It was bright. Shining and painful, burning all throughout her like she'd woken up on the sun. Her vision was a jumbled mess of different blotted lights, each threatening to blind her. And at the same time, it was...difficult to feel anything. Every sense she had, even touch, was strange and muddled, unsure about what it was perceiving.

Ringo tried to move her fingers.

...did that do anything? It was hard to tell. She tried moving her hand and felt...something. Her hand felt like it was at least moving. There wasn't much sensation, but she could tell it was definitely brushing against something. That meant she was alive, right? She gathered what little energy she had and tried to sit up-

FUCK, ow, fuck, there's pain now- lots of pain, lots of sudden terrible pain in her sides that forced a choking cough from her as everything around her started swimming, a high pitched ringing filling her ears.

A dark shape took form against the harsh light that filled the room, slowly pressing something hard like glass against her lips and gently leaning her head back while saying something.

It was water. A cup of water. As much as she'd been avoiding water around here, the cool liquid against her cracked lips felt like a dream. It wasn't like she had the strength to protest, anyways. She only stopped drinking when the glass was taken away, breathing out hard and gasping for more air, coughing again.

Someone was talking; she could hear the voice, but it was impossible to make out what was being said. After a moment of confused staring, squinting to try and bring the world into focus, a hand pressed lightly on the middle of her chest, lowering her back down to the bed and bringing her head back onto a pillow. Soon, the noises she heard started becoming clearer, and her vision turned from a blurry mess to a cross of two images slowly mixing together as everything settled.

"-r..-e? -i .-n, ..-ou -ear me? Can you hear me?"

"A-ah, y-eah…"

That wasn't a good voice. It was like Ringo could barely talk; every noise that came out of her was rough and coarse, as if it had been soaked, pressed, and pounded down before leaving her mouth.

"Just lay back." the voice soothed, moving a bit to Ringo's side. "Can you feel anything?"

"H-hurts..." was the best she could manage, and as garbled as it was, it seemed to be understood by the figure looming over her. It looked...oh. The apprentice. That's right.

"Just keep still, okay? Don't try to move, I'll see if I can get you some actual painkillers."

Painkillers. That sounded good right now. Noticing the pain when she'd tried to move made it register in her mind, and the feeling slowly spread throughout her body, refusing to leave even as she laid back down. Her doctor was messing around in that little setup she'd made on the table. There was...wow. It looked like there was a lot of stuff on there.

"You...c-carry all that...?", she choked out.

Talking was difficult. Painful, and barely understandable with how strained it was. Luckily, the apprentice seemed to grasp what she was trying to say, glancing back at Ringo before grabbing a small cylindrical container that rattled as she walked back to the bedside.

"Yes, I do. Always good to be prepared."

However tempted she was to ask how she fit all of that in her sleeves, she honestly didn't have the energy to right now. Instead, she groggily watched as the container was opened and a small tablet spilled out.

"Head up."

It hurt to do, but what the doctor wanted the doctor would get, especially if it meant some pain relief soon. The pill was placed on her tongue and the glass of water held to her mouth to swallow it down.

Her head fell back as she gasped for air. Should taking a drink be this exhausting...?

Actually...should it be? She's...she's awake. Gaining coherence however slowly, Ringo was awake.

'Does this mean I'm ok...?'

She had to wonder. To some degree, Ringo had never expected to wake up again. Remembering the pain, she shuddered. She nearly wouldn't have wished to if that had kept up.

Ringo glanced upwards, only to meet the eyes of her doctor who was sitting next to her, watching her gather her thoughts intently. The girl would probably tell her more about her health when she was fully up and lucid.

For now, once the medic was satisfied that she'd taken the pill without any problems, she laid Ringo back down, gentle and firm as before, returning to her station by the table. Without much to do but wait, Ringo's vision drifted around the room.

'It's bright...'

It was midday light; tall and shining, the kind of light that made you squint to see properly. Not something that she'd ever gotten in Mist, but she'd been getting acquainted with the type ever since arriving in the Land of Fire. She looked away from the window. It was difficult to imagine she'd ever get used to how much light there was around here. Mist was easier on the eyes.

Instead, she looked downward and noticed something. The sheets were...clean. That wasn't entirely unexpected, but it was surprising nonetheless. Did they move her...? Was this a different room? It looked...mostly the same, but it was hard to tell. The lines on the ceiling, the sheets, the walls, they all looked the same in hotel rooms.

This was...probably not the same place she'd been treated. An impromptu emergency surgery wouldn't be the cleanest thing, and the little she could remember of the ordeal aside from how awful it had been was that it involved a massive amount of slicing her up with a knife. There had to have been quite a bit of blood spilled there, no matter the fancy medical abilities.

Actually...She was still shirtless. Lowering the sheet a bit and settling it on her stomach revealed...two stitched up incisions?

First of all those looked terrible. Enough to make her nauseous just looking at them. As clean as the stitches were, the wounds were just...

And second of all...two? Two bloody and swollen lines running through her skin, one on each side of her abdomen, skin around them rubbed slick with some kind of medicinal salve. The newer one looked like an L with the tail bent, slightly higher than the simple vertical line on her opposite side. She only remembered there being one before waking up after the ordeal was over. How long had it taken? It was still morning when the surgery began, and there was no way it was the same day. So...it had been at least a full twenty four hours since it started.

Ringo laid back once more. Everything still hurt, and with nothing else to look at, her gaze drifted listlessly around the room, eventually settling on the girl who treated her, really taking her in for the first time.

She was...young. That was obvious, but she wasn't young enough to look like a child, or an inexperienced doctor. If Ringo had to guess, she'd probably guess them to be somewhere around the same age. Short black hair, simple black robe, soft face. She fit the look of "adult student" perfectly.

...She hadn't questioned it when she showed up suddenly, but now...why had she? Tsunade, her teacher, said no. She refused to even consider treating her and walked away with this girl in tow. Why'd she come back? Did the Sannin change her mind? That didn't seem like the case. Especially when she actually did show up in the doorway with that weird dramatic flair. So...the apprentice came back on her own...?

Huh. Damn.

If that was true, then she owed this girl her life. Maybe. Depending on if she was actually ok now or not. This whole 'forever in your debt' thing suddenly seemed a lot more serious, now that she was alive to pay it.

Still...why did she decide to treat her? The girl was scared when she recognized her during their confrontation, and Ringo didn't know her at all. In fact...She didn't even know her name. Until now, she's just been "the girl being taught by the real deal". And here she was, idly writing something down after what may have been a life saving surgery. Or...surgeries, possibly.

"H-hey..."

She turned back, raising a questioning brow.

"What's...your n...n-name...?"

For a brief second, she looked...really ticked. However, she cooled her features quickly, taking one deep breath before turning back to her writing and answering.

"It's Shizune."

Shizune...

"...th...thanks, Sh-...Shizune..."

That made her pause, and after a moment her head lowered as she continued to write.

"...Of course. I'm a medic."

Hahhh. She sounded happy. That was cute. Ringo didn't even bother catching the low giggle before it tumbled from her mouth.

A few more minutes passed by in weary silence before the apprenti- Shizune stood and brought her chair over to the bedside.

"H'okay...your condition. Ameyuri-san,"

"m'prefer Ringo..."

"Ringo-san. Here's the diagnosis. You're a damn mess."

Ouch. The girl- Shizune put her hands on her hips, glaring down at her.

"Honestly, the state you were in, it's almost a miracle you weren't dead weeks ago! Cleaning up that mess was a nightmare; almost everything was infected, most of your body needed to be flushed out and cleaned, and half of your organs were practically eating themselves by the time I got to them! And do you have any idea how difficult it was to keep you from dying from the surgery needed to save you!?"

...was she being yelled at? For...almost dying? She guessed she'd be moody too if she had to perform an emergency treatment for hours on end in a hotel room, but damn, Shizune could yell. Just listening to it hurt, even as the rest of the pain had slowly started to fade from the painkiller.

"S-'rry…"

Hearing about it now, now that she was awake after the fact, it was almost surreal. The entirety of the past two and a half months since she left Kiri...it all felt like a dream. As if, even if it had happened, it hadn't happened to her. She might have even believed that if the sensations from it all weren't so clear and burning, however cloudy her head was getting now.

Shizune, for her part, huffed and maintained her narrowed eyes.

"Mhm. Even with that done, you have a lot of recovering to do, understand me?"

"Yye-eah…"

Was that her voice? It sounded stupid. Hah. It actually brought out a dumb chuckle from her, painful as it was to laugh.

...Actually, if she thought about it, the pain wasn't as bad as it had been when she first came to. Thank Kami. Shizune, however, seemed less than impressed with her reply, rolling her eyes and moving back to her desk.

"We'll talk more after you've rested a bit. Maybe after another healing session or two."

She'd had healing sessions? That was cool. It was nice to know that she was in the recovery stage instead of the treatment stage. So...if she was recovering, then she was fixed, right? No problems at all? Yeah. Not a single one. Yeah it was probably that. That was good! That was great, even!

"...w-woo..."

...did she just say that out loud? She didn't mean to, did she? Hah. Pfft-haha! Her head lolled back to the pillow, staring up at the ceiling.

Ugh, Kami, her head was swimming again. Didn't that already sort itself out...? She looked down at her hand, resting idly atop the nice soft sheets of her bed. If she could still move her fingers, that would mean she was still ok, wouldn't it?

She flexed her fingers out, and then drew them back into a fist.

And flexed them out again...and back in again.

Andddd out...aaaand fist…

…

Ringo glanced at the clock.

Oh. She'd just spent ten minutes watching her hand. Oh!

'...damn, I'm hiiiiigh…'

She'd never really been high before. Drunk? Plenty of times. But never anything like this. It was...weird. But weird in a nice way. It was warm. And she couldn't feel the surgical pains anymore, so as far as she was concerned, everything was pretty great right now. Things were lookin' good. Happy day's on the horizon! Everything's comin' up Ringo!

That one made her snort, which further broke down into a whole other mess of rough giggles and snickers.

Yeah...yeah, this was good. What should she do after this? Screw Mist, Fire Country was pretty great, weird as it was. The food's good, too. Damn good. And the fried stuff here? Daaaaamn.

That settled it. First thing she'd do when she could scoot out the hospital-er, hotel. Hotelspital. First thing's gonna be finding a food stall and ordering one of every sweet treat they make. Then, some sightseeing! There were some neat spots in this country, and she's not the kind the let good things go ungotten. Thennn…

Then what? Maybe she'd skip out on this place too, maybe not. This country was great, but there was still more world out there. She'd figure that out when she came to it, she supposed. If she did go somewhere else, where to next? Suna supposedly sucked right now, so probably not there. Maybe Kumo? Or one of the minor villages. That actually sounded pretty fun! She could go to the Land of Hot Springs! Now if anything sounded good, that sure as hell did. A land filled to the brim with nice, clean water? Like a dream. And then...nn...

...

…

Ringo's eyes slowly opened as she woke, body strained and sore.

Wait, what? ...Wasn't she already awake? She glanced at the window only to be met with the darkness of night, all the light in her room coming from a lamp on Shizune's desk setup. Oh, shit, it wasn't nearly as bad as before but everything hurt. The hell happened?

She felt even weaker than before, like she'd been beaten down by every other member of the Seven Swordsmen, despite the eased pain. This time it was like she just had no energy. Nothing to keep her moving, no strength in her, just some hurt and a newfound talent for lying down and doing nothing that involved effort.

"Slept well?", a voice asked mildly, breaking her bleary haze.

That was Shizune's voice, coming from somewhere beside her. She's...sitting in a chair, reading a book.

"...s-slept…?", she managed, voice still rugged and broken as before.

She clapped the book shut, looking up at Ringo.

"Yes, slept. You've been asleep for about nine hours now."

...Well that didn't sound right. When did that happen?

"...really...?" she asked, incredulously. Shizune just rolled her eyes, smiling a bit.

"Yes, really. How are you feeling?"

"Sore..."

Her smile grew, standing up and setting her book on the bedside table.

"Sounds about right. Give me a minute, and we'll see if we can get some food in you."

Food. Just the word made her recognize what she hadn't noticed before; she was starving. She'd probably been given nourishment since her procedures first started, but food? Real, actual food? None. And if she had gotten any, she didn't remember it, so it didn't count and she should definitely get more.

But, she had some time until that food arrived, so instead, she was left to gather herself now that she was awake and thinking clearly.

So. From what Ringo could gather, she had received the painkiller from Shizune, flopped around for a bit in a hazy high, and then fallen asleep for the rest of the day.

That was...astoundingly embarrassing. Not only was she helpless for that duration, but she was probably dazed and strange throughout the time she was awake.

And...something she'd learned from seeing Fuguki drink himself into a stupor; once you've seen someone bumbling around like a dumbass, you never forget it. She probably lost all of the 'cool kunoichi' points she'd had with Shizune during that time.

That sucked.

Luckily, Ringo wasn't left to think about that fact for too long before Shizune came back, carrying a tray with several smaller dishes on it. The sight of that food was more than enough to momentarily take her mind off of her ruined image; vegetable rice, slices of orange, some kind of fire country beans, and small bits of chicken. That likely wasn't too over the top for Leaf standards, but damn, that was some good stuff.

Her excitement was probably evident in the way she was looking at the food, because Shizune smiled at her as she placed the tray on the bed to Ringo's side.

"Think you can actually eat by yourself now, or do you still need help?"

...Still need help? By herse-...Oh, shit. So she did get food before, and apparently she didn't handle it very well. She coughed, clearing her throat and straining to sound as not in pain as possible, despite the roughness in her voice.

"...I can eat. Thank you."

Shizune was far too amused by this, smirking and grabbing her book from the nightstand, sitting herself down in the bedside chair once more.

...Okay, she had to know.

"While I was out of it…", she ventured, Shizune humming a small noise, encouraging Ringo to continue.

"...did I...do anything dumb…?"

"Aside from asking me to help feed you when you probably didn't need it? Not really. You giggled a lot, and then passed out."

That was embarrassing. Mortifying, even. It did, however, confirm that her image as a cool and tough ninja would be forever tarnished in the eyes of her doctor.

Which wasn't good. In fact, that sucked! She actually liked this doctor.

'Much better than the last one, that's for sure…'

No point in trying to salvage that, then. Best to play it off as cool as possible. Which wasn't actually very hard to do, since the moment she started eating some of the vegetable rice, she made the astounding discovery that it was delicious. She had to take eating slow with both her soreness and inability to turn her body too much, but it was so good. The pain in her throat wasn't nearly enough to deter her from food this tasty. Maybe it was just the fact that she didn't remember having anything to eat for the past however many days it had been now, but that wouldn't stop the food from tasting amazing, so there was no point dwelling on it. Her eating was only interrupted by the soft yet clinical voice of Shizune, still looking down at her book.

"Once you finish eating we can start on another healing session. After that's done and you've rested more, we can talk a bit more in depth about your condition, perhaps tomorrow afternoon or so."

Ringo gave a hum of acknowledgement, still focused moreso on her food than the conversation. Though, it was something to take note of. Shizune had told her she'd need a lot of healing sessions, so she'd better get used to them quickly, and she definitely wanted the news on her condition. Truth be told...she was already feeling better. Not well, oh Kami no, she didn't feel well at all, but it was no longer like she was in the process of dying. Now it was more like she'd been on the brink of death, and was slowly moving upwards. That was good. It was...comforting.

Ringo brought a slice of orange to her mouth and bit into it, savoring its flavor. Fresh fruit was always the best, and a true rarity where she was from.

So...she was recovering. However long it would take, she was getting better. She'd recover and find the life she wanted, whether it be in Leaf or anywhere else in the world. She could do it. And it was truly hard to be negative when eating a nice meal...

Things were looking up.

Things were getting better.

It hit her all at once, a warm blanketing feeling of security, and for the third time in the past few days, Ringo felt like she was about to cry, this time out of relief.

For the first time in her life since she'd first claimed the Kiba and felt their sparks across her skin, she felt...safe.

-EXTRA-

Shizune sat with a weary sigh, dabbing the sweat off her forehead with a small cold cloth.

'Finally…'

Finally having been able to sit down, she relished the bit of rest. After a moment, she raised her head to look at her sleeping patient, illuminated only by the room's lights now that the sun had set.

That...was most likely the most difficult surgical procedure she's ever done. If not the most difficult, than absolutely the most time consuming, as well as the most straining. It had taken nearly eight hours of constant work to finish the first part of her treatment. Cleaning, healing, neutralizing...

That said...so far it was looking okay, though she'd need to keep her under close observation for a while to make sure everything was truly stable. She'd already had a few scares during the surgery. Losing her patient after it was over would be beyond awful.

Quite frankly, Ameyuri's illness was devastating. Truth be told, it was shocking she hadn't died already considering the state of her body. Even more shocking was that she hadn't died during the necessary surgery! Making sure she stayed alive through that was nightmarish. When she first passed out, presumably from pain, exhaustion, or a mix of the two, Shizune nearly had a heart attack. From then on, trying to make sure she was still alive while being treated, and doing everything she could to keep it that way...

Shizune shivered. Being a medic was so much more stressful than she'd expected as a child.

Flushing out the bacteria and neutralizing her disease was only the first step, as it turned out. Ameyuri didn't just need treatment, she needed repair. Her body was practically being dissolved from the inside. Half of the organs in her abdomen looked like they'd been torn apart and haphazardly thrown back together. It would take a lot of work yet to ensure her safety. Even with her body cleaned and the incisions closed and given basic treatment, this would take a very long time; much longer than she'd expected. More healing sessions, more medicines, observation, diagnostic checks, physical therapy...

And even with all that, it was no guarantee that she'd recover perfectly. There was almost no way she could escape this without some forms of lasting consequences. Possibly just continued bits of pain, but it was entirely realistic, if not likely, that this may permanently affect her performance as a kunoichi.

...Shizune truly didn't want to be the person to give her that bit of news.

There must be some god laughing at her, somewhere. Perhaps this was what she got for going against her sensei's decision.

With one last glance at the girl laid peacefully on a blood soaked bed, she stood with a small groan, walking towards the hotel's supply closet so she could prep the next door room for transfer. This room was no longer suitable for a patient to rest.

The rooms here were clean. Not sterile, but clean. It would need just a bit of work before she could move Ameyuri in. But, first...she had to change her clothing. There wasn't much room for care in cleanliness, and she was filthy. Sweat and blood stained her front, and red soaked deep into the outfit's hems.

Changing into clean clothing and washing the worst off of herself, Shizune began gathering the needed cleaning supplies from the storage room in the hotel's hallway, her thoughts now consumed by her teacher. That...had been the first time she'd ever blatantly disagreed with one of Lady Tsunade's decisions regarding anything other than her...bad habits. And it was to treat a missing nin. It was quite possibly the most bizarre and unlikely way for such a thing to have happened, but it wasn't like she regretted it.

...did she?

Shizune paused her preparation, her rummaging hands suddenly still, disinfectant in her grip. Until now, she'd been too busy, too distracted to truly think about the situation. First by the girl's obvious poor condition; all she could see was a dying girl begging for help, and then with the surgery itself. Now, now she was thinking.

She'd just treated a missing Kiri nin. One fabled for her brutality and the joy she took in rending apart the lives of those she fought. Who never let anyone she clashed with escape her. She'd deluded herself into thinking a promise would be all that was needed to handle this situation.

This...was bad. This was very bad. In all likelihood, Lady Tsunade had thought about that before making her decision not to treat Ameyuri personally. Shizune had been distracted, blinded by the girl's desperation and pained expressions. She'd stubbornly fooled herself into thinking that the situation wasn't complicated at all. That Ameyuri was just a sick girl in need of help, and that Tsunade wouldn't treat her because of her retirement and headstrong personality. She didn't...she-...

She was shaking.

All of a sudden that determination of hers to do the right thing, to treat someone purely because they needed it, was cracking apart. One of the top shinobi of the Bloody Mist regime was lying asleep and vulnerable on her bed, slowly recovering. Could...she actually do this? Allow this? Was this actually the right thing to do? Lady Tsunade had given her reluctant advice to properly diagnose her and fix together the right kind of medicine, but...

A hand fell with a comforting firmness on her shoulder, and she startled, turning quickly to look at who she knew had to be Lady Tsunade with wide eyes.

"Well? How'd it go?", she questioned. There was no judgement to the look her sensei was giving her. No disappointment, no unsureness, just the cool, in control look she always had when teaching.

"a-ah...It, it's been successful so far. There's a lot more needed, however."

"You're shaking."

"...I am.", she practically whispered, struggling to keep meeting Tsunade's eyes.

Her mentor's hand lifted from her shoulder, drawn in and held in front of her chest as she crossed her arms, closing her eyes and sighing.

"So you're actually putting thought into this now?"

Shizune looked towards the ground.

"...Yes, Lady Tsunade."

There wasn't anything else she could say. She wasn't thinking about the situation as a whole, and now there were repercussions for the decision she'd made. Perhaps she was thinking too much now. Too much about what could happen. She had to think instead about what to do now, while Ameyuri was still unconscious and in need of further treatment to live through this.

"And?", Tsunade's voice broke through her stupor. Her view raised to look her teacher in the eye.

"Lady Tsunade?"

"How do you feel right now?"

How did she feel? She...wasn't sure. This was new territory; a wholly unexplored area of emotion, and in a situation that was entirely unique on its own.

"I...don't know."

But that wasn't entirely true. She thought for a moment longer. Recognizing what she was truly feeling right now seemed like it would make everything worse, somehow. But...

"I think...I feel guilty."

Guilt. That was definitely it. She was remorseful. She'd repaired a killer back into working order. Whatever wrong could come of this, if anything should happen involving Ameyuri from now on, it would be her fault. And...she was stuck with that. Could she do something besides finish the healing process now? Bring herself to kill her patient? End a potential threat while it was laid out before her?

...she didn't think she could. No matter how terrible the dread was, how unsure she was about continuing to help this girl, she was stuck with it now. Was that weakness? To be so...unable, so unwilling to make that choice?

She couldn't bring herself to do anything else, so others, innocent people who had nothing to do with this, would be put in danger.

The only thing that broke her from her rumination was her teacher's soft "hmm".

"...I guess that means you'll have to take responsibility for it, doesn't it? After all, she's your patient."

Her patient. That's...that's right. She made the decision. She had to take charge of the situation it caused. She was responsible for whatever happened now, so standing around shaking like a leaf would do her no good. Suddenly, she stood a bit taller, turning back and rummaging through the supply cabinet. Her patient still needed her. That was enough to keep her moving for now.

"I need to prep the transfer room, it's-"

"Ahh. That's done.", Tsunade interrupted.

Shizune's head whipped back, looking at her teacher who was...averting her eyes, trying far too hard to appear nonchalant.

"That's...done?", she questioned.

Tsunade was straining to keep her aloofness, teeth clenching and refusing to look at Shizune.

"Yeah, it's done. Room's disinfected, get to it."

"But you said you wouldn't-"

Tsunade's eyes shot back to her, and she shouted angrily.

"Get moving!"

"R-right!", she shrieked, rushing off and away from her angered teacher.

'I can do this,' she thought, hurrying back to her patient's room. 'I'm a medic. I still have a job to do right now.'

Whatever else she was, right now Ameyuri was her patient. She could handle anything that could come of it, no matter what it might be. She learned from the best, after all.

AN: Ho ho hello there y'all, and happy holidays!

So, finally a chapter of nice calm. I kinda needed that! It's my favorite thing to write anyways, some not hugely stressful bonding. And because I'm the writer, i got to have it be with my two favorite characters! Nice.

So! Real quick, lemme say; I'm gonna be a little busy. I already put Team Leader? on pause for a bit, and with university starting back up I won't have too much time in January. So, bad news; no update in 2 weeks. Good news; updates at the end of January, and updates for everything. Hoorah! I'll let you know then if updates are going to remain bi-weekly or go to monthly while school is up.

Also, any of y'all ever played Pyre? Absolute amazing, forreal. Got it during the winter sale on steam, i think it's now myyyy third? favorite game? I've played a lotta games so third is damn good. Every game Supergiant makes is just better than the last when they're all masterpieces, don't know how they do it.

Good vibes to all of you, and happy new year from your favorite lesbian! Latuh

xxx

IronIolite - That's a good vibe to have gotten, so i'm glad it worked out ok! Having it feel like she's gonna die when the summary is "she doesn't die", that feels good to hear lmao. I'm glad you liked it :P Hope you enjoyed a chapter without endless stress. Time for Ringo to adjust. Happy holidays btw!

Burkinator - Will there be permanent damage? Ohohonnn. I'm not lettin' her off the hook just like that, evading death by a day comes with a price! She'll just have to handle it.

Side note both to your question and everyone wondering, I know it's not the official timeline, but I kinda fucked it up and already had a ton written so i just said whatever and kept going; In this fic, Ameyuri is the same age as the generation before Naruto's. That means her age will line up with Kakashi, Guy, Kurenai, Genma, etc. Gonna have an impact on some things it messes up a bit in the canon timeline, so i guess its a very very very mild au...? That's that, though. It's very much a plothole that's gonna remain a plothole forever. My b.