THE THIRD EXECUTION

[disregartist]

THE THIRD EXECUTION


[The chime goes. The voting ends. The cuffs begin to blink, and soon enough, the picture on the screen is shown.]

[It is done. Charlotte Aulin, The Bright, has been condemned to die.]

E R R O R

[From the Conductor's seat, she turns pale as a sheet.]

No, that-!

[She slumps back into her seat, staring at her phone, silent. Stunned. Angry, certainly, but definitely stunned.

The Smiling Priest walks back over to the podium.]

It appears the Conductor has not explained all of the rules of the Little Courtesy to you. Shall I, Millicent?

[No response.]

A trial with a dead culprit, successfully convicted, automatically voids. No execution of the culprit, of course. No incentive. But. She did not realize the bomb was not connected to the deaths, as you all did. A rare occurrence of of inadvertent tampering, it does not happen very often in these trials.

She realized too late, of course that her uncertainty doomed the proceedings. In this event, the conviction of an innocent person is automatically overturned, and said innocent is given the incentive by means of compensation for their...inconvenience.

[He flashes a smile.]

As I said. The Drowned Man would not allow you to die tonight, my dear.

Comments

[disregartist]

[Lilac looks utterly horrified.]

But the bomb was etnered into evidence...

[eternaldivide]

[ ... now that he thinks about it ]

Was the bomb itself ever entered into evidence? Or just the chaos that was caused by the bomb.

Either way, things that weren't related to the murder were entered. Seems you were either mistaken or set up.

[disregartist]

...No...just...what happened with it.

[Sorry, she's still in shock she fucked up on this]

[eternaldivide]

So in the end Ris was right.

Now the question remains is whether we should be thanking Minato for it, or not.

[ He might've almost tried to kill them all but ... he also caused this mistrial to happen. Question is ... was this a good thing. ]

[disregartist]

...Indeed.

[Casting a glare towards Minato.]

Striking a blow for those d__ned fools. I do hope you're proud of yourself.

[biddentodance]

No one told me it was a bomb. W-Wouldn't have.....if I'd known...

[She at least deserves to know this much.]

Gary-san was already working for them.....he stopped being useful, so they killed him. I was watching...

[eternaldivide]

... Do you know who Gray was working for?

[ Figure he ... ask Minato in case Lilac doesn't give him an answer. ]

[biddentodance]

The Liberation of Night. The rebel group. Don't know if what they gave me were their real names.

[charmingheroine]

If it's any condolence, they might not have too wrong an idea. Apparently all the suns here think of humans as the green one does.

[biddentodance]

Yeah. Was told a bit.... Descriptions of them are like....angels, but the terrifying Old Testament versions.

[disregartist]

But of course. We are low on the Chain; humans are to the stars as ants are to you.

[biddentodance]

....I'm the Vessel of Death itself. Whole thing can't be more impossible than things were-- are in my world.

[He has to try to have hope...]

[disregartist]

That you are, it seems!

[A harsh bark.]

The Azure might dispute your mastery, though.

[eternaldivide]

..... And how does the green one think of humans.

[charmingheroine]

She wouldn't say directly, but... it knows we can kill it. I think it views us as dangerous pests.

[eternaldivide]

Humans? Or all of us, regardless of whether we are or not.

[ Yes this difference is important to Mithos ]

[charmingheroine]

Wait, you're - nevermind. I don't think it or the others bother with a distinction, especially for us outsiders.

[eternaldivide]

... Care to elaborate?

All you've done so far is convince us that we ought to be against you. So maybe you ought to explain if it's a bad thing for us.

[disregartist]

Quite simple, isn't it? Less Law, however you may feel about it, more aberrations in our reality.

Really, Eleutheria isn't a place I'd recommend living in.

[charmingheroine]

Your reality. It isn't ours.

[disregartist]

At this point, it might as well be. No one's found a way back. You and yours are as tied to its fate as any of us are.

[charmingheroine]

Do you really think I'm going to start believing you now?

[disregartist]

[Wryly.]

You really should. Denial can only get you so far.

[charmingheroine]

[Other people can play the "pretend someone doesn't exist even though they keep talking" game, too - sucks, doesn't it?

She's done here, anyway.]

[unwittingking]

Now, tell me-is this you being genuinely upset that he nearly got us all killed, or is it still about the barrier and the possibility of it getting broken?

[Yeah, he ain't letting this go, Sweetheart]

[disregartist]

[g l a r e]

I'd prefer you not mock me or the crew who tried to save you.

[unwittingking]

Oh, them I'm not mocking.

[Thumb pointed at the nearest rat.]

You, however, I have all right to mock.

[What do you expect when you put a snarky corgi onto a murder train? Cowering in fear? Hell no! He's too dumb smart for that!]

[disregartist]

[ugh of course you're mocking her ok then]

Hmph.

[technicolourdifficulties]

...Bloody hell, we have gone full Lovecraft, minus the downer ending.

[Or, well, perhaps he's speaking preemptively. After all, the story is not over.]

[higanbana]

...But if we're avoiding the downer of it all, I suppose we've no right to complain?

[She's just. Kind of answering numbly, just kind of staring at all of this because what.]

[unwittingking]

Yeah, I for one appreciate not ending this with some giant monster coming in and making us go insane.

[He knows like one (1) Lovecraft thing]

[technicolourdifficulties]

...

[He abruptly straightens up, grinning widely.]

Yes, of course. Today has ended better than expected, given the circumstances. That's something worth celebrating, isn't it?

[In spite of the cheer in his voice and actions, a stain of yellow is all that graces his casing.]

[higanbana]

...

[She's quiet for a moment, a long moment, as she takes a breath to reorient herself and get her mind back where it needs to be.]

We will make it something worth celebrating. Just give us time.

[Her smiling earlier was unsettling enough. The way she says this, almost monotone and her gaze boring holes into the Conductor relentlessly now but otherwise expressionless... this might be even scarier.]

[technicolourdifficulties]

[Mmmmmm, that sure isn't an expression he likes. He understands, but also...

He snaps his fingers.]

...Right. We still have a few people to pick up before the proper celebrations can begin, don't we?

[higanbana]

[...Oh, RGB.

But she manages to smile a little, and it's not even terrifying this time.]

You're right. Perhaps we can even repurpose our gilded little cage into the luxury it was meant to be for their welcoming?

[unwittingking]

[Lucky for you, King has no idea what emotion yellow is (except for one which may be inappropriate to suggest) so-]

Yeah, I'd drink to that...If I decided I would ever drink again.

[Yeah, uh, never again]

[charmingheroine]

I... I'm... I don't...

[She might actually be going into shock.]

Thank you. And him.

[katzenpfote]

[He's tucked away the heart into his pocket again, and he goes over to Charlotte.]

[He wavers a moment before hugging her tightly, resting his head on her shoulder and sniffling.]

[charmingheroine]

[Oh, God in heaven, she'd thought nothing about what this would do to Caleb... the guilt of that weighs more than he does.

There is one thing to do, at a time like this. Give up taunting the soon to die and comfort those she actually cares about.]

It worked. I won't say "it's all right", nothing is, but... I'm still here. You're okay. We're okay.

[katzenpfote]

... We are.

[His voice is rough, and he squeezes her again. Sorry about the blood.]

'All shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well'. ... They are, because we went down the well.

[charmingheroine]

We went - oh my god. Oh, my God.

[She is having a revelation, certainly.]

It's a pun....

[katzenpfote]

[He laughs, and it's unsteady and wheezy, pressing his forehead to her shoulder.]

It's so stupid... it doesn't even work in Zemnian.