Fast update? O.o What is this sorcery? Consider it a Valentine's Day gift! AKA A. Fan had a lot of math homework, so she procrastinated it by writing fanfiction.
Whoo! We made it to fifty reviews! Plus, nine whole reviews just on last chapter! Thank you guys so much!
Crowd: Were all the reviews flames?
Me: ...no
Crowd: Huh, guess they were all just lying then.
Me: Hey, don't call my fans liars!
Crowd: Um... that's an oxymoron.
Me: YOU'RE AN OXYMORON!
Anyway...
Mallowmelt: :)
FlowerGirl15: Lol. Thanks! I know- I kind of live for fluff, plus I just like Sophie getting to be a normal teenager. At some point... Lol, and I stopped lying to myself about my feelings for mallowmelt! Come on Sophie, it's not that hard. Foster-Keefe is life- I'm glad you like it! :D
Eva L (Second review): Biana is all of us XD. Yay! Rainbow Iggy! Thank you!
Eva L: (First review) Ikr? Come on Sophie! Glam? Maybe... Diana? Maybe... I'm actually undecided as of right now (I'm a Tiana fan so...) Yes, Chandelier Head can die single. Me too XD. (Second review) Biana is all of us XD. Yay! Rainbow Iggy! Thank you!
FastReaderBadWriter: Thank you! But it actually kinda is. I know it's kind of hard to figure out what to say in a review, but those things kinda make my day, so you can just review, like, a smiley face or "great job!" and I'll be really happy. Thanks for reviewing eventually though! And no, I update whenever the heck I feel like it.
IStillHopeForSophex: Maybe? Platonic Sophex is life, but not romantic Sophex. But yay! Actually, no... But does Biana like Dex? Good question. Either Dex or Tam; I'm undecided.
1) Neither do I. :)
2) Biana is all of us XD.
3) Actually, yeah.
4) Thank you!
I will!
MidnightBunnyy: YES GOOD JOB BIANA!
BigBookBoi: Okay! Um... okay?
A River Of Ink: Maybe? I think it was close. (Indeed! *Joins you in fluffy pile*) Yay! Harry Potter! Yay! Cliffhangers! (No, but we've figured it out. Thanks for asking!) Lol, neither can I. That's the best analogy ever! Farewell! (Your exit is so relatable...) (Almost everything in this response is in parenthesis.)
Enjoy the chapter guys!
Two days passed by. They were that odd combination of "wait, that felt like... five minutes or something! Was that seriously two days?" and "Ugggggghhhhhh. It's been 1:30 for the past two hours." Some parts of the day, like the time she spent staring up at the ceiling as she tried to fall asleep, or the ten minutes she spent watching Dex yell "OPEN SESAME!" at Councillor Not-Her-Mom's cache before she got bored and left to go visit Keefe, seemed to drag on forever. The time she spent baking mallowmelt with Edaline or bingeing the remainder of the Harry Potter movies (because come on, you can't just watch The Sorcerer's Stone and then stop!) seemed to fly by. But no matter how it felt, the day of the tribunal was finally here.
Sophie put on something nice-ish for the semi-formal occasion- a red dress with a fluffy skirt that Biana said looked really pretty, and Keefe agreed (The thought of which brought a warm blush to Sophie's cheeks, but he was probably just teasing her. Or, he zoned out from Biana's fashion-talk as was just pretending he heard the question. More likely). This time, she drew the line at makeup. Vertina tried to offer advice on a new hairstyle, but Sophie ignored her and put her hair in a simple ponytail.
(And phew, I can stop talking about fashion!)
Arriving at tribunal hall reminded her of the last time she came. Keefe had teased her about how often she had been the one on trial... and then, Sophie remembered with perfect clarity (not just because of the photographic memory) her asking if she'd smudged her makeup and him telling her, with a slight catch in his voice, that she looked... perfect. A strange mix of emotions hit her at once. Come on Sophie, you're better than this, she told herself, and continued remembering how Keefe and Ro had made bets on how long the tribunal would take. The two of them certainly made an amusing pair...
...And, she was sad again. Missing the aggravating antics of Keefe and Ro, of all things.
Keefe's absence really had turned her into a complete mess.
"Hey," said a distinctly accented voice behind her. The owner of which would not be happy to know she was thinking about Keefe just now- thankfully, Sophie had confidence that EBWSATBJFWMSLSNS wouldn't bend the rules of telepathy like that.
"Fitz! Hi!" That odd squeak in her voice... cringe.
Fitz opened his mouth to say something else, but before he did another boy came over, one with a striking resemblance to the one on trial. Sophie had rarely seen Jensi's face not smiling, but his face was noticeably empty of one right now.
"Hey," he said, none of his usual enthusiasm in his voice. "Haven't seen you guys in a while."
"Yeah," Sophie agreed awkwardly.
"Anyway, just thought I'd say hi," Jensi continued, equally awkward.
"Um, yeah. Do you want us to sit with you?" Sophie offered. "For, like... moral support?"
"Family only," Jensi responded. "...The rest of the family anyway."
Fitz offered a sympathetic smile, and Sophie remembered that Fitz knew what he was going through. He waved goodbye to Jensi and took Sophie's hand, leading her over to where the rest of their friends were sitting.
He's holding my ha-
SHUT UP.
A few of Sophie's friends greeted her, but before she could respond, an elevated platform holding Jaxx rose up, and a hush fell over the crowd. (It was a very large and heavy hush. Many casualties. May the victims of the crushing hush forever rest in peace.)
"Name." Councilllor Emory demanded.
"Jaxx Babblos."
"Age."
"Twenty-eight years old."
"Ability."
"Phaser." Jaxx let out an annoyed huff.
"Do you understand why we've brought you before us today?"
"Because I'm not an idiot. I chose the winning side, and used my connection to the Black Swan to help us. I don't see why that's such a big deal."
Emery let out a loud and lengthy sigh and closed his eyes for a few seconds. Sophie guessed that the councillors were all thinking something along the lines of Gasp! The nerve!
Finally, he said "Okay. We know you're working with the Neverseen, and we already know that you're guilty. So we don't need to waste a lot of time doing that. Right now, we're working out what your punishment should be. And while we're at it, we are going to be asking a lot of questions about the Neverseen."
Jaxx rolled his eyes.
"First, let's start with what type of punishment you should have." Emery declared.
Sophie poked Dex in the shoulder and whispered "They're starting to run out of options for imprisonment."
"Yeah," Marella, who was next to Dex, agreed. "Like, Fintan's prison? Fail."
"Lumenaria? Epic fail." Dex helpfully contributed.
"Everglen?" Biana sighed. "That one didn't work out so well."
"And Exile seems a bit harsh." Linh finished.
"Exactly."
Their attention returned to Emery and Jaxx, who was now being interrogated about what crimes he committed. Although the Council didn't entirely trust her, Glimmer seemed the best option, so she had been called up to act as witness. Jaxx was explaining how he couldn't risk being found out as a spy, so he didn't actively commit any crimes nor break any laws (beyond just working with both the Nevereen and the Black Swan)- he pretty much just passed information and helped with planning. Glimmer reluctantly informed the Council that he was telling the truth, and Oralie was nodding as well.
"Well," Emery said. "Since it appears to be true that you didn't break many laws, we cannot punish you too harshly." Sophie saw Jaxx's posture relax. "So that means a memory break and Exile are out. Please wait while I further discuss things with the Council."
He closed his eyes and telepathically monitored the discussion/debate for 307 seconds (Sophie counted). Finally, he opened his eyes and announced "We will be placing Jaxx Babblos in the prison formerly occupied by Fintan Pyren."
"With better security, I hope." Sophie blurted. Instantly, she covered her mouth. Sophie had meant to just think it, maybe whisper it to a friend, but not announce it to the Council who she was finally on decent terms with. Thankfully, although many members glared at her, the Council didn't throw her out or anything. Oralie nodded and said "Yes, we're increasing security by hiring goblins as guards, and we will be replacing the walls with special Phasing-proof ones provided by one of our main Technopaths, Sir Akelan."
"Now, onto questions about the Neverseen," Emery announced. "Anyone can ask him. Oralie, please go make sure he answers honestly."
Oralie nodded, got up, and placed her hand on Jaxx's shoulder.
The only new information revealed through his interrogation was that the attack on the goblins was scheduled to be sometime between one month and two months from that day, Vespera was close to learning how to eliminate the effects of guilt in humans, and humans will be fighting in the attack on Glidingham (which they already suspected.)
"Any other questions?" Emery asked.
Dex stood up. "Do you know what happened to the caches- uh, Fintan's cache?" Sophie mentally facepalmed for not having thought of that- their caches were fake, of course they should try to look for the real ones! That goal had just gotten lost in a blizzard of almost deaths and to-do's and other crises to deal with. Everything was getting pretty overwhelming, to be honest with herself.
"As a matter of fact, I do," Jaxx admitted, the look on his face resembling the expression one might have after studying for five hours for a math test. "We gave them to our technopath, Axel."
"And Axel's real name is..." Emery pressed.
"I honestly don't know. I know he works for the council, though."
"We're working on trying to figure that out." Dex added.
"Okay. Anything else?" Silence. "Then that concludes our proceedings. You're dismissed."
The end! I think this chapter is short but... idk.
Oh, and bad. It was pretty bad too.
Anyway, this is probably the last you'll be seeing of Jaxx- but not the last you'll be seeing of Jensi! :)
Please review!