Kiritsugu Emiya was always prepared, he always knew everything about his target, their likes, dislikes, family members what they hold dear, and what they would rather be without. This information was used against them, to get what he needed from them and how to manipulate them in a way that benefited him.
That's why he despised not having anything on the man he had made a deal with, the agreement in question was done out of desperation seeing as how he had no other way out, he had agreed to work for the man. But when he went to find any info on who he was, nothing, no date of birth, no family not even likes or dislikes, he only got a name, Mephisto. A name commonly associated with a demon in Faust legend, and sometimes the devil himself.
This either meant the man was an arrogant haughty Magus that had given himself the name of a demon as either part of his magecraft or as a haughty title. Or he could be dealing with an actual demonic spirit, or the actual devil himself Kiritsugu didn't know. He was forced to go in blind, while this man held all the cards, and that irked him to no end.
"Dad, where are we going?" Kiritsgu was broken out of his thoughts and turned down to face Shirou, the boy he had recently saved and adopted as his son, they were both holding hands as they walked towards their destination. Kiritsgus felt a pang of guilt, here he was with another child while Illya is left in the hands of the Einzberns, no he was going to save her, he just needed to deal with Shirou and make sure he was situated, then he would go save his daughter.
"Shirou, you remember the man that you made a deal with the man in black and red." Shirou nodded he couldn't forget the man who had gotten him to Kiritsugu which led to him being saved. Seeing Shirou know who he was talking about Kiritsugu continued "Well I had made a deal with him too, and now he wants to talk with us."
Shirou nodded again, understanding the situation leaving them to continue their walk in silence, Kiritsugu pulled out a slip of paper, it had suddenly appeared in his mailbox and it merely said "let's talk" and on the back were directions. Kiritsugu looked up from the paper and stopped in front of a nice large home, it was built in a more western style, which was strange considering what part of the world they were in, and all the locals seemed to act as if the house had always been there.
Kiritsugu snorted, classic Magus trick set up a bounded field that made people think that the sudden appearance of the house wasn't strange, allowing them to hide in plain sight. But the Magus Killer reminded himself that this was most likely not a Magus or even something human.
Kiritsugu walked up to the door and lightly knocked on it, as he waited to hear someone walk over to open it, the door merely opened itself. Someone's trying to be flashy, Kiritusugu didn't bat an eye while Shirou seemed to look in wonder, as both entered the home and the door shut behind them.
The interior of the house reminded Kiritsugu of what he would see in places like London, the decor coming off as very old-school Victorian English.
As they continued walking down the hallway they heard footsteps coming from the left, they turned to see the man that had called them walking down the staircase in an inverted version of the suit they had first met him in, with the red being the base and black being the accents.
"Ah, Kitrtsugu, Shirou right on schedule" Mephisto snapped his fingers and the landscape around them changed, instead of a corridor next to a staircase they were standing in a living room, it had two extravagant looking couches facing each other, Mephisto sat on one of them with a smile.
"Come now take a seat, let's discuss the details of your employment and your abilities my little rider."
Both Kiritsugu and Shirou felt a chill run up their spine, both would come to be on edge during meetings with Mephisto, especially after learning what the man truly was.
Mephisto waved his hands and drinks appeared on the table, two glasses of water, and a carton of apple juice. Shirou and Kiritsugu stared at the drinks, Shirou began reaching for the orange juice but was stopped by Kiritsugu who was eyeing their well-dressed supposed employer with suspicion.
Mephisto caught Kiritsugus look and shook his head " My, my Kirtsugu suspicious of me still? I am merely trying to be a good host" The man reached for one of the glasses of water and took a sip, nothing happened to him proving that it was normal water, but the Magus Killer didn't budge.
Mephisto held a slight smirk "Still suspicious I see, come now if I really wanted to you dead, poisoning your drinks wouldn't be the way to go." The man took another sip from his glass "You work for me I wouldn't want you dead, come now at least let little Shirou have a drink"
Kitisug looked over to his son and saw that Shirou stopped going for the drink and kept swallowing his saliva and smacking his lips, at seeing his son was parched for a drink he relented and let Shirou grab the carton, THe boy held a small smile as he drank the carton of juice, and nothing seemed to be happening so it was normal juice.
The Magus Killer turned back to the other man who still held his smile, he then put down his glass and cross his legs and put both his hands in front of him.
"Now onto business, your job my dear Magus killer is to train this boy in everything you know, knowledge of firearms, magecraft it doesn't matter. You will teach him in everything you can and provide him advice should he need it even long after your time."
Kiritsugu expected this from their conversation that night his assistance to Shirou even after his death, but now was the big question, the Magus killer crossed his arms "Why, what's your supposed end goal for recruiting us, and what so important that I need to teach Shirou everything I know"
The man's red eyes seemed to sparkle at Kiritsugus question "Why my dear Magus Killer you should already know, the same event that led to your employment"
Kirirsuugs eyes widened at the answer and stood up from his seat glaring at the other man" No, it's not meant to happen for another 60 years! What are you on about it can't happen this early, there's not enough magical energy!"
The man seemed to be amused at Kiritsugus outburst he kept his smile as he answered the Magus Killer "Tell me Kiritsugu, did you make a wish, no need to answer I know you didn't, now answer me this" The well-dressed man simply grabbed his glass and took a small sip, it had changed from water into a nice red wine, "where do you think that built up magical energy went?"
The Magus killer sat back down taking in the answer that he was given, the Grail's magical energy hadn't been expended, letting it be recycled for what he could assume be another grail war, earlier than what he would expect.
Mephisto merely sipped again from his wine glass before continuing "Why you have now reached the conclusion, due to your actions the 5th grail war will be taking place early." The man lazily raised his other hand and pointed at Shirou " And your son will most definitely be a contender, I am merely making sure senseless destruction doesn't take place we don't want a tragedy worse than what happened last time to occur, you, me, and your son will all be heroes, isn't that great Kiritsugu?"
At the mention of being a hero The Magus Killer glared at the man, Mephisto wasn't phased by this at all just growing more and more amused " Now, now no need to get hostile, jeez even after I admit to helping you, you still don't like me"
The man put down his drink and turned to Shirou who had stopped drinking his now empty apple juice carton " Now onto you my little rider, you have a job to do also" The boy faced the man a bit confused about what he could do to help him, but this man had helped saved both him and his father so he would try his best.
"Now, all you have to do is listen to your father, and grow strong in preparation for the war, your father will explain what that is in more detail." The man then put his hand against his chin pretending to think before continuing "After that, I give you other jobs from time to time, dealing with bad guys like a hero, just like your dad."
Out of the corner of his eye, Mephisto could see Kirtsugus's glare harden and intensify at the mention of being a hero like him, but the man didn't care he merely gave the boy encouragement, that's all. Now to check something, the man reached over the table and ruffled Shirou's hair while to the boy it was seen as something affection. Mephisto was merely checking the effect that having both a spirit of vengeance and the sheath of the fairies would do to a boy whose soul was essentially a blank slate.
What he saw was interesting, the boy and the spirit were tied closer than most riders he had seen like a flame that consumed everything in its path, where the boy and spirit ended was becoming blurry, but something was stopping its expansion or at the very least slowing it down.
Avalon prevented the spirit born of the pit from continuing its spread leaving the boy more human, if he had to describe it, it was like two nations trying to get as much land as possible but only being able to stop the other from claiming more. Mephisto theorized should the sheath be removed, the spirit would have free reign over the boy's soul.
Lancer wasn't having a good night, he lost his original master and was now forced to work under a messed-up priest, then, the said priest sent him out to scout out the competition but refused to let him use his full power. Then he encountered a brat and his girl out on their way back from school.
Then after they saw him he tried to kill them only for the brat to be able to put up a fight, against him, a servant! At first, he was excited, maybe this era actually had warriors that could at least entertain him. But then the kid started spewing out flaming chains and fire, but this fire wasn't ordinary it left marks and burned into him even with his magic resistance.
But it didn't matter too much, he was winning and decided to give the kid a bit of respect, he was probably fighting the closest person to a hero in this modern age, he had used his Noble Phantasm, the spear that pieces with death Gae Bolg. He felt the kid struggle a bit, he really was a fighter, but he went limp after a while, Lancer was sure he was dead.
"Hound of Culain, your spear reeks of blood and death, your very essence tainted by the souls of those who have meant their end upon your lance. You have been judged and your sins have sealed your fate, prepare to face PENANCE!"
Then how the hell did he rip out the spear, still standing, covered in those weird flames, and know his name! Damn maybe the kid was a servant all along, and the girl was his master, no she didn't seem to know anything. But what if it was an act, get the both of them alone while she could assist him from afar, damn it all if the brat is a servant, which he was sure he wasn't, what class was he?
'This is all that damn priest and golden bastards fault' Just as the Lancer-class servant cursed at his supposed allies, the brat rushed towards him, flaming chains trailing behind him.
The servant instinctually went into a ready stance but saw the spear that denotes his class wasn't in his hands. He looked up and saw it was behind the boy, tossed aside when he ripped it out of his chest.
As Lancer was about to begin a beeline for his weapon, flaming chains wrapped around his right leg and he was forcefully tugged towards his flaming opponent. Shirou pulled his fist back as the servant closer, the spirit giving him info on his opponent, he was the Celtic Hero Cu Chulainn. He was known throughout his legend for his battles which usually ended in bloodshed.
He even got info on how he died, a final stand, in which the enemy was afraid to even attack his corpse, but that didn't matter to the spirit, all it wanted was for Shirou to punish the man before him. The hero's spear had not only pierced the flesh of those in battle but all this who didn't deserve it, an example being his own son.
The boy had died by his father's hand and his blood coated the man's hands, and many others as well, especially whenever the hero when into his ríastrad, Shirou couldn't deny the man's actions as a hero but his sins were still numerous.
Shirou buried his fist into the hero's gut, hellfire spewed from it as he drove the hero to the ground, and while he was on the ground Shirou opened his mouth and his face mask opened in response.
The rider took a deep breath and breathed a wave of hellfire upon the child of light swallowing his entire body. Shirou knew from what Kiritsugu told him Lancers are denoted with magic resistance like the Saber, Archer, and Rider classes. Meaning, that most conventional magecraft wouldn't even affect them if it was either not strong enough or their resistance was too high.
But this fight shows that his hellfire is getting to Lancer, this means either Cu Chulainn didn't have high magic resistance or his hellfire seemed to bypass it he would have to try it on other servants if he ever got the chance.
As Shirou was thinking about the effects of his flames on servants he was kicked in the jaw, snapping it shut and stopping the flames from spewing out. Then he was kicked away, sending him tumbling to the ground.
The young rider looked up and saw that Lancer was standing, holding visible burn marks across his body they were light, but still there, showing the fire had been damaging him, even a small part of his ponytail had caught aflame.
Lancer though still held his cocky smirk "Nice kid, you seem to be able to actually put up a fight, I underestimate you" Lancer cracked his neck and began to roll his shoulders, his grin getting wider " You aren't human are you, you're a servant too ain't ya I knew I felt something weird about you when I laid my eyes on ya."
Shirou narrowed his eyes at the servant, e though he was a servant like him I mean Shirou couldn't blame him. According to Mephisto his circumstances of becoming a rider, left Shirou a bit different from the others leaving him and the spirit to be tied together more closely than normal.
"Sorry Lancer but I'm human one hundred percent human even if I'm a little different" Shirou then bolted at the child of light sending out a hellfire chain to wrap around him again, but Lancer was prepared for this.
He dodged the chain and grabbed it, the flames burning him but he paid them no mind. He then pulled the chain surprising Shirou, the servant then pulled his fist back and attempted to return Shirou for the punch to the stomach form before.
But the young rider saw this and caught the punch but this left him open to a headbutt from Lancer, the blow rattling his skull and leaving him stunned Lancer then pulled back his head and headbutted Shirou once more leaving the boy more disoriented. Lancer then threw him away like a ragdoll and ran over to his spear retrieving it, thinking about how Shishou would think of him being disarmed so easily like that.
He was broken out of his thoughts by the sound of the kid standing back up, damn he was tough, normal human his ass, but he wouldn't have it any other way it would be boring if he went down easily. Shirou looked up and saw Lancer had regained his weapon and his savage grin had grown wider.
The servant rushed at Shriou but he was calm, the chains weren't working, he needed something with a bit more oomph, but all his weapons were still at home.
'It's time to try "that"." Shitou stelled himself as Lancer got closer Shirou pulled his hand back, he felt both his od and hellfire listen to his command, and began forming something in his palm, he began visualizing the weapon he would call on.
Lancer got closer weapon ready, but that didn't matter to Shirou, his focus was on something to end this or at least shock Lancer into stopping his charge.
"Trace on"
Shirou wrapped his palms around his newly formed weapon and opened his eyes Lancer was at least 8 feet away from him definitely in range. Shirou raised his weapon and pulled the trigger, blasting the servant with hellfire-infused buckshot.
"Agh!"
There Shirou was, holding a sawed-off double-barrel shotgun, but it seemed to look more demonic with the flames that seemed to spew out of it and the skull adorned it.
From what Shirou could hear from Lancer's surprised and pained cry it at least did some form of damage. Shirou then shot out his chain wrapping it around the Servant's neck and forcing him to the ground, Shirou walked over and grabbed Lancer's head, his face had more burn marks from the shotgun.
Just as the servant was about to break out of his hold, he forced him to look into his eyes
"NOW HOUND OF CULAIN, FACE PENANCE!"
Then the hero began screaming but not a scream of terror one of agony, to him he felt as if he was being burnt cut, stabbed thousands of times over. This was the penance stare, a power that Shirou seldom used due to feeling as if it was too far on most people, but he wouldn't be able to beat Lancer through conventional means so, forcing him to feel the pain he had inflicted against his enemies was the next best bet.
After holding the servant for a whole minute he pulled back, the servant eld no visible marks cause the attack was one on his very soul, but he was still conscience a step up from most people on the other end of his gaze.
Most just scream and pass out, but he was still awake breathing heavily and most likely in massive amounts of pain but awake.
The man then let out a small cough "Damn kid, that was nasty." he let out another cough "Whatever you did there that stung"
Lancer could feel his body ache, whatever that kid did target his spiritual core, ignoring all his magic resistance. If he got hit by that again he might be put out of commission, the servant then caught something out of the corner of his eye, it was a man in red with a girl standing next to him. Most likely a servant master pair, wait wasn't that the direction that girl of his ran well might as well warn the kid.
"Oi brat, I would love to keep on fighting but what about that girl of yours you think she made it back safe" Cu didn't really care about the girl, but he might as well remind the brat what led him to fight a heroic spirit in the first place. This seemed to get to the kid breaking him out of his focus on fighting him, the servant used this opening to slice odd the chain wrapped around his neck and kick the kid away.
Besides, he was merely here to scout not pick fights, might as well go back to the priest. "Well kid it's been fun, do me a solid don't die before we can get another fight in" Lancer's grin grew savage and spread from ear to ear "and next time I won't be holding back"
The servant then disappeared from view leaving Shirou standing alone, the boy seeing no more threats reigned in the spirit of vengeance returning to normal.
As much as he hates to admit Lancer was right, he spent too long fighting him, leaving Ayako on her own with probably more servants running around, he needed to get to her.
As Shirou turned in the direction of his home he saw two people standing from afar, it was a man in red and Tohsaka. He tensed up, looks like she was master too and that was her servant but who was—
"Agh!" Shirou then clutched his head as the tried to get a better look t the man before him, the spirit was screaming out bloody murder at the man before him.
The blood, the death, the screams they were too much, too much to count, too much to comprehend. What sort of hero did Tohsaka summon to have such a body count, for his very existence to call for his death at glance. He needed to get out of here if he stayed any longer he couldn't stop himself from attacking him.
'Just need to get to Ayako, just need to make sure she's fine.'
Shirou ran to his home and didn't turn back.
"Archer, what the hell was that." the girl Rin Tohsaka asked her red-clad servant after both had witnessed Shirou Emiya put a fight against a servant, and not like a struggle while he probably distracted him. But an honest to god fight, knocking around the other and wounding the other, well Lancer left with burns while Shirou left mostly unscathed.
"In all honesty master, I have no idea, you know him better than me" the servant tried to make a joke but that didn't do anything to calm the girl down instead it seemed to irritate her
"Well I didn't know Emiya was a Magus let alone be able to do this" the girl yelled at her servant "He even knew who he was, he found out his true name just like that"
The girl bit her nail if he gets involved in the war he could be a major problem, especially if he chooses to form an alliance with someone else the ability to know a servant's identity with a glance and not have a servant of their own to denounce who it was and the strength to easily defend himself from a servant attack, hell he even dusted off a noble phantasm an attack that was a culmination of a servants legend, to the heart and kept fight.
he would be a major problem on his own, but if he allied with any of the other masters they might end up sweeping the whole war by themselves. Then a light bulb when off in the girl's head, if she could ally first she could get close to him and learn his abilities and how to deal with him, and with the two of them, they could easily go through this war.
"Archer we're going to Emiya's home, let's go" the proud girl began her walk in the direction of the boy's house not knowing the internal turmoil going on in her servant's mind.
'What was that, it wasn't normal, whatever he did wasn't normal Shirou Emiya shouldn't be able to do anything like this, so how did he do it' Archer knew something was off about the boy, the way he caused Lancer to scream in terror wasn't normal.
The way he fought wasn't normal, the flames, the chains, the head alit in flames wasn't something Shirou Emiya should be able to do, and the way he looked at them, he only glanced at the both of them.
But the moment he laid eyes on him he saw something, something that caused him pain, was it his identity was the fact of knowing who Archer was, causing him pain? He would get to the bottom of this, and after that see if he needed to get rid of the stain of the world known as Shirou Emiya.
Shirou reached his home, and to his relief Ayako was fine he had found her in his living room with her archery things from school apparently suiting up to go help him. She was a bit scared and nervous but she was alive, in fact, the moment she saw him walk into the house, she hugged him tight saying how happy she was that he was alright. But after that came the part that Shirou dreaded, the explanation of what was going on, she had begun bombarding him with questions.
"Who was that man Shirou?!"
"How could you make those chains and fire!?"
"Why did he want to kill us!?"
Shirou wanted to answer these questions but he was too busy having a conversation with Kiritsugu about what he should do, and if he should tell her or not.
'Dad, do you have any idea on what I should do?" Shirou could feel his father take a thinking pose in his mind.
"Well the course of action I would take in this situation is to kill her." Shirou stiffened at his father's response, and while it was technically a quick course of action to get her to be quiet and not say anything he could bring himself to do it to her.
"Shirou she's a civilian." His father emphasized "Telling her anything about the moonlit world could change her entire worldview, what are you going to do if she starts blabbing about it, seeing as you don't want to kill her."
Shirou thought about it and he hated to admit it, if she did start talking about it he would have to put her down, or someone else would be sent to, Wait, he didn't have to tell her everything just tell her small bits just on the war and mages that's it. Nothing more, nothing less, that would satisfy her curiosity, right?
Shirou felt his father go silent before letting out a sight "Just don't come to regret this Shirou"
'I won't dad'
Shirou then put his hands on Ayakos shoulders calming the girl down.
"I'll tell you what I know"
With that he explained the grail war and how servants were basically dead heroes that mages summon to fight all for a wish, Shirou also included how most mages aren't how they seem and are most likely cruel in their endeavors. He also told her that he would be participating to stop someone from using the wish for evil. And like Shirou thought she was satisfied with the answer what he didn't expect was what she would say next.
"I'm helping you" Shirou stared at the girl before him who now wore a cheery smile on her face, did he hear that, god he did.
"Ayako, you can't I don't want you to get hurt, you can't be involved in this" he tried to reason with the girl but he knew she was stubborn especially when she put her mind to something.
The girl shook her head "And who's going to look out for you Emiya-kun, from what you told me all other mages are monsters in disguise, you can't trust them" the girl then pull Shirou closer to her, her eyes showing how scared she was, scared for him "Please, let me do something anything, I couldn't think of leaving you all alone with people like that, I had half a mind to stroll back there and soot the blue bastard who was hurting you"
The girl pulled Shirou into a hug "So please let me help" Shirou knew that he shouldn't, that he should push her away and tell her to stay out of the war and away from him, but he knew that would break her heart, and he couldn't do that to her.
"F-Fine, but at the first sign of danger or if a servant shows up you run and don't look back got it?" The girl looked at him and nodded, before pulling away from him with a satisfied smug look on her face.
"Don't worry Emyia-kun your senpai will look out for you"
Shirou shook his head she's back to her normal chipper self, that was good. Shirou then left Ayako in the guest room telling her t was too dangerous to go out at this time. they didn't know who could be lurking about, and after saying goodnight to the girl Kiritsugu chimed in again.
"Shirou, in the shed, there's a summoning circle there, I would suggest using it now."
Shirou nodded the sooner he got a servant the faster he could end the war, stop someone from making a wish on that tainted grail and stop Ayakos involvement in this. Shirou exited the house and entered the shed, inside was an assortment of gun parts and failed projections and his motorcycle sat parked near the back, the shed also served as his own personal workshop and garage, but he wasn't here for that.
"Move the boxes in the back"
Shirou followed the instructions and moved the boxes and beneath them there it was, the summoning circle, Shirou breathed in and out this was it. Normally he would have used Aalon as a catalyst to guarantee the king of knights but according to Mephisto, he should remove it not unless he wanted the spirit to hold more of his soul.
Shirou held out his hand and started the chant
"Heed my words, my will creates your body, and your sword creates my destiny"
The circle then began to glow, good he wasn't late and could still summon a servant, now to continue
"If you heed the grails call and obey my will and reason, answer my summoning"
"I hereby swear I shall be all the good in the, and I shall defeat all evil in the word"
"Come forth from the circle of binding guardian of scales!"
As Shirou finished the final line, the summoning began to finalize the grail reaching out towards the sheath of the faeries, to Avlon to use as a catalyst, but the spirit of vengeance saw this. It saw that its rival the one who had prevented it from further spreading out across the boy's soul was being used as a catalyst.
Its wielder was most likely going to be summoned, no, no, it would not let this stand it refused to let it have what it wanted! And so it burned shining brighter than Avalon intercepting the call and preventing the summoning of the king of knights to this grail war. No someone else would answer the call, someone that was used to a world of fire and rubble, it would let a demon king answer the call.
Shirou opened his eyes and in front of him stood a woman she wore black pants and boots, she had a flowing red skirt, and attached to her hip was a large katana, going further up, he saw that her hands had black fingerless gloves and red wrappings ending a little below her elbow. She wore a black sleeved bodysuit with a golden sun on her chest.
Her hair was in a wild large ponytail with tips of it being red, and atop her head was a hat with a large golden sun ornament. Her eyes were a piercing red and when she laid her eyes on Shirou she let out a big toothy grin.
"Servant Saber, you must be my master huh?" her tone was cheerful and boisterous, something about her made Shirou smile.
He nodded "Yeah Saber I am your master, now lets win a war"
Sakura knew she was a dirty girl, she was tainted, and filthy she knew she was going to be alone her whole life, especially after her Nii-san started hating her. But that changed when she meant her senpai, he was kind and cared for her, he let her come to her home and stay there sometimes.
He cooked for her told her it would be alright, help her whenever he could, even going out of the wary to make sure she was fine, everything was great everything was perfect. Then it all stopped, senpai started avoiding her, at first it was small things, looking away from her, scooting away from her, then it started to get worse. He started leaving the room whenever she entered, he looked around to make sure she wasn't there.
At first, she thought, maybe it was to surprise her for something senpai maybe was planning something and he didn't want her to know about it, senpai would never avoid her right? Then it became apparent to the girl, that maybe senpai knew she was dirty, maybe he found out how broken she was. No, she told herself, he can't know, but she didn't believe herself, so she decided to test him.
She came to his home unannounced then senpai answered the door, she saw it this time more clearly he flinched at the sight of her, and in those eyes those beautiful pools of gold, she saw a slight tinge of fear. That confirmed it for her senpai knew he knew she was dirty, then he left the archery club furthering himself from her. Mitsuzuri-san must have noticed her turmoil and she went to go find out why senpai left, and if it was because of her. Sakura didn't hear from the girl
for a day but she saw her drag around senpai throughout the day to the mall to the arcade, then the girl gave her the answer she was searching for. Senpai had apparently gotten too good at archery and quit. But she knew senpai was lying, he was lying to spare her feelings, letting her know he was the same kind and sweet senpai.
But she noticed something Mitsuzuri-san had been going out with senpai a lot, they went out almost every day, going out to have fun and have food, apparently the girl now even went to senpais house to eat. Sakura then started to hate Mitsuzuri-san, she stole senpai from her, she stole him, he was hers, hers!
You expected this to be an Ayako fic nope its a Nobu fic muhahahha ok no more jokes. Now now I know I know, no Baeber do I regret it nope, now im guessing you guys know who this and im in the middle of making a Nobu Saber sheet, and to why Cu didn't get wrecked, Avalon holds back the spirit good, really good. Have any questions then ask Azure out.