What's thiiiiiiis? I finished the fic? Please rise for the Hallelujah Chorus!
December 31, 9:45 AM, District Court, Defendant's Lobby #4
"Stop it, Jana," Alois muttered, "it's useless."
"No," was all Jana had to say to that. She looked around the defendant's lobby and tapped her foot impatiently. Where was Watson Justice? Was she even coming?
The door to the lobby opened and Jana turned towards it irritably - and was shocked to see not Watson, but Franziska, who brushed past the guard and embraced Alois without saying a word.
"M-Mama," Alois said, surprised.
"I thought you were not supposed to come back for a few more weeks," Jana said.
"I came as soon as I could," Franziska said, letting go of Alois and turning to Jana, "but Piano Gavin – your father – he will not be able to return for several more days."
"I am just glad you are here," Jana said, and she meant it. Alois, meanwhile, was looking at the floor. He looked shattered. "Today is the last day of trial."
"I expect you to win this, Jana," Franziska said. Jana hid a flinch. "Not for your perfect record – that was never the important thing. For Alois. He must be innocent."
"I… I know," Jana said.
Alois coughed. "The trial's starting soon, Ich denke," he said.
"I will be in the gallery," Franziska said, and left the defendant's lobby, as imperious as ever.
Alois groaned and put his head in his hands. "Götter, Jana, this is the worst-case scenario. Now Mama will see…"
"Shut up," Jana snapped.
December 31, 10:00 AM, District Court, Courtroom #4
"Court is now in session for the trial of Alois von Karma-Gavin."
"The defense is ready, your Honor." Or rather, she is pretending that she is, Jana thought.
"The prosecution is ready, your Honor," Miguel said. His usual smug smile seemed to be gone for good. Or at least for now.
"This is the last day of trial," the Judge warned them. "If everything is not resolved today, I will be forced to hand down a 'guilty' verdict."
What a stupid system, Jana thought. "I understand, your Honor."
The Judge nodded. "Very well, Mr. Fey, you-"
"Actually," Miguel said, glancing around the courtroom, "I'd like to sate my curiosity before we go any further."
"Yes?"
"Where exactly is the audience?"
Jana looked around, too. She had been too distracted to notice until now, but the gallery seemed awfully empty. In fact, there were only nine people: Franziska, Armando, Detective Skye, Justice (who must have only returned from Texas that morning), all four of the Wright children, and a man in his mid-twenties or so wearing a leather jacket and sunglasses. Jana was unsure who the last person was. At the doors to the courtroom, mysterious people in suits stood next to the court guards as if they belonged there.
"That… is a good question," the Judge said, looking a little ruffled, "I was told it was some governmental thing. Apparently there was some confidential information that was touched up on in the previous day of trial."
"The files," Jana muttered.
"Hm," Miguel said, "well, that's just as well. Today's star witness has a tendency of getting things covered up, so I suppose if the gallery's empty, less risk to me."
"Excuse me?" the Judge said at the same time Jana did.
"The prosecution calls Dahlia Hawthorne to the stand."
Where there would have usually been murmuring in the gallery, there was just a slightly angry noise that sounded like it came from Maya Valerie. She was probably wondering why her favorite aunt was testifying in court against her "nephew". Jana was wondering the same thing.
Dahlia took the stand. Instead of being a ghost, as Jana typically (no, always) saw her, she had a physical body – one that was wearing channeling robes and had a long ponytail – Mairwen.
"Witness, name and occupation," Miguel said, as though this were totally normal, which for him, it kind of was.
"Dahlia Hawthorne." Pause, probably to search for an appropriate pun. "Vengeful spirit," she said finally.
"More like, minor annoyance at best," somebody in the gallery muttered. Jana almost laughed at that. Almost. (Miguel sputtered into his coffee, so he apparently heard it, too.)
"Ahem. Witness, you claim to have seen the final moment of the attack," Miguel said.
"Yes," Dahlia said.
"…well. Describe it."
Dahlia went to flip her hair, paused, awkwardly touched the side of her head, quickly let down Mairwen's ponytail, then began her testimony while absent-mindedly braiding her hair.
"It was a few nights ago. I don't really remember what I was doing - Phoenix is out of town, anyway - I was suddenly channelled. Maria can channel, you know. She's not very good at it, obviously, which is probably why I - well, she - passed out within a few seconds." She paused. "I suppose the blunt force trauma could have had something to do with it, too."
"Get to the point," Armando yelled from the gallery. The Judge glared at him.
Dahlia rolled her eyes and said, "Anyway… the point is, she channelled me right before she died - sorry, vegetable'd - so I had the privilege of being the one to experience her last moments for her. While I'm not sure what exactly happened, I did see the defendant."
"Hmm!" said the Judge, "but hasn't it already been proven that the defendant was at the crime scene? Is this even any new information?"
"No, duh," Dahlia said, flipping her hair, "the information is the fact that Alois was pretty... upset."
"…okay," said the Judge, "Ms. von Karma. You may cross-examine her now."
Why me, God, why me, Jana asked silently. "Witness, what exactly do you mean by 'upset'?" Jana asked audibly.
"Angry," Dahlia said, "maybe a little afraid."
Jana jumped on that so fast she almost yelled Aha! "What would he have to be afraid of?" Dahlia shrugged. "Unless there was another person in the room… for example, the real-"
"Witness," Miguel said, "did you see anyone else in the room?"
"Nope," Dahlia said, flipping her hair.
"Hold it!" Jana yelled, "witness! How long were you being channelled?"
"Only a few seconds," Dahlia said, "I think. It was a very strange experience overall."
"Did you have the opportunity to turn around?" Jana said. Dahlia shrugged, then shook her head. Jana pulled out Maria's medical report. "See," she said, "Maria Fey-Armando was hit on the back of the head, so if Dahlia Hawthorne saw the defendant standing in front of her-"
"She was also hit on her forehead," Miguel said, pulling out his own copy of the medical report. "She had several head wounds, so it's hard to tell which wound came first." He paused, taking a sip of coffee somberly. "She clearly was putting up a fight - probably why she channelled the witness."
"…arrgh," Jana said, sweating, "wait… hold it! Witness, even if you saw the defendant - did he actually hit you?"
"How am I supposed to remember that?" Dahlia said, offended, "Obviously, I was disoriented, and - all I remember was the fact that Alois was there and he looked pissed." She paused, then said coldly, "it's not like it was my crime scene or anything."
"So he may not have actually attacked the victim," Jana said.
"And he may have," Miguel said.
"Well, he said he did," Dahlia said, flipping her hair.
"He what?" said the Judge.
"He confessed," Dahlia said, then titled her head, smiling like Maya Valerie, "I thought Coffee Prosecutor 2.0 would have told you before he summoned me as a witness." Jana heard Franziska gasp.
"…nnnnno," said the Judge, "Mr. Fey, what is the meaning of this?"
"…ha," Miguel said, drinking his coffee, "actually, it was determined that the confession should be thrown out due to the amount of emotional strain he was under at the time." Distractedly, Jana wondered who determined that. "However, not only was he certainly in the apartment at the time of the final blow, but he was also angry at something - or someone."
"Objection!" Jana shouted, hitting her bench with the riding crop, "he could have been angry at the real culprit! …who was behind Maria Fey-Armando at the time!"
"There isn't a scrap of evidence to suggest that this 'real culprit' even exists!" Miguel said, slamming the bottom of his coffee cup on the prosecution bench. "Even the witness who was there at the time only saw the defendant."
"Was he even holding anything?" Jana demanded.
"Don't know, don't care," Dahlia said sweetly.
"Why were you even channelled in the first place?" Jana said, "even if the victim channelled someone as a means of fighting back somehow, you are a completely illogical choice! You'd be more like to burn down her apartment than to-" Jana stopped. Wait. Burn?
"I don't knooooow," Dahlia drawled in the meantime, "it's not like the spirit can tell the thoughts of the channelerr. That's not how it works."
"I - I know," Jana said, pointing her riding crop at the court, shaking but confident, "I know why she channelled you of all people, instead of her mother or literally anybody else - the files!"
"Back to this?" Miguel said, rolling his eyes.
"Dahlia Hawthorne's specialty is burning things. If these files with sensitive information in them existed, would Maria Fey-Armando not want them burned in order to keep them out of the hands of the real culprit-?"
"That's just conjecture," Miguel, the Judge, Dahlia, and even Alois and a few people in the gallery said at the same time.
"OBJECTION!" It took Jana (and the rest of the court) a second to realize that it wasn't her who had screamed that. They all looked at the entrance to the court, where the doors had been thrown open so hard that the mysterious suited "guards" had been knocked to the floor.
Watson Justice stood there, panting, for a second, before sprinting up to the witness stand, shoving Dahlia out of the way (she would probably pay for that later), and slamming a manilla envelope onto the stand, sending scraps of paper flying everywhere. "Your honor!" she yelled, "I-I have an objection!"
"Miss Justice," the Judge said, "what is the meaning of this?"
Watson pounded her fist on the papers she had just brought. "The files that the defense keeps going on about - I brought them. The original copies." She dug in her pockets, the pulled out a forensics report and held it up. "Maria's fingerprints were all over it, as well as those of Amulek Josephson, her boss at QLF."
"…what?" said the Judge.
"What's in them?" Miguel demanded.
"Hold it!" Jana yelled, "your Honor! This proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the defendant could not have been Alois! The files left the premises after the crime but Alois did not!"
"That… is a very good point," the Judge said, "Miss Justice-"
"Wait just a minute," Miguel said, hunching over, "Wat. Why exactly do you have those files? Where did you get them?"
Watson took a deep breath. "Actually, I… have a confession to make."
Jana could hear Detective Skye say, "what….?" from the gallery.
"Or rather," Watson said, twisting the hem of her labcoat between her fingers, "I have an accusation to make. See, I know who the real culprit is."
"You WHAT?" Miguel said, almost jumping over the desk, "how long have you known?!"
"Well, I… suspected… the whole time. But I was being blackmailed," she explained, "and the culprit thought I was his… ally, so he gave the files. To hang onto."
"Wh… Watson Justice," Jana said, grimacing, "what exactly were you blackmailed into doing?"
"Hey, I wasn't involved in the crime itself," Watson said, raising her hands defensively, "just hiding evidence, apparently. But I didn't know it was evidence until - well, I was working on something with him. He was always bringing me reports and files… back in January he even brought me a cell phone he stole from a detective who knew something…!"
"That's enough," said the Judge, "I'd like to hear your accusation."
"You're not going to like it," Watson said, frowning.
"The truth isn't always pretty," Miguel said, also frowning, "tell us."
Watson took another deep breath. "He… he's in the gallery right now." She turned around and pointed right at the stranger in the leather jacket. "Clay Justice! You are the true culprit!"
"WHAT?!" the Judge shrieked as Clay stood up. Justice half-stood as well, staring at Clay in shock. Wait, Jana thought, is this their…?
"Your Honor," Miguel said cooly, "we can't reasonably expect you to stay impartial when your own son is a suspect. I think we'll be needing a different judge for the remainder of the trial."
"…yes," the Judge said faintly, "yes. You will…"
December 31, 3:00 PM, District Court, Courtroom #4
Court was back in session with a different judge - a very old one, nearing retirement, who was the grandfather of Pearl Fey's husband. Judge Juniper Justice had joined the sparse gallery, as had Mairwen (Dahlia had de-channelled) and Watson. Clay took the stand.
"Witness," Miguel said, beginning to look a little hopeful again, "name and occupation."
"My name… is Ares." His sunglasses glinted, but other than that he didn't appear to be capable of showing emotion.
"…occupation?" Jana said. Ares ignored her.
"So." Miguel took a sip of his coffee. "You got anything to say about Wat's accusation?"
Ares shrugged. "Were my fingerprints found on the files?"
"No," Jana said, looking over the forensics report that Watson had submitted, then putting it down and crossing her arms. "However, there were no fingerprints found on the weapon, either. You obviously wore gloves."
"What - you think you can trust Wat?" Ares said, sneering, "she's shadier than Uncle Phoenix circa 2026." He shook his head. "Besides, someone working with the defense for the whole case suddenly shows up with the case-breaking evidence? What are the odds?"
"Pretty good, actually," Miguel said, "we verified the contents of the file with QLF during the recess. It's the genuine thing."
"…okay," Ares said, "so you found the contradiction that saves the frilly guy in the defendant's box. Good job." He started clapping slowly, sarcastically. "But all you have against me is the words of a madwoman."
"For now," Miguel said, "but we're not going to let you or anyone get away with putting my sister in a coma. That's not going to happen."
"I'm innocent," Ares said drily.
"No, you're not!" Watson yelled from the gallery. The new Judge banged his gavel.
"Prove it!" Ares yelled back at the gallery.
And then the courtroom doors slammed open again, although this time the mysterious suit-wearers sidestepped the doors and the official guards were the ones sent flying.
"Stop the trial! I have DNA evidence!" Deceptive Noir yelled, holding a broken umbrella over her head.
"Twice in one trial," Miguel said, sipping his coffee amusedly, "dang, filly, is crazy luck just the Wright Anything Agency legacy or what?"
"Honestly, I have no idea what is going on," said Jana.
"What does that umbrella have to do with DNA?" the Judge said.
"This umbrella belonged to the victim," Detective Noir said, "and she definitely pasted the perp over the conk before she got cooled!"
"…ummmmmm, what?" said the Judge.
"The real culprit apparently left some hair on the umbrella when Maria hit him with it," Miguel said, leaning on his bench. "Tell us, detective, where did you find the umbrella, anyway? I recall it was missing from the crime scene."
"Which means it is yet another thing that Alois cannot possibly have removed," Jana said quickly.
"I found it in a dumpster outside that flophouse down by Gourd Lake - you know, Run Down Inn," Detective Noir said.
"But that's where Clay lives!" Judge Justice gasped.
"Your Honor," Clay said to the Judge who was actually presiding over the trial, "what my mother said just now is not actually permissible as testimony."
"That is true," the Judge said grimly, banging his gavel.
"Still," Jana said, undaunted now, "the defense requests that the hair on the umbrella be compared to the witness!"
"I refuse to submit to such a test," Ares deadpanned.
"Wow, didn't see that one coming," Miguel said sarcastically, "good thing I just so happened to get some warrants processed while we were waiting for the change of judges." He held up a paper, grinning widely. "Funny how the entire rest of the police department wants this case resolves as much as we do."
"D… dammit," Ares said, pushing his sunglasses up his nose, "Wat, you traitorous-"
"You can confess now or wait until the results of the DNA test get back," Jana said challengingly, "either way, Alois is innocent, and you are surely guilty."
"Alright, alright," Ares growled, "will the court hear my confession… as well as my reasoning?"
"…certainly," the Judge said. He looked lost. Jana wondered how old he was.
Ares ran a hand through his hair, then sighed. "Obviously… it was I who attacked Ms. Fey-Armando. And yes, I was stealing the classified QLF file. She walked in on me - and I just grabbed that statue and hit her over the head with it without thinking. Of course, she's pretty tough, apparently, because it took a few hits to make her go down - and in the meantime she actually grabbed that stupid umbrella and starting hitting me over the head with it." He rubbed his head, frowning. "Once she did actually pass out, I noticed the defendant. He actually was pretty pissed off, he probably wanted to attack me… but he fainted almost as soon as I looked at him. It was then that I realized that his was Alois von Karma-Gavin, so I realized that he wouldn't actually remember anything that happened, so I let him live. Oh," he added, glancing behind him at Armando, "I did actually intend to kill Maria. It's a wonder she survived. I honestly thought the she was dead when I left. Anyway, I pinned the blame on Alois and left, taking the files - which I needed - and the umbrella - which I knew might have my hair on it - with me." He spread his arms. "There, happy?"
There was a long moment of silence.
"You are a terrible person," Jana informed him.
"Yeah," Ares said, shrugging, "well, I'm not done. Tell me," he said, looking straight at Jana, "how many of you in here believe in the possibility of time travel?"
"…time travel?" Jana said, shifting her weight from foot to foot uncomfortably.
Ares nodded. "That's what Watson and I are working towards. Time travel. Going back in time to fix our broken families." He turned around and glared at Detective Skye. "You know, if I went back in time and killed you - wouldn't my parents stay together? And my worthless half-sister wouldn't exist. That'd be nice."
"You… you're mad," Detective Skye said.
"Whatever," Ares said, "as a scientist, you have to acknowledge the possibility, right?"
"O… kay," said Miguel, "whatever. What does that have to with your attempted murder?"
"I needed those files - or rather Wat needed those files," Ares said.
"What's in the files?" the Judge said. Ares smirked.
There was a phoot noise. Ares clapped a hand to his neck, startled, and suddenly collapsed.
"Wh-what just happened?" the Judge shouted. The small gallery all did their various reactions, which Jana missed because she immediately dove under the defense bench.
"Don't worry, your Honor," someone said - Jana peeked over the bench and saw it was one of the mysterious suited guards. "It's just a tranquilizer. It'll wear off in a few hours."
"Did you just - did you just tranquilize the suspect?" Miguel said, scraping the remains of a coffee cup off of his desk.
"Yep," the mysterious suit said brightly, "it's easier to arrest him this way, anyway."
"Uh… right," said the Judge, "that…"
"…that means it's time to hand down a verdict, your Honor," Jana said hopefully.
"Oh, yes," said the Judge, "well. I suppose then that this court finds the defendant, Alois von Karma-Gavin… NOT GUILTY."
Everyone in the courtroom applauded, except for Jana, who sank to her knees in relief, and Alois, who slid off his chair in same.
December 31, 3:30 PM, District Court, Defendant's Lobby #4
Everyone in the courtroom had flooded into the defendant's lobby, except for the extremely old judge, who had wandered off somewhere, and Ares, who had been arrested. The first thing Jana did was hug Alois so much force that both of them were sent to the floor.
"I did it, I did it, you're free, I did it," Jana kept repeating without even being aware of what she was saying, or even the tears running down her cheeks or Alois' cheeks, or the way their mother knelt next to them and wrapped her arms around both of them so that they were just one big tearful family hug on the floor. It was a little while before they all finally stood back up, whereupon Maya Valerie latched onto Jana with a cheerful "congratulations!" and Miguel grabbed Alois' sleeve.
"I'm sorry I ever doubted you," he said, "I really am, kitten, can you ever forgive me?"
"Of course I can," Alois said, smiling and wiping his eyes, "I doubted myself, too. But the truth still came out in the end." Miguel looked at the floor silently, and Alois put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey," he said, "you can cry too, you know. It's over, isn't it?" He looked at Armando.
Armando nodded. "The trial's over. I don't know about Maria." He turned to Justice, Detective Skye, and the Judge. "Hey, Red. Flowers. We need to have a good, long talk."
Justice shook his head. "I had no idea he was like that. When Juniper and I got divorced, she got full custody."
"You can't blame this on me," the Judge said, putting her hands over her mouth, "I didn't know he was like this, either. He never wanted to be around me, but I just thought he was…"
"That doesn't matter," Armando said harshly, "whatever you two thought - he still ended up being a crazy bastard who almost killed my daughter for a few pieces of paper. All because of you three."
"What?" Detective Skye said, "what do I have to do with this?"
"This has been a problem 25 years in the making and we all know it," Armando said, "just because you couldn't make a real decision, Red. You couldn't pick between Flowers and Skye so you tried to have both - and your kids paid the price, and my kids did too."
"No, it wasn't like that," Apollo said, "it wasn't like that at all - that's just how it… how it turned out."
"He wanted a real family, Red. He wanted his father."
"Most people wanting a father don't try to kill someone over time travel. I know I didn't."
Armando bared his teeth at Justice. "My daughter is in a coma because of you."
"Your daughter's in a coma because of his son," Detective Skye snapped, "who never even associated himself with Apollo in the first place. Why do you think he calls himself Ares?"
"She might never fully wake up," Armando growled.
Skye and Armando stopped to glare at each other. During the silence, everyone else became gradually aware that somebody's phone was ringing.
"Oh," said the bailiff, Ace, "I think that's me." He pulled out his phone while everyone stared at him in disbelief. "Hello, pal?" … "R-Really?! Okay, pal, I'll them right away!" He looked up from his phone. "It's Maria! She's awake! For real this time!"
The ensuing chaos was no match for Armando and Miguel, who couldn't have run out of the defendant's lobby faster if they were being chased.
December 31, 4:00 PM, Hickfield Clinic
Jana stood next to the doorway, peeking into Maria's room. Maria was, indeed, awake - and apart from the bandages around her head, she looked perfectly fine. She was sitting in her bed, covers pulled up to her chest, hands folded in her lap, smiling brightly at Armando and Miguel. Jana could only hear snatches of their conversation, but she could see that Miguel was crying.
"Hey, hey," Maria was saying, "I'm just glad I got to see you two again. I don't know what I'd do without my family."
"…I'm sorry for all these years," Armando said, "we thought - we thought you turned your back on us, but-"
"How could I turn my back on you?" Maria said, laughing, "okay, maybe I was being a bit too serious. But… family's the most important thing in the world. That's something I learned…"
She summoned a mug of dark, steaming liquid. Miguel raised his eyebrows at her. "Maria, that's not… is it?"
Maria shook her head. "I gave up coffee. But even if I believe in different things than you two do now, we're still a family. Forever." She lifted her mug. "This is actually xocolatl - I learned about it from Mr. Josephson. It may not be coffee, but it's still hot and bitter." She took a long sip of it and sighed contentedly. "It's nice to be an Armando again…"
Jana scooted over slightly to allow Alois to peer into the room, too. Only now did Maria notice them. "Alois, come in," she said.
"Ähhm," Alois said, edging into the room.
"I'm sorry what happened," Maria said, "I heard already… I'm just glad you're okay. I was really worried about you."
"O-Oh, ja…" Alois said, coughing into his fist, his cheeks going slightly red. "I'm alright, Maria."
"Also… I'm not pressing charges against Clay," Maria said.
"You're not?" Armando said.
Maria shook her head. "I want to be able to move past this and get on with my life. I know it was a miracle that I woke up, so I don't want to waste it on resentment. I forgive him. Alois… I'd encourage you to do the same, but it's up to you."
"…" Alois nodded.
"And Jana," Maria said, "I'm proud of you. You didn't give up."
"…thanks," Jana said, and stepped back out into the hall. She looked at Watson, who was leaning against the wall. "What now?" she said.
Watson shrugged. "I'm probably supposed to go talk to the police about the whole 'blackmail' thing, but beyond that…" she stepped away from the wall, and put her hands in her pockets. She stared at Jana intently for a moment before saying, "I think I'll take the bar exam soon. Clay'll need someone to defend him." And without another word, she turned around a walked away. Jana stared after her, confused. Even after all this, she would still defend Ares?
"I will never understand that girl," Franziska commented, then took Jana's hand. "Come along," she said as Alois exited Maria's room. "Let's go home."
Sorry it got all turnabout ex machina at the end but MIRACLES YOU GUYS.
Also yes, Clay "Ares" Justice was the last child character. And he is nuts. Or is he?
The next fic in this series will be called "Turnabout Time Warp" and it will finish up all the temporally lose ends left from LAL! I can't tell you right now when it'll be up - I'll start work on it immediately, but I've decided that from now on, I'll only start uploading fics if I've completed all of the chapters for it. Hope you enjoyed, though~!