The Lawyer

(Day 40: Thursday Afternoon)

When Ben walks Mal up to the front doors he comments, "Just be honest, and there shouldn't be any issues." before he escorts her through the front doors of his castle. Immediately, she notices Ben's parents sitting with a dark-brown haired man in the sitting area, as they look at her and she's guided towards them. The man stands, and Ben points his arm out towards him, "Mal. This is our lawyer, Mr. Droit." before he places his arm around Mal and gestures to her. "Mr. Droit, this is my girlfriend Mal."

The blue eyed man takes a few steps forward and smiles as he outstretches his hand, "It's nice to meet you."

Mal glances at the hand unsurely and doesn't take it; however, when she looks back up at him she manages a slight smile, "It's nice to meet you too."

Ben sees the lawyer's smile falter and turns towards his girlfriend, "Mal. It's okay. You can shake his hand." She looks at him but stays silent. "Please. It's customary." Mal shuts her eyes for a second as she nods, before she shakes the lawyer's hand once and quickly pulls away. "I'm sorry." Ben explains, "Since the whole incident she's been reluctant to touch anyone." He eyes the floor for a moment, "Even me."

Mr. Droit nods, "It's okay. I understand." before he returns his attention to Mal. "Why don't we sit down, so I can ask you some questions?" Mal merely nods with a tense smile, and soon enough they sit down around the circular, white stone table. "I understand you don't remember much from the incident. Is that correct?"

"Yes," Mal answers as she eyes the dark red rug. "Up until I talked with the headmistress in her office I only remembered enough to think I talked with Audrey… filled in the blanks."

"How often do you fill in these blanks?" he questions.

Mal shakes her head, "No one would really know, would they. It just happens." and it takes a moment for her to think it over. "I don't think it happens often. Usually when I'm like that I'm still left with a feeling after I start to feel better. There's usually images linked with that feeling." She pauses as she remembers those times with Evie back on the Isle. "This time, though… I don't know. Maybe I was too tired or stressed to be left with any significant feelings of what happened that night."

"Which would only leave you with the images," Mr. Droit dissects.

Mal looks down for a second, "If I had a feeling to go along with the little pieces I do remember, then I probably could have known what I did… but I don't."

"Unfortunately," the lawyer states, "the case is going to be more focused on the act itself. What will matter is the state of mind you had during the incident, whether it was purposeful at the time, not your current memory of it; although, saying you regret it may help your case."

Mal looks at him sadly, "In the video I said I wanted to do it. How could anyone believe I regret it happening?"

"A crime of passion," he answers. "People find themselves doing things impulsively all the time, only for them to regret it later."

Ben huffs, "That just makes it sound like she attacked Audrey for being my ex."

"Which is something the jury may consider at first," Mr. Droit comments. "I saw the video myself, and in it Mal does appear quite vengeful."

"Yeah," Ben defends, "because her heat source became limited as a direct result of the event Audrey was hosting."

"Or maybe your girlfriend needed an excuse to go after your ex," the lawyer debates before turning to Mal. "I'm not saying you did, but unless we give them a reason to believe otherwise the jury may very well think these things."

When Mal and Ben give the lawyer a look of disbelief Adam comments, "He's right." and then they turn to him. "Mal… You're a hybrid and the jury is just going to be a panel of humans. They already have a reason to fear you."

"Because of my genetics?" Mal painfully grins. "How is that fair?"

"It's not," Adam lowers his head and takes an irritable breath. "I'm sorry. It's just the way things are."

"It also means," the lawyer informs, "that if Mal is charged, then when they put her away they will probably keep her away from the other inmates. In fact, they would want to keep her away from all people in general."

"Even visitors?" Ben questions.

"Especially visitors," he seriously replies.

Ben shakes his head, "No. She needs to be able to get heat. She won't survive that."

"Which is why we have no choice but to plead not guilty at the initial hearing on Tuesday and to do everything we can to make sure she doesn't get a prison sentence at all."

He sadly laughs, "And how are we supposed to do that, exactly?"

Mr. Droit turns to Mal, "The Isle of the Lost was a very different place, wasn't it?"

"Very," Mal smiles.

"Would you say that the laws they had there, the things you experienced, and the things you were taught there are very different from what you've known here?" he inquires.

"I mean, yeah. Of course."

He smiles, "Tell me, what kind of laws do they have on the island?"

"Well." Mal hesitates, "We didn't really have laws. There's things there that are frowned upon, unspoken rules to be followed, but none of it was written down or really punished for."

He nods, "I'm going to give you some words that I want you to define, and I want you to define them as you knew them at the time of the incident."

Mal nods, "Okay."

"Tell me, what is the definition of assault?"

Mal looks down at the table and sees the drinks that lie before him and Ben's parents, "On the Isle that word wasn't really seen as bad. It was used very loosely, usually as an order to beat someone who failed to pay up… or even just a physical fight with someone."

"What about physical assault?" the lawyer asks.

She gives him a questioning look, "Wouldn't that just be that same thing?"

"Assault is a general term," he explains. "There are different kinds of it. But yes, the definition you gave before would more or less match the definition of physical assault." Mal merely nods in understanding. "What about sexual assault?"

Mal is quiet for a long moment, "I didn't know what that term was until Ben used it. I assumed it to be forcing yourself onto someone sexually, but we didn't have any terminology like that on the Isle."

"What about rape?" he questions. "Do you know what that is?"

"Yeah," Mal begins. "Um, it's when someone preys on someone younger and forces them to have sex with them."

It takes a few seconds for the lawyer to reply, "You say there has to be an age difference. How much of an age difference are you speaking of?"

"Well, it's usually at least a few years apart," Mal answers slowly in suspicion.

It takes another minute for the lawyer to comment, "What you are speaking of is not rape. The definition you gave would be much closer to pedophilia, in which someone older preys on someone younger and forces some kind of sexual activity, as you said."

"What?" Mal partly smiles in unsureness. "I— I don't think I understand."

"Mal," Belle begins, and when she turns to her she finds Ben and his parents all giving her fairly grim, shocked expressions. "The only requirement there really is for rape is that the sex is unconsensual. It doesn't matter how old the two people are. It doesn't even matter whether they're strangers or best friends. If they have sex and if one of the participants didn't want it to happen, then that's rape."

Mal lets out a long breath, finding her mouth slightly agape as she stares down at the floor. "Mal?"

She hears Ben's worry, "I'm just taking it in… processing. These definitions are different than I thought they were." Once she had heard of the term sexual assault, she had connected it with Hook; however, she never even considered that what he did could have been something as horrible as rape. Everyone had called her a tease when she had refused to go any further with him, and then when it finally happened they acted like it was no big deal. It was going to happen anyway. You know, eventually. Could this be why it always felt so wrong to her in the first place? She looks back up at Belle, "You said it didn't matter if it were strangers or best friends, but what about people who are already in that kind of relationship."

"I lot of people don't know this," Belle looks down for a second, "but even if two people are married and one of them acts without some kind of expressed consent from their partner, then technically speaking that would too be rape." Mal frowns as she contemplatively nods. "Is there a reason why you asked me that?"

"Oh, ah, no." Mal tries to smile, "I just figured that since I was learning what it was anyway that I might as well learn it correctly." before she turns back to the lawyer. "Do you have any more words for me to define?"

"No." He folds his hands, "I think those are all that will be relevant in this case."

"Soo… What do we do now that I've failed your little test?" Mal asks.

Mr. Droit smiles, "I'd hardly say that you failed. In fact, I think you passed with flying colors." Mal gives him a questioning look. "We can use this. Your lack of knowledge of our law and these terms at the time of the incident, we can use it. There's no reason for them to give you a hard sentence if you were unaware there was a law to be broken in the first place."

Mal nods, feeling just the least bit hopeful, but then Ben interrupts, "What if they bring up objective morality?"

Mal looks between Ben and the lawyer, as Mr. Droit sighs with stress, "What does objective morality mean?"

The lawyer takes a deep breath before explaining, "It's the concept that all people inherently know the difference between right and wrong, either by the instruction of God or by the want to better their species and survive." He folds his hands, "However, since you come from the Isle of the Lost, a place considered to be Godless, and since you aren't entirely human, I doubt they will expect you to have it… at least, not for humans."

"Isn't that almost worse?" Ben worries. "If they're not going to see her as anything other than a Godless animal preying on humans, isn't that a bad thing?"

"For some things, yes," the lawyer agrees. "Then again, comparing her to someone who's entirely human would make the jury believe her to be able to meet unrealistic expectations… like not having to go out searching for heat when the hot water goes out, for instance."

Ben nods, "Okay. I suppose you do have a point there."

"Luckily for us," the lawyer continues, "by definition hybrids are partly human, which means that they can't just put her down like some rabid animal."

"Which she isn't," Ben insists.

"No. She isn't," the lawyer agrees, "but since the jury is going to be biased towards humans, we need to make Mal look as innocently human as possible for the hearing."

"Meaning what?" Mal questions. "I've passed for human pretty well up until this point. What would I possibly have to change?"

"You may have been able to pass for human before, but now that people know you aren't, it will be our job to make the judges forget that you aren't."

"Excuse me," Adam interrupts, and Mr. Droit turns towards him. "How do you plan to make the jury forget she's a hybrid when the entire case revolves around an incident she did as a hybrid? And didn't you just say that if they compare her to humans, then she'd be met with unrealistic expectations?"

"That's all true," the lawyer tries to reason, "but Mal is going to have hard enough a time pleading innocent the way it is. She is a feared hybrid dragon, daughter of the most evil villain to have ever lived, taking on the accusations of a well-known, very respected royal princess."

"We know that," Ben frustrates.

"Look," the lawyer tries to explain. "The jury… they're not going to believe her over Audrey if all they see her as is a hybrid. They need to see her as human in order to sympathize, and then— and only then— will we stand a chance."

"What do I have to do?" Mal asks, before she notices the others calm down a little.

"At the very least you're going to have to do what humans already do," he calmly answers. "Blue is considered a very sympathetic color, so wear it on Tuesday. Also, considering the content of this case, try not to dress provocatively at all."

"Provocatively?" Mal questions.

"He's asking you not to wear something that would show a lot of skin or cleavage," Ben interprets for her, before he looks back at the lawyer. "Don't worry. From what I've seen, she usually dresses pretty conservatively."

He nods, "Good."

Ben returns his attention to Mal and advises, "Although, you should probably find something that's not leather. They could interpret it as you being emotionally hard or defiant."

Mal frowns, "Evie has a lot of blue, frilly things. If I can't find anything, then I'm sure I can just borrow something from her."

When Mal looks back at the lawyer he continues, "Now, I'm going to run you through what will happen at the initial hearing." He clasps his hands together. "The hearing will be very brief. We will sit down, they will confirm who you are, ask you about your past criminal history and possibly your living situation, and then as per requirement they will ask for your species. Since you are a hybrid, you will have to give them a detailed description of your lineage. After that they will tell us the charges of which you have been accused, and then they will ask us to either plead guilty or not guilty. As we've already discussed, we have to go for the non-guilty verdict. Even if we're offered a plea deal, I doubt we would be able to accept it."

Mal nods, "Anything else?"

He hesitates, "I need to ask you, aside from Audrey have you ever assaulted anyone before?"

Mal tries to think over everything she's ever done, and although a lot of it was cruel, she doesn't think any of it would actually be considered assault, "Not to my knowledge."

"Don't say 'not to my knowledge'," the lawyer warns. "It's seen as suspicious. You have to be able to say no."

She looks down for a moment, "What if something else happened that I don't remember? And there are things my mother made me do." She turns her head back up, "What if they find those things and blame them on me?"

"Hopefully they won't," he evenly replies. "However, if you currently don't recall anything you did without being forced to, then you need to be confident that you didn't."

Mal nods, "Okay."

"Say it," the lawyer prompts. "Have you ever hurt anyone in the same way that you've hurt Audrey? Have you ever assaulted anyone prior to your attack on her?"

"No," Mal answers.

The lawyer slightly smiles, "Better. Just stay confident. You're a good person. You have to believe that you are, if you want to convince the judges that you are."

Mal looks down again, knowing perfectly well that she doesn't consider herself to be a good person and that with everything she's done she probably never will. She moves a hand over her thigh, remembering each scar she currently has with detail. Each one is proof of what a horrible person she is. The lawyer's wrong. She's not good, and no matter how hard she tries she may never truly be good; however, he is right about one thing. If she wants the jury to believe she's a good, innocent, and harmless person, then she's going to have to at least act like she believes she is too, "Okay."

- So, no. This wasn't the type of meeting that at least one of you wanted; however, thank you very much Elizabeth Annette for your comment, because you did give me an idea for a chapter... I mean, two royal families backing opposite ends of a lawsuit? You would think they'd like to talk about it at some point, so that their alliance doesn't completely fall apart. Right? I have a few good ideas on what the stemming results of that could be.