Okay, because I am a moron, I have not updated when I should have done. I feel very guilty about this. When I told one of my friends about this, she had an idea: "How about to make up for it, you make the chapter twice as long as usual?" she asked, and so, that is exactly what I've done. Hopefully it will go some way to making up for the lack of update.
I own nothing.
"Okay," said Roy, "This is what we're going to do. Archer has no real evidence, and you all have alibis-"
"Fake alibis," muttered Ed.
"Yes, well. If we take this to court, I think we can get Envy out and get Archer off the case."
"Right. What do we need to do?" asked Hoenheim.
"We're going to claim that Archer is harassing Ed, Al and Envy. Archer will claim he only brought them in because we did, so I want you to point out that if that was the case, he would've brought you in as well, which he didn't. Envy will tell the court that he was threatened by Archer."
"Was he?" asked Al.
"The deal he made could be interpreted as a threat, so technically, it's not a lie. Now, Ed, Al, you two are going to be our pity factor. Cry, get scared, do whatever it takes- we want the jury on our side. Ed, I know you don't like to think of yourself as disabled, but you are, and we can use that to our advantage."
Edward ground his teeth a little- he hated the idea of pretending to be helpless- but he nodded his assent. It was to get Envy out; he could deal with acting weak for a while.
"Good. Now, Vato Falman, a friend of mine, will be another witness, and he'll be there to confirm your alibis. Riza, Maes and myself will also be there, describing Archer's treatment of you and why we think it's out of line. Another friend of mine, Heymans Breda, will be representing us as our lawyer."
"Are you sure you can trust these friends of yours?" asked Ed.
"With my life." Roy answered promptly. "You can trust them, I assure you. Any questions?"
"How long will this whole thing take?"
"I'm afraid it could take a couple of weeks to get to court... once it's in court, if we win, Envy will be released immediately, but it's a matter of organising our case, appealing... we'll do it as fast as we can, but there's only so much to be done in a situation like this."
"A couple of-!" Ed began, but was interrupted by Alphonse.
"I'm sure they're doing their best to speed up the process, brother," he said quickly. "Besides, a couple of weeks isn't too long-it could be worse!"
It was true, it could be worse- but nonetheless, it was a very long wait.
Ed tapped his automail fingers impatiently against the armrest of the chair. He, Al and Hoenheim were all dressed in formal suits, and Ed had forgone his usual white gloves to highlight his 'condition' and garner a few pity votes from the judges.
They had not been idle in the three-week wait before the court date; they had practiced their stories until they knew them by heart, not to mention their acting. They had managed to have a private conversation with Envy to explain what was happening, and everything was finally in place.
Ed looked up as the bailiff, a tall, dark-haired man who had introduced himself as Kray, approached them.
"Mr Hoenheim Elric and Masters Edward and Alphonse Elric?"
"That's us," Hoenheim nodded.
Kray nodded. "This way, please. The hearing is about to begin."
Alphonse took to the stand, trying to look as nervous as possible- considering the way he was feeling, though, it wasn't particularly difficult.
"Do you, Alphonse Elric, swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?"
"I solemnly and sincerely swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." Alphonse repeated obediently, ignoring the nagging voice at the back of his head that said, no, you don't.
Breda gave him a quick, encouraging smile before the professional look returned to his face. He looked down at his papers, and then up at Alphonse.
"Alphonse, could you please describe to the court the way Officer Archer treated you the first time you met?"
He nodded. "Yes," he said, following the script he had memorised over the previous few weeks. "He arrested us and took us in for questioning."
"And did you answer his questions?"
"No." said Al, truthfully.
"Oh? And why not?"
"Because we had already been questioned regarding the case, and because we wanted to wait for legal advice."
"I see. And did you feel intimidated or threatened at any point?"
Now, it's time to act, he thought, and he gave Archer a quick, fearful glance. "Y-yes." he said, playing it up as much as possible. "I was scared. We had already been questioned about the case once, and Archer treated us like we had already been proven guilty... the- the other officers, the ones who questioned us before, told us they just wanted to speak to us as family members of the victim, but Officer Archer treated us like murderers." he gave the jury a wide-eyed look. "I thought- I thought he was going to lock us away!"
Several members of the jury sent glares in Archer's direction.
"I see..." said Heymans. "But he did release you, correct?"
"He did."
"Now... could you describe any other occasions you met Officer Archer, please? Feel free to take a break if you feel you need to... everyone here will understand. Traumatic experiences can be hard to talk about."
Oh, he's good, thought Al. 'Traumatic experiences' indeed.
Aloud, he said, "I- I think I can do it. The second time I saw Officer Archer... he burst into our flat with those two other officers," said Al, "Tucker and Kimblee... they didn't knock. I thought somebody was breaking in, and then they came into the living room and he said..."
"What did he say, Alphonse? Please try and remember."
Al put on his best 'scared kid' face. "He said that if we didn't go with him... he would charge us with assault, as well as murder perjury and h-harbouring a criminal... he told us it was for our own safety, but I didn't feel safe- he put handcuffs on us and he separated us and put us in the cells. I thought they would never let us out."
"So you were afraid of him? He threatened you?"
"Yes." Al nodded. "He was horrible."
"I see. Well, your honour, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I believe we have seen enough- unless my esteemed colleague wishes to prolong this child's ordeal?" asked Breda, giving the other lawyer a look.
The opposing lawyer quailed under the glares of half the court. "Ah.... no," he said. "No, I think any questions I have can be... answered later."
"Good," said the judge. "Then Alphonse Elric may leave the stand."
Gratefully, Alphonse did just that, following Kray back to his seat and thinking: I can't believe I just did that.
Edward gave his sworn testimony with a certain sense of dread. This was the one part of the trial he had not been looking forward to.
"Edward, would you care to tell us about your first meeting with Officer Archer?"
"He took us in for questioning, we refused to answer without a lawyer and he got angry." said Ed. "He tried to pressure us into talking to him, telling us that we could go to jail for refusing to cooperate with the police. After a while, though, he sent us home."
"Did you feel intimidated by him?"
"To a certain extent," Ed nodded. "As Alphonse said, we were treated like criminals."
"I see," Breda nodded. "Now, could you please tell the court about your time in police custody?"
Edward swallowed. This was it- time to play the pity card.
He bit his lip, and hesitated, as Roy had told him to, waiting for the cue from Breda.
"If you don't wish to talk about it, you can give your testimony later, in a less stressful environment." Breda offered.
"I... I'll do it now. I just want to get this over with." he said. God, this is so cheesy.
"I... I remember Arch- Officer Archer breaking through the door, and I remember that he threatened to charge us with assault on top of the charges we were already facing. He said we wee being taken into custody for our own safety, but... we were handcuffed and stuffed in a police car like common criminals. It certainly didn't feel like protective custody..."
"And what happened when you arrived at the station, Edward?"
"We were separated," said Ed, trying to look as wide-eyed and innocent as possible. "And- one of the officers- they were going to... they were..." he gave the jury a traumatised look.
"Yes, Edward?"
Here goes....
"They were going to take my automail."
Breda raised his eyebrows, as Edward had known he would. They had memorised their acts down to the very tiniest details.
"Your automail? Ah, of course... could you please show the court? We will understand if you don't want to of course, but I think it would be a good idea to demonstrate what the removal of your automail would mean."
"Uh... I... I guess so." said Edward hesitantly. He didn't have to act anymore- he really, really want to do this- but he had to. "I... the arm goes up to my shoulder," he said, indicating with his left hand. "The port is here." he rolled up his sleeve and held out the arm. "And the leg... it goes up to mid-thigh- uh, I'll show you..." after a nod from the bailiff, he stepped out of the witness stand and knelt to roll up his trouser leg. "It goes all the way up to here."
"Why did they want to remove it? Did they offer you a wheelchair?"
Edward shook his head. "They just said that they thought I could use it as a weapon. They did offer me a wheelchair, but... I've been in one of those things since I was ten," he said with a shudder that was entirely real. "I hate them. Even with a wheelchair, what can I do? I'm missing my arm. I can't even really use a conventional wheelchair... I can't do anything. I hate it. I hate it so much."
"You were allowed to keep it, though- is this because Officer Archer realised the severity of his actions?"
"No," said Edward, "another police officer intervened."
"I see," said Breda. "Thank you, Edward, that's all I wanted to ask you."
"Does the defence have any questions?"
The defence lawyer looked rather hopeless. The jurors were glaring at him.
He looked from the jury, to Edward, to his client.
"I... no. No, I have not."
Roy kept his eyes trained forwards as they led Envy to the witness stand, but inwardly, he was smirking. They could've won with Alphonse's testimony alone, really, but Edward had put the clincher on it and now Envy was going to take it home. He, Hoenheim, Riza and Maes probably wouldn't even need to testify the way this was going- even Archer's lawyer seemed to have given up.
Envy looked haggard and tired, but Roy knew that this was an act. He had seen Envy before the trial, and although he had been nervous, he had also been confident. "I can do this," he'd said. "Just watch. That bastard's going down."
"Envy," said Breda, "We have already heard from Edward and Alphonse about the way Officer Archer treated you three boys, but there is one detail we have not heard. It says here that Officer Archer threatened you and your brothers. Is this true?"
"Yes," said Envy. "He arrested me based on an incomplete fingerprint found at the scene... he told me that if I confessed, then he would leave Edward and Alphonse alone- and he said that if I didn't, they'd be arrested to, and all three of us would go to jail for... for my mother's murder."
There were audible gasps from the jury.
"Envy," Breda called, silencing the jurors, "Did Officer Archer have any reason to believe that you were responsible for Dante Bolton's murder, apart from an incomplete fingerprint?"
Envy looked up and looked straight over to the defendant's stand, meeting Archer right in the eyes.
"No."
Breda turned to face the judge and jurors.
"Your honour, ladies and gentlemen of the jury- this is one of the worst cases of harassment and abuse of rank that I have ever seen in my career as a lawyer. This young man- who has just lost his mother- and his two younger brothers, who are, if I may remind you, minors, have been threatened and imprisoned at a time when they needed and deserved the full support and aid of the police force. Instead, their case was taken by Officer Frank Archer- a man who has put these boys through what I can only describe as a form of psychological torture. If I may recount his crimes- your honour, ladies and gentlemen- this is a police officer, a man who they should've been able to trust, and instead he arrested them without a warrant, imprisoned them without evidence, threatened to remove a disabled child's prosthetics, and threatened to imprison two innocent minors. Is this the kind of man we want on our police force?"
He looked out across the court room, and smiled.
"I leave the rest to my esteemed colleague," he said, giving the defence lawyer a nod. "I rest my case."
Gah, Breda is not... Breda-ish. My excuse is that we didn't see very much of his character and I can't remember what he was like... but he was good at chess, which requires a pretty good brain, so I made him a lawyer. Whoo.
The next chapter... will be the last, most likely. I feel weirdly proud, but kind of sad too...
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