It had been the strangest feeling, as she'd been glancing at some of the recent app activity on her phone. Not quite remembering, exactly, as in a way the memories had always been there, but more like... realizing. Of certain connections that had been blocked before suddenly flaring to life again.
At first, it was just confusing, as it took a moment or two for all of the suddenly recalled knowledge to fit back together. But then it did, and no sooner had it snapped back into place than Ritsuka was moving.
First, she grabbed her mystic code, as well as a dagger just in case. Not even bothering to put it on, she found Sage's ball from where the pets had last been playing with it, and hurried to attach Keke's leash, the thought of abandoning the leafeon and dog never even crossing her mind. Unfortunately, they could both pick up on their owner's clearly agitated state, making rounding them up that much harder to do. And no sooner had Ritsuka finally grabbed Keke's collar when there was a knock.
The large mutt promptly lunged at the door, breaking free from Ritsuka's grip while barking fiercely.
"Keke!! Come here!"
Forget the leash, Ritsuka was going to just grab the pets and get out of here.
He can hear her, inside the apartment. Rude, honestly, that she's not coming to answer the door. He even LAUGHS as he hears her shuffling inside, the bark of a dog, and her desperate shout to get the dog to come back.
He answers with a low, cheerful chuckle. Fufufu.
"Master. ...Mmmmmmmmmnnnn, no. No, simply Ritsuka Fujimaru. Is it not rude when a guest comes to visit, that you do not greet them at the door? Ah, oh my. It's locked, as well."
He sounds... terribly disappointed. Which, it doesn't quite matter, as a moment later, there's a set of very large claws grabbing, digging, and tearing the doorknob out of the door. Be it made of metal or wood, it splinters, twists, and tears off, and the door swings open a moment later.
The grinning face of Ashiya Douman entering--no, Filling the doorway as he casts nothing but shadow inside the porch.
"...You ought train your pets better. Or get better ones. All of the time in the world you have in this home away from home and you have summoned not ONE servant. Are you a fool, Master of Chaldea?"
He waves a hand, and the dog suddenly pitches over, quiet. Fortunately, he merely put it to sleep--he sees no reason to kill an animal. It's out of the way, now.
... Oh, no. This was not good. Ritsuka froze as Douman--no, Limbo--entered the apartment. Froze, and glared. She didn't bother answering his question; there was no need for him to know she'd never possessed the catalyst needed to summon, after all, even if it were possible here. That, and because there were far more important things to consider, like getting out.
Fortunately, he resolved one part of her dilemma when he put the pets into a slumber. There was no way for her to get to the mutt safely now, she'd just have to flee and hope for the best later. So she focused, and... Nothing.
Her eyes widened a bit in surprise even as she started carefully stepping back. Another plan flashed through her mind, involving illusions and barriers and so on, but was just as quickly proven moot when she couldn't even cast the first part of it.
"...Are you trying to go somewhere?" He asks, with a quietly innocent tone as he moves into the apartment. Each step accentuated with the ringing of bells as he takes his damn time. He's got the apartment riddled with curses, spells he's laid out slowly over the past few days just to be sure to be ready when this moment came.
And oh
How rewarding it is to see the slowly dawning look of surprise as she truly realizes the trouble she's in. He could honestly watch it for longer, but he has. So much work to do. Now that the spell obscuring his identity has worn off, it means many Order members would suddenly remember who he is. Who LIMBO is for the Order--like the carrion birds that came to pick the bones of the dead, to clean it up with nary a trace left behind.
He raises a hand to wiggle one long-clawed finger at Ritsuka.
"...There won't be any running. Not this time. Three times you ruined my plans. Three times. Shimosa, my garden of hatred. Yuga Kshetra, my perfect, unfeeling god. And then my precious Heian-kyō. Each and every time you came in, and tore apart my plans, my carefully laid lines of new history... and then left, as if you were some hero.
Not this time.
Nnnnnnn. Nnnn, no. No! No, I Will NOT fail this time, and you; you fool, unguarded and so FOOLISH in your lack of defenses surely cannot stop me this time. As this humble monk asks you to die for me."
He's going to dash forward, and aim to grab her before she can get too far. All seven feet of this giant of a man hurdling towards her.
"We won because your plans were flawed to begin with!"
She couldn't stop herself from hurling that back at him. Along with the implication that the same was true for whatever he was up to now.
Ritsuka just needed to try to find a way to live to see it.
Unfortunately, while her reflexes were quite good indeed, honed by years spent on the front lines of countless battles, she could never compare with the genuinely superhuman speed and prowess of a Servant. So while she turned to make a dash for the window that was so close in the small apartment and yet so terribly far away, it was a futile effort. She made less than half the distance before he caught her and yanked her to a stop.
Oh, that struck such a nerve. There's a twitch that goes through his face, and if he wasn't determined to kill Ritsuka right here and now, that would have sent him over the edge.
Maybe it just makes him a little more angry, which is why when he does grab ahold of her--large claws digging into the soft part of her upper arm--he holds nothing back as he throws her; bodily; into the wall opposite to where they're standing.
"--You. Have no idea how well together those plans were knit. Like a Mendala painted and woven over hundreds of years--of COURSE someone coming up with a sledgehammer and gasoline with a lit match can destroy it! You have no sense of anything.
You should have given up a long time ago. How has your spirit not yet shattered?! Any other human master would have--"
Angry. he's getting Too angry. And he can feel it. Screeching won't do anything here.
He walks over to where Ritsuka landed, and he aims to slam the heel of his shoe into her ribs.
"I'd love to stay and slowly tear you apart, but thanks to the damnable people of this city not giving up, as well--I have too much work to do.
So I'll spare you the long way around and ask--perhaps, is there a way you wish your life to end? I could give you that kindness in your final moments."
Ritsuka hit the wall hard, the wind briefly knocked out of her lungs. Her gasping for breath only made worse when he's on top of her again and his foot slammed down. She was pretty sure that had to have at least cracked a rib or two, from how the pain lanced through her, but there was no time to dwell on that. If there was still a chance, any chance at all of getting out of this, she had to take it.
Her phone was halfway across the room where it had fallen, out of reach. But nearby... Ah, there was that dagger she kept for self-defense, perhaps...
"That's... the flaw." It hurt to breathe, to talk, but she forced out the words anyway. Keep him distracted so maybe he wouldn't see what she was trying to do. "You don't really know people... You weren't ready... for them to fight back...."
And that was when she made a grab for the dagger, hoping to stab him hard enough to get a chance to rush for the phone or the door.
Ah, no, nono. He's watching her, for any petty tricks, any last minute abilities she hasn't discussed. Seeing her reach for a weapon was easy, and he's got one foot occupied, but how about the other? As his leg raises to once again to drive DOWN and onto her wrist; either when she's going for or after grabbing the knife to stop her in her tracks.
He doesn't much care if he shatters her wrist with the action, either. A low, murmuring cackle escaping his throat.
"You aren't good at listening. And do you really think a tiny little knife like that would do anything? You really are a fool when you're alone, Fujimaru-chan."
Of course, he's feeling cocky now that he's got her cornered. He's going to lift his feet off her, and reach down to grab her by that irritating little ponytail she keeps her hair in, and drag her to her feet.
"Last chance to choose. Otherwise, I'll spin the wheel."
She couldn't help letting out a small yelp of pain when that foot smashed into her wrist. And didn't even have time to properly think about what to do next when he was grabbing her hair, pulling her bodily to her feet.
It hurt, and her chest ached, and her scalp stung, but it wasn't nearly enough to cow her. Ritsuka knew her odds continued to dwindle, but that by itself meant nothing. How many impossible foes had she fought, how many utterly hopeless situations had she been it, yet still managed to come out of just by sheer refusal to give up? She was stubborn, and would cling to life as long as she still had it.
So rather than respond to his goading, as soon as her feet touched the ground, she mustered all the strength she had to try to pull away. It would probably mean leaving a large chunk of hair behind, but that would be a small price to pay if she managed to get out of here.
It's honestly not a bad idea. One last ditch attempt to escape, to run, to get the hell away from douman with everything she can.
But much like when she reached for the knife--he was waiting for some trick, some ploy, and he won't allow it. Three times spurned. He wouldn't let her, this time. This was his rage, three times multiplied, and he holds fast when she tries to pull away--yanking her back and slamming his hand into her chest.
...where his long, blade-like claws all drive in, burrowing deep into flesh, bone, organ and muscle. Driving in and twisting as he aims to do as much damage as he possibly can. Heart, liver, lung--the sensation of warm blood pooling over his fingers as he inevitably drives into her heart, severing arteries and pushing through until those fingers can't dive in any deeper.
And then he pulls them out. Uncleanly, aiming to cause even more damage on the way out.
And that's where he drops her again, onto a pile on the floor where he's more than sure there's few tricks she can pull to stop from coming close to tearing her heart out.
"...It could have been more fun, Master of Chaldea. Maybe in our next life, we'll get to properly play. Or, perhaps, I'll meet a Master who is less foolish than you, having learned from every past life up until now.
It's truly a mystery.
I'll leave you here, as well. A kindness, so your dear little friends can find your body to mourn over, instead of burning it away and replacing you with one of my beautiful Shikigami to fool your friends.
Consider it my last heartfelt gift.
Goodbye, Ritsuka Fujimaru."
He has no idea what a mistake this 'gift' will end up being, but he will remain at her side until she goes still and silent before all but humming his way out of the door, leaving it wide and open for anyone to walk in to find her 'corpse'.
It had been worth a try. But then the retaliatory attack came so fast and so hard there was nothing Ritsuka could do but let out a strangled cry of pain. She could feel it all too acutely as those monstrous claws pierced her chest, tearing through flesh that shouldn't normally be touched to begin with.
Her eyes went wide. She was afraid, of course she was, she'd never wanted to die. But another feeling lurked alongside that, a feeling of failure, of guilt at letting down her friends, her allies, everyone back in her own world.
But she was going to die. She knew that with a cold certainty as she fell to the floor, already ragged and pained breaths coming ever more erratically and shallowly as blood pooled in the torn remains of her lungs. She was going to die, and there most certainly wouldn't be a convenient god to make a deal with to come back this time.
Something warm and wet pricked at the corners of her eyes, unnoticed beneath the sheer pain she was in, and then her consciousness fled, and she went still but for the slowly pooling blood.
That, and the all too faint, virtually imperceptible twitches as, within her, the torn pieces of her heart still, impossibly, continued to try to beat.
The month- god it's not even half through the month- has not been going well.
Maybe people would argue that. It's doubtful however, with people going missing every few days and the Metaverse flaring up in reply just as quickly. Attacks are happening. The 'Black Order' is responsible, whoever it is they sent to do it. Part of her wants to be suspicious of something, anything she's already encountered but she throws it off with the thought that it's just a response to the trauma around her.
And then the third victim makes his post.
Yasuho isn't even sure why she watches these. She knows she won't be getting any farther up the tower at this point, not until the dungeon is clear- and she knows, for that matter, that trying to help with a dungeon when she doesn't know the victims at all let alone well, is a recipe for disaster.
It's the double edged blade of the set up. Know the victim well enough to accurately navigate their halls and hells, know them well enough to suffer in turn.
The post goes up, and Yasuho decides that's a good time to go over her combat bag- Shio's gifted laptop bag is for her, for her books and computer and things that she properly enjoys. This tiny thing is where the korok pockets activate however, and the only thing sitting in there is a shield, her chalk, and some snacks.
Maybe she'll pick up another bowl of noodles from Shio this evening before the hour starts. Or something from Lucy at the door of the tower, that was always helpful. Making progress through Tartarus has somehow helped curb the worst of how she feels this month, something she's almost certain relates to the dark, shadowy tinge of the sky, but it's still hard to skip through the teleporter and tell herself she's doing well.
Bag in hand as she glances back to the ARCUS to see if any updates have come up, she abruptly freezes. It's not because of anything on the post- no, all there is there is speculation and of course that's all. The Midnight Hour hasn't struck again, the dungeon hasn't dropped, and the next block of Tartarus remains, undoubtedly, locked.
But those suspicions she was holding at bay come flooding back, and Yasuho's body feels like ice.
The Black Order is Clearly Responsible.
Fact. Of course it is. They announced it. They-
You know the voice from the earlier posts.
She knew it but didn't realize. She knew it, and now she does.
Killers and criminals with a need for attention will often insert themselves in the investigation to lure people astray, and as a form of power.
There were plenty of things wrong with criminal psychology in some cases, but in this case it wasn't. It just 'made sense' for that matter, control the investigation, control the....
....crime.
Ashiya Douman claimed to know Ritsuka immediately.
Yasuho doesn't put the bag down, instead throwing the strap over her shoulder and rushing out the door. She doesn't close the phone over instead hurriedly thumbing contacts and hitting dial, heart pounding louder and louder with every dull tone of the unanswered call.
Dial, no answer. Dial, no answer. Dial-
Pick up. Pick up, just pick up, please just pick up, she thinks, and Yasuho curses herself for not thinking to grab her boots or call someone else or-
You don't know that they'd actually be able to help, a sinister thought tells her, and as delicate hooves clack rapidly against the sidewalk she half wishes she inherited the same problem Ritsuka has. Maybe it'd all go faster as...whatever the hell she's been turning into, that has hooves and antlers and a tail like this. She doesn't know. It has to be faster though, she can't even guess how long she's been running, winded and laboring as her breathing already is.
Thank god for the Faeries, she can't help but think, still running as she makes it to the apartment grounds. That stupid marathon really put her through her paces.
Ritsuka, she doesn't shout, her voice caught in her throat. All that escapes it is a strange, gargled choke, too out of breath and too numb and shaking for more. Ritsuka, Ritsuka, RI-
Yasuho stops so quickly she nearly falls over, hand frozen where it was going to go for the door. It's so strange how it swung- almost closed, no doubt because of any air pressure between the hall and apartment, rather than any need to hide. It sits so innocently there, like there isn't even anything to cover up.
Hard to ignore the great hole where the door knob is though.
"R...ri..."
Her voice is hoarse. Her hand shakes as she feels out the air with Paisley Park, a single person and two animals pinging to her attention. People are alive in there, she thinks. The animals are fine, but what if it's not Ritsuka, but the attacker then?
Yasuho draws her sword.
She taps the door as it gives a long, agonized creak, light spilling through from where it had barely gleamed between shards of wood. The light isn't what catches her eye however. No, the light only illuminates everything else, and for a minute she's genuinely frozen.
Three presences.
Two animals.
One 'human'.
All immobile.
Three presences, she thinks as she takes a quiet step in, already smelling the sharp tang of coppery blood.
Two animals, she reminds herself, the sound of whimpering slowly becoming a growl from around the corner.
One...
"MMNHNH-"
Don't drop the sword, she tells herself. Don't drop it don't drop it don't drop it don't drop-
Keke was the first to shrug off the sleeping enchantment, perhaps because she was so much larger than the leafeon. Or perhaps it was just chance. Whatever the reason, the mutt was waking up, and one of the first things she heard was the sound of someone at the door.
And given that one of the last things she remembered was Something Bad coming from the door, a warning growl quickly turned to straight up barking and rushing at the presumed intruder.
She drops the sword, (heck), falls back onto her rear (double heck), and raises her arms in the feeble hope Keke recognizes her before getting the chance to tear into it.
"Keke, shh, shh, please Keke I need...I need to get to Ritsuka, I need-"
She doesn't want to think of if the presence isn't her. If it isn't Ritsuka. If Ritsuka is...
Is...
"Keke, please," she chokes, eyes watering already as an ill feeling comes over her.
Fortunately, Yasuho was someone Keke recognized. Double fortunately, that animal love worked its magic, and after a few more, increasingly softer and more confused barks, Keke settled down. Then glanced back into the apartment and back at Yasuho, before letting out a quiet whine.
At which point the oversized mutt turned and walked back inside pausing only to sniff at Sage as the leafeon began to rouse from his own slumber.
Should Yasuho follow, well. There was certainly no one visibly alive in the small apartment. There was a dent and cracks in one wall from where something that been smashed into it, and a few items Ritsuka had been gathering up scattered on the floor where they'd been dropped (her phone, her mystic code, Keke's leash, a dagger...) but otherwise the apartment was almost eerily untouched.
Well, aside from Ritsuka herself. Or her body, at least, because she sure wasn't moving. Laying in a heap on the floor, one wrist at an awkward angle, and her chest quite literally a bloody mess. Like something had ripped her open, the blood having already thoroughly soaked her shirt and started pooling on the floor around her.
Keke trotted over, licking her owner's perfectly still face, before sitting down with another plaintive whine.
Laid across the floor like this, the items practically retell the story. Yasuho gives one small sob and scratch to Keke before the dog moves off to whine at Sage, and in the meantime she pushes herself back to her feet with the sword in hand. Leash, phone, code, dagger...
Her eyes trace the path as if to avoid what lays at the end, grip shaking more and more as she quietly steps into the room. There's still someone here, there's still someone HERE- her thoughts roar, but all of that comes to a halt as she looks from the wreckage and the cracks and the smears to the actual body.
"Mmng- GHmp-" With a stumble, Yasuho takes a small step back. Her hand over her mouth as that feeling of illness nearly becomes overpowering, eyes wide and watering. Her thoughts reel with counter-productive demands; call for help, scream, run, cry, all of the above, and she can't tell how it is that her grip on the blade doesn't fail now.
Yasuho's tail drifts behind her, the hooved woman breathing rapidly as she starts to approach the girl's body. It must be a trap, she keeps thinking. The closer she gets, the closer the Presence, and it must be a trap. Closer. Closer-
She can see the details of bone...of flesh, a horrific, ragged mess. It sears itself into her eyes as she shakes, still trying not to gag. It's Ritsuka's body. There can be no doubt. It's her body, long beyond the point of anything anyone could ever survive-!
...
(But what was that, just now? ...What was that, that she saw, from this single 'human presence'?)
Ritsuka remained still, deathly so. Still and pale, the blood that ought to be coloring her features instead pooled on the floor around her.
And yet.
As Keke leaned in the lick at her owner's face again, clearly trying to wake her in her own way, did some of her fur move ever so slightly as it passed in front of Ritsuka's mouth and nose? It was almost imperceptible, so weak and small and slow that there wasn't even a noticeable rise and fall to her chest, yeah somehow, impossibly, she was breathing.
And a closer look, if Yasuho could stomach it, at her ruined and torn apart chest, would reveal an equal faint twitching. The torn muscles of her heart still weakly attempting to beat.
Dead, she thinks. Dead, dead, dead, her friend is dead, but her eyes must also be playing tricks on her. It must be an illusion, it must be her own fear rearing its head, or maybe something the murderer has done to drive a stake farther in. It has to be fake-
But the body exaggerates when it continuosly fails to do what it needs. The muscles that work are doing their best to move, and the muscles that are separated practically snap with each botched attempt. They're minute motions, but those minute motions are evident enough that the eye catches them with ease now that she's watching.
...At which point she actually is sick, at least a little.
"ORugh-"
Disgusting, but she can't think about that. How is Ritsuka even moving? God, is that why Keke is just trying to...to he...
Messy hand aside, the woman feels like she's been struck with a bolt.
The human presence is Ritsuka.
She's alive, she's alive, she's alive-
...For now.
Yasuho rushes over with a scream, no doubt startling the dog. Desperate hands fumble to pull the body together where it's impossible, pleas and cries nothing but gibberish from her mouth. She needs help-
Help will not get here in time. Help might bring the culprit back.
She needs someone, anyone, anyone who can heal-
...And as it is, they're probably occupied with the newest dungeon.
The phone at her side gleams with every desperate fumble. Her hands are already red and slick from trying to even assess what's happened as she tries to think of how to bandage wounds like this, and it smears ugly stains across the device when she notices the glow.
She found new rock things for this the other day...right? They were definitely doing some kind of healing in Tartarus, right? They have to be enough. It has to be enough...right??
Something to fix this- Something to keep her alive, something-
An outpouring of magical energy swirled and infused Ritsuka's body as the healing spell did its work. Muscle and bone knit back together, severed veins and arteries reattached, even that one shattered wrist reset itself. Ritsuka made a choked, gasping sound as her lungs suddenly were whole again, no longer struggling to take in a meager amount of air with each breath. Unseen, her pulse became detectable once more, her heart restored to doing its job rather than its shredded remains twitching ineffectually.
It was still horribly, painfully weak, however. A heartbeat that could barely be felt, breaths that remained shallow, her skin pale and almost cool to the touch.
The magic was healing her body, but she'd already lost so much blood. Far, far too much. And so she still showed no signs of waking up.
She feels like she's had the wind knocked out of her. Like something's struck her in the gut, forced all the breath from her lungs with such a blow that she can't get it back. All through it, Ritsuka's body pulls itself together under her fingers though, and so Yasuho calls for herself and her magic to keep going.
...until she can't. "Hahh...hhhh...Ritsuka- come on...please, Ritsuka, please we need..."
Cupping the other's face does nothing but smear blood on it, and Yasuho bites back tears. Something has happened here that the other was left to die, but even with this miraculous prevention of death, how can she say for sure that there's time to try and rouse her.
They need to leave, she thinks, and already her shadow moves to act on those words. Paisley Park creeps out and starts scanning the room for objects and begins blindly grabbing from the floor and counter, starting a small pile at their side. They need to get out of here, they need to go-
And isn't that what she's spent all the last while preparing for?
Thoughts and memories of idle nervous chatter while cutting swathes of fur bring more tears to the girl's eyes, as Yasuho finds the memory blurring painfully overtop of what's surrounding her now. It's hardly a full gore-fest of a mess but somehow the truth of what a brutal scene this is hits harder that way, as if the lack of excess makes it that much more Real.
There is a pulse under her fingers, Yasuho thinks with a swallow. She just...
"Okay." Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. "Okay. ...W...I'll get you out of here. And then I'll keep trying- until you can get up, it's going to be alright..."
There was still no response, no reaction from Ritsuka. Her breathing was no longer pained, but it was still oddly strained, the muscles struggling against the lack of blood. Her pulse was present, but faint and erratic. She would be no help in getting herself out of here, unfortunately.
Both Keke and Sage parked themselves nearby, clearly concerned about their owner, though that did have the benefit of keeping them out from underfoot. Beyond that... Well. Yasuho was already familiar with Ritsuka's apartment, having been here before. She would simply have to use her best judgment for what to do next.
Objects are moving behind her. Ritsuka is in her arms. Yasuho breathes deeply, and slowly in an attempt to calm herself down, and with each second she takes to do it her resolve manages to grow and steady itself.
They need to get out. She spent all that time preparing for what it would take to hide, get somewhere safe, to avoid this kind of thing, but the best she can do now is make sure it doesn't happen again. Paisley's 'sense presence' is on high alert- all there are around them are empty apartments with the occasional animal. The canines themselves are watching nervously, but for whatever reason seem to be behaving...for now.
And Ritsuka is limp in her arms.
She needs something that can move her- something that can carry her, she can't just pull a dragon in here from Hyrule or-
Yasuho's eyes fall on the racecar bed, and she immediately moves to start dragging the girl over. In response to the thought, Paisley darts for the bedroom to pull blankets and pillows off at random, sliding back to help wrap the girl carefully upon it. It's a tight fit- Yasuho's barely going to be able to drive the thing if she's right, and with a look to the dogs that's hardly preferred.
She needs something else then. Something that can carry...
"Keke! Here, up-" The chair. The chair can move, and if she leashes the two items together with Paisley she can probably make it work provided she's careful not to overshoot the speed. "Sage, you too!" Dogs on the chair, she can put what snacks and things will fit there as well...
Kettle on the bed, she'll have to hold that...
...Just one last thing then.
"Phhhheewwww...okay. Okay, please, first try..."
She needs to make sure this door doesn't stick around, but there's an easy way to do that at least. Carefully drawing the chalk around and over the front door after jamming it shut with something on the floor, she takes a look through the resulting portal.
Hyrule.
"Just a bit further then..." It's scary, how well this is working so far, but it's hardly as if that compares to what preceded it all. "Please...hang in there Ritsuka, I'll get you in the house..."
Ritsuka, of course, didn't respond, didn't move. But she continued to breathe, shallow breaths as her body struggled against all the blood she'd lost, but breathing all the same.
The animals did as they were told, even if Keke in particular needed a little convincing to leave Ritsuka's immediate side. But once again, that odd affinity for animals, the one that Ritsuka had once gone to the strange Goodwill and asked the shopkeeper for something that might help her friend with a pet dragon, did its work.
The rest of the apartment was still. Ritsuka's attacker was so certain of his work he spared no thought for returning, but the sooner they were out, the better, in any case.
As long as she's breathing, it's fine. As long as she's breathing, they can pull this off. The longer they take here, in this room of blood and silence, the more tense she becomes however, and so as she readies Paisley as the 'rope' and gets behind the wheel as best she can without jostling anything, Yasuho swallows.
Time to drive.
The car takes off without so much as an engine roar. The chair ambles behind, slower but not so slow that it's completely out of sight when Yasuho briefly brings the car to a stop. With how these chalk gates work, they're not quite at the gate of Hyrule. It works to their advantage, what with the usual one being inside a freaking cave.
Here, they're just beside the cave, which is handy as the chair trundles out. Yasuho grabs a stick from the ground, sticks it through the door...
...And the minute the door is unjammed it comes free from what held the gate together, separated chalk line forcing it to close.
Back to the car then.
It won't be a long drive. She hid that teapot close, who knew how injured they'd be if they needed it after all. But it's at least...easier, in a sense.
Better to breathe.
The car-bed isn't made for this kind of terrain, so at least she has to take it slow enough that the chair can keep up now. Just need to get to the teapot at the honey-cave.
Neither of the pets seemed particularly happy about this whole arrangement, the fact that they were indeed following their own being pretty much the only thing keeping them mollified. Keke in particular was clearly still agitated, looking around and growling at the slightest thing that seemed out of place.
Ritsuka still wasn't improving further, but at least she wasn't showing any sign of getting worse. Stable. But not waking, even as the magic race car bed bumped along the uneven terrain.
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:)
At first, it was just confusing, as it took a moment or two for all of the suddenly recalled knowledge to fit back together. But then it did, and no sooner had it snapped back into place than Ritsuka was moving.
First, she grabbed her mystic code, as well as a dagger just in case. Not even bothering to put it on, she found Sage's ball from where the pets had last been playing with it, and hurried to attach Keke's leash, the thought of abandoning the leafeon and dog never even crossing her mind. Unfortunately, they could both pick up on their owner's clearly agitated state, making rounding them up that much harder to do. And no sooner had Ritsuka finally grabbed Keke's collar when there was a knock.
The large mutt promptly lunged at the door, breaking free from Ritsuka's grip while barking fiercely.
"Keke!! Come here!"
Forget the leash, Ritsuka was going to just grab the pets and get out of here.
no subject
He answers with a low, cheerful chuckle. Fufufu.
"Master. ...Mmmmmmmmmnnnn, no. No, simply Ritsuka Fujimaru. Is it not rude when a guest comes to visit, that you do not greet them at the door? Ah, oh my. It's locked, as well."
He sounds... terribly disappointed. Which, it doesn't quite matter, as a moment later, there's a set of very large claws grabbing, digging, and tearing the doorknob out of the door. Be it made of metal or wood, it splinters, twists, and tears off, and the door swings open a moment later.
The grinning face of Ashiya Douman entering--no, Filling the doorway as he casts nothing but shadow inside the porch.
"...You ought train your pets better. Or get better ones. All of the time in the world you have in this home away from home and you have summoned not ONE servant. Are you a fool, Master of Chaldea?"
He waves a hand, and the dog suddenly pitches over, quiet. Fortunately, he merely put it to sleep--he sees no reason to kill an animal. It's out of the way, now.
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Fortunately, he resolved one part of her dilemma when he put the pets into a slumber. There was no way for her to get to the mutt safely now, she'd just have to flee and hope for the best later. So she focused, and... Nothing.
Her eyes widened a bit in surprise even as she started carefully stepping back. Another plan flashed through her mind, involving illusions and barriers and so on, but was just as quickly proven moot when she couldn't even cast the first part of it.
This was bad.
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And oh
How rewarding it is to see the slowly dawning look of surprise as she truly realizes the trouble she's in.
He could honestly watch it for longer, but he has. So much work to do. Now that the spell obscuring his identity has worn off, it means many Order members would suddenly remember who he is. Who LIMBO is for the Order--like the carrion birds that came to pick the bones of the dead, to clean it up with nary a trace left behind.
He raises a hand to wiggle one long-clawed finger at Ritsuka.
"...There won't be any running. Not this time. Three times you ruined my plans. Three times.
Shimosa, my garden of hatred. Yuga Kshetra, my perfect, unfeeling god. And then my precious Heian-kyō. Each and every time you came in, and tore apart my plans, my carefully laid lines of new history... and then left, as if you were some hero.
Not this time.
Nnnnnnn. Nnnn, no. No! No, I Will NOT fail this time, and you; you fool, unguarded and so FOOLISH in your lack of defenses surely cannot stop me this time.
As this humble monk asks you to die for me."
He's going to dash forward, and aim to grab her before she can get too far. All seven feet of this giant of a man hurdling towards her.
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She couldn't stop herself from hurling that back at him. Along with the implication that the same was true for whatever he was up to now.
Ritsuka just needed to try to find a way to live to see it.
Unfortunately, while her reflexes were quite good indeed, honed by years spent on the front lines of countless battles, she could never compare with the genuinely superhuman speed and prowess of a Servant. So while she turned to make a dash for the window that was so close in the small apartment and yet so terribly far away, it was a futile effort. She made less than half the distance before he caught her and yanked her to a stop.
"....!"
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struck
such a nerve.
There's a twitch that goes through his face, and if he wasn't determined to kill Ritsuka right here and now, that would have sent him over the edge.
Maybe it just makes him a little more angry, which is why when he does grab ahold of her--large claws digging into the soft part of her upper arm--he holds nothing back as he throws her; bodily; into the wall opposite to where they're standing.
"--You. Have no idea how well together those plans were knit. Like a Mendala painted and woven over hundreds of years--of COURSE someone coming up with a sledgehammer and gasoline with a lit match can destroy it! You have no sense of anything.
You should have given up a long time ago. How has your spirit not yet shattered?! Any other human master would have--"
Angry.
he's getting
Too angry.
And he can feel it. Screeching won't do anything here.
He walks over to where Ritsuka landed, and he aims to slam the heel of his shoe into her ribs.
"I'd love to stay and slowly tear you apart, but thanks to the damnable people of this city not giving up, as well--I have too much work to do.
So I'll spare you the long way around and ask--perhaps, is there a way you wish your life to end? I could give you that kindness in your final moments."
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Her phone was halfway across the room where it had fallen, out of reach. But nearby... Ah, there was that dagger she kept for self-defense, perhaps...
"That's... the flaw." It hurt to breathe, to talk, but she forced out the words anyway. Keep him distracted so maybe he wouldn't see what she was trying to do. "You don't really know people... You weren't ready... for them to fight back...."
And that was when she made a grab for the dagger, hoping to stab him hard enough to get a chance to rush for the phone or the door.
It was pretty much the last chance she had.
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He doesn't much care if he shatters her wrist with the action, either. A low, murmuring cackle escaping his throat.
"You aren't good at listening. And do you really think a tiny little knife like that would do anything? You really are a fool when you're alone, Fujimaru-chan."
Of course, he's feeling cocky now that he's got her cornered. He's going to lift his feet off her, and reach down to grab her by that irritating little ponytail she keeps her hair in, and drag her to her feet.
"Last chance to choose. Otherwise, I'll spin the wheel."
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It hurt, and her chest ached, and her scalp stung, but it wasn't nearly enough to cow her. Ritsuka knew her odds continued to dwindle, but that by itself meant nothing. How many impossible foes had she fought, how many utterly hopeless situations had she been it, yet still managed to come out of just by sheer refusal to give up? She was stubborn, and would cling to life as long as she still had it.
So rather than respond to his goading, as soon as her feet touched the ground, she mustered all the strength she had to try to pull away. It would probably mean leaving a large chunk of hair behind, but that would be a small price to pay if she managed to get out of here.
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But much like when she reached for the knife--he was waiting for some trick, some ploy, and he won't allow it.
Three times spurned. He wouldn't let her, this time. This was his rage, three times multiplied, and he holds fast when she tries to pull away--yanking her back and slamming his hand into her chest.
...where his long, blade-like claws all drive in, burrowing deep into flesh, bone, organ and muscle. Driving in and twisting as he aims to do as much damage as he possibly can. Heart, liver, lung--the sensation of warm blood pooling over his fingers as he inevitably drives into her heart, severing arteries and pushing through until those fingers can't dive in any deeper.
And then he pulls them out.
Uncleanly, aiming to cause even more damage on the way out.
And that's where he drops her again, onto a pile on the floor where he's more than sure there's few tricks she can pull to stop from coming close to tearing her heart out.
"...It could have been more fun, Master of Chaldea. Maybe in our next life, we'll get to properly play. Or, perhaps, I'll meet a Master who is less foolish than you, having learned from every past life up until now.
It's truly a mystery.
I'll leave you here, as well. A kindness, so your dear little friends can find your body to mourn over, instead of burning it away and replacing you with one of my beautiful Shikigami to fool your friends.
Consider it my last heartfelt gift.
Goodbye, Ritsuka Fujimaru."
He has no idea what a mistake this 'gift' will end up being, but he will remain at her side until she goes still and silent before all but humming his way out of the door, leaving it wide and open for anyone to walk in to find her 'corpse'.
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Her eyes went wide. She was afraid, of course she was, she'd never wanted to die. But another feeling lurked alongside that, a feeling of failure, of guilt at letting down her friends, her allies, everyone back in her own world.
But she was going to die. She knew that with a cold certainty as she fell to the floor, already ragged and pained breaths coming ever more erratically and shallowly as blood pooled in the torn remains of her lungs. She was going to die, and there most certainly wouldn't be a convenient god to make a deal with to come back this time.
Something warm and wet pricked at the corners of her eyes, unnoticed beneath the sheer pain she was in, and then her consciousness fled, and she went still but for the slowly pooling blood.
That, and the all too faint, virtually imperceptible twitches as, within her, the torn pieces of her heart still, impossibly, continued to try to beat.
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Maybe people would argue that. It's doubtful however, with people going missing every few days and the Metaverse flaring up in reply just as quickly. Attacks are happening. The 'Black Order' is responsible, whoever it is they sent to do it. Part of her wants to be suspicious of something, anything she's already encountered but she throws it off with the thought that it's just a response to the trauma around her.
And then the third victim makes his post.
Yasuho isn't even sure why she watches these. She knows she won't be getting any farther up the tower at this point, not until the dungeon is clear- and she knows, for that matter, that trying to help with a dungeon when she doesn't know the victims at all let alone well, is a recipe for disaster.
It's the double edged blade of the set up. Know the victim well enough to accurately navigate their halls and hells, know them well enough to suffer in turn.
The post goes up, and Yasuho decides that's a good time to go over her combat bag- Shio's gifted laptop bag is for her, for her books and computer and things that she properly enjoys. This tiny thing is where the korok pockets activate however, and the only thing sitting in there is a shield, her chalk, and some snacks.
Maybe she'll pick up another bowl of noodles from Shio this evening before the hour starts. Or something from Lucy at the door of the tower, that was always helpful. Making progress through Tartarus has somehow helped curb the worst of how she feels this month, something she's almost certain relates to the dark, shadowy tinge of the sky, but it's still hard to skip through the teleporter and tell herself she's doing well.
Bag in hand as she glances back to the ARCUS to see if any updates have come up, she abruptly freezes. It's not because of anything on the post- no, all there is there is speculation and of course that's all. The Midnight Hour hasn't struck again, the dungeon hasn't dropped, and the next block of Tartarus remains, undoubtedly, locked.
But those suspicions she was holding at bay come flooding back, and Yasuho's body feels like ice.
The Black Order is Clearly Responsible.
Fact. Of course it is. They announced it. They-
You know the voice from the earlier posts.
She knew it but didn't realize. She knew it, and now she does.
Killers and criminals with a need for attention will often insert themselves in the investigation to lure people astray, and as a form of power.
There were plenty of things wrong with criminal psychology in some cases, but in this case it wasn't. It just 'made sense' for that matter, control the investigation, control the....
....crime.
Ashiya Douman claimed to know Ritsuka immediately.
Yasuho doesn't put the bag down, instead throwing the strap over her shoulder and rushing out the door. She doesn't close the phone over instead hurriedly thumbing contacts and hitting dial, heart pounding louder and louder with every dull tone of the unanswered call.
Dial, no answer. Dial, no answer. Dial-
Pick up. Pick up, just pick up, please just pick up, she thinks, and Yasuho curses herself for not thinking to grab her boots or call someone else or-
You don't know that they'd actually be able to help, a sinister thought tells her, and as delicate hooves clack rapidly against the sidewalk she half wishes she inherited the same problem Ritsuka has. Maybe it'd all go faster as...whatever the hell she's been turning into, that has hooves and antlers and a tail like this. She doesn't know. It has to be faster though, she can't even guess how long she's been running, winded and laboring as her breathing already is.
Thank god for the Faeries, she can't help but think, still running as she makes it to the apartment grounds. That stupid marathon really put her through her paces.
Ritsuka, she doesn't shout, her voice caught in her throat. All that escapes it is a strange, gargled choke, too out of breath and too numb and shaking for more. Ritsuka, Ritsuka, RI-
Yasuho stops so quickly she nearly falls over, hand frozen where it was going to go for the door. It's so strange how it swung- almost closed, no doubt because of any air pressure between the hall and apartment, rather than any need to hide. It sits so innocently there, like there isn't even anything to cover up.
Hard to ignore the great hole where the door knob is though.
"R...ri..."
Her voice is hoarse. Her hand shakes as she feels out the air with Paisley Park, a single person and two animals pinging to her attention. People are alive in there, she thinks. The animals are fine, but what if it's not Ritsuka, but the attacker then?
Yasuho draws her sword.
She taps the door as it gives a long, agonized creak, light spilling through from where it had barely gleamed between shards of wood. The light isn't what catches her eye however. No, the light only illuminates everything else, and for a minute she's genuinely frozen.
Three presences.
Two animals.
One 'human'.
All immobile.
Three presences, she thinks as she takes a quiet step in, already smelling the sharp tang of coppery blood.
Two animals, she reminds herself, the sound of whimpering slowly becoming a growl from around the corner.
One...
"MMNHNH-"
Don't drop the sword, she tells herself. Don't drop it don't drop it don't drop it don't drop-
(WHERE IS THE HUMAN PRESENCE)
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And given that one of the last things she remembered was Something Bad coming from the door, a warning growl quickly turned to straight up barking and rushing at the presumed intruder.
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"KEKE-!"
Yasuho drops the sword.
"KEKE, Keke, it's me, it's Yasuho-"
She drops the sword, (heck), falls back onto her rear (double heck), and raises her arms in the feeble hope Keke recognizes her before getting the chance to tear into it.
"Keke, shh, shh, please Keke I need...I need to get to Ritsuka, I need-"
She doesn't want to think of if the presence isn't her. If it isn't Ritsuka. If Ritsuka is...
Is...
"Keke, please," she chokes, eyes watering already as an ill feeling comes over her.
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At which point the oversized mutt turned and walked back inside pausing only to sniff at Sage as the leafeon began to rouse from his own slumber.
Should Yasuho follow, well. There was certainly no one visibly alive in the small apartment. There was a dent and cracks in one wall from where something that been smashed into it, and a few items Ritsuka had been gathering up scattered on the floor where they'd been dropped (her phone, her mystic code, Keke's leash, a dagger...) but otherwise the apartment was almost eerily untouched.
Well, aside from Ritsuka herself. Or her body, at least, because she sure wasn't moving. Laying in a heap on the floor, one wrist at an awkward angle, and her chest quite literally a bloody mess. Like something had ripped her open, the blood having already thoroughly soaked her shirt and started pooling on the floor around her.
Keke trotted over, licking her owner's perfectly still face, before sitting down with another plaintive whine.
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Her eyes trace the path as if to avoid what lays at the end, grip shaking more and more as she quietly steps into the room. There's still someone here, there's still someone HERE- her thoughts roar, but all of that comes to a halt as she looks from the wreckage and the cracks and the smears to the actual body.
"Mmng- GHmp-" With a stumble, Yasuho takes a small step back. Her hand over her mouth as that feeling of illness nearly becomes overpowering, eyes wide and watering. Her thoughts reel with counter-productive demands; call for help, scream, run, cry, all of the above, and she can't tell how it is that her grip on the blade doesn't fail now.
Yasuho's tail drifts behind her, the hooved woman breathing rapidly as she starts to approach the girl's body. It must be a trap, she keeps thinking. The closer she gets, the closer the Presence, and it must be a trap. Closer. Closer-
She can see the details of bone...of flesh, a horrific, ragged mess. It sears itself into her eyes as she shakes, still trying not to gag. It's Ritsuka's body. There can be no doubt. It's her body, long beyond the point of anything anyone could ever survive-!
...
(But what was that, just now? ...What was that, that she saw, from this single 'human presence'?)
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And yet.
As Keke leaned in the lick at her owner's face again, clearly trying to wake her in her own way, did some of her fur move ever so slightly as it passed in front of Ritsuka's mouth and nose? It was almost imperceptible, so weak and small and slow that there wasn't even a noticeable rise and fall to her chest, yeah somehow, impossibly, she was breathing.
And a closer look, if Yasuho could stomach it, at her ruined and torn apart chest, would reveal an equal faint twitching. The torn muscles of her heart still weakly attempting to beat.
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But the body exaggerates when it continuosly fails to do what it needs. The muscles that work are doing their best to move, and the muscles that are separated practically snap with each botched attempt. They're minute motions, but those minute motions are evident enough that the eye catches them with ease now that she's watching.
...At which point she actually is sick, at least a little.
"ORugh-"
Disgusting, but she can't think about that. How is Ritsuka even moving? God, is that why Keke is just trying to...to he...
Messy hand aside, the woman feels like she's been struck with a bolt.
The human presence is Ritsuka.
She's alive, she's alive, she's alive-
...For now.
Yasuho rushes over with a scream, no doubt startling the dog. Desperate hands fumble to pull the body together where it's impossible, pleas and cries nothing but gibberish from her mouth. She needs help-
Help will not get here in time. Help might bring the culprit back.
She needs someone, anyone, anyone who can heal-
...And as it is, they're probably occupied with the newest dungeon.
The phone at her side gleams with every desperate fumble. Her hands are already red and slick from trying to even assess what's happened as she tries to think of how to bandage wounds like this, and it smears ugly stains across the device when she notices the glow.
She found new rock things for this the other day...right? They were definitely doing some kind of healing in Tartarus, right? They have to be enough. It has to be enough...right??
Something to fix this- Something to keep her alive, something-
A word comes to her mind.
"T...Teara... TEARAL-!"
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It was still horribly, painfully weak, however. A heartbeat that could barely be felt, breaths that remained shallow, her skin pale and almost cool to the touch.
The magic was healing her body, but she'd already lost so much blood. Far, far too much. And so she still showed no signs of waking up.
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...until she can't. "Hahh...hhhh...Ritsuka- come on...please, Ritsuka, please we need..."
Cupping the other's face does nothing but smear blood on it, and Yasuho bites back tears. Something has happened here that the other was left to die, but even with this miraculous prevention of death, how can she say for sure that there's time to try and rouse her.
They need to leave, she thinks, and already her shadow moves to act on those words. Paisley Park creeps out and starts scanning the room for objects and begins blindly grabbing from the floor and counter, starting a small pile at their side. They need to get out of here, they need to go-
And isn't that what she's spent all the last while preparing for?
Thoughts and memories of idle nervous chatter while cutting swathes of fur bring more tears to the girl's eyes, as Yasuho finds the memory blurring painfully overtop of what's surrounding her now. It's hardly a full gore-fest of a mess but somehow the truth of what a brutal scene this is hits harder that way, as if the lack of excess makes it that much more Real.
There is a pulse under her fingers, Yasuho thinks with a swallow. She just...
"Okay." Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. "Okay. ...W...I'll get you out of here. And then I'll keep trying- until you can get up, it's going to be alright..."
Breathe, breathe, BREATHE-
"It's alright...it's okay..."
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Both Keke and Sage parked themselves nearby, clearly concerned about their owner, though that did have the benefit of keeping them out from underfoot. Beyond that... Well. Yasuho was already familiar with Ritsuka's apartment, having been here before. She would simply have to use her best judgment for what to do next.
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They need to get out. She spent all that time preparing for what it would take to hide, get somewhere safe, to avoid this kind of thing, but the best she can do now is make sure it doesn't happen again. Paisley's 'sense presence' is on high alert- all there are around them are empty apartments with the occasional animal. The canines themselves are watching nervously, but for whatever reason seem to be behaving...for now.
And Ritsuka is limp in her arms.
She needs something that can move her- something that can carry her, she can't just pull a dragon in here from Hyrule or-
Yasuho's eyes fall on the racecar bed, and she immediately moves to start dragging the girl over. In response to the thought, Paisley darts for the bedroom to pull blankets and pillows off at random, sliding back to help wrap the girl carefully upon it. It's a tight fit- Yasuho's barely going to be able to drive the thing if she's right, and with a look to the dogs that's hardly preferred.
She needs something else then. Something that can carry...
"Keke! Here, up-" The chair. The chair can move, and if she leashes the two items together with Paisley she can probably make it work provided she's careful not to overshoot the speed. "Sage, you too!" Dogs on the chair, she can put what snacks and things will fit there as well...
Kettle on the bed, she'll have to hold that...
...Just one last thing then.
"Phhhheewwww...okay. Okay, please, first try..."
She needs to make sure this door doesn't stick around, but there's an easy way to do that at least. Carefully drawing the chalk around and over the front door after jamming it shut with something on the floor, she takes a look through the resulting portal.
Hyrule.
"Just a bit further then..." It's scary, how well this is working so far, but it's hardly as if that compares to what preceded it all. "Please...hang in there Ritsuka, I'll get you in the house..."
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The animals did as they were told, even if Keke in particular needed a little convincing to leave Ritsuka's immediate side. But once again, that odd affinity for animals, the one that Ritsuka had once gone to the strange Goodwill and asked the shopkeeper for something that might help her friend with a pet dragon, did its work.
The rest of the apartment was still. Ritsuka's attacker was so certain of his work he spared no thought for returning, but the sooner they were out, the better, in any case.
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Time to drive.
The car takes off without so much as an engine roar. The chair ambles behind, slower but not so slow that it's completely out of sight when Yasuho briefly brings the car to a stop. With how these chalk gates work, they're not quite at the gate of Hyrule. It works to their advantage, what with the usual one being inside a freaking cave.
Here, they're just beside the cave, which is handy as the chair trundles out. Yasuho grabs a stick from the ground, sticks it through the door...
...And the minute the door is unjammed it comes free from what held the gate together, separated chalk line forcing it to close.
Back to the car then.
It won't be a long drive. She hid that teapot close, who knew how injured they'd be if they needed it after all. But it's at least...easier, in a sense.
Better to breathe.
The car-bed isn't made for this kind of terrain, so at least she has to take it slow enough that the chair can keep up now. Just need to get to the teapot at the honey-cave.
"A..Almost there, everyone..."
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Ritsuka still wasn't improving further, but at least she wasn't showing any sign of getting worse. Stable. But not waking, even as the magic race car bed bumped along the uneven terrain.
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this is probably a good close point more or less...