November 23

Courtroom No. 6

3:00 PM

Yuri Rinko

I looked up to Detective Umber and Prosecutor Umber before letting out a sigh. Should I have even called by them those titles? After all, they were my siblings, so it would have made more sense for me to just refer to them by their names, right?

Abilene looked down to me with wide eyes, almost as if she was on the verge of tears. "I'm sorry about all of this," she murmured. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen. You shouldn't have been put in this position in the first place. Our father... I wish that he didn't treat you like that. He was wrong to act as if he had full control over your life, and I know that I should have done something more to make that clear to you."

"I understand," I commented. I looked up to meet her eyes with a gentle smile. "You know... I wouldn't be entirely opposed to inviting you to join me and my mother in our bonding nights from here on out. After all, you two have lost your mother now too, and with our father going off to prison for a really long time... I guess that this is all that we can really do, huh?"

"Are you sure about that?" Abilene questioned, her eyes wide even still. "I don't think that this is a good idea. I mean, don't get me wrong, I do want to be part of your family dynamic, but it feels almost invasive for me to want that in the first place. Everything at the agency was messed up because of us. You deserve better than to have to put up with the drama that comes with all of this stuff..."

"You didn't know that you were being used. Our father probably made himself sound reasonable the whole way through... He really did think that he was doing the right thing, but... I can't forgive him for it. Not now, and probably not ever. He's hurt the people that I care about the most, and I can't let him just get away with that after all this time," I said.

"We understand," Anthony chimed in after his prolonged silence. "You have every right to decide to act how you so please. After all, you and the other members of the agency have been the ones most impacted by our actions. I wish that I had been able to know that it would end this way though... The attack was not something that we were aware of. We had started to question his actions a few months ago, but Abilene was the one who started openly showing it. I didn't want him to figure out that we were having doubts."

"He went behind your backs because he's an awful person for this," I declared firmly. "That much I'm not going to change my stance on. If he really wanted to get to know me after all this time, then he should have reached out like a normal person, you know? That would have made things much easier for everyone. I said that it would have been possible for him to do something even if he was in danger. After all, he was able to connect with you two, right?"

"That's true," Abilene said with a nod of confirmation. "I guess he was scared of connecting with you or something. I know that's a weird thing to say, but... He seemed to think that this was the better choice all along. He didn't want to believe that it would be possible to just reach out to you and talk like the blood relatives that you are."

"I sincerely believe that while he thought it was the right thing to do at the time, he was acting selfishly," I said with a frown. "I'm not going to change my stance on that either. He's just going to have to deal with that. He was never around when we were growing up, and he doesn't have a right to just stroll right into our lives like he's entitled to everything that he missed out on. He should have tried to be there when we were growing up, but he only showed up when it was convenient for him... He might have thought of it as love, but that doesn't fit in my definition at all. He made his choice, and that's fine with me. It doesn't impact the way that I live my life at all. He's the past, and we're the future."

I reached out with both hands and took Abilene and Anthony's fingers between my own. Both of them were surprised at my suddenly forward gesture, and Abilene sniffled as she raised one hand to rub at her eyes. "I don't know what we did to deserve a sister like you... Imagine if we could have been given the chance to get to know you," she murmured. "Well, get to know you like normal siblings should know each other. Instead, we were manipulated into doing awful things to you and those that you care about... Can you ever forgive us?"

"I already have," I assured her. "Our father is the one to blame here, and... I know that this is what I want. From here on out, it's going to be the three of us against the world. I wish that we could have had Venus and Cassidy here to celebrate with us, but... Maybe I can see about getting my friend to channel them! One of my coworkers at the agency is a spirit medium, you know. She had to miss out on the trial, but I bet that she'd help if we asked her to." The lie came to my lips effortlessly, but luckily, it didn't seem as if either one of them even noticed it.

"Alright," Anthony muttered. He was clearly far less open with his emotions than Abilene was, though anybody would have been able to see that easily given the way that he carried himself. That didn't make this moment any less impactful to him though, and he gently squeezed at my hand to make sure that I understood how much this meant to him. Abilene grinned in response, tears openly streaming down her face now.

I looked back and forth between their hands with a gentle smile on my face. Something about this felt weirdly right, and I was glad that I had the two of them in my life. It had taken a lot of work to get here, yes, but I was sure that we were going to be fine together. Everything was going to be fine as long as we looked to the future.

It was a weird thing for me to think, but I was positive somehow that both Venus and Cassidy were watching over us. They would have been proud to know that we were together after all that had happened with our father. One of these days, I'd try to get Chrysalis to channel them. Maybe Prosecutor Lin could help out with the other sister. That would certainly help us out a lot in becoming a full family again. Then there was the matter of Anthony and Abilene's mother, but I was sure that we could cover the details later. For the time being, all that mattered was the fact that they were watching over us, and those who were still standing had finally found one another. Somehow, this felt beautiful in a way that no words could ever hope to describe, so I didn't bother saying anything. The silence said everything for me.

November 23

Courtroom No. 6

3:05 PM

Razi Lesa

The defendant lobby was still a haze of noise that I yearned to escape from. It felt like I wouldn't be able to fully block out the noise no matter how hard I tried though, and all I could do was sigh and focus on the way that my breaths came in and out of my body to keep myself grounded. That had to count for something, right?

"Hey! Mr. Morix!"

I turned upon hearing the familiar voice, and my eyes went wide when I saw Neptune standing nearby with Clarith and X. The three of them really had come to be a package deal, huh? It seemed like I never saw one of them without the other two these days, though I supposed that was fine. The fact that they had shown up at all made me happy. I didn't care about how they could have known that I would want to see them, but I shoved the thought out of my mind. That didn't matter at all.

"I didn't realize that you three were in the gallery," Cotoli remarked with wide eyes as the trio walked closer to us. Clarith was silent as she smiled shyly, and X had one of her hands pressed between his. His anxiety was notable, but when I looked up at him, his expression shifted into something far more professional. I didn't know what the reason for the shift could have been, but I figured that it wasn't important. I had much more vital things to think about in that instant anyways.

"We came by to see what you could whip up during the trial," Neptune explained. "Well, we were curious about what your fellow lawyers were capable of, and I think that you all did a great job. I certainly didn't expect the ups and downs of this case."

Her gaze fell squarely on me when she said that, and I felt for a brief moment that she was staring into my soul. She had to know. How could she know? Neptune and I had come to be close friends over the past few years since Venus passed away, and she seemed to be able to read me like a book. I didn't know how she pulled it off, but it remained impressive all the same. She was so good at figuring out what I was thinking, and the way that she looked at me made it clear that she was aware of the truth. After all, that wasn't the way that she would look at a stranger; it was the way that she looked at Chrysalis Starr. She knew the truth, but if that was the case, why wasn't she saying anything about it?

Her hand came down on my shoulder before I pulled myself away from my trance. "I'm glad to see that you're alright," she said carefully to me. I looked up her before nodding, and Neptune grinned in my direction. "I'm going to be looking forward to talking to you after this case is over. You can bet that I've got my fair share of questions. You sure did pull off something impressive during this case, eh?"

Before I could properly respond, she backed off, and I noticed that she had started to engage in conversation with Deirdre and Victoria. The chat came effortlessly to her, and Clarith and X both watched with serene smiles. Every once in a while, Clarith would look over her should at where Yuri was speaking with Prosecutor Umber and Detective Umber, but she never said anything on the matter. I could have sworn that I saw Neptune do the same, but I didn't have much of a chance to focus on it.

After all, another group of people had come walking into the room. One of them was Sora, and I could see her turquoise hair trailing behind her even from my place hiding behind Cotoli and Neptune's shadows. Nevada was at her side, and I could see Prosecutor Shield along with Prosecutor Cruz. This sure was a party, huh? The defense lobby was only getting more crowded as the minutes passed by, but somehow, I found that I didn't mind it as much as I had previously.

"Hey there, Cotoli!" Sora proclaimed as she swung an arm around his shoulders. Polly, Ghastly, Anton, and Elec trailed after her, and I noticed that the last of the four must have been in the gallery watching the trial. He had been taking care of quite a few high profile cases as of late, so he hadn't been given much of a chance to come and watch trials that other members of our little family were involved in. He stared at me for a moment, but I averted my gaze. This was not going to be an easy thing to explain, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to talk about it in the first place.

"Hey, Sora," Cotoli chuckled to himself as he looked up to Sora with a friendly smile. "I see that you were watching up in the gallery... What did you think of the trial? I do hope that we put on an impressive show for you."

Sora snorted before bursting into contained laughter. "Of course you impressed me! I mean, that sure was a lot to take in at once... I will be expecting more to explain all that later on, but for now, I'm going to say that I'm happy with the victory. After all, I would say that this whole thing ended pretty well. You know, as well as it could have ended. You got the not guilty verdict, your client is off the hook, and the truth is out there. Plus, your fellow lawyers were able to figure out where Collack Strann has been all this time, and given how well he's been hiding from everybody else, I would say that's an accomplishment in its own right," she told him.

Cotoli nodded in response, pride glowing on his face. He wrapped his arms around Anton and Elec as soon as they were close enough for him to do so. "We're going to have to go throw a huge family party after all of this. We can start off by heading back to the agency. That place should have enough space for all of us," he said with a bright smile.

"Yeah, because the place is haunted," Sora snickered. Cotoli simply sighed and shook his head, knowing that he couldn't fight back against her words on that front. After all, she certainly had a point. There had been a spirit in the agency for as long as any of us could remember, and I doubted that was going to ever change.

Before I had the chance to speak up on the matter, I was cut off by Nevada walking closer to me. She walked in my direction so suddenly that I almost stumbled back into the wall, and it was only thanks to a haphazard toss of my hand that I was able to remain somewhat upright. She looked at me closely with an intense frown before her head tilted to the side. "Have we met somewhere before?" Nevada questioned. I stared at her for a long time before slowly shaking my head. She retreated with a shrug. "Huh. Funny. I thought we'd seen each other in the past. Oh well."

A heavy sigh of relief overcame me as soon as she was out of earshot, and I recognized that she had likely dashed off after being distracted by something else interesting happening within the defendant lobby. It made sense, especially given how many people were there. It was like a party was happening in our corner of the room, and I found myself risking a smile despite the activity of the day having drained me of my energy almost completely.

I felt a hand on my shoulder once again, and when I glanced around to find the source of the contact, I was met with the bright smile of Neptune. "I'm glad that everything turned out alright," she commented, and I suspected that she had returned to my side after realizing that I was somehow uncomfortable with all that had happened recently. "Everything's going to be worked out soon, huh? We'll be able to leave this case in the past, and I'm sure that's going to make things a lot easier for us. Wouldn't you agree?"

I nodded carefully, forcing myself to understand her words even though my mind was moving both too fast and at a crawl simultaneously. "Yeah," I whispered to myself, holding tightly to the word like it was the only thing keeping me from completely falling apart. I looked up to pay attention to the people who were in the lobby. Sora and Cotoli were close and talking together while Ghastly spoke with Polly, Anton, and Elec. Deirdre and Vito were engaged in conversation as well, and both Clarith and X were speaking together as well. It was nice to be able to see all of them so happy after what had taken place. The defendant lobby was still much too crowded for my liking, and that didn't even cover all of the people that were standing in the area, but I was happy to consider this situation a victory. Even after all that had happened, it seemed like we were going to be alright, and given what had happened over the course of the past few days, that was more than everything that I could have asked for.

"I think that we've got a lot to talk about back at the agency," Felicity commented as she nudged Sky with her elbow. Her voice was shockingly close to me, and I glanced up to see that she was staring at me from a few feet away. I instinctively moved closer to Neptune, seeking the security that her presence brought to me. She always seemed to know exactly what to do when I was struggling, and while I didn't know how she had come to be so perceptive, I wasn't complaining in the slightest.

Sky and Felicity were still unsure of the truth behind Oracle. They had never been told the secret behind our agency, and with the end of this case, I knew that we wouldn't be able to escape it any longer. They had to hear about the truth that we had been concealing all this time. Felicity and Sky were the only ones unaware of our activity to fight back against corruption within the legal system, but they were going to have to hear about it sooner rather than later. If we wanted to get anything done, we were going to need all of the help that we could get.

I could tell that Sky was thinking something similar as he stared at me intently. He had to be aware of the resemblance between myself and Chrysalis. He thought that those two names belonged to separate people, after all, and while he could not have been more incorrect, I gave him the ability to believe in it for just a few extra minutes. He was starting to put the pieces together, and his time of ignorance was about to draw to a close. Everything related to the truth was about to come out for better or worse, and I simply hoped that this fell into the category of the former.

"We should go back to the agency now," Lily declared with a bright smile. Prosecutor Shield was towering over her protectively, undoubtedly wishing that he could have done more to look out for her aside from simply watch the trial from the gallery. However, he wouldn't have been able to get a position on this case even if he wanted to; it was too heavily tied with Oracle for us to be able to risk his involvement. Ghastly knew it, Polly knew it, and so did everybody else working as part of our little ring to try and change this broken system.

"I agree," Deirdre said with a firm nod. "We've been here for quite some time, and I could certainly use a break from the constant activity." She was holding Prosecutor Cruz's hand, and when I looked down at the place where their fingers met, I found myself smiling quietly. They had been getting closer for quite some time, and even if they weren't open about it, the clues were most certainly there if one knew where to look for them.

"It's time for us to throw a big party for all that we've managed to accomplish, wouldn't you say?"

Yuri appeared a moment after her booming voice echoed through the area, and she threw her hands above her head in a grand gesture that caused everyone to immediately look in her direction. "I mean, we've done a lot of great things today, and I think that we deserve to be proud of that! Let's get out of here so that we can try to enjoy ourselves after all of that messiness. I'm all about the present and the future right now, so let's go and see what we can do in the present and future, yeah?" she questioned.

When nobody objected, Yuri clapped her hands together, though she only waited for a response for a few short moments. I chuckled to myself as I shook my head. This certainly was typical Yuri behavior, always jumping into action as soon as she was able to. Even when faced down with a father who had done so many awful things to try and get to her, she was able to stay positive. In a way, I admired her optimism. I had always been a bit more pessimistic when it came to the workings of the world, and it was because of all this that I had been pushed far enough to start the Oracle project in the first place.

I could see Detective Umber and Prosecutor Umber standing behind Yuri and watching all of this unfold from nearby. They seemed to be too awkward to jump into this mess on their own terms, not that I could blame them. Today had been a bit of a train wreck from beginning to end, and they had been caught up in the crossfire with no easy way of escaping it. At least their father was out of the picture now, and that was hopefully going to take some of the pressure off their shoulders. I know that it certainly helped me to feel better.

"Before all of that, I think that I should go on and take care of a certain someone here," Cotoli commented. He pulled away from Sora's embrace on his body to walk towards me, and we shared a knowing glance. This was the end of the lifetime of Eileen Liyle. This case had brought too much attention to the alias, and it was going to have to be swept under the rug as if nothing happened in the first place. It had happened in the past as well, but I still found it unfortunate when I had to leave an identity behind. Still, there wasn't much of an option.

As far as the rest of the world was concerned, this was going to be the last time that I existed. I had to find a way to put as much distance between myself and Eileen Liyle as possible. My hair color and length could easily be passed off as part of the disguise to lure out the culprit of the assault, but that wouldn't always be able to work if people began to put the pieces together regarding me being Oracle. It didn't seem as if anybody had come to such a conclusion, but I was going to do what I had to in order to make sure that nobody found out. After all, this was just part of the job, and sometimes, you have to know when it's best to cut your losses.

"I can go and get Chrysalis while I'm out," Cotoli continued. "She's been off focusing on another investigation as of late, but I'm sure that she'd love to hear all about the trial from today and what went down for us to finally catch the culprit at his own game. I hope that you all have a nice day until we are able to see one another again."

Cotoli bowed his head gently in the direction of everyone else, and I did the same before trailing after him. We left behind the defendant lobby soon afterwards, and from there, the courthouse itself became little more than an afterthought when compared to bitterly cold winds and the sensation of losing something along the way.

By the time that Cotoli and I had settled down in his car, I felt like there was a part of my heart that was being torn out. It should have never ended this way, and yet, there we were. Eileen Liyle should have been our chance to try and see if there were others involved with corruption on the defense side oft he bench, but all of that fell apart as soon as Cade Green decided that it was time for him to exact his twisted revenge. He didn't seem to realize what demons he was playing with, and I knew that much was for the best. Everything had come dangerously close to falling apart, and we had to be on the defensive for as long as we could to make sure that nobody figured out just what was going on behind the scenes of this case.

"All in all, I would say that this went pretty well," Cotoli commented with a gentle smile on his face. "You know, about as well as this could have gone. This whole situation was a mess from the very beginning, but I like to believe that we made the most of it in spite of that. Look at us; we were able to catch the culprit and reveal the truth behind a former head of Interpol."

"Many people have been going after him as of late," I murmured, shaking my head. "I hope that this doesn't bring any trouble to Yuri because of her blood connection to him. If anybody is smart though, they'll see that she couldn't have been involved with him. This case made that much clear. Plus, there's the matter of the Umber twins, and they're not going to be in easy contact with their father from this point on either. That simply isn't an option for any of them anymore."

"How are you feeling about it?" Cotoli questioned. He looked over to me before he could start up the car, his eyes laced thickly with concern. "I know that this has been a disaster for you as well, and... I wish that there was more that I could have done to make all of this easier."

I hesitated before shrugging. "I'm going to be fine. My neck still hurts like hell, but I'm sure that I'll be able to figure out a way to cover everything up. After all, you supposedly taking me elsewhere is our way of making sure that nobody knows the truth about what happened during the trial, so it shouldn't be that hard for us to cover things up," I commented. "All it'll take is a change of clothes and a scarf, and everything is going to be fine. Nobody has to know the truth of what's been going on as of late."

"Nobody aside from Felicity and Sky, that is," Cotoli pointed out with a sigh. The car began to slide out of its parking space a moment later, and Cotoli glanced over his shoulder. "We might be able to fool the rest of the world, but I could see the way that Sky was looking at you. We're just lucky that Nevada took your excuse of not having met before at face value. She's surprisingly perceptive, I have to admit. Neptune could have caused everything to fall apart as well."

I sighed and shook my head. "Neptune has always been a strange one, but I do agree that we got lucky with Nevada... We'll tell Felicity and Sky soon, and when we do, they're going to become the newest members of our little team." After a brief pause, I continued to speak. "You know, I don't think that we're going to need anybody else to help us out. Well, we can always use extra hands on deck, yes, but... I don't know. I suppose that I could use a break after all that's happened. Bringing newer members into the agency has caused us more than a few problems as of late, so pardon me for deciding that I need a break."

Cotoli let out a laugh, and I had to admit that this was the happiest that I had seen him in quite some time. "I suppose that you're right," he agreed to himself. "I don't think that anybody would be able to slip into the agency like those guys have. We've really made a good place in this world for ourselves, wouldn't you say?"

I nodded and looked down to my gloved hands. It was hard to believe how much everything could change in such a short span of time. In four years, we had seen everything that we had ever known start to shift, and I couldn't have asked for anything more. I had once been so closed away from the rest of the world that I never would have imagined something on this level to even be possible, and yet, there we were.

My hand propped itself up against the door of the car, and I allowed my eyes to slip shut. At long last, this nightmare was over, and another chapter for the Morix Law Offices had concluded. There was no way of saying what the future was going to bring, but I found that I ultimately didn't mind. There was much that we weren't aware of, but everything would come to light with time. All we had to do was wait and see what was bound to come next.

For the time being, we had managed to sift through a web of mistrust, and that was what mattered most.

TURNABOUT MASQUERADE

END

And so ends the sixth case and this book as a whole! Epilogue is going up next week before we get the first chapter of book four on the eleventh of April (the series' six year anniversary)! Aaaaaa!

-Digital