Chapter 13

Everything felt like a dream - no a nightmare - when Serah and I arrived in court. The room was cold, as cold as the stares from the defense team standing beside the hulking Snow. I squeezed Serah's hand when I felt her shiver beside me. It was the second day of Snow's trial and Serah and I decided to make an appearance. I kept a calm, unaffected expression as we walked to our seats. Everyone seemed to be boring their eyes at us - wondering to themselves if we came to either cause chaos or be calm spectators. A man with tiny-framed glasses approached me with a stereotypical meekness associated with bald, spectacled men.

"A-are you the F-farron sisters?" he asked nervously, and looked at Serah and then bashfully at me. He looked so cowardly, I was starting to doubt a prosecutor like him could ever be brilliant enough to convince the jurors to find Snow guilty. "S-sorry for my s-stutter," he said and shook both of our hands. "I-I've had it s-since I could r-remember," he finally finished after he was red in the face from struggling to put out his words. "Oh, m-my name is J-Jon Kaufman," he introduced himself and showed us to our seats at the helm of the courtroom across from where Snow sat. I was cursing nonstop mentally in my head at Fang for suggesting this lawyer to us. He's good you guys, I swear, she said. Good, my foot, he's as convincing as a wet towel, I thought cynically to myself.

I could see the same worried thoughts etched on Serah's face and we glanced at each other doubtfully. We took our seats and waited for the courtroom to settle down. I spotted Snow glance at us from the corner of his eyes, but he never looked at us directly. I stared at his profile as he looked blankly down at the table in front of him. The pitcher of water before him remained untouched as he sat as still as a statue as his defense lawyer whispered something in his ear with the same blank stare never leaving his pallid face.

Serah's breathing was erratic and anxious when I saw her chest rising and falling fast. "Hey," I whispered in her ear. "It'll be okay," I tried to sound as convincing as possible, but I detected a hint of fear in my own voice when I spoke aloud.

Serah only nodded subtly in response and we sat still staring straight ahead, as if we were the ones about to be put under trial for execution.

The mousy prosecutor went over to shake hands cordially with the lawyer of the defense team. He was a hardened-looking man with a steely gaze as sharp as his grayed military buzz cut atop his head. He only smirked cockily as the meek man bowed his head. I rolled my eyes and sighed - I was beginning to think we had no chance in hell to win this thing.

I looked at Serah sitting beside me - wringing her hands and biting her bottom lip. She rubbed and chaffed her lip until I started to see the skin break and gush blood. Serah winced and seethed as soon as she bit down too hard on the sensitive flesh. Instantly, I gently grabbed for her chin and took out my handkerchief to dab at the blood starting to clot on her lip. Serah's eyes widened and then softened when I carefully took care of the wound. She smiled slightly and whispered thank you when I was done. I only smiled back in response.

I looked over at Snow and caught him quickly turning his head away from my gaze, but there was no doubt, a look of pain on his face. When the judge arrived in his long, trailing robe, everyone became silent and held their breaths. The judge was a middle-aged man with dark-brown hair peppered with flecks of gray. He looked kind with lines crinkling the sides of his eyes, but when he spoke, it was with a booming, commanding voice. He banged his gavel once and the sound of wood against wood echoed throughout the sound-induced courtroom. Serah flinched when the gavel banged, but my hand in hers made her body calm once more.

Snow didn't seem to be affected by any of the dramatics, although the only reason why everyone was seated in the courtroom was because of him. I even thought he had slept at some point because he sat so still without any signs of movement - I don't think he was even breathing.

"Court is in session," the judge said in that deep-bass voice of his. The prosecutor immediately got up with gentile movements from his seat. He adjusted his blood-red tie and walked over to the jurors. He locked eyes with me and I saw the coldness in his eyes and in his heart, but I was unaffected. I only stared back at him with a piercing stare. He smirked and continued to walk towards the jurors. "Ladies and gentleman of the juror," he began in a suave, convincing tone of voice. "Snow Villiers is an innocent man in this botched-up 'crime' of passion," he said with a flourish and imitated quotations with his fingers as he said the word crime. "Tell me, none of you ladies and gentleman have ever felt the sting of heartbreak? Have ever felt such despair, you momentarily lose your control to act rationally?" I saw a mist of nostalgia begin to cloud the eyes of the jurors and cursed to myself. This guy was good. I had to admit it. His tactic with making the jurors feel sorry for Snow seemed to be working.

"Snow Villiers," the prosecutor continued. "Is simply a man who loved too strongly, too passionately, and made one irrational judgment that shouldn't punish him so harshly for something so human, so natural, as love." He stopped and looked at Serah and then at me. He smirked again and I felt the urge to punch him square on the face. "I mean, let's be honest here folks," he said matter-of-factly in his attention-demanding voice. I could even see the judge beginning to listen to him intently. My lawyer looked at the prosecutor with a hint of admiration and awe as he nervously fiddled with his fingers as he continued to listen. "Who wouldn't be so shocked and perturbed as Snow Villiers was at that moment, to find out the love of their life has been underhandedly stolen by the girl he loves own sister?"

At that note, the crowd began to murmur amongst themselves. I caught a few hushed whispers with traces of words such as "disgusting" and "awful" but I remained resolute and held onto Serah's hand even tighter as they jabbered amongst themselves. Our lawyer, surprisingly shot up in his seat and stuttered out in a shockingly loud voice, "O-objection! Mr. V-vane's (I find out is the prosecutor's last name) focus on the F-farron sisters r-relationship is o-only h-hearsay!" he sputters out vehemently, his cheeks splotched red from struggling with his crippling stutter. I was taken aback from the sudden fiery glow in his eyes obscured behind the man's spectacles. I started to feel a stirring of respect towards the man when I saw the unknown strength reflected on his face.

The judge banged his gavel and made Serah jump slightly again. "Mr. Kaufman is correct," the judge turned to Mr. Vane. "Do you have any solid evidence of this accusation?" Mr. Vane's thin lips curled slightly at the corners and he fiddled nonchalantly with his tie - readjusting the knot with a smug look on his face. I had never hated a man so much when I hadn't even spoken one word to the smug bastard.

"Of course your honor," he said confidently and pointed to the little television sitting on a wheeled cart in the middle of the courtroom. He removed a remote from his breast pocket. "If I may?" he inquired the judge and the judge nodded affirmatively.

With a click, the television hummed on and a tape was played. After some scrutiny, I realized the two figures on the screen was Serah and I outside the hospital the night of Hope's release. My breath caught in my throat and I nearly choked at the image on the screen. Serah's eyes widened in shock and she raised her hands over her mouth in fear. Mr. Kaufman's gaze was transfixed at the screen and I saw his body slouch in defeat as soon as he realized what it was he was watching. Mr. Vane twirled the small remote victoriously in his hand and smiled toothily - making him look positively evil. For the first time, Snow picked up his head and gazed intently at the screen with a look of anguish blatant on his face.

The screen displayed Serah and I kissing outside the entrance to the hospital - there was no doubt the kiss was far more than sisterly and I felt like wanting to disappear, to suddenly become invisible and rescue Serah along with me. The crowd behind us, really started to murmur amongst themselves - some even shouting in disgust at what they were seeing. Serah was now trembling uncontrollably beside me, and I felt helpless as I couldn't find it in myself to hold her in my arms at the moment. The judge had to bang his gavel more than once before the crowd was silenced. I forced myself to look at the jurors and I saw most of them shaking their heads at what they had seen. Only a few looked unperturbed from the tape. The majority of the crowd stared at the two of us with judgmental gleams in their eyes.

Mr. Kaufman wiped his glasses with a white cloth harder than needed and nearly cracked the lens. I felt terrible as the reality of the world's bigotry slammed onto me like a meteor. For the first time, I felt sickened and ashamed for feeling the way I do. I looked at Serah and I could see her struggling to hold back tears. I wanted nothing more than to openly comfort her, but I knew it would only enrage the crowd even further. I never imagined I could ever be the target of so much hate from the world because of something as simple and easy as love.