"Well, crap." I managed to say.
"Are you going to be okay?" asked Iris.
"I don't know." I answered, "We just need to figure out who did this."
"Ron, you have to step down." said Iris.
"What!? Why!?" I exclaimed.
"In this country, if the defense or prosecution has been put under suspicion fully by the séance, they are not allowed to do their jobs." answered Matthias.
"Iris, do you think you can do this?" I asked.
"It's possible." she answered.
"Hold it!" said a familiar voice.
"Lucas!" I exclaimed when I saw him at the witness stand.
"That's another interesting situation you got yourself in." said Lucas.
"Yeah, 'interesting situations' are my life," I responded, feeling upset.
"You'll be fine." he said.
"Huh!?" I exclaimed.
"I know life has been hard for you, but you'll survive." said Lucas.
"Hmm…" I said quietly.
"Someday, things really will be fine," he continued, "whether it's tomorrow, months, or even years from now. Crap happens and we all just have to live through it."
"Lucas…" I said.
"I will fill in for you, all right?" said Lucas.
"All right." I responded.
"I'll prove both you and Jon innocent." he claimed.
"Understood." I said, stepping down from my position, "Don't let me down."
"I won't." said Lucas.
"I know you won't." I replied.
After that, I sat next to Jon and Lucas took my place.
"Let's get started." said Lucas.
"I have a witness who wants to speak." said Charles, "Is that okay?"
"Sure." answered Matthias.
Within seconds, another familiar face was on the sand.
"How and why?" I said to myself.
"Name and occupation?" asked Matthias.
"Simon Sharp." he answered, "I'm a time-traveling assassin!"
"Bloody hell!" exclaimed Matthias, "Where are these ridiculous witnesses coming from!?"
"If by ridiculous, you mean my ridiculously good looks…" said Simon.
"No. Just no." said Lucas.
"Heh." said Simon.
"Testimony. Now." said Matthias, ""Hurry up so we can get to the destruction of the putrid souls of the defendants."
"Heh, Ron doesn't have a soul." responded Simon.
"Come again?" reacted Lucas.
"What?" responded Iris.
"How!?" exclaimed Matthias.
"I have it." answered Simon, "It contains nothing more than a fishing dimension."
"I'm curious as to what kind of people Ron has been around lately." commented Lucas.
"Simon, was it?" said Iris, "What was it you were going to testify about?"
"Oh, that." said Simon, "I saw Ron walk past that guard like one time."
"Hold it!" interrupted Lucas, "So he couldn't have had a motive."
"Perhaps it was just on a whim…?" suggested Matthias, "He could have created one in such a short period of time."
"What else did you see, Simon?" asked Lucas.
"After that, he just fell over and died." continued Simon.
"Sounds like the defendant did it." commented Matthias, "Let's prepare the séance but I will interpret this time."
Again, everything was performed quickly, and all that was shown in the vision was me walking by the victim. The word "pain" popped up afterwards.
"Okay, it's obvious what happened here." said Matthias, "The defendant walked past the victim, who then fell over. He died because the defendant slipped him some drug or something."
"OBJECTION!" shouted Lucas, "You're wrong."
"There is something all of you have failed to notice!" said Iris.
"What is it?" asked the judge.
"Look at the victim's pocket," said Lucas, "There appears to be a bottle in it that disappears as soon as the two pass each other in the hallway."
"So you're admitting the defendant stole it?" asked Matthias.
"Nope." said Iris, "If you look at the vision, you'll see the guards arms on the opposite end of his body moving as if he's putting something away, like a small bottle."
"What's the significance of this bottle then?" asked Matthias.
"How did he die, Charles?" asked Lucas.
"Poison." he answered.
"Isn't obvious?" said Lucas.
"Gack!!" exclaimed Matthias.
"His death was suicide!" Lucas said.
"P-prove it." said Matthias.
"Charles?" said Lucas.
"I'm on it!" he said, running off. He returned a few minutes later with a report in one hand.
"That was… fast." commented Lucas.
"It looks like… traces of poison were found in the victim's system." said Charles, "And that bottle was located near the body and it contains strong poison."
"Goddammit!" exclaimed Matthias.
"The victim likely killed himself out of guilt or maybe he hated his life," said Lucas, "but this proves one of my clients innocent!"
"Can you prove the other one innocent, though?" asked Matthias, "I'm sure you can't!"
"Well?" asked Iris.
"I don't have anything to go off of this case because I was paying more attention to Ron's."
"Heh. Seems like I'll just be sending one less soul to hell then." said Matthias.
"What's with your obsession with hell?" asked Iris.
"I don't even want to know what his browser history might be full of." commented Lucas.
"Jon Hicks killed Pete Bonk." said Matthias, "The defense's evidence so far is nowhere near decisive enough!"
"To be honest, I don't know what counts as 'decisive' anymore." said Iris.
"If there will be no more arguments from the defense," said the judge," I'm prepared to give my verdicts."
"Any plans?" asked Iris.
"Well, not entirely." said Lucas.
"What do you mean by that, Lucas?" asked Iris.
"Still assisting the criminal, I see." said Matthias, "The highway to hell is always ready for people like you."
"OBJECTION!" said another familiar voice.
It was Jason's.
"Jon did nothing wrong!" he exclaimed.
"What the heck!?" responded Matthias, "What's going on!?"
"I've got proof of this too." said Jason.
"So, you were able to find it…" said Lucas.
"Lucas filled me in on what was going on, so I decided to help investigate this." continued Jason, "After a search, I found this grey box with the guard's fingerprints on it."
"So!?" exclaimed Matthias.
"A luminol test revealed the other victim's blood." answered Jason, "Therefore, that guard is a murderer!"
"Gack!!" exclaimed Matthias, falling over.
"Looks like he's realized that he's the one going to hell for trying to convict innocent two innocent people." commented Lucas.
"That was… quite an interesting case… erm, two cases…?" said the judge, "Given the current circumstances, I can hand down both verdicts."
"Do it." said Jason.
"This court finds the defendants, Jon Hicks and Ron King… not guilty." said the judge, "Court adjourned."