September 1

Courtroom No. 6

1:15 PM

Lily Shield

When we got into the courtroom, I was met with a variety of strange sights. I could see Chief Prosecutor Bespoke alongside Prosecutor Wood. I was halfway tempted to yell at him for making us look everywhere for him despite ending up right back where we started, but I kept my mouth shut. Prosecutor Wood looked just as anxious as ever at his side. I couldn't really help but pity her with how nervous she looked.

The TV was sitting up at the witness stand. I could still smell the blood staining the bottom, even if I couldn't see it. I wanted to get rid of the stench, but I got the feeling it would be important evidence. If it had to do with O's sudden disappearance, I was sure of it.

KJ was messing around with the TV from the back. After pressing a few buttons and flicking a few switches, noisy static was emitted from the device's speaker. I saw Deirdre jump from beside me, but she said nothing. KJ poked at the TV a little more before the noise stopped, making the entire courtroom breathe a collective sigh of relief. Finally, he smacked the palm of his hand against the top of the device.

Not long after, a picture came into focus. Judge Diaphan hadn't even announced that the trial had begun yet, but I got the feeling she hadn't even thought of that. Much like the rest of us, she was infatuated with the TV, a frown painted on her face as we waited for something else to appear on the screen.

It didn't take long for a silhouette to come into focus. It looked like a man, though I couldn't make out any details. I squinted to see if I could pick up on anything, but it seemed to be a lost cause.

A light flickered on somewhere above him a few seconds later. "There we are," he grumbled under his breath. I heard the popping of knuckles as he came into view.

He had dark brown hair cut tight to his face. His eyes were dark as well, looking as if the irises had swallowed his pupils entirely. It was creepy enough to send a shiver running up and down my spine, but I said nothing.

"Who are you?" Chief Prosecutor Bespoke asked intensely. I could see his hands clasped tightly into fists. I couldn't help but wonder where he had disappeared to during the recess, but I knew I wouldn't have the chance to ask such a question for quite some time. There were much more pressing matters at hand after all, so it would have to wait.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" the man scoffed, crossing his arms. I could see he was wearing dark clothing, or at the very least, a black shirt. "I don't know why you'd bother asking. I'm sure you already know exactly where this is going. Anybody with half a brain cell could figure it out."

Deirdre let out a gasp, her hand flying to her mouth. "I recognize him!" she whispered. "He was the culprit back when Yuri was on trial for murder a few months ago! His name was... Ulysses Kyllar, if I recall correctly..."

"You're right!" Yuri exclaimed. "His hair looked way different then though... I guess he dyed it or something... Wait, wasn't one of the points in the trial that the white hair found at the scene didn't have any DNA on it? Like it was a wig?"

Deirdre nodded sternly. "I guess now we're seeing his true face... He was the first to announce himself as a member of Occisor tracking down Oracle... I'm assuming that's why he's surfaced again today," she murmured.

"He escaped after the trial, right?" I asked. "I guess it would make sense... A serial killer part of a group of known murderers wouldn't go down without a fight. I never would have expected to see someone like him back in action though... I was hoping he'd crawl under a rock and never come back out, if you know what I mean."

"I find that to be rather harsh, I'll have you know," the man, Mr. Kyllar, said. "You would be best not to toy around with me, young one. I have much at my disposal to use against you. Anything you say can and will be used against you... Well, not exactly you... Just some people you care about."

Yuri let out a sharp gasp. "I think I get it," she whispered. "The phone call where Chrysalis was with a man. It was him. She was being taken hostage by him at the time. I can't believe this..."

My heart skipped a beat at this revelation. "No way..." I murmured. "This can't be happening."

"It certainly seems like it's happening..." Chief Prosecutor Bespoke muttered with a shake of his head. His hands were clasped into even tighter fists than before. His knuckles looked ready to split open under the pressure. "What do you want from us? You must have some reason for contacting us out of the blue like this. I wouldn't have expected anything else from murderers like you."

"Calm your enmity, Chief Prosecutor Bespoke. You know what's at stake here, don't you? Two years ago, you were at our mercy, and now is no different," Mr. Kyllar told him with a shake of his head. "I ask that you simply close this case once and for all. We have achieved our mission. This case doesn't need to go on any longer. In fact, it would be in your best interest if we ended things now."

"I'll never understand you," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke remarked. "How about you stop speaking in riddles and get to the point?"

"Certainly." The man stepped aside to show a young woman trapped on a chair. Ropes bound her arms and legs. Blood stained her hair, which was no longer the pristine white I had once known it to be. Her eyes were halfway open in exhaustion. She looked about ready to pass out at any moment.

My eyes went wide. "O," I murmured. "That's O! That's why we couldn't find her!"

"What do you want with an Interpol agent testifying about a murder trial?" Judge Diaphan asked. "Is this a confession of your guilt, taking her hostage this way?"

Mr. Kyllar chuckled and shrugged. "Take it however you like. There is one fact of which we are sure though. This girl here has plotted the downfall of Occisor for many years now. It is her fault we are in this situation to begin with. We needed the papers belonging to Y as soon as possible, and now that we have them... We know who Oracle is perfectly, and I'm sure even you simpletons are able to put the pieces together at this point. It's simple."

I felt my jaw drop. "O is Oracle?!" I shouted. I felt a shiver run up my spine. I couldn't believe it... But at the same time, it made too much sense to deny. This would explain why Y stopped talking to O a few weeks before the crime. She knew O was Oracle, but she couldn't reveal the truth to the world yet, so she went silent and stopped talking to O as a way of avoiding danger. O didn't tell us the reasoning behind their sudden dispute because she knew it would put herself at risk. She knew what happened all along.

"O is what she's going by now, hm?" asked Mr. Kyllar with a shake of his head. "There are many names for her, I see... Granted, I knew this to begin with. Estelle Burns, O, Sakura Rai, Oracle... What a peculiar young woman you are. I don't know if I'll ever really understand you regardless of how much time we may spend together until your untimely demise. I somehow doubt you'd be willing to talk to us after we took you so suddenly."

"Us?" I echoed. "Are the others there with you?"

Mr. Kyllar nodded. He stepped out of the view of the camera to show a few others. There were two other men and two women. I recognized most of them pretty easily. Tammy Ghunshotte, Masa Stabbin, a man who I assumed was Colin Asasm, and one other woman were simple to tell apart. I frowned at the last woman. Had she not made her public appearance yet or something?

"You all like to think you know us, but you couldn't be further from the truth," Detective Ghunshotte laughed. I didn't even know if that was her real name given the way Occisor functioned, but I didn't have any other name to call them by, so I was going with what I knew for the time being. It would be easier for me that way.

"I know most of the people in your midst, but I don't think I've met the redheaded woman at your side yet," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke remarked. "Who might she be?"

I focused on the woman now that she had been brought up. She was wearing what appeared to be an Interpol shirt, and a nice one at that. Her pants were skin tight jeans covering every inch of her legs. She had black ankle boots on as well. Her hair was red and long, reaching all the way down to her waist. She had green eyes with the intensity of seven suns. She crossed her arms upon being addressed. Her gaze was terrifying when it locked with all of us. "Alexandra Murdayre," the woman remarked simply. "That's the name I would have used had anybody seen me at Interpol. Of course, since nobody asked any questions, I didn't need to speak a word of who I really was to anyone."

"It seems she was the one who killed Y," Deirdre murmured. "I had my suspicions a moment ago, but this confirms it. She has a similar enough figure to Y to pass of as her if disguised at the time."

"In other words, we could easily end this trial right now," Judge Diaphan said, raising her gavel. "Give me one reason I shouldn't call this a confession and declare the defendant not guilty."

"They have a hostage, Your Honor. For the sake of her life, we can't be too hasty in our decision to end the trial," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke reminded her. "It could cost her everything, could it not?"

Judge Diaphan paused to consider his words. She switched the gavel back and forth between her hands. "I believe the needs of the defendant are crucial here," she remarked. "A not guilty verdict would be necessary for him to be freed. They confessed. We should take that confession and use it."

"But we can't catch them from here. They're off somewhere else. What's the point in declaring them guilty if we can't even see them fulfill their sentences? We need to stop and think about what all of this will mean for the future of this case," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke argued. "We can't let the hostage just die like this. It would be incredibly cruel."

"The hostage," came the snort of Mr. Asasm. He shook his head and closed his eyes, pressing one hand to his forehead. "You all are very stupid, you know that? We don't just have one hostage here. We have Oracle, sure, but she isn't alone. We have about twelve others all held somewhere else in our hideout. All of them will die if you choose to defy us here. I highly doubt you want that, so it would be best for you to go along and comply to our demands. It's the best for you and the hostages."

"I bet Chrysalis is being held with them too," Yuri hissed. "They knew they could use her against us and force us to back off the case... Plus, the voice we heard on the phone is sounding a lot more familiar now that we're hearing more. It was hard to hear earlier because of the static and such, but it's loud and clear now."

"Mr. Morix doesn't even know she's being held by them. This would be horrible way to find out..." I whispered with a shake of my head. "We can't take that risk. What do you want us to do?"

"We want you to break for investigation as soon as this call ends," said Ms. Murdayre, tapping her fingers against her arm mindlessly. "After we're finished here, you will have one day to ponder your decision. You can declare the defendant guilty, which would result in the release of all the hostages. You can declare the defendant not guilty and be forced to feel the burden of a dozen deaths on your shoulders. The choice is ultimately yours. It matters not to us. We have our quarry either way."

"So, you aren't going to release Oracle, even if we say the defendant is guilty," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke frowned.

"Why would we? She's been nothing but a thorn in our side for far too long. We can very easily get her out of the way now. We have no reason to release her. Besides, she'll only face conviction if we let her go. That's too light a punishment for standing up against Occisor," Mr. Asasm smirked. "I'll leave it up to you. You can ponder it for quite some time. That's the point of the one-day grace period."

"Who exactly do you have with you?" asked Prosecutor Wood. I could see her shaking. She looked ready to just collapse into Chief Prosecutor Bespoke's arms. And here I thought she couldn't get even more anxious, but I was very easily proven wrong, it seems...

"That's a good question," Deirdre agreed. "You haven't mentioned a thing about who you have with you. Would you be willing to give us any names?"

Mr. Kyllar turned the camera to face O once again. She was struggling against her bonds to no avail. She was looking weaker than before, which was saying a lot given how exhausted she looked already. Upon noticing she was on camera once again, she glanced up in fear. I felt a shiver go up my spine. I hadn't ever seen such a primal horror in anyone's eyes before, and it was terrifying.

"You can leave it to the imagination," Mr. Kyllar shrugged. "Telling you who the hostages are would ruin the fun, wouldn't it? I can't let that happen. I need to make this as thrilling as possible, you see. We don't get to have much fun anymore, only getting one shining moment every few months... I might as well take advantage of it."

It was all I could do to hold back a comment about him being a monster. I knew that would only anger him further. I clenched my fists tightly, even if I knew it wasn't going to help at all. I could only hope it would relieve my stress, even if only slightly.

"Is that all you wanted to do? You just wanted to brag you had hostages?" Chief Prosecutor Bespoke asked, glaring daggers at the TV.

Detective Ghunshotte shook her head. "As a matter of fact, no. We also came on here to make a certain someone confess to her crimes," she explained. She turned to face O, pulling out a small knife from inside her jacket pocket. My eyes went wide upon seeing it, but I wasn't the only one who was surprised.

I glanced across the courtroom to see Prosecutor Wood staring at the knife in complete shock. She began to shake like a leaf before falling over sideways, unconscious immediately. Chief Prosecutor Bespoke let out a gasp before catching her. He gently set her on the ground, a protective sheen in his eyes. I got the feeling that if he could, he would have jumped through the TV screen to fight Detective Ghunshotte right then and there.

I looked back to the TV a few seconds later. Detective Ghunshotte pointed the knife at O's throat, making her gulp nervously. "Who are you, young lady?" she asked sternly. "I want the truth this time. I want a confession. Are you the Oracle of the Law?"

O didn't look away from the knife when she spoke next. "Y-Yes..." she said softly.

"I can't hear you," Detective Ghunshotte told her with a frown, moving the knife a bit closer. "Louder this time."

"Yes!" O shouted, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. "I am Oracle!"

"That's what I wanted to hear," smirked Detective Ghunshotte. She took the knife back and tucked it away. "I'm glad to see you understand your situation here. If you're nice and avoid causing us trouble, maybe we'll let you say your goodbyes. It all depends on the way you act."

"I-I understand," came the soft and fearful whisper of O. I could see tears streaming silently down her face now. My heart was ready to break at seeing how horrified she was. I didn't know how much more of this I could stand to watch...

"I believe that's all we wanted to say," came the voice of Mr. Asasm. "You know now what must be done. We expect your decision in a day. We'll contact you again using this TV at ten AM tomorrow when the second session of the trial is set to begin. We expect to hear your choice then. If not, we may just decide to execute the hostages regardless."

"We'll be seeing you later," Ms. Murdayre remarked, a small smirk playing at her lips. She walked closer to the camera recording her actions and raised one hand to it. A few seconds later, the screen of the TV reverted back to showing nothing but static. The noise was unpleasant, but my hands didn't go to my ears to stifle it. I was too distracted by my own thoughts to even think of doing that.

"I'll be ending the trial right here for now," declared Judge Diaphan. "Clearly it's time for us to stop this trial so we can think about what has just happened. It seems a considerable amount of thought must be put into a situation as delicate as this one. Are there any objections to breaking for our second period of investigation?"

Nobody from either side of the room spoke up. I saw Chief Prosecutor Bespoke lean down to pick up Prosecutor Wood. She was still out cold, her face pale. I figured the knife had scared her so much she passed out, but I couldn't say for sure without asking, not that I was going to. That was undoubtedly considered rude, and besides, we had many other things on our plate already, so that could wait.

"Is she going to be okay?" Yuri asked upon noticing Prosecutor Wood.

Chief Prosecutor Bespoke nodded. "Of course. This happens sometimes. She's got a phobia of knives and other sharp objects. They make her pass out as soon as she lays eyes on them. The knife being pulled out by those assassins just triggered her fear is all. I'll take her home and make her rest until she's feeling better," he explained.

"I guess that would explain why she wasn't ever investigating the body during the case at the carnival," I heard Deirdre whisper. "A prosecutor falling unconscious upon seeing the body would be less than ideal, that's for sure..."

"If there are no objections to ending the trial here, I'm going to adjourn court. There's a lot to consider before tomorrow's sessions. Bailiffs, I'd like you to tell the local police department to help with identifying the hostages. I believe it will be vital to the case at hand to figure out who they are," Judge Diaphan declared.

KJ, who was still standing beside the TV, nodded in response. "I can have Detective Wattson get on the case. She's been back at Interpol's headquarters all day, but I'm sure she'd be happy to help us out in figuring out who they've taken captive," he told her.

Judge Diaphan closed her eyes as she picked up her gavel. "Good. The defense and prosecution are to think about what they would like to do regarding this case, though Chief Prosecutor Bespoke will ultimately have the final say on what is done. Be sure to discuss it before we come back here for tomorrow's session," she instructed. "If any other information can be gathered, please bring it back tomorrow as well. With that being said, court is adjourned."

Judge Diaphan slammed the gavel onto the podium before her with a shocking amount of authority. I could tell by that simple action she was stressed about this situation, not that I could really blame her. I didn't know what we were supposed to do now either, but I would have to figure it out sooner or later. O and Chryalis' lives depended on it.

September 1

Defendant Lobby No. 6

1:45 PM

Deirdre Brigit

We were silent until we got out into the defendant lobby. Yuri was the first one to speak. "I don't know what we're going to do," she admitted. "I mean, our witness being taken hostage is bad enough as it is, but we're also being forced to factor in a dozen hostages, one of whom is..."

"We need to tell Mr. Morix about this. He has to hear about this. I mean, they didn't say who any of the hostages were, so we're the only way he'll be able to find out," Lily pointed out. "I don't know where he is, but we need to find him for now."

"It might be best if you leave him be for now."

I was surprised to see Ms. Mercure standing behind us alongside a boy who seemed to be about her age. Her arms were crossed as she looked at us.

The boy didn't say anything, just watching with hardened eyes. He had tamed blonde hair that greatly contrasted with his brown eyes. He had black glasses on as well. He had a white shirt on under a black jumper sweater with black trousers and shoes. Judging by his presence here, he seemed to know Neptune pretty well.

"Ms. Mercure! What are you doing here?" asked Yuri. "I didn't realize you were here watching this trial. I never would have expected them to let you in."

"I was able to get clearance from a friend of mine," Ms. Mercure said bluntly. I got the feeling she was talking about the friend at her side, though I couldn't say that for sure without any proof. "Anyways, you should probably leave him be for the time being. You should head back to Interpol headquarters to look around some more. Aren't you supposed to talk to D about what she saw the day of the crime?"

"I suppose we are," I nodded. "We'll need to talk to him eventually though. Maybe we can head back after we've finished things up there."

"Just remember a few things when you do go to see him. Remember what he should and should not know about this case. It will end up being important in the long run," Ms. Mercure told us. "Some information belongs to you and you alone, so others shouldn't know the truth. That being said, remember things kept between the three of you when you speak to him. The truth awaits you by day's end."

I saw Lily blink in confusion. "What do you mean? What truth? What should he not know about?" she asked. "Can you speak clearly to us for a second?"

"I don't have time to spell it out to you. I have some business to attend to at the moment," Ms. Mercure replied. "Let's get going, X. She's waiting for us."

I was too perplexed by the conversation that had just taken place to chase after her when she left the room. I looked to Lily and Yuri in pure confusion, but they didn't have any explanations for it either. Yuri shook her head while Lily shrugged.

"Any ideas what that was about?" I finally managed to ask.

"If I did, I wouldn't be looking at her like she suddenly sprouted wings and horns," Yuri grumbled with a shake of her head. "I suppose she does have a point though. We can't be lingering around here for too long. Interpol is waiting for us to go and check out what's happening."

"Can we talk for a moment?"

Chief Prosecutor Bespoke appeared before us, his hands shoved roughly into his pockets. He was also accompanied by someone, though she wasn't unknown to all of us. She was carrying the limp Prosecutor Wood in her arms.

"Prosecutor Lin!" exclaimed Lily. "Were you in the gallery watching the trial?"

"Yep," the woman nodded. "Ghastly here let me in. I didn't think I was going to be doing much of anything, but I guess I'm going to be important to this case after all. Ghastly needs to go back to Interpol to investigate more like you guys do, so I'm going to take Niamh home and make sure she rests up for tomorrow. She can't investigate if she's unconscious, you know?"

"I guess you have a point there," Yuri agreed with a shrug. "What did you guys think about this case? If you ask me, it's just gotten infinitely messier, and I am not a fan of it at all."

"We need to make sure O and the other hostages remain safe," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke said. "Oracle's been exposed to the world once again, which is already a recipe for disaster. We need to make sure she gets out of this alive though. The other hostages are important too. We can't just give up like that. There has to be another solution we can find. I'm not going to let them win so easily. If Occisor thinks they can get away with everything so simply, they've got another thing coming."

"How are we supposed to worm our ways out of this one though? I mean, they've got a dozen people held captive. If we don't comply to their demands, all of them will die. Plus, even if we declare M guilty, they could go on and kill the prisoners anyways. Either way, it seems like we'll be losing this battle," Lily muttered. "This is all so risky."

"We're going to get out of this. Nobody else will die. That much I can promise you," Chief Prosecutor Bespoke insisted. "Don't worry a bit. I'll make sure we get out of this without any issues."

"You're pretty confident," Lily commented. "I wish I could be like that. All that's running through my head are the many gruesome ways people could end up being killed..."

"What do you know about O? Did you have any idea she was going to end up being exposed as Oracle?" I asked.

Chief Prosecutor Bespoke shook his head. Prosecutor Lin did the same. "I didn't expect it at all," he said. "I thought she was just a regular Interpol agent up until they said otherwise."

I could tell he was lying, but I bit my tongue. Upon looking over at Lily, I saw she was staring at them with harsh and interrogative eyes. I assumed she was seeing more of those Locks she had mentioned before when we were talking about Mr. Morix being involved with Oracle. Regardless, I knew for sure he was lying. He had likely known exactly who O really was even before this case started. It would make sense since he was in the picture of likely accomplices of Oracle.

"I see," I nodded, not allowing anything to slip through my façade of innocence. "Well, thank you for talking to us, even if it wasn't for very long. I suppose we'll be seeing you down at the crime scene a little later on."

Chief Prosecutor Bespoke nodded and headed towards the door, Prosecutor Lin following after him. I waited until they had completely disappeared from sight before speaking to my companions. "He was lying about not knowing the truth about O. He knew it all along, probably even before the case began."

"I must agree. I believe he had the truth in his head ages ago," Yuri affirmed. "Of course, it isn't like we have any proof. At this point, all we have at our disposal are theories, and those aren't exactly going to help us solve the perplexing case behind his knowledge."

"I guess his knowledge ties into what Ms. Mercure said earlier, even if she wasn't talking about Chief Prosecutor Bespoke. He shouldn't have known about Oracle, and yet, he still did. That has to be important," I went on.

"He had five Psyche-Locks," Lily cut in. "He certainly knew the truth, and it's one of his best-kept secrets. He isn't going to be revealing it to anyone unless we can force it out of him."

"He's definitely one of Oracle's accomplices then," I nodded.

"Prosecutor Lin may not have said anything, but her actions claimed she didn't know who O was. Psyche-Locks showed up on her too. The picture theory is even more plausible now," Lily went on. "Mr. Morix, Prosecutor Lin, and Chief Prosecutor Bespoke all have Psyche-Locks about Oracle. Venus and Cassidy were involved. Pieter Fury is gone, so we can't really factor in him since he's missing. Prosecutor Burke must know something as well. I'm sure Chrysalis does too."

"That means Prosecutor Burke could be Oracle," Yuri pointed out. "Wait... No, she was at the trial for Venus' murder as herself, so she couldn't have been Ms. Willows. Chrysalis is being held captive and hates Oracle, so that seems to be out of the picture too... But that's everyone. All of them have evidence against their being Oracle. What do we do now?"

"I don't know," I murmured bluntly. "I don't know."

So happy I got a snow day today so I could update a bunch of stuff

-Digital