May 12, 1:23 PM

District Court~ Defendant Lobby No. 9

I can't believe I won...

That was all Iris thought to herself as she looked back at the case. She just couldn't believe what had transpired.

The Judge, the pompous and egotistical prosecutor, the witness that somehow topped the former in those traits, and the overall insanity that she had to go through to clear Ini's name...

She fought tooth and nail for this, channeled all the anger and every other emotion she had to push herself to continue the trial, and after all of that...she managed to win the case.

Iris was glad she won, don't get her wrong...but it still just felt so surreal for her...

"Flower," Diego's voice called out to her. "Why are you looking so glum? You won!"

"I-I know that, Sir..." Iris said. "I'm glad for the victory, it's just...I'm still trying to process it..."

Diego laughed heartily. "Well, you can process it after I take you out to celebrate!"

"C-c-celebrate!?" Iris stuttered.

"Yup, we've got a lot of time after that trial," Diego said, pulling out his credit card from his wallet. "And you're going to use it to buy anything you want. My treat."

"T-that won't be necessary," Iris said. "I appreciate the offer, but-"

Iris and Diego suddenly heard crying coming from somewhere. Curious and concerned, they two followed the sound until they came across a weeping Ini Miney, sitting on the floor and curled up like a caterpillar.

"Ini...?" Iris said, concerned. "What's wrong?"

"Go away..." Ini muttered.

"What?" Iris asked,

"I said GO AWAY!" Ini shouted, causing Iris to stumble back. "HAVEN'T YOU DONE ENOUGH ALREADY!?"

"W-what did I do?!"

"WHAT DID YOU DO?! YOU LOCKED MY BOYFRIEND UP IN JAIL, YOU ROTTEN BITCH!"

"Lock your-he murdered your sister and tried to pin it on you, Ini!" Iris shouted, aghast. "You'd be locked up in a cell if we hadn't done something!"

"H-HE WAS JUST CRACKING UNDER PRESSURE! Y-YOU MADE IT WORSE WHEN YOU TOLD EVERYONE HE-!"

Ini then felt a stinging pain forced onto her cheek. Her eyes widened in surprise at how...unexpected it was.

Iris, on the other hand, had a horrified expression after that and immediately lowered her raised arm. "I-Ini, I am so sorry! I didn't mean for-!"

Iris stopped apologizing when tears suddenly rained down from Ini's cheeks. Her face contorted into a sorrowful expression as she bawled her eyes out and knelt to the floor in despair.

"I-Ini...?" Iris mumbled in worry.

"I-It's...n-not...fair..." she said, her crying almost making it incomprehensible. "S-sis is...gone a-and...Welly...he-he...!"

Ini let out another loud sorrowful wail that made Iris cringe. Poor Ini...she had been through a lot these past few days. Losing her own sister and finding out that the man she loved not only just used her, but was also her sister's killer...it's a wonder that Ini managed to contain all of this baggage until the end of the trial.

Iris opened her mouth, wanting to say something to comfort Ini, but she didn't know what to say. She was about to move toward Ini in some attempt to console her, only for Diego to step forward first, kneel, and rest his hand on Ini's shoulder.

"Just let it all out, Miss," he said, his voice warm and comforting. "Just let it all out..."

And so she did. For a large amount of time, Ini cried and cried out all of the sorrow, grief, and despair that had been inside her since the start of the trial. The wailing went on until Ini eventually exhausted herself, causing her to go silent as her face was wet with tears and her throat hoarse. All she was now was a sniffling wreck.

"Here," Diego handed Ini his handkerchief, to which she gratefully accepted. "Y'know...I had this girl I met once..."

"Huh?" Ini asked, wiping her tears.

"When I met her, I thought: she was the one," he paused for a moment. "An angel..."

He continued. "We did everything together. Ate meals together, went out on marvelous trips...she was the kind of person that made me wake up in the morning."

"Oh...sounds nice..." Ini said, smiling bitterly. It was the ideal relationship after all. The relationship she wished she had.

"And then it turned out she was just dating me for being a lawyer," Diego suddenly stated.

It was absolutely the most perfect-wait, what?

"Being a defense attorney has its troubles, darling," Diego continued. "But it pays well so long as you do your job right. That's the real reason she dated me. And it took someone else-a REAL angel-to get me to see she wasn't worth it..."

Diego frowned, looking back at those memories before turning to Ini. "I can't completely understand what you're going through, Ms. Miney. That lady I dated wasn't exactly like Smellington. But if you want to talk about it..."

He reached into his pocket to hand Ini his business card.

"Just let me know," he said, giving Ini a warm, gentle smile.

Diego then stood up and began to leave with Iris, who looked back to give Ini a concerned look and a reassuring smile.

Ini stared at the two lawyers as they made their way outside the courtroom before turning her gaze at the business card. Turning it around, she saw that it contained Diego's phone number.

If you want to talk about it...just let me know...

"Excuse me, Sir," Iris said to Diego. "When you meant by a real angel, did you mean...?"

Diego nodded before Iris could complete her sentence.

"Oh..." was all Iris could say for the moment. She wanted to press further about it but decided not to. She knew the topic still stung him...

. . .

May 12, 2:10 PM

Cafe Cuppa

"Joe!" Diego shouted as he and Iris went inside the cafe. "Look who's here!"

The old man standing behind the counter turned to Diego and Iris and smiled. "If it isn't my favorite customer!" he laughed heartily.

Iris bowed politely to Joe. "Good afternoon, Mr. Cuppa. Wonderful to see you again."

Joe Cuppa chuckled. "I told you to call me by my first name, Iris. Don't be so professional all the time..."

He then turned to Diego. "So what brings you two back here, eh?"

Diego grinned. "Haven't you heard the news? Flower here won her first trial!"

"I-It's not that big of a deal...!" Iris whispered.

"Not big of a deal?!" Joe replied. "Don't be so modest, girl! It wouldn't kill you to brag just a little. And I take it you two are here to celebrate?"

Diego nodded. "Today's a special occasion, Joe! Bring out the Black Ivory and your finest dishes! Flower here's going to feast like a queen!"

"This is a cafe, Armando, not a five-star restaurant!" Joe said, exasperated. "But I'll see what I can do."

Iris and Diego sat down and began waiting for their meals once Joe went to the kitchen to prepare them. After thirty to forty minutes, he came back with two cups of Black Ivory coffee and an array of dishes that wouldn't look out of place from an upperclassman's party.

Among them included a plate of pasta coated in juicy tomato sauce with mozzarella cheese sprinkled over it, a freshly made salad that was bathed in honey sauce, two well-cooked tenderloin steaks that had an alluring aroma coming out of them, and finally, two cups of freshly made Black Ivory coffee. Diego took one of the cups and gently inhaled the wondrous fragrance of dark coffee.

"Ah...perfection," he whispered with a content smile.

Iris stared at the food nervously. "S-sir, I don't think this is necessary..."

"Nonsense," Diego said. "This is your first win, and we're going to celebrate it."

"Y-yes, but all of this...this is just too much..." Iris said. "I mean...it's just one case and I'll have to deal with other cases in the future and-"

"Flower," Diego interrupted, giving his protege a thoughtful look. "There's nothing wrong with celebrating success once in a while. Moments like these help you unwind. Loosen the strings. Because once more trouble shows up, you'll have the energy to take it to head-on."

Iris paused for a moment, thinking about what her mentor said.

"Besides," he added nonchalantly, "with how stressed and angry you were during that case, I figured you needed this."

Iris blushed in slight embarrassment. "Mr. Welling-"

"Smelling," Diego corrected jokingly.

"...ton was quite the button pusher," Iris said. "I hope Ini will be alright though..."

"I'm sure she'll be fine," Diego assured her. "But there's one thing I have to say about what you did. I'd say you were very...emotive..."

"He was insulting Ini, myself, and pretty much everyone in the courtroom, sir," Iris responded with a scowl. "I couldn't let him get away with it."

"I don't mean just anger, Flower. I meant I saw you nervous, sad, confused. The one thing I noticed the most was that you started to doubt yourself near the end of the trial.

"I won't lie, the next cases that you'll go through won't be easy and you won't even know if your clients are innocent or guilty. All we have to do now at that point is to believe in them. And if you're going to do that, you have to believe in yourself.

"So the next time you get in that courtroom, you keep calm and raise your head high."

"I take it that's one of your rules, right?" Iris said, smirking.

Diego laughed. "Glad to see you're getting it. Anyways, enough with the business talk..."

He grabbed his mug of coffee and raised it. "Cheers!"

Iris smiled gently and raised her mug. "Cheers..."

And so Iris' first trial was a success. At first, she was nervous about the whole ordeal, unsure about everything. But after going through all of it and putting Diego's advice to heart, she knew that things will be alright. And who knows...someday, she might even get to save him...

. . .

May 12, 7:00 PM

General Hospital

"Hey, Kitten..." Diego said softly, entering a hospital room where Mia Fey continued to lie comatose, with the various machines hooked up to her beeping softly.

Diego went silent for a while. It had been years since that incident, and he still couldn't bear to see his precious Kitten like this. To see this beautiful long-haired brunette reduced to a comatose state, her hair chalked white and her body malnourished...

He looked around awkwardly before moving a chair closer to Mia's bed. He then sat down and looked at her with sad eyes.

"How are you doing, Kitten...?"

Beep, beep.

"Flower had her first trial today," he said to the comatose Mia. "You should've seen it. Sure, she was a nervous wreck at the start, but the way she pushed herself to solve that case..."

He gave Mia a sad but kind smile. "It kind of reminds me of you, actually..."

Beep, beep.

"I'm not trying to replace you if that's what you're thinking..." he mumbled, looking a bit embarrassed. She's comatose, yet it seemed so difficult to speak to her. "I just...thought it would be best to help her...especially with that promise of hers..."

Beep, beep.

Diego sighed. "The doctors told me that I should just pull the plug on you now and just...let you rest...but I know you're stronger than that."

Beep, beep.

"I know you're going to pull through this..." he said softly. "And I promise you that when you wake up...I'm taking you to a night at the town..."

Diego hesitated for a brief moment before he leaned forward and gently kissed Mia on the forehead. "...but for now...sweet dreams, Kitten..."

As Diego stood up, he suddenly felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He reached into it, took it out, and saw someone was chatting to him.

Maya: Hey, Diego! How are you?

Diego: Doing fine, Kid. Just visiting Kitten, is all.

There was a brief pause before Maya messaged back.

Maya: Oh...sorry I couldn't come with you. Aunt Morgan's been keeping me busy with my training.

Diego: No worries, I'll tell Kitten your regards.Maya: Thanks :)

Maya: Oh and I almost forgot. It took a lot of convincing, but I managed to get Aunt Morgan to schedule that channeling session for you!

Diego: Ha! I thought that old fart would never let me back in Kurain. Guess she finally got that stick out of her butt.

Maya: DIEGO!:(

Diego: Don't pretend to disagree, Kid.Maya: Yeah, but she's still my aunt...

Maya stopped typing for a moment, before sending a new message.

Maya: Diego...do we really have to do this spirit channeling?

Maya: The news said the police saw her body.Diego: You don't know her as I do, Maya. She'll do anything just to get her way and we have to make sure she's really gone.

Maya: ...Maya: Alright, if you insist. See you in June, Diego :)

Diego: See you, Kid. And thanks for everything.

Once Maya left the chat, Diego let out a great sigh as he went to the photo gallery of his phone and observed the picture of the newspaper he read just a month ago. It read:

MASSIVE FIRE AT PRISON!

Known criminal Dahlia Hawthorne killed in the flames

Killed in the flames...Diego thought, glaring at the image of Dahlia printed in the paper. Yeah right...

"Blacker than a moonless night," he mumbled to himself in a serious tone, "hotter and more bitter than Hell itself...that is you, Dahlia Hawthorne..."

And I know something like a fire couldn't have killed a monster like you...