Let's dance everybody!

How was everyone able to function so well?

For pretty much the entire trial, Luna had been awfully quiet. It’s definitely not because she didn’t care about it - Tank had been nothing but kind to her, so of course she wanted to find out who did it -, but there’s only so much you can force yourself to if you didn’t sleep for four days straight. Ever since that one time she attempted to sleep, she didn’t dare to nod off anymore. The prospect of dealing with these particular nightmares was way too scary.

Thus, she looked exactly like she felt - beyond exhausted, which meant that she was barely able to keep up with the trial’s ongoings. Heavy, dark bags were underneath her eyes, with her eyelids trying their hardest to not completely close, but coming close to very frequently.

Both of her arms were propped against the table, with her head on top of said limbs. Whenever she felt like she had an ounce of strength left to intervene - to at least get her alibi out -, something else happened, so ultimately, she gave up and let the others figure it out.

Eventually, the culprit’s identity became clear - it was Retriever, who… from what she gathered, didn’t want to kill Tank, but due to all the trauma he experienced in his soldier life, something happened. There was also something about Nines attempting to murder… Schrödinger? Orion? Oh, who the fuck even cares anymore.

However, she did look mildly annoyed when people started to discuss to vote for themself and let Retriever live. Not that she was against saving his life if possible, but–

“… When I suggested it last trial, it was stupid, but now it’s not? Go off, I guess”, she grumbled, not caring one bit whether she was heard or not, before letting out a heavy, tired sigh and burying her head into her arms. God, she wanted to sleep so badly.

Luna was furious.

First Arséne dared her to assault Theo, only to stop her. Obviously, she had been trashing around, trying her damn hardest to break free and continue where she had been rudely interrupted. However, Knockout’s words were able to make her relent - at least, for the time being, that is. Just because she might not follow through a dare right now, didn’t mean that she couldn’t pick it up later.

Either way, the last minutes of the trial continued to be heated, until Theo interrupted them. Just as Luna expected, almost everyone voted for Knockout despite what she said earlier, making her click her tongue in annoyance. Of course they’d rather play along with this sick game then oppose it! True, they didn’t know what would happen if they didn’t get it right, but to hell with that!

Luna’s face fell when Theo said something in particular though: to be his own culprit.

(She should’ve known. Percy would’ve never tried to hurt anyone. So the only option left to ensure that everyone got the antidote was–)

(It made her sick to her stomach.)

And soon enough, Knockout’s– no Carolina’s execution started. Unlike the first one, where only the end was terrifying, Luna watched in horror as the elder woman got beaten to a bloody pulp, before her neck got snapped.

Luna shuddered, feeling a mixture of terror, sadness and anger washing over her. Even though she hated all of this, it was better than what she had to deal last time.

“You all fucking suck!”

Yelling that at the other participants, she turned on her heels and stomped out of the conference hall, kicking the door open and… she was on her way to where the stairs were headed.

Luna rolled her eyes, now clearly annoyed.

“Oh, of course you would know whether I understand what I’m saying or not, huh? Newsflash, you’re fucking wrong. I’m very well aware of what I’m saying or doing, thank you very much.”

It actually pissed her off how he treated her like a child. As if she wasn’t an adult at the age of fucking 23! She might act childish, but she was a mature, young woman herself, for crying out loud!

“I knew what I was getting myself into when I volunteered. However, we still had two people who didn’t consent to it. What would you do if either of them would’ve died? Just said “oh, shucks!” and be done with it?”

Beforehand, she was able to mostly compose herself, but as the seconds passed, she grew more and more frustrated. Irritated. Angry.

“And you’re also putting words in my mouth! I already said that I’m pissed at Maestro, didn’t I?! Of course I’d be even more pissed if he attacked me, but you know what?! It still wouldn’t change the fact that at least there would be only one victim instead of so many more if nothing would’ve been done! And let’s not fucking kid ourselves, a murder would’ve happened one way or another! I hate to be so pessimistic, but fuck, that’s the fucking reality we live in, isn’t it?!”

She slammed her fists against the tables, furious at this point. Yup, there was only so much before her emotional side would take over. That’s why she never could be an attorney–

And then, he dared her to attack Theo. He goddamn mocked her.

Oh, that costed Arséne a fuckton of plus points for sure, because if Luna hated one thing, then it’s someone trying to tell her that she wasn’t abiding by her own words. That she wouldn’t dare to do something.

She definitely heard Agaricus, but her eyes were trained on Arséne, giving him a cold glare. She didn’t respond to anything that her roommate was saying, because she was steeling herself.

They wanted her to own up? They wanted her to continue where she left off way back at the first murder?

Alright.

Fucking alright.

“… You want me to do it? You dare me to fuck this motherfucker over there up? Alright, the fucking dare is on. Fucking watch me, Arséne.”

And with that, Luna apruptly stood up, her face scarily serious. There was an ironclad determination in her eyes that told just about anyone that she was going to go for it. It didn’t seem like as if she cared about the consequences one bit. If they thought she would just back away–

Think fucking again, folks.

And she began to ran towards Theo.

After having attempted to clean Maestro’s face up a bit, only for said conductor to back away from her, she returned to her seat with a heavy sigh. If the debate wouldn’t have moved so fast, she would’ve told him that she was only looking out for him, because clearly he didn’t place much importance on his own well-being.

For the rest of the trial, Luna stayed quiet. It’s not like as if she didn’t have anything to say - it’s just that whenever she wanted to pipe up, someone else sniped that opportunity from her. Thus, she kept her silence, simply following along the trial’s procedures.

However, to say that this was the only reason to stop her from participating would be a lie.

Ever since the trial started, Luna was convinced of who the killer was. Unless some kind of super twist happened, she didn’t think that she could be wrong in her assumption - and lo and behold, she was right.

Knockout did it.

However, Luna’s gaze was not set on their resident killer - no, she was staring at Maestro, who claimed to have committed an attempted murder at Twelve. She couldn’t believe what she was just hearing - and did he really think that was better to know than him having sex with someone? Sheesh, he was so prude…

There were also Arséne harsh words, which struck something in her, but she didn’t pipe up until Twelve was done with his reply.

“Pretty funny how you think that you won’t get dragged into the court yourself, Arséne.”

Oh yikes, that was a dynamic re-entry to the scene, alright.

Luna’s eyes were trained at their resident detective, her expression absolutely serious and composed as she continued:”Don’t get me wrong, I’m also pissed at Maestro, but at the same time, I know that he did it to save us, because he knows what’s it like to be poisoned. The effects might’ve been different, but one thing stayed the same - we all knew that we were slowly dying and that’s fucking terrifying. You didn’t get through it, so of course you wouldn’t be able to relate. And knowing now that Twelve was apparently not affected by the poison, for some reason… You can’t really blame him for being suspicious, can you? Because I know that I am, though that could be just Theo messing with us, so the distrust between us grows even stronger. Maestro might be an absolute idiot at times, but he’s got a good heart nonetheless.”

For a moment, she glanced towards the conductor, before her eyes went back to Arséne.

“Or what, do you want to tell me you would’ve been absolutely fine to let at least one of us die from poisoning? If not even all seven people? Because if that’s the case, then you’ve already committed a crime yourself; denial of assistance.”

“Of course, our only means to get the antidote was for one person to die, but you know which other choice was available to us from the very start? Assaulting Theo.”

Oh wow, okay, Luna! It’s not like as if your resident captor was sitting only a few metres away from you, but go off!

“Like, right now, what’s there to stop us from attacking him? It’s not like as if he could defend himself against 13 people all at once. But we all already know why no one dared to do it yet - because we’re all too scared for our own safety. Not like anyone can fault us for that kinda selfishness, but that doesn’t change the fact that we made our choice in that regard as well.”

“Even leaving that aside, I would sure hope that none of you forgot what we did to Cain. Sure, we might not have known for sure what would happen if the culprit got found out, but don’t tell me that y’all didn’t at least entertain the idea of ‘an eye for an eye’. I know that I was expecting for an execution to take place, which is… why I couldn’t bring myself to vote for him. Because…”

Luna trailed off for a moment, before she looked at everyone.

“What goddamn right do we have to decide who gets to live and who gets to die?”

Those were some heavy words that she was dropping, but Luna was not holding back one inch anymore. She wanted for all of them to know that none of them were innocent. No, even she wasn’t, because she failed to assault Theo before the first murder occured.

“And don’t tell me we didn’t have a choice but to execute the murderer. Because we do. We could let them live. We could drag them out after this mess and then try them in the eyes of the law, but we didn’t. So even though Theo is still mainly responsible for all of this shit going down, we got blood on our hands, too. Don’t any of you ever forget that.”

Usually, Luna wasn’t one to be this… well, harsh, but she just couldn’t believe that some of them truly thought that they were absolutely innocent. Because none of them were, as cruel as it might sound. As much as she herself didn’t want for that to be the case, but she was done running away from such things.

Luna looked back to Arséne.

“I hope your own sense of justice doesn’t blind you from any of that, Arséne. Otherwise, you’re just naive if you think that you won’t get into trouble yourself once we get out.”

She liked Arséne, she truly did, but that didn’t mean that they were on the same page on every topic. And it seemed as if they differed in that regard. Luna could only hope that this wouldn’t destroy their friendship, but she also didn’t want to back down on her own opinion.

At last, her eyes finally wandered to Knockout, a complicated expression adorning her young face.

“… I can’t say that I can ever forgive you for taking Percy away from me. I know that you were under the influence of the poison. I know that you wouldn’t have hurt him if it weren’t for that fucking paranoia - but you still killed him. And… And I hate people who take my beloved ones away from me. I know that’s cruel of me, but… I’m just me. Still I… I can’t.”

“I can’t bring myself to vote for you. Just because I hate your guts right now doesn’t mean I want to see you dead. I… I want for true justice to take place and that can be only achieved in a real court. Not this twisted, sorry excuse of a mess we got here. You deserve better than that… Percy deserved better than this. He wouldn’t want for you to die. He was a kind soul. I know that.”

Her voice began to crack and tears were stinging her eyes, but she forced them back. No, she shed enough tears - at least, she would hold them in until Knockout would get probably–

(Don’t think about that.)

Unlike last time, Luna was infinitely more composed. Although her eyes were still reddened, the tears were since long gone. Instead, she donned a determined expression on her face, ready to find the truth out behind Percy’s death. His loss still hurt a lot, but she couldn’t stop now - grieving would have to come later.

At Orion’s statement, the dancer simply blinked. So the culprit had the balls to drop a body right next to someone who was simply asleep? That was… awfully risky for them to do - not to mention incredibly disrespectful. Oof, to share your bath with a corpse couldn’t have been pleasant…

The next person to speak up was Maestro– Wait, why was he still bloody? Surely, there had to be enough time to wipe off some of the blood, at least? Wait, does that also mean his concussion didn’t get treated yet…?

Although Luna wanted to pinch into the discussion, she stood up, making her way to where the conductor was currently sitting.

“Jesus, Maestro, I’m sure there must’ve been at least a minute or so to spare to wash your face– How’s the wound even looking? You’re okay, right? If you get dizzy, tell us right away, yeah? Do we even have any first aid around? I swear if we don’t–”

As she hammered her concerns out of the way, Luna didn’t hesitate to use her sleeve as a means to start cleaning his face - starting with his cheeks.

While she’s busy doing that, Luna thought she should at least contribute something to the murder debate.

Luna was startled out of her slumber when someone kept banging on her door. Well, to be more precise, it wasn’t exactly her door - after all, she had moved to the Aggregate Gambit Room for the time being due to the sheer paranoia that got ahold of her body–

… Wait a minute. She didn’t feel paranoid anymore.

Oh no.

The dancer’s eyes widened as the realization hit her. If she felt fine now, able to trust the others again instead of irrationally fearing that they might have had it out for her… then surely, it could only mean one thing–

Someone was dead.

Luna bit her lips as she hastily responded to Orion that she’s coming out now. With her head finally clear from unjustified suspicions, Luna quickly shoved the chair aside that she had been using as a means to block the door and left, careful to not run too fast in the cellar room.

Anxiously, she followed the tall man and when everyone but one person was assembled, Luna’s heart dropped. Until they set foot into the pool and spa area, the young woman held onto the sliver of hope that it couldn’t be him who was dead now. Surely, he would show up any minute now, with that comforting smile of his–

Naturally, her hopes were all but dashed when her eyes locked onto Percy’s floating body in the spa.

“… No… No, no, no…!”

Clearly distressed, Luna quickly made her way to where her friend was, not caring that she was getting herself partrially soaked. That wasn’t important right now, who cared about some stupid clothes–!

(She hadn’t seen him the last few days. Why wasn’t she there for him when he needed the support? Why?)

“Percy, p… please, don’t do this to me, okay?”, she began weakly as she shakily reached to grab his hand that wasn’t in the water. Why… Why was it cold? It shouldn’t be, it should be warm, just as these waters, but– He didn’t move. God, why didn’t he move?!

Tears were already welling up in her eyes and she only half-succeeded in drowning down her own choking. Her hands were shaking, but they didn’t let go of Percy’s hand.

“C-C’mon… that’s not funny, Percy…! Didn’t… Didn’t you promise me that we’d do all kinds of fun stuff once we got outta here? That I would visit you in London? Y… You didn’t even get to meet St… Mr. Moseby yet. So why…”

“Why do I find you like this? Why? Percy, please– Please wake up. I’m begging you. Please…”

Tears were unashamedly streaming down her face as a sob racked her body, her shoulders trembling as she shut her eyes.

Maestro, with only a rudimentary understanding of astrology, just gave Luna a weak affirmative nod. tfw u still don’t have a birthday for ur dang oc

He seemed relieved when Luna complimented the piece, his shoulders relaxing.

“You really think so? Thank you, I appreciate that… It’s been too long since I’ve been able to sit down and properly compose. It is…”

Maestro trailed off, remembering Luna’s reaction to the horrific bloodshed still fresh in his mind. Bringing that up again might not be the best idea. He needed to be mindful.

“Ballet? I’ve never had anyone dance to my pieces before, at least, not to my knowledge, but now that you mention it… I think ballet would be fitting.” He looked up, intrigued. “Are you a dancer?”

He tried to remember if they’d discussed this before, but his memories of being Pissed Off were, alas, extremely addled.

“Of course I do! I wouldn’t lie about something like that, trust me!”

Giving him a playful wink, Luna giggled softly, seeming to become more... well, her old, cheerful self, really. Guess talking to others did take the edge out of her, huh?

Oh right, guess she never really talked about her job and all... well, might as well cover that now! It’s not like as if she was keeping that one a secret, anyway.

“Yup, sure am!”

As if to undermine her point, she twirled around herself graciously, her scarf following her movements, before she bowed down in a smooth movement.

Seven people.

Luna blinked, not believing what she was seeing. Instead of 10 names appearing on the safe list, there were only seven. And in return, that meant that instead of only four people poisoned, there were now seven.

This wasn’t right.

The dancer hissed quietly when she felt the pricks in her arms, then gently rubbed at her wrists as best as she could. Well, at least she didn’t feel an unbridled anger right now–

No, screw that, the moment Cygne started to speak, rage flared up inside of her. She… She did what? She lied to get attention?! And for that, she just dragged Retriever and Percy into this poisonous hell with her?! Just for that?!

Her face contorted into an enraged scowl, her fury directed at Cygne as she slammed both of her fists against the podium as hard as she could.

“BIST DU EIGENTLICH NOCH GANZ DICHT, DU GOTTVERDAMMTE DRECKSGÖRE?!”

Oh wow, that’s some volume, alright! And in angry german, no less! Made her yelling all the more intimidating, even if it came from her.

It was clear as a day that Luna was absolutely furious about this outcome and boy oh boy, did she not care if anyone tried to speak to her right now. Oh no, she needed to vent this right away and she didn’t care how she looked like right now.

“Wie KANN man nur so egoistisch sein?! Wenn du wirklich vergiftet werden wolltest, dann hättest du dich einfach freiwillig melden sollen, wie alle anderen auch! Weißt du eigentlich, was du Retriever und Percy da angetan hast?! Bist du dir eigentlich bewusst, dass wir dadurch sterben könnten?! Oder ist dein Kopf nur Dekoration, huh?! Weil ich glaube nicht, dass du irgendein Hirn da drinnen hast, so gottverdammt dämlich wie du bist!”

Another hard slam against the podium. She ignored the pain that came from the impact completely, continuing to roar at Cygne with fury.

“Meine Fresse, ich kann nicht glauben dass mein Bauchgefühl mich schon davor gewarnt hat, dass du lügen könntest, aber ich wollte es nicht glauben! Ich dachte nicht, dass irgendjemand dumm genug ist, um so eine Zielscheibe auf sich zu malen, wenn rauskommt, dass man gelogen hat! Willst du sterben?!“

“Nunja, ich gratuliere, weil ich glaube nicht, dass irgendjemand hier sich besonders schlecht fühlen wird, dich abzumurksen! Du kannst niemanden dafür die Schuld geben außer dir selbst! Ugh, warum verschwende ich überhaupt meine Zeit an eine beschissene Lügnerin wie dir?! Glaub mir, ich werde dir NIE wieder irgendeine Form von Aufmerksamkeit schenken! Für mich bist du ein jämmerlicher Geist der dazu verdammt ist, für den Rest ihrer scheiß Existenz ignoriert zu werden! FICK DICH!”

And now she kicked her podium with a surprising amount of force, cursing up a storm in german and english alike, absolutely unapologetic about the colorful language that she was just using. Honestly, it would even put a hardened sailor to shame with how many curses she was spewing out right now.

God, she simply couldn’t believe that someone would lie like that if they had the volunteer system going on, how in the fuck–

And then, something occured to her and stopped her in her tracks. The fury she displayed just moments ago completely disappeared, being replaced by a blank stare at first–

“… Ich bin hier nicht sicher.”

Before she snapped her head up and looked at everyone with incredibly wary eyes. Her shoulders tensed up as she slightly lowered herself, taking one step at a time back.

“Ich kann euch nicht trauen. Wenn schon so ein dummes Rotzblag so lügen kann, wie kann ich mich darauf verlassen, dass mir niemand von euch ein Messer in den Rücken rammt? Ihr… Sagt mir nicht, dass ihr alle unter einer Decke steckt und euch ins Fäustchen lacht, dass ich mich hier so aufrege und den Verstand verliere?!”

Fear began to take over her being and she took another step back, quickly glancing at the door.

“Oh nein, nicht mit mir. Nicht mit mir, verdammt nochmal! Ich werde überleben und euch allen in den Arsch treten, wenn ihr versucht, mir irgendetwas anzutun. I-Ich… Ich kann mich wehren! Ich bin nicht mehr das hilflose Mädchen von vor neun Jahren! Ich… Kommt mir nicht zu nahe!”

And with that, she turned at her heels and bolted out of the room.

She couldn’t trust anyone.

Maestro glanced off to the side, mumbling something about “really, you weren’t under any obligation to check on me,” face heating up just a little. God, she really was just like—

“Wait, you play the flute? Or played, either way—did you keep up with it? Did you enjoy it?”

He sat up straighter, holding the papers up to Luna when she moved beside him. To be fair, it was scribbly and difficult to understand even for someone who could read music well, but he still felt a pang of disappointment when it became apparent that she couldn’t.

“Ah, well, my technique isn’t—though the melody, I suppose, goes something like this…”

With that, Maestro began humming, turning his head as far away from Luna as he could without breaking his neck out of embarrassment. He was no singer, even if his pitch was excellent. Still, it was completely audible—a slow and sorrowful tune, not unlike something that would play in the background of a particularly emotional movie scene. It didn’t last more than a minute, and when Maestro was done, he cleared his throat, adjusting his papers.

“That’s the violin part, at least—there’ll be a piano accompaniment as well, and other strings. I can’t tell for certain if there will be anything else, and of course, it will sound completely different with actual instruments, but, er… what do you think?”

He shifted in his seat, self-consciousness nearly overwhelming him.

Luna felt kind of bad for letting Maestro down after he expressed a heightened interest in her playing the flute. She scratched the back of her head almost sheepishly, an apologetic grin plastered on her face.

“It’s been basically years since I’ve last played the flute, soooooo... yeah! I didn’t keep up with it, but I had fun with it while it lasted. But as with most things, I quickly got bored of it and simply moved on to the next thing that caught my interest - acting like the true gemini that I am, thehe!”

She chuckled, but then grew quiet as Maestro started to hum what he’d composed so far. She closed her eyes, simply letting the music coarse through her body. Without fighting against it, her head gently bobbed from one side to the other in tact.

When it was over, her eyes remained closed for a few more seconds, before she opened them. Her emerald eyes were on the bashful conductor and she gave him a sweet smile.

“Only the violin part? Then I can hardly wait for the complete song, because that was already powerful on its own. I could definitely feel the emotions put into it in my heart - I think it’s going to be a great piece.”

Maestro didn’t wave back—in fact, he was still idly marking things down on the paper before him—but he did give Luna a nod.

“I am… adequate. I, er, I hope you are feeling better yourself…”

God, that sounded so fucking stupid, didn’t it. He glanced back down at his work, tapping the pencil’s eraser against the desk as he mulled over his next answer in an attempt to make it sound less stupid.

“I’m finally able to focus enough on my work to actually create something that won’t deafen any audience unfortunate enough to hear it. Music, I mean. I am still mapping it out, but it’s there, and I can get to it once more…”

He frowned, unsatisfied with his attempts to articulate his thoughts. Why was this so hard? He took a quick sip of coffee, the bitterness clarifying his muddled thoughts.

“… Do you read music, Luna?”

(It would probably be easier just to show her.)

Luna let out a relieved sigh when Maestro told her that he was relatively speaking fine. Granted, no one here could be possibly absolutely fine, but they had to start somewhere, right? And right now, the dancer was grateful for any positive changes, no matter how small they seemed.

Her smile grew a bit more genuine and she gave a slight nod:”That’s good to hear. Really, I’m glad you seem to be doing better... Sorry that I didn’t check up on you earlier."

“And... well, I guess I’m soooooorta fine? At least I’m not an absolute useless mess anymore, ehe...”

Her eyes were casted sideways for a moment, before she directed her gaze back on Maestro as he expanded on his own answer. Writing music, huh? That was amazing... She wished she could do the same, but her forte was definitely dancing to music, not creating it.

She scratched her cheeks as she gave her response:“Not really, if I’m being honest. I mean, we kinda learnt it during music lessons in school? Buuuut I was never good at it, so I always winged my flute performances with gut instincts only.”

Luna stepped besides Maestro and peeked at the papers he had in front of him. Yup, she definitely couldn’t read it!

It was late, but that didn’t stop Maestro from setting up in the study, staff paper splayed on the desk before him and a mug of coffee close at hand—though not close enough to risk spilling on his work. In stark contrast to anyone unfortunate enough to walk in on the young man when he was poisoned, he seemed utterly consumed by his work, melodies flowing seamlessly out of his pencil and onto the paper in the form of notes and markings.

The music, thank God, had come back, and he couldn’t afford to waste any more time.

Occasionally, he’d pause to hum out a tune under his breath, testing the way it sounded when given form as opposed to when it was still confined in his imagination—perfectly on pitch, but that was his only advantage if he ever chose to pursue singing. Technique escaped him, everything escaped him—

But he had his pencil. And, when he got out of here, he’d have his baton. It would be fine.

Immersed in his music as he was, Maestro still looked up when he heard the door to the study creak open. He didn’t say anything, though. Not yet.

Confining herself in her room only worked for so long, before Luna became restless. She was never one to stay in one place for too long, after all. It was essentially in her nature to be on the move and do something - being idle just wasn’t for her.

As she had only barely explored the new area yet, Luna decided to finally catch up on that front - which meant that she also set foot into the study room eventually. Luna didn’t think that she would be spending too much time here, as it didn’t exactly sound like the type of room she’d hang out in often, but it was always good to familiarize yourself with your surroundings, right?

Not to mention that she found some company here!

(Luna couldn’t believe that she hadn’t checked up on Maestro yet. Sure, she’d seen him doing just fine during trial, but--)

(Agh.)

A smile appeared on Luna’s face and although it wasn’t close to the bright and carefree ones that she’d flashed around prior to everything going down to shit, it was still friendly enough. Additionally, even though it was mostly obscured by make-up, there were still traces of dark bags underneath her eyes.

(Someone didn’t get to sleep much, huh?)

She waved at the conductor and approached him.

Luna nodded along, maintaing her smile as best as she could while listening to Cain’s response. Doves, crows and phoenixes, huh? Someone was a bird lover! However, no one should underestimate rabbit apples - guess she got her work cut out for her!

However, that little high would be only followed by a fatal low - as Theo announced what would await a murderer if they failed to escape punishment–

Execution.

Cain was suddenly dragged into the darkness before any of them could even stop it. The dancer had automatically stretched her hand out to grab him, even though it was futile all along - and she retracted it quickly once the TV began to flare up.

Her green eyes followed Cain’s movement, the blonde barely allowing herself to breathe. The wailings of a young child made her heart ache and she hoped to god that this wasn’t actually the poor Young Miss that Cain tried so hard to protect.

And then, just as he was about to reach her, something shiny came out of nowhere.

A blade.

Lots of red.

Lots and lots and lots and–

(There’s no escape.)

Luna hadn’t even registered that at one point, she had apruptly stood up from her chair, but now, she was just frozen. Completely shell-shocked at what she just witnessed.

Finding a corpse was one thing.

Witnessing a brutal death like this another.

(There was no next time for Cain and Hanari would never see her dear uncle again.)

(It was all lost, all lost, all lost–)

The dancer began to shook violently, her legs barely able to supprt her. Her eyes were still trained at the TV, her gaze completely blank and filled with terror. Tears were streaming down her face unashamedly and–

“Aaaa…. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

Letting out a blood-curdling scream, Luna bolted out of the room, Percy’s jacket flying right off from her shoulders and down to the floor. Did she kick the door down? Did she ram it with her shoulders? Hell if she knew, she just knew that she opened these doors with all of her force and after a bit of stumbling, she made a mad dash to… somewhere. Anywhere.

There was no way she could’ve voted for Dove.

People could say whatever they wanted, but she believed the older man when he confessed to his crime- no, you couldn’t call it that. It was a tragic accident. He never had the intention to kill her and who were any of them to judge him for acting on his survival instincts? Sure, he was a bodyguard and could’ve handled it better, but that was so much easier for everyone here to say when they weren’t the ones in his shoes. They could claim that they would’ve acted oh-so-calmly, but in the end, she wouldn’t be surprised if the majority wouldn’t have done worse than Dove.

(People could be so–)

Luna sniffled as she wiped some tears from her eyes, still shaking even after all that time. She hugged Percy’s jacket tighter around herself, thinking how unjust all of this was. And Theo’s choice of words in regards to Dove’s department spiked her anxiety again.

She feared for the worst.

Maybe that’s why Dove pleaded with them to deliver his words to his Young Miss. Maybe, he was already preparing himself for the absolute worst case scenario and Luna dreaded it.

The dancer bit her lips and mustered every bit of willpower to finally unclam her throat and say something.

(As long as she still could–)

“… I will.”

Her voice was quiet and solemn, with a pinch of shakiness to it, but Luna tried her hardest to even it. Truth be told, it was pretty much clear that Luna was still overall out of it, given her rather vacant stare, but at least she finally managed to raise her voice in any capacity.

“I… I promise, I’ll… get your message to Little Hanari, Cain. I… mmm– What… What kind of animals does she like? I c-could… give her an apple for… for you.”

Someone called out to her, but Luna didn’t dare to look up. She remained cooped up right where she sat, not moving a muscle - if you didn’t account for her trembling, that is. She also heard some footsteps coming closer, but that just made her tense up more, the blonde holding her breath as if she didn’t want to be found.

(If you make a sound, then you’re finished–)

Though instead of her dreadful - albeit irrational - expectations coming true, she felt something soft being placed on her shoulders. It was enough to make her look up, eyes still widened as if she were a deer in headlights. Luna gawked at Percy, then opened her mouth to say something–

But her voice wouldn’t come out.

So instead, Luna just bowed her head, before pulling the jacket tighter to herself. It certainly did alleviate a bit of her fear, which she was grateful for, because a part of her knew that she wasn’t in any immediate danger try telling that to the rest of your body and mind though.

(She had to thank him later.)

As the trial went on, it seemed like as if Luna started to get a grip of herself - at some time, she even managed to stand up and actually take a seat on the chair, though she resumed her posture from before all too quickly.

But then, a certain something kept being mentioned again and again and again oh god make it stop–

It spiked up her anxiety to the max, making Luna press her hands against her ears and close her eyes, burying her face into her knees. She started to shake more and tears threathened to spill over again (not that anyone would be able to see it, but hey).

Luna knew that she was being irrational. The mere mention of… that shouldn’t send her into another panic attack, but the memories of their investigations were still too fresh and they kept overlapping with the past–

(What was even real at this point?)