kiryu didn't know. However, there was another section of Rosewood devoted to something much more bizarre. The ones who ran the institute apparently gathered Psychic Duelists wherever they can, housed them in select areas in Rosewood, and used them... on something."
"S-something?" It was Carly who responded first, being an instinctive reporter. "What could that be? Why would they gather Psychic Duelists? They may be rare, but just being a Psychic Duelist is hardly a crime. "
"I don't know. None of them would tell me the truth about that." Martha's face was grave. "Kiryu told me Aki was taken away from everyone after a Psychic Duelist in the building, Divine, killed himself. Apparently, Aki was taken as his replacement, and God knows what they did to her."
"That's when she started to act weird and unlike herself." Crow followed. "It was like she suddenly became another person. Everything about her became dull and lifeless... It was like someone pulled her soul out of her."
"It was a very traumatic experience, I bet." Martha continued. "I believe Kiryu brought her here to be healed. When I met her, she was withdrawn and paranoid, with those two unforgettable Markers on her face, extending down from her eyes onto her cheek. They stayed here for about a week and I could tell Kiryu tried his hardest to cheer her up. I don't quite agree to what Kiryu believes and does as a person, but I felt she didn't deserve to suffer internally like that. I gave her the usual stuff – small talks, food, comforting reassurances. At least she was talking by the time they left. She would never tell us what exactly happened, but I knew she finally accepted the fact that she was a Psychic Duelist by the time she left. That the definition is a part of her. I don't think you ever understood that, Fudo Yusei."
"That's not... She doesn't have to be a Psychic Duelist –"Yusei found himself declaring this, but paused, suddenly realising the futility of that statement. He cut himself short and consented to listening to more of what Martha has to say.
Martha continued with a sigh. "I have seen kids like her before. These kids didn't grow up like normal children. They often have issues from the time when they were small, and it takes a lot of effort to bring them out of themselves and back into this world. Sometimes it is impossible, and most of time it is very hard for them to change or renounce the labels they grew up with. Sometimes it is easier to let them know that they are okay being who they are. That, I believe, was what broke her."
"But... but is that Yusei's fault?" Carly spoke up again. She half-stood from her seat, obvious concerned for Yusei's sake. "It was not him who gave her those labels. Why is there so much vengeance in her towards Yusei?"
"Carly." Sitting next to her, Jack put his hand on Carly's shoulder. "Calm down. Let Martha continue. I'm sure she has her explanations."
"She believed that you had abandoned her, Yusei-kun." Martha went on. "I won't judge whether or not that is correct – you are the only one who know the answer to that. She needed to be accepted as who she is, not being told that she can change. This denial – this persistence that Psychic Duelists are evil and she can transcend that part of herself – made her hate the City that raised her."
"That... that makes no sense." Yusei whispered softly.
"No, it makes a lot of sense." Crow was the one who spoke up this time. "For her, who despises herself enough as it is, that would feel like rejection from the people closest to her. You can't convince people to change purely out of the sense of guilt."
"No, that's not – that's not how I treated her!"
Yusei didn't know why he yelled that out loud. His thoughts were confused. He felt dizzy, and he was more nervous than he had been for years. His usual calm and self-possession, the logic and compassion that he wrapped around himself, suddenly all disappeared. For a moment, he tasted the same flavour of betrayal that Aki must have tasted. Everything that he had done to help her, to save her from herself – it was painful to know all that effort backfired. He didn't know he had the capacity to feel such anger, but he felt it. He felt the serpent of rage setting its fangs deeply into his skin.
"If you are so upset about how your expectations of Aki-chan fell short, then what do you think she felt when you never showed up to defend her at court, when she had been through so much than you ever did?" Martha's words were soft, but they carried a harsh, unforgiving sting.
"Then what am I to do?" Yusei mumbled in a grating voice, making a sound that was completely alien to himself. "Beg for her forgiveness and let her catch me?"
No one responded to that. Martha started again after the uncomfortable silence.
"After those two left my place, Satellite began to see the rise of the Black Rose Witch's gang. That was around the time when they started to distribute those black Duel Disks to normal people and recruited them, and gradually they started to talk about invading the City. She ruled over the gang members with her determination and power, and I knew then that her mind was made up. She accepted who she was, and she stopped letting Fudo Yusei hold her back."
"That's not the kind of person Izayoi Aki is..."
"Stop deluding yourself, Fudo Yusei."
Martha's words stopped his thoughts. His hands were clenched into fists, but he didn't know if he was more upset at Aki, himself, or this elderly woman in front of him, who reproached him with such gentle, firm words.
"You were both genuinely loving the other person. That I have no doubt." Martha concluded. "But you, at least, were in love with a mirage. You grew up with her, but you never understood her, and you built up your own version of her in your mind. There is certainly the potential for good within her. But ultimately, she is different from us all. That is something you must acknowledge and accept, Yusei-kun. If you insist on saving her, you would be taking her away from her true self."
"But when she has killed so many..." Yusei couldn't bring himself to continue.
"She may be different, but she is not mad." Martha shook her head. "She hasn't told anyone what her actual motives were, or what exactly happened to her in Rosewood. There must be a reason behind that, more than just Kiryu's influence towards violence and chaos. You need to be prepared for that reason, Yusei-kun. And once you knew it, it would be up to you to decide how to deal with her. You are the King of Duelists. You would have the power to defeat her if we get a black Duel Disk into your hands, and if you agree to wield it. But you have to make the choice – would you save her, or accept her?"
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"Rosewood... that's where they said Aki got sent to, right?"
Ruka nodded emphatically as Rua typed on the computer. Sitting in their spacious study room, the twins shared a long chair as Rua logged into select databases with practiced ease, then quickly entered keywords to look for information they suspect to be buried in there.
Jack's story about what happened to Aki and in Satellite piqued the twin's interest. With the help of their parents' logistics company, they successfully sent both Jack and Carly into Satellite without a hitch. They also resolved to help their companions find out more about Satellite's murky past. There were some benefits to being home alone all the time, especially if their parents were away continuously for so long and ended up caring so little for what their children were up to.
"Yep. I've sent all the information I was able to find in the public records to you. I don't know how much the archives of Mum and Dad's companies can help us... but it's worth a shot."
"Mum owns the biggest media company in this city." Rua was still typing enthusiastically. "If something isn't in their database, then it probably never existed. Trust me, if it was published in Neo Domino, then it would be here."
"Let's just hope they actually published stuff about that place." Ruka replied with a sigh. "Such an institute would not be something the City wants everyone to know."
"Sure they would have. It was built as a hospital for Satellite, wasn't it? That would definitely be reported as a good thing." Rua followed with conviction. "I can't imagine them not putting the hospital at least somewhere in the papers."
Lowering their heads, the siblings gazed unblinking at the monitor as the search quickly brought up scanned articles from many years ago. Being the children of the wealthiest businessmen in Neo Domino City certainly has its perks. Not only did their parents control large amounts of revenue and resources, they also controlled a great amount of information that the common people may not be able to find if they were to look for it on their own.
Among those databases, some of the initial newspapers published when the City was first established had been preserved for future generations to peruse.
According to records, the term 'Neo Domino' was only coined after the establishment of the Momentum machine in the City. The experimental ground for the initial prototype of that divine machine was in the port of old Domino, now known as Satellite. The name 'Neo Domino' only came into existence after the prototype malfunctioned and cut off much of the port's electricity supply, wreaking havoc on the power grid of the surrounding areas. Domino had no choice but to rebuild its infrastructure and differentiated itself from the previous city by calling itself 'Neo Domino'. Following the renaming and renovation of the city, Professor Fudo successfully stabilised Momentum technology and established the working model of the machine currently used, endlessly supplying energy to the new metropolis that sprang up around it.
Much of what happened during that chaotic period when the city was rebuilding itself had been lost, and records were scarce and often contradictory to each other. In this digital era, it would be hard enough to find physical copies of records, let alone any that had been well preserved. One's best hope would be to access databases where all such materials were scanned and kept as digital copies. Thankfully, as the owner of the companies that maintained these databases, Ruka and Rua's parents have their own access into these vast vaults of knowledge.
And that was what Ruka and Rua were using at this moment. After hearing the vague and secretive nature of that hospital from Jack, the twins decided to look up any records they can find about the place.
"There." Ever the impulsive one, Rua jumped and scrolled up. "There. See! Here it is. An article from twenty years ago, when they were still building old Momentum."
There was a yellow and grainy image of an old article describing the establishment of the institution that later became known as Rosewood, together with a black and white photo. Ruka furrowed her brows and noted it down on the notebook she had with her.
"It was actually there before the old Momentum was even completed." She murmured as Rua scrolled down to see if there were more items of interest. "That's kinda different to what I suspected. I thought it was meant to be a charity place built to help the new Satellite area."
"Maybe the area was poor to start with?" Rua shrugged. "Looks like a lot of social services were build up around the area at that time. There's an orphanage called Martha's House set up at the same time too. Reported in the same paper, actually."
"Or it could be a part of the area's development plan? I remember Uncle Izayoi saying that it only started to be populated after the Momentum research team moved into the caves near the ocean." Ruka guessed.
"There are a few mentions to the Momentum development team too..." Rua mused as he kept scrolling through the old images of newspapers. "Some stuff about Uncle Fudo receiving more grants and awards, how the team are doing... Hmm, a promotion for the 'Goodwin siblings'? I didn't know Uncle Goodwin had a sister or brother..."
"He never talks about his family." Ruka peeked over her brother's shoulder. "Anything else?"
"Mmm, nothing really for a while." Rua watched as dates and photos moved across the screen. "Oh, here, around the time when old Momentum malfunctioned! It was mentioned in the damage reports. I guess the hospital's electrical system was blown by the incident like most things during that time."
"Ok..." Ruka noted that down as well. She then looked up at her brother to ask if he found anything else but became alarmed when she saw the serious look on his childish face.
"What's up, Rua?"
"Apparently this hospital went through a very thorough renovation and reconstruction after the incident. There's a report on underground construction in some of the re-building budgets." Rua replied, his eyes not leaving the screen. "And here, mentioned in the same article, it says 'Mr. Goodwin has been appointed as the director of the institute'…"
"So he probably knew something about the institute, at least when it comes to how the place used to be..." Ruka followed her brother's train of thought. "It isn't all that surprising though, since he did transition from a scientist to a politician. I don't like the sound of underground construction though..." She frowned a little. "That really lends weight to them conducting all sorts of bad experiments in there."
"But here is something else too. Look." Rua pointed towards something on the screen. "'Mr. Goodwin left the research team and headed the institute after the disappearance of his family'. I never heard about that, ever."
"I definitely don't remember that." Ruka mused. "Any more information about him or Rosewood after that time?"
With furrowed brows, Rua kept skimming through the old images as the dates skipped forward. "Not much is recorded for years after that..." He paused at an article dated one year after Goodwin became hospital director. "Here it says Uncle Goodwin left the position and the institute became a state-owned facility operated by the City, with the help of a private sponsorship."
"Any word on who or what that sponsor is?"
"Doesn't say." Rua shook his head. "Probably need a bit more digging."
"Do we even know who is running it now?"
Rua fast forwarded the data set, watching as key words flickered across the screen. "No mentions of a change in sponsorship or a change in how it's run after that. I don't know, I guess.
"Looks like the City isn't the only party involved in running that place then. They've got private interest in this too." Ruka concluded. "It sure sounds odd though. How you do think they managed to keep people like Kiryu and Aki-san locked up in there while still operating as a real hospital to the public?"
"Based on what Jack said, most people in Satellite can't afford to go to hospitals, even a charitable one." Rua mumbled. For all his hostility towards Jack earlier for being rude to his sister, he had now visibly softened towards the blond. "I guess... there just weren't enough actual patients for people to find out? I can't imagine how people can be so poor and lived like that, though..."
"Not lived. Live. As far as we know, Satellite residents still live like that." Ruka patted her brother's back. "I know what you're thinking, but... don't worry too much about it, Rua. Let's just focus on helping Jack, Carly, Yusei, Crow... everyone. Alright?"
There was no reply from her brother.
"Aki-nee-san became like that because of how the City treated her, isn't it? Also because of what happened to her in that institution."
"Rua?" Ruka looked at her brother with concern.
"I've been thinking about Aki-san." Rua answered in a low voice. "I've never really known her, because Mum and Dad were always telling us that she's dangerous, even though she was Uncle Izayoi's daughter and everyone considered Yusei and her a couple. Do you think she's really evil? Do you think that just because she's a Psychic Duelist, she is evil? I… I don't know."
"Rua… We'll figure something out." Ruka sighed. "It's going to be okay. Yusei is going to be okay, and we should be able to help them from here. Don't worry too much, alright?"
Rua gave a slow nod, and Ruka knew he was still worried. She gingerly stood up, not sure of how to further comfort her brother. He was usually the one who comforted her after her fainting spells, after her exhaustion and fatigue, always being there to protect her. She had to admit that she didn't know how to alleviate his own worries… and she couldn't do anything but watch as he softly mumbled underneath his breath.
"Whoever ran that place all these years really deserve to be punished. They really do."
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The heated summers at Domino often brought torrential rain. As ironic as weathers go, it turned out that the hotter the summers got, the more ferocious the later storms become. Anyone who grew up in Tops would remember watching black clouds coming in from the sea and white lightning prickling the sky. The ominous storm front would approach the city ever so slowly, taking its sweet time, and swallowing up Satellite before it unleashed its fury upon Neo Domino.
Even the creation of the Momentum machine was powerless to control the weather. The caprices of nature were something that even the god-machine could not touch. Whenever such storms arrived, the citizens of Domino would have little choice but cower in their rooms, waiting for the torrential rain to pass.
As a child, she had always fancied what it would be like to be out in the sea in Satellite, meeting the power of the storm head on, feeling its icy blades cutting and beating into all who stood in its way. That would remind her the limits of her body, the reaches of her power, and the fact that she was alive.
"The weather is as wild as ever in Satellite…"
Now, she spoke behind her bone-white mask, those tear-like Marks streaking down from the eyes towards her chin. Wrapped in her habitual black cloak, she gazed down at the direction of Martha's House, the headphone nestled in her ear constantly buzzing with information.
"So they have arrived at Martha's. I see." She muttered to herself as her subordinates rapidly chatted to one another in the radio, oblivious to their mistress eavesdropping on their report. "As expected of Crow, I would say."
Izayoi Aki fixed her eyes towards the orphanage where she spent her first few days after escaping with Kiryu. Of course, she could not see the building in the gathering gloom, but she could see it in her mind's eye. Kiryu had promised her it was the safest place in Satellite, and he wasn't wrong. It was safe both for the body and for the soul. If it weren't for Martha's efforts to get her to face what had happened around her, she would have withdrawn into herself and chose oblivion, and decided not to do anything with her life at all.
When Kiryu ran away with her, she was in shock at what she had done, and what she had unleashed. Although they escaped the carnage of Rosewood unscathed, she was far more dead in her soul than Kiryu was, and it wasn't because of her previous treatment either. Killing Misty's brother was a mistake, but this… what she had dug up from the bowels of that place…
The young woman shook her head as she stood in Satellite now. Without Martha's words of quiet encouragement, Aki would have allowed Kiryu to call all the shots. She would have been content to hide behind his shadow, not taking responsibility for anything she had done.
When that wraith encased within Rosewood finally walked free and spoke to her, Izayoi Aki had finally understood the purpose of that place and the reason of their perceived cruelty. She chose to run away again, but she couldn't get far. Kiryu wasn't going to let her go, not after he started to see her as an idol of his ideals, a beacon for his mantra of hatred. The renewed desire for vengeance in his heart was ready to jump at that man's beckon and call.
She didn't know anyone in Satellite apart from him. Not to mention that as Izayoi Aki, her identity was already dead. There could be no other way for her to continue her existence. They knew who she was, and she had nowhere else to go. Joining them seemed inevitable.
However, would she join them because she dared not to decide for herself, or would she choose with the full knowledge of what she was doing?
Izayoi Aki could not deny that the desire for revenge spoke loud and clear in her soul.
She had enough of other people choosing for her, of others telling her what was right, of others loving her in the way they wanted, not in the way she wanted.
Of others like Yusei.
She heard the intoxicating voice in her head, and she allowed reason and restraint to forsake her.
If she was a Psychic Duelist, and probably the most powerful one in the entire Satellite district, then why should she refuse the offer to become the head of a new gang?
Instead of cowering before others who were weaker than her by birth, why should she not control her fate and let others appreciate her power for the first time in her life, and be a leader of men instead of burying herself beneath others' demands?
Despite her strict and emotionless upbringing and her introverted personality, Aki was not a complete fool when it comes to reading people. Yusei loved her. Crow loved her. Kiryu loved her too. But one loved her like a fragile treasure to be protected, one loved her as an exotic princess to be worshiped, and one loved her as a glamorous icon on an unholy pedestal.
But none of them were Psychic Duelists.
And she could destroy them all.
She saw how Satellite was run by its inhabitants when Kiryu brought her to Martha. She remembered sitting in Martha's living room as she watched the old woman organising the entire place on her own, fending off the ruffians and protecting the children who had no one to turn to except her.
That was when Izayoi Aki realised her own potential.
If she had no other choice but to stay, if she could live no other lives than that of a Psychic Duelist, then she will settle for no less than the leader of all.
That tiny, thorned root of ambition dug deep into the soil of her heart, blooming ever greater while Kiryu and their new 'mentor' did not object to her desires to climb to the top. They wanted a force powerful enough to rival the strength of Security officers from the City, and she was happy to be their leader in name. She grinned to herself when Kiryu set about to recruit Crow, who had treated her so delicately when they met in Rosewood,and whom she knew felt guilty about the events. And when they told Crow to take care of the twins… Oh. The twins. She felt her own lips curl at the thought of them. The twins were different to Crow or Jack. The twins deserve to suffer. She will make sure of that.
When she was given the order to hunt down Jack Atlas, she knew very little of the reasons behind it. Kiryu had already informed her of their tumultuous history, but she couldn't understand why they chose Jack. The blond man was most certainly not a Psychic Duelist, something that she herself had ascertained when she attacked him using her powers.
She did not object when she was given permission to hunt down Yusei, gleefully rejoicing in the terror that she would be able to bring upon her old comrade.
Did she hate the City and everything it represented? Yes. It would be a resounding yes.
But did she hate Yusei? No, she could not honestly say so.
Then, did she love Yusei? She didn't know. She…
… She wanted him to see her as herself.
"The world… is really not the same as what we thought it was like back in Tops, Yusei."
She let out a long sigh as she perched on her vantage point, her hand resting lightly on her custom-made, crimson red Duel Disk.
Their new leader had promised them a world that would be remade from the ground up, a world where there will be no more prejudice, no more discrimination, no more unnecessary suffering like what they went through.
How beautiful would that world be.
"Yusei… what would you think when you see that world?"
It would be beautiful, but nothing is ever beautiful for everyone.
Even when she was in the deepest grasps of vengeance, Izayoi Aki was not insane. She was certainly sane enough to know that what she did was ignoble – no, it was no less filthy than what others did to her.
There will always be innocents who must suffer. There will never be a world where everyone would be treated the same.
But there are those who deserve retribution, and those who deserve to know the truth.
For now, that was what she fought for.
With rumbling thunder, the clouds rolled in over Satellite, slowly but surely.
A late summer storm was almost here.