HOLY MAVIS AM I SORRY THIS IS SO LATE MY COMPUTER GOT A VIRUS THAT KILLED ALL MY DOCUMENTS THEN TOOK A MONTH TO GET FIXED THEN I WAS CAMPING FOR HALF THE FREAKING SUMMER SO HERE IT IS!
"Whenever some jerk asks me 'Nice bum, where are you from?' I calmly respond 'Magnolia Town... want a beat-down?'."-Crystal Aspen
Karu knew the judge was cutting corners with their trial, but this was getting out of hand. Formalities annoyed him as much as the next guy, but this was a serious trial! Ralec and him had been led into the courthouse and sat down, soon to be followed by the judge. He was a very ugly man, to be blunt. The judge was very fat, so fat he had trouble sitting in his chair without tipping sideways. He wore the traditional wig haphazardly on his head, tipped sideways like it was a gangsta judge wig. Because that totally exists. Whenever he spoke his pudgy lips stuck out and his jowls shook, making it hard to take him seriously. Not that someone regal would have made it better, but Karu hated the judge he had been appointed.
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"Wow. You officially went to the last place I would expect." Xander looked up at the libraries' signs as he walked under it. As they entered, Xander's eyes immediately locked onto the two Rune Knights flipping through the Ancient Scripture section. He smiled and waved eagerly.
"I dropped my book into the tub on the last ten pages, if I don't figure out how it ends soon I'll have an aneurism." Flint said. His tone and facial expression were extremely different; he eyed the Rune Knights carefully while he spoke pleasantly.
"Well, let's take it out and get back," Xander checked his watch. "That hot ass bartender should be serving supper by the time we get back."
Flint stiffened at the words, but refused to show any emotions that would seem suspicious. It didn't help that Xander licked his lips in an incredibly creepy way that told Flint he wasn't thinking of his next meal.
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Ralec rubbed the side of his leg slowly up against the side of the wooden table he was sitting at. He was dressed only in the torn shorts of a prisoner, so he was betting on the friction of the contact to create sweat on his leg. There was no way he was going to sit here and listen to this judge sentence him to death. Since this was the last time he would be free in his whole life, he was going to do some damage. Hopefully he could eat through the leg and ruin the table, or even better weaken it so an unsuspecting user breaks it another day. They may take him to prison but by god he was gonna break this table leg if it meant biting it off. It was the satisfaction of causing damage, no matter how little, to government property that kept him from breaking out in a fit of pent up emotions and a lot of poison.
He looked up for a moment, making sure nobody in the room was looking at him. There weren't many people to look at him, barely twenty government witnesses, the prosecution, him and Karu, and the judge. That was pretty much it, not including the cops.
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"Got your freaking book?" Xander rolled his eyes. He was leaning against the window to the library, staring at the street. The expressions of pedestrians when he stared and pulled his sword a couple inches out of his sheath only kept him entertained for so long.
"You bet." Flint said, walking from the librarian's desk with the book under his arm. He immediately flipped to the last couple pages of the book and scanned it, running a finger down the page to track his place. Xander looked over for a moment, seeing the cover. He smiled, that wasn't a novel.
"Would you look at that?" Flint smiled, rising out of his seat. "The good guys win after all."
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"...Membership in a Dark Guild, Treason, Theft, Murder, Extortion," The prosecution continued to list off a list of crimes they were accusing the duo of.
"I was busy." Ralec snorted, earning himself an immediate kick from Karu under the table.
The judge lowered his eyes at him and shook his jowls, obviously displeased. "If you do not take this trail seriously, Mr. Ralec, I will fine you. That is your last warning."
Ralec frowned and looked away, but didn't speak.
"What do you plead to these crimes?" The judge asked the two. They looked between each other.
"Guilty?" Ralec whispered.
"Might as well." Karu nodded.
Together they turned to the judge and opened their mouths, ready to simultaneously and finish their free lives. This would be readying the final spike to nail their coffin shut. The judge leaned forward slightly in anticipation, his hate for criminals eager to throw these two in jail. All they had to do was plead guilty, that was all he needed to jail them for life.
Karu hesitated for a moment and looked to the door, as if waiting for someone. He then looked down and shook his head, speaking aloud "Guilty" at the same time as Ralec.
The judge beamed, resting the urge to clap happily. He slammed his gavel upon the wood with a sharp crack.
That, Karu decided, was him hammering his coffin shut. Now he was utterly doomed.
"I sentence each of these two criminals to ninety-nine years in prison." The judge decided. The government officials around them smiled in satisfaction and shared looks, even hushed conversation,
"Another one bites the dust." Ralec heard, followed by a snort from the speaker.
The cops came back with the magic-cancelling handcuffs. The cop in front of Ralec opened his and looked up to Ralec expectantly. Ralec held up a finger in hesitation. "Last request." He insisted. Before anyone could argue, he spun and spit a large wad of spit at high pressure. It sailed through the air with true aim, landing on the front right leg of the table Ralec previously occupied. In seconds it ate through the wood and the table dipped forward, the corner hitting the ground with a soft noise.
"Screw your table!" Ralec grinned widely, yelling at the judge. He then turned to the cop and happily put on the handcuffs. Now, he was content. Surprisingly, Karu was just as content as Ralec. Sometime during the trial he had actually accepted his fate, and now had no resistance to being brought to jail. He had broken the law, and now he was being punished. Fair was fair, no use crying over it. The cops opened the door to the courthouse and brought both him and Ralec through it, closing themselves behind it.
"Good riddance, eh boys?" The judge called out loudly. The government officials reacted with loud agreement and laughter, laughter so loud that they would not hear any outside noises that may have occurred.
The cops fell against the courthouse doors, swinging them open. They hit the floor and acted as perfect door stops for Flint and Xander to walk through without being obstructed. With his size, Xander had no problem carrying a Ralec and a Karu over each shoulder.
"Objection!" Xander called loudly, pointing at the judge. His eyes flared and his mouth was set firmly.
"These are my boys, what are you doing sending them to jail?" Flint said with a much scarier face than the former international criminal.
"Sorry, couldn't decide what to say when we made our big entrance." Flint said casually as his expression dropped. "Maybe yelling both wasn't a good idea; one would have been cooler... Dammit!"
"Fuck you!" Xander called out randomly.
"We didn't plan that." Flint pointed out, gesturing towards Xander with his thumb.
Once the judge was done spitting his coffee all over, he stared at them with wide eyes. "Flint?! What are you doing, interfering with judicial business!? And did you assault the observing police officers?!"
"Yeah!" Flint answered with a smile.
"How did it feel to punch your first cop?" Xander looked down nearly a foot to Flint's level, seeing only his flaming red hair.
"I have to be honest, in a courthouse and all..." Flint smiled and fist-bumped Xander. "Awesome."
"Guards! Guards!" The judge called out loudly. Two large Rune Knights immediately ran through the doorway, straight into Xander's chest. They stopped in their tracks and slowly craned their heads upward, finally looking up high enough to see his sick smile.
"Not so fast Big Wig." Flint called out. He took a book out from under his arm and flipped through it to a dog-eared page, holding it up. "They were restricting my right to view the trail as a member of the public, so they were breaking the law, or rather the one giving them that order..." Flint's eyes drifted to the "Big Wig".
The judge ground his teeth, he had been caught. He had sent several Rune Knights to spy on Phoenix Crest to ensure they wouldn't interfere with the technically illegal trial so he could be rid of the two damn mages without formalities.
"When that happens..." The judge unlocked his jaw and took a deep breath, eyes locked on the guild master. "You file a complaint, you don't assault them!"
"Let's play a game!" Flint interrupted loudly walking up to the front of the courthouse as if he ran the place. "It's called We Don't Sue Each Other! It's real easy to play, I'll teach you!" The judge glared at Flint silently, obviously not impressed with his childish words. "I don't sue you for closing the trial to the public, and you don't tell anyone I punched a cop!" The judge still didn't say anything. "Taking that as a yes." Flint smiled triumphantly. "Now Xander, put the boys back in their seats."
Xander walked away from the horror-struck guards and literally dropped Karu and Ralec onto separate chairs. Their eyes were glazed, their heads loosely lay against their shoulders and their tongues hung out of their mouths most attractively.
"You knocked them out?" Flint looked at Xander with genuine surprise and touches of anger.
"They could have tried to run away." Xander said with a stupid smile, doing an exaggerated shrug of the shoulders. Flint glared at Xander for a moment before looking away, as if saying 'We will talk about this later!'.
"What do you hope to achieve, Flint?" The judge bellowed from his podium. "Whatever it is, are you willing to accept the price it will come with?"
"My plan is to save my friends," Flint looked at the judge blankly, raising a fist. "And I'd save them if it meant giving up this arm, or even the rest of my body."
"Mr. Judge Dude Guy!" Xander called out. He had walked across the building and now sat beside two nervous government officials, leaning back on his chair with his feet on the table. "Don't you think you owe these two mages? With the condition the military is in, we legal guilds lay our lives on the line every day fighting dark guilds without gaining any kind of compensation from the council." Xander explained. "Fairy Tail, for example, has taken out many of the biggest threats to Fiore and only received consequences for it."
Before he could formulate a response, Flint was leaning against his podium and speaking to him. "You see before you two men who, true, used to be dark mages. Something you have forgotten though is that they went to great lengths to redeem themselves. When criminals try to change their ways, you reward them with this? You should be encouraging this, not discouraging it with these type of actions!"
"What are you two implying?" The judge spat. "Do you actually expect me to appeal my decision and pardon hem of these crimes?"
"I am implying," Flint had somehow made it to the other side of the podium, startling the judge. "That you allow my guild to act as a correctional institute. If you send a criminal to prison it will only encourage them to go back to their old life once they are free, but a correctional institute models them into proper citizens."
The judge paused with a blank expression; he was actually considering the idea. Flint leapt upon the opportunity to support his point.
"Less criminals for the full prisons, all while helping stop the threat of the dark mages" Flint whispered, now curled behind the judge like a devil over his shoulder. "It's win-win, for you."
"Do not pester me, Mr. Aspen." The judge growled, making Flint back away cautiously. "Remember who holds all of the cards here."
"It's the guy with the great hair." Flint smiled, eyeing the messy wig the judge wore. He looked at the judge head on, leaning on the front of his podium. "You can either pardon them of their crimes or I can call in the rest of my guild. Criminals or outlaws, dead or alive, Phoenix Crest will use every ounce of their being to free these two."
Of all things, the judge laughed. He laughed so hard his rolls of fat jiggled and his wig fell off, revealing his bald head. "Do you honestly expect me to fall for such a pathetic ruse!? Ha!"
Flint leaned in closer with a smile. "Should I call them in? Because they might break something on their way in."
The judge mirrored the action, but without nearly as much seriousness as Flint. "I am a Government official, Aspen. I know how to bluff!"
Flint smiled, straightening his back and getting off the podium. . "Xander!" He called out.
Xander smiled in turn. He leaned back further in his chair and stuck two fingers in his mouth, whistling a loud, shrieking note. The judge's eyes widened before it was done. Karu and Ralec both shot awake at the noise.
Two men broke through a large window behind the judge, shattering the glass and sending it all over the courthouse. They each held onto an exceed. One was obviously Mason, with his brown hair and single black pauldron, holding on to Katie, with her sleek gray hair and white tipped tail. The other was a blonde man with a cream white bandana clinging to a burgundy exceed. Both were soon lost in the commotion.
A man with five staves strapped to his back helped a pretty boy who looked like he belonged in One Direction break down a door. This opened the way for Dante and a green-haired girl to burst through. Flint sidestepped for seemingly no reason. That is, until Enzin fell from the roof and slammed into the floor with a sharp, "Senshi!". Abraham and Sandra ran in, dragging behind them a kiddie pool occupied by a young woman, smiling and splashing around in the water. A heavily scarred woman walked in behind them, shaking her head while laughing at the kiddie pool woman. A man broke through a wall with a blast of white and black. When the dust cleared, he could be seen brushing off his suit before advancing towards the guild with a smile. Finally, Crystal ran to her brother's side. Flint grabbed her hand with a smile.
The guild formed a protective ring around the two mages. Karu and Ralec were left speechless. One of them even let their jaw slack so much that a line of toxic saliva fell from his lip and scorched the table. They all readied their magic. Glowing lights of all different colors enveloped various body parts of the mages. Mason and the other exceed owner snarled at each other while they glowed green and silver auras, respectively. The girl in the kiddie pool willed the water to swirl around her in a thick ring. The man in the suit, Cameron, and Abraham all glowed white. Sandra started to give everyone around her an uncomfortable case of frostbite. Dante held a hand of cards beside the green-haired woman he entered with, whose magic was unseen. With a smirk, Flint enveloped both him and his sister with a blazing orange flame. Over the roar of his fire, Flint called, "Well, are they pardoned or not?"
The judge's eyes were wide as saucers and his entire body shivered with a mixture of fear and shock. Slowly, he raised a quivering hand in a fist. Simultaneously, he revolved it upwards and sprouted his thumb. He gave a thumbs up.
No clock could have silenced the guild that moment.
\('o')/Victorious Line Break \('o')/
Ralec munched rat poison pellets at a table silently. Karu had joined the party long ago, so he was alone. A stray splash of ale hit him in the side of the head, but he paid it no heed.
The very air in the guild vibrated with happiness and everyone basked in its warm glow. Ralec did not know people were capable of such joy. They spun around, drinking, cheering, dancing and jumping around in a drunken stumble. He spotted some of them leaping like gazelle over the crowd. All of a sudden, Karu was thrown into the air. The guild caught him and surfed him along the crowd. Such was the amount of excitement contained in their bodies that they were attempting to release it any the strangest of means. And of course, the alcohol just extended the fun.
The two Dragon Slayers wrestled on a table, the blonde one obviously winning. Abraham was being bumped back and forth in the crowd while Sandra desperately searched for him ten meters away. Flint was roaring a continuous blast of fire while sending smaller bursts from his hands wantonly. The silver-eyed man with the suit was beating against the wall with a table for no particular reason. The exceeds sped along the guild, racing each other with their magic wings. Dylan was trying to balance on top of one of his staves, standing on it while waving his arms around. He fell onto a table, breaking it to a chorus of laughter. The last two S-class, Cameron and the scarred girl, had hooked arms and were prancing about the guild, mugs in hand. Ralec shook his head at their shenanigans.
He could take it no longer. Ralec stood up and slowly made his way through the guild. Enzin noticed this and followed him, wondering why the cause of the party was leaving it. When they reached the door, Enzin barely had time to duck behind a table as Ralec looked back at the guild. His eyes were filling with tears tinged bright green.
"Thank you..." He said through clenched teeth. Nobody heard him but Enzin. Immediately, he spun around and stomped outside the guild, slamming the door behind him.