Chapter Text
“This is…”
A feminine figure sits across from the black haired man. His blue eyes narrowed at her reaction. She pauses, reading more of the reports that were in her hands, “he’s done this much damage?” She’s not one to question orders from her superior that was standing here, but she was shocked that nobody could do something like this. Even with a delusion.
“He does have a delusion.” The man points out, “A delusion which we have no idea how he obtained. He would have stolen it from someone but we’re not quite sure yet. We Harbingers are not supposed to step in yet so that’s why…”
“You’re trusting me to get to the bottom of this.” The woman finished. Her black helmet hid her face so her facial expressions were hidden.
Her superior nodded, “That’s correct. We’re seeing if we need to take action, but the other Harbingers are watching as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if they watch your investigation.” The man says, resting his glove hand on his chin.
“I have no doubts Dottore is interested.” A sigh fell from her lips. He’s like a thorn in his side. A thorn she can’t plunk out. That means she expects to see him around trying to grill her for information.
“I also suspect that Sandrone is also looking into it.” Her superior continues.
The woman tsks at his words, “So my luck is lovely on the Harbingers that are gonna be watching.” A heavy sigh fell on her lips, “It’s not like they haven’t stopped.”
“I don’t think there’s anything to worry about until you come back. They can't take action on this yet. Otherwise, they would probably already have the guy by now.”
The girl groans, letting out a yawn, “Then Dottore and Sandrone are definitely working together on this project. Sandrone doesn’t like long term help but she doesn’t mind doing small jobs for Dottore. I’m sure she’s interested in adding this guy to her ranks.” She’s heard what Sandrone does for recruiting, after all, and it wasn’t pretty.
“Then I wouldn’t be surprised if she was planning on double crossing Dottore and using it for her own personal gain.” A snort, “This may seem to the others like some kind of run of the mill mission, but you and I both know that isn’t the case here, especially if he’s damaged some of our facilities. Our normal soldiers can’t cut it against this guy, and I think that’s how he was able to gain any information. You, on the other hand, are probably gonna end up on his interrogation list so he can find out more.”
“Right, so he might be looking into other people around my rank or higher.” She nods, putting the report down on the desk, “Harlequin, do you know what his intentions are?”
The Number two of the Harbingers nods, “I have a hunch. There was a mission Dottore went on before he slayed Ursa the Drake and made Monstandt indebted to Fatui. That mission led to the death of a man that was holding a delusion.”
“A delusion? Why would some random guy have a delusion?”
“He was a businessman. You’d think he would use it for something like selling it, but we’re not sure how it got under his possession. Anyways, that man had two children. One that was adopted and one that was his full child. He was in the Knights of Favorious until his father died, and then he disappeared.”
“So you think it’s revenge?”
“Most likely. There’s probably suspicion that the Fatui set his father up to die.”
“Was Dottore afraid that this guy was gonna get in the way of his plans with Ursa?”
“That’s a pretty good theory. I think it makes sense considering how much damage he’s doing to our ranks.” Harlequin offers her a small smile, “It would explain how he’s able to massacre so many of our own on the lines alone.”
“And it would make sense why you’re sending someone like me to deal with this guy.” These kinds of jobs have always been assigned to her, and while she doesn’t do nearly as much gruesome stuff as she used to, she’s kind of glad she’s not doing small jobs right now. Lately, she and her team have been doing more recoinnanse to make sure to keep an eye on the Abyss Order.
It was exciting to be able to do more on the battlefield, she must admit.
“Regardless, I think only you and the others on your squad should head out. No one on the lower ranks should go. We’ve wasted enough soldiers as it is. Go to Liyue and see if you all can get any follow up from the leads that we have. If you see him, Jophiel. You can either kill him or bring him back alive. As long as the situation is taken care of, I couldn’t care less what happens.”
The woman, Jophiel, stood up, nodding, “You can count on us to take care of the situation, sir.”
XXXX
“Man, what’s taking her so long?”
Jophiel could hear some of her comrades in the distance as she was walking back to where they were. Since she got summoned by Harlequin, her team was waiting to hear back if they needed her.
She turns the corner to see them all standing, waiting for her. Meg, the orange haired girl with pigtails waved to her, “Hey Jophiel!” She rushes over to her, “How was the meeting?”
Jophiel sighs, “Good, we got a mission, but all of us here are the only ones that are going. We’re going to Liyue to track down someone.”
“Oh? We haven’t been on the field in a while. I’m kind of excited.” Heido, the dirty blond person declared, stretching themselves out, “What are we doing?”
“Well, do you guys know about the guy that’s been tearing into some of the facilities lately?” Jophiel wonders.
The black haired girl with blue eyes, Lana, who was standing a couple of feet away from Meg nods, “Things must be getting serious if Harlequin is getting his hand involved in this.”
“Is that why we’re not taking some of the lower soldiers with us?” Masato, the dark blue haired person standing next to Lana says.
“That would be correct. They’ve been getting slaughtered by this guy so it’s only fitting someone higher like ourselves is dealing with the situation.” Jophiel explains.
“I still don’t get how someone with a delusion alone is doing this though. There’s many people in our ranks with one and yet this guy is going at them like it’s nothing.”
“Delusions are supposed to burn your lifeforce out so if this guy continues, there might not be anything left of him.” Heido shrugs.
“Unless we get to him first.” Masato adds.
“Well, the Harbingers are all looking into this too.” Jophiel tells them, “Dottore’s really interested and Sandrone is as well. I wouldn’t be surprised if this news reached Tartaglia. You know that guy isn’t one to back down from a potential fight.” She knows a little too well that Tartaglia is probably upset he hasn’t gotten the chance to jump in, but orders were orders for the Harbingers. And he only just became a Harbinger.
“They can’t take action though until the situation worsens and it won't be with me on the case.” Jophiel continues.
“Oh, I didn’t know you were already so focused, Jophiel.” Masato teases as Jophiel shrugs.
“If he is so bad that the Harbingers are considering taking action, then I should be.” She sighs, knowing that she needs to get some supplies before they all head to Liyue, “Anyways, let’s meet outside of the city. I need to pick up a few things.” And hopefully make it quick because she knows she’s gonna get grilled for info if she and the others do not leave soon.
XXXX
Jophiel was taking notes to see if she got everything on her list. It wouldn’t take long of a journey but it would be enough to keep her going until she got to Liyue.
As she was rummaging through things, a familiar woman steps into view in front of the bench Jophiel was sitting at.
She cleared her throat, “You seem like you’re in a hurry.”
Jophiel jolted her head up to see none other than Sandrone, number seven of the Fatui Harbingers standing above her. Arms, crossing across her chest and a smirk plays on her lips.
Jophiel’s shoulders tenses a bit at the Harbinger’s presence. She yawns, “Well, yes, I certainly am. I’m leaving the city for a mission.” Jophiel browsed through the bag, taking her glance away from Sandrone.
“Ohohoho, I see. Would that mission happen to be in Liyue?”
Jophiel jerks her head over at her. Was she listening in earlier? Or did she hear what was going on?
“And if it is?” She asks, with a slight edge to her voice. Jophiel was on a tight schedule and did need to meet up with the others. So she was hoping this encounter wouldn’t take that long.
“Oh then I’m jealous you get the opportunity. I’ve been ordered to not do a thing yet, but you know,” Sandrone got close to Jophiel’s face, “I was really hoping to gouache that boy’s eyes out and make him one of my own. Maybe I’ll get the opportunity if you bring him back to Shenzenya.”
“Depends if I might kill him first, but I’m sure you’ve found use for corpses before. You know, like you did with some of Dottore’s experiments.” Jophiel doesn’t break any emotion on her face. She would rather not anger the Harbinger. She’s got some scars from her for trying her before.
Sandrone hums with a nod, “I was really looking forward to seeing him for myself, but I guess that’ll depend on your performance. You know the Doctor will be watching to see how you fare.”
A chill went down Jophiel’s spine at that. She wasn’t going to acknowledge the last line, but she knows there’s gonna be a fate worse than death with Dottore and Sandrone around interested in whoever the hell this guy is.
“I’m sure things will be interesting for you.” Jophiel gets up from the bench, “I have to go now, so I guess you’ll have to wait for the details when I return.”
“Oh so early?” Sandrone chuckles, “I was hoping for a little more girltime. Let’s hope you don’t die. Dottore can always patch you up, but it would be sad if I didn’t get my information when I wanted to. I’m a busy woman after all.” She takes a step back, letting Jophiel start walking a few steps before she calls out to her again, “You know, I was really hoping you’d lose that silly little helmet at this point in your life. You should be proud of yourself. You’ve become such a destructive little creature over the years.”
Jophiel rolls her eyes behind her helmet, “It has its advantages. Not everyone is as stealthy as you. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a journey to Liyue to make.”
Jophiel starts walking away from her even further as Sandrone calls out to her, “I’m looking forward to a nice talk with you after the events!”
Jophiel had gotten a little intense from that encounter. Her shoulders felt tight. However, she doesn’t turn back to the Harbinger. She instead continues to walk towards where all her other comrades are waiting for her. She had better things to worry about for now.
XXXX
“We got everything. Are you ready, Jophiel?”
Jophiel steps over to her team, nodding to Meg, “Yeah, as ready as we’ll ever be.”
They all started walking to head out for their mission. Jophiel feels that her shoulders were tight from earlier. She forgot how much she hated dealing with Sandrone. Maybe not as much as Dottore, but still would’ve rather not had to deal with her. She really wished that she would’ve been successful in avoiding them both.
She’s gonna get cornered for info when she gets back. She knows it.
“Are you okay, Jophiel?”
Jophiel looked over at Heidou who had just snapped her out of her trance, “I’m fine.” She says, “Nothing to worry about.”
She pulled out water from her bag and took a drink of it, putting the cap back on and putting it back in her bag.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” She asks.
“You looked really tense.” The Geo user points out, “Did you see Sandrone or Dottore at all?”
Jophiel sighs, “Yeah, only Sandrone though. No Dottore. She was talking to me about the mission, but I think she just wanted to rile me up and expect to see her after the mission.”
“Sounds like her.” Lana sighs, “I’ve never seen her in person before.”
“Yeah, she’s more ruthless than Signora and Scaramouche combined. I try not to avoid any interactions that I can.” Masako sighs, “Why is she bothering you so much?”
“Because I’m on a mission she wants to know more about. She’s interested in him, even daydreamed about ripping his eyes out.” Jophiel shakes out the fact that it could’ve been her if things in her past went differently but there was zero time or want to explain that part of her life right now.
“She’ll probably at least stab Dottore in the back.” A snort came out of Jophiel’s lips, “Archons help anyone within that bastard’s range when or if that happens.”
“Yeah that’s someone I definitely avoid.” Meg shivers, “That Doctor is creepy to say the least.”
Masako scoffs, “I’m surprised he’s still alive considering he and Harlequin have gotten into it in the past.”
Jophiel nods, “Me too. Harlequin is the worst person to have as your enemy.” Putting it mildly at that. You don’t piss off the second Harbinger unless you want to die. Everyone outside of the ranks of the second knew that.
“Anyways, let’s continue.” She says, basically signaling to the group that she didn’t really want to talk about anything else along the way.
XXXX
They had gotten to Liyue not too long ago. They had to fight some of the Abyss while on the route but it wasn’t too bad. The others had gone ahead of her to do some reconnianse to see if this guy had been seen yet.
It was boring to sit out here and wait, but Jophiel, in this outfit, really didn’t fit in public like her squad members did.
Night had been starting to drop. The sunset was shown in the sky. Usually, any activity that this red haired guy would be doing at night. Which means it would be show time soon.
“Oh Jophiel~”
Jophiel jumps, turning to see Tartaglia standing a few feet away from her. He rubs the back of his neck with a smile, “It’s great to see you. I haven’t seen you in a while!”
Jophiel gave him a smile behind the helmet, but considering events, it was better to keep it on in case her real face gets revealed at all, “It’s good to see you, Tartaglia. How have you been? Is your new position going well?”
She had been friends with him for a while. Or at least, the closest she could call a friend. The others were the same as well in that regard, but Jophiel knew Tartaglia longer than the others.
“It’s as busy as expected but I’m adjusting well.” Tartaglia smiles, “How about you? How’s everything going in Harlequin’s ranks?”
“I can’t complain. He lets me have my peace.” Jophiel responds, “Plus it’s been a long time since I started. About two years now?”
“Wow, has it really been that long? Your promotion just happened recently though, right?”
“A few months, yeah.” Jophiel laughs lightly, “Wow, we’re moving up. It wasn’t that long ago that we were sparing whenever we got freetime.”
“Yeah, it sure has. You still owe me a sparring match whenever we get the chance. I won’t go easy on you.” He points a finger at her as Jophiel laughs.
“Wasn’t expecting you too.” She remarks.
“So what brings you to Liyue? Is Harlequin having you do some business out here?” Tartaglia asks.
“Yeah, we’re tracking that red-haired guy that’s been causing havoc to our soldiers.” Jophiel replies.
“They’re having you go after him now? Wow things must be tense if they’re getting you involved. Kind of jealous though. If I wasn’t a Harbinger, I probably would’ve gotten the chance to fight him. A shame.” Tartaglia smirks, “You probably got this though. You’re strong.”
Jophiel nods, “I don’t think there should be too much of an issue, but I am being cautious about this as well.” She knows this guy is different from the others but doesn’t know how or why aside from utilizing a delusion better than most.
“There has to be a reason why a lot of the Harbingers are interested in this guy with all the havoc he’s causing, after all.” Jophiel continues.
“Right, I think so too.” Tartaglia says, “Anyways, I shouldn’t keep you from your mission. Come and find me when you get time to spar with me.”
Jophiel nods as she watches Tartaglia leave.
Jophiel let out a sigh, knowing that if her and Tartaglia had teamed up on the perpetrator, that he wouldn’t have stood a chance. She knows he has business of his own and she’s always been used to working alone for the most part.
She spotted her team in the distance, giving them a small wave. She walks over to them, crossing her arms across her chest, “So, how’d everything go?”
“Pretty well. We got most of our information that Harlequin gave us reinforced. He’s working alone, staying to himself, not staying in one place. One of the shop owners described him as kind.” Masato says.
“I got a little more.” Meg remarks, looking at her notes, “He’s currently looking into some of the scrabbles in the Abyss Order as well.” She put her notes away, giving a smile.
“Did you get any information of where?” Jophiel asks.
“In the Linqu Pass. There’s been a lot of Abyss activity there. I’m not sure what their plan is, or what they’re doing. There's been a lot of activity there.” Meg replies.
“He might be looking for answers too.” Jophiel rests a glove hand on her helmet where her chin was, “The plan is to not intervene in fighting the Abyss. The battle could tire them out and when that happens, that’s when I’ll take care of the situation.”
“If he doesn’t know the details, I don’t know why he would take such a big risk in this. He has to know that Fatui is tracking him, especially if he’s been trying to stay stealthy.” Masato points out.
“Yeah, I have a feeling he has a plan of his own. Maybe he’s trying to lure one of us in there?” Meg theorizes.
Jophiel lets out a sigh, “More of a reason to go in there. We’ve already suffered casualties as it is. There isn’t a need to let others do that. If I reach out to Tartaglia to give the order out to keep tropes out of here, he’ll know we’re closing in on him. It’s best to play this as well as we can. You can all follow me, but this guy isn’t some normal guy. We go in and don’t take risks.”
“Got it, Jophiel, if you need help, we’ll step in.” Lana clenches a fist as Meg nods in firmly at her words.
Jophiel sighs, “That’s not part of-”
“You’re a higher officer, you’re probably someone he wants to go after and I don’t think your former status has something to do with it. You interact with the Harbingers more than we do.” Lana says/
Jophiel couldn’t disagree with that, but if he was only trying to go after lower ranking officers with his power alone, his info had to have been barren if he was hoping to do more, and why the Abyss of all things? Couldn’t he just go after more of their own?
...Or did he think they don’t care for each other? It wasn’t untrue if that was the case. Scaramouche didn’t care for his own, Dottore didn’t either, and neither did Sandrone but Tartaglia’s and Harlequin’s ranks were different.
He must’ve viewed Fatui as an absolute scorn.
…She couldn’t blame him for that.
A sigh, out of urgency or out of frustration? It was probably both. She issues her squad to follow her, heading over to the pass.
XXXX
They all headed to the pass. Everyone seemed a bit nervous. Jophiel had been too focused on the situation and she was certain the others were too. She rather make this quick. Dead or alive was gonna be up to this guy.
She stares at the Domain’s door, feeling the insane Abysmal energy that was around it. Something was going on in there, that’s for sure.
“It’s definitely the spot we’re supposed to be in.” Jophiel says, “It reeks of the Abyss.” A pause, “Let’s all hide and wait for him to come out. If he’s tired out, he’ll be easier to catch.” She tells the group.
The group all took respective hiding spots, waiting for the moment for their perpetrator to come out so they could take them out. Helma could feel the Abyss outside of the door and she found that if it had been some normal person coming into the picture, that they would’ve been obliterated for how many people were in there.
Minutes that felt like hours passed. The tension had increased as they all awaited for their target to come out. They all hid in silence, not giving out too much attention to themselves. If they did, they wouldn’t have the element of surprise here.
More time passed and Jophiel could sense that there was abysmal energy draining fast. This guy is actually insane. There was so much abyss energy in there and yet he’s fighting it like it was nothing.
“Jophiel, can you tell us what’s going on in there?” Masako demands.
It had only been ten minutes since they got here, eight since they were hiding. What the fuck is this guy’s lifeforce if he’s been using his delusion this way?
“It hasn’t been that long. He’s wiping out the Abyss like a tank.” Jophiel realizes now how he’s been able to ravage their ranks. His stamina is insane for someone with a delusion.
But he is tiring himself out and she knows it. If he continues rampaging like this either the delusion will kill him, Jophiel herself would kill him, or the Harbingers would kill him if he isn’t taken care of here.
Either way, a fate worse than death could await him.
The door to the domain suddenly opens and chains shoot up moments after it opens.
“Move!”
Jophiel moves back as well with Masako and Heido. However, Meg and Lana hadn’t been lucky. They were caught by the chains and tossed backwards into the ruins.
Their target showed themselves, jumping out of the domain. His claymore was stabbed onto the ground. His fiery red haired ponytail blew with the wind. His red coat flowed in the wind as well.
Jophiel’s eyes narrowed behind her helmet, pulling out her polearm as her other two team members pulled out theirs.
“That speed is insane.” Masato mutters.
“He’s able to wield a delusion that skillfully? It’s almost like he doesn’t have any repercussions.” Heido points out
Oh, he definitely does get repercussions. Jophiel knows a little too well how it is when you’re hiding how little energy you have left. He’s got a high stamina and a high pain tolerance rate.
“Scatter.” Jophiel orders as another round of chains came running towards them.
“Stay down!”
Lana’s voice calls out from the distance as a powerful Cryo spell froze the chains but they quickly break free of the spell. The attack continues advancing on the three.
Jophiel slashes at the chains with her polearm. She moved back a few feet. She lands on the ground. Purple hues, narrowing from behind her helmet. She noticed Masato and Heido had charged their own moves but the man had canceled them out with his fire.
The chains this time knocks them both away, leaving Jophiel to face this opponent in battle.
“You thought a measly little sneak attack like that could stop me?” The red haired man clenched his claymore with one hand, glaring at her, “Numbers won’t let you win the battle.”
Jophiel twirls her polearm in her hands, assuming a stance as the red haired man continues, “I have questions for you, Fatui scum.”
“Do you now?” Jophiel chuckled, “Well, I don’t give answers out to someone I just met. Let alone someone like your calibur.”
“If you weren’t wearing your Fatui getup, I’d probably have mistaken you as someone from the Abyss. You reek of it.” He tells her.
Jophiel smiles, “Oh? I wouldn’t have known.” She speaks sarcastically.
Her polearm clashes with his claymore within seconds. Her eyes widen at the strength he has. She felt herself sliding slightly. He pushes her back before sending more chains at her. She used the power of her electro vision to swing a powerful blast from her polearm. Smoke envelops the battlefield.
And then the assailant was in front of her in seconds. She blocked her slashes with her polearm strikes. He was trying to make sure she couldn’t keep her distance in this battle. He had the advantage on both ends with those chains.
They continue trying to slash each other back and forth. However, both parties cancel each other’s attacks. Jophiel jumps back, charging a lightning attack from her polearm, aiming it straight at him before he tries blocking it. He gets sent flying, straight into the ruins nearby.
Jophlei wasted no time charging her opponent. However before the smoke could even clear, the chains came out again. Jophiel manages to block them, but she is sent flying backwards. She regains her balance, sliding a few feet away.
“You can’t hide behind those silly little chains forever.” She picks up her polearm with two hands, spinning to send a electro slash towards him.
The assailant came back into her view, raising his claymore up at her as flames burned from it. He managed to dodge and get into her view that quickly?
He swings, and Jopheil braces herself for the overload as her polearm stops the attack. Lightning coursed through the attack which caused both of them this time to be knocked away a few feet.
Coughing, Jopheli has been able to stay on her feet, using her polearm to support her, “Alright, you want serious?” She twirled her polearm. This time, electricity was mixed with abysmal energy, “You get serious.”
The man charges his claymore to show a shape of fire of that of a phoenix swinging it directly towards her, “Burn!”
Jopheil teleports, appearing a few feet before the man. She throws out her abysmal energy, twirling her polearm, “Exit to hell!” She screamed. The Abysmal energy crackles with the electro lightning. The lightning was a darker shade of purple than before.
She points her polearm that was pulsing with Abysmal energy mixed with electro energy, shooting it directly at him. The move landed with his own ultimate move as the overload once again took over, but he had been hit with lightning from the sky thanks to her burst.
However, she was still taking a bad hit with this move.
Jophlei was knock back by the blast. She collided with the pillars hard, causing her to cough blood. She heard something hit a thud but it wasn’t herself. She coughs up blood in her glove hand, panting. Her vision was blurry, unable to see as she heard footsteps and forces herself to walk out of the crater she was in.
She heard a gasp which caused her to look up. Her vision, starting to clear a little.
“Helma?”
She freezes at the mention of her name as the vision cleared, realizing she was no longer wearing her helmet. Her eyes, widening in shock.
How did he know that name? No one was supposed to know about that name besides a selected few.
“Helma? Is that really you? It’s me, Diluc.”
Suddenly Jophiel’s head pounds hard, causing her to hold it in pain. It wasn’t because her head was hurting right now. No, this was different. A feeling of familiarity took over her system. She doesn’t know why she’s feeling these emotions right now but she wants them all gone. Now.
She cannot bring herself to say anything. Now that she wasn’t focused on fighting, she was realizing the look of his face was familiar, but she hadn’t seen him until now.
This isn’t happening, she doesn’t know what the fuck was going on. First this guy wants to fight her and interrogate her information but now, she’s someone familiar too?
“You wouldn't have done something like this…” Diluc says, “It can’t be you.”
“Hate to break it to you, but Helma died a long time ago.” Jophiel snarled, “But I don’t remember you. I’ve never seen you before in my life.”
She says it to lie to herself, to act like she didn’t feel this sudden guilt in her system that she couldn’t explain. The guilt was there but why was it there? Why was it an enemy? Why was she acting like this?
Why does she feel this sensation like she’s about to cry?
“Why did you join the Fatui?!” Diluc asks her.
Blurry images flashed in her mind, causing her to hold her head in pain, “Wouldn’t you like to know. Why would you want to know if you think it couldn’t be me?”
“Because I want to know. Why did you side with these monsters? Why did you become one?” He asks her, taking a step forward.
Abyss lightning sparks, causing him to flinch, “I told you I don’t remember you!” She screamed, feeling her head pounding more and more, “I’ve never seen you in my life!”
“Did they…did they do this to you?” Diluc asks again and Jopheil is at her limit with this guy. She didn’t even want to kill him anymore. These feelings that she can’t explain. She just wants them gone.
She wants him gone.
“I SAID LEAVE!” The lightning sparks again, causing Diluc to take a step back.
“Fine, have it your way. But you should be ashamed to join someone like them.” Why was he still here? Fuck.
“STOP LECTURING ME! YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME!” She exclaims.
She lets out a scream as the man decides to run away from her, noticing the slight pain on his face before he runs off.
Jophlei pants heavily, still feeling as if her heart just got ripped out of her chest. She doesn’t know the nonsense he’s spatting out but if he’s gonna act like he wants to be a friend after he attacked her, he can fuck off. She doesn’t know him. Her brain is lying, it’s fucking lying…
This is fucking fustrauting. Why did she feel like this? She doesn’t know what to do at this point. She couldn’t kill him in her state. She was going into a full blown meltdown. The images continued to flash and it caused Jophiel to scream again.
“Fuck, fuck!” She screams out in frustration, feeling her vision blurring again as the injuries in her body suddenly gave away and her whole world turned to black.