Took a little longer than expected.
Had to fix a few things and time was limited.
Also took a day to play Palworld and well... I may be addicted.
From the Shadows gonna be a four-part installment instead of a three parter as originally planned.
So let us get to it, shall we?
Friends listen closely, I won't say this twice
(-)
Hope's running out and we haven't much time
Please understand that the life we once planned out is over
(Over)
(-)
Now is the time you must fight for your lives
The battle is on, you're already in sight
(-)
Don't turn back now, there's nowhere to hide
Nowhere to build a new world
(-)
Nowhere to start anew
Here, now, is all that we've got
(-)
Ready or not there's a war to be fought
Only one way through
(-)
This time
The ways of the past we'll get over
We'll climb
Enlightened, a new state of mind
And now
I'll stand with you shoulder to shoulder
The sun was setting. It was getting too late… Where was she?
Weiss fidgetted, her gaze swiveling to every nook and cranny, every shadow of the nearby streets. Into every alley. Stopping people occasionally to ask if they had seen her…
No one had…
This was beyond worrying… Weiss cringed and shrunk her head into her shoulders, worry vividly expressed on her flushed face. Had she already left the Kingdom? If she did…
Her eyes flickered sullenly before she scrunched her face and scowled. Making us track her done… So going to tell her off! …after… Don't want to run off again…
"Think maybe we should search around the sea docks and the airport?" Weiss frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. "I don't want to assume anything… But perhaps she left already… If anyone there saw her…"
"The air-what now?" Naruto squinted and scowled before furrowing her brow in concentration. "Wait… Is that like a port for all the flying crafts?"
"What?!" Weiss stumbled back, clutching her chest, her eyes flickering widely at Naruto before glowering. "How do you not know what an airport is or… Yes! It's where airships land, you ignorant buffon! How are you so technologically illiterate!"
"Mah, calm down, would ya?" Naruto passively held his hands up as Weiss snapped at him. "I don't know many things. I'm not from around here, ya know? All this stuff is new to me."
"How can any of this be new? Airships have existed for several decades! They are hardly a new technology!" Weiss wailed, causing Naruto to flinch and his ears to lay flat on his head.
Her voice was extraordinarily shrill…
"You make no sense!" Weiss spat in frustration, palming her face, and stomped past Naruto, who chuckled lightly and followed, keeping eyes and senses peeled for Blake. "You are so frustrating! How are you a teacher?! You are the most sheltered bumpkin I've ever heard about… You don't know anything besides combat…"
"Like I said, not from here! Everything I'm learning about all this new stuff in this world…" Naruto chirped before two icy blue eyes swiveled and stopped him dead in his tracks.
"In this world?" Weiss' eyes shimmered before horror was etched across her face. "No, no, no… That's not possible… There's no such thing…"
"Not possible that I'm from another world? Yep! I certainly am! From a much different world than this one! For less tech, that's for sure!" Naruto sheepishly grinned while shuffling his hair and ears.
Weiss went rigid. Her eyes flickered while her mouth was agape, jaw hanging limply. A cold shiver traveled down her spine. He admitted to being… He was… She stereotyped an alien!
All because she thought he was a Faunus?!
Naruto grimaced, watching Weiss tense before her muscles went limp. He caught her just before she collapsed on the cold cement. "Gah! Gotta stop breaking people!"
Naruto squinted as a familiar ringing sound echoed. Checking his scroll, he frowned. Wasn't his…
He groaned, glancing down at Weiss' belt and hearing the echoing coming from her pouch. "Great, you're out and can't answer. …Gonna just take this…"
"Weiss, trouble! Bring sensei! Hurry! We found Blake, but… I don't know what to do! Everything is on fire!" Naruto fumbled the scroll in his hand after invading her pouch and taking the scroll out, Ruby's shrill and stricken voice catching him off guard.
"Ruby, what's wrong?" Naruto contained the growl building upon hearing the panic in her voice. "Where are you? I can be there shortly!"
"Naruto? …Warehouses! By the docks! Hurry!" Ruby's anxious voice escalated over the scroll. "Yang is injured! I don't know what to do… Blake… Blake's trapped in an exploding warehouse! And Yang… She…"
"He cut off her arm! I don't know what to do!"
"Don't you dare call me that!" Blake snarled, eyes flickering as she dreadfully gazed upon the one person she never wanted to see again. "I was never… We were never together."
Adam Taurus.
"How quickly you try to erase your past," Adam whispered, gazing directly into Blake's golden hues, the faintest smirk gracing his features. "Trying to write a new story for yourself, my love? One where you are the heroine of the story?"
"Please don't agitate the person holding a sword to my throat, if you don't mind!" Roman grimaced, feeling the blade tighten against his throat and dig ever so slightly further in from his words.
He was grateful to have awakened Aura, but it didn't do much for him in this situation! She had more than enough strength to break through it in this current position!
"That would be amusing." A smirk stretched across Adam's face before scoffing. "If she had the gall to do it, she wouldn't have left. You are as safe as could be. She's always been too soft… Thinks she's a heroine trying to do the right thing."
"Not really feeling safe…" Roman squinted before scowling, feeling the grip somehow tighten further, and could feel the rumbling from her chest in his own.
A sensation he despised!
"Don't forget, you are just like me…" Roman spat, glaring at the bull Faunus. "We both kneel to her whims…"
"You needn't remind me." A growl escaped Adam's lip as he leered at Roman nastily.
"What does that mean?" Blake hissed through her teeth, staring down Adam venomously. "What exactly is this? I may disagree with your methods… But I know you. You would never work with a human…"
"Times have changed, unfortunately." Adam slid his hands into his pockets nonchalantly, his tone bitter and the anger visibly expressed on his face. "She arrived shortly after you left. I had no choice but to listen and help these humans. You don't refuse someone who has the power to change the world."
Blake's eyes flickered, and her shoulders tensed. Someone who… Had the power to change the world?
Came and forced Adam and his faction of the White Fang to work under her?
"And exactly what is her goal?" Blake anxiously demanded, her eyes scanning the room as she slowly dragged Roman back. "Why would she force our group to bend to her demands? This crook here? What is she after?"
"I take offense to that. I am not just a crook. I am the best damn crook there is." Roman squinted back at Blake, who scowled, tightening her grip around his arm.
There… A nearby window… If she could get closer, she could escape this situation…
"Looking for an exit?" Adam frowned, carefully observing Blake's actions, causing her to freeze. "Stalling for time to run away yet again? Tsk, tsk. Do you think I'm going to allow you to escape? You are coming back with me."
"But I'll humor you." Adam gleamed, his lone eye flickering with amusement. "Chaos."
Her body went rigid. Her ears straightened. Eyes opened wide.
And in that moment, Roman took advantage, flicking his cane down and pulling the trigger.
A flare exploded directly behind Blake, sending her and Roman skidding forward from the shockwave. She couldn't hold her grasp of him or Gambol Shroud as she bounced hard into the cement before finally coming to a stop.
Her Aura flickered, and she winced. She felt that through it… But it held…
Echoing footsteps approached her. She growled, her eyes darting around as she slowly pushed herself up. She needed Shroud… If this turned into an altercation, she couldn't leave without it…
"Looking for this?" His voice resonated, and her head snapped up, seeing her blade being pointed directly at her.
Adam holding it directly toward her, pressing it against her vulnerable flesh.
Her eyes shimmered, dilating as she looked into his remorseless gaze. "The game is up, my love… Tie her up. She's coming back home with us."
Blake snarled, leering at him as dozens of steps rumbled around them. Several pairs of rough hands forced her down and snapped her arms behind her back, for she refused to yield.
Even as they restrained her body, she would not give in. Nor when they lifted her.
She leered toward Adam, showing him her despise for him.
She would not go quietly… Bend her knee to his radical goals anymore.
She refused to make the same mistake twice.
"I am sensing her Aura through that warehouse!"
"Finally!" Yang exhaled upon Penny's statement, glancing at the massive warehouse before scowling. "Gonna convince her not to run on us this time… Make her talk it out with Weiss even if I have to tie them up!"
"Please don't!" Ruby chastised. "Last thing we need is to give her more reason not to return! …They should talk, but we can't force them! It needs to come naturally… And they both need to be willing to listen."
Yang grumbled, squinting at her sister. However, didn't respond as they stopped in front of the warehouses. She turned her gaze to it, placing her hand on her hip and huffing. "Alright, let's just find the entrance to this place…"
"There are a lot of different Aura signatures inside." Penny tilted her head awkwardly. "This place shouldn't be active. …The SDC bought out the company to which this warehouse belongs. My records indicate it was shut down…"
Squinting at her odd language, Yang frowned. "Wait, so there shouldn't be people here. It's trespassing…"
"I have a bad feeling about this," Ruby muttered, observing the building more carefully. "Think we should sneak in and observe the situation? I don't want to think it… But if Blake was once a member… After that fight…"
"Have faith in her, Rubes!" Yang scowled and vehemently shook her head before wincing, noting her family's history with Beacon.
Uncle Qrow and her mom didn't exactly join Beacon for a good cause when they originally came to the academy. Or at least that was what her Uncle told her…
So it wasn't beyond expectation that she came for something more nefarious… But then why tell them in the first place if that was the place? Could it be she was…
"Yeah, let's use one of the windows and sneak in up top." Yang glowered as a thought came to mind. "I'm worried about her… Think you can open one quietly?"
If she came here to clear her name…
"Leave it to me!" Ruby chirped and burst forward with rose petals surrounding her, flickering quickly to a window with her Semblance.
Clutching to the side of the building, she clicked and pulled the window open slightly. "Got it! Let's hop in! I see a lot of people!"
"You see Blake anywhere?" Yang leapt up to where her sister was and grabbed the window ledge. "Those guys are from the White Fang! Shit, did Blake really…"
"There she is." Penny popped up between the sisters, surprising them, scanning the insides of the warehouse before pointing gently inside. "She's with a small group over there… Oh my. Is she tied up?"
"What?!" Yang kept her roar to a dull whisper, her eyes flickering toward where Penny pointed out.
Her eyes flickered and heated to a crimson. She snarled and gnashed her teeth. Her vision tunneled.
Yang could hear Ruby and Penny speaking, but their words were lost on her. Her focus was intently upon them…
Dragging an unwilling Blake with them, following a young man with red hair.
So she was right… She was out looking to clear herself from her old actions… To prove to Weiss she had changed. And she was caught for her troubles! Dammit!
And who was this red-haired bully leading her and those men? He seemed different from the others… He was wearing something other than what appeared to be the standard uniform…
A higher rank individual within the White Fang? …Oh, she would show him not to mess with her friends!
"That's not good," Ruby swore under her breath and cringed. "There's a lot of people in here, so we can't just bust in and come to her aid. Too much of a chance to cause a scene and draw us all into it. We need to come up with a plan…"
"Perhaps a distraction?" Penny suggested, her eyes shimmering in excitement. "One of us can draw their attention while the others sneak around and rescue her? I run through these drills all the time with Ciel and the rest of my team!"
"Team?" Ruby paused, her brow furrowing. "Wait, are you here for… Yeah, that's a good idea! …Either Yang or I tend to be bait when we run through stealth drills with Professor Greene… Yang's bad at sneaking and is already ranked in the top five in singles combat. I'm fast enough to avoid almost everything… Yang!"
"Let go of her!" Yang burst through the window opening, her Aura burning brilliantly as she launched across the warehouse, cocking her fist back as she dove directly into the group holding Blake captive.
All she needed was one strike, and she could free…
"What?" Her voice quivered as her Aura-driven punch met with a red chokutō sword, casually parrying and redirecting her strike to the side.
Flipping with the momentum, Yang narrowed her eyes as she turned and scowled. With a few more quick jabs, her eyes narrowed as he deflected each while stepping back, taking the full force of her strikes into the blade, followed by the burst rounds exploding on impact.
It helped juice her Semblance further, for Yang couldn't avoid such close-range explosions of her combustion rounds. It was a way to increase her Burns output even if she wasn't struck…
Yet it didn't break? She had snapped blades before after a few rounds, increasing her strength. His didn't?
Yang halted her attack, leaping back into a crouch. Scrutinizing what just occurred. This wasn't right…
"A new friend of yours?" Adam callously responded, a faint smirk spreading.
Blake went rigid, her eyes trailing to Yang. Yang had managed to follow her all the way here? No… This was the last thing she wanted to happen! Adam could… Would…
"Get out of here now!" Blake screamed, her body tense as she struggled against her bindings and captors.
"So you do know her?" His smirk blossomed, and his lone eye gleamed with amusement, stepping between Blake and Yang before a few rose petals danced around him. "How interesting… What in the… You idiots! Look out!"
A boom of roses separated Blake from the White Fang operatives holding her captive. A petite figure formed and, with a simple slice of her scythe, cut free Blake's bindings. "Here to save the… Woah!"
In a split second, Ruby could barely use the handle of her scythe to intercept a blurring red blade. Yet even with the deflection, she stumbled back and regained her foot. Surprise was etched on her face. There was a lot of force behind that slash! And it was so fast!
"No, you don't…" Adam sliced through Shadows next to him before spitting, Gambol Shroud taken off his belt. "Got past me without being nicked? You seem a little faster with Shadow than before. Interesting, that school seems to be teaching you well."
"You knew I was there?!" Blake hissed, landing in a wide crouch a few feet away from a heavy container, her eyes glinting widely.
"How could I not, my love?" Adam chuckled, focusing his intent entirely on Blake. "You haven't changed anything about yourself since you left me until you came before me today. You made it very easy to be tracked."
"Yo, you're stalking her, creep?!" Yang snapped, her Aura visibly emanating around her, flickering like the flames of rage burning within.
"Yang, keep calm and stay back!" Blake ordered, praying Yang would listen to her. "We're still at a disadvantage! We need to take the first opportunity to escape!"
Gnashing her teeth and squinting toward Blake, Yang scowled. "He just said he knows where you stay? He admits he's been following you and just attempted to kidnap you! Nah, I'm bringing this scum in!"
"Yang, please listen to Blake!" Ruby pleaded, her eyes scanning around before focusing on her sister. "We freed Blake! Let's get out of here as soon as Pen…"
"Don't think I'll let you run from me again." Adam lifted his scabbard with his free hand, transforming it into a short-barreled rifle, his aim pointing toward Blake. "You will come back with me."
The shot echoed through the room. Even as Blake dispersed in Shadows, horror filled her.
He wasn't aiming for her!
The round fired penetrated the container behind Blake, and a powerful eruption rocked the room. Flames ruptured and filled the warehouse. Dozens of White Fang operatives quickly jumped to their feet, barking orders to put out the fire.
Yang withstood the shockwave, watching Blake tumble, caught in the shockwave and unable to avoid it and drop to the floor. Her blood boiled, ignoring that Ruby flickered toward Blake.
No… This guy thought he owned Blake! She wasn't gonna let this stand!
With an unhinged scream, she launched forward, the ground cracking beneath her feet. Her right fist pumped back, her left held forward, prepared to deflect a counter with Ember Celica.
"You are so dead!" Yang's roar echoed while Adam simply sheathed his sword, patiently waiting.
Almost concentrating… Why was everything red…
A flicker of red blurred through her vision faster than she could react. Her Aura crackled and shattered…
Her eyes flickered lilac as the burning Aura dimmed. All Yang knew was… It passed through her elbow.
An excruciating pain followed as she fell to the ground, her right arm plopping bloodily before her.
Yang's hollow scream filled the warehouse, her left hand clutching the stump she once called her arm. Crimson elixir oozed and pooled onto the floor.
Her eyes shimmered, watering. Her arm spasmed, and her body twitched. The raw agony was beyond anything she ever experienced.
"This can't be happening… This can't be happening!" Yang hyperventilated, wide-eyed, as heavy footsteps approached.
Her eyes drifted above to see the man that severed her arm standing above her.
Sword held menacingly…
"You should have never involved yourself with her. Now, time to pay that price…"
"Yang!"
Adam grunted, his mask slipping from his face. His Aura shimmered around his being. A tremendous pain filled his gut.
A black sword embedded deep within it.
He was shoved back with a furious elbow, gasping as the blade pulled from his stomach while he stumbled back.
"Getting you out of here!" Blake hissed, sliding her hand around Yang's waist, her golden gaze staring into her friend's bloodshot lilac eyes before grimacing. "I'm so sorry… Just stay awake, okay?"
"Yang…" Ruby muttered in horror as she flickered beside, helping assist her sister onto her feet with Blake's help.
Then her eyes shifted. She tried to release her sister and move in time…
But Blake moved first… Yang was shoved toward her and into her grasp.
As a red blade penetrated Blake's sternum.
"That wasn't meant for you," Adam growled, staring directly into Blake's eyes as she clutched his wrist with her right. "But I'd say it's fair after you put your blade through me…
"Ruby, get Yang out of this building now!" Blake hissed, drawing Adam close to her with a snarl, causing him to resist, recognizing the action. "I'll be right behind…"
"Blake… I…" Ruby stuttered before her eyes flickered to Blake's other hand.
Terror gripped her heart. Was she about to…
"Blake, no!"
"Don't worry." A satisfied smile thinly graced her features while staring Adam in the eyes. "Just fixing a mistake I made long ago."
Adam's eyes snapped downwards, attempting to break her tight grasp. His lone eye glimmered with fear. "You're insane!"
And the firebomb in her left ruptured as Ruby screamed once more, forcing her to flicker away with Yang in a storm of roses.
Yang absently reached toward the fire explosion that engulfed her friend.
Tears marred her expression as Ruby carried her from the warehouse.
Flames surrounded her.
Tingled and scorched her flesh as her Aura shattered.
…But alas, it was over…
He couldn't survive that…
She clutched her chest as a raw, agonizing shiver tremored through her at the thought. She never wanted to… But the moment she saw him go after Yang, it became clear.
It was the only way to stop him. He was willing to kill those innocent people when she left him… He was willing to do it now…
He would continue to be willing to kill those necessary to accomplish his goals.
Blake scoffed. How did I never see it in him before… I am a fool…
As the fire around her ignited other Dust containers, ammo casings, and other ruptures from other mysterious sources, Blake closed her eyes. She clutched her stomach and grimaced. Not the way I wanted to go… But at least…
"Friend, hold on!" A familiar voice as two hands quickly lifted her, and she felt the heat of the flames decrease.
Her eyes snapped open, and she stared into electric emeralds and the friendliest smile she had ever seen.
"Penny is here to help!"
"We can't leave her in there!" Yang weakly cried, desperately clawing toward the burning warehouse as members of the White Fang evacuated. "Ruby, leave me!"
"No!" Ruby screamed, tears streaming down her cheeks, fumbling the scroll in her hand, desperately attempting to make a call while keeping her sister clutched in her grasp. "I can't lose you too! We've lost enough already!"
Yang squirming in her grasp weakened. Her head lowered, and her hair covered and darkened her expression. She didn't want to lose anyone ever again… She was tired of losing people…
"It's possible Blake escaped…" Yang gravely reasoned, looking upon the burning wreckage before her. "She used Shadow and…"
"I know! I'm trying to call in backup like we should have before going in!" Ruby shouted, trying not to let the panic she felt within consume her."
She needed a level head… To be calm… Make the right decision… Pick up…
And she refrained from celebrating upon seeing the scroll activate. She didn't even wait for her to appear as she started to relay her message as quickly as she could. "Weiss! Trouble! Bring sensei! Hurry! We found Blake, but…"
Ruby's demeanor broke as she looked toward the flames, and she let her feelings be expressed. "I don't know what to do! Everything is on fire!"
"Ruby? What's wrong?!"
Her eyes flickered… That wasn't Weiss…
"Naruto?! …Warehouses! By the docks! Hurry!" Ruby's anxious voice escalated while watching the flame carry and begin to warp the building. "Yang is injured! I don't know what to do… Blake… Blake's trapped in an exploding warehouse! And Yang… She… He cut off her arm! I don't know what to do!"
"I'll be there in just a second! Hang on!" Naruto's voice resolutely responded before a sheering echoed, causing her to wince and cut the call off.
What was that sound? It almost sounded like several sonic barriers being shattered simultaneously…
"You think he can do anything…" Yang grimly responded, her head hung low. "I don't know anymore… Please just be nearby… And do something to save her."
"I can only hope and pray…" Ruby clutched her sister tightly before grimacing. "We got to stop your bleeding somehow… I can use my belt as a tourniquet…"
"A tourniquet would be most useful!" A voice resonated, and a resounding metallic click of two feet billowed the ash and dust in the air as they landed beside them. "I can do that if you would apply your Aura to your friend here! I don't generate enough to help recover wounds!"
"Penny!" Ruby and Yang shouted in tandem before their eyes fell on who was cradled in her arms, lying anemicly in her grasp. "Blake!"
"Hey…" Blake decriptly waved, holding her stomach with her other hand. "Sorry… For everything…"
'You better be sorry!" Yang exclaimed feebly, tears rolling down her cheeks. "You made us chase you down all day… Worry about you… Find you the way we did… Just please st…"
"Going somewhere."
"You can't be serious?" Yang muttered as Ruby gently lowered her sister to the ground, grasping Crescent Rose defensively. "What does it take to keep you down?! This isn't a horror movie! Stay dead!"
"Penny, keep them safe." Ruby sternly stood before them with a steely, resolute expression as her gaze bored into the ashen and limping Faunus slowly approaching them. "He's on his last legs. I'll finish this and make sure he answers for all of this."
Adam sneered. "Think you can handle me, girl… Just need one good shot…"
"I won't give it to you." Ruby stepped forward adamantly as petals peeled off her body.
And she burst forward, sound shattering around her as she slammed into Adam…
Only she didn't.
Even as the shockwave passed through him…
His image was still there.
And now there were several of him?!
"What? That can't be…" Ruby burst back toward the several displays of Adam. "I'll just hit you all… No!"
Each of them was fake. Ruby skidded to a stop, looking around, mystified. It couldn't be…
His Semblance was what caught off her sister's arm, wasn't it? So why was there…
A red streak blurred at the corner of her eye. Could she evade it from this range…
A metallic snap. Shards of red metal scattered all around.
Silver eyes blinked.
Naruto stood between her and Adam.
His wrist parried his sword as the blade shattered into hundreds of pieces from the contact of the blow. Then, with a single open palm strike to the chest…
Adam flew across and punctured through a nearby warehouse with an audible crack.
He did not get up after.
"Sorry, I'm late… The hero usually shows up at the last second." Naruto exhaled as he turned around, an orange tinge around his eyes fading. "Gotta stop showing up so late all the time… I'm bad at that."
"Blake… You're okay… " Weiss scurried toward her team, panting for breath.
Her body went rigid, and her eyes trembled at the sight of blood…
Falling onto Yang's vacant arm. "Oum no… This can't be happening… This is my fault…"
"If it's anyone's, it's mine." Naruto sighed, approaching with a grimace. "Gonna fix 'em the only way I can to make up for my mistake. Could you set Blake down beside Yang? Make it easier for me, ya?"
Penny pursed her lips curiously, gently setting Blake down as Naruto kneeled before a tepid Yang. "Gotta yourself into trouble cause I stupidly try to get you to talk about and take care of your problems… So let me give it back to ya."
His breath slowed. He placed his hands on their wounds. Drawing onto his Yang chakra, he pulled forth the little bit he had been building.
It should be more than enough to last long enough to do this…
"What are you doing?" Weiss shrilly stated, her eyes darting between her two injured teammates. "We need to get them to a hospital… I… I can talk to my father… Maybe I can get a prosthetic…"
"No need…" Naruto replied, his eyes shifting gold, and a gentle release of the gathered energy flowed to the palm of his hand.
"Yin-Yang Release."
His whisper was overwhelmed by the grasps coming from Blake and Yang. A strange sensation washed over them. A tingling sensation sparked through their wounds. It should have been painful, yet it was oddly…
Euphoric?
"That's… Not possible." Weiss' eyes shimmered, stumbling and taking a step back.
Ruby's jaw dropped, words unable to come to her as she watched flesh and bone mend in a matter of seconds… Watching Blake's stomach wound be healed in an instant…
And Yang's arm be restored before her very eyes.
"What sorcery is this?!" Weiss blurted her distress, shaking her head fervently. "Are you really from another world?! What is this?!"
"From another world? Fascinating!" Penny beamed, her eyes gleaming as her entire attention turned to Naruto.
Naruto winced and closed his eyes momentarily before shooting a dark glare toward Weiss. "Gonna just tell everyone, huh?"
Watching Yang clench her new hand over and over, she couldn't blame her ability to process what just happened was understandable. Blake was at a loss for words, too.
Her gaze fell upon Naruto, her head tilted while her eyes glistened in awe.
Everything he said… Was true… So, did that mean…
He would do as he said and face the hatred in this world… And change it for the better?
Appreciate everyone for joining me so far.
It means the world.
Apologizes for not responding to comments! Will get to!
Every comments means the world to me and keeps the fire going.
So if you wouldn't mind, if you have a moment to spare, just hearing a little something keeps me going.
But for now, see ya later...
Peace.