Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Hansel and Gretel, YGO Style ❯ The Story ( One-Shot )
[ A - All Readers ]
By: MoonlightAura 
If you know the story, I shouldn't need to put a summary :3
Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Comedy | Type: One Shot | Uploaded On: 01.27.2005 | Updated On: 01.27.2005 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.1K | Visits: 464 | Status: Completed
If you know the story, I shouldn't need to put a summary :3
Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Comedy | Type: One Shot | Uploaded On: 01.27.2005 | Updated On: 01.27.2005 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.1K | Visits: 464 | Status: Completed
Once upon a time, there were two children, an idiot boy named Marik and his moody brother Bakura. They lived with their father and stepmother in a little cottage at the edge of the forest.
Their father was a woodcutter, and he was very poor. Once, he had so little money that he could not even give his family enough to eat. This made he very happy because his son, Marik, would try to gnaw on the walls of the house from hunger.
"How can we feed the children?" he asked his wife one night, "We have just enough for two, but not four."
His wife did not really like the children.
"Listen husband," she replied, "I know what we must do. Tomorrow, we will take Marik and Bakura into the thickest part of the forest. We will make a fire for them, and give them each a small piece of bread. Then, we must leave them there and they will never find their way home! We shall be free of them and have slightly bigger meals!"
"I could never do that..." said the woodcutter, "How could you even think of such a thing?"
"You fool!" his wife cried, "Then we will all die of hunger!"
And she gave him no peace, until at last he agreed.
Too hungry to sleep, Marik and Bakura overheard the discussion between their parents. Bakura growled bitterly.
"What shall we do?" he asked his brother, "They're going to leave us in the fucking forest to starve so they can have more food!"
"Don't worry Bakura. I will take care of everything," he moved closer of Bakura and smiled mischievously, "I will take care of you..."
Bakura stared at Marik for a minute, not liking the tone of his voice. He whacked Marik on the head and jumped out the window, grabbing his pillow on the way.
"There's no way I'm sleeping in the same room with -you- anymore."
Marik followed Bakura outside, except he went through the door inside, knowing that his parents were asleep and wouldn't notice. He looked around for his brother and then noticed the white pebbles that lay in the moonlight. They shone like silver coins. Thinking that maybe he could use them for money, he filled his pockets with them and went back to bed, forgetting about his brother.
Early the next morning, the woodcutter's wife wakened Marik.
"Get up," she told him, "Go find your brother, we are going into the forest to chop wood."
Marik gladly went to find his brother and dragged him all the way home when he found him sleeping under some bushes. Their stepmother then gave them each a piece of bread,
"This is for your dinner. Don't eat it before then."
"Hn?" Marik looked up at Stepmother with his piece of bread stuffed in his mouth. She rolled her eyes and gave him another piece, which he also gobbled up when she turned her back. Marik also tried to steal Bakura's piece, but he put his in the pocket of his apron to somewhat protect it from his strange brother. The rest of the family always thought it was weird that Bakura wore an apron, and when they asked him why, Bakura would get worked up and storm away.
They all then set out together. Marik's pockets were still full of pebbles, and instead of his plan to try and use them for money, Bakura told him to use them to make a trail so they can come home.
They had gone a little way when Marik stopped, and looked back towards the house. After he had done so several times, his father spoke to him,
"Marik, why are you lagging behind?"
"That man that always tries to get into our house is on the roof, father," said Marik, "I am trying to say goodbye to him with my special telepathic powers."
"That isn't a man, you stupid boy," scolded his stepmother, "It's the sun, shining on the white chimney!"
Of course, Marik wasn't really looking at a strange man. Each time he stopped, he dropped a pebble from his pocket on the path. They were what he was really saying goodbye to.
They came to the middle of the forest and the woodcutter told his children to gather sticks.
"I will make a fire," he said, "Then you won't be cold."
Soon, a fire was burning brightly.
"Rest here," their stepmother said, "We are going to chop wood. We will come for you when we are ready."
Marik and Bakura sat by the fire. At noon, Bakura made a deal with his brother. If Marik would leave him alone, he would give him half of his piece of bread. Marik decided it was fair and got half a piece of bread. They could hear the sound of an axe, and thought their father was near. But he wasn't. What they heard was only a branch, knocking against a tree trunk in the wind.
Despite the deal the brothers made, Marik still went after him as the sun started to set. Angry, Bakura picked up a large branch and beat Marik senseless. Relieved that he would have some peace for a while, Bakura fell asleep.
When he awoke, it was dark, and there was Marik, looking over him. Bakura pushed him away.
"What shall we do now? It's all dark and cold, and we're all alone, and.. and.." Bakura stiffened as he could feel Marik's arm wrapping around his waist, pulling him closer, "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
Disturbed at what his brother was trying to do, he quickly got up and looked for the path of white pebbles that shone in the moonlight. Upon finding the pathway, he ran home with his brother right behind him, laughing the whole way.
The children ran all night. As dawn came, they found their father's cottage, and knocked the door. Their stepmother opened it.
"You naughty children!" she scolded them, "Where have you been? We thought you were never coming home!"
The woodcutter was very happy to see them. It had broken his heart to leave them in the forest.
Before long, the family had very little food again. One night, the children once more heard their stepmother talking to their father.
"We have half a loaf left," she told him, "Once that is gone, we will have nothing. We must take the children deeper into the forest. This time, they must not find their way home. It is the only escape for us!"
The woodcutter's heart was heavy. He would rather have shared his last crust with his children, but his wife would not listen to his pleading, and he was forced to agree again.
As soon as the woodcutter and his wife were asleep, Marik got up; meaning to fill his pockets with pebbles again, since he had to use all of them to make a path home last time. Unfortunately for him, his stepmother had locked the doors and windows from the outside, so he, and his brother, couldn't get out.
Bakura sat in a corner, rocking back and forth, scared for his life. He didn't want to be in the same room as his brother without his parents there. He had hoped to have some sort of weapon to protect himself, but the woodcutter's wife had seen him taking a knife to his room and took it away. Marik stood in front of his brother and smiled the evilly.
"Don't worry, Bakura..." he said crouching down to lean in closer, "All will be well, you'll see..."
Bakura twitched; there was nothing he could do now. The night was filled with screams and cries of horror and threats, and their parents being very deep sleepers, didn't hear a thing.
Early the next morning, the stepmother went to awaken the children, but found they were already awake and Bakura's face was tear-streaked. On the floor was a ripped up apron. Before they left for the forest, she gave Bakura two very small pieces of bread because she knew that if she gave one to Marik, he would eat it before dinner.
As they walked through the trees, Marik kept on stopping now and then, looking for a rock to put in his pocket each time. Again, his father noticed him doing so.
"Marik, why do you kept stopping?" his father asked,
"I'm looking back at Bakura," Marik replied, "He's waving goodbye to me from the roof."
"You idiot," the woodcutter's wife said scornfully, "Bakura is right here, walking with us. It's just the sun, shining on the white chimney."
Marik shrugged and still kept stopping to look for rocks as he went.
The woodcutter's wife led the children to a part of the forest they didn't know. Making a huge fire, she told them: "Stay here, by the fire. We're going into the forest to cut wood. We'll fetch you in the evening."
At noon, Bakura gave Marik his bread and forced him to go sleep after. When the evening arrived, no one came for them. Bakura started to grumble about finding their way home this time.
"Don't be afraid, Bakura," Marik told his brother as it grew dark, "When we left, I took hold of the vacuum cord, it's so long that we'll find our way home in no time if we follow it!"
Bakura gave Marik a weird look and then punched him the arm,
"Idiot! The vacuum cord isn't that long!" he said and pointed to the vacuum a little ways away. The family had spent a lot of their money just to buy a vacuum, it was actually why they were so poor, but they didn't have the heart to sell it for money.
Marik blinked,
"Oh. Well, we'll find a way home..."
Bakura rolled his eyes,
"Yeah, and if you say that enough, maybe I'll believe it."
"Really? Hmm..."
They left the fire and walked all night, but had no luck in finding a way home. As the next day went by, they just drove themselves deeper into the forest. Soon, they were so tired, Marik didn't bother Bakura anymore, and Bakura stopped beating on Marik, and they lay down under a tree to sleep.
The next morning, Marik and Bakura walked on. They were very hungry. By midday, Marik felt they must get help soon, or they would both die of hunger, or at least he would. He asked his brother if he could eat him, but Bakura got mad and said no.
Just then, a beautiful white bird perched on a nearby branch. It sang so sweetly before Marik climbed the tree and snapped the bird's neck. He opened his mouth to eat the bird, but then noticed a cottage in the distance.
"Look, Bakura!" cried Marik, pointing through the trees, "There is a house that looks like it's made out of candy!"
Bakura didn't believe Marik and thought he was delusional, but follow him anyway. It was true though, there was a house made out of sweets. Soon, both Marik and Bakura were gnawing at the house.
Suddenly, the door from the house opened. Out came a hideously ugly, old woman, walking on crutches. Marik and Bakura were so stunned by the woman's appearance that they dropped what they were eating and burst out laughing. Insulted, the old woman forced a smile and figured it was just the sugar in the sweets.
"Err.. Come in, children! If you come inside my house, you will come to no harm!"
All but too trusting, Marik gladly let the woman take his hand and lead him inside, dragging Bakura behind him. A meal of pancakes, fruit, and a liquid that looked suspiciously like alcohol lay ready on the table. In the back room, there were two little beds. After they had eaten some more, the children lay down, even though the beds were two small, happy to live in a candy house.
The old woman had been very kind to Marik and Bakura. However, little did they know that she was really a wicked old witch, which explained the ugliness of her, who abducted children. She couldn't see very well though, for witches in this part of the country have very bad eyesight, but to make up for it, she had a fine sense of smell, as animals do. She could always smell children a mile or two away.
The house had been made out of sweets and candy to tempt children to come and eat it. Once lured inside, the witch fattened them up, cooked them and ate them!
Now that Marik and Bakura were asleep in the little beds, the witch gave an evil laugh.
"These two shall not escape the wrath of me, Thistle!!" she cackled. Early the next morning, the witch pulled Bakura roughly from his bed and locked him in a cage. Although he screamed and complained about how everyone pushes him around, there was no one to help him.
Next was Marik. The witch shook him awake.
"Get up, you lazy boy!" screeched the witch, "Cook something good for your brother. He will stay in that cage until he is fat enough for me to eat!"
Bakura rolled his eyes, and then sent her to the shadow realm.
"I don't know why I don't do that more often," he glared at his brother, "Unlock this cage or I'll send YOU there too."
Marik laughed at him,
"You are aware that the cage is made out of sticks, right?"
Bakura blinked, and then snapped at Marik,
"Of course I knew that!"
Bakura kicked the cage opened and was pounced on by his brother. They both fell over.
"Wha- what are you doing?!" Bakura gasped, "Get off me!"
Marik snickered,
"Showing how happy I am that you're free. It's an excuse to hold you and be close to you..."
Bakura rolled Marik over, mumbling something about Marik being an 'incestuous child', and since the witch was gone, they raided the house for treasure. They found baskets of pearls and other precious jewels.
"These so much better than rocks!" exclaimed Marik, throwing all his first rocks out the window, replacing them with gems and pearls. Bakura stole one the witch's aprons and dragged the baskets out of the house.
"Now what?" Marik asked his brother. Bakura shrugged, so they decided to walk again. For hours they walked, dragging the baskets of jewel's with them, and finally came to a large stretch of water.
"Hmm. There's no bridge," Marik said, "I guess that means we'll just have to try and swim across."
Bakura was tempted to hit his brother,
"We don't know how to swim..." he looked around, Bakura noticed a large white bird waddling around in the water, "Maybe we can use that over-sized duck."
Marik perked up,
"Duck?" he looked at it and smiled devilishly. Marik went to attack the duck to eat it, but Bakura held him back.
"Idiot! We can use that duck to get us, and our stuff, across! (Then you can eat it..)" Bakura said.
Bakura slowly approached the duck and forced it to help them and their treasure across, and it did just that with no problems. Marik then killed the duck and ate it all by himself. He was a very bloody boy in the end.
Marik and Bakura had gone just a little way when they came to a part of the forest they knew. They began to run, mainly because Marik tried to come on to his brother again, and at last came to their own home. You'd think that they would run inside and into their father's arms, but no, they didn't. When they ran inside, they pummeled their father to death with large, sharp, pointy jewels and then sent him to the shadow realm to hide the evidence. They looked for their stepmother, but couldn't find her anywhere. When Marik looked outside, he noticed a tombstone near the house. He assumed their father killed her.
Not having a family anymore and being extremely rich with jewels now, Bakura and Marik lived happily ever after and lived in a house made of sweets and candy where they took up the witch's old job of abducting children, but instead of eating them, they sold them for money, since they weren't cannibals.
The End
Their father was a woodcutter, and he was very poor. Once, he had so little money that he could not even give his family enough to eat. This made he very happy because his son, Marik, would try to gnaw on the walls of the house from hunger.
"How can we feed the children?" he asked his wife one night, "We have just enough for two, but not four."
His wife did not really like the children.
"Listen husband," she replied, "I know what we must do. Tomorrow, we will take Marik and Bakura into the thickest part of the forest. We will make a fire for them, and give them each a small piece of bread. Then, we must leave them there and they will never find their way home! We shall be free of them and have slightly bigger meals!"
"I could never do that..." said the woodcutter, "How could you even think of such a thing?"
"You fool!" his wife cried, "Then we will all die of hunger!"
And she gave him no peace, until at last he agreed.
Too hungry to sleep, Marik and Bakura overheard the discussion between their parents. Bakura growled bitterly.
"What shall we do?" he asked his brother, "They're going to leave us in the fucking forest to starve so they can have more food!"
"Don't worry Bakura. I will take care of everything," he moved closer of Bakura and smiled mischievously, "I will take care of you..."
Bakura stared at Marik for a minute, not liking the tone of his voice. He whacked Marik on the head and jumped out the window, grabbing his pillow on the way.
"There's no way I'm sleeping in the same room with -you- anymore."
Marik followed Bakura outside, except he went through the door inside, knowing that his parents were asleep and wouldn't notice. He looked around for his brother and then noticed the white pebbles that lay in the moonlight. They shone like silver coins. Thinking that maybe he could use them for money, he filled his pockets with them and went back to bed, forgetting about his brother.
Early the next morning, the woodcutter's wife wakened Marik.
"Get up," she told him, "Go find your brother, we are going into the forest to chop wood."
Marik gladly went to find his brother and dragged him all the way home when he found him sleeping under some bushes. Their stepmother then gave them each a piece of bread,
"This is for your dinner. Don't eat it before then."
"Hn?" Marik looked up at Stepmother with his piece of bread stuffed in his mouth. She rolled her eyes and gave him another piece, which he also gobbled up when she turned her back. Marik also tried to steal Bakura's piece, but he put his in the pocket of his apron to somewhat protect it from his strange brother. The rest of the family always thought it was weird that Bakura wore an apron, and when they asked him why, Bakura would get worked up and storm away.
They all then set out together. Marik's pockets were still full of pebbles, and instead of his plan to try and use them for money, Bakura told him to use them to make a trail so they can come home.
They had gone a little way when Marik stopped, and looked back towards the house. After he had done so several times, his father spoke to him,
"Marik, why are you lagging behind?"
"That man that always tries to get into our house is on the roof, father," said Marik, "I am trying to say goodbye to him with my special telepathic powers."
"That isn't a man, you stupid boy," scolded his stepmother, "It's the sun, shining on the white chimney!"
Of course, Marik wasn't really looking at a strange man. Each time he stopped, he dropped a pebble from his pocket on the path. They were what he was really saying goodbye to.
They came to the middle of the forest and the woodcutter told his children to gather sticks.
"I will make a fire," he said, "Then you won't be cold."
Soon, a fire was burning brightly.
"Rest here," their stepmother said, "We are going to chop wood. We will come for you when we are ready."
Marik and Bakura sat by the fire. At noon, Bakura made a deal with his brother. If Marik would leave him alone, he would give him half of his piece of bread. Marik decided it was fair and got half a piece of bread. They could hear the sound of an axe, and thought their father was near. But he wasn't. What they heard was only a branch, knocking against a tree trunk in the wind.
Despite the deal the brothers made, Marik still went after him as the sun started to set. Angry, Bakura picked up a large branch and beat Marik senseless. Relieved that he would have some peace for a while, Bakura fell asleep.
When he awoke, it was dark, and there was Marik, looking over him. Bakura pushed him away.
"What shall we do now? It's all dark and cold, and we're all alone, and.. and.." Bakura stiffened as he could feel Marik's arm wrapping around his waist, pulling him closer, "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
Disturbed at what his brother was trying to do, he quickly got up and looked for the path of white pebbles that shone in the moonlight. Upon finding the pathway, he ran home with his brother right behind him, laughing the whole way.
The children ran all night. As dawn came, they found their father's cottage, and knocked the door. Their stepmother opened it.
"You naughty children!" she scolded them, "Where have you been? We thought you were never coming home!"
The woodcutter was very happy to see them. It had broken his heart to leave them in the forest.
Before long, the family had very little food again. One night, the children once more heard their stepmother talking to their father.
"We have half a loaf left," she told him, "Once that is gone, we will have nothing. We must take the children deeper into the forest. This time, they must not find their way home. It is the only escape for us!"
The woodcutter's heart was heavy. He would rather have shared his last crust with his children, but his wife would not listen to his pleading, and he was forced to agree again.
As soon as the woodcutter and his wife were asleep, Marik got up; meaning to fill his pockets with pebbles again, since he had to use all of them to make a path home last time. Unfortunately for him, his stepmother had locked the doors and windows from the outside, so he, and his brother, couldn't get out.
Bakura sat in a corner, rocking back and forth, scared for his life. He didn't want to be in the same room as his brother without his parents there. He had hoped to have some sort of weapon to protect himself, but the woodcutter's wife had seen him taking a knife to his room and took it away. Marik stood in front of his brother and smiled the evilly.
"Don't worry, Bakura..." he said crouching down to lean in closer, "All will be well, you'll see..."
Bakura twitched; there was nothing he could do now. The night was filled with screams and cries of horror and threats, and their parents being very deep sleepers, didn't hear a thing.
Early the next morning, the stepmother went to awaken the children, but found they were already awake and Bakura's face was tear-streaked. On the floor was a ripped up apron. Before they left for the forest, she gave Bakura two very small pieces of bread because she knew that if she gave one to Marik, he would eat it before dinner.
As they walked through the trees, Marik kept on stopping now and then, looking for a rock to put in his pocket each time. Again, his father noticed him doing so.
"Marik, why do you kept stopping?" his father asked,
"I'm looking back at Bakura," Marik replied, "He's waving goodbye to me from the roof."
"You idiot," the woodcutter's wife said scornfully, "Bakura is right here, walking with us. It's just the sun, shining on the white chimney."
Marik shrugged and still kept stopping to look for rocks as he went.
The woodcutter's wife led the children to a part of the forest they didn't know. Making a huge fire, she told them: "Stay here, by the fire. We're going into the forest to cut wood. We'll fetch you in the evening."
At noon, Bakura gave Marik his bread and forced him to go sleep after. When the evening arrived, no one came for them. Bakura started to grumble about finding their way home this time.
"Don't be afraid, Bakura," Marik told his brother as it grew dark, "When we left, I took hold of the vacuum cord, it's so long that we'll find our way home in no time if we follow it!"
Bakura gave Marik a weird look and then punched him the arm,
"Idiot! The vacuum cord isn't that long!" he said and pointed to the vacuum a little ways away. The family had spent a lot of their money just to buy a vacuum, it was actually why they were so poor, but they didn't have the heart to sell it for money.
Marik blinked,
"Oh. Well, we'll find a way home..."
Bakura rolled his eyes,
"Yeah, and if you say that enough, maybe I'll believe it."
"Really? Hmm..."
They left the fire and walked all night, but had no luck in finding a way home. As the next day went by, they just drove themselves deeper into the forest. Soon, they were so tired, Marik didn't bother Bakura anymore, and Bakura stopped beating on Marik, and they lay down under a tree to sleep.
The next morning, Marik and Bakura walked on. They were very hungry. By midday, Marik felt they must get help soon, or they would both die of hunger, or at least he would. He asked his brother if he could eat him, but Bakura got mad and said no.
Just then, a beautiful white bird perched on a nearby branch. It sang so sweetly before Marik climbed the tree and snapped the bird's neck. He opened his mouth to eat the bird, but then noticed a cottage in the distance.
"Look, Bakura!" cried Marik, pointing through the trees, "There is a house that looks like it's made out of candy!"
Bakura didn't believe Marik and thought he was delusional, but follow him anyway. It was true though, there was a house made out of sweets. Soon, both Marik and Bakura were gnawing at the house.
Suddenly, the door from the house opened. Out came a hideously ugly, old woman, walking on crutches. Marik and Bakura were so stunned by the woman's appearance that they dropped what they were eating and burst out laughing. Insulted, the old woman forced a smile and figured it was just the sugar in the sweets.
"Err.. Come in, children! If you come inside my house, you will come to no harm!"
All but too trusting, Marik gladly let the woman take his hand and lead him inside, dragging Bakura behind him. A meal of pancakes, fruit, and a liquid that looked suspiciously like alcohol lay ready on the table. In the back room, there were two little beds. After they had eaten some more, the children lay down, even though the beds were two small, happy to live in a candy house.
The old woman had been very kind to Marik and Bakura. However, little did they know that she was really a wicked old witch, which explained the ugliness of her, who abducted children. She couldn't see very well though, for witches in this part of the country have very bad eyesight, but to make up for it, she had a fine sense of smell, as animals do. She could always smell children a mile or two away.
The house had been made out of sweets and candy to tempt children to come and eat it. Once lured inside, the witch fattened them up, cooked them and ate them!
Now that Marik and Bakura were asleep in the little beds, the witch gave an evil laugh.
"These two shall not escape the wrath of me, Thistle!!" she cackled. Early the next morning, the witch pulled Bakura roughly from his bed and locked him in a cage. Although he screamed and complained about how everyone pushes him around, there was no one to help him.
Next was Marik. The witch shook him awake.
"Get up, you lazy boy!" screeched the witch, "Cook something good for your brother. He will stay in that cage until he is fat enough for me to eat!"
Bakura rolled his eyes, and then sent her to the shadow realm.
"I don't know why I don't do that more often," he glared at his brother, "Unlock this cage or I'll send YOU there too."
Marik laughed at him,
"You are aware that the cage is made out of sticks, right?"
Bakura blinked, and then snapped at Marik,
"Of course I knew that!"
Bakura kicked the cage opened and was pounced on by his brother. They both fell over.
"Wha- what are you doing?!" Bakura gasped, "Get off me!"
Marik snickered,
"Showing how happy I am that you're free. It's an excuse to hold you and be close to you..."
Bakura rolled Marik over, mumbling something about Marik being an 'incestuous child', and since the witch was gone, they raided the house for treasure. They found baskets of pearls and other precious jewels.
"These so much better than rocks!" exclaimed Marik, throwing all his first rocks out the window, replacing them with gems and pearls. Bakura stole one the witch's aprons and dragged the baskets out of the house.
"Now what?" Marik asked his brother. Bakura shrugged, so they decided to walk again. For hours they walked, dragging the baskets of jewel's with them, and finally came to a large stretch of water.
"Hmm. There's no bridge," Marik said, "I guess that means we'll just have to try and swim across."
Bakura was tempted to hit his brother,
"We don't know how to swim..." he looked around, Bakura noticed a large white bird waddling around in the water, "Maybe we can use that over-sized duck."
Marik perked up,
"Duck?" he looked at it and smiled devilishly. Marik went to attack the duck to eat it, but Bakura held him back.
"Idiot! We can use that duck to get us, and our stuff, across! (Then you can eat it..)" Bakura said.
Bakura slowly approached the duck and forced it to help them and their treasure across, and it did just that with no problems. Marik then killed the duck and ate it all by himself. He was a very bloody boy in the end.
Marik and Bakura had gone just a little way when they came to a part of the forest they knew. They began to run, mainly because Marik tried to come on to his brother again, and at last came to their own home. You'd think that they would run inside and into their father's arms, but no, they didn't. When they ran inside, they pummeled their father to death with large, sharp, pointy jewels and then sent him to the shadow realm to hide the evidence. They looked for their stepmother, but couldn't find her anywhere. When Marik looked outside, he noticed a tombstone near the house. He assumed their father killed her.
Not having a family anymore and being extremely rich with jewels now, Bakura and Marik lived happily ever after and lived in a house made of sweets and candy where they took up the witch's old job of abducting children, but instead of eating them, they sold them for money, since they weren't cannibals.
The End