November 23

Courtroom No. 6

1:45 PM

Deirdre Brigit

For a long time after the declaration was made, Mr. Strann refused to say something. When his outlook finally did change, he looked up carefully, his eyes settled on his youngest daughter. He hadn't openly admitted the truth quite yet, but I could tell that this was where it was going. "You... You've grown to be a fine young woman even in my absence," Mr. Strann told her simply. When he shook his head, I could see something prideful in his eyes, and part of me wondered if I was actually seeing tears well up or if it was just my imagination. "I didn't expect you to have come so far while I was gone, but here you are... So strong and bright."

"Is this your way of confessing?" Chief Prosecutor Bespoke questioned carefully, his eyes narrowing. "You're acting as if she truly is your daughter, and given all that has happened up to this point, that implies that the assumption that you're the culprit is correct."

Mr. Strann hesitated before nodding carefully. "After all this, I'm forced to surrender by someone who I thought would have been on my side," he commented with a light chuckle. "Who would have expected that? All of this has been because I wanted to be able to be with you again, and yet... Now, I know that can never come to be. The defense revealed the truth of my identity, and that will tear us apart even if my crimes have not."

"You were once idolized by many within the legal community," Prosecutor Burke remarked. "You could have done anything with the power that you were given, and yet, you chose instead to go against everything that you should have stood for. Do you remember the case where you had someone attack me?"

"How could I forget?" Mr. Strann questioned with a hollow laugh and a scoff. "I was desperate to learn anything about Oracle that would possibly be able to push me in the right direction to find the truth behind all that had happened in the agency while I was gone. I thought that if the truth about Oracle was revealed, I would be able to use that as momentum to shatter the group that had done so much to tear my family apart."

"You know... I don't know what to think about you," Yuri suddenly said, and all eyes fell to her. "You did all of this because you said that you wanted to protect me, and yet... In the end, you wound up doing the exact opposite. You were hoping that it would keep me out of the line of fire, but it didn't wind up working out that way. You shouldn't... You shouldn't have gotten involved. That's the reason that we're in this situation in the first place. If you had backed away and known when to stop..."

"In my eyes, the agency and its involvement with Oracle had killed two of my daughters. I wasn't about to let it take away something else from me," Mr. Strann told her, his eyes narrowing. "You have every right to disagree with my choices, but... I was so sure that there was a connection. I would have done anything to find it and keep you safe. I wound up being wrong, it seemed..."

"Our agency has taken on many cases related to Oracle, but it can hardly be considered proof of a decisive connection," Victoria told him. "There's never been a link between us and Oracle. If we knew anything about Oracle, it would be quite the scandal, but I promise you that this isn't the case. We're just a group of people trying to resolve the corruption within the legal system."

"I suppose so," Mr. Strann commented. "After all the work that I put in to try and make it clear that I would be saving my daughter from Oracle... Everything fell apart and wound up being wrong. Who would have expected something like that?"

"You shouldn't have gotten involved," Yuri repeated. "I'm going to be perfectly honest here. You can call me rude as much as you want, but I don't care. It has to be said. You have no right to come in here and claim that you know what's best for me or any other person that you've abandoned. Even if you claim that you didn't have a choice, you could have found a way. You can't just walk around as if you have every authority on what's for the best when that simply isn't the case. You were never there for me, and you have no way to say conclusively what I should or should not be involved with."

Mr. Strann was stunned silent at her words, but Yuri wasn't finished. "I get that you were trying to help, okay? I know that. Still, it doesn't change the truth of the matter. You were trying to protect me from the betrayal that took place within the agency last year, but that doesn't change the fact that you don't know anything about what it's like working here. You were never part of my life, and you can't just turn all of that around now. You have to understand that... That this is my life. You've been trying all this time to keep me out of the line of fire, but it doesn't matter at the end of the day. You're not part of this. You can't just leave my life and then strut in when it's convenient for you to become my hero," she announced.

"Yuri..." I whispered, admittedly surprised at her defiance. Even when she was met with the face of the person who she knew to be her father, Yuri wasn't holding back. All these years without her father present had jaded her, it seemed, and yet, this didn't seem to be something said purely out of spite. There was misery to her tone as well, almost as if she was yearning desperately to be able to accept Mr. Strann into her life, but she simply couldn't do that. It wasn't an option for her after she had grown so used to not having him around.

Mr. Strann refused to meet her gaze, and his eyes dropped down to the ground. "I understand... You don't want me to interfere with your life after all that I have done. You've found a new family, and I can't get in the middle of that. It isn't my place to do so in your opinion." He shook his head quietly. "I only wanted to keep you safe."

"Your effort is noted, but it isn't what I needed," Yuri told him. "It wasn't what I ever needed. I'm happy where I am now, and... That isn't about to change. This is where I belong, and you have no right to control my life after doing nothing to contribute to it throughout my childhood."

The courtroom fell eerily quiet at her words, and I reached over to place one hand over Yuri's knuckles. She met my gaze, and I saw just how conflicted she was beneath the surface. I smiled to myself, desperate to help her in any way that I knew how but knowing that this wasn't meant to be. She was hurting, but I couldn't do much beyond simply being there for her. This was an issue that she would have to resolve on her own.

"After all that you did to try and defend your child for better or worse, it ultimately meant little," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke muttered with a shake of his head. I could tell that he was upset with Mr. Strann regardless of what he showed to the outside world. "You are not the same powerful man that everyone once remembered within Interpol. Even if you believed that you were doing the right thing, you were hurting others. You began to use your influence to harm others for the sake of your own ambitions. It truly is tragic to see the mighty fall to such lows, but I see that there was no way for us to avoid such a tragedy. The instant that you made your choice to use the power that you once held, and still possess, to harm others, everything fell to pieces."

"I refuse to try to justify what it is that I have done," Mr. Strann announced, shutting his eyes carefully. "I understand that I have made a grave error, and the harm that I have perpetuated cannot be understated. With all that has taken place, I... I deserve whatever punishment it is that is coming my direction."

"I can't believe it took you this long to figure all of this out," Yuri snorted with a shake of her head. "I would have thought that doing all of this would be quite obviously incorrect, but... I guess that sometimes, people's perceptions of justice are distorted by what it is that you believe to be right or wrong. Everything changes depending on how you view a situation, and... It can change everything."

"It seems to me as if all has been resolved with this case," Judge Diaphan declared, reaching for her gavel. "Perhaps the time has come for me to call the defendant to the stand so that I may declare my verdict."

"I would like to say one final thing before then," Mr. Strann spoke up. He cleared his throat to draw everyone's attention in his direction once again. "To the occupants of Morix Law Offices... I must apologize for all that I have put you through. I understand that I have gone too far on many levels, but... I still wish to say that I am sorry. You are under no obligation to forgive me."

Nobody said anything, and I found myself thinking silently about what I felt on the matter. I didn't think that I would be able to forgive him personally, but it was a difficult thing for me to think about personally. I was defensive on the behalf of the others who had been harmed because of his actions. Mr. Strann had pushed Yuri so far and upset her beyond imagination. There was also the matter of him asking for the arrest of both me and Chrysalis. He had wanted us to become suspects for the sake of furthering his own wishes to tear the agency apart. He had tried so hard to pull apart our team, and that was something that I disliked more than I could ever describe.

In my eyes, this wasn't my forgiveness to offer. This was something that Yuri would have to decide on for herself. I couldn't say that I was ready to forgive him when she was the one who had been hurt most. It would take quite a bit of time for me to leave all of this in the past, and I knew that I would have to do a lot of thinking before I felt like I could forgive him. Yuri would have to be the one to say that she forgave him first, and it would only be then that I had the right to say such a thing. This didn't belong to me. It was her problem, and I was going to stand by her in support no matter what happened along the way. She had done so much for the rest of the agency, and the least I could do was return the favor.

Mr. Strann cleared his throat, and he looked up to me, Victoria, and Yuri. Even though I wasn't looking at him directly, I could feel his gaze piercing to the center of my chest. "Even though I have done much to harm you, I pray that I will one day be able to earn your forgiveness. Until then... I suppose that we will simply have to see what comes next for your agency and all that you are capable of," he told us. "You seem to have much potential, and I believe that you are able to accomplish great things."

Nobody was able to force themselves to speak in the wake of his words, and my lips were pressed together firmly as I tried to think of something that would be fitting to say. In the end, I found myself believing that there wasn't anything I could say to make the situation better. All that I could do was be patient and wait. Time would be able to heal at least some of the injuries that had been created at the hands of Mr. Strann, but for the time being, all we could do was wait.

When he realized that there was nothing that he was going to hear to make this better, Mr. Strann let out another sigh. "Prosecutor Burke, I'm sorry that you had to be caught in the crossfire of all this. My past hostility... Let's just say that I have much to answer for after all of that," he remarked.

After he shook his head, he looked up in the direction of Ms. Lesa. He had managed to pinpoint the location of the victim among the onlookers of the trial, and I wondered if he had tried to find her deliberately. Perhaps he had searched for her before being called to the witness stand because he knew that this moment would come. "And you... I have the most to forgive for as far as you are concerned." Mr. Strann looked down and stared at his hands, almost as if he was in shock of what he had been capable of in the past. His hands squeezed closed, and his nails dug into the skin of his palms. After a few moments, blood began to drip down from his hands, and while minimal, it was still notably present. "The scars will never fade, and I have failed... How quickly things change."

Ms. Lesa didn't say anything to him in response. Her gaze was detached and judgmental, and I could tell that she wasn't going to be able to forgive him for a long while either. When she finally did force herself to respond. "Forgiveness is not something that you can earn from me," Ms. Lesa told him, speaking loudly to ensure that everyone was able to hear her. "It's something that you will have to ask for from your daughter. That's a choice that she can make alone, and I have no place to offer my words in this situation."

Mr. Strann nodded. I was confident this time that I could see tears in his eyes, and he let out a breathless sigh. "There will be no moment where I feel more regret throughout the rest of my life," he murmured. "I have been forced to say the truth of my crimes, but I wish that I was not placed in this situation. If I had not gone too far, then this wouldn't have happened. After all this time, I have brought this on myself. This is something I must make up for on my own terms."

"All it took was Yuri yelling at him for him to finally realize how messed up all of this has been," Victoria whispered as she glanced over in my direction. "I can't believe that he didn't figure this out sooner... Maybe I'm a bit biased given that I like to think I have a stronger moral compass than this, but... I don't know."

"His morality is not something that we can debate here easily," I told her with a shake of my head and a matching shrug. "There isn't an easy way to work it out. He thought that he was doing the right thing, and all of that fell apart when Yuri called him out. I don't think that either of us is at much liberty to have an opinion on this case."

Victoria was silent, and I took that as a sign that she felt the same way. I looked up to Mr. Strann and watched as he retreated from the witness stand, a sign that he was finished speaking. Everything in this case had been resolved, it seemed. That left only one step for all of us to take.

Lily walked up to the stand herself, and she looked up to the judge with bright eyes as soon as Mr. Strann was out of view. She rubbed at her eyes with the heel of one hand, and I could tell that she was trying to keep her composure because she didn't want to make too much of a scene. It was debatable as to if this actually worked out though, but I didn't want to say such a thing given the circumstances. After all, we had finally managed to find out who the culprit was, and in my eyes, that merited celebration regardless of the other events leading up to the end of the case.

Judge Diaphan was silent as she watched a pair of bailiffs appear to escort Mr. Strann from view. It wasn't until after he was gone, and after he had given Yuri one final glance of somber detachment, that Judge Diaphan allowed herself to return to the matter at hand. She hit her gavel down against the podium in front of her. "I suppose that resolves the lingering details behind this case," she remarked. "Prosecution, defense... Are there any objections?"

"The prosecution has no objections, Your Honor," Prosecutor Burke declared. Her expression was still set in something stony, and I could tell that she wasn't going to be forgiving Mr. Strann anytime soon for what had happened. Given that she certainly seemed to be the type to hold grudges, this wasn't exactly surprising. When the other matters of him being responsible for an attack that she was the victim of were factored in, her decision only seemed more justified, and I doubted that anybody was going to try and stop her from feeling the way that she did.

"The defense has no objections either," I said. I didn't bother looking over to Victoria or Yuri. I knew that they felt the same way that I did. At long last, we were finally going to be free of this nightmare and everything that it was associated with. The truth had been uncovered, and that meant that there was only one step remaining.

Judge Diaphan nodded, seeming to understand what it was that had to come next. "In that case, this court finds the defendant, Lily Shield, not guilty. Court is adjourned!" She hit her gavel down against the podium, and the court immediately burst into chatter at the drama that had just unfolded. I made my way out to the defendant lobby, knowing that there was much to discuss. After all, the case might have just ended, but we were only beginning to feel the pull of its aftermath for better or worse.

November 23

Courtroom No. 6

2:30 PM

Victoria von Graye

Once we were out in the defendant lobby, I looked to the others in my team. "We did it," I told them simply. When a smile burst onto my lips and spread across my face, I repeated the words once again. "We did it! Everything has been solved!"

"I'm certainly going to be looking forward to leaving this case in the past," Deirdre told me with a light chuckle. "This has been an adventure from start to finish, though I wouldn't say that it's at all of the positive variety."

"I don't think that any of us are going to disagree with you there," Yuri muttered, shaking her head. She refused to meet any of our gazes, and I yearned to say something that would make this better. Even so, I knew that it wasn't going to be that easy. This was a crummy situation to be in, especially since she was the one who all of this had supposedly been done. Of course she would feel guilty. She was far from being the perpetrator of these awful crimes, but the paranoia remained on her end.

"Hey!"

Lily appeared a moment later, a bright smile on her face. She threw her arms around me when I showed that I was alright with an embrace, and I allowed myself to return to the gesture. "Thank you so much for everything," she told us with a light laugh. I could tell that she was once again trying to not make too much of a scene out of this, though it was debatable as to if she was actually succeeding.

"And just like that, our little family of the agency is whole again," Deirdre remarked. She placed a single comforting hand on Yuri's shoulder, a sign that the girl would be able to rely on her should the situation call for it. Yuri looked up at her hand, allowing her fingers to come up and rest on Deirdre's knuckles gently.

"What are you talking about? We're still missing Chrysalis."

Felicity and Sky came into view soon afterwards, and I realized that it was the former of the two that had spoken. Mr. Morix and Ms. Lesa were hot on their heels, remaining silent as ever as they watched the scene unfold from afar. I could tell that Felicity's comment had struck a nerve whether she realized it or not.

"We have much to discuss in the future," Mr. Morix remarked instead of saying anything that came off as too related to Felicity's words. Felicity quirked an eyebrow up, but she did her best to satisfy her curiosity. Ms. Lesa took a cautionary step backwards, closing her eyes silently as if it would make the issue disappear.

"That case might have been taken care of, but... There's still a lot that we have yet to think about in my eyes," Deirdre remarked. She glanced down to Yuri, but when she noticed that the girl wasn't up for speaking about the matter yet, she turned her attention elsewhere. "Perhaps we should return to the agency sooner rather than later so that we don't have to worry about being overheard. After all, we could all use a break from the crowds of the courthouse in my eyes. This case has been stressful on everyone."

"You can say that again," Ms. Lesa snorted, doing her best to keep the words out of the earshot of Felicity and Sky. She shook it off a moment later before steadying her shoulders backwards. "The attacker was finally captured, and that's one thing that we can take pride in. Our gambit didn't work because of how willing he was to allow others to take the fall for it. Even those who he was working with didn't matter in the grand scheme of his ambition. It's sickening how willing he was to throw away the lives of those he was supposed to care about."

Yuri looked up at her, and when she sighed, her gaze remained as unreadable as ever. "I really don't know how to feel about all of this, if I'm being honest," she told Ms. Lesa. "I... I'm mad at him. I'm so upset with him for doing this. He's my father by blood, yes, but in my eyes... My home is here with all of you. How could I just cast all of that aside because somebody who happened to be involved with my birth said I had to? He has a lot of nerve, strutting in here like he has any choice in what I do, especially given that he was never around as I was growing up."

"He was more than happy with throwing both Detective Umber and Prosecutor Umber under the bus if he had to," Sky commented. "It wasn't until after Yuri interfered that he finally realized that perhaps this wouldn't have been the best way of going about things. It's a mistake that he should have come to understand sooner... I would have preferred it if this hadn't resulted in the deaths of multiple people."

"He ordered the attack on Polly for one, and he was hoping to have Chrysalis abducted to try and use her as blackmail against me to split the agency apart. Then you factor in what happened recently... He pushed for the arrests of members of our agency twice, and he was indirectly responsible for others being killed. It wasn't entirely on his shoulders in the case of the murders, but... His ruthlessness certainly cannot be denied," Mr. Morix declared, his eyes narrowing in contemplation.

"I don't know if he actually cared at all," Yuri said. "I don't know if he really did. In my eyes, it seems more accurate to say that he was trying to save himself a feeling of guilt that he didn't even really understand. He claims that this was because of Venus and Cassidy dying and the betrayal within the agency last year, but... I don't know if this is something that he can really use as ammunition. It was the fault of the culprits in those cases that all of this happened. The agency disbanding wouldn't have helped anyone at all. If anything, it would have just made things worse given how much we've been trying to help people who are wrongly accused."

"It's certainly food for thought about how he actually felt throughout all of this," I commented before shrugging to myself. "It's something that you'll have to decide for yourself, Yuri... I don't know if it's possible to truly say that he can be forgiven honestly. He's hurt so many people, and... I can't just forget about that no matter how hard I try."

"That's the thing," Yuri chimed in. "If you ask me, he has no right to do any of this, and... He hurt the people that I care about most because of his own distorted perceptions of justice. I want him to start thinking about everything that he's done wrong, and he can stew over it for as long as he wants. I don't want him in my life. I'm happy where I am now, and that's what matters most."

"We're all here for you no matter what happens," Mr. Morix assured her. "We've weathered quite the storm as a team... Everything finally makes sense now that we know the truth about him though. The case where Polly was attacked was orchestrated by him because he was trying to cover up the truth of his investigations into Oracle and how they connect with our agency. The arrests of Deirdre and Chrysalis were both to try and play into his plan of dividing us, but when that didn't work, he got more directly involved."

"The assailant that he sent after Chrysalis ultimately failed in his mission, and Mukuro was scapegoated as a way of keeping us from digging deeper. Perhaps her connection to us played a part in that... It was a matter of convenience that got her arrested, and that was when Detective Umber started to have doubts about everything," Deirdre said next. "I'm glad that she did decide to side with us when push came to shove... I don't think that she or her brother realized just how deep Mr. Strann was willing to go in his quest for vengeance and safety regarding the agency."

"None of us could have known it until it was too late," Mr. Morix frowned. "Everything started to fall apart, and we were at the center of it. We had no way of being aware that he was going to go this far until after he had..." He cast a brief glance over to Ms. Lesa, and an indescribable emotion of grief flashed in his eyes before he forced himself to look away. Ms. Lesa also tore her eyes away from him to stare at the floor instead. "The point is that we've found the truth behind the case, and in my eyes, we've still got a few other things to talk about."

"If you want to be more accurate, we have some people to talk to," Sky said. Mr. Morix nodded his agreement, and Sky let out a sigh. "I think that we should talk with the Umber twins... They didn't seem to know what they were doing until after he had already used them for their faith in him. It's despicable that he was so willing to harm them because it would fall into place with his plans."

"I guess that I'll have to introduce myself to them all over again," Yuri commented with an empty laugh. "I mean, all that we've learned today... It makes it pretty clear that Detective Umber was being honest when she said that we were siblings through our father. He was related to the twins because he was their father, and after he left, he wound up with my mother, and that's how I was born. I don't think that any of us could have seen this coming, but... I want to try and get to know them as siblings this time rather than just other people that I happen to run into during a case."

"He used their faith in him against us," Lily sighed as she looked down at her feet. "It's upsetting that he went so far and used them for so much without ever thinking of offering the same in return... He didn't want to support them. They were just helpers in his revenge quest that they didn't fully understand until after everything had spiraled out of control."

"He's certainly going to earn my ire for that," Yuri snorted. She was quiet for a moment after that before she looked up and saw none other than the twins approaching us. "Well, what do you know? Here they are now. I guess that it's time for me to talk sooner than expected."

I watched from afar as Yuri moved closer to them. I didn't want to interfere, so I allowed my confidence in her to give me the emotional momentum needed to look away. She would be able to handle this. After all that she had been through, this was nothing for the great Yuri Rinko, and her father had no idea what he had missed out on.

I'm proud of you, Yuri. Never forget that.

Speed memorization hours

-Digital