So… Matt's dead. How will Kristoph react to this? How will this effect his life in prison? Things are going to get much worse before it gets any better and hopefully I've been leaving the clues but not making everything too obvious. I'm not too good at writing mysteries yet.

P.S. People seem kind of confused about Matt's last minute apology. I guess I didn't portray or write it well enough but after Kristoph exploded at him and the others kept them away from each other Matt genuinely started to regret how he acted and that was basically my last ditch effort to redeem him a tiny bit before he died. Eh, you can tell me if it worked or not.

Chapter 16 – The Downfall of Kristoph Gavin

Kristoph stumbled back over to his cot and grabbed his glasses, slipping them onto his face. He stared in shock at the lifeless body of his late companion. How did this happen? No one could get into this cell except for the guards! Did one of them murder Matt?

Wait… he didn't kill Engarde… did he? But he had been asleep… unless he had somehow strangled him in his sleep. It might explain why he felt so strange and nauseous when he woke up. And that nightmare… Plus Matt was killed in the same way Kristoph had drawn out in his journal. It couldn't possibly be anyone else…

"Gavin!" a loud shout sounded behind him, startling him. Kristoph whipped around and saw Andy Howe and another guard standing there, flashing a light into the cell. Howe was glaring at him. "What are you doing out of your bed? You should be asleep!"

Kristoph stared blankly at him. He didn't know what to say. His heart was threatening to burst out of his chest and he still felt sick.

"Sir!" the other guard suddenly said, swinging his flashlight over to the other side of the cell, "Look at Matt Engarde!"

Howe turned his head and gave the body a once-over before realization hit him. He took a step back in utter shock. Then he looked back at Kristoph.

"G-Gavin!" he hissed, "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" Kristoph insisted. But is that really true? "I just woke up and found him this way! I didn't kill him!"

"Pah!" Howe spat, "Yeah right! A likely story! And who did kill him? The Invisible Man? A ghost? You're the only one who could murder him, unless you want to accuse one of my guards of killing a prisoner for no reason?"

Kristoph was silent as he stared at the floor. Howe scoffed.

"I thought so," he sneered. He snapped his fingers and suddenly ten guards appeared in the hallway. Kristoph's heartrate sped up even more. "Guards take Gavin away. Make sure he doesn't try to get away and if he does, feel free to use the tasers on him."

Like I feel well enough to try to struggle anyway, Kristoph thought spitefully as three of the guards came into the cell and grabbed him. They marched him out and Kristoph was a little grateful that the guards were blocking his view of the other inmates. He didn't want to see the looks of shock on their faces as he passed by them.

The guards took Kristoph out of the cell block and down a passage of the prison he had never seen before. They suddenly opened a door marked "SOLITARY" which seemed to be a completely featureless concrete room. One of the guards apathetically shoved Kristoph into the room and slammed the door shut, plunging him into absolute darkness.

Kristoph fell to the floor and felt his glasses fall off his face. Breathing hard and letting out a curse, he touched around the floor, searching for them. His fingers brushed against them and he picked them up, gently feeling them to check if they were damaged. He hissed with annoyance when he felt a crack in the lenses. With a long sigh he shoved his glasses back on the bridge of his nose then curled up on himself.

That's when the torment started. There were no sounds except the sound of Kristoph's harsh breathing and his heart beating in his ears. He couldn't see anything, there wasn't even a crack of light from the door. Was this room completely sealed? Would he have enough air to live through this? God, they were planning to suffocate him, weren't they?!

Calm down Kristoph, he thought, Don't panic. Panic is your enemy. Any time in the past you started to freak out it did not end well for you. Focus on your breathing. Pretend you're surrounded by people you love and that they're comforting you.

Though he was no longer friends with Wright and in fact still hated him, Kristoph always loved when the other man would run his fingers through his hair, soothing him in a way no one else could. He thought back to just a few days ago when Wright had visited him and remembered the way he had held and comforted him. He concentrated on the way he had felt then while he tried to even out his breathing.

I'll get through this, he decided, They won't break me. I've suffered through things much worse than this.

It was the longest twelve hours of Kristoph's life. His nausea had gone down so now he felt starved. He had barely eaten anything at dinner and what he had eaten had been thrown back up. His headache and light-headedness hadn't gone away yet, though. And he didn't know if his legs were strong enough to stand and he didn't want to try.

He didn't know when, but at some point he had drifted off to sleep. He was startled awake by the sound of the heavy door sliding across the stone floor. Kristoph shielded his eyes from the sudden light as a single person came into the room and gently helped him to his feet.

"Come on," Shuu's voice said softly in his ear, "Let's get you to my office."

Kristoph leaned heavily on the doctor as he led him out of the dark room towards his office. When they got there, Shuu took a moment to unlock the door before guiding Kristoph over to his bed and laying him down.

Shuu left him briefly to get something and when he came back he had a warm plate of food and a glass of what appeared to be ginger ale.

"Here," he offered, "Your fellow inmates informed me you hadn't eaten much at dinner the previous evening, so I imagine you must be starving. I swiped some food from the staff room. And the ginger is to help settle your stomach. Mr. Von Karma said you looked quite distressed and ill when the guards hauled you out."

Kristoph stared at the food in amazement before taking it with a word of thanks. He ate a bit slowly, knowing to pace himself so he wouldn't make himself sick. The confectionaries Shuu had presented him with were all breakfast items: eggs, toast, ham, more eggs. So it was pretty safe to say it was probably around breakfast time or had just passed it.

Shuu watched him with a calm expression, not saying anything as he waited for Kristoph to finish eating. When he finished Shuu took a seat next to him.

"Feeling better?" he wondered.

"Yes. Thank you," Kristoph replied, "I've never gone so long without eating. I don't know how other people do it. I felt like I was dying."

"Starvation does feel like that," Shuu pointed out, "Though you probably wouldn't have died from one day of not eating." He took the plate from him and offered the glass of ginger ale. "So, would you like to tell me what happened? Engarde's body was brought to my office for examination but no one told me anything."

Kristoph lowered his gaze to the floor and didn't answer at first. Then he took a deep breath.

"I… may have killed Matt Engarde," he murmured. Shuu gave him a shocked look.

"What do you mean you 'may have?' You don't know?" he questioned. Kristoph groaned.

"No, it's not that it's just… I woke up this morning and he was dead," he explained, "I don't see how anyone else could have done it, but I don't remember it. I was asleep, I had a nightmare, and when I woke up I didn't feel well."

"You didn't feel well?" Shuu repeated, "How so?"

"Let's see," Kristoph thought, "I had a headache, I was dizzy and light-headed, my legs were very weak, and I felt nauseous. Oh, and I was still really tired."

Shuu stiffened and stood up suddenly, staring at Kristoph with wide eyes.

"Wh-What?" Kristoph asked timidly.

"Kristoph, I don't think you murdered Engarde," Shuu said seriously, "I think you were framed."

"You do?"

"Yes. I think someone-"

Before he could continue his sentence, however, the door to his office banged open and warden Dewey Watchum, Andy Howe, and two other guards came marching in. Shuu narrowed his eyes at them, clearly not pleased.

"May I help you gentlemen?" he asked.

Watchum ignored him and turned to Kristoph. "PRISONER KRISTOPH GAVIN!" he shouted into his bullhorn, "YOU HAVE BEEN DECLARED GUILTY OF MURDERING PRISONER MATTHEW ENGARDE! YOU WILL NOW CARRY OUT YOUR PUNISHMENT WHILE YOU AWAIT YOUR SENTENCING!"

"What!?" Kristoph exclaimed, "I can't be declared guilty, I haven't had a trial yet!"

The guards started laughing. "You're a convicted criminal!" one of them chuckled, "You don't get a trial! You gave up your rights when you decided to kill someone! Besides, no one, not even a state attorney would want to defend you!"

"That's not how that works!" Kristoph pointed out, "I may be in prison, but I still have the right to a fair trial and to an attorney!"

Howe walked over to him and grabbed his wrist, yanking him forward. "Listen, you're not going to win this," he hissed, "So why don't you just shut up, take your punishment, and wait for your sentencing, all right?"

Kristoph glared with pure hatred at him. "And what would this sentencing be?" he wondered.

"Well, depends on how nice we feel like being," Howe replied with a nasty grin, "We could send you to permanent solitary confinement." Kristoph's eyes narrowed. "Or we could send you to maximum security prison," he took a hissing breath, "Or if we find you especially dangerous… we'll have you executed."

As Kristoph flinched Shuu stepped forward. "All right, I really must protest," he objected, "They've abolished the death penalty! You couldn't get away with that!"

Howe smirked. "I'm sure we could make an appeal to be a special case," he said in a slimy voice, "After all, he did kill one of his fellow inmates. Who knows when he might snap again?"

Watchum made a gesture and before either Kristoph or Shuu could protest, the two guards grabbed Kristoph and clasped a metal collar around his neck. They attached a chain to it and then, with no hesitation or gentleness, yanked him out of the room.

Shuu never stopped glaring at them the whole time.

Klavier raced towards the prison on his hog, his heart pounding in his ears. He was so excited to tell his brother the good news! Just a few more days and one or two more witness accounts and they could get his case off the ground! The prison wouldn't stand a chance! He was eager to show Kristoph what he and Wright had compiled so far.

He got to the prison and went inside after parking, happily walking up to the counter. "I'm here to see Kristoph Gavin, bitte," he said.

The man behind the glass bit his lower lip and frowned. "Er, I'm sorry, sir, but he's not allowed to have visitors right now."

Klavier's smile fell into a frown. "What? Why not?" he wondered. The man rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Well, um, I don't-"

"It's fine," a voice interrupted. Klavier and the man turned to see Howe stepping through the door that lead to the rest of the prison. He had a calm but somehow sinister smile on his face. "I think we can make one exception before Gavin's allowed no more visitors. After all, this is his brother. He would probably want to see him one more time."

"What are you talking about?" Klavier asked. Howe smirked but didn't respond, instead simply turning to lead the way to the visitor's room. Confused and curious, Klavier had no choice but to follow him.

Instead of the special room with the table and chairs that he normally got when he visited his brother, Klavier was led into a normal room with the glass barrier separating him from the prisoner, much like at the detention center. He gave Howe a hard look.

"What's this all about?" he asked.

"I think it would be best if you let your brother explain," Howe replied, "Allow me to go fetch him. I will return in a moment."

Klavier sat quietly, his mind racing with horrible scenarios about what had happened to Kristoph since he saw him last. He knew it would do no good to speculate, but he couldn't turn his thoughts off. Why was Kristoph suddenly not receiving visitors? Did something happen to him?

A few minutes later the door on the other side of the glass finally opened and Klavier gasped as he saw his brother. He looked terrible. He clearly hadn't had a good night's rest in a while and it showed all over his face. From the dark circles under his eyes, to his paler-than-average skin, and his half-lidded eyes. His glasses were cracked. Then there was his hair. Kristoph always made sure to keep it tidy, clean, and well kept, but now it was falling out of its neatly made spiral and looked like he didn't care for it at all. It was about as messy as when he had his big meltdown after he and Apollo had exposed all of his crimes. He stared down at the floor as if he didn't even realized Klavier was there. There was a metal collar around his neck and shackles around his wrists that hadn't been removed.

Klavier rushed over to the glass, pressing his hands to it, staring at his brother in despair. "Mein Gott, bruder!" he exclaimed, "What happened to you? Why have you stopped taking care of yourself?" A horrible feeling dropped into his guy. "No… that Engarde didn't… assault you again… did he?"

Kristoph slowly took a seat in front of Klavier but didn't look at him. He didn't speak for several long moments and Klavier was starting to think he hadn't heard him. Then Kristoph sighed.

"Matt Engarde… is dead," he said softly. Klavier blinked at him.

"W-What?" Did he hear him correctly?

"Two nights ago Engarde was murdered in my cell," Kristoph explained slowly, "They're sure I'm the one who killed him and I'm not entirely convinced I didn't do it."

Tears started to form in Klavier's eyes and he slowly sunk into his seat. "No…" he whispered, "Kris, no, you can't do this to me again. I-I can't keep defending you when you keep doing things like this!"

"Klavier…" Kristoph murmured.

"Why would kill him?" Klavier demanded, "We were helping you! Why would you go and ruin everything?"

"Klavier, please listen to me," Kristoph pleaded, "I don't know if I killed him or not."

"How do you not know?" his brother wondered.

"I was asleep the whole time as far as I'm aware," Kristoph explained, "That night Matt and I went to bed early because we were both feeling rather tired. I… I had a horrible nightmare where I was drowning in blood and when I woke up he was dead; strangled by his bed sheets and tied to the bars. For all I know I killed him during the night and didn't remember it."

"Ok, ok," Klavier muttered, trying to calm down, "You said you were asleep. Is there anything else? Like, when you woke up?"

"Yes." Kristoph told him about his ills when he woke. Klavier nodded slowly.

"All right, I don't think you killed him," he declared. Kristoph scoffed.

"You and the doctor are the only ones who think that," he grumbled. Klavier frowned.

"You have to stop being so negative all the time, bro," he scolded, "Please let me help you. I don't want to lose you again." He blinked away the tears. "You're the only family I have."

Kristoph raised his dull eyes to look at him. They looked so dead; not sharp like they usually were. He sighed heavily. "I doubt you're going to find someone who would defend me," he pointed out, "Who would want to defend a convicted murderer accused of slaughtering his cellmate? Especially when I have such a strong motive?"

"I don't care!" Klavier declared, "I'll get someone to defend you! Even if I have to change careers and become a defense attorney so I can defend you myself!" He leaned forward and pressed a hand to the glass. "I promise I'll do everything I can to save you."

Slowly, a small, sad smile came to Kristoph's face and he reached out and pressed a hand to Klavier's. He didn't say anything, but he didn't have to.

Apollo really wished Mr. Wright would let the rest of them in on what the heck he had been working on. They hadn't had any new cases since the one he and Athena had done and the boss had suddenly kept going back and forth from the office without telling any of them what he was doing. Even Trucy was clueless.

"Mr. Wright! If you're just going to do all the work yourself why do you even need us here?" Athena whined, slouching over the couch. From his office, Phoenix looked up.

"Sorry guys, I would let you in on this, but I'm more experienced when it comes to this, so I can't," came his half-assed excuse.

"You could at least let us help you!" Apollo pointed out.

"Nope!"

"Look on the bright side!" Trucy interjected, "This gives you two more time to help me with my magic tricks! Now, who wants to be the sword swallower and who wants to be cut in half?"

Before Apollo and Athena could tell Trucy they didn't want to do either of those things, Klavier, without knocking, came through the door, didn't greet anyone, and flopped over onto the couch, nearly missing Athena. They all blinked at him.

"Hello to you, too, Prosecutor Gavin," Apollo said with a bit of surprise.

"Please, schatzi, I thought we had moved past the informal last name phase by now," Klavier mumbled, his words slightly muffled from the fact that his face was smooshed into the couch.

"Are you all right?" Athena asked, "You sound really sad."

Something ached in Apollo's stomach as he remembered the last time Klavier came by the agency. "Is something wrong with Mr. Gavin?" he guessed.

Klavier lifted his head off the couch and gave him a mournful look which told Apollo everything he needed to know. Before he could say anything, Phoenix came out of his office.

"Gavin? What happened?"

"Mein bruder… he's been accused of murdering his cellmate Matt Engarde," Klavier told them.

Silence filled the room. No one knew what to say. Athena cleared her throat.

"What's going to happen to him?" she questioned.

"They haven't decided yet," Klavier answered, "He said they were going to put him in solitary confinement, or send him to maximum security prison, or… sentence him to death."

Before either Apollo or Phoenix could say anything Trucy huffed. "Good," she declared. Shocked faces turned to her.

"Trucy!" Phoenix exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, daddy, but he deserves it!" she argued, "He didn't suffer enough after killing my daddy and Vera's daddy! He had it coming!"

Apollo cowered back as Klavier sat up and his expression turned to one of pure rage. "Fräulein," he hissed, "I understand you don't like my brother. I get it. He killed your father. But you don't know what he's been through in that prison. It's Hell there! You have no right to say that about him!"

The two glared at each other until Apollo coughed, trying to diffuse the situation. "Um, do you know how Engarde was killed?" he asked.

Klavier's eyes softened slightly as he turned to him. "He was strangled by his bedsheets which were then tied to the bars of the cell," he explained, "By all accounts no one has done any investigation and just assumed my brother did it. I've been all over the city trying to find an attorney to defend him without any luck."

"Yeah, who would want to defend a psycho like him?" Trucy muttered. Klavier whipped around and glared at her.

"Ok, you know what?" he shouted, then the two started arguing loudly as Phoenix and Athena tried to calm them down.

Meanwhile, Apollo stood to the side, thinking to himself, blocking out all the yelling. Finally, he came to a conclusion.

"I'll do it!" he declared. Klavier and Trucy stopped screaming and turned to him.

"What? What do you mean?"

Apollo stood up, a determined look on his face. "I'll defend Mr. Gavin."

All right! Go Apollo! Sorry if Trucy seemed kind of douchey in this chapter. I wanted her dislike of Kristoph to seem realistic and I don't think she would forgive him for murdering her father so easily. But Klavier, Apollo, and Phoenix are older and have had a more mature relationship with Kristoph. I don't think Apollo and Phoenix really forgive so much as they want to somehow move past what he did. They don't want his murders to define their memories of him, if that makes any sense. Anyway, another kind of long chapter. Next time Apollo and his co-counsel start investigating. And we'll also see Kristoph's feelings on his former apprentice coming to his aide. In the meantime, please leave a comment! Oh and I'm also on Twitter a bit more regularly these days so if you want to follow me or send me fan art of my garbage works I'm White Thunder ThunderingWhite. You'll know it's me because my profile pic is a picture of a white horse.