ALT a close up of qifrey's face, still cradled by olruggio's hand and olruggio wipes the tear droplets from one of the two remaining leaves. qifrey's eyes are closed, the tears dripping freely, looking sad as he says, "i don't want to hear your ideas..! not for this..." olruggio smiles fondly at him, tears dripping from his eyes too, "yeah. sorry. this moment doesn't need to be bittersweet." he thinks to himself, "it's retracting..." branch shaped silhouettes transitions into the next scene, where qifrey is taking the pin off of his hat and olruggio speaks, entangling his hand with the ribbon and then bowing his head down, "i only say that because... there's a lot i want to confess to you. i don't know if the next me would be able to hold his tongue." qifrey's expression is unreadable as he holds his hat with the revealed spell, "... you've worried of this before... you're still you, olly."

ALT olruggio says, "i can't really doubt it when you say so, huh?" a pause. "then, you can trust me on this. no matter what you do... i'll keep caring for you. where i want to be most... is right by your side. i won't go anywhere. i promise." olruggio is at the center of this circular panel, his ribbon forming the left half of the circle, a border forming the right side. with the spell closed, it pans to a close up of olruggio's expression as he loses consciousness, the small smile dwindling, and he thinks to himself, "it's frustrating. there's only so much i can do... even now." pans to qifrey's hands, grabbing hold of olruggio's back, olruggio's cape flowing out the panel and to the bottom right corner. olruggio's thoughts continue, "hey qifrey. i wanted to say, i've been scared that you may no longer need me."

ALT to the left of the page, the two sit entangled together, but only the fabric of their capes can be seen. to the right of the page is qifrey's cap, the spell burnt off, and the ribbon flowing downward. olruggio's thoughts continue, "i thought i messed up somehow in the many years of our friendship... that at some point, you began to believe bearing it alone was better than letting me in. and as we stayed together in this atelier with the girls... i'd be waiting and waiting and waiting... for the day you'd decide to part. i wanted to say i was relieved. i wanted to say i could think of something to save you right away. but from your grievous confession, i knew there was nothing new i haven't tried. i can only be grateful that this isn't the end. there's still time. as long as there's time. i can still help you..." this concludes olruggio's pre-wipe thoughts.