Hi everyone, sorry for the wait but here it is! The final part of the FAYZ Trials :) Just a quick note to say thank you all for reading and I hope you've all enjoyed this story - please feel free to message me with any reviews etc. I have some exciting news - The FAYZ Trials has been nominated for 7 Awards in the 2013 Gone Awards including: Best One Shot, Best Caine Story, Best Sam Story, Best AU, Best OC, Best Drama and Best Post FAYZ Story! Without wanting to sound like a glory hunter, I'd love it if you could vote for the story - (check out the 2013 Gone Awards forum for more info) it would mean so much to me if this story could win any one of those awards! Anyway, enjoy the story and be sure to let me know what you think! :) xxx

TRE25

The FAYZ Trials – Epilogue

Epilogue

6 months later

Caine could feel a pulse flickering under his eye. It bugged him, was it noticeable or was it so slight nobody could see? It was a sign of nerves and he didn't want people to think he was nervous, not after all this time, not after waiting six months for a verdict he now knew would probably sway in his favour as a result of what happened to Karim.

After the news broke of his tragic death the media and general public went wild, The FAYZ Trials were trending worldwide and TV news channels reported nothing other than FAYZ related stuff. The trials were of course, postponed and Caine had as a result spent the last six months n a low security jail. Diana had initially been sent back to the asylum but her doctors had released her about a week after and since then she'd spent most of her time in the jail visiting Caine.

Sam Temple had, like Caine been moved to the low security prison and Astrid Ellison's case against her brother had been cancelled indefinitely. Quinn Gaither was allowed out on bail and the other FAYZ kids who hadn't been called up yet were allowed to walk free. Caine had seen them all, Edilio, Lana, Dekka and even that Sanjit kid the one time he'd been allowed out of jail. To attend the funeral. That was a tough day, Diana had cried a lot which was pretty unsettling for Caine and Freddy Wishman and his journalist sister were there too but all FAYZ kids had been warned to stay away from them.

The funeral had been attended by hundreds. Most of them were family members of the FAYZ kids, even the ones who never made it out, Karim had been, after all the defender of the FAYZ kids and most just wanted to pay their respects and silently thank him for believing in the kids.

But all of that was months ago and once Karim's funeral and memorial service were done and dusted everything went back to an eerie kind of normal that Caine was now used to. Wake up, wait, eat, wait, hope for a telephone call, wait, eat, wait, sleep, dream, wait all on loop. It wasn't until two months had passed since the funeral that Caine heard from the judge of the trials, he told them that the most serious cases and the outstanding results would continue and be resolved and that Caine would have to either represent himself in court or get a new lawyer, this was the same for Sam. Of course, noble Sam didn't want a new lawyer to replace Karim and would be standing alone, as for Caine, well, he wanted a lawyer but had no chance in hell of getting one: the good lawyers wanted nothing to do with the case – some were too afraid of the pressures and responsibilities that it entailed, others thought the job was cursed and the rest wanted more money that Caine had ever dreamt of – and they were usually the bad lawyers anyway. So he too, was standing alone.

And right now he was standing alone waiting to hear his fate. Sam was next and was up in the gallery surrounded by police. The room fell silent as the Judge entered, gone were the days of excited nobodies from the street trying to get pictures from the gallery, nobody was gossiping now and there was a single TV camera in the corner of the room for the Crime Channel.

Following the Judge came the man that Caine had hated for months but also secretly admired: Freddy Wishman.

Freddy walked silently across the floor and took his place at his desk. The room was silent and remarkably sober for such a high profile case. He placed his note down on his desk and poured himself a glass of water careful not to spill any over his new black suit. Then, he waited for Clark's signal,

"The court accuses Mr Caine Soren of the following crimes..." Freddy listened as the Judge listed the heinous crimes Caine was responsible for until it was time for him to stand "I know call upon the prosecution Mr Frederick Wishman to make his voice heard for the final time before the jury resigns and then we shall hear from the defendant." Despite himself Freddy glanced over at the empty desk to his right expecting to see a nervous yet calm looking Karim shuffling his papers in anticipation. A lump caught in his throat and he felt his knees wobble as he stood and picked up the one note of paper he'd brought with him into court.

"Thank you your Honour," he said. He sighed, here goes...

"I have spent the last year working exhaustively in order to bring what I thought was justice to our people by prosecuting the likes of Mr Caine Soren and Mr Sam Temple. I spent my every waking hour planning, preparing, researching and striving to convince this jury that these boys are guilty of every charge against them but I was consistently thwarted by one man: Mr Karim Smith. No matter how much work I did, no matter how hard I had prepared he was always there to put up a splendid fight. At first, I thought his persistence was born out of rivalry and that we, the two of us were simply point scoring in court in front of the world's press and media but I couldn't have been more wrong, Karim Smith wasn't putting up such a fight for the sake of it, he wasn't constantly battling me in court to compete with me or to increase his status in front of the cameras, he was doing it because he believed in what he was fighting for. He believed in these children and he did what nobody else was willing to do: he helped them. He fought for them and defended them when the couldn't defend themselves. The rest of the world turned on them, they were monsters, mutants, malicious creatures that resembled what we once called our children. They were evil, thieving, murderous, cold-blooded psychopaths who deserved to be locked up away from society forever. Karim Smith was different, he saw them for what they really are: scared, frightened children who were somehow thrown into to a world none of us could ever even begin to imagine. A world of Darkness and evil, a world where there was no parents to tell them things would be ok, no teachers, no policemen only kids, kids and more kids. Kids who ended up killing themselves, taking drugs, drinking, shooting and burying their fellow children, and no matter how bad the crime the child was charged with Karim Smith always saw them and treated them for what they really were, not monsters but children, whereas me, I saw only the crimes listed on the paper and the opportunity to showcase my skills to the world." Freddy paused, he had reached the end of his notes

"Karim Smith as everyone in this room already knows, died in a car accident six months ago. Tragically taken from us in the blink of an eye the FAYZ kids are left with nobody to defend them and I am left with a relatively simple job now that their Protector is gone forever, to me Karim Smith has left me with a group of sitting ducks at point blank range. Without Karim Smith here to save them these boys and girls stand no chance against me,"

Freddy saw Caine Soren's lower eye twitch nervously. He was scared, he knew what was coming, he knew what he was going to get. Freddy put his sheet of paper down and walked out from behind his desk.

"But you see, Your Honour, I can't possibly prosecute anyone who is at such a disadvantage, after all what would be the fun in attacking a fifteen year old boy who has no lawyer to support him? And so I must admit defeat and congratulate the late Karim Smith for once again leaving me well and truly beaten and step down from my position as prosecutor with immediate effect."

A gasp echoed around the half full room, Freddy heard the quiet tapping of mobile keypads and phones buzzed, over in the corner the cameraman hurriedly set up a second camera and Clark stared down at Freddy in disbelief,

"Mister Wishman are you sure you know what you are saying?" he spluttered, Freddy smiled and nodded

"Yes, I have spent a lot of time thinking these past few months and I have finally realised that Karim was right all along, we can't call these kids criminals, we can't put them on trial in our world when they were so obviously living in hell. I learnt a lot from Karim Smith and I simply cannot prosecute Caine Soren, Sam Temple or any of the other FAYZ kids, it is immoral and absurd and nobody here has the right to judge them – including, with all due respect you, Your Honour."

"Mister Wishman we can't just abandon the cases mid-trial!" Clark said shifting uncomfortably in his chair. By now several more reporters were crowded in the gallery and the crowd was growing more and more by the second

"The way I see it Your Honour," Freddy said turning away from the audience "you have two choices: either you close this case and abandon all this stupid, pointless trials or..." Freddy cast a glance up at Caine Soren the boy who was so obviously guilty "or, you get some other lawyer to take me on because I will be the defence of these children!"

With that the room exploded with chatter, cameras flashed, mobiles buzzed and Clark had to call for silence,

"I think it's safe to say that taking everything into account, Mister Wishman has left me with no choice..."

Thirty TV interviews, five press conferences, six paparazzi crowds and eight hours later Freddy Wishman stood outside an empty office within the court. The sign on the door looked as ordinary as any other in the building, it read: Mr. K. Smith. Freddy took a breath and opened the door. The room was untouched, it was the same as it was the day Karim died. Only the empty waste paper bin and document free desk indicated that the room hadn't been used in months.

Freddy had been expecting the room to be cold and eerie but he was wrong, there was a strange warmth to it as if Karim had just nipped out for a coffee and would be back at any second. Freddy passed Karim's diploma certificate which was framed and set on the bookshelf. Next to it were the files of all the cases Karim had successfully completed, there must have been at least thirty.

"You always were the better lawyer," Freddy said looking at the different files and their names. Then he pulled out another file from his briefcase, a single black file that read: The FAYZ Trials and set it open on Karim's desk. Freddy pulled a pen from his breast pocket and signed the last sheet in the file. Then Freddy placed it gently on the bookshelf next to the last of Karim's files before leaving the room for the very last time.

Freddy had written two words in The FAYZ Trials file:

Case Closed