#{what if it's happiness now and agony down the road?}|Stefan|

[thedemisedroyal]

Dangerous Betrayal | TVD/TO

The Vampire Diaries & The Originals

AU Story

𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒 | 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓

𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝙰𝚁𝙴 𝙾𝙽 𝙿𝙰𝚁𝚃 𝙵𝙸𝚅𝙴!

• E S M E •

"Please, just make it stop!" The princess yelled in agony as she held her head. All the memories rushing through her mind, all the pain, all the hurt, everything bad she had done in her life ran through her head. But it was intensified by a trillion, this was on purpose, they wanted her in be pain.

Adara and Eila laughed manically, "Oh poor little baby, is something wrong?" Adara baby talked, chuckling in between. The princess yelled out, closing her eyes, trying to fight it, but she can't, she couldn't. The girl was consumed with guilt, making her walls around her mind tremble, they were weak, ready to fall down at the slightest of touch.

She had been tortured for years and years, after her mother banished her from the Void, they had sent her to Heaven. Her parents left her there as they hadn't finished their final punishment for their youngest daughter and child for her crimes. Until then, she would be tortured, just for laughs, just for entertainment.

"You know, for the Goddess of All Creation, you are weaker then I thought you would b-"

"Esme!" The Gilbert broke out of her thoughts, she fell into her head and she looked at the mirror in a weird angle, making her eyes shine like a golden-yellow. Making her the olden days, the years that started all of this. "Esme come on, we're gonna be late!" Elena shouted once more, the two, had school, as always, and were back into cheerleading, the younger twin seemed more willing to go then the oldest. But it made sense, things were different now.

Esme grabbed her bag and water,"Coming!" The middle child yelled, running out of her room and downstairs. "Let's get this show on the road." Esme mumbled under her breath, seeing her sister, not in her cheerleading costume.

• A U T H O R •

As time went on, Elena and Stefan had gotten much closer, dating now, which led to Esme of course threatening him if he didn't anything back to her sister. But all in all, Esme liked Stefan, trying to get close to figure out what he wanted in the end.

But days went by and she had met Damon as well, sensing he was also a vampire. But Jordan also noticed Damon looked at her with some sort of admiration, or maybe some sort of love. She had no idea was this was about, but she would definitely find out soon. As it was all too weird, now that her best friend, Caroline Forbes, was dating this Damon, who was eyeing her.

Right away she didn't exactly like him, he was a cocky and arrogant man who liked to stir up trouble. For instance, when Elena had a little dinner party with Bonnie and Stefan, Caroline and Damon had arrive unannounced, soon the blonde pulled the younger twin downstairs to join the fun. Which was a very awkward introduction between the raven haired and brunette.

It was even more awkward when the oldest Salvatore brother talked about their past live affair. Who was named Katherine, Elena had informed her sister on the love triangle, whilst the two watched and dried dishes when everyone else was in the living room. Then he walked in, and then Elena left the two alone, awkwardly.

During the time, Damon and Esme got to talk a bit, trying to get to know each other, but the girl felt very uncomfortable as Damon had this weird look in his eyes, a softness, with a genuine smile on his face which was rare for him in his case. Luckily, Bonnie had came in to ask if she needed more help, as Esme was taking quite a bit of time in the kitchen.

But that was awhile ago, and now it is the day of the football game. And the girl needed to be on her game for the cheerleaders and her best friends. Though it didn't help with the Tyler and Jeremy fight, and Stefans cover nearly blown with the cut on his hand, with Elena as witness.

• E S M E •

"God guys, I'll be back, I left my jacket and water in the car." Esme rubbed her forehead, Caroline and Bonnie nodded, the Gilbert quickly ran out the field and into the parking lot. The game was to start soon, and if she wasn't present soon the Forbes girl would have her ass. Esme quickly opened up the trunk, grabbing her maroon colored jacket and her big water bottle, that's as surprisingly still cool after being left in the car.

She swiftly turned around, gasping as she was face to face with Damon Salvatore. "You scared me. W-What are you doing here?" The Gilbert questioned, Damon looked over his shoulder quickly, then putting his hand to the side of his mouth,"I'm hiding from Caroline." He whispered. Esme quirked a brow,"And why is that?" She playfully whispered as well.

"I needed a break. She talks more then I can listen." Damon widened his eyes for a second. "That could be a sign." Esme nodded her head, kind of uncomfortable. "Well, she's awfully young".

Esme narrowed her eyes at the Salvatore,"Not much younger than you are." She responded back, Damon chuckled a bit. "I don't see it going anywhere in the bigger picture. I think she's drive me crazy." Damon spoke, Esme rose her brows and tilted her head a bit. "Caroline does have some really annoying traits, but we've been best friend since the first grade and that means something to me." The Gilbert defensively spoke, sternness in her manner.

The girl watched as something switched in the raven haired man,"Duly noted. I'm sorry if I make you uncomfortable. That's not my intention." Damon talked in the soothing voice, as if he was trying to persuade her. But the girl didn't fall for it, Damon was already on her bad side,"Yes, it is. Otherwise you wouldn't put an alternate meaning behind everything you say."

Damon smiled, shaking his head,"You're right. I do have other intentions, but so do you." Esme folded her arms across chest,"Really?" She questioned, wanting to see where he was going with this. Damon hummed as a response,"I seem 'em. You want me." Esme scoffed, feeling offended,"Excuse me?"

"I get to you. You find yourself drawn to me. You think about me when you don't want to think about me. I bet you even dreamed about me." Damon looked straight into Esme's eyes, the girl immediately knew what he was trying to do. "Compulsion." The voice in the back of her head reappeared for her once again. The girl was confused, what was this little voice, and most importantly, what the hell was Damon trying to play at here.

She snapped back into reality when she heard his voice once again speak,"And right now.. You want to kiss me." Esme had this emotionless look on her face, though it was pure anger, Damon smiled as he succeeded or he thought. He slowly leaned in with a smirk, Esme looked at his lip, before her face was painted with a scowl, and without thinking, Esme raised her hand and slapped him hard.

"What the hell?" Esme scoffed, glaring at him,"I don't know what game your trying to play here. Maybe trying to mess with Stefan, I don't know. But I don't want to be a part of it. And I don't know what happened in the past, but let's get one thing straight." Damon was in complete shock, Esme locked eyes with the man, who was holding his cheek,"I am not a pawn." Esme glared once more before tightly holding her water and jacket and walking away.

She didn't even realize what she had just done, she had blown her own cover...

• S T E F A N •

The blonde haired vampire watched as Matt walked away, feeling slightly more happy and comfortable with the complicated situation between him, Elena and Matt, but it was short-lived as he heard someone clapping behind him. He swiftly turned around, to see his older brother leaning against the brick wall.

"Isn't that nice? Stefan joins the team, makes a friend." Damon announced, pure sarcasm out of his tone of voice. "It's all so,'Rah, Rah, Go Team, Yeah'!" Damon raised his arm in a fist bump, clearly mocking his brother. Stefan shook his head, turning his body to leave,"Not tonight. I'm done with you." As he turned he was met face to face with Damon, who used his vampire-speed. Damon tilted his head, "Nice trick with Esme. Let me guess— vervain in her bracket? Necklace or ring maybe?"

Stefan was confused, he never gave the girl any vervain, only Elena. But he made sure to not show any unsureness, as he didn't even know why he couldn't compel her. "I admit, I was a bit surprised. It been a while since anyone could resist my compulsion." Damon lifted his eyes, throwing a innuendo in there. Stefan kept a cold, and stern face, unfazed,"Where'd you get it?" The older brother asked, "Does it matter?" Stefan started to walk away, going around his brother.

"Guess I could just seduce her the old-fashioned way. Or I could just..eat her." Damon cockily spoke, knowing that caught his brothers attention. Stefan stopped, turning around, confidence in his body,"No, you're not gonna hurt her." He slowly walked towards him as Damon turned around to face him.

"No?" Damon arrogantly asked,"Because deep down inside there is a part of you that feels for her. I was worried that you had no humanity left inside of you; that you may have actually become the monster that you pretend to be." Stefan with confidence, knowing he wouldn't hurt her, not if she looks the way she is.

Damon squinted his eyes,"Who's pretending?" Stefan looking him in the eyes,"Then kill me." Damon smiled,"Well I'm— I'm tempted." He looked up, shaking his head as he looked as if he was deciding. "No, you're of. You've had lifetimes to do it, and yet, here I am. I'm still alive. And there you are. You're still haunting me. After one hundred and forty five years. Katherine is dead, and so is Natasha. And you hate me because you love her, and you torture me because you still do. And that, my brother, is your humanity." The two had a tense stare off, but it was quickly interrupted by the annoying douche, Mr. Tanner.

"Salvatore!" The blonde haired man turned around with a stern expression, the teacher walked towards him with open arms,"What the hell? We've got a game to play!" He yelled, frustrated, Damon looked at the teacher with an idea popping in her head. "If that's my humanity..the. What's this?" He gulped, flashing a quick and sarcastic smile towards Stefan.

Then using his vampire-speed to Mr. Tanner, his vampire fad slowly unraveling, his fangs then digging themself into Mr. Tanner's neck. He yelled in pain,"No!" Stefan yelled, seeing as his brother slowly drained the teacher for all he was worth. Then just like that, he was dead, Damon turned around, blood all over his mouth, dripping to his chin, his vampire face still out,"Anyone, any time, any place." Stefan blinked in shock, this was going to be a lot more tougher.

• E S M E •

Dread...that's what filled the Gilbert body as she was in the field with the rest of the cheerleader, practicing. Until that emotion she knew all to well filled her body, it nearly paralyzed her when she felt the sense of death. She could smell it in the air, feel it in her finger tips, taste it on her tongue.

She held her head as a pain rushed through her body, she walked away from the group, though no one noticed, luckily. Then aloud ringing filled her head, making her groan, she opened her eyes, but shut them immediately when the lights hit her. "Fuck!" Jordan clenched her eyes in pain, she then moved further away from her group, feeling a sudden breeze of wind hit her face and body. She opened her eyes as she heard no one, and felt no light on her.

"What in the?" Jordan looked around her new surrounding, seeing she wasn't even on school soil anymore. No, she was in the empty park of Mystic Falls, far away from the school. She then felt a rush of power surge through her veins, Jordan gasped as she lifted up her hands to see scarlet red flares dancing around her hand.

"What's happening to me?"

[leosault]

Tide Pod Jonny - by Aria Oakbelle

Although the war had not yet been won, the battle had been and everyone was celebrating. For the first time in what seemed like forever, Jonny and the gang had time to rest a little and compose themselves. Every now and then a member of the Loli Army would be spotted, but everyone was confident in saying that, for the time being, their multicoloured enemy were running with their tails between their tiny legs. In the aftermath of the bombing, Jonny had become more popular than ever, and that included with the women. Being the thot that he was he made the most of the interesting situation and was seen with a different girl every night. Although the community seemed to be in high spirits, there was one person who was less than happy.

Malefic had been with Jonny for a long time, and his infatuation with him was well known. The problem was that no matter how many times he stalked him and made obvious advances, he continued to spurn his affections; instead picking up any woman, neko or trap that even looked in his direction. "How could he even look at that thing, let alone take it home?" growled Malefic, staring at his children as if demanding an answer from them. The pair looked at each other then shrugged, unsure what they were meant to say. A large group from the community had been celebrating yet another successful mission to reclaim some of the land they had lost in previous battles, and as usual Jonny had been surrounded by a crowd of devoted fans. "I'm not even sure what it was, some kind of fat, deformed pikachu?!" he continued to rage. "He really is starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel now. And yet..." he sighed, his rage subsiding into sadness at his unrequited love. He took a few moments to wallow in the sadness, then shook his head to pull himself together. It was time to swing luck and love in his direction for once.

That night, not far from the Allied Base of Operations, a small, lone figure skipped along a dirt road. The single tidepod loli had been separated from their platoon, but had managed to hide away from the Allied sweeps purging the area. They had no care for where they were or where they were heading, as long as they could skip along with their tide pods they were perfectly content. In the almost pure darkness of night, it moved along unseen into the outer areas of Allied Camp. There had been no need for security so close to home, something that the community would come to regret in time. As the loli moved a little further into camp, a chunk of swirling light caught its eye. "Tide... Pod?" it said slowly, then ran towards the shimmering blue and white liquid bubbling within a cauldron. Of course, there was no one around to hear the splash...

The next morning Malefic stirred his potion, adding the last few ingredients to finish it off, then bottling a small amount of it. The love potion may have seemed like an extreme measure to most, but nothing could deter him from the path he had set upon now. The small bottle of potion concealed in his pocket, Malefic went about his day and waited for Jonny to appear for his court mandated visitation hours with Donut and Sprinkles. "Can I get you a drink?" he asked sweetly as Jonny sat down with the kids. "Sure." Malefic went to make them all drinks, uncorking the small bottle and pouring the contents into Jonny's glass. He watched in anticipation as Jonny downed his drink and grinned. "Thanks." he said happily, putting down the glass. "So kids, what'll it b-" Jonny's voice cut off as his expression turned to one of pain and shock. He doubled over, clutching his stomach and letting out a bloodcurdling scream of agony.

There was a loud banging on the front door. "Jonny?" called Stefan. "Jonny, are you okay?" When there was no answer Stefan called frantically. "I heard Jonny scream! I'm coming Jonny!" With a loud war cry Stefan took a run up and went shoulder first into the door, crashing through it and falling to the floor with it. "No don't let him get out!" cried Malefic, but to no avail. A small, rainbow tidepod loli came sprinting out of a room, trampled over Stefan's back and ran off towards the edge of camp. "LOLI!" yelled Stefan as he jumped up and pulled his rifle from a holster on his back, running madly after it. "No!" cried Malefic, "Don't hurt Jonny!" but Stefan and Tidepod Jonny were gone.

Stefan chased the loli, single-mindedly focused on his quarry. It was fast, but so was he and he managed to keep up with ease. They ran through the bomb ruined landscape until they came to the old, abandoned power plant. Stefan paused as he entered the area having lost sight of the loli. He moved slowly, his rifle raised ready to fire at the first sign of movement. "Where are you loli?" he asked into the silence.

THWACK!

Jonny hadn't been able to control himself. The tidepod wanted blood and he couldn't resist it. In the hands that were his, but not his, he had been holding the colourful little pod and now saw his outstretched arm and unclenched grip as Stefan fell to the floor. Tidepod Jonny dropped the tub of pods in shock just as Malefic finally caught up with them. "Stefan!" Malefic said, his face pale in shock. "Oh no what have I done? I'm so sorry. Stefan, Jonny..." He looked at the loli and saw, with surprise that there were tears rolling down it's cheeks. As the first tear dropped from his cheek and hit the ground there was a flash of light. The more the loli cried for Jonny's lost friend, the stronger the light became until it was encased in a circle of brilliant white light. It was as if the light washed away the rainbow colouring of the tidepod loli, and slowly Jonny regained his usual form. The light vanished and Jonny ran to Stefan, falling to his knees next to him. "I killed Stefan! How could I kill Stefan?!" he cried in anguish, thumping the hard floor with his fist in anger. He rested his head on his friend's chest, sobbing loudly.

"What's all the noise?" asked Stefan, yawning as he stirred and knocked Jonny from on top of him. "Jonny! Why were you laying on me? Why am I wet?" he asked in confusion, sitting up. He rubbed his head and pulled a chocolate bar from his pocket, opening it quickly and wolfing it down. Jonny's eyes were wide as he stared at his friend. Quickly he placed his hands on his body and started looking all over. "Where is it?" Jonny asked. "Where's what?" asked Stefan, his mouth full of a bite of a new chocolate bar. "The wound!" Jonny yelled, almost exasperated with Stefan's lack of understanding. "It's not here... What?" Jonny looked around and saw the fatal tide pod laying next to Stefan in the dust. "But then why did you..." Jonny finally put two and two together, pulled Stefan to his feet and then punched him hard in the face. "YOU KNOW YOU FEINT WHEN YOU DON'T EAT!" he yelled as he aimed a kick at Stefan. "YOU USELESS SWEDISH MORON, I THOUGHT I KILLED YOU!"

[nanaswhispers]

Energy

KLAROLINEAUWEEK DAY7: Trope x Trope

Superpowers + Friends to Lovers + Forced proximity.

I had originally planed to do a HP AU, but this came out by itself. 

Enjoy!

“Klaus! Cover!”

At her shriek, she saw Klaus look up at her, but for the first time since the Agency's paired them up, he couldn't do as she told him.

His feet had been trapped with the solidifying goo Silas' fizz-blaster armed arm sent their way. Klaus had pushed her out of the way, taking the hit for both of them. His grunt had been painful to hear, but she was grateful for the gesture. (Even if he would hear from her when the shit-storm calmed down!)

Now, not only was he immobilized by the entrapment of his feet, Silas' partner Qetsiyah, a bitch with telekinetic and magnetic abilities, has sent some sort of energy beam towards him. Caroline had put up one of her shields around him, however she didn't have the time to strengthen it nor form it completely, and shortly it fizzled out of existence.

In the meantime, while it was still up, Klaus had prepared himself for the attack, she saw his skin shimmer with his diamond repellent, his cells transforming into the mineral so that nothing could pass through.

For a brief moment Caroline had hoped it would be enough, but rationally she knew that it was a mental attack, and their years of training had proved his diamond shield wasn't made for that, not like her own energy one.

That's when she understood their plan.

Qetsiyah would disable Klaus, judging him the most threatening one with his super strength, shields and regenerative abilities, leaving her without partner, and susceptible to their physical attacks.

They thought her weak, and only able to put energy shield and send lightning balls. What they didn't count on, she smirked, was that it had always been their go-to plan to cover her full powers.

So, as the female part of their enemy's team was occupied with her constant blast eating slowly little by little at Klaus' defense, Caroline used her gift to sneak up behind Silas with a speed they never expected from the useless blonde bombshell.

Caroline was attuned to all types of energy, particularly living, electricity making ones. She was able to become one with it. Make her entire body pure shifting of atoms. And therefore, wasn't bound by ordinary laws of physics as everybody else.

When she stood behind the polymorphic, weapons loving son of a bitch, her hand reached up to his nape, and grabbed his neck forcefully. She felt the rage she had stored up since the moment he had killed Stefan two months ago, and slit her mother's throat a week after that, bubble up to her arm, itching to release itself onto him.

And while she had contained it all these weeks, Caroline smiled with ire and satisfaction as she let it go forth and control her limb. Vindictively jumping negative energy slowly rose up and released itself through her fingers into his nervous system.

She saw him tremble in a crescendo manner, first it had been a small spasm in his hands, now it was his whole body vibrating, as she slowly burned each nerve and blood cell in his body.

When she finally unclenched her hand from him, what remained was a decrepit human like form still twitching from the effects of five lightning strikes combined.

Caroline was never happy to take a life, however she would make an exception for this.

Her attack on Silas, and subsequent murder (the part of her that still remained a young daughter of an awesome female Sheriff hurt deep in her heart despite the hold revenge still had on her), distracted Qetsiyah's attack on her own partner.

Klaus, ever watchful, even when in deep agony under a mental attack that destabilized his natural energy, took advantage of her small moment of distraction to liberate his feet from their shackles, and with his physical prowess, he jumped out of his entrapment up to his attacker's back.

He mimicked the position Caroline had taken moments earlier, and he grabbed the telekinetic's neck from behind. However, he didn't waste any time on a fancy energy attack, he only smirked at Caroline and snapped her neck, without any warning.

The silence that fell over them at that instant was calming, like a balm on a wound. Caroline felt hope at that moment that finally everything would calm down, that for once they wouldn't have to deal with another crisis in the next few hours. She had hoped to lay down, and sort through the past chaotic months and the subsequent feelings.

She had hoped too fast, believed too quickly in a wishful mirage.

Because right at that instant, when both their breaths normalized, and their postures released themselves from the adrenalin of the fight, Klaus hurled towards her uncontrollably.

His body crashed into hers, leaving her winded -and confused- and she looked at him questioningly. While she was happy to feel him against her (she forced herself to shove those feelings down), she knew Klaus. Although he enjoyed provoking her and encroaching her personal space, he never touched her so directly without her permission, not only because he knew she wasn't a fan (her powers caused some embarrassing moments in the past when with only one of her touch, people had uncontrollable physical reactions, especially boys…), but also because he simply proved himself to be quite the gentleman behind the “Hybrid” costume if he so wished.

Plus, she saw his own bewilderment as he flew through the airs to her.

“Sweetheart, did you purposely somehow pull me to you?”

His tone was cautious, and she saw in his eyes that although he hoped that truly was the case, he didn't believe in his own words.

“You know I didn't Klaus, so stop asking useless questions. Just, like, try to back up a few meters.”

She saw his displeasure at the tone in her voice, but she couldn't help it, she was tired and needed a bath in order to cope with another murder she committed, however necessary and satisfactory his death was. Only her expression seemed to calm him down and make him swallow back the harsh retort she knew would pass through those sinful lips. They knew each other too well to be baited into hurtful arguments.

His feet took a few strained steps back, but once they reached the distance where their arms couldn't reach each other anymore, his entire body was sent back towards hers again.

“This seriously needs to stop, I can't handle both guilt, tiredness and arousal at the same time!” she thought.

She was brought out of her musings by Klaus' hand waving in front of her face.

“Oh, yes, what?”

“Sweetheart, I've called you a few times already, is everything alright?”

“No it's not, for now, but I'll cope with it later. We need to solve this first.”

She saw him about to make a remark, but she couldn't deal with that right now, so at her silent warning to not broach the topic, he slowly nodded, even though she could see in his eyes, he wasn't over it, and they will talk about it when this situation resolved itself.

“What do you suppose caused this… development?”

Caroline took a few moments to ponder about it.

“I think it was a combination of Qetsiyah's attack on you leaving your cells with a magnetic charge, and my use of electricity to… deal, with Silas. It could be possible that the unrest in our energy levels is causing us to be attracted to each other.”

At Klaus' playful smirk, she realized what she said.

“Not like attracted, attracted, like in an attracted way, more like, you know magnets. Zlup, we're fixed to each other you know? Haha…”

The awkward laugh she let out after that made it even more mortifying.

Klaus, already in the vicinity because of the distance limit, slowly closed up on her. She felt suffocated by the current between them. The already ever present throb they had usually, was only exacerbated with the energy bond they had to deal with at the moment.

His animal-like abilities in the ordinary made him strong, swift and agile, but now he was almost prowling towards her, like a hunter with its prey.

The charm he always emitted transformed into a compelling allure, she couldn't tear her eyes away from him, however much she tried (but did not wish so).

“Caroline,” she gulped at the use of her name, and how the syllables sounded positively dirty with his accented rough voice “sweetheart, please don't do this. We both know what's between us. You don't have to play this little concealment game with me.”

“What? Pff, haha, what are you even talking about, I don't know what you mean…”

He cut her off, his tone holding a warning.

“Caroline.”

She continued with her evasive answers, she couldn't go down that road right now. So, she talked aimlessly, using words she didn't even remember and saying things she wasn't sure would be understandable by anyone on this planet.

“Caroline!”

But his elevated tone made her jump and stop her tirade.

She looked into his eyes, and behind the annoyance, she also saw hurt. She had hurt him with her avoidance. She had hurt him by ignoring both of their feelings for so long.

And she had sworn to herself to never do so again when they became friends after two years spent as almost enemies forced to train together while trading hurtful words. Up until they saved each other's life after being kidnapped by Klaus' insane stepfather.

“Klaus…”

Her tone was pleading, but Klaus had enough of her shit it seemed.

“No, Caroline! I can't do this anymore! We have to broach the subject once and for all. This, this is… unbearable. So please, once this energy thing releases us, and if you still avoid it, please avoid me too.”

His words cut through her. His pain sliced her in a million pieces.

So she steeled herself. She couldn't be selfish anymore. She wasn't alone in this, she has never been.

“Klaus, please look at me.”

When he didn't, she slowly reached her hand up to his face, and softly cupped his cheek. With a small push she made him face her, and her breath was taken from her. His eyes always had that ability.

“I don't ever want to avoid you. I may have avoided talking about us, but it doesn't mean I'm not recognizing it for what it is. I'm sorry for hurting you, and me in the same occasion. I know what we have is epic and all encompassing. It's precisely that, though. I'm not sure I'm ready for forever. Not while I'm still grieving my mother, Stefan and all the others friends we have lost in the recent past. Not while I'm still dealing with the fact I had to kill people, Klaus. So yes, I want more that just best friends, but, please, could you just wait a little bit more? Please…”

It was truly freeing to put into words feelings she had held so far in her for such a long time.

Klaus didn't say anything, only came up to hold her in his arms, and at that moment she knew everything would be alright. Knew he forgave her and was willing to wait however long it took, because what they had was extraordinary.

Fortunately for them, he wouldn't have to wait too long.