This is a bit of a long chapter because I didn't want to split the meeting with Pegasus into two chapters. So enjoy this chapter full of delicious revelations.

[Soundtrack: All All Apologies - Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc]

I'd like to say that, on our trip back to the crime scene, Serenity and I made some huge breakthrough in the murder investigation that really brought the killer's identity to light, but the fact of the matter was that there was just no more evidence. There was no evidence that Malik's attacker was the killer, and there was absolutely nowhere the body could have disappeared to.

Eventually word got around to everyone else that the body was gone, and we all tried to do a thorough sweep of the area, checking all drawers and all beds, and all showers… Anywhere anyone could hide a small girl's body. The girl was like 5ft tall, but she was still fully grown.

Three o'clock came around, and then four… five… and finally it was a quarter to six. No corpse, and no leads. The idea that Pegasus himself snuck in and took the body away was passed around, but it was still quite unbelievable unless there really was some sort of trap door in the meeting room, which would mean that whoever killed Lia could very well have been hidden somewhere. This, however, reminded me of what Pegasus had told us just 11 hours ago:

"Now, everything I am about to say is completely true. Whether or not you choose to believe me is up to you. I cannot very well use the Red Truth to confirm my words, but it can be implied. First of all, Lia is dead for all intents and purposes. Someone in this room killed her. Whoever killed her is not hiding somewhere; they are in plain sight. There are no secret passageways leading in or out of the room. The only door to this room is the one you all entered from, and it was locked up tightly by Kemo. After Kemo left, nobody entered or left the room by any means. For reference, there are only twelve people in this room: Enzi Nye, Leon von Schroeder, Lia Bennett, Mako Tsunami, Marik Ishtar, Rafael Rutherford, Rex Raptor, Ryou Bakura, Serafina Vasquez, Serenity Wheeler, Sun Kwon, and Zephyr Song."

If we could believe anything Pegasus said, then one of us had to be the killer because only the eleven of us were in plain sight when Pegasus made his announcement. That bastard knew exactly what happened to Lia and he had been keeping it to himself for the better part of the day. It made me kind of sick.

The intercom groaned and then a chipper voice passed through. "Greetings and salutations! It's nearly time for the class trial!" Pegasus then cleared his throat. "Oh, I've just been told by my lawyers that another franchise is already using that term and we can't use it… Perhaps then we can say: Murder Debate? Gosh, it just doesn't sound as catchy, does it? Oh well, I'll work on that. In the meantime, I'd like to inform you that it's currently 5:50PM. There are ten minutes left until our meeting. I hope you've put your thinking caps on and I hope you have all your theories in order, because whoever correctly finds out the killer's identity gets to leave and be with the rest of my guests. Now, doesn't that sound exciting. Don't be late. Upupupu -" There was another pause but the intercom was still buzzing with life. "I've just been told by my lawyers that I can't laugh like that either. How boring."

"We should head to the meeting room to see Pegasus," Serenity told me in a small voice. We hadn't met back up with Ryou, Rex, and Malik, so we could only assume they got the memo too.

[Soundtrack: Trial Underground - Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (because fuck Pegasus's Lawyers)]

The atmosphere in the meeting room was tense with only five minutes to go before the meeting time Pegasus assigned. Serenity and I settled into a couple of seats on the right side of the U-bend table, directly across from Zephyr, Sun, and Rafael. Leon, Mako, and Enzi took their seats on the empty center part of the U. However, with only five minutes to spare, Rex, Ryou, and Malik still hadn't shown up.

Serenity and I exchanged looks and then fixed our eyes on the slightly open door to the meeting room, waiting for it to swing open and for our friends to come in, but as I watched the time on my phone tick down to six o'clock, they didn't come in.

"Where are they?" I hissed, digging my fingers into my bangs and lowering my head to the table. "What the fuck is going on?" I barely knew Malik and Ryou, but Rex was my best friend, and he wouldn't be late for something this important. He was way more responsible than I was.

"Should we go looking for them?" Serenity asked me uncertainly.

I raised my head to look at her and then at the clock on my phone. Only two minutes left until the meeting -no, wait, actually one minute left. Mustering up some resolve, I pushed my seat back and got to my feet. "Serenity, stay here. I am going to Malik's room and to drag those assholes over here."

"But there's no time," Leon told me, having overheard my proclamation.

I gave him a half-hearted smile. "This should only take me a minute."

I jogged to the door, and just as I moved my hand to push it open, it swung open. For a split second, I was hopeful that it would be Rex behind that door, but I was wrong. I was met with Kemo's hulking form, towering menacingly over me.

"Miss Vasquez, please return to your seat. Mr Pegasus will be addressing you now," he ordered her stiffly yet professionally.

My lips turned into a grimace and I quickly said, "But there are three people who still aren't here. I just wanna go get them."

Wordlessly, Kemo pushed me out of the way, closed the large metal door, and grabbed me by the collar. I was flailing my arms towards the door, trying to shake myself out of his grasp when I heard a loud click, after which Kemo released my shirt. I scrambled over to the door and began to rattle the door handle, but it was locked.

"Miss Vasquez," Kemo scolded, "To your seat. Now!"

I scowled at him, but obeyed and took a seat next to Serenity. "You're a scumbag; you know that, right?" I told him. "You and your boss. There's a murderer here and you're just -"

I felt a nudge against my elbow and saw Serenity giving me a meaningful glance. "Sera, please!" Just so you know, I only stopped talking because Serenity told me to, not because of that weasel Kemo or his slimy boss.

Nobody else spoke up, and so we all wordlessly watched Kemo slightly lift up the sleeve on his coat to reveal a device that looked like a black digital watch. He purposefully pushed the buttons against the sides in a specific order before we realized something was happening to the room. The lights were dimming and the panels on the wall opposite the door began to flip over, revealing a set of interlinked monitors; and on those monitors was the face of none other than Maximillion Pegasus.

It was a face we had all come to loathe. His pristine silver hair covered nearly half of his face, but did nothing to hide the smug smirk. The man was grinning from ear-to-ear as if he just arrived at Disneyland and was about to board his favorite rollercoaster. He nursed a glass of wine in one hand, while the other rested on the arm of a heavily decorated chair -more like a throne, if you ask me.

"Good evening, everyone. I hope you're all cozy, because you're all in for one hell of a ride," he began. "Right now, we will be discussing the unfortunate murder of Lia Bennett in this very room."

A childish voice interrupted him. "But Mr. Pegasus, there are still three of us missing. How can we have a proper discussion when three of us aren't there? What if one of them is the killer?" I bit my tongue -there was no way any of them could have been the killer, but on all other counts, Leon was right. We couldn't do this without Rex, Ryou, and Malik. Even if they weren't the killers, this means their chances of getting immunity were forfeit -and I was really banking on Rex getting that immunity and telling Weevil what was going on here.

"Oh, Leon, my boy. Not to worry. If they can't make it, the show must go on without them," Pegasus stated. "Anyway, I'm sure you all are just dying to tell me all your theories of who the killer is and get your hands on that immunity, so why don't we start this discussion -not with the whodunnit, but with the howdunnit. What exactly happened in that room?" Leon didn't look satisfied with Pegasus's answer, but didn't press the issue.

[Soundtrack: Defendant's Lobby - Ace Attorney 6: Spirit of Justice]

It was Sun that took charge of the discussion at that point. "Well, I think we can all agree that, on the most fundamental level, confirming the murder weapon is just as important as finding out who the killer is. That weapon is definitely the spear that was found in her body. Can everyone agree on that?"

"Yeah," Mako said with a firm nod. "There's really no room for disagreement. And that spear definitely came from the box of weapons that Pegasus gave us in the beginning of his game."

"Okay, then," Sun said, "If we're all in agreement, we need to talk about how the killer was able to get the spear out of the box."

Serenity nodded. "Well, that's easy. At the beginning of the game, Pegasus split us into two groups: Sera's group was Team Alpha, and Lia's group was Team Beta. Both of the team leaders, Sera and Lia, were given the pin code for the weapons crate. Before the lights went off, neither of them had a chance to tell anyone the pin for the crate, and the crate was locked right before the lights turned off."

"So that means only Sera or Lia could have opened the crate," Zephyr said. "We were not allowed to talk while the lights were out, and aside from some people gasping and getting startled, I didn't hear anyone say anything, not even whispers."

"Hmm…" Leon mumbled. "I actually wanna confirm something with Pegasus."

Pegasus grinned. "Ask away. Just know that I don't give out spoilers, just hints."

"Yeah…" the boy said. "Well, I wanted to ask. What do you do to people who don't obey the rules? Like say someone did actually speak when the lights were out… maybe they whispered to someone but none of the rest of us caught on. Is that considered breaking the rules and what do you do to people who break rules?"

Pegasus pursed his lips exaggeratedly. "That is a good question. I take my rules very seriously and obviously, I have footage of everything that happened in the room once the lights turned off, taken by a nightvision camera. If someone had, say whispered to someone else while the lights were out, I would have seen it. As for these rule breakers, I would have definitely called them out on their rule-breaking."

"And how would you call them out exactly?" Sun asked, crossing her arms over her chest and staring intently at the screen ahead of her.

"The first warning for rule breaking is issued as follows: I would call out the rule-breaker by name over the intercom immediately after the fact, and I would inform them that they have just received their first warning. The second offense, results in expulsion, which is personally carried out by Kemo. He has been ordered to find and escort anyone who has committed their second offense to me, where I will personally issue their punishment.

"And what kind of punishment would they get?" I asked, leaning in and resting my head in my hands.

For a moment, I could almost see a glint from beneath Pegasus's bangs and he smiled grimly. "Ah ah ahhh, Serafina. That's a spoiler."

"One more thing, Pegasus," Leon added. "When you issue the first warning, do you announce it on every intercom? Or just the one in the same room as the rule breaker?"

Pegasus grinned. "Well, I wouldn't want to publicly shame anyone. The first warning is issued over the intercom for all to hear. In other words, if you break any of the rules, then everybody will know. I hope this answer is satisfactory to you."

Leon nods slowly. "Yeah, I think that's all I wanted to know for now."

"Okay, but nobody broke any rules during Lia's murder, so that doesn't matter, does it?" Mako asked, eyeing the younger boy with skepticism. "Her murder was straightforward. Kemo explained the rules, left the room, and not even a minute later, the lights turned off for five minutes. When they came back on, Lia was dead. There were no rule-breaker announcements."

Zephyr snorted. "Actually, quite the contrary, Mako. This is actually very important. Nobody is allowed to talk to anyone else when the lights are out. This means that for the five minutes in which Lia was killed, nobody broke that rule."

I felt cool sweat on my neck. They were going to talk about the password to open the weapon crate -the password for which only I am privy to. God, I hate being the number one suspect in a murder investigation. Shit's stressful yo.

"You're talking about the PIN to open the box, correct?," Rafael said in a matter-of-fact tone. Called it. "Only two people in that room knew the password to open it before the murder, and only one person knew it after. Pegasus's words are absolute proof that nobody told anyone else the pin before the murder. Isn't that right, Sera?"

I felt my head sink deeper into my hands. "Yes, that's right. I should be the only person in the room who knows that password right now."

"T-That doesn't necessarily mean that Sera did it, though. Just that she had the means to do it," Leon added really quickly. That kid always had my back… He also looked pretty bright, so I hoped he had some sort of theory as to who the killer was that didn't involve me.

"Right," Serenity agreed. "You mentioned this right after Lia was murdered. You said that it's possible Lia herself opened it."

"Wait," Sun stopped her. "Before we proceed with this discussion, I think we're owed something, aren't we, Sera?"

I looked on in confusion. "What would I owe you?"

"Not me," she said. "All of us. Who knows who you told the password after the murder. It's only fair that you tell everyone else the password, too."

I glared at her, feeling slightly anxious at the idea of granting her access to an entire crate full of weapons. "Like hell I'm gonna give your psycho ass the password so you can kill me in my sleep."

"Sera," Leon said with a serious expression. "You're still a suspect for the murder. If everyone else has the password, it will be easier to trust you."

Leon's face was a mask of complete composure; it was like he wasn't the scared little boy he was after Lia's murder. He was a competitive duelist so I had watched him play a few times and I recognized this face in particular -it was the exact same face he had on during a duel. I think that was what really convinced me to trust him -dude was on par with Yugi Muto as far as I was concerned, but don't tell Rex I said that.

"Alright," I finally said. "The PIN to the box is 4-5-9. Now everyone except for Rex, Ryou, and Malik know it."

Sun smirked. "Are you saying you didn't tell your friends the password?"

"Did I fucking stutter?" I replied coldly. I could feel the hooded trio's suspicious stares on me, and you know what, the three of them can go fuck right back to the satanic cult they came from.

With that same infuriating smirk on her face, Sun leaned back in her seat with her hands raised. "Fine. I believe you."

"So at this point," Enzi spoke up. "There are two possibilities, right? The possibility that Lia opened the crate, and the possibility that Sera opened the crate. So it makes sense that we start to reason with only one of these scenarios in mind and then go back, right?"

"That's a good idea," Sun replied. "Then let's start with the easiest scenario: Sera opened the crate."

"Why me?" I cried out incredulously, jumping up in my seat and sending tiny daggers of hate in her direction. "Why not start with Lia?"

Sun shrugged. "Did I fucking stutter?" she mocked in a sickly sweet tone. God, what I would have given to punch that bitch in the boob. "Like I said, it's easier. If you're the one that opened it, the most likely possibility is that you killed her. Unless someone forced you to open it, but seeing as you haven't said anything to that effect, I'm assuming that didn't happen."

Serenity shifted uncomfortably in her seat as she witnessed my glaring match with Sun. "Um, Sera," she said. "What if you just walk us through everything you did and everything you heard during the five minutes when the lights were out."

Sun nodded in assent. "It's probably a good idea if all of us say what we did and heard during the blackout. Sera can go first, though."

[Soundtrack: Out of Control - Ajin]

I unclenched my jaw and sighed before settling down in my seat, trying to remember everything that happened in those five minutes. "First things first, I guess. I didn't do anything during the blackout, though it might be hard to believe. I was standing by the door before the blackout and I stayed there the entire time. I guess because of the adrenaline, I don't really remember everything I heard. I couldn't really concentrate on anything, but I heard Leon make a small noise and I think I heard Lia's voice too. It must have been when she was attacked. She kinda let out a small shout… I'm sure you all heard it too, right?"

Leon nodded. "Yeah, I remember it, too. It must have been when she was attacked by the killer, but it's strange that we didn't hear much noise afterward…"

"Strange how?" Zephyr questioned. "The killer gagged her with a spear. I doubt she would have been able to make any noise after that."

With an unsatisfied sigh, Leon mumbled, "Maybe that's it, yeah."

"I'll go next," Serenity piped up. "Since we started with Sera, we can all testify in a clockwise order. So Enzi can go after me."

Enzi nodded. "Sounds good to me."

"I was standing on the left side of the room, close to where Lia's body was found," she began, her eyes drifting to the wall behind Sun, Zephyr, and Rafael, which was dark with Lia's remains. If only we knew what had happened to her body. "I was too scared to move, but I remember I held Sun and Ryou's hands the entire time, so I can vouch for their alibis, and even though Ryou isn't here, Sun can confirm my alibi, too."

All eyes shifted to Sun, who nodded. "Yeah. I remember someone holding my hand, and when the lights came back on, I realized it was Serenity."

"I also remember Leon yelling," she continued. "And Ryou stumbled, almost as if someone pushed him into me. It might have been the killer… And I remember hearing lots of footsteps and people moving around."

I glanced thoughtfully at Serenity as she finished her testimony. So that meant three people who have alibis for Lia's murder, and I was sure more alibis would pop up later.

Enzi continued from here, his deep drawl making me realize just how much older than all of us he was. "I was standing by the door near the right side of the room during the blackout. When the lights turned off, I grabbed Mako's arm and moved him towards the table and away from the crowd so we wouldn't risk getting killed. When we got there, we bumped into Leon and startled the poor fellow. I knew it was him because of his height and because we saw him when the lights came back on."

"So that counts for all of our alibis, too," Mako added. "Because after we ran into Leon, we stayed put." And here we are with three more alibis. "Unless Leon has anything to add, I guess that's our testimony."

Leon shrugged. "I don't have much to add. I just remember that for a solid few minutes after Lia shouted, I didn't hear anything aside from breathing and footsteps. And the footsteps stopped pretty soon, too. If we accept that the three people closest to the body, Serenity, Ryou, and Sun, all had alibis, then whoever killed her not only did it in five minutes, but also took the time to position themselves away from her to draw suspicion away from them when the lights came back on."

"That's a good point," Zephyr said. "Well, if you're done with your testimony, I'll continue with mine. My alibi is Sun. She grabbed onto me when the lights went out and didn't let go until they came back on." He raised his wrist, letting the fabric of his sleeve fall and reveal his slightly blue wrist. "I even have the bruise to show for it." I glanced at Sun who didn't even look apologetic. This woman was stone cold. If that was how she treated her allies, imagine how she treated her enemies… "I can testify to hearing pretty much the same shit as everyone else."

"I suppose it's my turn to testify," Rafael said. "When the lights turned off, I was standing on the rightmost side of the room where Kemo had told my team to stand. Aside from moving towards the back wall, I did not make any other movements. I don't really have the luxury of an alibi, but I was pretty far from where the murder happened. If I wanted to get to Lia without alerting the people standing on the right or left of the room, I would have had to move over or under the tables, which would have taken some time. While I'll admit it's not impossible that I made my way under or over the tables in the dark without making a sound and murdered Lia, it's improbable."

"I'd like to add that when the lights turned on, Rafael was at the back of the room," Sun commented. "So not only would he have had to maneuver across the room to get to her, but he would have had to go back to where he started as well -all in the span of 5 minutes."

"So the only people left are Marik and Rex, but they're missing right now," Zephyr noted, crossing his arms and tilting his head to glance at the door. "Though I'm willing to bet that it wasn't Rex. Even without an alibi, he's a member of Team Beta, and Pegasus would have called him out if he was the one that did it."

"Which means…" I started, "that the most suspicious people are me, Rafael, and Malik, right?"

"Exactly," Sun replied. "And all three of you are on Team Alpha."

How bloody convenient…

"Though, I doubt Rafael has anything to do with it," Sun added. "I think you and Marik conspired together. You opened the crate of weapons and pulled out the spear. Remembering where Marik is, you handed him the spear and helped him grab Lia and keep her quiet. That's why we only heard her cry out or struggle. She couldn't possibly have fought against the both of you."

I rolled my eyes. "Nice theory, Nancy Drew. Did you forget about the part where the body was covered in blood? Do you see any blood on me?"

Sun looked triumphant as she said, "Maybe it's somewhere nobody else can see. Why don't you take off that leather jacket so we can see the inside of it?"

I suddenly felt self-conscious. The jacket was the only thing keeping my skin from breaking out in goosepimples. "Do you seriously think I would use my jacket to keep blood off of me? What a waste of a good jacket."

"Well, if you're innocent, Sera, you've got nothing to hide, right?" Leon said in a much kinder tone than Sun.

I growled in frustration and then snapped. "Fine! I'll take it off." I shrugged off the beautiful white leather jacket and then held it up, showing them the light pink satin on the inside, completely unstained -well, save for a couple of pit stains that nobody could really see. But I mean, could you blame me? This entire thing was making me sweat harder than a sinner in church and I wasn't even guilty of anything. "See! I told you!"

Sun pursed her lips in silence before nodding. "Well, there goes that theory."

"What about Marik?" Mako asked solemnly. "He's still suspicious, and so's Rafael."

"Yeah…" Leon said slowly. "I find it really suspicious that he claimed to be attacked during the lunch period, but that we didn't hear a warning from Pegasus. After all, harming someone when the lights are on is against the rules."

I gasped. "Shit. You're right. We were trying to figure out who attacked him earlier and we were having a hard time because all of us were together nearly the entire time when he said he was being attacked. Maybe he just wanted some time to himself while he knew everyone else was in the mess hall."

"Time for what?" Serenity asked, a deep frown on her face.

"Time to hide Lia's body!" I exclaimed, feeling like Phoenix Wright putting all the puzzle pieces together. "He lied to me and Rex about going to find you and Ryou so we wouldn't question him, and then he got to work on hiding her so nobody would be able to find anymore clues and he wouldn't be caught."

"Just a question, though," Enzi interrupted me. "I'm actually surprised I hadn't thought of this earlier, but say one of us killed Lia. What is the punishment for killing someone in the first place? What would the incentive be to hide this act, especially if this is all just what Pegasus intended?"

Just then, Pegasus, who had been uncharacteristically quiet the entire time spoke up. "I'm glad someone finally asked," he said in a cheerful voice that bounced irritatingly on every single one of my nerves. "I suppose I should have mentioned this earlier, but it holds no bearing over the nature of this murder. If you do not manage to discover the identity of the murderer by the end of this meeting, the successful murderer will be granted immunity and will effectively be considered a winner of this game. This means that the previous rule about immunity is void because it would mean that none of you got the correct answer."

"And what if the killer just admits to it during the meeting?" I asked.

"Then they forfeit their immunity and neither you nor the killer get immunity," he explained.

"And what happens to the killer if they aren't successful and we discover who they are in this discussion?" Sun pressed.

"Then they do not get immunity, and whichever one of you exposed them will be granted immunity. In this case, the killer will remain among you."

I groaned and buried my face in my hands. That just meant that whoever found out who the killer was would get immunity, but they would also doom the rest of the group into spending another day with the convicted killer. The fact that it was against the rules to harm people when the lights were on didn't really give me that much comfort.

"So let's just give up," I replied. "If we let the killer go then none of us will be stuck with them after the meeting is over, right?"

"Wrong," Sun reminded me. "Immunity means they get to hang out with the other guests -our friends and families, so of course that's a bad idea."

"It's fine," Zephyr remarked. "We just find out who this motherfucker is,and whoever is left behind can tie the killer's ass up so nobody dies. Simple."

[Soundtrack: Totem Blume - Umineko No Naku Koro Ni]

"In that case," Leon said finally, pushing his chair back and standing up. "I'd like to submit to you guys my theory on who killed Lia if you'll have it." All eyes were now on him.

"The floor is yours, kid," Zephyr replied. "Let's see what you've got."

"I don't think it was Sera or Marik or Rafael," the boy said. "Actually, I don't think it's anyone in room either."

"Um, kid," Zephyr interrupted. "That's fucking impossible, unless you're saying Ryou or Rex did it -and one of them has an alibi, the other was on Team Beta."

"I know! But please!" Leon pleaded. "Just hear me out. I'm certain of this. Lia was the only person in the room other than Sera who knew the PIN to the box. I already told you before that I think Lia was the one who opened the box. First, I thought that maybe someone forced her to open it, but I don't think that's what happened either. I think she opened it of her own free will with the intent to murder someone."

"So you're saying she attacked someone and they retaliated by pinning her against the wall with a spear?" Mako asked uncertainly, tilting his neck to look at Leon.

Leon shook his neck. "No, I don't think so. If she were going to kill someone they would have to have been someone nearby. The closest people to her were the ones gathered around the door and Ryou, who was standing beside Team Beta's table. Having listened to everyone's testimony, it's clear that nobody recalls being assaulted by a small spear-wielding girl, correct?"

"Where are you even going with this?" I asked him, feeling my heart thudding in my chest in horror, because contrary to my question, I had a very bad feeling about where this was going.

"Simple," Leon replied with an intense expression on his face. "Mr. Pegasus… Everyone… I think Lia is the murderer"

There was a slimy sense of discomfort wrapping itself around my chest as he spoke. "But how?" I asked, losing my voice for a split second.

"Well, I started to suspect it when I discovered the bloody bobby pin on the ground right after the murder, but I wasn't sure of it until I heard everyone's testimony just now. Here's what I think happened:

"Upon seeing the weapons in the crate, Lia had already started to formulate her plan, and as soon as the lights turned off, she didn't hesitate to go to the crate and pull out a weapon. We can account the bloody bobby pin to her having knelt down on the pin, scratching her knee in the process. That's when we heard her let out a cry of pain.

"After opening the box and pulling out the spear, she wiped off the blood on her knee with her hand. She stumbled around in the dark looking for the wall, and that's when she bumped into Ryou.

"The next thing she did was stand with her back against the wall on the tips of her toes, holding the spear in her mouth with both hands. She made sure to position herself well because she only had one shot at doing this right. Then, using all the strength she could, she pushed the spear through her head and the wall. I'd say she probably was conscious long enough to remember to let go of the rod, but not long enough to remember to wipe away her handprints, which we found on the rod afterwards."

There was a pregnant pause at the end of his tale in which each of us sent the boy our bewildered and confused stares. "Um, Leon," I said, "No offense, but what in the everloving fuck are you on? And can I have some, too? Because that is the most ridiculous sounding thing thing I've ever heard, and I came back from the fucking dead, so I know ridiculous."

Leon looked slightly offended, but didn't waver in his resolve. "It doesn't matter what you think. This is the truth, isn't it, Pegasus?"

In my disbelief at hearing Leon's story, I wasn't paying attention to Pegasus's giant face on the monitor. The man was grinning from ear to ear like a kid on Christmas morning. He looked like he was going to burst out laughing at any moment. Clearly he wasn't buying this theory either.

"Congratulations, Leon," Pegasus said. "You're absolutely right."

See? I told y'all… Wait what?

"Hold the fucking phone!" I snapped at the screen. "Are you telling me that bitch killed herself by impaling herself against a fucking wall? How the fuck does that make sense? This has to be the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. There are so many easier ways to kill yourself!"

The billionaire chuckled to himself. "That's exactly what I'm saying, Serafina. Suicide is such a grim affair, isn't it."

"You're shitting me," Zephyr said, sounding completely defeated from across the room. "No fucking way." Rafael and Sun weren't speaking, but they were also grimacing in shock and displeasure.

"But why do something so elaborate? Why go to all that trouble?" Serenity said quietly, the horror in her voice muted but still evident. She couldn't even look up from the table.

Leon stroked his chin thoughtfully. "I don't know. That's what confused me, too. I almost wrote this theory off for that very reason, but I think maybe she did it so that she could frame someone else. Maybe the entire reason she killed herself was so that she could blame someone else for her murder. And it almost worked. Everyone was ready to claim that Marik or Sera did it…"

The screen showing Pegasus's face went dark for a moment before another image was plastered over it, one showing this very room in shades of green and grey. I recognized it as the five minutes of the blackout. We all watched in stunned silence as everything we testified about was shown in high definition before us. However, all eyes were on Lia. She moved like a robot towards the weapons crate, even stumbling when her knee lands on my bobby pin. It all took place exactly as Leon narrated it. With the video proof, there was absolutely no way to deny it. We were all innocent, but the truth was much more horrifying than any of us could have even imagined.

No fucking way… There was absolutely no fucking way. I must have been in topsy-turvy land, because there was no way this made sense in any universe. And yet, here we were, watching Lia dangle against the wall after pinning herself. In fact, she had managed to get herself up there in three minutes and fourteen seconds according to the timestamp at the bottom.

It was all so fucked and I didn't even know whether I was angry or sad or confused. All of my emotions simply came out in one horrified shriek. "GOD DAMMIT!"