Drip… Drip… Drop…
"ONE, TWO, THREE!"
"Again!"
"ONE, TWO, THREE!"
"Again!"
"ONE, TWO, THREE!"
"Again!"
Navia walked up to Aether and Paimon, watching Bardock, Izuku, and Cell play Rock Paper Scissors for a reason unknown to her, whilst Lego also watched this unfold, though he was standing on the now empty stage of the opera house alongside his men.
"Traveler," Navia began, getting Aether and Paimon's attention, "can you tell me what's going on? I'm a bit lost with what they're trying to achieve… as well as how their voices haven't gone hoarse from all the shouting.
"From what I gathered, they're doing Rock Paper Scissors until one of them wins so that then, in the words of Cell, 'the winner can have the privilege of beating the shit out of Lego under the guise of it being training'," Aether answered, before looking back at the ongoing game of Rock Paper Scissors.
"Paimon's pretty sure it was Lego's idea in the first place, but Paimon's pretty sure Cell just wants to beat him up," Paimon added as she crossed her arms.
Navia glanced at Lego who was standing on the stage with his arms crossed, holding a sheathed blade in hand. "Wait, when did he get that sword?"
"He's… different like that," Aether replied, not sure how to put it into words. "I think that the sword he has is the one he showed off on the Aquabus we rode here to Fontaine. What was its name again?"
"The Yomoto?" Paimon guessed as she tried to remember. "The Yamoto? The Mihoyo?"
"Oh! The Yamato!" Aether said, snapping his fingers as he remembered.
"ONE, TWO, THREE!"
"I WIN!" Bardock shouted as he had thrown out Rock, whilst Izuku and Cell had thrown out Scissors.
"Goddamn it!" Cell exclaimed, agitated due to his loss against Bardock. "I will beat his ass one of these days!"
Bardock scoffed and cockily smirked at Cell. "As if you could beat him. He beat you when you both first met!"
"He cheated with his bullshit!" Cell shouted, before attempting a wild haymaker.
"Discombobulate," Izuku muttered as he chopped Cell on both sides of his head, before dragging Cell off the stage.
"So now it is time," Lego said as he looked at Bardock, still holding the Yamato in his hand.
Bardock hummed. "Surprised you wanna train at a time like this. Hell, I'm surprised you want to train, period."
"Evil's a cheap piece of shit copy of me so I want to be better than that," Lego replied as he gripped the Yamato's sheath. "That and I want to practice combos, hence why I was silently cheering for Cell, but I'll see how much you can take."
Bardock, and everyone else, was visibly stunned by what Lego said. "What?" Bardock got out before Lego appeared in front of him, now holding a broadsword as he slashed down at Bardock.
"Helm Breaker motherfucker!" Lego shouted as the attack hit Bardock's shoulder, slashing it and chipping off a piece of his armor. Lego then jumped back as the broadsword disappeared and the Yamato with its sheath returned into his hands. With the Yamato in its sheath, Lego slightly pulled out the Yamato before sheathing it once more, as the air where Bardock stood was rapidly sliced, cutting more of his body armor off.
"He's doing the Vergil stuff!" Cell exclaimed whilst everyone watched. "HE'S GETTING MIXED!"
"I thought this was meant to be training!" Bardock said as he looked at Lego.
"It is, you're just a dummy," Lego said as he pulled out two Desert Eagles that were both noticeably different from each other, with the main thing different being that one was more of a darker gray than the shiny steel gray of the other. Lego then proceeded to light up Bardock with the two pistols, everyone witnessing the hollow point rounds manifesting eyes where the bullets landed against Bardock, with Lego being a bit bold as he bent his arm so one of the guns were behind him whilst he shot Bardock. Inevitably, he brought both guns together and said, "Jackpot," before shooting the Saiyan with a powered up shot that sent Bardock rolling back.
Navia looked at Lego's group. "Should we-" Navia began, before Izuku cut her off by shaking his head.
"Bardock is more than capable of taking some hits," Izuku stated, watching as Bardock was slowly assaulted by all manners of weaponry and techniques that Lego has 'obtained' from various franchises.
"What the hell is going on?!" A very much disorientated Bardock questioned as he slowly stood up, before getting socked in the face by Lego.
"SHORYUKEN!" Lego shouted as he followed up with the iconic uppercut from the Street Fighter series. Jumping up into the air, Lego quickly followed up with two more slashed from the Yamato, before ditching the Yamato and pulling out two scimitars that were different colors as flames and gusts of wind followed them as he slashed Bardock with them, before spinning as he continued to attack Bardock until they hit the ground. "VOLCANO BITCH!" Lego shouted as the swords dispersed, thrusting his fist towards the ground and hitting Bardock, causing cracks in the stage and splintering the wood a fair bit.
Bardock at this point just laid in the ground, unmoving. "...I sense… anger," Bardock commented.
Lego blinked a bit, before realizing the damage he did. "...yeah maybe I took this too seriously."
"YA THINK?!"
"Okay, in my defense, I've been Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3," Lego said after they had fixed the stage of the opera house, and Bardock was bandaged and propped up on a seat, in a full body cast.
"You put Bardock in a full body cast!" Cell shouted as he gestured to the Saiyan.
"I'm not that injured…" Bardock grumbled as he had been forcibly put into a full body cast.
"I can't believe you've been so hostile," Kermit added as he shook his head whilst looking at Lego.
"Man, shut the fuck up," Lego retorted as he began to argue with the two lead members of the DevilArtemis Universe.
Lyney was watching this happen and sighed, before turning to look at his twin sister, Lynette. "I see why you don't fully believe in them, sis."
"Father is going to be disappointed," Lynette replied.
"My my, infighting?" Everyone paused, before turning to see Furina, accompanied by a fair bit of the Fontaine Gardes, with it also being notable to Navia, Melus, and Silver that Furina was being accompanied by one of the Champion Duelists of Fontaine, Clorinde, who most of Lego's squad were familiar with already. "But what can I expect? You're going to be going up against a God in a trial!" With a laugh that could be described as condescending, Furina added, "It's only natural to be scared."
"You listen here," Cell began before Lego backhanded Cell.
"I swear to god if you don't shut the fuck up I'll make you babysit Zarbon and Hisoka and we both know that your ass won't survive that literally and figuratively so SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Lego shouted rapidly at Cell, before pimp slapping him again. Lego turned to Furina and said, "Also, I ain't scared of you."
There was a moment of silence, before Kermit poked Lego with his elbow and said, "Are you gonna follow up by saying 'bitch', or-" Lego glared at Kermit. "Alright, nevermind."
Lego looked back at Furina and pointed at her dramatically. "You should be prepared to lose this duel, because make no mistake, plot armor is on our side just as much as it is on yours, and that's foreshadowing!"
"Foreshadowing?" Lego's entire group questioned.
Bardock's eyes widened. "Wait-!"
"I'm not gonna say it," Lego said as he looked at Bardock.
"Thank god," Bardock and Cell said at the same time.
"Say what?" Navia questioned.
"I CAN SEE THE FUTURE," Lego said loudly, causing Bardock and Cell to groan as he lied to them.
Furina was dumbfounded by these people, as she had never seen or heard people act like this… ever. And she was over 500 years old. But in her mind, this trial would be an easy one if they were as… unhinged as they were now during the trial.
But oh how wrong she was.
"Alright, are we ready?" Izuku asked Lyney, Lynette, Aether, Paimon and Lego as they stood on the defendant platform of the Opera House.
Lyney and Lynette both nodded whilst Lego leaned over one of the wooden rails, looking down at the audience where the members of the Spina di Rosula, and the rest of the people in his group sat as the platform would be a little crowded otherwise.
Lego eventually looked across the Opera House at Furina, who stood with a Garde beside her with a confident smile. Lego closed his eyes and shook his head, before stating, "This will be simple."
"Simple?" Lyney questioned as he looked at Lego, baffled by the statement. "Pardon me, but-"
Lego held a hand up to stop the magician from going on. "Relax. We have the deeds."
"You have the deeds," Izuku corrected. "Because while you probably know what the hell is going on, we don't. Plus, we have to also explain everything from start to finish with the evidence provided."
"And we have… nearly all of it." The author hummed as he glanced at the defense, before looking back over at Furina. "She won't know what hit her."
Neuvillette made his way up to his seat, above the Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale, above the main stage, and sat down, the audience chatting as any moment, the trial would begin.
"You look tense." Lego looked at Aether, who stood next to him. "I'm not sure of the conclusion you reached from the evidence, but we might need a miracle to pull this off."
"The pieces are in play and the damned will reveal themselves," Lego replied, though he averted his gaze. "I feel a bit guilty though."
"Guilty?" Aether questioned as the defense and accused looked at Lego, with a mixture of expressions, ranging from confused to surprised.
Lego nodded as he twitched a bit. "Because she's in for a wake up call… and it's not gonna be pretty."
"You're looking rather nervous over there!" Furina called out, seeing the confusion and anxiety running through Lyney's party at the defense stand. She let out a condescending laugh which notably riled Izuku's feathers. "It can't be helped! The-"
"-damned will sooner die before the innocent are harmed!" Izuku retorted as he cut her off, glaring at Furina.
Furina laughed, though was slightly unnerved. "The guilty can never provide proof of their innocence… but don't let that stop you!" She looked at Aether, who did ultimately get involved, much to her amusement and excitement. "Especially you, Aether. I would be terribly disappointed should you, my most anticipated foe, concede so easily."
"Just you wait," Aether replied.
"Since both parties are present, I declare that the trial regarding the magic show incident is now in session," Neuvillette stated, hushing both parties and the audience, the trial now underway. "Firstly, in order for the audience to understand the causes and results of the incident, could we please have Mr. Lyney explain the trick?"
Lyney nodded. "Yes, of course. I will explain while Lynette demonstrates onstage. All the necessary items have been prepared." After a brief rundown of the magic trick, everything slowly made sense to the audience and Neuvillette.
"Thank you, Mr. Lyney," Neuvillette said once more. "In that case, I take your statement to be that you ran to, and remained hidden within, the magic box in the audience stands once the trick began, and thus could not have committed the crime. Is this correct?"
"Under normal circumstances without ulterior motives, yes," Lego called out, cutting Lyney off before he could speak, and surprising Neuvillette and Furina. "See, Lyney had an objective for this magic trick, one that required his attention elsewhere."
"The disappearance of the girl?" Furina questioned.
"The investigation of the Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale," Lego said, confusing and surprising the audience.
"So… the truth then," Lyney hummed. With a reluctant sigh, "No, Your Honor, I was not in the magic box during the performance."
Chatter broke out in the audience, with Neuvillette and Furina being surprised by what Lego stated, as well as Lyney's follow-up. "Then Mr. Lyney, can you and your attorneys explain what happened during the magic trick?" Neuvillette asked.
"If I may," Lego began, cutting in once more to deliver the follow up. "60 seconds is what Lyney gave himself to work with. During this time, after dropping from the magic box on stage and into the below stage tunnel, Lyney took off the vent cover inside the tunnel that would lead to backstage. From here, a sprint would ensue to the Oratrice, a device that many say is shrouded in mystery. How does such a device work after all? With the audience being loud enough counting down, he could easily keep track of how much time he had before he would need to return to the stage." Lyney and Lynette both looked at Lego, surprised and visibly nervous.
"Hold on, when the hell did we-" Izuku began, also confused, but he was cut off by Neuvillette.
"Mr. Lyney, is this correct?" Neuvillette asked the accused.
After a moment of dumbfounded silence, Lyney nodded his head. "Yes, Your Honor." The scale of the Oratrice then tilted in favor of Lyney and Lynette, surprising Lego's crew, as well as the Traveler and Paimon.
"In that case, I call upon the prosecution — Lady Furina. Do you wish to refute his statement in any way?" Neuvillette asked as he looked over at Furina.
"Why, of course I do," Furina answered, before directing her attention at Lyney. "Allow me to take the first shot and break this case wide open. Mr. Lyney is clearly lying." Putting her hands on her hips, Furina said, "There is no way you were running from the tunnel to the Oratrice, especially if you were to abduct Halsey and murder Cowell! Whilst the audience was counting down, you had kidnapped Halsey and dragged her through the vent to hide her away before you had to return! But Cowell caught you after you kidnapped Halsey when the count reached 30 seconds or so. I believe the loud thud that practically everyone in the audience heard at the moment was caused by you trying to subdue Cowell, using the knocked over vase to knock him out before you deposited him into the compartment that went to the magic box on stage!"
"Objection!" Lego shouted as he dramatically pointed at Furina, cutting her off before she could go on any further.
"Mr. Lego, do you wish to counteract Furina's statement?" Neuvillette questioned.
"Yes, and this was actually my main point," Lego said as he looked at Furina. "Thank you for playing into my hand."
Furina's eyes widened. "Wha-?"
"First, the vent is not big enough for two people to crawl in at once, or for someone to be dragged through it by someone else," Lego countered, busting a point of Furina's assumption about the chain of events. "Second, Cowell's death ultimately was pointless if Lyney truly were behind the disappearances." Lego jumped over the railing, frightening the audience for a moment before he started to walk in the air, startling them even further. "Halsey disappearing is our first problem, as her disappearance is obviously a major problem. Where did she go? Who kidnapped her? But now you have to factor in Cowell, who was killed by the falling water tank." Lego chuckled as he stood in the air, almost directly in between the three stands of Neuvillette, the prosecutor, and the defendants. "Allow me to enlighten you, God of Justice…
"Cowell was the real murderer, and he killed Halsey."
The audience exploded in confusion, surprise, and overall disbelief. Was the deceased the true culprit?
"WHAT?!" Lyney questioned as he and Lynette looked at Lego, with both of the magicians not being in the know.
"Paimon didn't expect that…" Paimon commented as she put a hand to her head as she looked at Lego.
"What the fuck are you on about…" Izuku questioned as he got notably worried as Lego was completely doing his own thing. Revelations were being made left and right.
"Order, order," Neuvillette shouted, silencing the audience and all relevant people. "First, Mr. Lego-"
"Please just call me Lego, I do not like being addressed as Mister," Lego said to the judge.
"-return to the stand, and… do not walk on the air during this trial again," Neuvillette finished, with Lego returning to Lyney and Lynette. "And second, allow me to re-establish the facts. You believe that Cowell is the true culprit?"
"Correct," Lego said. "He is in a position that puts him under the radar as clearly demonstrated." Lego looked at Furina. "If you did your basic research on Cowell, you would know he's been with the group for a long while, long enough to be one of Lyney's assistants. This granted him access to the seating chart, the props, and knowledge of the magic tricks, how they are performed.
"Now, let us consider that and put it into a new context," Lego continued. "Lyney's alibi is that he was investigating the Oratrice, something that should've been known by Cowell. Combine this with the evidence, I believe Cowell was sabotaging Lyney and Lynette and pinning the blame on them… which was working, until I showed up."
"Present the evidence to support your claim," Neuvillette stated, so far buying into Lego's assumption.
"The seat selector which was sabotaged to select only Halsey's seat is our most basic one," Lego said. "Additionally with the pyrotechnics and ropes, Cowell also would've been able to subtly influence how they were used or positioned so the water tank would fall as suggested by the flash cotton inside the ropes. But inside the tunnel, there were a couple things out of place.
"For starters, if you're abducting a woman, why does she need to be stripped of her clothes?" Lego continued. "We found Halsey's clothes on the ground next to a puddle of water by the knocked over vase, which is more than likely the cause of the loud thud heard during the performance. But the vase never held water, judging from how the interior of the vase was, mainly, dry as well as the list of tricks meant to be performed by the magic troupe. Also, we found an… out of place hook inside the tunnel attached to severed rope. With this in mind, I believe Hasley is if the evidence is to believe with a bit of speculation… nothing more than a puddle, and this was the original reason why the water tank would've fell…"
"To dispose of the water safely from where she was transformed and leave us all none the wiser," Izuku finished, catching on to Lego's thought pattern.
"Pfft, th-that's preposterous!" Furina said, as if denying the possibility that such was possible.
"Mind you, your prophecy is being used for speculation, but with the Gardes' testimony that no one entered or left the Opera House… well, this is speculation," Lego said. Once again, the Oratrice tilted in Lyney and Lynette's favor. "Assuming this to be true, then the hook could've likely been placed within one of the balloons of the magic box's compartment, popping it and perhaps releasing a substance that would dissolve her… which is ironic, considering how this nation is the nation of Hydro. It'd be… poetic, wouldn't you say?" Lego asked Furina as he looked at her.
"How could a person ever be transformed into water?!" Furina questioned. "This is reality we're talking about here, not some magic trick!"
"I believe the Adepti of Liyue would like to have a word with you," Lego retorted. "Plus, I just walked on air!"
"So?!" Furina retorted, before Lego teleported in front of her.
"So who the fuck are you to question what can and what can't?!" Lego practically growled in her face, startling Furina as she fell backwards, before he teleported back to Lyney's stand.
"If Cowell is behind this… can we look at his belongings, Your Honor?" Izuku asked Neuvillette.
"I believe that this is a reasonable request on the part of an attorney," Neuvillette replied with a nod. "Since the trial does appear to have arrived at an impasse, I believe that additional evidence may help us make more progress. Gardes, please step into the lounge and examine the personal effects of the deceased, Cowell."
As the audience began murmuring, Lyney looked at Lego, and whispered, "You have a lot to explain!"
"What do you mean?" Aether asked Lyney as Lynette also glared at Lego.
Lyney gritted his teeth and sighed. "Me and Lynette never mentioned the original intention of the magic trick to anyone outside the magic group!"
"Not surprised," Izuku muttered as he looked at Lego.
"So hold on, we nearly lied during the trial?" Paimon questioned.
Lyney nodded. "Yes! Which now begs the question…" Lyney looked at Lego. "How much do you know?" Lego was silent as he and Lyney stared at each other, until the Gardes inevitably showed up a moment later, with one of them walking on stage.
"We are still examining the items, but we have already made critical progress that we feel must be shared with everyone posthaste," the Garde said as he looked up at Neuvillette. "We discovered several test tubes of fluid within Cowell's baggage, each labeled separately. The notebook in his backpack claims that these fluids are 'Water from the Primordial Sea'."
"The Primordial Sea…" Neuvillette mumbled as he took in the evidence, whilst Lego merely smiled under his mask.
"The notes' contents also indicate that Cowell belonged to an organization that sells illegal drugs, and that he had an accomplice. The notebook has many entries concerning safe usage of these fluids, in which the keyword 'dissolve' appears many times. One of these tubes was labeled 'Opera Epiclese' along with yesterday's date; it is empty. The notes also state that these dissolution properties work exclusively on people from Fontaine. It's likely that Halsey was chosen as some sort of test subject. As such, we believe that the defense's hypothesis is, in fact, supported by sufficient evidence."
"...it's strangely poetic how with this information, Cowell was crushed by a water tank," Lego commented. "Since Fontaine is the nation of Hydro and Justice, being crushed by it is like… being crushed by justice." Meanwhile, at this moment, Navia, Melus, and Sliver slipped away as Navia had a realization.
"Order, order!" Neuvillette called out as the audience slowly dissolved into a scared and confused talking mess.
"He knows," Cell commented as he looked at Lego.
"A hundred percent," Raiden agreed.
"Sus," Bardock added.
"It is undeniable that further examination of the deceased's personal effects has yielded some surprising results, but we cannot yet verify the veracity of these clues," Neuvillette stated. "Still, let us assume that these clues are indeed authentic — albeit with the understanding that Ms. Halsey has yet to be found."
"Now to uncover the exact circumstances that led to Cowell's death…" Lyney commented.
'Oh dear, what do I do?!' A panicked Furina thought to herself. 'Even I think they sound convincing now! Have I falsely accused an innocent person?!'
"His notes mentioned an accomplice who could be related to the situation," Lyney added, whilst a Garde walked up to Neuvillette and whispered something to him.
"On that note, the Gardes have just contacted me indicating that they uncovered new evidence," Neuvillette said. "I shall now invite him onstage to share it with us."
The Garde walked onstage. "Thank you, Your Honor. We were just inspecting the luggage of the other people involved in this case, and we found an identical sample of the Water from the Primordial Sea among Lyney's personal effects."
"Well, I've done my part," Lego called out suddenly, before jumping off the stand once more and landing onto the stage. "Yo, one of you, fetch her."
"What did you say?" Neuvillette questioned as he looked at Lego once more, the Garde on stage also confused, before Lego socked the Garde in the face, sending him sprawling. Izuku during this moment, also jump down and ended up restraining the Garde using his Nanomachines.
"Say less," Bardock said as he stood up and broke out his body cast, before using Instant Transmission and disappearing, before reappearing on stage with a confused Halsey.
"H-Huh?!" The formerly missing girl questioned, with everyone noting that she was wearing a new dress.
Lego then summoned a chair out of nowhere, and forced Halsey to sit down on it, before pointing at her. "The jig is up…" Lego quickly opened his phone with his other hand and said, "Liliane."
"Hold on, I thought her name was Halsey," Izuku questioned as he looked at Lego.
"But this is the girl who went missing," Bardock said. "I've been sensing her energy this whole time."
"I second that," Cell shouted from in the front row of the audience.
"No no, he's… right," Liliane said as she corrected everyone. "My name is Liliane, and I'm originally from Mondstadt. I heard that Lyney's show was going to be a real thriller, but I missed the chance to buy a ticket, so I stole one… that's how I make a living. I still stuff here and there, and I'd never been caught before. But I was noticed at the harbor a few days ago, and I barely got away." Giving Lyney a side eye glance, she added, "Lyney was the one who caught me in the act.
"I thought that would've been the end of it, but then the number selector chose me… So I played along with the show while looking for an opening to flee, but then I got water poured on me for no reason, and then someone jumped into the tunnel to nab me." Sighing, Liliane crossed her arms and said, "I wasn't going to take that lying down, so I knocked him out and stuffed him into the box. There was nowhere to run from there, though, so I had to change my clothes and hide in a box containing performance costumes. I slipped out after the first Garde arrived at the scene and continued hiding inside the opera house."
"Which means, with this new information…" Lego began as he glared over at the Garde who attempted to present false evidence. "We also know who our snake is…" The double agent was clearly scared shitless from how pale he looked and how he was shaking.
"If there are no objections, then as the Chief Justice of Fontaine, I shall repeat the full sequence of events," Neuvillette began as Furina looked down, having realized she lost.
"The actual perpetrator of the serial disappearances, Cowell, selected his next victim from the audience reservation list. With the modifications to the selector, he could ensure that the pre-selected young woman would be chosen. To cover up any evidence while committing the deed, Cowell thought of allowing the water tank to fall which would conceal the water left behind after the young woman was dissolved. He also tampered with the ropes suspending the water tank, using the fireworks at the end of the performance to cause the tank to drop and hide the water marks. He poured the Water from the Primordial Sea into a balloon during the preparation of the magic box and stuck it to the box's lid. Finally, he passed the prepared hook on a rope through the gap in the magic box's door when bringing the young woman to said box.
"When the magic trick officially began, the box containing the woman was lowered into the tunnel, tightening the hook rope and bursting the balloon containing the Water. If all had gone to plan, the young woman would be dissolved at this time. However, Liliane was not from Fontaine, and thus fled the box with a loud noise. Realizing that there was trouble, Cowell entered the tunnel and met Liliane. Thinking that the Waters had not yet taken effect, he decided to proceed. However, his opponent was more capable than he thought, and he was overcome, knocked unconscious, and placed into the magic box, and thus became his own final victim. Liliane, according to her own statements, then changed clothes and hid until the performance ended before hiding in other parts of the opera house."
Glancing over at Lyney, Neuvillette continued. "As for Lyney, he was in the underground structures within the opera house, and was thus ignorant of these happenings. From this reconstruction of events, we can conclude that Lyney, the accused, is in fact innocent. This case can be handed over to the Oratrice to make the final decision."
With a separate Garde on stage who was not the double agent, he inserted a tablet into the Oratrice, before it began to glow blue, as a slightly blinding light flashed, with Lego's crew noting how some blue energy came from the audience. A tablet appeared from a slit in the platform in front of Neuvillette before he retrieved a piece of paper from it.
"As such, Lyney and Lynette are officially declared 'Not Guilty'!" Neuvillette called out, making Lyney and Lynette relax, before Neuvillette set his gaze on the double agent. "Next… I think we deserve an explanation, Garde Vaughn. How did you find the Water from the Primordial Sea in Lyney's baggage?"
"I… uh…" Vaughn looked away, clearly panicking.
"Fess up you bastard," Lego snarled angrily. "Hell is all that awaits you."
"I suspect that the accomplice mentioned in Cowell's notes was not Lyney, but you, yes?" Neuvillette questioned. "I'm sure you know what you must do to lessen your sentence."
"I-I was just following orders!" Vaughn exclaimed. "We were supposed to place the blame for the serial disappearances onto Lynet and thus cause suspicion to fall on the Fatui. The higher-ups said that this was the best opportunity to do so."
"Wait, the Fatui?!" Paimon exclaimed, before looking at Lyney and Lynette, who wouldn't meet Aether and Paimon's gaze.
"Well, Lyney and Lynette are from the House of Hearth," Furina said as she looked over at Lyney's attorneys. "I was gonna bring this up, but seeing as my arguments were taken from me before I could talk, I never got a chance…"
"And now that your plan has fallen through, and the secrets of the Water have been revealed, you have become a liability to said higher-ups, yes?" Neuvillette questioned Vaughn. "Therefore, you would be wise to tell everything you know and seek the protection of the Gardes."
"Y-Yes! I'll tell you everything I know!" The now desperate Vaughn said.
"Release him," Lego told Izuku, who let Vaughn out of his Nanomachines' grip.
"Our boss discovered that the Water can cause people to dissolve," Vaughn confessed as he looked at Neuvillette. "It can also be made into a potion which, when extremely diluted, can cause people to experience unforgettable exhilaration. We've been in this business for a while now, and have made decent Mora off of it."
"And you've killed people like this was a sick joke," Lego added as he glared at Vaughn. "Well, you rest assured your boss will join you in Hell." Confusion arose as Lego glared at the double agent.
"Wh-What are you-?" Vaughn began as he suddenly felt funny.
"Liabilities get terminated," Lego said. "And you are about to drip, drip…"
"Aaargh!" Vaughn screamed as his face slowly began to melt and discolor, turning into water as his body rapidly turned into water, his screams swiftly fading with a gurgle, shocking and disturbing the entire audience at the scene.
"Drop," Lego finished as Vaughn was no more… dissolved into water, his clothes being the only sign that he was ever here as everyone was nearly speechless.
"Holy fucking shit," Cell stated, horrified.
"This is almost as bad as when you sucked people up your booty straw," Kermit said to Cell.
"I have slaughtered many… that takes the cake," Raiden added as he looked at the puddle on the stage.
"An outrageous act," Neuvillette said, before looking at the audience. "All present, please submit to inspection immediately!"
"And so… judgment day approaches," Lego said as he looked away, despite internally wanting to vomit as god that shit was horrifying to witness.
Nothing was found on the scene or anyone else who was present. Vaughn was no more… but his boss was still at large.
The aquabus ride back to the airship was silent despite the Melusine conductor's attempts to lighten the mood.
"We defended Lyney, only for a new can of worms to open… fucking great," Izuku muttered after a long silence.
"At least Lyney's trial went off without a hitch," Bardock said. "We defended him… although his conduct as a member of the Fatui could be questioned since apparently they're… what did you say Raiden?"
"A neutral terrorist organization that probably doubles as diplomats for Snezhnaya," Raiden answered.
"Yes, that," Bardock finished.
"I have a better question," Cell stated, before looking at Lego. "How and why the fuck were you taking lead of the trial?! Like, you didn't even want to do this shit originally!"
"New information came to light regarding Furina," Lego answered as he looked over at Cell. "And so opinions change. Plus… I wanted to get that done as quickly as possible." Everyone merely rolled their eyes and muttered their own shit. "Bitches, this shit IS serious!"
"Bullshit!" Cell and Bardock shouted.
"The entire fate of a nation is currently in jeopardy! Yes, it is!" Lego said.
"So what?!" Bardock questioned. "We're not exactly 'good guys'!"
"Which is also a good point that we can use to our advantage!" Lego replied as he pointed at Bardock, confusing the group now.
A chorus of, "What?" ran from each of the current people of Lego's group before he looked at each of them.
"Tune in next time," Lego stated as he looked off at the sunset. "...god, I'm gonna rot in Hell."
Sooner or later, As Light Rain Falls Without Reason shall be continued, and we will eventually get around to the end of Fontaine's shit.
I got a lot of storylines to write for… so… chaos it is.