Thank you for the review, Wolfsong98 (LiveJournal)
I do not own or claim to own CSI: Miami characters. I do not own or claim to own "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" or anything like that. This is fanmade and I make absolutely no profit off of this. I do this for my own amusement.
***
Chapter Eleven: The Trial
"This trial shall now come to order," Horatio announced, setting the trumpet down, "our Queen of Hearts presiding".
"Thank you, Horatio," she cooed with a smile as the white haired man sat down. "Mr. Delko, you have been charged with 'killing time'. How do you plead?"
The jury turned to look over at Eric, still being held between the two guards. His head hung, Eric muttered something under his breath. One of the guards gave him a rough shake.
"Louder," he growled, "so that your Queen can hear you clearly".
Eric took a shaky breath before raising his head, meeting her gaze. "Guilty".
Every man in the jury except for Jesse (who knew better), Rick (who was confused), and Speedle (who was sleeping) grabbed their respective slates and chalk out of the pockets of the jury box. Rick watched as the man sitting next to him, with the 3 of Clubs on his robes, scribbled the word "guilty" on his slate. That's what they all seemed to be doing. Some were asking each other how to spell it.
He looked over at the first row of pews where Ryan was sitting, joined by a man in a large pope-like hat and Alexx; the latter of the two was knitting a large white scarf, some of which was already wrapped around her. Ryan, meanwhile, was looking incredibly melancholy; wringing his hands and muttering to himself.
"The accused has pled guilty!" Natalia announced, "bring forth the first witness".
"But he pled guilty," Rick blurted out, thankfully not too loudly.
"Shh," the 3 of Clubs hissed at him.
Rick felt a claw-like hand on his shoulder and heard the familiar click of chalk on slate. A tablet was handed to him.
Unlike the systems I hear you are familiar with, here the accused is guilty until proven innocent. Horatio doesn't agree with this system, but he's in the minority. Trials here are to more prove or disprove innocent.
Eric has already pled guilty. So now we see just how not-innocent he is.
"Oh," Rick whispered softly before handing the tablet back to Jesse.
The man with the large hat stepped onto the witness stand next to the Queen.
"I remember it like it was yesterday," he declared, spurring on the less competent jurors to scribble "yesterday" down on their tablets. "It was her Majesty's birthday and-"
He was cut short by a sharp strike to the head by Natalia's scepter, knocking off his hat.
"Sorry," he muttered, rubbing the knot on his head, "I was at her Royal Highness, her Honor, The Queen of Heart's birthday celebration". He nervously gave a little glance up at her, breathing a quiet sigh of relief as she nodded contentedly. "Where I saw with my own two eyes and heard with my own two hears the man in front of you," he paused to point at Eric, "begin SINGING!"
There was much ado that swarmed about the jury, Rick listening to it in confusion.
"And why was he singing?!" the witness asked the jurors.
"Why?"
"Tell us!"
"Why was the hatter singing?"
Rick looked around at the fellow members of the jury, shouting their responses like brainless morons. It made him want to roll his eyes, but at the same time he wanted to join in. Some of them were staring at him because he wasn't hollering at the witness. Instead he just looked over at Ryan, who was sinking lower and lower into his seat.
The witness smiled contentedly at the overall reaction to his question. "I'll tell you why!" He cried out, waving his arms around, like he should be praised for answering a simple question. His declaration was followed by applause and a few cheers. "The hatter you see before you was getting BORED with the party!"
There were a series of gasps coming from the jurors. The Queen looked down at Eric and scoffed.
"So he decided," the witness continued, "to KILL some TIME!"
There was a roar of commotion and furious scribbling of this phrase down onto black slates. Rick looked over. He would have sworn that he saw the man next to him move. But that was an illusion; he remained fast asleep with the word REVOLUTION scrawled on his slate, the E and the L reversed. It was a curiosity to say the most, why he would write what he did…
"Your honor, that is all I have to say," he nodded.
Wait, Rick frowned, Isn't anyone going to cross examine him? He only said two sentences and waved his arms around. That doesn't count as a testimony. In fact, that was pretty ridiculous now that I think about it. Isn't anyone going to say something? I think it would pretty rude of me to point out, I'm just a guest here. Hey… why am I in the jury here anyways?
The witness donned his hat again before strutting back to the pew Ryan sat on. The Queen nodded, pleased with his testimony. She took a moment for the jurors to scribble nonsense down onto their sat there, looking around and figuring that he should probably be using his slate too. He picked up the chalk and began sketching a portrait of the white rabbit sitting across the hall from him. Although his hair and eyes were white, he was still quite easy on the eyes.
"The White Queen may approach the stand," Natalia announced.
Alexx stood up, wrapping the knitted shawl around her, but refusing to put down her work. She perched her ball of wool on her shoulder, her hands still quite busy clicking the needles together as she continued to knit. She walked slowly, managing to make it to the witness stand without dropping the wool. She plopped down in the wooden chair, the ball falling into her lap and her dark eyes entranced by her own movements.
The Queen of Hearts waited for a moment, listening for her to speak. The moment, however, seemed to be taking too long. "Mada-"
"-I remember it like it was this morning!" she declared.
There were soft gasps coming from the jury, who began scribbling her words down onto their slates. Rick gave her a little glance, indicating that he had been paying attention; he then promptly returned to sketching the older man.
"It was the Her Royal Majesty's birthday," she sighed, leaning back in her chair and knitting a little faster, "she Queen was in the playroom, painting pictures for the children's holiday".
"Children? Where were they?" Rick couldn't help but to blurt out. He was quickly punished by Jesse by a claw digging into his shoulder.
The white queen sighed, "nowhere. It was for a lark".
"Is that very clear to you, sir?" a juror snarled at Rick.
The brunette ducked down into his chair, holding his picture close to his chest and wishing he could just disappear with it for a little while. He nodded at the angry eyes, then pretending to pay very close attention to the White Queen.
"Good," she nodded, not seeming to be very upset with explaining herself to Rick. "I, meanwhile, was in the kitchen, keeping an eye on the tarts she was baking. At 6:00 (I remember it well) I heard this peculiar sound coming from the parlor. I followed the sound and saw the man standing before you looking over the Queen's cake. And I heard him, I heard him killing time".
Gasps.
"And it was premeditated, the song was memorized".
More gasps.
"And it was with malice".
Even more gasps with various mumbles and "tsk"s coming from the jury. Rick looked up to see Eric shift nervously between the guards, the brim of his hat falling down over his eyes. He struggled to motion to the guards that he needed some assistance, but they just roughly nudged him; an order for him to stop wiggling around. Stuck with the hat covering his eyes, Eric just sighed and stood there in the dark.
"And what did you do when you heard this murder?" the Queen asked, eyeing up the White Queen as if to establish a superiority over her.
"I was chilled to the b-b-bone. I had never witnessed a murder b-b-before".
Rick looked around. Was he the only one who caught her stutter? Nobody else seemed to react to it. He knew that he didn't know this version of Alexx very well… or the usual version of Alexx very well. But he felt in his gut that a stutter would be uncharacteristic of her. She also seemed to be knitting a lot faster than she originally was. The clicking was coming so fast that it sounded like chattering teeth. The shawl the needles were attached to was growing at an alarming rate.
"It was unb-b-b-bearab-b-b-ble".
It was getting worse. Rick watched her wrap herself in the white shawl.
"I couldn't b-b-b-b-b-believe that monster he had b-b-b-b-be-bec-be-ba-ba-baaaaaaa".
She had Rick's undivided attention as she bleated loudly, sounding just like a sheep. The shawl stopped looking like a shawl and more like a coat… a fleece. Her eyes became beady and her mouth pushed out into a muzzle. The needles dropped to the floor as her hands turned as black as coal and hardened into hooves. But by far the most surprising aspect of this transformation was that Rick was apparently the only one who was really astonished at the sight. Part of him was happy that he didn't jump out of his chair and overreact to the sight; that would have been embarrassing to everyone. But most of him wanted everyone to be equally astonished and jump out of their chairs with enough energy to possibly hurt themselves.
"'became'. Gotcha," the queen nodded.
"Baa".
"You may return to your seat, your Highness," Natalia added, as she relaxed into her chair again.
"Baa".
Alexx hopped off the stand, trotting on all fours over to the pew she was seated at before. Ryan gave a little nod to her as she joined him, but he obviously felt betrayed. He began wringing his hands again, looking over at Eric, then over at Speed.
How easy it would be, Ryan thought, to just get up and start walking in the opposite direction. How easy it would have been last night to just slip out of his arms and get out of there before things got out of hand… out of my control. I remember when Eric first offered for me to join him and Speed. And even now, I can't remember if I said "yes" because I wanted it, or because I didn't want to end up alone. I might have just been afraid, with the new regime coming in. He convinced me that I had nothing to worry about with this one, that the old war was over and we'd be able to settle down together. He was right, but the war ended before she took power, and she couldn't care less about the social aspects of our situation. I should have started running once Speed was captured for bordering on anarchist… but I couldn't just leave Eric; he was so scared. I had never seen anyone so terrified for anyone else.
But that was then… now it's Eric who's about to be captured. The same thing she did to Speed would probably be done to him. Then they both could be comatose. I could just take them home, lie them down next to one another, then I'll leave them. I'll tell Horatio to feed them. I need to get out of here. I should save myself while I still can.
"Ryan?" the Queen called, "please approach the stand".
He nodded politely, standing up and slowly walking to his appropriate position.
Do it, a voice within him urged.
He turned, looking at the large wooden doors that led out into the castle. He was a good sprint away from freedom. There is nothing in the plan that would make the Queen pursue him. He could actually get away with it.
His eyes fell on Eric, hidden under the green top hat, which was about three sizes too big. Sighing, he held up a hand to the Queen, motioning to her that he needed a moment. Not paying attention to her disapproving glance, he approached Eric, reaching out and gently lifting the hat off his face.
His heart nearly broke when he looked into those large deep brown pools that were his eyes. The hatter looked so boyish and innocent, giving Ryan the same eyes he did when he asked him to join him and Speed. Ryan could feel his eyes water slightly, he had to bite down hard on his tongue to keep from bursting into tears.
"Ryan?" he whispered.
The brown haired rabbit tried to control his emotions as he spoke. "You'll be alright".
"You don't need to lie to me, sweetheart".
He pursed his lips, trying not to let his voice crack. "I wanted to".
Eric sighed peacefully, letting Ryan pull him down slightly to meet their foreheads together. "We're in this together, right? Always. You, me, and Speed?"
Ryan felt his stomach knot and his breath catch. He knew that Eric couldn't have known what was going through his mind… but maybe he did. He cursed himself for even thinking about leaving him like this. Nervously, he took Eric's face in his hands, pressing lips to lips.
"I love you, you know that?" he whispered, breaking away.
Eric nodded slightly, making the hat fall back over his eyes. There was a soft laugh before Ryan fixed it again. "I love you too".
"If you're done getting your stories straight, would you please approach the bench, sir?" the Queen of Hearts snapped.
Ryan gave the older man one last look before turning around and making the rest of the way to the witness stand. "I'm sorry about that," he whispered to her.
"I don't care".
He sat down. "Do you want me to tell you my story now?"
"Yes. Quickly".
"Alright," he sighed deeply, "Eric and I were-"
"How do you remember it as?"
"What? Oh. I remember it like it was yesterday, too".
There were murmurs through the jury, as his words were scribbled down.
"Eric and I were waiting in the parlor, waiting for the cake to be served. He told me that there was a song that he had always wanted to sing to me-"
"-To kill time?!" the Queen snapped.
"No! To just sing to me. To be sweet".
"What did he sing?"
Rick ducked down in his chair, hardly able to believe that he just blurted out again. The claw once more dug into his shoulder, sending a shiver down his spine. His eyes met with Horatio's, the older man obviously a little concerned about this behavior. Ryan, however, seemed to be quite happy that the question was asked.
"It was 'Where Time Stands Still', by Mar-"
"-A song SPECIFICALLY designed for killing time!" the Queen shouted, standing up.
"That's not true!" Ryan shouted back at her.
There was a gasp that washed over the jury, some people scratching the phrase "not true" down onto their tablets.
"It's beautiful!" Ryan growled, "I'll sing it".
"You will do no such thing!"
"I will!"
"If you do, it will be the last sound to come out of you!"
Ryan glared at her, but held his tongue. He was bold, but he knew that Eric and Speed depended on him to be their voice. A little ashamed by this halt, he sank back into his chair, looking down at the floor.
"That's what I thought," she growled. She stood up and addressed the court, "how many times do I have to tell you that there is NEVER to be ANY music of ANY time in MY kingdom?!"
Rick's head shot up at her. This was news. He didn't realize it until now, but the only music he had heard the past few days was whatever was stuck in his head. He must have been so concerned about getting home and Horatio that he didn't notice it… although how this went right over his head, he'll never know.
"If I said it once, I've said it a thousand times!" she shouted, mostly at Ryan and Eric, "music does NOTHING but fill the head with nonsense and give you false hope. It is nothing more than an elaborate waste of time!"
Rick wanted more than anything than to get up and tell her off, but he knew that he couldn't. Given the claws digging into his shoulder and he worried look Horatio was giving him, he had to stay silent. But this wasn't enough. He felt sick hearing her speak. Music had always been there for him, and now he wasn't strong enough to return the favor.
"It is a drug, an addiction that is painful to my ears. It does nothing but tear people apart. Haven't I told you about all the wars that were started over music?! This world is better without it!"
The cheers that rang out around him made Rick grit his teeth in anger as his eyes began to water. It wasn't fair. It wasn't right.
"It is the primitive chattering of the savages! In our society, music is obsolete!"
"If you believe in forever," Eric started to sing softly.
The Queen cringed, slamming her scepter down on the bench. "Silence!"
"Then life is just a one night stand".
"Gentlemen of the jury, cover your ears! This is the-"
"If there's a rock and roll heaven".
"SHUTUP!"
"Well, you know they got a hell of a band".
"GUARDS!!"
Eric gasped as a hand flew to cover his mouth, his hat falling back down over his eyes. The guard pulled him close, keeping his lips covered as he was pinned still. All the energy the guards were previously using to keep him still went to keeping him silent. Rick watched as the younger man struggled against the grip, knowing that it would have been noble for it to be him instead. Ryan's hand covered his own mouth, trying to hide his look of shock and terror.
"You have no right," the Queen growled, "to make such a spectacle in a court of law!"
Eric struggled to speak. He knew he was in deep enough. Now he could say whatever he wanted… if only they would let go.
Rick tried to tear himself from the scene, looking at Horatio; only to see him still pained and captivated by it. So the brunette looked up at the window over the white haired man, just in time to see Valera lift a little gold box to the sill outside.