Act 1-5: Right To Remain Silent

BANG! BANG!

What the-

I shot up in the dark. My hand felt around for the switch to the lights, and, turning it on, burgundy flooded my vision.

Oh my god, somebody's put a red blindfold over me!

I mentally facepalmed when I realized it was just my bed-hair. Sheesh.

BANG! BANG!

But it looks like I didn't just imagine that banging!

Getting out of the bed and getting to the door, I leaned my ear against the space between it and the wall for a closer listen.

Voices...Some people are talking right outside.

I cautiously opened my door to sneak a peek. And what I saw bewildered me.

Three of my classmates were standing outside my room, talking in hurried, hushed tones: Sasha was wearing a pair of sweatpants and a Red Sox jersey with her last name written on it; Nico had on her pajamas from last morning; and Johan was wearing a t-shirt and pants.

And all three looked like they had seen something scary: Johan looked terrified, like he had been attacked or something; Nico looked shocked; Sasha looked incredibly grim.

Before I could register what they were talking about, the three turned around and ran in the direction of the Atrium.

I stepped forward, out of my door, and turned to see them disappearing into the distance. I made to call out to them, but then, something cold clamped onto my shoulder.

"Eek!"

I whirled around to see-

"Whoah, whoah, it's still just me!"

"Hideki, stop scaring me!"

This seems to keep happening for some reason…

"Stop being so easily scared, then. It isn't my fault that you're terrified of practically everything." Hideki admonished.

"Don't you wear that eye patch just to scare people?"

"Intimidate. Not scare."

I crossed my arms. "What's the difference?"

He shrugged. "Minus one stage in Attack."

"Either way, what's going on?"

"I...don't know." Hideki looked down the hallway, where the trio had already turned a corner and disappeared. "We probably should follow them, shouldn't we?"

"Probably."

Hideki and I began to give chase, but the three had quite a bit of a head start. Finally, we reached the hallway outside of the atrium.

"-well, I'm an insomniac, so I was up writing-" Sasha's voice rang out.

"And I was out on my morning run." That was Johan. "But then, we-"

He was cut off by Nico's bloodcurdling scream.

Before we could react, the speakers blared to life.

"Upupupupupupu! Attention all students; a body has been discovered! I repeat: a body has been discovered! After a brief period of investigation, a Class Trial will commence, so do make the best use of your time! Cheerio!"

Monokuma, having finished his spiel, laughed one more time, before it cut off.

"...Oh scheiße." Hideki swore. "Ashley, run!"

The two of us ran into the hallways that led to the rest of the areas we'd been to so far. Nico had stopped screaming, so we had to periodically check each and every door to see where they had come from.

Finally, we came to the last area: the Luxury Sitting Room. There, we were greeted by a horrible sight.

Nico was sitting on the ground, sobbing. Johan was trying to comfort her, but was clearly shaken himself. Sasha just stared straight ahead, a grim look on her face.

We didn't have to be told what had happened. The answer was clear to see.

Lying on the floor,with his back against the floor, was one of our classmates. Multiple stab wounds dotted his torso, with blood that appeared to be still fresh coating said wounds. Around his neck was a length of rope, the ends of which lay limply to each side. His hands were clenched tight, as if he was still trying to hold on to his life. And pink...So much pink. The back of his head was caked with it, along with parts of the wall.

Most unsettlingly, the glassy, half-lidded stare on the face of the victim would be etched forever into our minds…

Jehovah 'JJ' Jackson - the Super High School Level Lawyer - is dead.

Act 1-5 FIN

15 Students Remaining

A/N:

(...Bet you didn't see that one coming. - SD)

(*Sherlock theme plays* - Lime)

So...sorry to JJ's creator. He was great, but it was his time. Plus, I'm pretty sure no one expected that. Bwahahaha...

Also, uh, shoutout to everyone without a character in this who still reviews. You guys are gr9.

*Brooklyn 99 theme music plays*

God damn do I love Brooklyn 99. Review reply time.

Now, question of the chapter - now, who killed JJ? And for that matter, where is Todd? Or perhaps... these two questions are correlated?

Poll's on my profile.

Also, review replies.

CrimsonSkyTamer: Ye.

(Love you triplet. *swoons* But seriously, thanks for being a good sport. - SD)

(*is the fourth wheel* -Lime)

dashunterman: Yeah, Lucille HAD an adversary in JJ. The question is - what was her involvement in the murder?

Khronovision: Hey, I didn't make Lucille cry. That was all JJ.

Hmm, theories, huh? Do share.

PowerPlayer: Hmm...Todd's room, huh? All I can say is that you'll find out next chapter. And JJ definitely isn't a beacon of hope - oh wait, now he's dead, he's even less of one. I suppose that's good for the trial, if somewhat ironic. And that breakdown of hers will come later as well - trust me, it'll be explained.

Yes, reasons you can't state here...bwahahahaha. I'm glad you thought she was written well, though. And yeah, Nico and Ashley both have interesting histories with their brother. I'm not gonna spoil the exact details of Nico and Aidan's relationship, but I'll tell you this: it won't be what you'd expect.

LuigiTheHaunted: Haha, thank you. I like Ashley as well. Actually, her being the main character was because she was the most 'neutral' and relatable of the submitted characters, instead of being totally over-the-top like Todd, or Eric, or Maya. Hideki is also pretty great too.

Let'sTalkAboutMurder: Yep, definitely drama. Hideki is supposed to be less of a leader and more of a father or big brother figure, but yeah. Definitely moral compass. There will be a definitive leader later on, but for now it's mostly just anarchy.

And don't worry. SD and I are gonna write other SYOCs, and you'll definitely have the opportunity to submit a character for that. (I have plans already, in fact...upupupu. What those plans are, you'll have to wait and see).

GinMerric: Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of script style either to be perfectly honest, but SD pushed for it and it is kinda the default. I believe SD's also explained the ins and outs of it and why we choose to stick to it, but I'm gonna add another QOTD here, for everyone - should we keep or change the format? If I get enough votes for change, I'll put up a poll to tally the results accurately. Democracy is great, ain't it? (We can't guarantee the same quality if and when we do switch, however. Just pointing that out. - SD)

Maya is perhaps the single most complex character submitted, and her backstory is going to be a wild ride from start to finish. Trust me, the circumstances of her acceptance aren't gonna be anything like what you'd expect.

Hmm...cool. I may make one for AFoFD, assuming I ever figure out how to use that God-forsaken website. I already have a list of tropes written out for each character, haha. Then again, I believe SD's approached you with his proposition? :)

My pronouns are they/them. IDK if there's a gender-neutral version of guys/gals though. It's like aunt/uncle - there just isn't an equivalent.

HeroinOfDarkness: Maya's freetime was hard to write, since her backstory is pretty darn convoluted, but I'm glad it turned out enjoyable. The Llamas with Hats part was totally true, by the way.

Todd's body being found is going to be nothing like you expect-trust me on that one.

And I have a confession - I've never actually seen DBZ. All I know is that Goku screams a lot and turns into a yellow godman. It's hilarious to joke about, but other than that I've had no experience with the subject. (I would explain the un-joke, but I've already been shot twice, so I'll keep my mouth shut. - SD)

Sekrin- Lord of Monsterds: Yeah, JJ was slightly more than ideal of an asshole, but that was really just all to lead up to his murder. I'm really sorry - I do feel like JJ got the short end of the shaft. I liked him, really, but it was his time.

SDproductions: Heck u. - Lime

SD here. And now for something completely different.

See, if you knew me before this, you know I like to give flash-forwards when I know a chapter will be particularly taxing and/of time consuming, and such is the case with our investigation and trial chapters. Needless to say, we might be a bit...rusty. In any case, to prepare you for the Deadly Life ahead, I've compiled a preview of what you can expect next chapter...when we ever get it done. A week, maybe, two weeks tops. We promise.

So yeah, here's my obligatory trailer for the investigation portion of this trial! Biiiiiiizzam!

Next time, on A Flight Of Future Despair:

There's blood on his face! My god, there's blood everywhere!

The Lawyer rests his case. Permanently.

It was me. I can't remember how, but I broke it.

Leaving fourteen of his associates to find out whodunnit.

My mind says one thing...But my heart tells me another.

The Mutual Killing Game begins for real.

What were you doing up so early in the morning?

One murdered…

Oi! Watch it! Those things are sharp!

...one murderer…

Who has the most reason to kill JJ? That's right, it's her.

...thirteen scapegoats…

This locket...I know who it belongs to. But how did his stuff end up here?

...or is that fourteen?

It's a sort of cruel irony that the Lawyer didn't even make it to a trial.

Yeah. I was planning on killing him too, but I guess somebody else beat me to it.