March 29th
Government Offices Of The Atlesian Council
Department Of Justice
City Of Atlas
United Kingdom Of Atlas
Security Level: Maximum
Necessary Security Clearance: Maximum
Downtown
5:59 PM
The judge of the southern district of Atlas sighed heavily before she spoke. "Pertaining to the immediate trial of -"
"Get on with it already!" Cinder snapped, attempting to break out of her cuffs again but to no avail as she glared at the court. "The fact that this had to be held an office of the Department Of Justice is proof that the Atlesian Council doesn't have enough -"
"The immediate trial of Cinder Fall, by birth known as Ashlynn Schnee," She said sharply. "Third day of the trial. The prosecution, Kiara Melissa Davis, will begin with her presentation of the evidence against the defendant."
"You are Cinder Amelia Fall," Davis said, a ridiculously large file clutched to her chest as she moved towards Cinder. "But you were born under the name of Ashlynn Cinder Schnee. As of now, you are thirty-six years of age."
"Incorrect," Cinder hissed. "I'm thirty-one."
The room was silenced by that statement before Davis shook her head.
"No," She said slowly. "You were thirty-one five years ago in 2000."
"I'm thirty-one!" Cinder screamed, standing up though she was restrained by security who injected her with her third dose of sedatives for the day. "And if you want proof, my blood, my DNA can prove it!"
Davis hesitantly walked towards her and showed her the last public photograph that had been taken of her before her disappearance. "You may look the same, minus the hair, as you did five years ago but that does not make you that age still."
Shutting her mouth to avoid saying too much, Cinder didn't respond, and Davis chose to take that as understanding.
"Miss Schnee -" She began.
"Fall," Cinder corrected her with anger spilling over in her voice. "Miss Fall."
Davis sighed, knowing that it would be easier to get her to cooperate if she felt respected. Speaking slowly to start, she tried to strike reason with her, however unlikely that was to happen. "Miss Fall," She said slowly. "Are you aware of the multiple charges coming against you?"
Cinder smirked. "Is one of them the assassination of President Ciel?"
Davis narrowed her eyes. "You are charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder -"
"Of course -" Cinder said, retaining her smirk.
"As well as aiding and abetting acts of treason in the still ongoing wars Vert and several provinces of Vacuo as well as in the southern sea around Menagerie -" Kiara went on.
"Is Rosalinde Varna going to be charged for the executions she ordered in -" Cinder began, her voice falsely sweet.
"Prime Minister Varna and her actions outside of Atlas are not relevant to this proceeding -" Kiara said sharply.
"Is she -" Cinder questioned.
"You are also charged in connection to the assassination of President Edward Samuel Ciel," Davis went on, her voice sharper still. "As well as a dual count of torture and rape against the chair of the Atlesian National Security Council, Elizabeth Lily Morell –"
"Oh!" Cinder exclaimed, clasping her hands together. "You remember that -"
"You are, furthermore," Kiara took in a sharp breath. "Charged with extreme emotional, mental, and physical abuse onto Miss Morell, whose story has been confirmed further than her several days of open testimony to the Council and the DOJ nearly two years ago."
Cinder shrugged, looking at her nails in boredom. "So?"
Kiara stared at her in horror for a second and then concluded. "And, of course, you are charged with the most recent conspiracy plot that was only barely averted that was intended to kill a commander in the Atlesian military and then continue to kill the other two remaining members of that family, namely the Ciels -"
"Kiara," Cinder said sweetly. "Are the Ciels really so important?"
"Miss Fall, do you plead guilty to these charges brought before you or do you plead not guilty?" Davis asked her with her arms loosely crossed and her file on Cinder-Ashlynn still in hand. "I am giving you one chance to confess before I go right into trying to find every single solitary thing that proves you to be guilty of these crimes before everyone in this hallowed room of justice that -"
"I do plead guilty to these charges." Cinder said with a smile that shook the room and caused Davis's eyebrows to raise in shock and the woman's defense to bury their face in the hands in exasperation.
The judge turned towards the still-restrained woman. "Miss Fall, are you formally claiming responsibility for what the Atlesian Council is charging you with in this opening arraignment?"
"Yes," She unflinchingly replied, knowing full well that, soon enough, Arthur and Tyrion would release her before she could even enter the prison. "And, I must say, I'm rather proud of myself for what I've done. I only regret that my...that some of my associates failed me and turned me in."
Kiara Davis, in her shock, forgot how to proceed and the room felt frozen as the judge read off several statements after the jury agreed that Cinder was in fact guilty as the woman herself had stated. As security began to take her out, Kiara felt herself growing faint as she heard all of the charges and the sentence being read off. Not only that, but she was shaken to the core by the pride the sorceress possessed in the crimes she had committed. If this had been before President Edward S. Ciel had signed the council's motion to remove capital punishment from the kingdom of Atlas, one of his first and tragically few acts as president, Cinder would have found herself to be executed but, instead, she was going to maximum security with a life sentence. Kiara, for all of her moral conflict with capital punishment, believed Fall had more than earned a spot in the former death row. Yet even with the knowledge of her fate in federal prison, there was still fear, the prosecutor knew, because they were all more than aware that Ashlynn had always been cunning, and she was horrified by the mere thought of an escape and, with Torchwick still out there since the kingdom of Vale had released him on parole, and Davis could imagine that there were people out there with no qualms about helping her escape. Those were people whom remained in the shadows, and remained -
"Madame Davis?" Leanne Tanner asked her from behind before giving up on public formalities and sighing heavily. "Kiara, Senator Ciel wants to speak with you. I think you and I both know why."
Kiara raised an eyebrow. "Where?"
Leanne sighed. "Downstairs, his office. I assume I don't have to tell you where that is."
Nodding numbly, Kiara tried to make herself feel more awake. "Of course."
Her heels clicking, Kiara began to move so fast that she walked out of her heels. Letting out a quiet noise of irritation as one of them snapped, Kiara stopped and picked up her heels before running off down the stairs. She knew there were people staring at her oddly, and she knew there were people who simply did not understand what was going on. She did not care.
"Senator Ciel," She said almost breathlessly, tearing into the room and slamming the door shut with so much force that it startled her.
"Kiara," He said slowly, motioning for her to sit down. "First off, I'm sorry that the trial was so -"
"It's fine," Kiara assured him, still trying to catch her breath and fidgeting with her hands in her lap. "Please, sir, don't worry about it because either way Cinder Fall or Ashlynn Schnee is going to maximum security and that will be, hopefully, the last anyone hears of her."
Ronnie let out a faintly amused chuckle. "It is going to be quite ironic when I speak with her in prison."
Kiara blinked, utterly stunned and neither of them spoke for so long that the prosecutor was concerned she had lost her voice.
"Hence why I wanted to speak with you," He finally said, inclining his head slightly towards her and beginning to pace. "I am seeking your advice, in part, I admit, because I don't want to implicate my family when they...particularly Karissa and Spencer...have recently...well, they've received some upsetting news. More to the point, after everything Emmeline and Emmett have gone through in the last few weeks, I can't pin this to any of them...and my wife is adamantly against the idea."
Kiara sighed. "I'm afraid I'm inclined to take your wife's position. Fall is, at best —"
"I'm going through with this, Kiara," He told her. "That's why I need your input."
"And I'm going to remind you that this is the woman that killed your father, almost got your sister, and had plans to kill you and your brother as well," Kiara said shortly. "Do you really think there's anything to be gained from speaking with someone that unreasonable?"
"Maybe not," Ronnie admitted. "But I'm going to regardless."
Kiara raised an eyebrow and then shook her head. "I suggest you do it soon and securely...and don't believe a damn word that she says."
April 3rd
City Of Vale
Vale
Downtown
6:15 PM
"Mommy?" Ivy Ironwood-Goodwitch tugged on her mother's hand, slowly waking her up. "Caity's making a mess."
"What?" Glynda said tiredly, reaching for her glasses. "Ivy, she's just playing with Barbies and doing their hair, it's not -"
"She's making a mess," Ivy insisted.
Glynda sighed and forced herself out of bed, a headache still lingering from earlier.
"Alright, Ivy," She said, picking up her younger daughter. "What's going on?"
"Kitchen," Ivy told her. "Caity's in the kitchen."
"Mommy!" Caitlin yelled from down the hall.
Glynda all but ran into the kitchen in the small apartment with Ivy still tightly in her arms and, for a moment, was stunned by what she saw. Around her eldest, there were some Barbies, and all of them had some of the most atrocious hair cuts she had ever seen. They were all styled as meticulously as always, and it would have been impressive how much attention the little girl paid to detail if it weren't for the fact that every single one of them had hair that suggested that they had run into a weed whacker. The hair cuts were jagged at the very best and, realistically, they were horrible and wouldn't have been passable even at the most aggressive metal shows. What made it all worse was how happily the little girl was humming and how she waved and smiled at her mother and sister.
"Hair salon!" She declared with a grin and a sparkle in her bright green eyes.
"No!" Ivy yelled. "You make a mess!"
Glynda set her down and took a moment to asses the state of her eldest child's hair which, mercifully, was the same as it had been when her mother had fallen asleep earlier.
"Okay, you know what?" Glynda remarked, mostly to herself, while she picked her crop up off the counter and used her semblance to quickly move the severed hair (all of it, of which there was more than one might expect from just six or seven dolls) into the trash. "I'm just glad that it's not her actual hair."
"Whose actual hair?" James asked, looking rather confused as he stepped into the room.
Glynda gestured to their girls, who were now playing under the kitchen table.
"I didn't realize what Cate meant when she said she wanted to play hair salon," Glynda told him. "And, really, it's a miracle that she didn't take that to her own hair."
James laughed. "She cut off doll hair?"
"Thankfully not with the kitchen shears," Glynda lowered her voice and glanced towards their daughters. "I hope she doesn't know where those are."
"I doubt she'd touch them," He replied, pressing a soft kiss to her lips. "How are you doing? Is -"
"Shh…" Glynda sent him a pointed look.
He looked to where the girls were playing for a moment and then turned back to his wife.
"Have you told them yet?" James murmured, affectionately caressing her cheek.
"We haven't told anyone," She gently reminded him. "But, I suppose, we're going to soon enough."
"At the very least, it'll be easier considering that things have calmed down," He said. "You think the girls will be happy about it?"
"I think so," Glynda laughed a little. "Although we'll have to prepare Caitlin if she has another sister...she's been very insistent the last few months that she's going to have a brother and she doesn't even know yet that…"
James held her close for a moment, stroking her hair.
"Our third baby is going to be just fine," He assured her, sensing her rising nerves. "Just like the girls."
Glynda managed a small smile. "Just like the girls."
"I hit you now!" Caitlin yelled, pulling her arm back while Ivy giggled furiously and continued to tug at her sister's hair.
"No, no -" Glynda moved to stop her but, as she was every so often, the little girl was faster and managed to smack her sister, who, as it happened, seemed to find the whole thing hilarious. "Caity, honey," Glynda said, kneeling down in front of her daughter and taking her hands. "I know you care about your space and don't like it when people get too close to you, but you have to use your words."
The little girl looked down for a moment, feeling bad.
"Sorry…" She said, awkwardly toddling over to her sister and embracing her tightly for a few seconds.
"Fun!" Ivy declared. "Again!"
"No fighting," James told them, trying not to show how amused he was by them. "The two of you are wild enough sometimes without wrestling. Besides, your mother and I have something we all need to talk about."
The two little girls shared a confused look for a moment.
"Listen," Glynda said, helping them up onto the small window seat. "The two of you are going to have a little sibling in November."
Caitlin perked up almost immediately. "I'm having a brother!" She excitedly yelled.
"We don't know that yet," James said with a small chuckle. "You might have another sister."
"No, I'm having a brother," The little girl told him. "Mommy told not a set so I'm having a brother."
"You and Ivy are the only set," James agreed. "But that doesn't -"
"Brother," She repeated. "I'm having a brother."
"I see what you meant," James whispered, and Glynda sighed. "She's persistent, isn't she?"
"Without fail," Glynda said, pushing her hair over her shoulder. "Although it's, for the most part, a good thing."
"Boop!" Ivy exclaimed, tapping her sister's nose.
"Boop!" Caitlin replied, for once playing along and tapping her sister's nose back.
April 15th
City Of Atlas
Atlas
Downtown
8:37 PM
"Lili!" Samara giggled, tugging at her baby sister's tiny fingers. "Hi!"
"Be careful with her," Emmett reminded her, glancing up from his scroll. He was less than a foot away from the girls, who were comfortably on a blanket he had laid out on the floor, but he was anxious nonetheless. "Lily's a lot smaller than you, Sammie, so just be careful."
Samara nodded and laid down beside her baby sister, letting her have a turn tugging at her fingers.
"Emmett?" Emmeline raised an eyebrow upon stepping into the living room and he smiled, standing up almost immediately to embrace her and press a gentle kiss to her lips. "I missed you too, but I had to go into work and you know it."
"I know," He said, wrapping an arm loosely around her. "Before you ask, the girls are just fine. Sam didn't even try to put anything in her mouth today that wasn't food, either, which is a miracle if I ever saw one."
Emmeline raised an eyebrow. "You're trying to scare me, aren't you?"
"You were the one that caught her tasting your car keys," Emmett reminded her, putting his hands up in surrender. "Don't blame me because you left them lying on the coffee table for all tiny children to grab and suck on."
Emmeline playfully smacked his arm. "Oh, don't be like that!"
"Mommy!" Samara suddenly shrieked, running over to her mother excitedly and all but wrapping herself around her leg. "Hi!"
"Hi, Sam," Emmeline said, leaning down and ruffling her hair. "How's Lily?"
"Good!" Sam told her, pointing to her sister. "Lili's cute!"
"Of course she's cute," Emmett chuckled, prying their daughter off of his wife's leg and tapping her nose affectionately. "She's a little baby."
"Speaking of which, Emmett, did you -" Emmeline paused upon Lysithea starting to cry and she quickly took her baby girl into her arms. "Shh, Lily…" She murmured. "It's okay, everything's…"
She flinched, for just a moment, and tried to shift the weight away from her still sore shoulder. The wound had more than healed, but it hurt all the same.
"You okay?" Emmett looked to her in deep concern.
"I'm fine," She told him. "Or, at the very least, I will be soon enough."
Emmett sighed. "I'm just...if…"
"She's never going to see the light of day again," Emmeline reminded him. "And she scares me too. I...I still can't believe Ronnie's going to face her."
"Ronnie's out of his mind," Emmett muttered. "She'll never tell him anything that's true, and even he knows it. What does he have to gain here?"
Emmeline paused for a moment in consideration.
"An upper hand?" She suggested dryly. "Another accomplishment he can claim?"
"What would he…" Emmett trailed off and then shook his head. "He has his reasons, he always does."
"That's a surprising amount of faith to put in my brother," Emmeline remarked. "And his supposed good intentions...although it's probably just best to let all of this lie...after all, it seems we're finally going to be able to have the chance to set this aside, even for just a little while."
And yet it was exactly that peace and security that would not be able to last.