castle_whims | THIRD TRIAL

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?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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?

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.

[nods]

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

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?

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.

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.

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.

....... 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.]

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

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

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

...

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.

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.

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.

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

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

THIRD TRIAL

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

gavroche doubletaps

cw: suicide mention

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

no subject

no subject

cw: continued suicide talk

cw: we're still talking suicide