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

[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.