March 29
Defendant Lobby No. 2
12:00 PM
Pieter Fury
I let out a small sigh as soon as we arrived out in the defendant lobby, turning to Chrysalis and Victoria along the way. "I'm glad we were able to get out of that in one piece," I told them, though I could tell by the look on Chrysalis' face that she didn't exactly think that we had been as lucky as it seemed.
"That was a lot harder than I would have liked it to be, but at least we were able to show that Prosecutor Cruz was innocent," Victoria said with a smile. "Now, he can go back to his mother and sister and enjoy their time together. After all, he did make a promise to them."
"And I'm looking forward to being able to keep it."
I glanced up at the sound of Prosecutor Cruz's voice, and he continued to walk towards us with a light smirk on his face. "Thank you again for everything. I appreciate it," he went on. "I'm probably not going to stick around here for all that long, but I want you to know that I'm grateful for all that you did for me. Don't forget that."
"Of course not," Victoria assured him with a smile. "I hope that you have fun with your family after all of this is over. You've certainly earned it given how trying the last few days have been."
"I hope that you're not leaving without saying goodbye to us though."
Deirdre was the next person to speak, and I could see that she had one hand pressed behind her back as she approached Prosecutor Cruz. His eyes went wide at the sight of her, and I could have sworn that I saw his cheeks grow ever so slightly pink. "D-Deirdre... It's nice to see you," he forced himself to say, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Chrysalis let out a heavy sigh. She muttered something about how Deirdre had been lying about 'it' not being a date, and I could only assume the subject in question was the outing on the day of the murder. I had to agree with Chrysalis here even if I knew that Deirdre wasn't going to want to hear it.
Deirdre smiled to Prosecutor Cruz as she continued to come closer, Moira and Hiroko on either side of her. She pulled her hand out from behind her back before handing him a pair of sunglasses, and I couldn't help smiling gently at the sight. "I believe these belong to you," she told him.
Prosecutor Cruz nodded with a beaming grin, and he was more than happy to accept the sunglasses before pressing them onto his face. All of a sudden, he matched the descriptions of him I had been given by Victoria in the past, and I was glad to see him back to his regular self. "Thanks. I wouldn't dream of forgetting about all of you," he said. "In fact, I'm sure that Nikki and my mom would love to have the three of you join us for our dinner outing now that the trial is over. We've all got something to celebrate today, after all."
"I don't know... I wouldn't want to intrude on your family business," Hiroko murmured, and I could see something tense behind her eyes. I could tell that she was thinking about her son and the fact that the two of them couldn't be together anymore, and once again, I was left to wonder just what could have happened to tear their family apart to begin with.
"You're not intruding if I'm asking. You've all been great to me since this started, and I want you there," Prosecutor Cruz assured her. "I should properly introduce you to my folks anyways. I think they've only met Deirdre, but they'd be happy to hear from you. I'm sure of it."
"In that case, I suppose we've got lunch plans," Moira grinned. "I'm looking forward to it. Thank you for the invitation, Prosecutor Cruz."
"Please... You don't need to use any formal titles around me," Prosecutor Cruz told her with a shake of his head. "Just Vito is fine... From all three of you, that is."
"Alright... Vito," Deirdre said, a light smile spreading across her features. Chrysalis gave her a loose glare at that, and I could tell once more that she was thinking about how false it was that Deirdre had claimed they hadn't been going out on dates before this. "Let's set off then."
"We'll see you back at the agency later on then," Victoria told Deirdre with a wink. Deirdre simply shook her head and rolled her eyes playfully, still clearly refusing to acknowledge the implications this situation had. Even if their families were going to be there, it was obviously a date whether she wanted to admit it or not.
"Until then," Deirdre agreed as she waved and turned on her heels to walk away. The other members of her small group trailed after her as well, and I saw Nikki appear with Mrs. Cruz out in the hallway. They spoke briefly before vanishing from view entirely a moment later, and I watched them all the way.
I turned back to Chrysalis and Victoria after the fact, letting out a sigh along the way. "So... What are we going to do now?" I asked of them, though I felt a knot start to tie itself at the core of my stomach at the realization that I was once again alone with Chrysalis and Victoria. With the trial over, that meant that Chrysalis and I were finally going to have to talk... And I already had an awful feeling about how that was going to go.
"We could head back to the agency," Victoria suggested. "I think that we can consider this a victory for the time being, and that means that we should try to decompress. That was a tough trial, and we deserve the chance to relax, though I doubt either one of you really needs a celebratory meal yet." I could tell that she wanted to say something else afterwards, but she bit her tongue and instead glanced over to Chrysalis, silently seeking my sister's approval.
"We may have won the trial, but it was only by chance and mercy," Chrysalis frowned. "We wouldn't have seen success in many other circumstances. That woman... We didn't have anything to actually show that she was the culprit. She simply slipped out of our grasp because she knew that we didn't know anything conclusive that could have shown that she was responsible. No matter how much we knew it, we wouldn't have been able to prove it, and she knew that."
"You think that this was a failure then," I muttered, not that I was particularly surprised. We wouldn't have gotten through that trial under most other circumstances, and I wished that there was something I could do to make her feel better about it even though I knew that simply wasn't going to be happening.
"Not exactly. We showed that Prosecutor Cruz was innocent, and that means we have at least something to be proud of even though we shouldn't count on that happening again," Chrysalis said. "It's just something for us to consider. Our foe was a formidable one, and we should be prepared in case a situation like that crosses our path once more."
"Do you think that's going to happen again?" Victoria questioned, an uncertain frown starting to work its way across her features. "We were able to show who did it, and that has to count for something. I don't want to believe that we're going to get wrapped up in business like that again after today, but..."
"This isn't the only time that we've seen the Emsthorpe assassins recently," Chrysalis countered. "They've been active lately, and that means that we could encounter them once more. I know that we don't have any solid proof, but I feel like she must have been one of the assassins. Ms. Clayton, that is, assuming that's even her real name at all. I doubt it is. She knew that we didn't have the evidence to indict her, and when we tried to rely on testimony, she did her best to dispute that too. She was ready for anything that we could have thrown at her, and that's something that we should prepare for in the future."
"The arrest only happened because Judge Frost also believed that she was the culprit... That's what you're trying to say," I said softly. "If not for that, she would have used her abilities to talk her way out of things to get away with the crime, and we wouldn't have been able to do anything about it."
Chrysalis nodded. "Exactly. I'm sorry to have to burst your bubble this way, but... There's not any other way for me to say it. We could have very easily found ourselves in a disaster during that trial, and it's only thanks to luck that we survived," she went on. "Raelynn Clayton... She was ready for us, and she had something prepared to try and distract or dispute just about any theory she had to offer. She wasn't even above the idea of legal corruption. She thought that the prosecution would side with her no matter what simply because she was testifying against Prosecutor Cruz, and that means that she's got something else up her sleeve."
"She knew a lot about Prosecutor Umber too," Victoria remarked. "I wouldn't have expected her to know anything on the subject of the issue with the previous head of Interpol, much less that Prosecutor Umber was involved, but she didn't miss a beat in bringing that up and trying to drag him through the mud. I would like to think that he's better than that these days, but it concerns me that Ms. Clayton was willing to bring that up for the sole purpose of disputing what he was saying."
"Especially given that she seemed intent on believing that they were on the same side at first," I agreed with a nod. "I don't know what was going through her head, but... I really hope that she's found guilty so that we never have to see her again."
"Yeah... You wouldn't be the only one," Chrysalis murmured. "But there's not much we can do about it right now. We should head back to the agency. As long as we know what to not do for next time, we should be in a better position than we were for this trial. I hope with everything I have that this doesn't repeat itself, but only time is going to be able to tell how it unfolds from here. My best advice is that you both stay on your toes in case we find ourselves in a bad position like that once more."
"But for now, I think we've earned ourselves at least a bit of time to celebrate," Victoria interjected. She must have been able to tell that I was nervous at the mention of assassins plaguing us in the future, and I was glad that she was willing to interfere. Chrysalis was being honest, and I appreciated that, but for the moment, I wanted to believe that we were safe for just a short while longer. My anxiety was awful enough as it was, and I didn't want it to get any worse after all that had happened today.
"You're right," I said as I looked over in Chrysalis' direction. "We've still got a lot ahead of ourselves before we can consider this case closed though, related to the witness or not... And I think the first step involves heading back to the agency."
Chrysalis stared at me for a long moment, and I could tell that she knew what I was getting at. She moved her attention down to the ground again soon afterwards before nodding. "Yeah... I suppose so."
March 29
Morix Law Offices
12:30 PM
Pieter Fury
When we got back to the agency, much of the building was empty. Most of the others were all out on other business, it seemed, and that meant that Victoria, Chrysalis, and I were easily able to make our way up to the common area. Cotoli and Lily, who were still in the building and sitting together, both waved to us as we passed by, but Victoria gave them a small gesture to hold them off from speaking at first. I knew what was coming, and every part of my body twisted with anxiety even before Victoria could speak.
"I think I'm going to talk to the others about how the case went. They're going to want to hear about it," Victoria said once we were alone. "Mr. Morix and Lily are still here even if the others are gone. Until then... I think you two have a lot to talk about."
I watched as Victoria left before turning my attention back to Chrysalis. She was watching me motionlessly, and I could tell that there were a thousand things rushing through her mind that she wasn't yet voicing. I was the first one to break the silence in the end as I sat down on the couch and looked over to her. "So..."
Chrysalis didn't say anything for a long while, instead simply sitting down on the other end of the couch. There was a cushion between us, but I could tell that she didn't want to keep that distance there. She was still afraid, and she didn't know how to bridge that gap quite yet. She remained silent even as I continued around the lump of nerves quickly growing larger in the back of my throat. "How do you feel?" I asked carefully.
Chrysalis stared down at her hands where they rested in her lap. They were covered in black gloves just like always, the unofficial symbol of Oracle among the inner circle of the project. The Oracle project was the reason that she had to wear them to begin with, and I felt a pang of guilt pull at my chest. I should have been there to do more to protect her, but because I wasn't there, all of this had happened. No, that wasn't true; I couldn't have prevented the scope of Oracle even if I tried because there was simply too much at play here, too many pieces on the board.
"I..." she finally started, and I looked to her face carefully. She still refused to meet my gaze. "I don't want to be mad at you."
For a long time, I couldn't find a way to respond to that. Words failed me a thousand times over in the span of ten seconds before I swallowed my anxiety into the pit of my stomach. "What do you mean?" I questioned.
"I don't want to be upset with you. I never did," Chrysalis went on. "I'm glad that you're back. It would be ridiculous of me to imply that I don't want you to be here after all the time I've spent without you. I've spent the last few years chasing your shadow and desperately waiting for you to return. I've wanted you here all along, and I want to be able to fully embrace the fact that you're here again, but... There's something holding me back."
"What is it?" I asked carefully, already not liking what the answer was probably going to be.
"I don't want to be upset with you, but I am," Chrysalis confessed, letting her eyes fall shut. "I've been so desperate for you to come back home and be with all of us for ages, and the fact that you could have done it all along but just chose not to... It stings. No matter how happy I am that you're here, I still feel like it won't be enough. I'm still upset, and I don't know what to do about it."
I looked up at the ceiling for a long moment, not quite sure as to how I was meant to follow that up. "I... I didn't want to leave you," I admitted. I could feel Chrysalis' gaze shift to pierce into me at that, but I didn't let that stop me. "The reason I left was because of Oracle. You were finally going to do something that would fix this broken system, and the last thing I wanted was for people who were after me to go after you by proxy. IF I stuck around and did too much for you, then... Oracle would have been broken, and that's not all."
"Then what else is there?" Chrysalis questioned hesitantly, speaking the words carefully as if she thought they would shatter if she was too harsh.
"I didn't want anything to happen to you, Sora, or Cotoli," I answered simply. "There were a lot of people after me back then. Occisor was still at large after what happened in Sparx Factory, and I couldn't just sit there and act as bait until they came after me again. That would have gotten all of you hurt. Oracle would have fallen apart if that happened, but more importantly... I wouldn't have been able to save my family a second time, and I couldn't let that happen."
Chrysalis started to drift closer to me at that, and I could tell that she was getting desperate to bridge the gap between us once more. "I'm glad that you thought so highly of us," she murmured. "I think I always knew that it had something to do with that, but... After losing Cotoli's mother, it just felt like too much of a blow. You were one of the people who inspired me to start the Oracle project to begin with, and... I didn't want you to be gone. I wanted you to be able to help me, but... I see now that it just wasn't an option at that point, and that's why you went to Germany."
"And that was when Victoria and I meant," I finished for her with a nod. "I hadn't been intending on getting close to anybody. I just knew that I had to get as far away from Occisor as possible until they had been buried, and that meant staying in Germany for longer than I thought. I started to realize that you were onto me though, so..."
"I tried to come, but I was just barely too late," Chrysalis went on with a shake of her head. "That was one of the darkest times for Oracle, but it worked out in the end. Occisor had me in their hands, but everything fell apart when Neptune got involved and rescued me. Of course, all of that was just enough for you to slip out of my reach and escape back here."
"Victoria was looking for a way to get out of Germany. She and her mother had been searching for a reason to leave for ages by that point, and when she heard that you all, an agency involved with such a crucial case, were looking for new employees, she decided to move back. I didn't tell her anything about it, but... Coincidence brought us back, and you just barely missed me when we were getting ready to leave Germany," I told her. "Even after we were back here... I still couldn't believe that Occisor was truly gone. What if they came back somehow? They had managed to rise from the ashes before, and I couldn't take that chance and put the rest of you at risk."
"You were afraid," Chrysalis said bluntly. "You were scared not only of Occisor, but of coming back. No matter how safe it was, you would have still held off resurfacing because you were afraid of how all of us were going to respond."
I hesitated before sighing. "You're right... I was afraid," I murmured. "I always knew that you guys were going to be upset with me for leaving that way, and... I was afraid of facing what you were going to say when I did finally return. I kept forcing myself to stay away, always putting off the inevitable, but... When I heard about the recent attack, I..."
"You had to come back to see how I was," Chrysalis completed, and I nodded as I swallowed around the lump in the back of my throat. She hesitated before shaking her head. "When you did first show up... I was angry. I did want you around, but at the same time, I wanted nothing to do with you. Hearing that you had always been right there, just barely out of my reach, while I was searching everywhere I possibly could... It stung. It stung a lot more than it had any right to."
"But I'm not going anywhere again after this," I assured her, placing one hand over hers. "I know it may not count for much after how long I've been gone, but I'm going to stick around from now on. Occisor is in prison, and there's nothing that will keep me from you and the rest of our family."
Chrysalis let out a small smile at that. "There are a lot more people that are part of this family of ours than you realize," she said. "We've made a lot of great friends over the last few years, and... We've been alright. I'm sure that you'll learn to see them the same way the rest of us do with time."
"I hope so," I smiled back. "But first... I want to finally get to know you in more detail. It's been so long since we were last able to talk like this, and I think it's time we changed all of that."
"I agree," Chrysalis murmured. She paused once more before nodding to herself. "It's still going to take me a while to fully get over all of this, but... I'm glad that you're back, and I'm happy we were able to talk. I'm sorry for doing so much to shut you out."
"You were scared too, weren't you?" I asked before I could stop myself. I immediately regretted the words, but I couldn't bring myself to pull them in the heavy seconds that followed.
Chrysalis hesitated before nodding once more. "Yes... I was. I didn't want you to leave again, and I figured that if you did leave, it would hurt less if I didn't let you in at all," she admitted. "After what happened to Venus and Cassidy... Being betrayed by Cormous two years ago... I don't want to think about people leaving anymore, and if that means putting up a facade, then so be it. I'll just deal with it."
"You won't need to do that anymore," I assured her. "I'm here, and nothing is going to keep me from you after this. I'll be right by your side regardless of what happens next."
Chrysalis let her head fall over onto my shoulder, and I smiled at the gesture. She didn't realize it, but this was something that my blood sister had once done each time we talked this way, and something warm rose in my chest at the memory. "Good... That's exactly where I want you."
March 29
Morix Law Offices
12:45 PM
Victoria von Graye
"And that about sums it up."
In the time since I had left Pieter and Chrysalis to talk out their emotions, I had settled down with Mr. Morix and Lily in another common space of the agency. I had launched into an explanation of the case after we were gathered together, and I was right in assuming that they would want to hear about it. At the time, I had been using it as an excuse to get Chrysalis and Pieter alone so they could finally talk, but as it turns out, I had duties elsewhere at the same time.
"I see..." Mr. Morix murmured. "It sounds to me like this Raelynn Clayton character has been involved with quite a few nefarious acts as of late. She must have been the one behind the murder given the circumstances and her admission to being at the scene of the crime, but..."
"She was still more than ready to counter everything that she was hearing in the name of making it seem like Prosecutor Cruz was the culprit," Lily finished for him. "If you ask me, it sounds a lot like she saw all of this coming, and I really don't want to have to admit that."
"I felt the same way, and Chrysalis was sure that Ms. Clayton had been ready to face everything too," I said with a light nod. "I don't like thinking about it, but... I feel like there's a lot more going on here than we could have ever expected."
"We saw a case recently that involved the Emsthorpe assassins too... It was the death of someone who had seemingly been opposing the group as of late," Mr. Morix remarked. "In this case, somebody who had left behind the group was killed in a time when he clearly was alone. The culprit must have known that... If you ask me, we're going to be seeing a resurgence of actions from the Emsthorpe group in the near future, though I have no conclusive evidence of it."
"I don't think you need any evidence at all to pull the pieces together. It seems obvious as can be to me," Lily sighed. "I don't want to admit that we're going to be facing them in the near future though. I mean... I don't think anybody wants to have to confess to something like that. We've had enough trouble with the Emsthorpe assassins to last a lifetime, and we weren't even dealing with a core member back then."
"Cormous Arme... I never would have thought that his ghost would come back to haunt us, but as long as he was involved with the Emsthorpe ring in life, we're going to have to keep that in mind," Mr. Morix frowned. "We had a brief run-in with the actual leader of the ring too, and that was what caused our agency to temporarily split up. We've since moved past that, but it wouldn't surprise me if there was a bit more to this situation than we could have ever expected."
"We were able to look at Prosecutor Cruz's notes about the Emsthorpe assassins, and it seems to me as if the primary family consists of three daughters, a son, and their father," I said. "I'm not sure of any other details beyond that since they weren't included in the notes, but... Prosecutor Cruz's father did a fine job of trying to learn more about them when he was still alive."
"And it got him killed," Lily murmured. "If you ask me, we should keep these notes hidden for as long as we possibly can. It wouldn't do for us to use them in public and get caught for it."
"Luckily for us, I know the perfect place for us to keep them where nobody will find them," Mr. Morix declared. "I would have to talk to Prosecutor Cruz about letting us hold onto them, but we have an evidence room for this very reason. Nobody would ever think to look in the prison, much less in a hidden room within. We can keep the notes there until the Emsthorpe assassins have been dealt with."
"Assuming we can ever do that at all," I muttered, unable to hold back the snarky comment. "I don't know all that much about the Emsthorpe assassins, but I've been led to believe that they've been doing awful things for a really long time. I mean, the ring is infamous and has garnered such an awful reputation these days that most people are probably too afraid to even entertain the idea of them getting close to them."
"We'll have to be careful from now on... And I think that we're going to have to keep Chrysalis as far away from them as possible," Lily said firmly. "Oracle might be powerful, but that strength needs to be reserved for other places, and the last thing I want is for somebody to get too close to uncovering the truth behind the project. We've had more than enough close calls by this point."
I nodded at that, my mind throwing itself back to the recent case with the former head of Interpol as well as the kidnapping that had taken place before I became a member of the agency. In both cases, somebody figured out the truth behind Oracle and tried to destroy the head of the project then and there, and we couldn't afford to have that happen. Even if Oracle was our best shot at figuring out what was happening with the Emsthorpe ring, we had to be careful here. They had already targeted us once, and we couldn't risk letting that happen again and shattering everything that we had been working towards up to this point.
"We can hold a meeting with everyone involved with the project to say that we're staying as far away from this as possible. When we get together, I'll have Deirdre ask Prosecutor Cruz if we can hold onto his notes for a while longer. He might be hesitant to part with them given how important they were to his father, but it's still more important that we keep others as far from danger as possible," Mr. Morix declared. "Until then, I think that we should try to celebrate this victory. You, Pieter, and Chrysalis have more than earned it, Victoria."
I smiled at that as we went to retrieve Pieter and Chrysalis for this impromptu celebration of ours. We had more than earned it, I agreed, and we needed this distraction now more than ever. There was too much going on for us to keep track of it right now, and I needed a break. We could consider everything else with time. For now, I wanted to breathe and not think about the Emsthorpe assassins for as long as the universe would give me that power.
If only the world liked listening to what I wanted. Unfortunately, I already knew that had never been the case.
THE AVENGED TURNABOUT
END
welcome to the end of family drama the case
-Digital