4
So here is chapter 4… the long-awaited trial and, as a bonus, the first execution. Have you figured out who did it yet? Read on to see if you got it right…
Once the elevator reached its destination the doors slowly creaked open, revealing a circular room with twelve podiums in the center, all facing inwards in a circle. Each podium had a name on it, and one of them had a picture of Gideon with a big red X over his face.
"If you would please find your podium and stand behind it, we may begin the trial." Monokuma said. The demonic bear was seated at a desk off to the side, with a screen on one side of him, and a giant glass window on the other. Once everyone had reached their assigned place, Monokuma began to speak again.
"Alright, now that everyone is here, let me begin by stating the rules of the trial. You will have unlimited debate; however, when I become bored with the trial, I will call a vote. Once I do, please write the name of who you believe the killer is on the slip of paper in front of each of you. You may refer to your eHandbooks at any time during the trial, and as far as debate goes, there really aren't any rules." He said. "Oh, and one more thing. If the majority votes for the correct killer, then that person will be punished, but if the majority of you get it wrong and vote an innocent person as guilty, then the blackened will walk free, and everyone else will be punished instead. Have fun."
"So, I guess let's start with recounting everything that happened." Jace said. "Jaune, would you be so kind as to tell your version of the events to us?"
"Yeah, so I was training with Gideon, and when we finished, I went off to take a shower and change. Gideon said he wanted to train a little longer, and that he would be done shortly. As I took my shower, I suddenly heard a scream, and came running out only to find Ruby over Gideon's body." Jaune said.
"Good, now Ruby?" Jace said.
"Um, ok." Ruby said. "So, I was looking for Jaune, so I could talk to him about some stuff, and I thought that he would have been finishing training with Gideon, so headed to gym. When I got there, I opened the door, called for Jaune, and then I saw him." Ruby was on the verge of tears at this point. "I screamed, and Jaune came running out of the locker room, and then Nora and Chandra burst in from the hallway."
"So the killer could be anyone." Gajeel said.
"Look at the time of death, though." Levy said, somewhat deep in thought. "Jaune would have just been finishing training, and very soon after that the body was found. The killer would have to have been in the room with Gideon or in one of the locker rooms when Ruby found the body."
"True." Gray said. "Ruby, did you see anyone else in the room with you when you came in?"
"No, there wasn't anyone else." She said. "Jaune came out of the men's locker room, and everyone else came through the main doors."
"Do you think he could have killed himself?" Jaune asked.
"No, not with those kinds of wounds." Jace replied, thinking deeply.
"Well then, that leaves us with two suspects." Liliana said.
"Two?" Jaune asked.
"Yes. You, and Ruby." She said casually. "You two are the only ones to have been in the room around the time of death."
"What? I found the body, I couldn't have killed him." Ruby said, almost on the verge of tears.
"We don't know when you entered the Gym, though." Liliana said. "For all we know, you walked in on Gideon, murdered him, then pretended to find the body."
"What motive would she have, though." Gray said.
"You mean other than the obvious one?" Gajeel added sarcastically. "I hate to say it, but I don't think short stack over there did it."
"Why? She fits with the time of death," Jaune said. "And I happen to know a motive that she could have had."
"Do tell…" Liliana said. Ruby stared at Jaune with tears in her eyes.
"A while back, Ruby had a crush on me." He said. "She could have murdered him out of jealousy. It could have been an accident, of course, but what if they had an argument, she got jealous of me spending time with him and not her, then accidentally hit too hard in a sparring match."
"I think that we are ignoring the elephant in the room." Ren said. "There are two main suspects. Ruby, who we have discussed any possible motives, and Jaune."
"Wait, you don't think Jaune killed Gideon, do you Ren?" Nora said. "He wouldn't do that."
"It is possible that Jaune's story may have been partially true. Think about all the evidence. If Jaune's story were to be true, then the killer would have accidentally hit too hard, and killed Gideon. After that, they most likely panicked and hastily hid the murder weapon in the first place they could think of. Thus, why we found the sword hidden behind a bench." Ren said. "I think that unless the actions were premeditated, the killer would have been using their personal sword, since there would be no reason to use anyone else's."
"So you think I did it? Even after everything we've been through?" Jaune said, rising to his feet angrily. "I would never hurt Gideon!"
"Not purposefully, no. But neither would Ruby." Nora said. "And that means the murderer didn't plan ahead, and that it would have been an accident."
"And with that logic, I must put a stop to the debate." Monokuma said. "It is time to vote. Please write the name of who you think the killer is on the paper in front of you, once you are done, place it here in the ballot box. Once everyone has voted, I will then tally up the votes and declare a winner!"
Ruby stared down at the sheet of paper. It would be so easy, to just write a name on it, and then that person would be condemned to death. Either that, or if the they voted wrong, then everyone but the killer would die. She couldn't decide.
"Miss Rose, if you would please vote. Everyone else has already." Monokuma said gleefully, as if nothing could make him happier. "And if you refuse to vote, then that would be a violation of the rules, and you will be punished."
She looked down once more, then wrote a name.
"Excellent, now I will tally the votes." Monokuma said as he reached a paw into the large box next to him.
"I will read off each name as I draw it from the box. Let's see, we have one for Jaune, one for Ruby, another for Jaune, Ruby, Ruby, Jaune, Jaune, Jaune, Ruby, Ruby, and the final vote… Jaune. That makes a total of six votes for Jaune, and five for Ruby." Monokuma said, a hint of glee in his voice. "Now, I will reveal the real killer."
A picture appeared on the screen next to him. "The real killer was Jaune! He was training with Gideon when he started asking Jaune about Jaune's last girlfriend." Monokuma said. "I guess that struck a nerve though, because after that Jaune got angry and hit a little too hard. After realizing what he had done, he quickly hid the weapon and ran off to the showers to wash all the blood off."
Jaune was shaking his head and backing away from the group. "Guys, I'm sorry. It was an accident, please!" Jaune said pleadingly. He looked at each of his friends, and finally settled on Ruby. "Ruby, please, I don't want to die."
"You mean like how Gideon didn't want to die!" Chandra said furiously. "If Monokuma doesn't kill you, I will."
Jaune looked to Ruby again, but she just mouthed 'how could you?'
Chains sprang out from a door way near Monokuma and wrapped themselves around Jaune's torso.
"Please." Jaune said, tears rolling down his face. Then the chains dragged at had been shim through the door, and it slammed shut.
A light turned on behind the window, and it revealed a massive room, and Jaune was being dragged through it towards the center where a wooden post stood among a pile of wood and branches. Jaune was dragged to the post and the chains pulled him up until he was tied up a couple of inches above the pile of wood. Then Ruby saw someone enter the room. She stared at the person, not processing who it was until she heard Jaune speak. "Ruby? Please, get me down. I'm so sorry." The person did not respond, and then Ruby realized who the person was. It was her. Or at least a doppelganger.
Ruby's twin took a step towards Jaune and grabbed a gas canister that was sitting nearby. She splashed some of the gas onto the pile under Jaune's feet.
"Ruby? What are you doing?" He asked, pleading with her twin. "Please just cut me down. We can get out of here!"
The Ruby in the walked back a safe distance and passed the gas can to Nora. Ruby looked over to the real Nora, who was standing next to her, her arms wrapped around Ren. The Nora twin walked up to Jaune and poured a little more gas onto the wood, then splashed Jaune's feet as well. Then Ren, Yang Blake and Weiss walked up behind Nora and repeated the process, each time only allowing Jaune's feet to get splashed with gas. Each doppelganger went and stood next to the Ruby twin and watched as Jaune struggled to get free from the chains binding him. Then he suddenly stopped as someone else walked into the room.
"Pyrrha?" Jaune said, tears freely flowing from his face. "How? You died. You can't be here. How?"
The Pyrrha clone stood and watched Jaune before reaching down and producing a match.
"No, Please! Anyone!" Jaune cried out. "Help me, please Pyrrha, it wasn't my fault. I'm sorry you died, but please!"
Pyrrha struck the match and dropped it onto the kindling at Jaune's feet.
Ruby could only watch as Jaune's screams filled the room. The fire moved to his feet quickly, but the rest of him burned slowly. It seemed to take hours, and Ruby stood transfixed as her friend burned alive, all while his dead partner stood a few feet away, staring at him with a malicious grin on her face.
So Sorry for the long wait, chapter 5 is finished, and going through Beta, and Chapter 6 is about halfway done. I hope to have a slightly more regular update schedule from now on, but I guess we shall see. See you on the next update!