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REICH
His voice was loud in the otherwise deafening silence of the room. "I'll give you a choice," UN repeated, his mouth pressed into something neither a frown or a smile. "You know these people, right?" he asked — and with the audacity — motioned tantalizingly to JE and Italy, fighting against the binds.

"You seem to grow dumber each day," Reich shot, gripping his phone in one hand and trying not to bare his teeth. "What's with it, UN? Spill it."

The man clad in blue didn't move. "You can choose to save your best friends" — he waved a hand to his prisoners — "and you can tell me where the rest of the Representatives are going." He paused, no laughter, no glint of mischief in his eyes, just a dead set of his jaw and a quiet sourness. "Or, you leave scot-free, and you never see the rest of your trio again."

Reich's heart sunk to his stomach, nausea coiling at the bottom. He swallowed, hard. Oh. Oh, there was no way. A beat of silence. Then—

"Leave," Italy gasped, even with the knife pressing into his throat and drawing small, minuscule beads of blood. "Reich. You can't possibly be considering this. Save yourself, not us."

JE offered a frantic nod from his side, eyes pooled with dullness as if he had already given in. 

"Take me instead," Reich blurted abruptly, a wretched inhale stuck squirming in his throat. Maybe. "I'll turn myself in. Let them go. Please?" 

"We never wanted you, Reich," UN replied simply. 

"No," he whispered. "No." He looked to his headmaster (or, not so much anymore), laughing weakly. "But you'd never kill your Representatives." His voice lilted at the end, with a psychotic type of hope.

"You killed my Neo Orbis with these ideals," UN said, not a muscle twitching in his expression. The knife drew closer, the gun cocked. "The order I maintained for decades now ceases to exist. Because of you. And plus. It's your choice, in the end. The lives you save are up to your discretion, Third Reich."

★

"You're actually a dumbass." 

Reich winces as JE wraps his bleeding arm in gauze. "It was their fault. You know that." 

"And you're going to get yourself killed if you don't stand down sometimes." 

"I don't—" Reich argues, but he is silenced effectively with another piece of sushi being stuffed into his mouth. "You're much better when you don't talk," JE says lightly, tapping his shoulder. 

Italy rolls his eyes. "I can't believe you're manhandling Reich right now. Right after he gets sneak attacked by some idiots who don't know who how to keep to himself, but, that's besides the point."

"He's injured. Plus, I learn all my sparring technique from him. So potentially if I were to take him in a fight right now I would have much of the upper hand—" 

Reich groans. "Why are we even pondering the possibilities of me fighting either of you? But I'd like to fight Belgium and Luxembourg again. Wouldn't even throw another punch after I hit them square in the face, scampering off like weaklings. Come on, you guys, I could seriously show them that they need to leave it if you let me go back." 

Italy and JE exchange worried glances. 

"No," Italy says, all stern and somber now. "Seriously."