September 15

Courtroom No. 5

12:00 PM

Victoria von Graye

"It seems to me that we've come to learn the truth about what happened the day of the crime," Prosecutor Shield declared, a frown on his face. "The victim was a criminal who was killed when he attempted to somehow hurt his target, one of the witnesses of this case. The culprit, Nevada, arrived on the scene and broke the glass of the display case by throwing her backpack. As the glass shattered, the shelves the trophies were sitting on collapsed, causing a trophy to fall on the victim's head, killing him instantly and offering a chance for the culprit to escape with the victim's target."

"There are still a few things that I don't understand about this case," I confessed with a shake of my head. "Who could have sent the victim after Chrysalis in the first place? We still haven't found any evidence to point to who would have wanted to wish harm upon her or why. There isn't anything that could show who did this, but if you ask me, that's one of the most important aspects of this case."

"The victim was hired to commit a crime, and judging by the fact that he hadn't been caught until his death, he was rather talented in his field," Prosecutor Cruz muttered. "The one who hired him is a criminal as well for asking somebody to deliberately harm an innocent person, and we need to continue investigating this case until we can figure out who the victim's client was."

"At the very least, we were able to uncover the truth behind the victim's death," Lily announced. "It was an accident caused by the victim resorting to violence, and the actions of the culprit were all out of self-defense and a need to escape from the scene of the crime."

Judge Frost nodded, and he turned his gaze down to where Nevada was standing at the witness stand. "You saved someone's life the day of the murder, and you helped us to catch the victim for his crimes in the process," he commented. He didn't say anything further, but it was clear as could be that he was relieved in a way that Nevada had done what she did. I know for sure that I was. I didn't even want to imagine what could have happened if she hadn't appeared to get Chrysalis out of that awful situation.

Nevada sighed and shook her head. "I did what I had to," she muttered bitterly. "Can I go now? I've served my purpose." There was something odd about her, and I frowned as I watched her carefully. Her tone seemed oddly self-loathing and upset, something I never would have expected from Nevada given how confident and self-assured she was at a first glance.

"I think that it's time for a verdict to be declared on this case anyways," Prosecutor Burke said. "We know what happened, and the defendant couldn't have killed the victim. We can go on and release her from the detention center since she's no longer the object of our suspicion."

Nevada shuffled away from the witness stand before taking her place on the witness bench soon afterward. Chrysalis followed her, and she continued to watch Nevada with something nervous blossoming in her eyes. She didn't seem to know how to approach talking to Nevada, so she chose to avoid the subject instead. When Nevada glanced her way, Chrysalis stared down at the ground. They were dancing around each other in their own awkwardness, and I had to admit that it was almost hard to watch.

Mukuro took her place at the witness stand after Nevada and Chrysalis left. There was a smile on her face, and I could tell that she was beyond relieved to have her name cleared at long last. She did her best to hide how giddy she was, but she wasn't doing a splendid job of it. Then again, it wasn't as if any of us could really blame her. This truly was a situation worth celebrating, especially for Mukuro given that she had been the suspect in the first place.

As I watched her gaze up at Judge Frost longingly, something else hit me, and I couldn't help the frown that appeared on my lips. This case still bothered me, and the fact that we never figured out who sent in the anonymous 'tip' about Mukuro sat strangely in my stomach, almost as if it was a rock that I could never hope to dislodge. It still seemed clear to me that the one who declared Mukuro to be suspicious was somehow involved with the legal system given that their words were trusted so enthusiastically, but I didn't know for sure how they tied in with all that had taken place.

I looked over to Lily and Sky to see if they shared my concerns. Sky appeared to be worried, but Lily had a smile on her face. I got the feeling that her grin was the only thing keeping her from completely giving in to the depth of her concern though. After all, a lot had happened during this session of the trial, and the truth had not been easy to unravel. At least it was all finished and could be sealed away for the time being. We would hopefully be able to trust the prosecution to track down the person who had hired the victim to go after Chrysalis in the first place.

Chrysalis was the other problem that I had with this case. I had a sneaking suspicion that I knew exactly why the client in question had sent the victim after her, but I didn't want to believe it. I had learned about Chrysalis' work as Oracle the year before, and the whole of the agency at the time was somehow involved with it. Felicity and Sky were free of the truth because they hadn't yet earned the complete trust of Mr. Morix and Chrysalis, but the rest of us were fully aware of why anyone would want to target Chrysalis.

The idea that somebody had figured out who she was behind the mask was concerning though. It wasn't as if it was easy to simply stumble upon the knowledge that Chrysalis was the one responsible for the Oracle project. In fact, she and Mr. Morix had been going through all sorts of hoops and rings to make sure that nobody found out the truth unless they absolutely had to. Hearing that somebody had figured out on their own terms nearly shattered the agency the year prior due to how important it was to hide what was going on behind closed doors.

I didn't have the slightest idea who the client could have been, but I had an awful feeling about them. Whoever they were, they were intent on causing countless problems for our agency for some reason or another that I doubted I would ever be able to understand. Then again, I suppose I wasn't meant to fully comprehend what they wanted. They were operating out of the shadows for a reason, and staying secret was undoubtedly their top priority to keep from being caught and tried for their crimes of hiring a professional criminal.

"Are there any objections from the defense and prosecution?"

I immediately snapped out of my thoughts upon hearing Judge Frost's voice, and I glanced up at him with transparent eyes until I realized that the trial wasn't yet over. I gave Lily and Sky small looks out of the corner of my eye, and I could tell that they were with me in not having any objections regarding the case.

Lily was the one to verbalize this though, and she shook her head. "The defense has no objections," she announced. I could see Sky's shoulders slump with relief in my peripheral vision, and it was clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was glad all of this was finally about to be over.

"The prosecution doesn't have any objections either," Prosecutor Burke announced, her arms crossed. A dimension of shadow had overtaken her eyes, and I could tell that she was beyond impatient to get the case over with so that she could leave. If I recalled correctly, she was also involved with the Oracle project where the other two on the prosecution were not. It only made sense that she would be the only one antsy to escape the clutches of the courtroom.

"In that case, I will now announce my verdict," Judge Frost announced, reaching for his gavel before raising it. "This court finds the defendant, Mukuro Erikson, not guilty. Court is adjourned!" He hit the gavel against the podium in front of him, and a sigh of relief pushed its way free of my lips. Finally, this case was over. There were still countless questions that we had left to unravel, but this was a start to locking everything away, and I was more than willing to accept it.

September 15

Defendant Lobby No. 5

12:30 PM

Lily Shield

As soon as we got back out into the defendant lobby, I let out a gigantic heave of sigh before sitting down on the couch before anyone could occupy the space. Victoria let out a small laugh at my dramatic actions before Sky took a seat beside me. There weren't many other people in the area, so I was more than comfortable being as over the top as I pleased.

There was a lot for me to think about involving this case. I had seen how anxious Victoria was while we were still in the courtroom, and I couldn't help but cringe at the knowledge that I was positive that I knew what she was thinking about. Chrysalis being the victim's target didn't sit well with me at all. I didn't know who could have wanted to kidnap her, if I was being honest.

Well, that wasn't exactly true. This sort of thing had happened before back when Occisor was still in operation, but they had been out of order for quite some time. Who could have figured out the truth about Chrysalis' identity and then targeted her? I simply didn't know who would have done it since we didn't have any suspects to point the finger at.

Then there was the matter of the one who had pointed out Mukuro as the culprit. We had learned pretty early on that this was far from being true, but it wasn't as if we could reverse the past. The fact remained that someone had tried to pin Mukuro as the one responsible for this crime, and they had managed to evade our grasp. I was hoping that we would be able to figure out who had left the anonymous tip, but the case had presented us with another method of finding the truth that went in an opposite direction.

Detective Umber's odd behavior sat strangely with me too, and I couldn't help but wonder what would have sparked her to act so oddly. It wasn't like her in the slightest to be so hesitant and uncertain about the world at large. Even if I hadn't interacted with her much, I was sure as could be that this was out of the ordinary for her, and I hated it more than I could have ever hoped to describe. I just wanted to know what was going on with this case, and yet, the universe kept on preventing me from reaching the answers that I sought.

There was one thing that this case had told me though, and it happened to be who the culprit was. The one responsible for all of this, Nevada, was leaning against the wall in the defendant lobby when I looked up. Her expression was unreadable, and I couldn't help but wonder what was going through her mind. She hadn't asked for any of this to happen. Everything had spiraled out of control after she threw her backpack with just a bit more force than she was intending. She had prevented Chrysalis from being hurt and helped us to discover the truth behind someone who had been committing grand crimes behind an alias for years, but that didn't exactly take the sting or need for contemplation out of her actions.

Chrysalis walked up to Nevada slowly, and the two girl stared at each other for a long moment, uncertain of what to say to one another. Chrysalis hesitantly reached out towards Nevada, hoping to take her hand, before she retreated and shook her head. Since we were the only ones in the defendant lobby still, I was able to hear her words perfectly even across the room.

"I... Um... Thank you for everything," she muttered. "I still don't remember the full extent of what happened because of how it all went down, but... I want you to know that I'm grateful for everything you did to help me."

Nevada stared at Chrysalis with wide, flabbergasted eyes before she sighed and shook her head. "It just happened this way. None of it matters," she said softly. "I did what I thought was right. I hate injustice more than anything, and I thought that something could have gone wrong if I didn't act. I don't regret what I did."

Chrysalis was quiet for a moment afterwards before she nodded. "Yeah... I understand," she murmured, clearly uncertain of what else could even be said given the circumstances. "If there's anything that I can do to repay you for the kindness you've granted me, all you need to do is say so. I'm in your debt now."

Nevada's gaze shifted into shock once again before she forced herself to look down at the ground. "I'm not asking for you to pay me back. I know that Niamh cares about you, and... Other people that I care about are the same way. I wouldn't want anyone to be upset."

Chrysalis nodded carefully, but she didn't seem to know how to continue the conversation despite her blatant desperation to say something. "I would love to get to know you better in the future, you know," she finally told Nevada. "The last time that you were around this way, we didn't exactly have much time to talk because of how everything unfolded with Cormous and the attempted attack on the Prosecutor's Office. Then you stopped appearing, so..."

Nevada's surprise at Chrysalis' words was too much for her to even begin to hide, and a blush appeared on her face. I could tell that she was shocked that Chrysalis had asked to get to know her better, and it wasn't as if I could blame her. Nevada had endured a rather lonely existence up until that point as far as I could tell, and Chrysalis reaching out was undoubtedly the last thing that she expected. I found it sweet that they were trying to close the awkward distance that had appeared between them. Who would have ever expected such an unlikely pair to interact this way?

"You're a weird kid, you know that?" Nevada questioned of Chrysalis. I was sure that she was aware of the age difference between them, placing Chrysalis as older than her, but she didn't seem to mind in the slightest. She just continued to look down at Chrysalis with a shake of her head. "I don't think that you should want to get so close to me, and yet, here you are. I was responsible for some pretty nasty stuff, you know."

"Nasty as in saving my life and potentially stopping all of the future crimes that this man may or may not have committed?" Chrysalis questioned, raising an eyebrow in confusion. She shook her head and took a step closer to Nevada. "I don't think that's exactly nasty, and if it is, we have very different definitions of the word."

Nevada sighed and looked down at the ground. "I didn't think any of you would want to get close to me," she confessed. "I mean... Look at me. I feel like it should be obvious what had me worried." She shook her head and closed her eyes.

It dawned on me based on the way that she was talking that I knew exactly why she had retreated into herself the way that she had. She had thought that the rest of the world was going to shun her for what she was, so she didn't bother even attempting to make a connection. That certainly explained her lack of activity within the past year.

"If you want my opinion, you've more than earned your right to be with the rest of us," Chrysalis told her. "I know that it's your call at the end of the day, but... If you ever find that you want to spend time with anybody, you know where to find me. I'm sure that there are others who agree with me too, and it shouldn't be that hard to find them."

Nevada let out a sigh and glanced down at the ground once again to deliberately escape Chrysalis' probing eyes. "Yeah," she murmured, though I wasn't entirely sure about what she was responding to. Then again, I suppose that was likely part of the point of it all. I didn't push it on account of them not being aware that I was listening in. It wasn't as if I was eavesdropping since they weren't trying to hide their conversation; they just so happened to be the only other people in the defendant lobby, and they were far from being quiet.

Nevada shook her head a moment later. "I... Uh... I'm going to get Niamh. I bet she's going to be lost as hell when she comes to," she remarked, snorting and rising back to her full height. "She still doesn't know about all of this, though I guess that's kind of the point. We don't want her to be too freaked out by what's going on, yeah? Though I suppose that it's impossible to avoid telling her now. Great. Freakin' beautiful."

Chrysalis looked away from Nevada to keep from embarrassing her, and the other girl closed her eyes slowly in an attempt to distance herself from reality. When her eyes fluttered open once again, there was something far gentler about her, and I could tell that we were seeing Prosecutor Wood for real this time. She rubbed at her eyes and let out a small yawn. "Where in the world am I...?" Prosecutor Wood questioned. When her gaze fell on Chrysalis, she tilted her head to the side. "Chrysalis? Are we at the courthouse? What happened? I could have sworn that we were at the high school... Well, not 'we' exactly, but that's where I was last. I think. I guess not."

"I'll explain it to you a bit more later," Chrysalis told her, an awkward laugh leaving her lips. "How about we go on and head back to your house? There's quite a bit to talk about, if I'm being honest. I'll tell you all that I'm aware of, and there's no reason for you to be completely freaked out about this, but... It's just a lot."

Prosecutor Wood nodded slowly in her direction before walking out of the room. I got the feeling that she hadn't even noticed that I was watching alongside Victoria and Sky. She seemed out of it, so it wasn't as if I could blame her in the slightest. Chrysalis was going to take care of her, I was sure. After a year, perhaps more, of living with Nevada, Prosecutor Wood was going to hear the truth about everything that was going on in her head. This wasn't exactly an optimal way to find out about it, but we couldn't control that, as much as I hated to admit it.

"It's a shame that we couldn't talk to Chrysalis before she left."

I snapped out of my daze upon hearing Sky's voice, and I glanced over in his direction to see that he was staring at the door where Chrysalis and Nevada had just disappeared. "I was hoping that we would be able to hear it from her personally about why she would have been targeted by the victim and his client," Sky continued to say.

I nodded faintly to make it seem as if I agreed, doing what I could to keep him from knowing that I was fully aware of why anyone would want to target Chrysalis. Still, me being aware of why this had happened and liking it were two completely different things. I didn't like the idea that somebody outside of the agency could have found out about Chrysalis' endeavors as Oracle and attempted to take her out of the picture. It wasn't as if anyone else that was working in the Oracle project would have betrayed her and exposed her to any unsafe activity. I simply couldn't see that happening given the small circle that was aware of our actions.

"We just have to trust that everything is being taken care of," Victoria told Sky, a smile on her lips. It almost impressed me how good Victoria, who was normally so anxious and jittery, was at acting when push came to shove. "The prosecution is going to want to investigate this, and I'm sure that a few detectives will get involved with it all as well. After all, they're going to want to prevent any future cases like this one from coming up, and finding out who the victim's client was is the first step to making sure that this incident doesn't repeat."

"We're probably going to hear about it when the victim's client is exposed," I assured Sky. "Since we were so heavily involved with this case, it stands to reason that we would be told the truth as soon as it's brought to light. I wouldn't worry too much. I'm sure that everything is in good hands, and we'll be able to learn about it all as soon as possible."

Chrysalis was undoubtedly going to try and investigate this as soon as she had gotten Prosecutor Wood settled in once again too. It was natural that she would try to get into the thick of how someone had managed to find out about her actions, and it was crucial to the safety of those involved with Oracle that she shut down anyone who had the potential to be a threat to what we were trying to do.

"Hey, you three!"

I glanced up to the doorway upon hearing Mukuro's voice, and I saw that she was waving enthusiastically in our direction. Detective Erikson was standing behind her, his hands shoved into his pockets. There was a smile that I could only describe as being pure relief on his face as he and Mukuro approached us.

"Hey, Mukuro!" I beamed, immediately pulling myself away from all thoughts and concerns regarding Oracle to give her my full attention. "It's nice to see that you're alright. I take it that you went to talk to your father as soon as the trial ended."

Mukuro nodded in response. "Yeah. He was in the prosecution lobby. Speaking of the prosecution, they've agreed that they're going to keep investigating the person who hired the victim to find Chrysalis. They don't know why anyone would have wanted to target her of all people, but Prosecutor Shield suggested that perhaps it's because there are some people who want to try and get close to your agency due to the cases that you've taken on that have been involved with Oracle," she replied.

I nodded slowly, pretending that this idea didn't sit terribly with me. Even if it was a convenient excuse to keep the truth from getting out, I still didn't like it. I would have certainly preferred to not have to deal with anything that could have put the agency in jeopardy, but I supposed that it couldn't have been helped. The instant that the victim's client chose violence, we had no choice but to do what was necessary to keep the victim at bay.

"Thank you for helping Mukuro out of this," Detective Erikson told us, his smile shifting from relief to weariness. "I was working on another case at the time, and it wasn't exactly easy for me to drop everything and focus on helping her out of this bind. I wish that I could have done more, but... It seems to me like everything was taken care of in the end."

"We had it all under control," Victoria assured him with a smile. "We're going to be fine now that Mukuro is freed too. I'm sure that the reasoning behind the victim's actions will come to light soon enough, and then we'll truly be able to lay this case to rest once and for all."

"I take it that Chrysalis already left," Mukuro remarked, glancing around the room before shrugging to herself. "I can't say that I'm surprised. Yuri and James ran into us on our way over here, and they said that they were going to try and catch up with Nevada. I guess that it's still shocking to think about for them. James wasn't aware of it up until this point, so I can only imagine how surprised he was."

"Chrysalis said that she was going to take Prosecutor Wood back home. Nevada retreated once again, but... I think that she's going to be out more frequently from here on out," I told Mukuro. "Chrysalis was able to talk to her, and while I can't be positive quite yet, I think that she was able to get through to Nevada and convince her to stop hiding from the world. Prosecutor Wood is going to have to hear about all of this since there's no way to keep the truth secret, but... I guess that it was bound to come out sooner or later."

"I'll make sure that she stays out of trouble," Detective Erikson assured us. "Mukuro told me about what happened in full, and it certainly seems like this case has more than a few unanswered questions for us to try and find answers for."

"That's putting it lightly," Sky remarked with a nervous chuckle. "I guess that's just how cases like this go. Still, if everyone else has faith that it will work out, I guess that I'm in the same boat."

"For now, we should leave this case behind and try to take a break. I think that we're all deserving of some time off," I told him as a smile spread across my features. "I know that I want to kick my feet up and enjoy myself for a while before the next case shows up."

There was a collection of nods that followed my words, and I forced myself back to my feet. I stretched my arms above my head before allowing my hands to fall back down to my sides. This case had countless unanswered questions still, but I was hoping that we would be able to uncover the truth soon enough. I wasn't sure of who had hired the victim to resort to violence or who had sent in the anonymous incorrect tip about Mukuro being responsible, but I was positive that the answers would come out sooner or later.

For the time being though, we all deserved to take a deep breath and step away from the courtroom as a whole. I could say for sure that I was looking forward to enjoying a bit of peace before things inevitably went horribly wrong once again.

Little did I know, I wouldn't have to wait anywhere near as long as I had been hoping.

September 15

Unknown Location

Unknown Time

Unknown Perspective

She was feeling guilty.

I could see it in the way that she carried herself. She was constantly looking down at the floor, never wanting to make eye contact with others if she could avoid it. She was far more jittery than usual, and I could hardly believe that I was looking upon the face of the person who I had come to know so well over the years.

He was the complete opposite.

He was angry, and I could see it from a mile away. Everything about him was hunched and hidden, as if he was trying to block out the world at large out of fear of what would happen if he dared to let the mask slip for even a second. If anything pushed him too far, he was going to explode, and I didn't want to be around when he inevitably burst and lashed out at whatever was closest.

He hadn't told us anything, though I suppose that he wouldn't have wanted to be open about something so shameful. If it wasn't for our lack of evidence, I was sure that she would have already voiced her suspicions, but as it stood, we didn't have anything that would back up our claims. Something was happening with him behind closed doors, but the rest of the world wasn't going to find out. There was no way of them knowing if we didn't say anything, but we couldn't say anything until we had evidence.

I watched him carefully out of the corner of my gaze. He rose to his feet, and the chair beneath him creaked with an agonizing shriek that seemed to mirror his masked frustration. "I'm going to fix things this time," he muttered under his breath, and the bitterness that seeped into his words made me feel almost nauseous. I was never sensitive to the emotions of others, but there was something about him that was downright sickening all of a sudden. This was not what I had expected when I first started to associate with him.

He had let go of everything that had once been admirable about his history and actions. All that remained was the anger, and I had no idea what the target of his rage was going to be.

TURNABOUT ABDUCTION

END

Update time before I go eat

-Digital