Capítulo 11: Chapter 9
The justice system in Wisteria was not all that similar to ours.
You see, all domestic cases were dealt with by the nation, or state, where they occur. There were lawyers and judges and such, but cases related to terrorism, mass trafficking, genocide, and all international threats and conflict were dealt with and overseen by the royal families of that respective hemisphere.
The Saviours were a terrorist group and all trials related to them were overseen by one representative from each family. This case, however, was much different. Queen Mother Winona was trying to validate a warrant to arrest the former king of the Southern kingdom on suspicion of him being the leader of a terrorist group, and allegations like these were not taken lightly.
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Winona had somehow managed to acquire an audience with all of the kings and empress of Wisteria. King Ackley of the House of Meelia (North), King Winston of the Tribe of Myra (South), King Cheyton of the Tribe of Kiowa (West), and Empress Si-eun of the Kim Dynasty were all present to hear the accusations against Chadwick and the evidence brought in to support them.
Halley was the first to testify against Chadwick. She told everyone how she and her father went home after shopping for flowers for her mother because he had upset her the day before. They arrived home to find half their living room blown out and her older brother facing a grown man with his eyes glowing. The man ran out when they got back and she cried while hugging her brother as their father held their mother in his arms.
She claimed that the man was never found, but she had recently found out that the man who killed her mother was no one other than Chadwick Myra's right hand man, Richard Mustolini. When asked about her means of acquiring that information, Halley said she had met a "notorious informant" who, for the right price, told her what she wanted to know.
Next up was Brandon who gave an eyewitness testimony to his mother's death as well.
He told everyone how he ran into the living room with the picture he had made in daycare to find his mother being strangled with her feet desperately reaching for the table below her. He ran up to the man, and tried to hit him, but there is only so much a four-year-old can do to a fully grown magician. Brandon ended up making a contract with Apollo, but it wasn't in time to save his mom.
King Winston asked why Jebediah was in prison if he hadn't killed his mother like he killed all of his other victims. Brandon obviously didn't like the question and very curtly responded how his father was convicted for the crimes of Richard Mustolini because, "most four-year-olds don't witness their mother's murder and tell a bunch of adults about it the next day, not that I expect someone like you to understand that."
After Brandon was escorted from the stand and given a warning for "disorderly conduct and improper language while addressing royalty" that he didn't care about, Britney went up to testify about Python's murder.
She said that after she and her friends had found reason to believe that Python was in danger, they went back to the pawn shop and found it ransacked and on fire.
They went outside and were confronted by the Saviours, who had been held Python captive. They wanted the children to give up and surrender to them, but they escaped at the last minute and Python's body was recovered a week later. She told King Cheyton how Kiara was the reason why they were still alive, Kiara's father disregarded that claim and continued the hearing.
Michael emerged and went to the stand to be questioned. Empress Si-eun asked him who he was, and he revealed his identity as the last surviving member of the Sullivan family of magicians. This came as a shock to most, because as far as anyone knew, he was supposed to be, well, dead. Though the surprising news caught everyone off-guard, none of the stone-faced monarchs didn't even bat an eyelash.
Michaelangelo was called to tell everyone present as much as he could remember from the night his parents were killed. He was still so young, and didn't know what was happening, but he vividly remembers a man with glowing red-orange eyes approaching him with a sword of the same colour as his irises. Raphael tackled the man, and Michael ran until he found his Aunt Clara.
He remembered running away in her arms and seeing the silhouette of his mother reach out to him, before she was engulfed by the flames of his burning home.
The videotapes were played and the atmosphere of the room grew dreary, until someone in the audience, probably some guy who liked Chadwick, yelled out, "Those tapes don't prove anything!" along with some jeering.
The room erupted into an aggressive debate between the man and Queen Mother Winona's bodyguard, who didn't take the man's comments about her credibility very kindly. However, the jeering and arguing ceased as soon as Moore, Mustolini, and Smith all walked into the room.
Daisy Smith was first up and he gave his testimonies to the cases of Emilia Scheneider, Caroline Markson, and Raekyo Choi. He was at the scene of Python's murder and even took a video of the confrontation, which was presented to the crowd.
Aaron Moore told the audience everything he knew as Chadwick's third in command, including how, at one point, they kidnapped and brainwashed magicians and used them to expand the group. His comments and truthfulness were met with gasps and shock expressions everywhere outside the royal family who, strangely, didn't even flinch hearing the news.
Last but not least, was the man that killed Brandon and Halley's mother, and Chadwick's right-hand man, Richard Mustolini. He glanced at Brandon and Halley as he walked to the stand, and Louis and Rebecca had to hold Brandon down as he told everyone about the evening he broke into Caroline's home and killed her in front of her child. He had planned on killing Brandon as well, but when he tried to attack Brandon, he was almost killed by the swords he had conjured up in his Obrussa Period.
The Obrussa Period is the time period immediately before a contract has been made between a Magi and their magician. The Magi essentially floods the magician with magic to see if they can handle the power they have. If the Magi does not deem the magician competent, they will stop the contract. However, if the contract is not stopped in time, the magic will consume the magician's soul and leave them in a berserk-like state called Apsens.
When in Apsens, the magician is no longer in control of their body. It is the same as going berserk except the magician's soul is dying along with their body. A human's soul is the one thing that can help it reach Eustaria, the place where good souls go after their bodies decay, or Abyssus, the opposite. Magicians in Aspens are immediately disposed of, which was why the making of contracts was encouraged only after the age of 12. Not that any of our heroes care.
Okay! Back to the story! Richard ran away after Brandon almost killed him in his Obrussa Period and used his high military standing to pin all the other crimes he commited on Jebediah.
"I formally quit being a Saviour soon after that." "If that's true," Queen Mother Winona asked, "then why are you here now?" "The faces and voices," he replied in a terrified tone, "I see and hear them every night. They don't leave me alone. No matter what I do, I can't get them out of my head."
Mustolini also admitted that almost every crime he commited, including Caroline Markson's murder, were carried out under Chadwick's orders.
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Everyone waited outside the room as the monarchs decided their verdict regarding the validity of the warrant. If they okayed it, soldiers would've been sent to Chadwick's home to arrest him and a trial would've been held for him. William told them how he believed that Chadwick would be locked up for life because of the overwhelming evidence they had against him, but there was no way to be sure.
Halley emphasized the latter point by reminding them how they put her father behind bars, even though he was innocent.
As they were all talking about the verdict, Britney walked over to Michael, who was sitting across the room, and asked him how he was doing. The once shy, sweet Michael we had first met in the beginning of The Saviours, was replaced with an unstable time-bomb of a guy. They were all worried about him, but Britney was the only one who approached him without fear of tipping him over the edge.
He blankly stared at Britney for a while before pulling her into his arms and just quietly holding her. She didn't protest the embrace and comforted him as she hugged him back. Brandon went from confused to happy and the scene of them finally validating their relationship, but this moment was short lived.
They were all called back to the room to hear the panel's decision in regards to the warrant. King Cheyton approved the warrant, but cautioned that if they were wrong about Chadwick, "there was hell to pay". King Ackley okayed the warrant claiming that if Chadwick is found guilty of his crimes, "he'll do more than just rot away in a prison cell."
Empress Si-eun also validated the warrant, but she did not add any comments as to why she did. Last but not least, King Winston, Chadwick's own son. They all expected him to disapprove of the warrant since his father's freedom was on the line, so you can imagine the looks on their faces when he approved it.
His reason? "Raphael and Doria were very good friends of mine, and if my father really did kill them, along with everyone else, then he deserves to rot on Wisteria, and in Abyssus."
*****
Guards were dispatched to go arrest Chadwick, and the team celebrated their mini victory. I say mini because they still had to convict Chadwick and put him behind bars for good. As they were celebrating, Louis asked about Kiara's whereabouts and no one knew where she was. They tried calling her, but her phone was off, so they turned to William.
At this point, he stopped arguing with Brandon and the girls, because he knew damn well that it was just a waste of time. He obediently closed his eyes and said her name in an effort to communicate with her telepathically. He opened them and revealed his green eyes as he told them that her thoughts were all memories meaning that she was either daydreaming or sleeping.
Brandon got out his tracking device, which scared everyone. "How?" Halley asked. "Did you?" Rebecca added. "Put a tracker on the princess?" Louis interrupted. "The heir to the throne of the South?" Kylian signed. "I asked," Brandon explained, "and she said it was fine." They all believed it to be true, because Kiara, though bright, could be quite dense at times.
Halley looked at the tracker and pointed out that it said that she was in Brandon's pocket, which confused Brandon. He searched his pocket and pulled out a thin string and laughed at his own blunder. Kiara had most probably taken the tracker out when she hugged him (see Chapter 4) and put it in his pocket. They all then turned to leave after deciding that Kiara was, "a responsible young lady who can handle herself."
On their way out, the group passed a man who was bleeding out after bursting through the doors. Halley immediately started healing him as he told them that Chadwick had resisted arrest and killed his whole team. He was the only dispatch left. Britney and Louis ran down the hall to relay the message to the royals.
When they got to the room, they only found the man who had cursed out Queen Mother Winona, so they asked him where everyone was. The man turned to them and said, "Kids shouldn't play adult games," before knocking them both out and carrying them out of the room.
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