Cloud // Cid
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[.Nibelhiems Lone Wolf.]
"Sadness Is The Price To See It End."
Posts: 116
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Post by Cloud // Cid on Nov 8, 2007 17:42:36 GMT -5
((My old friend left me with the request of keeping Cloud demi-evil because of the black materia...which he stole from Sephiroth in Kalm...so...expect slight OOC-ness for him....)
So much time had passed since he found him lying there....motionless....lifeless. Like a doll, Cloud found him lying nearby the old Mako Reactor in Kalm whilst on a delivery....about one week ago? No...it felt more like a year to him. He had First Tsurugi with him and wanted to butcher that silver-haired monster so badly, but something within him said no...told him to wait until he was awake again.
"Be fair." the voice said. That horrific voice...the kind you just try to ignore as much as you can...just wouldn't go away. All it rattled on about to Cloud, when he saw the unconscious one-winged angel lying there defenceless, was how he should search his old nemesis for the black materia. Question was, why would he still have it, if he returned to fragments of lifestream? He may not have returned to the planet, but he still vanished...right? So the materia should have gone with him. But when Cloud searched the unconscious and ice cold body of Sephiroth...he found it. But the materia was broken into 5 peices...two of which had been repaired together in an attempt to make it one again. He didn't know why he did it...but something just clicked in his mind once he held those black objects in his hand...he forced the repaired two pecies into his chest, right beside his heart. The other 3 broken peices? He left 2 with Sephiroth for some reason...why?...he didn't know. The last peice was locked up in his room at Tifa's bar, but every night he would get up and pace his room violently...looking at the safe which contained the fragment. Eyes shifting violently as he tried to fight the urge to release the shard and impale himself with it, Cloud threw himself out of his room and stormed down the stairs.
The bar was empty, so he decided to take a seat at the counter and crack open a bottle of 'mild alcohol' to take his mind off the materia...half of which was already impaled into his chest.
"Why did I take it...?" Cloud thought as he took a sip from the bottle, rubbing the area of his chest that he placed the materia. He then looked up towards the stairs again and thought about sitting in his room to glance at the safe again...but shook it off once it became apparent. Something...was not RIGHT. Cloud could hear Denzel and Marlene playing outside with other children, usually he would sit outside and watch...making sure nobody got hurt...but after that day, he just locked himself in his room whenever company arrived...and slept. The neighbours also complained alot about him screaming late at night when he DID get to sleep...but he never remembered WHY he did.
Not only did Cloud start becomming cold and shallow inside, but his appearance was also slightly different...and everyone noticed. His skin was paler, his eyes where more mako-green than their usual 'vibrant mako-blue' and lacked any real light...they looked more faded than usual. And his hair was more pale on the roots...almost as if he was going grey from old age. But he was still young, far too young for signs of aging to show up right now.
He continued to sip the bottle of alcoholic substance as he sat in the dark bar, the lights turned off and the blinds shut. Suddenly, the door opened....
"We're closed." Cloud blurted out, not even turning to see who it was.
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Post by Kadaj on Nov 13, 2007 11:09:01 GMT -5
Black Materia, Sephiroth had said. Five pieces. He still had two, which meant the other three had been taken. Not lost – he wouldn't be that careless – definitely taken. And he had a very good idea of where those three pieces were... Black Materia... that which summoned the ultimate power – Meteor, the destroyer. That had been mother's ultimate goal. To wound the planet so severely, that it was forced to draw such an intense concentration of Lifestream to heal the wound... that would make it vulnerable, and easy to drain dry. Sephiroth, who was to be the one who drained it, leaving the planet nothing but an empty husk, and gaining all the power and memory and sheer force of life of the planet at the same time. All that power controlled by one person... It would mean control over life itself... And, if it was mother's goal... then it should be his. He could take Sephiroth's place – the one-winged angel had failed, after all – he could win mother's supreme love... and with Meteor, his vengeance would be wreaked against the planet that tormented him so. It was perfect. And perhaps he knew, somewhere, in the back of his mind, that he was being manipulated. Sephiroth had laid the bait down for him, and he had known that Kadaj wouldn't resist it. Kadaj knew that he was being used to retrieve the shards, so Sephiroth didn't have to go get his hands dirty, and it would be no effort for the one-winged angel to force him to hand the pieces over once he had them. He knew, and still he did not resist it. Could a puppet resist the pull of its strings? He was playing straight into Sephiroth's hands, but, like all puppets, he held on the the delusion of believing he was still in control. He didn't have to give up the pieces of the Black Materia. He would keep them, and use them to prove to mother that he was just as good a son as Sephiroth. Better, even. * * * The Meteorfall monument had been rebuilt, after Bahamut had destroyed it. It was so long ago, now, but it felt like it had been only yesterday when he had finally found mother... Perhaps that was what the timelessness of death did to your mind. Kadaj paused for a moment to gaze at the statue, aware of a vague irony to the situation. There were children playing outside Seventh Heaven. The place where the man he was looking for lived. The traitor to mother. Cloud. He recognized one of the children as the brat Loz had brought with him to the Forgotten City, after he'd found the Materia. The useless one, who didn't have Geostigma. The others... well, they were all the same to him, but he didn't doubt that at least some of them had had the Stigma... They had been brethren once... Now they were all just useless. No... perhaps not useless. The girl had seen him, and she had recognized him. She looked scared, and was calling to one of the boys – “Denzel” – to warn him, but he wasn't fast enough. That would do. He knew his “brother” was too soft when it came to these kids. Grabbing hold of Denzel's upper arm, Kadaj dragged him towards the entrance to the bar, ignoring his yelling and struggling. Drawing Souba, he shouldered the door open. “We're closed!” He recognized the voice immediately, before he even located his traitorous brother. Denzel struggled harder and yelled Cloud's name. Tightening his grip on the boy's arm as a warning for him to shut up, Kadaj strode into the bar, stopping half way between Cloud and the door. “Closed? Can't you even make an exception for family, brother?”
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Cloud // Cid
Full Member
[.Nibelhiems Lone Wolf.]
"Sadness Is The Price To See It End."
Posts: 116
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Post by Cloud // Cid on Nov 13, 2007 11:30:34 GMT -5
Cloud's eyes widened upon the cry from Denzel reaching his ears, he nearly forgot he was supposed to be watching the bar AND the kids. Getting up out of his seat in an instant and resting the bottle of alcohol on the counter, Cloud turned around to dash for the door...only to see it was already open, and that a certain young adult had Denzel firmly grasped by the arm. Silver hair, those soul-cutting jade eyes...this was no regular Edge drunk ifa and Cloud usually saw.
"...Kadaj..." Cloud growled, narroowing his eyes and clenching his fists before remembering that the silver-haired beast died some few years ago...right before his eyes. Ignoring Kadaj's slightly mocking comment, Cloud continued to deliver his sharp glare at the remnant.
"You....you can't be....I saw you die..." Cloud muttered in a slightly confused tone, maintaining his offensive posture. It them became clear to him...he saw Sephiroth alive in Kalm a few weeks ago, and heard about a few other people rising from their graves. The black materia in his chest suddenly began to react, causing him to clench the area he impaled himself with and grunt in discomfort.
"W...what do you want?" Cloud growled, flinching in pain from the dark matter in his torso.
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Post by Kadaj on Nov 13, 2007 12:37:57 GMT -5
“Did you miss me, brother?” Kadaj laughed, sounding for all the world like a little kid. Tilting his head to one side, his eyes narrowed, a cruel smile playing on his lips. Cloud's obvious pain intrigued him. Was it a reaction to him? An after-effect of mother?
Cloud questioned his reason for being here, and gave a small shrug, tightening his grip on Denzel's arm again as the boy tried to squirm out of his grip. “I believe you have something that belongs to–” he hesitated. He'd almost said Sephiroth, and the flash of anger that rose in him showed on his face. “Me. Belongs to me.”
He didn't know whether to be surprised that he could sense the power of the Black Materia. No, he probably shouldn't. Destruction begets destruction, after all. Sephiroth was destruction. And he was part of Sephiroth.
But where was it?
His gaze dropped from Cloud's face to the hand clenched against his chest. There? Surely not...
Trust the traitor to make things difficult...
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Cloud // Cid
Full Member
[.Nibelhiems Lone Wolf.]
"Sadness Is The Price To See It End."
Posts: 116
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Post by Cloud // Cid on Nov 13, 2007 12:51:36 GMT -5
Cloud eyed the silver-haired remnant with caution, his left eye twitching from the discomfort he was trying to hold at bay. Something that belonged to kadaj? What could he possibly have---
The...materia... a little voice whispered in the back of his mind. Cloud flinched in suprise after hearing the voice, for it sounded ever so familiar... After the pain in his torso finally died down and the voice in his head depleated, Cloud sighed with releif and eyed Kadaj as if to question the looks he was giving him.
"I'll give you whatever you want, just let Denzel go." Cloud offered.
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Post by Kadaj on Nov 13, 2007 13:18:22 GMT -5
The cruel smile faded slightly as Kadaj studied his “brother”. The power of the Black Materia drew him like a magnet – he could feel it in his own chest, like someone had reached through his ribs, gripped his heart and twisted it violently. His eyes grew wide, uncertain, questioning, so much like a child it was pathetic to see.
Cloud's voice snapped him out of it. Blinking, he looked up to meet Cloud's gaze, the smile returning to his lips once more. He lifted his left arm, pointing the twin tips of Souba at Cloud's chest... not as a threat – he was still too far away from the “ex-SOLDIER” for that – but as an indication that he already knew where the items he was looking for were.
“The Materia,” he practically purred, not realizing that he was echoing the words Cloud had already heard. “All three pieces. Unless you would rather...”
He didn't finish the sentence, lowering Souba and turning the twin blades to Denzel instead, letting them hover in front of the boy's face, a wordless threat. Denzel's eyes were wide with fear.
“I'd hurry up and make up your mind, brother. I wouldn't want to have to cut that Materia out of your corpse.”
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Cloud // Cid
Full Member
[.Nibelhiems Lone Wolf.]
"Sadness Is The Price To See It End."
Posts: 116
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Post by Cloud // Cid on Nov 13, 2007 13:29:09 GMT -5
Cloud growled under his breath once Kadaj aimed his blade for Denzel, so what he heard in his head was true. Kadaj...wanted the black materia.
"You want the materia, let Denzel go and come and take it." Cloud suggested in a mellow tone. He was unarmed, but if Denzel could get away then maybe he could lure Kadaj elsewhere and find a eapon to fight him off with. But just before he could prepair a further comeback to Kadaj's threats, the pain returned to Cloud's torso and caused him to stumble backwards two steps...slamming his right hand onto the counter, his left hand squeezing his chest. His eyes widened, his blood boiled with rage...the darkness from that peice of materia, along with the careless antics of the blonde causing some of his worst enemies blood to enter his system, delivered a sharp and stinging pain to his heart. Bu-dump, du-dump. Panting heavily as the pain slowly eased away and jolted back again at random intervals, Cloud stared wide-eyed at Kadaj angrily. Was he behind this all?
"You....*pant*...want the third shard...then *pant,pant* let Denzel...go..." Cloud growled.
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Post by Kadaj on Nov 13, 2007 14:07:42 GMT -5
“No,” Kadaj said firmly. “I won't let him go until I have the Materia. All of it, brother. Can't have you pulling any stunts, now, can we?”
He took a step towards Cloud, keeping Souba held in front of Denzel's face, dragging the boy with him still. But then Cloud staggered backwards, and Kadaj winced. Whatever pain the Materia was causing the ex-SOLDIER, Kadaj could feel the echoes of it in his own heart. How could something that hurt so deeply draw him so strongly?
No, it wasn't just the Materia. For an instant he sensed Sephiroth, and glanced over his shoulder warily. But the sensation faded in moments, flickering vaguely at the edges of his mind like shadows cast by a candle.
The third shard? Did that mean... Were there only two embedded in Cloud's chest?
Still watching Cloud, the cruel light had faded from his eyes a little, and his concern at the situation showed through just slightly, even though he tried to hide it. A quiet desperation closed in on him like mist.
“Give me the shards,” he snapped suddenly, his voice lowering threateningly. “Now.”
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Cloud // Cid
Full Member
[.Nibelhiems Lone Wolf.]
"Sadness Is The Price To See It End."
Posts: 116
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Post by Cloud // Cid on Nov 13, 2007 14:22:15 GMT -5
Cloud squeezed his eyes shut and clenched harder at his chest, feeling the burning sensation of whatever was flowing through his veins...the darkness...it filled him...with pain and discomfort. And yet, he didn't whine about it or even desire to rip those shards out of his chest...he seemed more worried about loosing them than the pain they caused him. Cloud opened his eyes again and snarled at kadaj from the pain he felt, before edging his way slowly beside the counter towards the stairway.
"I'll...get you the...*pant*...third peice...just let him go..." Cloud panted, looking greatly weakened by the stinging sensation he felt beside his heart. He noticed Kadaj's reactions to his suffering and wondered if he really was behind the pain, the materia was certainly reacting alright, but to who...or what? Cloud stopped at the edge of the counter, still using his right arm to keep himself supported, just a few steps away from the stairway. He'd be up there and bring the shard down in less than a minute, the safe didn't have a combination or a key to lock it...all he had to do was open it. Some security. Cloud remained motionless as he glared at kadaj, still panting heavily as if he had just run a marathon...his eyes shining with rage and sheer frustration...if he didn't let Denzel go, how could he go up and get the shards...knowing something bad might happen?
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Post by Kadaj on Nov 13, 2007 14:47:51 GMT -5
Kadaj watched Cloud's slow progress to the edge of the counter, his eyes narrowed. The essence of darkness was numbing his senses. Something wasn't right. Something was screaming inside, telling him to get as far away from the malevolent energy of the Black Materia as was possible. But those coaxing whispers were so much more compelling than the screams. Take the shards, wield the power of the destroyer of worlds...
The silence dragged, and Kadaj blinked suddenly, resurfacing from his thoughts. Cloud was glaring at him, obviously unwilling to let Denzel out of his sight, in case Kadaj chose to harm him.
He took a step towards Cloud, his eyes little more than slits, nodding his head towards the stairs to indicate that the ex-SOLDIER should keep moving. “Go. I'm coming too.”
((Crappy post~ xD ))
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Cloud // Cid
Full Member
[.Nibelhiems Lone Wolf.]
"Sadness Is The Price To See It End."
Posts: 116
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Post by Cloud // Cid on Nov 13, 2007 15:01:06 GMT -5
Cloud nodded slowly before turning to go up the stairs, stopping after taking the first step to look at Kadaj and Denzel...to make sure nothing was going to happen. After Kadaj claimed he was following him, the blonde eased his concerns and made his way up the stairs...glancing over his shoulder every now and then to make ure the remnant wasn't lying. It didn't take long to reach Cloud's room, where the safe lied on the worn-down desk opposite his bed...which was covered in broken peices of wood and metal. There was a desk, but the chair..well..let's say the wood on the bed was all that was left of it. Lying on the floor was a mass of debris, with what looked like peices of swords Cloud had dismantled to modify. Nailbat was resting ontop of the pile, un-changed and still in it's tattered state. Cloud approached the safe after edging his way past the pile of junk on the floor, glancing to his right to look through the door to see if Kadaj was there...and then to his left to gaze out of the window. The clouds outside where dark and churning, almost as if a storm was brewing. And it wasn't just brewing outside either, Cloud felt a darkness swelling within his heart...ready to explode.
He glared at the safe and placed his right hand on the top, biting his lip in hesitation. Strife turned his attention back to the door to check on what was going on, before gulping and opening the safe...revealing the shard...all on it's own. He reached inside to take it out, but pulled himself back and grunted as if feeling uncomfortable again...but the safety of Denzel was all that mattered right now. He fought the pain and swiped the materia out of the safe, clenching it tightly in his left hand.
You know what to do now, right? Cloud thought, his eyes shut tightly and teeth gritted together...trying as best as he could to fight whatever it was he was fighting. He turned to face the doorway again, his body twitching violently, his head lowered...looking at his firmly clenched fist which held the shard. What could he do? Give it to Kadaj...that's what. He wanted it after all...and it was driving Cloud crazy anyway. It might be a nice repreive. But his body locked up, he wanted to hand the shard to kadaj, but he just couldn't move.
"W...what's....happening...to me!?" he thought, growling under his breath like a savage animal.
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Post by Kadaj on Nov 14, 2007 13:01:07 GMT -5
Following Cloud up the stairs, his grip still firm on Denzel's arm, Kadaj glared at the ex-SOLDIER every time he turned to make sure he was there and Denzel was safe. He paused in the doorway of Cloud's room, staring around blankly at the chaos. How could anyone live in such squalor? Trying to ignore the pain in his heart, the unease in the pit of his stomach, and the turmoil in his mind, he turned his attention back to Cloud, who was stood by a safe, gazing out of the window. The dark, roiling clouds reminded Kadaj of another time... a time when he was Sephiroth... he suppressed a shudder.
Cloud turned to him, his fist clenched tightly around the shard. But he did not move again, beyond his violent twitching. He was struggling against something, Kadaj realised. Something internal, and potent. He knew, because he could sense it. A writhing darkness, that grew and consumed and smothered all else... Desperation clutched at him with icy fingers. Without thinking, he released Denzel, not bothering to see where the boy fled to, and took a step towards Cloud, stretching out his now free hand expectantly.
"Give it to me," he snarled. "Now."
Another step, and another, edging towards the ex-SOLDIER, picking his way around the mess on the floor. An arm's length away from Cloud, he paused.
"Give me the shard, brother."
He lunged forwards to seize Cloud's hand, to wrest the shard from his grip, if it was necessary. But barely a centimeter from contact, pain lanced up his arm and into his chest, and he flinched away, stumbling backwards and nearly falling over a pile of debris on the floor. The shock of pain spread through his body like fire - his muscles froze, his vision blurred, his breath caught in his chest - and for a moment the world seemed to be spiraling in chaos. But, just as quickly, the pain was gone. And everything was still and quiet; perfectly calm.
Perfectly calm, apart from the turbid sky and man who held the fragment of Black Materia in his hand...
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Cloud // Cid
Full Member
[.Nibelhiems Lone Wolf.]
"Sadness Is The Price To See It End."
Posts: 116
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Post by Cloud // Cid on Nov 14, 2007 13:42:41 GMT -5
Cloud growled viciously, stepping backwards and away from the remnant, his eyes narrowing once Denzel was released and fled the room in a panic...obviously to find help. The pain tensed up his very body once he saw the child leave, a young voice singling in the back of his head...chanting...taunting...mocking.
You don't have the guts...you don't have the guts to do it. the voice mocked softly. Cloud clapsed his head with his free hand in agony, the voices continued....escalating in sharpness, in loudness....finally, he snapped. And snapped, HARD.
"SHUT UP!!!" Cloud cried before raising his clenched fist into the air angrily, still grasping his head with his free hand. Breathing heavily, Cloud felt a sharp pain in his chest....like...he was being impaled by a sword. Had Kadaj attacked because of how slow he was being?
No blood. No sound of metal cutting. Just pain, and a lot of it. Stumbling backwards and banging his back against a nearby wall, still clenching his torso, Cloud slipped down in agony...breathing abnormally and in an agressive manner, almost as if he was on his last legs and would kick the bucket any second. Growling angrily, Cloud finally felt the pain ease away and leapt to his feet...grasped Nailbat and swung it towards Kadaj as if threatening him to back off. Cloud was acting as if the whole 'that hurt and I felt like I was dying' thing never even happened. He felt rejuvinated. But obviously, he still didn't stand a chance against kadaj....Nailbat was no offensive weapon against a REAL sword...and First Tsurugi was being modified elsewhere. He'd just have to do something to get Kadaj to leave... Anything.
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Post by Kadaj on Nov 14, 2007 14:21:04 GMT -5
There was perhaps a glimpse of genuine fear in Kadaj's eyes now, as he watched his “brother” in obvious agony. The whispers in his own mind were cajoling... he needed that shard, in spite of the pain it had cause him as he got close to it. He took a step towards Cloud again, but then...
“SHUT UP!!!” the ex-SOLDIER yelled.
Freezing in his tracks, Kadaj's eyes widened as...
No!
Cloud had forced the last shard into his chest. Kadaj's face twisted into a snarl, his grip tightening on Souba until it hurt. No, he needed those shards.
The ex-SOLDIER had grabbed an odd and somewhat pathetic-looking weapon, but even so, Kadaj kept his distance as he swung it. A madman was a dangerous one, and Cloud had clearly lost his mind.
“I warned you, brother. I'll cut those shards from your corpse!”
((Crappy. xD ))
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Cloud // Cid
Full Member
[.Nibelhiems Lone Wolf.]
"Sadness Is The Price To See It End."
Posts: 116
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Post by Cloud // Cid on Nov 14, 2007 14:35:29 GMT -5
Cloud growled again like an angry, wounded animal...ready to do anything possible to avoid further injury to himself. He then heard Kadaj's threat and knew what to expect, a fight...and this room was way too small to do that.
Attack! Attack! cried the annoying voice again. Cloud shut his eyes tightly and screamed in rage, before smashing Nailbat onto the nearby desk in all his fury...shattering it in an instant. That bat...was VERY heavy...not to mention loaded with nails. RUSTY nails. Cloud continued to attack the unseen force which was causing him the greif, the voice telling him to attack...but attack what? Kadaj may have been threatening him...but the voice told him to 'ignore the puppet' and attack. The blonde franticly swung the bat through thin air as he charged past the remnant, displaying inhuman speed whilst waving the bat around like a madman.
"Why don't you just get out of my head, already!" Cloud screamed as he ran down the stairs and began smashing up the bar downstairs. He paused for breath, but then clenched his torso and roared in agony...his eyes wide and filled with terror...what was going on? Suddenly, his weapon made contact with the counter and commenced with smashing it as much as his arms could deliver...but all the time, Cloud cried out for himself to stop. It was as if he wasn't even controlling his own body. After smashing up...welll...nearly everything downstairs, Cloud dropped the odd bat and fell to his knees...panting and sweating...cletching the left side of his torso with his left hand...whilst using his right for support. He squirmed in agony, twitching violently after a solid 60 seconds of pain flowed right to his heart....causing himself to fall compleatly to the floor as if he was just shot there and left to die... Laying there for a few moments, Cloud felt a burning sensation run through his body, before becomming extreamly cold...the pain didn't stay for long though...and before he knew it he was getting to his feet tiredly. He examined the bar, which was now in total ruin internally...some of his own blood even got on the floor, probably from glass-cuts. Stepping backwards in shock, taking in all that he had just done, Cloud breathed harder...and harder...before letting ut a sharp and ear-peircing scream and fleeing the bar...almost ripping the door clean off it's hinges as he left.
(crap post, very very sorry)
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