THE SECOND TRIAL

[strangerpeople]

THE SECOND TRIAL

[Soon after the failed attempt to contact the dead, the tell-tale alarm suddenly rings out, rattling everyone's teeth alongside Marie's voice.]

ATTENTION! EMERGENCY ALERT! PLEASE GO TO THE ELEVATORS IMMEDIATELY!! HMHMHMMM! I WILL NEVER GET TIRED OF SAYING THAT...!

[And so, once again, the elevators bring everyone back down to the trial room, where the table has been...altered, slightly, color-wise, to reflect those who are no longer among you. And once more, upon entering the force field, weapons disappear - and powers fail to work.

Bottson hops up onto the center of the table, transmitting the evidence found.]

heRe yOU Are eVerYBOdy! THe sUsPECt lISt!



YoU cAN Do THiS!


[Above everyone once more is Marie, floating around in her hover platform.]

WELL, WELL! FANCY MEETING YOU ALL HERE AGAIN! I GUESS YOU ALL FAILED TO KEEP THAT GUY ALIVE, HUH?? AHAHAHA!!

WELL, LET'S SEE IF YOU CAN GET WHO DID IT THIS TIME, HMM??

Comments

[backuphero]

Hang on to this for me, okay? Just... in case anybody else decided to vote like I did, and you end up without the reckless dead weight.

[He presses an obviously well-used "bracelet-style" one-decade rosary into her free hand with a sickly, sad smile.]

[fashionfever]

[Her eyes fill up with the tears she's been holding back this whole time. She loses three inches of height now that she's not power-posing in her push-up bra.]

You're not dead weight to me! You, you, [she promised to help him find another way without killing no matter what but. he has to vote to kill someone. she tucks it into a pocket and not her wrist so she clearly does know her way around it] You're a good person... You don't have to be smart like that to be a good person... [LOOK AT WHOEVER MURDERED ROSENKREUZ WITH THEIR KNOWLEDGE THAT TELEVISIONS CONDUCT ELECTRICITY INTO WATER]

[backuphero]

[...shit. He wasn't supposed to - he didn't mean to - ]

I don't want to be the reason somebody else dies. Not when they might be the reason everyone else lives.

[She's shorter than him, which is... that's about the only thing different from his mother as he can see right now. He's pretty convinced he's going to die, Angela, and that's a hell of a kind thing to say to someone who's convinced he's dead and has always been convinced he's not smart enough to stand on his own.

So congratulations: you're not the only one tearing up, and you now have Jonathan clinging to you.]

[crouching_sin]

[Well.]

[He gently pries Jonathan off of Angela and pulls him over to the side, speaking quietly.]

If I get killed...

[He lets out a long breath.]

You can tell them. I won't care anymore.

what is chronology? A MISERABLE LITTLE PILE OF SECRETS. so obvs this is after a reply to Angela...

[backuphero]

Even if you're watching, from... wherever? Naoya, I know you've died before, but how the hell can you -

[He shakes his head, words failing him, and then -

It's like with Akira, except he knows for certain, now. This is definitely the last chance he'll have to do this. He flings himself at Naoya, wrapping his arms around him just barely shy of what he knows would be too tightly.]

You... you're smarter than me, damn it, you're more use to everyone....

[crouching_sin]

... It's not like I have much of a choice now -

[Oh. Hugs. He gently rubs the other's back and strokes his hair with his free hand.]

It's not my decision anymore.

[backuphero]

[His voice is tiny and broken when he finds it, trying not to lose it in sobbing. He has to say this.]

You deserved better. Still do. I mean it. And I... hope it's over quick, for your sake. Not ours.

[crouching_sin]

... You're one of the few who would say that, here or otherwise.

[fashionfever]

[Angela gives him a distinct glare. She is evidently not one of the few.]

[backuphero]

Hah... may be few, but... well. "Who but the blood of outcasts/would dare weep for Cain - "

Damn it. Can't remember anything else.

[He pulls back, and looks Naoya square in the face, eyes limned with tears.]

My father wrote, when he was younger... look. If it's not like Akira said... you meet a man named John Morris? 'fore you kick his ass for me, ask him about that one.

[crouching_sin]

[Well, he can't argue with that... poem? Whatever it is.]

Well, I'll be around eventually. And I'll see what I can do. I'll kick him into the ground for you.

[backuphero]

[All Jonathan can do in response is nod. He doesn't trust his voice any more.]

[fashionfever]

[WARMLY HOLDS????]

I don't like - I don't like wasting someone's life with the death penalty. I don't like it at all. It sucks. But! Listen! Even with the prize—How can anyone be the reason we live, when they'd kill one of us, or let you take the fall? Anyone who hates me, or... or hated Rosenkreuz... that much, trying to save me? They can SHOVE IT!

[backuphero]

Angela. If it comes down to surviving by accepting help from someone you can't stand, who can't look you in the face... take it. Live. Some of us have to make it out of here.

[fashionfever]

And - why shouldn't it be you? Isn't that girl waiting for you? What's the point of all her hard work if she's going to just see you, you, you like...

[the ugly vulnerable positions of the victims here, she doesn't even want to reify around Jonathan but she can already see it]

[backuphero]

Chances are she'll -

[He can't finish that sentence. Can't spit out "see me like that anyway, I mean my father didn't even make it to 44", he can't do it with the sob in Angela's voice right there and his face hidden against her hair so he can just not see all of this.]

Damn it. Damn it, you're right. I don't want to die. I don't want to die.

[theserpentsmiles]

[Nagisa has returned to his spot around the table now and-

"E as in end"]

Don't say that! You were there for me when we got the first motive. Not all "use" is in intelligence or strength. Jonathan-- you're as much my brother by now as Yurick is!

[backuphero]

[Well, he's going to unbury his face from Angela's hair at that, holy shit.]

Nagisa, I -

[He doesn't understand this. He doesn't understand this. How can he - how could anyone -]

I hope we get to talk about this. I... honestly, that's what I meant, saying I wanted you to... if I died, I wanted you to....

[theserpentsmiles]

[Nagisa wishes Korosensei were here, not for the first or last time. Not because he wishes this on the octopus, but because...he'd know what to do. What to say. He'd find a way out and know how to uplift even the darkest hearts.]

When...when this is over, I'm sure we can. You....have to get through this. [His voice cracked a little, that's not good... He has to keep it together. He's done well so far.]

[losergod]

You're not going to die, Mister Morris.

[ He smiles. It seems... off. But he smiles nonetheless. ]

You're innocent.

[backuphero]

...if I was "innocent" I'd be a very, very different person.

[Yes, he heard that. Didn't see the smile, though.]

[losergod]

Don't twist my words, Mister Morris. You know what I mean.