Apollo woke refreshed and feeling better. Brushing tear stains from his face, he rolled out of bed. Only to find a note on the bed side table. Grinning, Apollo reached over and began to read. By the end of the note, Apollo was ready to start crying again. The note had told him "don't forget your briefcase this time, ja?" and it was written in purple ink. Oh god.
'Not again!' Apollo nearly had a meltdown right there, clutching the note and trying not to scream. "Klavier!" Apollo raced around looking for his boyfriend, heart pounding, but of course, Klavier had already left the house. Apollo took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.
He took a shower to try to relax himself, but the realization that he had taken a shower in the dream too had him tripping in his haste to exit the shower. His fingers were shaking styling his hair and getting into his suit, so by the time he was finished he was really, really late.
Worrying his lip between his teeth, Apollo raced through the door, and nearly had a panic attack when he realized he had left his briefcase inside. Just like he had in the dream.
'Events keep repeating. Oh god, it'll happen for real this time.' His brain was spiraling out of control.
'No, no! Get a hold of yourself Justice. Stop being so superstitious.'
Apollo peddled to the courthouse, dread like a weight in his chest. Trucy teased him for being late, and Mr. Wright gave him a gentle nudge into the court house.
It didn't help to see Ms. Bell looking innocent and helpless at the witness stand. Apollo was sweating up a storm and flinched at every movement from the defendant. Klavier looked concerned, and the judge asked if he was alright multiple times.
'No, I'm not alright!' Apollo wanted to scream, but just stuttered "I'm okay," in response. Klavier didn't look convinced, but it fooled the judge at least.
Apollo tried to appear as normal as possible, but it was getting harder and harder to stay calm. Every time Klavier objected, Apollo wanted to scream "Watch out!" but the bullet never came.
After the trial had been running smoothly for some time, Apollo regained some semblance of control. Klavier seemed relieved when Apollo objected to something that was out of place after being silent for minutes. 'See Justice. It was just a dream.' Apollo sighed in relief.
Ms. Bell didn't seem quite so menacing anymore and Apollo realized that she could very well be innocent. 'I could have sent an innocent woman to jail because of my stupid superstition!' Apollo decided to apologize to her afterwards if she was indeed innocent. In the mean time, he worked on proving her innocence to the best of his ability.
"Objection!" Klavier's voice brought Apollo out of mentally scolding his poor defense job thus far.
"I believe I have found a contradiction in your testimony Ms. Bell. Recall Ms. Kross' testimony. 'I went by Ms. Bell's room around 3:30 to clean it before she returned from the party.' If what Ms. Kross says is true, you cannot have been in your room during the murder meaning you have no alibi at the time of the murder!"
'Didn't that reasoning seem familiar somehow?'
"Well darn." Ms. Bell's voice was suddenly loud, echoing around the now deathly silent courtroom. "I didn't want to have to use this-" And there it was, the weapon that was to take Klavier Gavin's life.
'Not again!'
"Klavier! Duck!" Apollo screamed, chords of steel magnifying the command.
The sound of a firing gun. A scream.
The jury was in chaos. Detective Gumshoe and the bailiff had snatched Ms. Bell and pulled the gun from her. The judge's gavel was barely audible above the screaming and talking of the jury. "Someone call 911!" "Oh god, is everyone alright?" "I'm scared…"
Apollo didn't care about anything else. Only Klavier mattered. He leapt over the defense bench to shouts of "Hey pal! Stay put!" and "Wait Polly!" and only sped up when he couldn't even see Klavier standing at the other bench. 'Oh god he's on the floor already!' Apollo gasped, and rounded the bench to see Klavier curled behind the bench.
"Oh god no!" Apollo sobbed, falling to his knees beside the prosecutor. 'This is the second time. You'd think I would have been more careful. I should have taken that bullet. I should have snatched the gun from Bell's hands. I should have-'
"Apollo? Liebe, are you alright? Did she hurt you?"
Apollo froze, his sob of grief cut off in surprise. "Klavier!"
"You are not hurt are you?"
Apollo shook his head, turning tear filled eyes towards his lover.
There was no bloodstain on his chest. When he grabbed the prosecutor's hands, they were warm, sweaty even.
And when Apollo pressed his head to Klavier's chest, there was a beat-a fast one -but a heartbeat all the same.
-Fin-