After calculating all of the plans I have for this story (so far), I have
drawn the conclusion that it should take me seventeen chapters to fully
write this story. Give or take a few.
And to Anthy's Worst Fear: I went over your most recent review again, and I've been puzzling over one aspect for quite a while. I checked in the 1531- page dictionary, looked in my mother's medical handbook (which is 788 pages, by the way), I inquired my math teacher (who really should be a disease analyst, but...) and then I asked my grandfather-an excellent (but retired) doctor, and I failed to find the item regarding Duke Red's ailment. So, if you would be so kind as to tell me, WHAT THE HECK IS ASPERGER'S SYNDROME?! (It's not even on my spell checker...)
One more thing to the same reviewer: About your "people" that commented on the lemons...
Person #1: A Duke Red lemon? Are you mad, woman? Sorry, but I've to agree with Anthy on that one.
Person #2: Don't worry, you'll get your gory, violent scenes, soon enough. Next chapter, I think. But if you can't wait that long, go read The Hilanov Prophecy! There's lots of bloody stuff in there. Guns, daggers, and whatnot. I'm getting into the final battle just about now, it's going to be a bloodbath to remember!
Person #3: That's nice.
10. A Hearing Is Believing
"There-Are we all ready to go?" interrogated Duke Red, fiddling with his bow tie. He surveyed the three standing before him, who were all in military uniforms designed specially for the Marduks. Sanguine's had a maroon shawl, navy blue shirt and black skirt underneath which were brown nylons and then she had black high-heels on her feet. The other two, Devin and Fornax, had identical attire of navy blue shirt with golden epaulettes and black pants with red strips down the side and black dress shoes. Each outfit had a navy blue kepi with the red Marduk jewel in the middle.
Duke Red took a closer look at Sanguine and noticed something different. "Sanguine, what is that red mark on the side of your neck?"
Sanguine tugged the right side of her starched turtleneck up further. The hickey-she thought she had made sure to conceal that. "Nothing, sir, just a rash." Hah, what a lie...
"Aren't you missing someone?" questioned Dactyl's young-boyish voice from behind Duke Red.
"Yeah-I thought you said that five of you were attending the hearing," concurred Spike.
Duke Red glanced around at the Marduks, who all had their gaze fixed on him. "I think you're right, Dactyl. Where's Rock?"
"Here, Father," came the reply as Rock hurried down the staircase and towards the rest of the group.
"Rock! You're late! What have you been doing?" ordered Duke red heatedly.
"I am truly sorry, Father."
Duke Red glared at him a moment longer before whipping away and heading for the door. "Make sure it doesn't happen again. Sam!"
The bearded man slapped his arms at his side to stand erectly at attention, even though Duke Red was facing away and retreating from him. "Yes, sir!"
"As rank 05, you know the procedure. You're in charge."
"Yes, sir."
Rock hastened to Sanguine's side, who kept on walking with a solemn scowl on her face. Her hair was tied back in a vertical curl bun, and she seemed not to notice him.
"Lipstick?" Rock whispered, a smile creeping across his face.
"Duke Red's orders. It supposed to make me look important and formal."
"You don't look important no matter what you do to your image," Rock jested, turning his head away and putting on his kepi.
***
"Sanguine, you are to sit up at the front with me, while the rest of you sit at the back behind the jury. You are to stand when told and obey orders as given. Today we shall be testifying against the Nin-agal, for, as you've probably heard, accusation of the homicides of President Boon and Head of the Intelligence Department, Lamp."
"Do they have evidence to convict us, sir?" queried Fornax.
"Only eyewitness accounts and nothing more, from my understanding."
"What will happen if the jury finds you guilty of the crime, Father?" Rock asked.
Duke Red hesitated with his answer, anger of blatancy of the statement surmounting. "I'll go to jail, then, won't I?"
Devin glanced at the expression of Rock's face and continued walking brusquely down the long corridor. "Uh, sir, I think Rock meant more along the lines of what would happen to the Marduks and the Ziggurat, seeing as there would be no one to watch over them."
"Well, I'll have to find someone able to watch over them."
"All rise."
Everybody in the large court room swiftly obeyed the order, keeping their heads down as the judge swept past them and to the head of the room where the wooden desk stood. He assembled his long black robes before sitting down in the chair underneath the Republican flag attached to the wall and taking the gavel in hand. He rapped it against the elevated wooden circle as he vociferated, "You may sit."
He paused to watch everyone do so before beginning to explain. "We are gathered here today to discuss the assassinations of Metropolitan President Judas Boon and his associate, Acetylene Lamp, Chief Officer of the Metropolitan Intelligence Department."
"If only he had been that smart..." Devin mumbled to himself as he rolled his eyes.
"At this hearing, our prosecutor is Suzerain Castor, head of the Nin- agal political party and a candidate in our upcoming presidential election. The defendant is Duke Red, founder of the Marduk political party and also a presidential candidate. We should also be honoured to be in the presence of the three other candidates, currently the Secretary of State, Minister Weasel Skunk, currently the Metropolitan Mayor, Lucifer Ryon, and currently the Metropolitan Vice President, Rose Draconian," he said, motioning to the three sitting behind the prosecutors in the jury.
Skunk wore his regular military uniform that he always wore while Ryon wore his black suit. Draconian wore a blue suit of skirt and jacket underneath which a red sweater was visible. She had the same black high- heels she had worn to the ball while Suzerain Castor wore a black suit similar to Duke Red's.
"And now I would like to begin with the hearing. Prosecutors, if you would like to present your case and evidence?"
"Yes, your honour," Suzerain Castor replied, leaning over to the suited Mintaka on his left. "You're on. Don't blow it," he muttered in the man's ear.
Mintaka nodded before standing up and gathering some papers from the desk in front of him and stepping to the front of the courtroom. "My fellow citizens of the city of Metropolis, I would ask to have your attention for the shocking evidence collected by the Nin-agal team soon after the homicides of President Boon and Chief Officer Lamp..."
Mintaka finished the plaintiff about twenty minutes later, by which time Sanguine was beginning to nod off. She gazed up apathetically at the judge as he ordered for Duke Red's defence. She looked to her left to see Duke Red stand up and begin with, "Your Honour,". She turned her head to the window on her right and watched the snow float down from the pewter grey sky.
Seeing all the snow made her feel slightly cold, but she didn't feel like putting the cape back on that she had taken off before she had sat down. She glanced to her black gloves on the table in front of her, ignoring Duke Red droned strain of words.
Her mind drifted to yesterday evening, thoughts of Rock and what he had said filling her head. She ran her fingers over the mark on her neck slowly as she stared at her chest where the Home pendant was buried under her shirt. She wanted to take it out-to gaze longingly at the picture of the once existent family and wonder if they ever felt the way her family once had.
Brother. That's who Rock looked like-who he behaved like-who he thought like-who he could have been the exact clone of, had it not been for the green eyes. She looked like Rock's mother-behaved like her-thought like her, or so Rock had said. The only difference seemed to be that Melody's hair was a darker brown-almost black. Melody Home had died a violent death- would she meet the same fate? What about Rock and Blade? Were they somehow linked, too? What if Rock had actually felt a hatred for his parents-the way Blade had?
The way Blade had felt hatred for his and Sanguine's parents... How it had led him to a homicidal attempt... He had missed out on his younger sister. Would he try again the same way he had the last time? By-
Sanguine was awoken from her disquieting reveries by a hefty nudge from Duke Red. "What is your story on the incident," he whispered out of the corner of his mouth from his standing position.
Sanguine hastened to stand up. "My story on the incident, Your Honour, is that I had no part in the undertaking of the operation. I was neither the leader, nor a member of the Marduk Party at the time, and therefore I would not have been to command nor influence the members into such a predicament. I can, however call a upon two present members from the time to present their defence."
"That would be suitable," the judge answered.
Sanguine turned around to make eye contact with Rock and Devin, who, with a nod of the head, she motioned to the front. The two stood up from their chairs at the back, Fornax watching them solemnly as they strode down the middle aisle and to the front where Mintaka had stood before.
"I can assure all in this courtroom that I, Rock Red, played no part whatsoever in the assassinations of President Boon and Officer Lamp."
'He used his fake name...' Sanguine thought to herself as she glared at him.
"It is true, and I admit that I was the Marduk commander at the time, but I gave no such order for their violent passages. We among the Marduks believe that a select few of them were chosen by an outsider to assist in the duty. We do not know of the person, as the ones that were chosen have taken the secret to their graves. All we have to say is that not all of us are guilty." Rock finished.
Devin took over. "I, neither, took part in the incident." Devin went out on a precarious limb with his next comment. "Though what I did hear from one of my fellow Marduks was that Minister Skunk led them on the excursion."
A gasp ran through the courtroom and heads whipped towards the man who had been lounging back lazily in his chair up until now. Skunk looked to Draconian, who was sitting beside him and was now shooting him a murderous scowl. Skunk leapt out of his chair and adjusted the medallions on his shirt.
"I can assure you that I did no such thing. Besides, how can you counter the fact that Mintaka saw the Marduks enter the building with his own two eyes? He mentioned nothing of me."
"Witnesses can lie, Minister," Duke Red opposed, now eyeing the man with a contempt Sanguine had never seen before.
"I wouldn't be mouthing just at the moment, Red, as the Marduks are of your responsibility-" retorted Skunk, who was interrupted by the sound of gavel against desk.
"That is quite enough, Minister," the judge ordered. "You may sit down." Skunk obeyed the command as the judge looked to the rest of the courtroom. "Well, it is obvious that we can't punish someone that isn't alive. However, we do have another culprit in our case, now, if we are to believe the words of Mr Halberd. Mintaka, if you may recant the evidence that factors in Mr Weasel."
Mintaka nodded to Augur, who stood up. "Your Honour, the Nin-agal does not have an exact account of Minister Skunk's presence. However, evidence collected does suggest foreign hairs belonging to none of the Marduks, neither present nor former, dead or alive. Therefore, we could assume that they were indeed led by someone other than Rock or Duke Red. Minister Skunk's hairs were definitely detected, but as Minister Skunk had been in Boon's office many times before, it would be unfair to deduce that he was the actual one that had led them."
"Thank you, Augur. If there are no more contradictory or additional statements, I would ask the jury to draw their conclusions."
There was silence among the people of the courtroom, both Duke Red and Minister Skunk shifting uneasily in it. The judge spoke again. "Right, then. Jury, make your assessment based on the information you have received."
***
"Lucky for you you burnt your left hand and not your right," Patrick said, trying to be optimistic.
"Of course, that wouldn't do him any good if he was left-handed, Patrick," retaliated Orion.
"Oh, right. You're not left handed, are you, Nusku?"
Nusku shook his head and pulled his hand away from Patrick's grip. "No, I'm not."
Patrick glanced back to Orion and smirked at him. "See? I told you. Anyway, as I was going to say, if he had burnt his dominant hand, he wouldn't be able to fire a gun for some while. He'd be useless to the Marduks, then. Mind you, you're pretty useless yourself, Orion, if you can't stand the pain enough the fire with that cut in your arm."
Orion glowered at him, annoyed by his egotistical behaviour. "I'll be fine, thank you, Patrick."
Patrick leant back in his chair and glanced at Sam, who was playing cards with Gerra, Spike, and Blade at the end of the table. "Hey, at least you can walk, unlike Sammy over there."
"I can walk," Sam argued irritably.
"Yeah, like an old man," Patrick mused with a chuckle.
Dactyl got up from his seat beside Nusku at the table and began to hobble comically across the floor, causing Nusku and Orion to burst out in laughter.
"Hah, even Dactyl's on my side, man. I've taught him well," Patrick jested, ruffling Dactyl's hair as he came back to the table.
"More like corrupted 'im," quipped Gerra as he laid a card in the middle deck.
"So what about your cheek wound, Blade?" asked Spike. "Do the stitches hurt? What did the doctors say?"
Blade raised hi gaze from his cards to the brown eyes of the boy. "No, surprisingly, they don't hurt one bit. They administered an anaesthetic, so I could feel a thing as they did it. The doctor says that he'll undo the stitches in around a week or two. I'll have a scar, but the wound will be healed. It's nothing to worry about. Nothing like the agony my parents felt several years ago."
"What d'ye mean by that, Blade?" Gerra inquired, suddenly interested.
Blade looked away, smile on his face. "I shouldn't really be telling you. If Sanguine found out you found out, she'd have my head."
"Too late-you've let it spill and now you have to tell us, Blade!" exclaimed Dactyl, hurrying to the teen's side.
"Leave the boy alone, Dactyl," Sam scolded calmly. "If he doesn't want us to know, we shouldn't bother him about it."
"Oh, no, I've no qualms about telling you. In fact, if you really want to know, you've a right to know."
The heads of the seven Marduks turned to Blade, who was still smirking to himself. What he didn't know was that another pair of ears had stopped to listen intently from outside the Marduk lounging room. Brown eyes peered through the crack in the door to see Blade begin his explanation of the incident several years ago.
"It all started like this... I was angry at them because I had received one bad grade on my school report card and they kept rubbing my nose in the dirt for it..."
***
"The jury votes guilty. The Marduks involved in the incident are guilty of the aforementioned crime. Minister Skunk, however, is excused as innocent. Charges shall be pressed against the Marduk participants that are still alive, once discovered. Case closed and court dismissed."
"The Marduks are guilty?" Sanguine voiced absent-mindedly over the shuffle of people anxious to get out of the room.
"Yes, it appears that way," Duke Red answered, apparently as stunned as her.
"Well, Mr Red..."
Duke Red turned to the middle aisle to see Skunk and Draconian standing there. Skunk had a smug grin on as did Draconian. "What do you want? I know it was you that led my Marduks to kill Boon. You were always jealous of him, and Heaven knows you didn't like the omotenium generator plan."
"Ah, ah, ah..." chided Skunk, waving a finger as if scolding a young child. "They have no proof that it was I that led them, and it was you that Boon only pretended to hold in his good graces."
"That's not true-he does honour me."
"In front of your face, but behind your back, it's a whole different story. Trust me-I knew him better than you did."
Draconian cut in. "Weasel's right, Duke. Boon wanted to get rid of you-to deport you and accuse you of an untrue case of treason. Lamp was the one that convinced him to do it. Had Weasel not borrowed the Marduks to get rid of Boon and his confidant, you wouldn't be in the position you would be today. Heck, you wouldn't even be in Metropolis."
"That's it! A confession!" exclaimed Sanguine, leaping forward and pointing an accusing finger at Skunk.
Duke Red swept his hand out to push her back defensively behind him. "Leave this to me, Sanguine."
Draconian's smile widened. "Look, Weasel-Duke can't even control his surrogate daughter. No wonder his original died on him. Wonder if the same'll happen to his son."
"We can only hope," Skunk chuckled, turning and running into a scowling Rock. Skunk drew back slightly in surprise from the incomparable fury on the boy's face before the man's grin returned. "If we're lucky, it'll be soon." With that, he sauntered off with the woman.
Rock clenched his fists and teeth as he watched them leave through the door. He forgot his hatred and turned when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, don't mind them," consoled Devin. "You've made it through things tougher than this, kid. You can do this."
"That's right," agreed Fornax. "Don't give in to them. You have to be strong and ruthless like you always are-that's politics."
Rock's scowl returned at their meagre efforts of consolement. He shrugged Devin's hand away. "I don't need your help."
Rock turned away from the rest of them and there was silence among the five for a while before Duke Red pushed past Devin, Fornax, and Rock standing in the middle of the aisle. Sanguine slipped her cape back on hastily before hurrying after him, the other three men following suite.
***
Once the five had reached the Ziggurat and got inside, Duke Red went straight to the room, practically stomping the whole way. Enmy, who had been quite skittish that afternoon jumped and shuddered when she heard the door slam from upstairs as she was helping Sanguine take off her cape in the main hall.
The other Marduks filed into the main hall through a side entrance, all looking very sullen except for Blade. Nusku, Dactyl, and Spike had their eyes wide open, kept surveying around them and sniffing the air cautiously.
Devin and Fornax glanced oddly at each other on seeing this strange behaviour. Devin stepped forward and narrowed his eyes as he glowered at the unusually quiet Patrick. "Hey, what's with everybody? Did something happen while we were gone?"
"No, nothing happened. Just tell us what happened at the trial. I don't think Mr Red is willing to do so..." Enmy said quietly.
Fornax looked to the other three and sighed before turning to Enmy. "The Marduks were found guilty by the jury. The ones that are still alive and are responsible for the assassinations will be charged once it is proven who they are."
If it was possible, the looks on Patrick and Orion's faces sank even more.
"As long as you obey further instructions and remain loyal to us, we won't report you," Rock assured the two. He then noticed the look in Sam's eye and became suspicious. "There's something wrong. I can tell, so you might as well spill it, Enmy."
Enmy drew back in surprise of accusation which was clearly fake. "What? I don't know anything..."
Rock advanced on her. "I know something happened, and if someone doesn't tell me-"
"Calm down, Rock. There may have been nothing, they're just wary of Duke Red's mood," soothed Sanguine.
"I've known the Marduks longer than you have. Don't tell me how to control them," Rock snapped as he whipped to interrogate the others again.
Sanguine tuned out after that moment, feeling dejection and anger. Without another word, she padded past Rock, Enmy, and the Marduks and up the stairs to her room.
***
Later that night, Rock wandered towards his room and past the hall bathroom. He heard running water, as if from a shower. He stopped in the middle of the hallway and pressed his ear against the door of the bathroom. The shower was on. He glanced shiftily up and down the hall before hurrying to Sanguine's room at the end of it.
He knocked on the closed door and waited a couple of moments. There was no answer. He smiled and rushed back down the corridor and down the stairs into the kitchen.
When he returned to the upstairs corridor, he had a chef's knife in his hand. He placed his hand on the knob of the bathroom door. "This is just perfect. I've done the first part of the job, Father, and now I shall carry out the second."
He turned his wrist to open the door when he heard a voice from behind him.
"What are you doing with that knife, Rock?"
Rock whirled around, hid the knife behind his back and took his hand away from the door to see Blade with a sceptical look on his face.
"I was just...euh..."
"Sanguine's in there, isn't she?"
"...Yeah..."
Blade made to turn away and continue down the hall. "Thought so." He paused and turned back to Rock. "You really want to know why everyone was so sober this afternoon, don't you?"
"It would be nice to know."
"Well, I was talking about Sanguine's and my family. About how I made that murder attempt when I was young. I presume she told you about it already, though?"
Rock shook his head.
"It happened when I was ten, and she was eight. It all started with the report cards we had received that week. As always, Sanguine had got straight A's, but I was a different story. I had failed both math and history. As a result, I hid the card from our parents and lied to them that my teacher had misplaced them and couldn't give them to us until Monday.
"On Sunday, the day before we were to go back to school, I had so much anger and fear welled up in me. I went downstairs into the basement and found the gas pipes. I wrenched them away from the wall and they broke in half, allowing the toxic gases to fill the house. I made to escape from the house by saying I was going out to play so that only the rest of my family would die of the fumes. Once outside, however, my conscience forced me to at least bring Sanguine with me. So, I went back inside and brought her outside with me.
"Around half an hour later, I heard sirens at the end of our street and the authorities, fire trucks, and ambulances rushed up the road to our house. They all went inside and discovered there was as leak and also brought my mother out on a stretcher. My father came to us and hugged us, saying how lucky we were to have been outside at the time of the gas leak. He said that our mother was okay, and that she had just inhaled some of the fumes.
"My murder attempt hadn't worked, but my mother being in a coma for a couple of weeks brought me to my senses. I never tried to kill them again, nor anyone in the family, and for some time my sister believed that I had saved her from death."
Rock stood looking at him silently for a moment. "Wow...That's...sad..."
"That's life," Blade added before walking away.
Rock waited until he was out of sight and earshot before turning back to the door to open it. He was about to turn it when he was interrupted again, but this time by something coming from inside the door. He pressed his ear to the door and heard a voice singing. A familiar tune, yes, but one he hadn't heard in years. He knew the words, and hummed softly with the female voice, sounding just the same as it had those many years ago.
"If this is goodbye, I'm unaware
As sadness hangs amid the air,
But since only dawn saw him depart,
So in confusion is my heart.
"If I could hear your voice once more,
Maybe my wounds would no longer be sore,
I'd fly the lands, my tears would flow,
For without you, I'm all alone.
"On the wind and cross the sea,
You shall come back home to me
Then I will be free to walk
Once again among precious rocks..."
(A/N: If the format isn't correct, forgive me. It's supposed to look like a poem, but FFN doesn't do things like that unless you do the poetry format...)
The last few words of the song were changed, but he definitely knew it. It was the song that his mother used to sing to him when he was young. The last words of the song were, "Once again with my precious Rock."
Rock pulled away from the door and looked at the knife in his hand. He was once again reminded of the fact that he couldn't kill his own blood, as Blade had tried to. Sanguine wasn't his own blood, but she might as well have been with such a spitting image of his mother. He looked up as he heard the door open. He hadn't realised that the shower had stopped.
He blushed and pulled away on seeing Sanguine standing there in a white bathrobe. She scowled at him. "What are you doing here?"
Rock hid the knife behind his back as he had done the other Algethi. "I was passing by."
"With a chef's knife?"
"Yeah, I was going to my room to cut an annoying tag off one of my shirts..." he lied.
"With a chef's knife?" she repeated.
"Yeah...It gives the cleanest cut in my opinion... I stopped outside the bathroom because I heard you singing, and-"
"Oh, I'm sorry... I sound terrible, don't I? My teacher and everyone else I know says I have a beautiful voice, but not in my opinion when I'm trying not to be heard by anyone..."
"No, I have to agree with them. You sound very nice, but I heard you singing a familiar song, and I was wondering how you knew it."
Sanguine looked up absently, as if searching through her memory. "Hm...Good question. I definitely learned it a long time ago. If I'm not mistaken, my brother learned it and then taught it to me..."
"Oh..."
Sanguine began to glower again. "Could you move, now, please? I'm getting cold just standing here after coming out of a warm shower."
Rock looked up and leapt out of the way, holding his hands out to the side as if a waiter for her to pass.
~~~~~
Cute little song I wrote the lyrics for myself. I also came up with the tune, although, of course you can't hear it. Anyway, the next chapter isn't for the faint of heart (nor stomach) and is not suitable for children due to its violent content. Thank you for reading, and have a nice day!
And to Anthy's Worst Fear: I went over your most recent review again, and I've been puzzling over one aspect for quite a while. I checked in the 1531- page dictionary, looked in my mother's medical handbook (which is 788 pages, by the way), I inquired my math teacher (who really should be a disease analyst, but...) and then I asked my grandfather-an excellent (but retired) doctor, and I failed to find the item regarding Duke Red's ailment. So, if you would be so kind as to tell me, WHAT THE HECK IS ASPERGER'S SYNDROME?! (It's not even on my spell checker...)
One more thing to the same reviewer: About your "people" that commented on the lemons...
Person #1: A Duke Red lemon? Are you mad, woman? Sorry, but I've to agree with Anthy on that one.
Person #2: Don't worry, you'll get your gory, violent scenes, soon enough. Next chapter, I think. But if you can't wait that long, go read The Hilanov Prophecy! There's lots of bloody stuff in there. Guns, daggers, and whatnot. I'm getting into the final battle just about now, it's going to be a bloodbath to remember!
Person #3: That's nice.
10. A Hearing Is Believing
"There-Are we all ready to go?" interrogated Duke Red, fiddling with his bow tie. He surveyed the three standing before him, who were all in military uniforms designed specially for the Marduks. Sanguine's had a maroon shawl, navy blue shirt and black skirt underneath which were brown nylons and then she had black high-heels on her feet. The other two, Devin and Fornax, had identical attire of navy blue shirt with golden epaulettes and black pants with red strips down the side and black dress shoes. Each outfit had a navy blue kepi with the red Marduk jewel in the middle.
Duke Red took a closer look at Sanguine and noticed something different. "Sanguine, what is that red mark on the side of your neck?"
Sanguine tugged the right side of her starched turtleneck up further. The hickey-she thought she had made sure to conceal that. "Nothing, sir, just a rash." Hah, what a lie...
"Aren't you missing someone?" questioned Dactyl's young-boyish voice from behind Duke Red.
"Yeah-I thought you said that five of you were attending the hearing," concurred Spike.
Duke Red glanced around at the Marduks, who all had their gaze fixed on him. "I think you're right, Dactyl. Where's Rock?"
"Here, Father," came the reply as Rock hurried down the staircase and towards the rest of the group.
"Rock! You're late! What have you been doing?" ordered Duke red heatedly.
"I am truly sorry, Father."
Duke Red glared at him a moment longer before whipping away and heading for the door. "Make sure it doesn't happen again. Sam!"
The bearded man slapped his arms at his side to stand erectly at attention, even though Duke Red was facing away and retreating from him. "Yes, sir!"
"As rank 05, you know the procedure. You're in charge."
"Yes, sir."
Rock hastened to Sanguine's side, who kept on walking with a solemn scowl on her face. Her hair was tied back in a vertical curl bun, and she seemed not to notice him.
"Lipstick?" Rock whispered, a smile creeping across his face.
"Duke Red's orders. It supposed to make me look important and formal."
"You don't look important no matter what you do to your image," Rock jested, turning his head away and putting on his kepi.
***
"Sanguine, you are to sit up at the front with me, while the rest of you sit at the back behind the jury. You are to stand when told and obey orders as given. Today we shall be testifying against the Nin-agal, for, as you've probably heard, accusation of the homicides of President Boon and Head of the Intelligence Department, Lamp."
"Do they have evidence to convict us, sir?" queried Fornax.
"Only eyewitness accounts and nothing more, from my understanding."
"What will happen if the jury finds you guilty of the crime, Father?" Rock asked.
Duke Red hesitated with his answer, anger of blatancy of the statement surmounting. "I'll go to jail, then, won't I?"
Devin glanced at the expression of Rock's face and continued walking brusquely down the long corridor. "Uh, sir, I think Rock meant more along the lines of what would happen to the Marduks and the Ziggurat, seeing as there would be no one to watch over them."
"Well, I'll have to find someone able to watch over them."
"All rise."
Everybody in the large court room swiftly obeyed the order, keeping their heads down as the judge swept past them and to the head of the room where the wooden desk stood. He assembled his long black robes before sitting down in the chair underneath the Republican flag attached to the wall and taking the gavel in hand. He rapped it against the elevated wooden circle as he vociferated, "You may sit."
He paused to watch everyone do so before beginning to explain. "We are gathered here today to discuss the assassinations of Metropolitan President Judas Boon and his associate, Acetylene Lamp, Chief Officer of the Metropolitan Intelligence Department."
"If only he had been that smart..." Devin mumbled to himself as he rolled his eyes.
"At this hearing, our prosecutor is Suzerain Castor, head of the Nin- agal political party and a candidate in our upcoming presidential election. The defendant is Duke Red, founder of the Marduk political party and also a presidential candidate. We should also be honoured to be in the presence of the three other candidates, currently the Secretary of State, Minister Weasel Skunk, currently the Metropolitan Mayor, Lucifer Ryon, and currently the Metropolitan Vice President, Rose Draconian," he said, motioning to the three sitting behind the prosecutors in the jury.
Skunk wore his regular military uniform that he always wore while Ryon wore his black suit. Draconian wore a blue suit of skirt and jacket underneath which a red sweater was visible. She had the same black high- heels she had worn to the ball while Suzerain Castor wore a black suit similar to Duke Red's.
"And now I would like to begin with the hearing. Prosecutors, if you would like to present your case and evidence?"
"Yes, your honour," Suzerain Castor replied, leaning over to the suited Mintaka on his left. "You're on. Don't blow it," he muttered in the man's ear.
Mintaka nodded before standing up and gathering some papers from the desk in front of him and stepping to the front of the courtroom. "My fellow citizens of the city of Metropolis, I would ask to have your attention for the shocking evidence collected by the Nin-agal team soon after the homicides of President Boon and Chief Officer Lamp..."
Mintaka finished the plaintiff about twenty minutes later, by which time Sanguine was beginning to nod off. She gazed up apathetically at the judge as he ordered for Duke Red's defence. She looked to her left to see Duke Red stand up and begin with, "Your Honour,". She turned her head to the window on her right and watched the snow float down from the pewter grey sky.
Seeing all the snow made her feel slightly cold, but she didn't feel like putting the cape back on that she had taken off before she had sat down. She glanced to her black gloves on the table in front of her, ignoring Duke Red droned strain of words.
Her mind drifted to yesterday evening, thoughts of Rock and what he had said filling her head. She ran her fingers over the mark on her neck slowly as she stared at her chest where the Home pendant was buried under her shirt. She wanted to take it out-to gaze longingly at the picture of the once existent family and wonder if they ever felt the way her family once had.
Brother. That's who Rock looked like-who he behaved like-who he thought like-who he could have been the exact clone of, had it not been for the green eyes. She looked like Rock's mother-behaved like her-thought like her, or so Rock had said. The only difference seemed to be that Melody's hair was a darker brown-almost black. Melody Home had died a violent death- would she meet the same fate? What about Rock and Blade? Were they somehow linked, too? What if Rock had actually felt a hatred for his parents-the way Blade had?
The way Blade had felt hatred for his and Sanguine's parents... How it had led him to a homicidal attempt... He had missed out on his younger sister. Would he try again the same way he had the last time? By-
Sanguine was awoken from her disquieting reveries by a hefty nudge from Duke Red. "What is your story on the incident," he whispered out of the corner of his mouth from his standing position.
Sanguine hastened to stand up. "My story on the incident, Your Honour, is that I had no part in the undertaking of the operation. I was neither the leader, nor a member of the Marduk Party at the time, and therefore I would not have been to command nor influence the members into such a predicament. I can, however call a upon two present members from the time to present their defence."
"That would be suitable," the judge answered.
Sanguine turned around to make eye contact with Rock and Devin, who, with a nod of the head, she motioned to the front. The two stood up from their chairs at the back, Fornax watching them solemnly as they strode down the middle aisle and to the front where Mintaka had stood before.
"I can assure all in this courtroom that I, Rock Red, played no part whatsoever in the assassinations of President Boon and Officer Lamp."
'He used his fake name...' Sanguine thought to herself as she glared at him.
"It is true, and I admit that I was the Marduk commander at the time, but I gave no such order for their violent passages. We among the Marduks believe that a select few of them were chosen by an outsider to assist in the duty. We do not know of the person, as the ones that were chosen have taken the secret to their graves. All we have to say is that not all of us are guilty." Rock finished.
Devin took over. "I, neither, took part in the incident." Devin went out on a precarious limb with his next comment. "Though what I did hear from one of my fellow Marduks was that Minister Skunk led them on the excursion."
A gasp ran through the courtroom and heads whipped towards the man who had been lounging back lazily in his chair up until now. Skunk looked to Draconian, who was sitting beside him and was now shooting him a murderous scowl. Skunk leapt out of his chair and adjusted the medallions on his shirt.
"I can assure you that I did no such thing. Besides, how can you counter the fact that Mintaka saw the Marduks enter the building with his own two eyes? He mentioned nothing of me."
"Witnesses can lie, Minister," Duke Red opposed, now eyeing the man with a contempt Sanguine had never seen before.
"I wouldn't be mouthing just at the moment, Red, as the Marduks are of your responsibility-" retorted Skunk, who was interrupted by the sound of gavel against desk.
"That is quite enough, Minister," the judge ordered. "You may sit down." Skunk obeyed the command as the judge looked to the rest of the courtroom. "Well, it is obvious that we can't punish someone that isn't alive. However, we do have another culprit in our case, now, if we are to believe the words of Mr Halberd. Mintaka, if you may recant the evidence that factors in Mr Weasel."
Mintaka nodded to Augur, who stood up. "Your Honour, the Nin-agal does not have an exact account of Minister Skunk's presence. However, evidence collected does suggest foreign hairs belonging to none of the Marduks, neither present nor former, dead or alive. Therefore, we could assume that they were indeed led by someone other than Rock or Duke Red. Minister Skunk's hairs were definitely detected, but as Minister Skunk had been in Boon's office many times before, it would be unfair to deduce that he was the actual one that had led them."
"Thank you, Augur. If there are no more contradictory or additional statements, I would ask the jury to draw their conclusions."
There was silence among the people of the courtroom, both Duke Red and Minister Skunk shifting uneasily in it. The judge spoke again. "Right, then. Jury, make your assessment based on the information you have received."
***
"Lucky for you you burnt your left hand and not your right," Patrick said, trying to be optimistic.
"Of course, that wouldn't do him any good if he was left-handed, Patrick," retaliated Orion.
"Oh, right. You're not left handed, are you, Nusku?"
Nusku shook his head and pulled his hand away from Patrick's grip. "No, I'm not."
Patrick glanced back to Orion and smirked at him. "See? I told you. Anyway, as I was going to say, if he had burnt his dominant hand, he wouldn't be able to fire a gun for some while. He'd be useless to the Marduks, then. Mind you, you're pretty useless yourself, Orion, if you can't stand the pain enough the fire with that cut in your arm."
Orion glowered at him, annoyed by his egotistical behaviour. "I'll be fine, thank you, Patrick."
Patrick leant back in his chair and glanced at Sam, who was playing cards with Gerra, Spike, and Blade at the end of the table. "Hey, at least you can walk, unlike Sammy over there."
"I can walk," Sam argued irritably.
"Yeah, like an old man," Patrick mused with a chuckle.
Dactyl got up from his seat beside Nusku at the table and began to hobble comically across the floor, causing Nusku and Orion to burst out in laughter.
"Hah, even Dactyl's on my side, man. I've taught him well," Patrick jested, ruffling Dactyl's hair as he came back to the table.
"More like corrupted 'im," quipped Gerra as he laid a card in the middle deck.
"So what about your cheek wound, Blade?" asked Spike. "Do the stitches hurt? What did the doctors say?"
Blade raised hi gaze from his cards to the brown eyes of the boy. "No, surprisingly, they don't hurt one bit. They administered an anaesthetic, so I could feel a thing as they did it. The doctor says that he'll undo the stitches in around a week or two. I'll have a scar, but the wound will be healed. It's nothing to worry about. Nothing like the agony my parents felt several years ago."
"What d'ye mean by that, Blade?" Gerra inquired, suddenly interested.
Blade looked away, smile on his face. "I shouldn't really be telling you. If Sanguine found out you found out, she'd have my head."
"Too late-you've let it spill and now you have to tell us, Blade!" exclaimed Dactyl, hurrying to the teen's side.
"Leave the boy alone, Dactyl," Sam scolded calmly. "If he doesn't want us to know, we shouldn't bother him about it."
"Oh, no, I've no qualms about telling you. In fact, if you really want to know, you've a right to know."
The heads of the seven Marduks turned to Blade, who was still smirking to himself. What he didn't know was that another pair of ears had stopped to listen intently from outside the Marduk lounging room. Brown eyes peered through the crack in the door to see Blade begin his explanation of the incident several years ago.
"It all started like this... I was angry at them because I had received one bad grade on my school report card and they kept rubbing my nose in the dirt for it..."
***
"The jury votes guilty. The Marduks involved in the incident are guilty of the aforementioned crime. Minister Skunk, however, is excused as innocent. Charges shall be pressed against the Marduk participants that are still alive, once discovered. Case closed and court dismissed."
"The Marduks are guilty?" Sanguine voiced absent-mindedly over the shuffle of people anxious to get out of the room.
"Yes, it appears that way," Duke Red answered, apparently as stunned as her.
"Well, Mr Red..."
Duke Red turned to the middle aisle to see Skunk and Draconian standing there. Skunk had a smug grin on as did Draconian. "What do you want? I know it was you that led my Marduks to kill Boon. You were always jealous of him, and Heaven knows you didn't like the omotenium generator plan."
"Ah, ah, ah..." chided Skunk, waving a finger as if scolding a young child. "They have no proof that it was I that led them, and it was you that Boon only pretended to hold in his good graces."
"That's not true-he does honour me."
"In front of your face, but behind your back, it's a whole different story. Trust me-I knew him better than you did."
Draconian cut in. "Weasel's right, Duke. Boon wanted to get rid of you-to deport you and accuse you of an untrue case of treason. Lamp was the one that convinced him to do it. Had Weasel not borrowed the Marduks to get rid of Boon and his confidant, you wouldn't be in the position you would be today. Heck, you wouldn't even be in Metropolis."
"That's it! A confession!" exclaimed Sanguine, leaping forward and pointing an accusing finger at Skunk.
Duke Red swept his hand out to push her back defensively behind him. "Leave this to me, Sanguine."
Draconian's smile widened. "Look, Weasel-Duke can't even control his surrogate daughter. No wonder his original died on him. Wonder if the same'll happen to his son."
"We can only hope," Skunk chuckled, turning and running into a scowling Rock. Skunk drew back slightly in surprise from the incomparable fury on the boy's face before the man's grin returned. "If we're lucky, it'll be soon." With that, he sauntered off with the woman.
Rock clenched his fists and teeth as he watched them leave through the door. He forgot his hatred and turned when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, don't mind them," consoled Devin. "You've made it through things tougher than this, kid. You can do this."
"That's right," agreed Fornax. "Don't give in to them. You have to be strong and ruthless like you always are-that's politics."
Rock's scowl returned at their meagre efforts of consolement. He shrugged Devin's hand away. "I don't need your help."
Rock turned away from the rest of them and there was silence among the five for a while before Duke Red pushed past Devin, Fornax, and Rock standing in the middle of the aisle. Sanguine slipped her cape back on hastily before hurrying after him, the other three men following suite.
***
Once the five had reached the Ziggurat and got inside, Duke Red went straight to the room, practically stomping the whole way. Enmy, who had been quite skittish that afternoon jumped and shuddered when she heard the door slam from upstairs as she was helping Sanguine take off her cape in the main hall.
The other Marduks filed into the main hall through a side entrance, all looking very sullen except for Blade. Nusku, Dactyl, and Spike had their eyes wide open, kept surveying around them and sniffing the air cautiously.
Devin and Fornax glanced oddly at each other on seeing this strange behaviour. Devin stepped forward and narrowed his eyes as he glowered at the unusually quiet Patrick. "Hey, what's with everybody? Did something happen while we were gone?"
"No, nothing happened. Just tell us what happened at the trial. I don't think Mr Red is willing to do so..." Enmy said quietly.
Fornax looked to the other three and sighed before turning to Enmy. "The Marduks were found guilty by the jury. The ones that are still alive and are responsible for the assassinations will be charged once it is proven who they are."
If it was possible, the looks on Patrick and Orion's faces sank even more.
"As long as you obey further instructions and remain loyal to us, we won't report you," Rock assured the two. He then noticed the look in Sam's eye and became suspicious. "There's something wrong. I can tell, so you might as well spill it, Enmy."
Enmy drew back in surprise of accusation which was clearly fake. "What? I don't know anything..."
Rock advanced on her. "I know something happened, and if someone doesn't tell me-"
"Calm down, Rock. There may have been nothing, they're just wary of Duke Red's mood," soothed Sanguine.
"I've known the Marduks longer than you have. Don't tell me how to control them," Rock snapped as he whipped to interrogate the others again.
Sanguine tuned out after that moment, feeling dejection and anger. Without another word, she padded past Rock, Enmy, and the Marduks and up the stairs to her room.
***
Later that night, Rock wandered towards his room and past the hall bathroom. He heard running water, as if from a shower. He stopped in the middle of the hallway and pressed his ear against the door of the bathroom. The shower was on. He glanced shiftily up and down the hall before hurrying to Sanguine's room at the end of it.
He knocked on the closed door and waited a couple of moments. There was no answer. He smiled and rushed back down the corridor and down the stairs into the kitchen.
When he returned to the upstairs corridor, he had a chef's knife in his hand. He placed his hand on the knob of the bathroom door. "This is just perfect. I've done the first part of the job, Father, and now I shall carry out the second."
He turned his wrist to open the door when he heard a voice from behind him.
"What are you doing with that knife, Rock?"
Rock whirled around, hid the knife behind his back and took his hand away from the door to see Blade with a sceptical look on his face.
"I was just...euh..."
"Sanguine's in there, isn't she?"
"...Yeah..."
Blade made to turn away and continue down the hall. "Thought so." He paused and turned back to Rock. "You really want to know why everyone was so sober this afternoon, don't you?"
"It would be nice to know."
"Well, I was talking about Sanguine's and my family. About how I made that murder attempt when I was young. I presume she told you about it already, though?"
Rock shook his head.
"It happened when I was ten, and she was eight. It all started with the report cards we had received that week. As always, Sanguine had got straight A's, but I was a different story. I had failed both math and history. As a result, I hid the card from our parents and lied to them that my teacher had misplaced them and couldn't give them to us until Monday.
"On Sunday, the day before we were to go back to school, I had so much anger and fear welled up in me. I went downstairs into the basement and found the gas pipes. I wrenched them away from the wall and they broke in half, allowing the toxic gases to fill the house. I made to escape from the house by saying I was going out to play so that only the rest of my family would die of the fumes. Once outside, however, my conscience forced me to at least bring Sanguine with me. So, I went back inside and brought her outside with me.
"Around half an hour later, I heard sirens at the end of our street and the authorities, fire trucks, and ambulances rushed up the road to our house. They all went inside and discovered there was as leak and also brought my mother out on a stretcher. My father came to us and hugged us, saying how lucky we were to have been outside at the time of the gas leak. He said that our mother was okay, and that she had just inhaled some of the fumes.
"My murder attempt hadn't worked, but my mother being in a coma for a couple of weeks brought me to my senses. I never tried to kill them again, nor anyone in the family, and for some time my sister believed that I had saved her from death."
Rock stood looking at him silently for a moment. "Wow...That's...sad..."
"That's life," Blade added before walking away.
Rock waited until he was out of sight and earshot before turning back to the door to open it. He was about to turn it when he was interrupted again, but this time by something coming from inside the door. He pressed his ear to the door and heard a voice singing. A familiar tune, yes, but one he hadn't heard in years. He knew the words, and hummed softly with the female voice, sounding just the same as it had those many years ago.
"If this is goodbye, I'm unaware
As sadness hangs amid the air,
But since only dawn saw him depart,
So in confusion is my heart.
"If I could hear your voice once more,
Maybe my wounds would no longer be sore,
I'd fly the lands, my tears would flow,
For without you, I'm all alone.
"On the wind and cross the sea,
You shall come back home to me
Then I will be free to walk
Once again among precious rocks..."
(A/N: If the format isn't correct, forgive me. It's supposed to look like a poem, but FFN doesn't do things like that unless you do the poetry format...)
The last few words of the song were changed, but he definitely knew it. It was the song that his mother used to sing to him when he was young. The last words of the song were, "Once again with my precious Rock."
Rock pulled away from the door and looked at the knife in his hand. He was once again reminded of the fact that he couldn't kill his own blood, as Blade had tried to. Sanguine wasn't his own blood, but she might as well have been with such a spitting image of his mother. He looked up as he heard the door open. He hadn't realised that the shower had stopped.
He blushed and pulled away on seeing Sanguine standing there in a white bathrobe. She scowled at him. "What are you doing here?"
Rock hid the knife behind his back as he had done the other Algethi. "I was passing by."
"With a chef's knife?"
"Yeah, I was going to my room to cut an annoying tag off one of my shirts..." he lied.
"With a chef's knife?" she repeated.
"Yeah...It gives the cleanest cut in my opinion... I stopped outside the bathroom because I heard you singing, and-"
"Oh, I'm sorry... I sound terrible, don't I? My teacher and everyone else I know says I have a beautiful voice, but not in my opinion when I'm trying not to be heard by anyone..."
"No, I have to agree with them. You sound very nice, but I heard you singing a familiar song, and I was wondering how you knew it."
Sanguine looked up absently, as if searching through her memory. "Hm...Good question. I definitely learned it a long time ago. If I'm not mistaken, my brother learned it and then taught it to me..."
"Oh..."
Sanguine began to glower again. "Could you move, now, please? I'm getting cold just standing here after coming out of a warm shower."
Rock looked up and leapt out of the way, holding his hands out to the side as if a waiter for her to pass.
~~~~~
Cute little song I wrote the lyrics for myself. I also came up with the tune, although, of course you can't hear it. Anyway, the next chapter isn't for the faint of heart (nor stomach) and is not suitable for children due to its violent content. Thank you for reading, and have a nice day!