Maka woke up to a tuft of soft white hair tickling her nose and the sound of activity from the hallway outside their room. She took a moment to try to take in her surroundings in the dim red light of their alarm clock. It was hard to tell what time it was in their windowless underground room and she couldn't see passed Soul's sleeping form to actually see the time. The only suggestion that it might be morning, was the sound of people opening and closing doors in the hallway outside. She took stock of her current position, she was lying on her back with Soul's head tucked under her chin, his legs were tangled with hers, and one of his arms was resting across her belly. While it was nice to be snuggled and warm next to someone, it took a lot of self-control for her not to have torn out of the bed with embarrassment. She scolded herself internally for being so self-conscious, but still tried to remove herself from under Soul's limbs.

It was a task that proved to be fairly difficult; he was quite heavy when his arms and legs were limp with sleep. Every time she thought she had gotten a little space between them, he snuggled in closer. After a few minutes of quietly struggling she let out a frustrated grunt.

"Whassamater?" Soul said groggily, lifting his head slightly to look at her.

"Well, I was trying to get up. But you're a little heavier than you look Snow White."

"Ha, Snow White. I haven't heard that one before," he said sleepily as he tucked his head back under her chin.

"Soul, you are making this difficult, and we should probably get up soon."

"There is no pleasing you," he said through a yawn.

"Pardon me, but how so?"

"Well first you're all wah Soul I'm scared, I'm cold, I'm gonna beat you up if you don't warm me up. And now you're all wah I'm trying to get up."

"I'm sorry, are you just still too asleep to realize that I will kick your ass. Or are you just that dumb?"

"Both?"

"I was trying not to get violent Soul."

The only response she received was a light snore. She narrowed her eyes and took a deep breath before launching herself out from under his limbs and running to the door. She flicked on the overhead light.

"SOUL!"

"UGHHHH MAKA! DO YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO BE A KILLJOY?!"

She felt that one sting a little more than she wanted to admit. "Fine Soul you keep sleeping. I am going to go have breakfast with the others." She flicked the light back off and started doing her best to find a sweater in the dark room.

Hearing Soul's shuffling made her freeze in her hunt for a sweater to throw on over her pajamas. He shuffled right up behind her and threw his arms over her shoulders. He went limp making her knees buckle a little. He was draped over her like a heavy backpack…that smelled like sleep.

"Your morning breath is foul," she said grumpily, her knees starting to wobble.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you…I'm not a morning person you know?"

"Oh, I know."

"Makaaaa," he whined. "I won't leave you alone until for forgive me." He dropped even more of his weight onto her now bowing back.

"Okay! Okay. I forgive you, just get the hell off," she grumped back.

She straightened up as he shuffled away to get ready. After a few more seconds of fishing around blindly in the drawers she gave up. "Can we please turn the lights on now?"

Soul flipped them on and groaned in response. She smirked to herself, already familiar with Soul's inability to function first thing in the morning. He wandered across the hall to the bathroom and she brushed her teeth in their room at their own vanity. Soul returned to the room as she finished brushing her teeth and was washing her face with cool water. She flicked some cold water at him before she grabbed a towel to dry off. He flinched and grumbled something incoherent as he shuffled towards their shared dresser. They finished getting ready quickly and in relative silence before heading out the door of their room to join the others for breakfast.

Maka held the door open and chuckled before following him out, "You'll have to actually wake up eventually you know." His sleepy morning routine was cute to an extent but at some point having a grumpy and quiet companion lost its amusement.

He rubbed his eyes and shook his shaggy hair back from his face before responding. "Perfection takes time Maka, and while I can admit no one is perfect, a cool guy like me is pretty close."

"I guess cocky Soul is back eh?" She said, still smiling.

"Well, what you said kinda got to me. I mean why not be the cool guy I always wanted to be in my old life? All that was holding me back then was the way I felt towards my family. They wanted prim, proper, and the perfect gentleman. How did I react? Sad, angsty, withdrawn emo kid. Now I can just be."

"I'm impressed Evans," she looked over at him and threw him a grin as they started to approach the table.

Kid and the twins were by the gym area sparring and Blackstar was in a corner of the mats lifting weights. Tsubaki was seated at the table reading a small soft cover novel. Soul nudged Maka in the ribs and leaned down to whisper in her ear, "Woman after your own heart there hunh Maks? She reads too, maybe you'll be b-f-f-s."

"Oh my god, shut up," she mumbled back as she sat down. Although she wouldn't admit it to him, he wasn't wrong. She had already taken a liking to the quieter girl. She had a kind smile and a very nurturing approach. Something about her just incited comfort and trust.

As they settled at the table Tsubaki marked her page in her book before setting it aside. "Good morning, how did you two sleep?"

"Pretty well for the most part," said Soul, his eyes shifting quickly to Maka seated beside him.

"And how about you Maka?"

"I had some bad dreams but other than that it was really comfortable. The room is quite lovely."

"Glad to hear that!" Marie interjected as she wheeled the food cart into the room. It was very reminiscent of hotel room service. Marie was smiling brightly as she called the others to join them at the table.

Once everyone had gathered at the table with plates full of eggs, toast, and bacon, Marie sat at the end of the table to join them. She waited until they had started eating before interrupting the idle chatter at the table. "So, what are everyone's plans today?"

"The twins and I were hoping to follow the most recent lead we have on Medusa's operative in the area. Ideally we will capture him and bring him back to the professor for questioning," Kid said while Patti nodded along enthusiastically.

"That's great! Make sure you see me for a briefing before you leave," Marie said before looking to Tsubaki and Blackstar.

"I plan to train more and then go out to get groceries by the cover of darkness, like the ninja that I am," Blackstar responded.

"I was hoping to stay back today. To make sure Soul and Maka…are still settling comfortably after their um, meeting with the professor," Tsubaki said quietly. She was trying hard not to look at Soul or Maka, that much was obvious to Maka.

The somberness that took over the group at the mention of Stein was unnerving and Maka wasn't sure if they should try to run away or not.

"Hold up," Soul said loudly from beside her. "Why does everyone suddenly act like someone died every time he comes up? It does not make me want to go see him. And lets be real here, neither of us straight up agreed to doing this anyways."

Everyone shifted uncomfortably in their seats, but Maka was grateful that Soul had spoken as she was having the same fears.

"Experiencing memories from the past tends to bring up old trauma, as I am sure you are both aware. You've both experienced these flashbacks if I recall correctly but those were isolated events. What you will experience here is much more…immersive. He's going to have questions and most importantly, so will you."

Maka looked at Soul as he finished addressing the group and she saw her own fears reflected in his deep red eyes. "Do you think we could speak to Marie alone for a moment?" she said to the others at the table. They all nodded solemnly as they walked away from the table.

"Marie," she said when the others had disappeared behind the door to the residents' hall. "We know we need to experience this, this memory thing. Whatever you want to call it. We want to know what happened to us in the past, who we are…why we're here. We're prepared for the consequences. Apparently it's awful, but everyone survives right? They all seem fine, jumpy about the doctor. But otherwise, fine."

"Well Maka…to be entirely honest. Not everyone survives the memory retrieval process. We…we've lost a pair of partners before. See we had one woman arrive here with her partner. They had no past connection other than a brief encounter, but when they arrived here they became so connected. Anyways, when he learned about his past he…he couldn't take it. He went on about the kind of man he used to be, but didn't share much more than that before he couldn't take it anymore. He killed himself and well basically, her soul left with his, by choice or not we aren't sure yet," Marie finished with tears welling in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry Marie. Is that why everyone looks so upset when we bring it up?"

"In part yes. Remember that they've all been through this before as well, and not so long ago either. Things change fast around here, but they'll always remember what they went through now."

Soul sat there silently throughout the whole exchange, processing what Marie had to say proved to be harder for him that it was for Maka. He could practically see her brain firing off, developing answers to questions and forming new questions as she went. He could even see her desire to ask the questions, the words dying in her mouth when she saw the tears gleaming in Marie's eyes. Soul was grateful in that moment that Maka was able to quell her curiosity. Marie did not look as though she could handle much more discussion on the topic.

"Just one more question, please," Soul interjected. Marie and Maka both trained their eyes on him as he continued.

"Can we nail out the politics of all this soon too? You know, Kishin armies, Medusa, Asura…We've read things, we've seen things on TV, but really we have no idea what happened to this world. It's been…well decades. And…and none of those names ring a bell from our past."

"Yes, of course we will be telling you all of that, you'll get a full briefing with Dr. Stein."

"Which we have to go to right now?" Maka inquired.

"Please," Marie said smiling. "It's good you are dressed comfortably, it'll be a long morning." Maka and Soul exchanged a brief look before Marie stood up. "I'll be back in a moment to escort you two up to the lab. I'm Just going to make sure he's ready."

They waited until the door closed behind Marie before turning on the bench to face each other.

Maka was tracing the wood grain of the bench in front of her with one of her fingers. Her eyes were fixed on the spot between them where her index finger followed the swirling pattern over and over again. Soul cleared his throat, unable to see her face behind a curtain of silvery blonde hair.

"Ma-ka," he said slowly, emphasizing each syllable to get her attention.

"Yeah?" she said as she looked up at him.

"It'll be okay, the others did just fine."

"You heard her, there are people who don't make it. Besides what…what if you kill yourself? I won't be able to stick it out. This is too scary to deal with alone."

"Maka, remember? I tried to kill myself once… survived miraculously…crash landed in a desert and decided that this was a second chance that I don't want to fuck up. Remember?"

"You're right. But what if I can't handle the truth?"

"You will. Think of everything else you've survived until now," he said gruffly, seemingly annoyed that she was even doubting herself at all.

She nodded but did not respond otherwise.

"I won't let you give up then okay? I'll be just as annoying and stubborn as you already think I am. We got this okay?"

She gave him a small smile. "Okay okay. Stubborn loser."

"Hey, I am a rather cool guy. Don't forget that."

Maka was about to respond with a comment that she hoped would sting just a little when Marie pushed open the door on the other side of the table.

"We're ready upstairs now! You two ready?"

"As much as we can be for something we don't really wanna do," Soul said sulkily.

They followed Marie into the hallway behind the door, and up a gently sloping, but narrow set of stairs.

Soul stepped back to allow room for Maka to go ahead of him up the stairs and was the last to emerge at the top of the stairs. He looked around the sterile white room for a few moments. There were low tables made of brushed metal covered with beakers, hot plates, jars, papers, and more all over the room. Against the farthest wall was a big contraption that looked like an exceptionally complicated dentist's chair. Tucked into a corner behind the chair was a desk with a small laptop and stacks of paper covering the top of it. Seated in front of the desk was the strange, pale doctor.

"Hello Soul, Maka. It's a beautiful day for dissecting don't you think?"

"Dissecting what? Weirdo." Soul mumbled.

The doctor stood up abruptly, "You're mind and memories of course," he said as his lips tugged at the corners into a small smirk.

Maka couldn't help but shudder in response. Marie nodded at them all before ducking back down the stairs.

"So the process by which your memories are extracted to the surface, conscious part of your brain, is complicated and would take a considerable amount of time to explain in detail. As a result this brief explanation will have to do. This fancy chair, as it has been so aptly described before," Dr. Stein said, disdain dripping in his tone, "is a sophisticated piece of technology that uses small but targeted, electrical impulses to polarize your memories so that the secondary pulses can magnetically bring them to the neurons firing in the conscious long-term storage part of your brain. Does that at least make a little bit of sense to you?"

Maka nodded, her mouth slightly open in awe, "What an advanced piece of equipment you've created Doctor. Is it safe?"

"Perfectly harmless, however the memories may not be. Any danger you face is from within your own mind and soul."

Soul swallowed audibly, he could feel his throat tighten from the anxiety. He'd visited the scene of his own death, and watched as Maka was hurtled head first into her past life's traumas. If those isolated incidents were any indication of what these, concentrated forays into the past would be like; they'd be exhausted in every way in no time.

"If I recall correctly, you haven't remembered when time froze for you," he said with a pointed look at Maka.

"That's right," she responded quietly.

"Well then, have a seat," he said gesturing at the strange chair.

"Uhm, Doctor," Soul said quickly. "Why don't I go first?" He was worried that the Stein was being a little misleading about how safe the experience would be, and if it was dangerous, he'd rather they find out through him than Maka.

"Your chivalry is…charming, but entirely unnecessary," Stein replied seeing Soul's intentions clearly.

Soul reddened but said no more as Maka looked over at him.

She reached over and touched his arm, he looked over at her next to him into her intense gaze. "Thank you Soul, but I need to do this eventually I'm sure I'll be okay. We're strong, we can get through this," she said, mirroring his earlier sentiment.

He gave what he hoped was a reassuring smile before Stein interrupted.

"Touching moment, now if you would Maka," Stein said as he lifted the arm of the chair and unbuckled some straps.

She climbed up into the chair and sat patiently as Stein buckled straps, attached wires to her, and began to flip switches. He put one last clip onto one of her fingers. "This will monitor your vitals, this is how I know when you are in a memory state, when you are present real time, and if something goes wrong. This is also why I have to strap this arm down, to make sure you don't somehow remove the clip by mistake."

She nodded as he sat back into his desk chair and started typing and clicking away at his computer.

"Are you ready?"

Soul watched as Maka nodded her assent and Stein hit a button on his keyboard. Suddenly Maka's eyes closed and her body went limp. Her small form sagged into the chair, she almost looked comfortably asleep, if not for all the wires and straps.

All Soul could do was stand and wait in silence.

After a few moments Stein cleared his throat and Soul looked over.

"Do you want me to project her memories for you to see as well?"

Soul considered for a moment. This was something he would've liked to have known about before so he could ask Maka if that was okay. To do so now felt like an invasion on her privacy, and she'd tell him what happened afterwards anyways right?

He sighed heavily, "Better not, she has no idea what she's about to experience and I'd rather hear it from her, after she has dealt with it herself."

"Respectable. You may sit then and wait, this won't be long but here," he pulled a folding stool from beside his desk. Soul sat down and watched over Maka silently.

She was standing on a little foot-bridge overlooking a small stream. The sky was blue and clear, the breeze was warm, and all in all it seemed like a perfect day. She looked up the street to her left just beyond some trees and could still see her father's house. That's where she had come to stay last night since she had fled her own home and ex-fiancée. She looked down at her hands firmly wrapped around the bars of the bridge rails. Her wrists and forearms were covered in fresh bruises and she felt on the verge of tears at what had brought her here. She had always looked forward to the day she could move out of her promiscuous father's home, the chance to start anew and forget the problems she faced growing up.

Now here she was seeking refuge at the man's house. It was not that she didn't love her father, she just had very little respect for him and even blamed him for the departure of her mother. This bridge overlooking the little stream had been one of her favourite haunts as a younger girl. She'd stay out here for hours, writing, drawing, doing homework, reading, anything to be away from her father and his conquest of the day. She had accidentally found the trail when she explored the small cemetery down the street from her house one day as a child. She hadn't been here in years at this point, but it still looked the same and offered the same peaceful alone time she constantly needed growing up.

She heard light footsteps to her right from the path that led down from the cemetery. She looked over to see a young man. He looked to be about the same age as her but he had pure white hair. He was watching his feet as he shuffled up the path and hadn't seen her yet so she coughed lightly, not wanting to surprise him. He looked up and she nearly gasped when their eyes met. His eyes were a shade of deep ruby red and framed with thick pale lashes, but most strikingly they were wet and puffy, as though he'd just been crying.

"Are-are you alright?" she heard herself say. She could've kicked herself for asking. Of course he would be crying, she was technically in a cemetery.

He sniffed and heaved a sigh as he approached the bridge. "Not really."

She nodded and looked back out over the stream. "I can leave if you need to be alone."

"That's alright. I don't want to chase you out, just needed to get away from my family."

"That is something I can relate too," she replied.

"Do you live around here?" He asked as he took up a spot against the railings a few feet away from her.

"Yeah, if you look up that path that is pretty much the neighbourhood I grew up in. This was where I would come alone a lot to read and write and…escape."

"It's a nice escape, thanks for sharing," he smiled a little.

She gave him a small smile back. After a few moments of peaceful quiet she spoke.

"Are you here to…visit someone?" She was careful with her words.

"Yeah…We live on the other end of town but my grandparent's first home was not far from here so this is where my grandpa was buried… and now my grandma too…" His voice was thick with tears as he finished.

"I'm-I'm so so sorry for your loss…uh…" she finished awkwardly, she felt bad for upsetting him and felt awkward about trying to console a crying stranger.

He sniffed heartily and cleared his throat. "Soul."

"Hmm?"

"My name is Soul, by the way."

"Oh! My name is Maka," she said extending her hand.

As their hands touched everything faded to black.

She came to standing at the foot-bridge again, this time it was night and the only light was coming from the street lights through the trees. She sighed heavily and sat down cross-legged with her back against the rail. She unfolded the piece of paper she had been carrying around all day to read it again.

She could feel the tears welling in her eyes. She wasn't just sad, she was frustrated and hurt. She had done so much and gotten so far away from the past she wanted to escape. And yet… here she was again. At the same secret spot, in the same little scrap of trees, on the outskirts of the same cemetery, hiding from the same problems, BUT with the added bonus of the shit storm caused by her choice in men. She had crumpled the note in her hands in frustration without even noticing. The stupid note was a message from the sonofabitch ex-fiancée, apologizing and trying to get her back. Like hell she would let that happen. He had laid hands on her too many times, and this last time he didn't just beat her up. In his idiot drunken stupor he stumbled in wanting to have sex and she wanted no part of it. He reeked of booze and was covered in glitter and lipstick. All she could assume was that his bachelor party had gotten a little out of hand, and she was not in a place to humour his clumsy attempts at sex.

She said no, she said no a lot, but it didn't matter, it only took a few stern rejections before he got that hard look in his eyes and unleashed his full strength. He was surprisingly still strong in his drunken state and in her sleepy state she did not anticipate his reaction. He hit her, made sure she was in pain, had brought her down to her knees before pushing her down and climbing on top of her. He forced his way into her and took her aggressively. The memory of it still made her flinch and bring tears to her eyes.

How did she let things get this bad?

Before she could ruminate too long however, she heard a rustling from the direction of the cemetery. She barely managed to wipe the tears off her face before a familiar face emerged from the trees separating her from the cemetery.

"Oh!" She said in surprise.

"Shit!" Soul cursed, he had jumped when he saw Maka. "I did not expect to bump into anyone."

"Me neither," she said, laughing weakly. "But you're welcome to join me. I'm just enjoying the warm night and stars…and moping a little."

"You sure?"

"Yeah why not, Soul right?" She remembered his name from the day before when she'd met him in this exact spot. They spent several hours together then, him complaining about his controlling family, her complaining about her promiscuous yet overbearing father. She found that she liked talking to him. She didn't know if she should trust him, but felt like she could. And he made her laugh in spite of her own misery. She didn't think she was going to see him again when they parted ways the day before.

"Mhm," he said settling on the ground next to her.

She continued to look forward, hoping he would not notice that she had been crying.

"What's that?" He asked, nodding at the crumpled sheet of paper in her hands.

"Oh, nothing…" she said as she hastily folded it up and put it in her pocket.

"I know I'm basically a stranger, but you can tell me you know. Why you're moping, it's not like I'll tell anyone. The one person I awlways confided in is well…dead."

She felt the tears threaten to spill from her eyes again.

"I was trying to hide away from this guy and…and he's still found a way to contact me…and I just want him to go away. I just want all of it to go away." At this point she couldn't hold it in anymore and the sobs just tore through her chest.

He shuffled a little closer to her and looked at her as if asking permission before he put an arm around her shoulders.

After a few minutes of letting her cry he cleared his throat, "Is-is it the guy who, is he who…is that why you've got bruises on your wrists?" He asked quietly.

She looked up into his face seeing only concern.

"Yeah," she said quietly looking down again.

"What a piece of shit," he said angrily, the hardness in his tone startling her into looking back up at him. This time he was staring straight ahead, a frown set deep on his face, and a new fire in his red eyes.

She laughed a little at the absurdity of this stranger, offering her comfort and feeling rage on her behalf.

"What?" He said, an edge still in his voice.

"Nothing, it's just I've never really talked about my…issues…with anyone. People must have eventually caught on, but I never really had anyone I felt like I could tell. Now here you are, pissed off at a man you've never met on my behalf and you don't even know me."

"Well…I know you –ish. And I don't need to know either of you to know that domestic violence is a horrendous thing that should be punishable by death."

She started to laugh again but instead more tears came pouring out, accompanied by loud violent sobs.

"Shhhh shh, it's okay, it's okay. We won't let him find you okay?" He pulled her into his chest in an awkward sort of side hug. Then the memory faded out again.

She felt her consciousness floating in that weird time space gap again except this time a few memories floated by quickly, this time she saw them as if she were watching from the outside, not as if she were experiencing them again. She saw what she recalled to be the very next day when she went out to her secret spot to meet Soul again like they had agreed. She was carrying a small canvas tote. She remembered she had packed them a little lunch to make up for crying all over his shirt the night before.

Before she knew it that memory had floated by and she was looking down on both her and Soul in the same spot later that night. This time he was unloading all about his current miseries, what it meant that his grandma had passed away, the self-mutilating he had been engaging in recently as a means to cope with his hurt and loneliness. She remembered running her fingers along some of his scars in awe.

Then that was over and as another memory was floating by she felt herself being pulled into it. She was snapped into it as though it were her current reality. She was just putting her shoes on at the front door of her father's house to go meet Soul when she heard a car door slam from the driveway. She looked through the window and saw a familiar car parked at the end of the front lawn.

Oh no. How did he find her here? She had never brought him to meet her father before because she wanted as little to do with him as possible. She felt her heart begin to race and breathing suddenly became so much harder. Her eyes darted around, she felt panicked and then like a startled rabbit she launched herself in the other direction. She bolted through the back door and crashed over the back steps running heartily, but noisily over the wooden deck. She skidded to a stop near the fence and tried to calm herself down.

"Maka?" The man called down the side of her house, spotting her through the gap between her father's house and that of the neighbour.

"Fuck," she panted to herself. He started jogging over to her.

"Maka, get the fuck over here. What the fuck are you doing? Where are you going you made me drive all the way out here and now you won't even talk to me."

She couldn't respond she just shook her head.

"Get your skinny little ass in the car right now," he said, a familiar sneer on his face as he got closer.

She vaulted herself over the fence having seen no alternative way out, then she ran.

She ran like her life depended on it, and in that moment it felt like it did. She ran down the parallel street towards her special hiding place. The only place she felt safe. She couldn't face him. He'd threatened her before. She remembered vividly the violent promises he made if she were to ever "rat him out" as she ran headlong down the street. She heard his feet start to slap the pavement not too far behind her.

She was getting close to her spot and he was still behind her. She did not want to guide him there. Not to her special place, and not where Soul would be. He was amazing, and had indulged all her moping and he did not deserve to be more tangled in her tragic life. She saw the familiar footpath between the swatch of trees and kept running. Against every urge in her body she kept running. She did not want to lead him to Soul or her safe place.

She kept running, and was getting close to the one end of the town before it became sprawling countryside farms. Her sides and chest were starting to hurt, it burned to breathe and her head was starting to spin as she skidded to a stop on a long, high bridge. It was high enough to allow for boats and ships to pass beneath and it marked the western most border of the city. She collapsed to her knees in the middle of the bridge breathing heavily and stifling the urge to vomit. She looked from where she came, hoping to have lost the man. For a moment she didn't see him, then to her dismay, a figure rounded the bend in the road running hard, and gaining on her fast.

Her heart sank, she felt intense fear combined with heart breaking dismay. She had no way out. She couldn't keep running, and she didn't trust that at this point he would ever let her live in peace.

She felt like she was doomed to die by his hands. She used the railing on the bridge to hoist herself up. She looked over the side into the dark water beneath. She knew that it only looked smooth from above. The current below was strong, she and all her friends had been warned to stay away from this river since they were children. Not to mention the rapids that lay not far ahead. She looked into the water far below then to the right where that wretched man was closing in on her fast. Devin. So average at first, he had quickly become her worst nightmare.

She climbed onto the rail, balanced herself precariously and looked into the water again. The irony of dying by throwing herself off of a bridge was not wasted on her. All the years of finding solace and peace at her safe little bridge, only to be cornered now by her abuser at this much larger, and more deadly version of where she felt happiest. She looked over her shoulder one last time and back down at the water.

What did she have left to live for anyways. She saw only one face in her mind before she took a bracing breath and jumped.

The icy water hit her like a brick wall, and she was barely conscious as the current carried her away. Spots danced before her eyes as her lungs struggled to keep her alive. She could hold it no longer and as she gasped for air her lungs filled with cold water. Her vision was just turning black when she heard a large crack reverberate through the water.

The nothing. Sweet, quiet, merciful nothing.

She gasped for air as though she had just come up from being under water for a long time.

"Maka!" She opened her eyes and found Soul's crimson eyes filling her field of vision.