THIRD TRIAL

[whimsicalism]

To the court room. Make it quick, alright? I don't really know about any of you but I don't want to waste more time on a couple of bratty teenagers.

[The Queen still is silent as you descend to the court room. There are ten less of you than when you began. The podiums look empty as you go to them. Even if the podiums are getting empty, though, there is a new jury box near the Alices that is rather full... of ghosts of all the participants of the previous round you've discovered and of your dead compatriots. They don't talk but they're there. Judging. Always judging.

There is someone who doesn't notice this addition, though. Queen Alice.

The Queen is quiet but she's next to the Cat. Her head is bowed to her chest as she seems to sleep quietly. Then as movement she jolts up, smiling vaguely as she nods.]

Yes, a tea party--that's what we...need...

[Her head drops back to her chest as she falls asleep again. The Cat glances at her then back at the crowd with agitation.]

Someone is responsible for Lena and Neku's deaths. Do something about it, will you? Why did you even bring one of those ghosts in with you, anyway?

Comments

[prescience]

[If only cardboard aunt were real and could hurt us...it would be much easier to get information here.

Oriko clicks her tongue in the back of her mouth.] If the killer witnessed something, it might assist with understanding how they were able to act. But as for the aunt's presence...I suppose in the end all it did was make her target.

[soverainty]

[Niko already beat up the cardboard not-aunt earlier, so alas. It is not a proper spooky cardboard.]

Witnessed something? You mean while Lena was going full freak-out in her room or whatever was happening in there?

I don't know about the target thing, though. Evil Auntie Duck seemed plenty active on her own.

[strictura]

Right. I think it's still possible that Lena -- or her aunt -- killed Sakuraba, and it was only Lena who was killed by the third party.

[soverainty]

Well, there's three possibilities still, aren't there?

One: What you said. Whatever-duck killed Spikes with their nefarious evil knife plan or whatever and then ran into somebody else.

Two! Whatever-duck and Spikes had a tussle, and killed each other.

Three, Spikes killed Whatever-duck first, and then he tried to take out Alice-chan -- or the Alices -- by taking himself out. Didn't he say something about life-ties back when we had that powers thing going?

Pretty sure that's what we've got to go on right now.

cw for suicide i guess??

[strictura]

...I don't think the second option makes sense, because someone had to drag Lena's body away afterward. [ unless that was somehow ALSO shadow magic in which case fuck everything ]

And with the third, if he was shooting himself in the head, why would he have done it where it would make him fall into the knife pit? It's not like there was any chance that the gunshot alone wouldn't be enough to kill him, and if his intention was just to kill Alice rather than try to get the wish from the motive, I don't see why he would have tried to conceal his own cause of death.

Or why he would have killed Lena in the first place. Even if it was self defense if she attacked him first, there'd be no reason for that if he was supposed to die. You don't get to make a wish if you're already dead, do you?

[ ... ]

Did anyone actually check for gunshot residue on his hand, by the way?

[soverainty]

Hmm, that's true. It could be magic, or she could have flapped her arms herself the whole way away?

[It's half-joking but also like. What the fuck is shadow magic, fam.]

You'd have to ask one of the others about the gun thing, but if he just let the evil duck kill him, what do you think she would've done after that? Eh, I guess maybe he was dumb enough not to think in case his plan failed or whatever. So I'll give you that point.

[Nagisa gets a point because Neku is dumb, apparently.]

I really don't know how that guy's mind works. Or his powers, either. Maybe he had to be really extra goddamn sure.

[prescience]

What do you think was happening in there?

...She wasn't active enough to think or act beyond what she had planned, however. Either she was biding her time for an ultimately disappointing result, or she was caught just as off guard.

[soverainty]

With what we know, the easiest thing to say is that Lena was fighting against whatever was going on with her aunt. But we don't really know, and I'm not sure if that'll tell us who killed her.

[There's a small tilt of her head as she considers Oriko's statement.]

That's a bit too roundabout for me. Are you saying that she was caught off-guard because it doesn't look like she did much?

[prescience]

Yes, that's precisely what I'm saying. It would be humiliating for someone to go to all that trouble to devise such a scheme and not be able to defend against a third assailant, or there was minimal time for her to react.

[imozon]

[nods]

She had the knife with her, but she never took it out.

[soverainty]

The problem is that we don't know what she was capable of, so this is still speculation... I don't know if the absence of evidence is as strong as evidence itself, do you?

[She sounds thoughtful, though. A moment later:]

You think she and Spikes died pretty close together, then?

[prescience]

I think it had to have been over quickly. There were three bullets remaining, right? One missed shot...

While there's no telling how long it was between firings, I believe the evidence we do have in this case indicates that the third party only needed to miss once because that was all the time that was needed.

[nothingposh]

Listen, I'm not a good enough shot for that. [Just! Saying!] If there's a lot of movement, like someone running, you tend to miss.

[prescience]

I did think of you and you experience with cannons.

They could have been restrained in some way, I suppose, but that doesn't explain the stray bullet in the slide. That theory may also be a dead end.

[nothingposh]

....... did the getting shot kill them? Or was that just to make sure they were dead?

[He's half talking to himself but it's a valid question. He's seen it before: you shoot someone once they're down, just to be sure.]

gavroche doubletaps

[prescience]

I believe the gunshot was the only serious wound Lena-san sustained.

cw: suicide mention

[nothingposh]

[His brow furrows, like he's trying to piece something together.]

...... Could she have done it herself?

cw: more suicide mention, if you're on flat view

[prescience]

...

If she were truly fighting against whatever dark power her aunt seemed to hold over her, reasonably, that would be a way to remove its control.

However, that wouldn't explain why her body was dragged.

[nothingposh]

Don't know about duck insides, but getting shot ain't a drop-dead type of deal. Maybe they were still fighting for control while she died.

[prescience]

Number One-san did say that there weren't any marks around the path that looked like someone crawling or dragging themselves. It did seem to be a very long blood trail.

cw: continued suicide talk

[imozon]

Would we have to have a trial for her if she killed herself?

cw: we're still talking suicide

[nothingposh]

Sure. Evil aunt kills Neku and Lena's none too pleased about it so she takes control back.