A/N: It's finally here. After this one is the epilogue. I wanted to do more cliffhangers for this story, but I knew around the middle of February my free time would dwindle immensely and felt that wouldn't be fair to readers to have to wait for an extended period of time. Hopefully it was worth the wait!

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The sound of the force field around the Sirensong powering down filled Richter's ears and he allowed himself a small smile of triumph. He had finally found the damned floorboard the generator was hidden under, one quick slash from Dyrnwyn was all it took to destroy it. Now there was nothing to protect the device. Richter shifted his weapon into pistol-form, taking aim at the small barrel-shaped object designed to bring a horde of grimm down on people's heads. This device was too powerful, too strong to be trusted with anyone, it had to be destroyed.

And yet, Richter found he couldn't pull the trigger.

There was only a precious few minutes left until the device activated, but the short ex-huntsman found himself hesitating. Cinder's words once again reverberated through his brain, if he brought a horde of grimm onto himself and ate them all, he would evolve into a being that wouldn't be hindered by the hunger. He wouldn't have to suffer the excruciating pains and be forced to consume the filthy beasts anymore. All he had to do was let the Sirensong activate. Ruby and her entire team were down at the moment, no one could stop him. It would be so easy.

Richter holstered his weapon instead, and reached into the space in the pillar that the Sirensong was attached. With a sharp tug of his right hand, he yanked the device out, ripping out the wires that kept it hooked up to the machine. The Sirensong was deactivated, the threat of a horde of grimm overrunning the place was now gone.

Richter found himself staring at the small barrel-shaped object resting in the palm of his right hand. The plan was to destroy it, but that had been Ruby's plan. He would have went along with it too, but that was before they had battled Darion. Seeing the psychopath lay waste to them was a wakeup call for the short ex-huntsman. He didn't have enough power to deal with these new threats. As much as he hated to admit it, Darion was right. He would not be the last altered he would see, and if they were all as strong as him, he was sorely outclassed.

He glanced back at Ruby's supine form, looking almost serene in her unconscious state. It was almost unbelievable that a minute ago she had taken down a vicious psychopath grimm-hybrid. That glowing eyes power she had used, what the hell was it? She had never used anything like that before at any time. Whatever it was it was especially lethal to grimm or people who were infused with grimm essence. She could have killed him at any time with a power like that, and that concerned him deeply.

Still feeling indecisive, Richter pocketed the Sirensong, he could decide at a later time whether he wanted to destroy it or not. It was a dangerous tool, but it also might be the key to giving him the power to stop any future experiments that Cinder threw at him or Ruby. He could actually protect her, unlike his failure to do so against Darion.

A groan escaped Ruby's lips and she began to stir. Richter quickly ran to her side as her silver eyes fluttered open. Ruby's huntress instincts kicked in and she immediately went on full alert, she shot upright like a bolt and Richter had to grip her shoulders tightly to stop her.

"Easy easy." He soothed, "Take it slow." She made eye contact with him and he felt her relax.

"What?" Ruby started, looking disoriented, "What happened? Where's Darion?" Richter looked at her carefully, could it be she didn't remember what happened? Was that possible?

He pointed to the spot he had executed the psychopath, there was still a spot of blood when he had stabbed him in the eye. "There."

"Wow." Ruby breathed, looking where he pointed. "There's nothing left of him." She returned her gaze to him. "Did you do that?"

"What?" Richter responded, caught off-guard. "No, you did." He informed her. So it was true, Ruby was unaware of the power she had used. He didn't know whether to be scared or thankful.

The petite girl's eyebrows furrowed as she delved into her thoughts. "But the last thing I remember was looking at my friends and getting angry. There was this flash of white and then…" She brought her right hand to her forehead, rubbing it. "…Nothing."

Richter rubbed the back of his head uneasily. "Yeah. Your uh, eyes got all glowy, and then you proceeded to kick the shit out of Darion."

"But how?" Ruby demanded, looking just as lost as he felt. "I don't understand…."

Richter shook his head, "You're asking the wrong person. I have no clue how you suddenly had the strength to defeat him." He told her, giving her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "All I can say is that you saved our lives."

That brought a smile to Ruby's lips a smile that warmed his cold heart to see. "Yeah, at least there's that."

Richter stood up, holding his right hand out to Ruby. "Come on, let's grab the others and get out of here."

Ruby took his hand. "Right." As Richter pulled her to her feet, he immediately noticed that she was standing on both of her legs just fine. Did her glowy eyes power heal her injured leg? It was the only thing he could think of. Ruby glanced over at the pillar in the center of the room, the one that had housed the Sirensong. "Did you destroy it?"

Her question caught him off-guard and he averted his gaze. "Yeah, it's gone." He looked back at her, his lips curving upwards into a smile, "We did it Ruby." Her silver eyes continued to stare at him, piercing into his very being. Was she not buying his lie? That wasn't good.

Ruby's face finally relaxed, "Yeah, we did." She said, returning his smile. Richter felt his heart twinge at the sight of it. She really was too damn cute. "I need to check on my friends, then we can get out of here."

"Best thing you've said all day." Richter replied, Ruby passed by him on his left, heading for Weiss first. The short ex-huntsman let out a sigh, raising his head and closing his eyes. There was nothing else in his way, after resting up, he was going to track down Cinder and make her pay.

The familiar sound of Crescent Rose shifting into scythe form reached Richter, and he opened his eyes and glanced down to see the blade an inch from his throat.

"Hand over the Sirensong, Richter." Ruby demanded. He could tell by her voice that she was not kidding around.

"What are you talking about?" He asked, feigning innocence.

"Don't try that with me. I've known you for years. I can tell when you're lying to me, you always break eye contact when you do." She told him.

Richter sighed, busted because Ruby knew him too well. Things were about to get complicated.

"I can't." The short ex-huntsman answered.

"What do you mean? The Sirensong is dangerous!" Ruby exclaimed.

"I know that." Richter said, "But it's the only way to free myself from the hunger."

"No." Ruby quickly disagreed, "There has to be another way."

Richter's eyebrows furrowed in frustration, "Another way could take years to find. Years of suffering that I would have to endure!" He cast a sideways glance behind him, looking right into Ruby's silver eyes. "I'm done Ruby, I don't want to feel this excruciating pain anymore."

"Richter." Ruby started, "Think carefully about what you are doing. Innocent people would get killed!"

"Not if I go someplace deserted." Richter responded.

Ruby's eyes narrowed, "And what about you? What would happen to you when you consumed that many grimm? I doubt the hunger would be the only thing to disappear. Are you willing to risk that?" Her expression softened. "Are you willing to risk losing yourself?"

Richter stared at her in silence as he mulled the question over. Was he really able to risk losing himself to end the hunger? What did he stand to lose? He was staring right at it.

Ruby.

As he gazed into her silver orbs he couldn't lie to himself, he was deeply attached to the petite girl, enough to where he was now thinking over his decision again. If he did what she asked, and handed over the Sirensong, what then? Ruby had accepted what he had become, but what about the rest of the hunters in Vale? Even if they did somehow tolerate his presence as an altered being, it would be next to impossible for them to accept him completely. He would be shunned as a freak, it would be a miserable experience, made even worse because they would never allow him to become a huntsman as he was now. The dream that he had lost a year ago would be constantly dangled in front of his face, mocking him, and it was something he didn't think he could bear.

The short ex-huntsman's face set in determination, no, there was no going back, he was a fool to think otherwise. "I am." He answered Ruby's question, he would indeed risk everything to get rid of the hunger.

"Well I'm not." Ruby responded, her eyes became pleading and Richter felt his heart twist in his chest. "Don't do this Richter, please."

But as much as it pained him to do this to his childhood friend, he had to do it. He had to end the hunger, at all costs. "And if I do?" He challenged.

Ruby's expression hardened and in one swift second, she had transformed from cute little petite girl to vicious warrior. "I am a huntress, I will do what I must to protect the people."

Richter narrowed his eyes at her, secretly grateful she had such a scary look on her face. It would make it easier to fight her. "So be it."

He fired Dyrnwyn, still in pistol-form and still holstered on his left hip, the shot simultaneously knocked Ruby away and sent him into the air. Richter landed quickly after a few somersaults, turned, and dashed towards Ruby, who had just managed to land on her feet. She quickly took to the air again, shifting Crescent Rose into gun-form and firing off multiple shots.

Richter shifted his weapon to sword-form and deflected them all, his pace never slowing down. When he was less than a dozen meters from Ruby, he lunged forward, the tip of his blade aimed for his childhood friend's midsection. She managed to block the hit with her weapon, but the force of the blow knocked her back half a dozen meters. Both combatants landed, Ruby shifted her weapon into scythe form and the two immediately started laying into each other. A flurry of strikes and parries were exchanged between the two.

Nostalgia hit Richter like a wrecking ball. This reminded him so much of the sparring matches they used to do, supervised by her uncle Qrow. Except this time, they were not holding back, with the way they were going, one of them could get killed and there was no Qrow to stop them this time. Richter felt his heart grow melancholic, never in a million years did he imagine he would be fighting Ruby like this. She was his best friend, they were supposed to graduate from Beacon together, but that dream was fleeting. It was all so depressing and as he locked eyes with Ruby, he saw his feelings mirrored in her silver eyes as well. Neither would let their personal feelings get in the way of their goals, no matter how hard it was.

Ruby slashed at Richter's neck with Crescent Rose, but the short ex-huntsman managed to duck under the swing and slam his left palm into her abdomen. The blow doubled the red-cloaked huntress over and Richter followed through by making a slash at the back of Ruby's neck. She managed to avoid it by rolling backwards. Richter tried another swing, this one horizontal and aimed at her esophagus, but Ruby blocked it with her scythe. The two combatants strained their weapons against each other, but neither gave ground.

"I can't get my revenge on Cinder with this hunger always hounding me!" Richter snarled.

"So this is your alternative!? To take a self-destructive path?!" Ruby responded.

"It's not self-destructive if it cures that which ails me!"

Richter suddenly felt his legs fly out from under him as Ruby swept them out with her right leg. The short ex-huntsman landed on his back with a grimace, damn was she fast. He caught a glimpse of Ruby raising her scythe above her head in preparation of driving it into his chest. Seeing this, Richter rolled to his left, narrowly avoiding getting impaled in the heart.

He rolled to his feet and was almost immediately knocked off of them as he was hit in the chest with a sniper bullet, courtesy of Ruby. It knocked him backwards and into the air, but thanks to his aura, it didn't pierce his skin, still hurt like hell though. That was about to be the least of his worries as he saw her monopod her scythe and reload her weapon. He could do nothing, but watch as she pulled the trigger a second time.

This one caught Richter in the left shoulder, sending him into a spin as gravity caught hold of him and pulled him mercilessly to the steel floor. Dazed, Richter watched as Ruby ripped her scythe out of the ground and took a step forward.

Then an orange circular glyph activated next to her feet, right where he had landed when she tripped him.

Surprise was colored all over Ruby's face as the mine he had planted exploded, sending her tumbling away from him. She landed hard on her left shoulder, sliding across the floor while her tattered red cloak billowed past her boots. She came to a stop after a couple of meters.

The two fighters rose to kneeling positions, breathing heavily. Richter was holding his left shoulder with his right hand while Ruby was putting her weight on Crescent Rose. The two glared at each other from across the room, but the glares weren't filled with anger, not quite.

"You call eating a horde of grimm a cure?" Ruby questioned. "Look at what Darion turned into just drinking that grimm essence!"

Richter scowled at her. "I'm not Darion."

Ruby scowled back. "You're right. You're supposed to be better than him."

"I AM BETTER!" Richter roared, a nerve had been struck with him and he charged forward, Dyrnwyn in sword-form.

Ruby mirrored his action and the two combatants lashed out with their weapons. Their attacks bounced off of each other, deflecting them harmlessly away from their targets. Momentum carried the two fighters past each other, and Richter tried to turn around and prepare himself to charge again when he saw the pointy end of Ruby's scythe headed straight for his face. Instinctively, the short ex-huntsman brought his sword up, managing to parry the blow, but just barely, the tip of the scythe dug into his left cheek slightly, drawing blood. He grit his teeth, she was really serious about stopping him.

The red-cloaked terror that was his childhood friend fired a shot, half of a second after he had parried her attack. The recoil gave her a little extra boost and she used it to shove Richter off of his feet, sending him sailing backwards, body a meter from the floor and parallel to it. He couldn't believe it, when had Ruby become so strong? After traveling backwards about two dozen meters, Richter somersaulted backwards to slow his momentum, stabbing Dyrnwyn into the floor to further slow his backwards progress. Just as he was sliding to a stop, Richter saw rose petals out of the corner of his eye and looked to his left to see Ruby there, Crescent Rose reared back and ready to cleave him in half while he was still hanging in mid-air.

They made eye contact and in that moment, for Richter, time slowed to a crawl. Their tattered cloaks billowed in the wind they generated from their swift moves and their facial expressions were that of fierce warriors. If a stranger looked at them now, they would have never known that the two fighters had been close since childhood. In Ruby's silver eyes, Richter saw the resolve to not back down, something he was feeling himself. He wondered if this was what happened when an unstoppable force met an immovable object. However, they weren't forces or objects, they were human. One of them had to give.

Ruby swung her scythe at Richter, aiming for his torso. Moving quickly, He released his grip on his sword, tucked his head and performed a swift forward somersault. The blade of Crescent Rose's scythe came so close to the back of Richter's neck as he performed the evasive maneuver that the short ex-huntsman swore she sheared off some hairs there.

Richter landed smoothly on his feet, grabbing Dyrnwyn once more with his right hand and shifting the weapon to its pistol-form. He quickly aimed the gun at his opponent and fired. Ruby was able to bring her scythe back just in time to block the shot with her weapon handle. She stumbled back a step and then immediately brought her scythe forward in an overhead slash. Richter was forced to leap backwards to avoid getting a blade through the top of his skull. As his feet touched solid ground, the short ex-huntsman dashed forward and socked Ruby right in the jaw with his left fist. The punch snapped Ruby's face to her left, but rather than try to face forward again, the petite huntress twisted with the punch. Propping herself above Crescent Rose's handle with her left hand, Ruby spun with the punch, twisting her body around and delivering a massive boot to Richter's face.

The short ex-huntsman grunted in pain as he was sent backwards yet again. Anger surged within him and he righted himself in mid-air enough to take aim with his pistol, generate a basketball-sized ball of aura and fire it. Ruby countered by shifting her weapon into gun-form and firing a bullet into his aura ball, detonating it. Performing a backwards somersault, Richter landed in a crouching position, pistol aimed at Ruby, who had her gun pointed at him as well. He frowned, another stalemate, they were getting nowhere.

"I'm not threatening any villages, or Vale or any of the other three kingdoms." Richter said. "All I want is to stop living in so much pain and to make sure Cinder is a rotting corpse."

Ruby frowned at him. "Liar, that can't be all that you want."

"It is." He reaffirmed.

"And you truly believe this is the only way to stop your hunger affliction?" She inquired.

Richter spat out some blood that had pooled inside his mouth before answering. "The only one that comes to mind."

Ruby responded by activating her semblance, rose petals were flying everywhere as she flitted back and forth as a red blur, forcing Richter's eyes to work overtime in order to keep track of her. He fired multiple rounds from his pistol, but none of them ever hit their mark, his shots were fast and accurate, but Ruby's speed was just too much.

The red blur suddenly stopped its evasive tactics and shot forward like a bullet, coalescing back into the familiar form of the petite red-cloaked huntress. Richter doubled over as Ruby planted her feet into his gut. She springboarded off of him, increasing the distance between them. While still in mid-air, Ruby reloaded her gun and shot a powerful explosive shot at the short ex-huntsman. Too off-balance to attempt to dodge, Richter crossed his arms in front of him as the explosive shot detonated just a meter in front of him. The force of the explosion sent him tumbling backwards, where he bounced a few times before sliding to a stop on his belly.

With every hit he took, Richter found himself getting more and more frustrated. Was he really so weak that he couldn't fight Ruby on equal footing when she wasn't using her new power? Did he really get swatted away like an insignificant pest by Darion, even after he had used his strongest move? What the hell good was he? How the hell could he take revenge when he was in such a pitiful state? It was pathetic and as he saw the sympathy in Ruby's silver eyes, his anger spiked.

"Don't give me that look." He hissed at her. "You think everything will work out, that it will all be a happy ending, like those stories Yang used to tell you." He got himself back up to his feet. "It's naïve Ruby, to think like that." Black-white aura began to encase Dyrnwyn as he shifted it into sword-form. He saw Ruby drop into a defensive stance, she planned to weather his initial strike and take him out with the counterattack.

She would be disappointed.

He dashed towards her, swinging his sword in an overhead slash. Ruby blocked it, but with the added power of his aura behind the swing, the force of the blow staggered her. "Reality is different." He stated, hitting her with another overhead swing, she managed to bring her weapon handle up to block it again, but it staggered her even more. "It's cruel!" Another swing. "It's unfair!" Another swing, "It's unforgiving!" A fifth swing knocked Ruby onto her back, but she quickly rolled backwards to her feet. "I had dreams of becoming a huntsman that surpassed my father…." He continued, closing the distance between them once more and rearing his sword back for a horizontal swing. "…..And look what reality did to ME!"

Richter emptied his lungs in a fierce roar as he horizontally slashed at Ruby's throat. She was still getting her footing so the red-cloaked huntress raised the bottom end of Crescent Rose up to parry the blow. For half a second, it held against Richter's glowing black sword, and then the blade sliced through it, cutting through the bottom third of the scythe's handle. Dyrnwyn was deflected from its original path, instead cutting into Ruby's abdomen. She grunted in pain and hastily leapt backwards, creating some distance between them, her left arm holding her gut as she fell to her knees.

He watched as Ruby removed her left arm to examine the wound and felt a mixture of relief and annoyance when he saw the wound was shallower than expected. His conflicted thoughts were really doing a number on him and he was pretty sure the same went for Ruby. Neither one of them wanted to fight each other, but at the same time their goals forced them to. Being simple thirteen year olds hanging out in Signal seemed so far away now.

"What's it going to take to get through that thick skull of yours?" Ruby said crossly, "You're not a monster or a weapon, you're a person!" She activated her semblance and charged at him, running tight circles around the short ex-huntsman.

Richter saw the glint of metal, trusting his training and reflexes, he struck out with Dyrnwyn, parrying the blindingly fast slashes Ruby was sending his way. He defended well, blocking many of her strikes, but some were getting through. He could feel the bite of Crescent Rose as it sliced at his aura, some hits penetrating through to graze him. Small cuts and gashes began to appear on his arms, legs and torso as more and more of Ruby's strikes hit home.

"You're a person I've known most of my life!" Ruby continued while still hammering him with blows. "You're Richter Bremen!"

"Stop!" Richter roared, growing tired of his predicament, the short ex-huntsman stabbed the floor and activated his semblance.

Everything within a six meter radius of him exploded and Ruby was sent straight up into the air, petite body parallel to the ground and facing the floor. The short ex-huntsman leapt up, positioned himself just above his petite friend, somersaulted, and brought his right foot down in a fierce axe kick that connected with the base of her spine. Ruby fell back to the floor at a very accelerated rate, slamming belly-first into the ground and bouncing back up a meter. Richter landed in front of her and extended his left palm so that it was inches in front of her surprised face. He slammed a pulse of aura into her forehead, sending her tumbling towards the north wall.

The short ex-huntsman took off at a swift pace, wanting to close the distance before his opponent got her bearings. Lucky for him, she seemed slow to get up this time, only managing to get to a crouching position before he was in melee range. He spun like a top once to build momentum and then connected with a vicious sidekick to the left side of Ruby's head, sending her tumbling to her right.

"I can't be Richter Bremen anymore Ruby! No matter how much I want to! I just can't!" Richter shouted, voice cracking from the surplus of emotion he was starting to feel.

He took a few running steps and leapt high into the air, intending to bring his blade down on one of her legs, to prevent her from trying to pursue him. If he did that, he could escape without seriously hurting Ruby and proceed with his plans. It was a win-win.

So caught up in his thoughts on what he was going to do after the battle, he forgot to focus on the present. As Richter refocused, he didn't see the downed body of Ruby, but an elongated red blur rocketing up towards him, heading straight for his unprotected chest. The short ex-huntsman's vision blurred for a moment as Ruby slammed into his torso, and he was sent flying towards the eastern wall, landing hard once on his spine, bouncing, then crashing onto his left side.

The red blur landed and coalesced back into Ruby's familiar form. Richter tried to rise up to his feet to continue the fight, but found much to his dismay that his body was sluggish to respond. He redoubled his efforts, but found he could only get to a crouching position. He couldn't believe it, was he really going to lose again?

Richter looked up to see Ruby standing as tall as her short frame would allow her, damaged Crescent Rose held firmly in her right hand. He expected her to look victorious, to be smiling at having turned the tide in their battle. But all he saw in her silver eyes was sadness and regret, and something else, something he couldn't quite place.

"You are Richter Bremen. Nothing you say or do will change that for me." Ruby said softly, "You're someone very important to me, someone I refuse to let wreck their life."

Through sheer willpower, Richter stabbed his sword into the ground and used it to pull himself back to his feet. "My life is already wrecked, Ruby, you need to accept that and let me go."

"I can't." She replied. "I will stop you on this dark path you want to take in any way I can."

"You will fail."

"We'll see."

The two combatants raised their weapons into combat stances, glaring at each other from across the room. Nostalgia struck Richter again and he was reminded on how many of their duels at Signal ended this way. It always came down to the wire and he had had as many wins against her as losses. Just like back then, he wasn't sure who would come out of this last charge the winner.

With a lot of effort, Richter put one foot in front of the other, after a few steps he went into a full-on sprint, Ruby mirrored his action. They raced towards each other, closing the distance between themselves rapidly and lashing out with their weapons using all of their strength. The two fighters collided like two bullet-trains crashing head on at full speed. In the blink of an eye, they struck out with their respective attacks and slid past each other.

For a long moment, Richter stood with Dyrnwyn outstretched in the aftermath of his strike. Blood dripped from the blade, but how deep of a wound did he actually inflict? Attacks like these happened so fast, it took a few moments for the body to catch up. It was then he'd know if he'd won or lost the exchange.

A small sharp pain made itself known to Richter, coming from his chest area. He winced, guess she caught him with a glancing blow, not a big deal. Another moment passed and the sharp pain magnified until Richter's whole chest felt like it was on fire. Slowly, he lowered his gaze to his chest, to see his shirt begin to rapidly get stained with his own blood. He felt his legs give out and he collapsed to his knees.

He had lost.

Richter wanted to be angry, he wanted to be frustrated, but he was now too weary to do even that. The short ex-huntsman's body was finally giving out after all the fighting he had done today. He felt himself begin to fall forward, but there was nothing he could do about it. He didn't even have the strength to keep from falling on his face.

Suddenly his progress to the floor was halted as he fell on something warm. The scent of strawberries filled his nostrils and Richter's eyes widened in recognition. A glimpse of a tattered red cloak in front of him was all the confirmation Richter needed on who it was.

Ruby was on her knees as well, hugging him, her arms wrapped around his torso. The short ex-huntsman's chin was resting on her left shoulder, his arms hanging limply at his sides. Richter's dark-brown eyes took in the scene in complete disbelief, she was completely open to attack, what was she thinking!?

"There is a better way than this Richter, there has to be." Ruby spoke softly, almost whispering into his ear.

"Ruby…" He started, she hugged him tighter.

"I know you're suffering and I know it's unbearable." She continued, "But please, let's try other solutions first."

"Ruby…." He tried again.

"Give Vale a chance, they might be able to come up with something."

"I…."

"Please." She pleaded, "Just try, for me?"

The tone of her voice, stirred something within Richter. She sounded like she was in such pain, was he really affecting her that much? The frustration he had felt began to be replaced with guilt. Had he been so blinded by the suffering the hunger inflicted that he had failed to see that he was making her suffer? Was this what Yang had been talking about the day before?

Richter let out a long sigh, relaxing into her embrace, it felt good. "Always so stubborn aren't you?" He said light-heartedly. "Fine, I'll do it. For you."

She squeezed his torso in response. "We'll find a way to stop your suffering, I promise."

"Yeah…"

They sat like that for a long handful of moments, savoring the closeness. Richter would have lost consciousness right then and there, but a strange sound could be heard from above him. Curiosity getting the better of fatigue, he glanced upwards, towards the source of the strange sound.

And the color drained from his face.

"Ruby…." He said, his worried tone causing her to drop the embrace and look at him carefully. "….Look above us."

She complied and he saw her pale as well. "Oh no…"

Above them, at the room's ceiling, dark fluid was beginning to seep through. Dark fluid that looked a lot like grimm blood. Droplets began falling from the cracks in the ceiling, each one the size of a car, as they landed they didn't pool onto the floor, but rather transformed into grimm.

"Shit…" was all Richter could think to say at the situation developing before him.

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A/N: Find out how it ends next time!