Octavia, Cinder, Dusk, Anatox... now Tonix.

Five pictures now replaced lives in the circle of the trial room. Spade stared at Tonix's portrait, as if it could reveal something, anything, about the killer. Nothing, of course. What would there be to see?

"Why aren't we starting yet?" Spade asked Monokumadi, getting his mind distracted for a moment.

"Well, obviously there's a student missing," Monokumadi pointed out. She pointed a paw at Akik's place, which remained empty next to Spade.

"Avoiding his own trial, huh?" Fabian said bitterly. "At least the other killers had the decency to show up."

"Oh, shut up, Fabian, Akik did nothing!" Spade snapped at him, hands tightening on the railing in front of him. His ruby red eyes locked with Fabian's blue ones with angry tension.

"What happened to 'guilty until proven innocent?'" Fabian said, faltering ever so slightly under Spade's angry glare. "In fact, how do we know you two aren't in cahoots? You could be trying to cover up for him, for all we know!"

"Why are you guys yelling so much?" Addie's ears were pinned against her hair, her expression twisted in pain. "I can stand it for a while, but not forever. Jesus Christ, you guys."

Before Spade could respond to either of them, they were interrupted.

"Guys?"

Spade turned around, relaxing when he saw Akik. His gaze was tired, emotionless. He hid every bit of expression behind a serious facade, and he was holding something in his hands.

"Finally!" Monokumadi said. "Took you long enough! Now we can finally get this show on the road!"

"Sorry I'm late," Akik sighed. "I was looking for clues."

"What, of your own crime?" Fabian said, earning another glare from Spade.

"I can assure you, I didn't kill him," Akik said. "In fact, I have some solid evidence of an opposing theory. But I'd like to hear yours first, if you don't mind."

Fabian nodded. "Alright. Here it is: you brought Tonix to the chem lab, left him there, came back, knocked him out, and when you came back again to make sure you'd finished him off, the door was locked, and he'd killed himself." He tilted his head. "Sound familiar?"

Akik responded without skipping a beat. "No, to be honest. I've never experienced nor heard that. But... I would like to hear all the facts of the case so far so I can properly assess what happened."

He glanced at Spade, his expression still unchanging. "I'll take it you were the one to do the investigating, so I'll take it from you here."

Spade cleared his throat. "Right. He appeared to have died from suicide after being hit over the head with something. It appears that he drank poison, judging by the blood loss, but we don't know who hit him over the head. He left a note, too."

"Do you have it?"

"I do."

"Can I see?"

Spade nodded, pulling the piece of paper from his pocket. Akik took it, unfolding the bloodstained paper and observing it carefully.

He stared at it for a good while before handing it back. "Alright. I'll tell what I know, then."

He glanced at everyone. "Obviously, we all know that we have few suspects to go off of here. I understand that includes myself as well. But I have proof that it was not me, at the least."

Fabian glared at him challengingly. "Go ahead, then."

"You were right when you said I brought him up there. However, I haven't been back since," Akik started. "There is one person in particular, on the other hand, that was not accounted for within the four-hour time period."

Akik kept his gaze swiveling, to prevent the blame being immediately pointed to the guilty. "I saw them once before I found Tonix dead. They were entering the library, but I never saw them afterwards."

He pulled the object he was holding out for everyone to see - a book. The pages were slightly stained blood red.

"I found this lying on a desk," Akik said. "I believe this is the attempted murder weapon."

"I never saw anyone enter or leave the library, though, besides Gradient," Spade said.

"If you're about to on the blame on me again, maybe I will actually kill someone," Gradient said, irritated.

"It wasn't you, Gradient, I know that," Akik said. "In fact... I know who it was."

He looked at Fabian. "Fabian. Mind telling us where you were during the four hour time period?"

Fabian glared at him, and stuttered before talking. "I-I was in the kitchen. What are you saying?"

"You weren't in there the whole time, you know," Gradient said. "You ran into me in the hall when I was wandering around."

"Then I went back to the kitchen! You went to the library too, you're more likely than I am!"

"I wasn't paying a lick of attention while I was up there," Gradient said with an eye roll. "You could've slipped in and slipped out, and I wouldn't have seen you."

"Well, then what about Spade, huh?" Fabian pointed at Spade. "He would've seen me!"

"I was not in the library the entire time either, Fabian," Spade said. "Towards the end of this four-hour period, I headed back to my room. Maybe around three, I'd guess, judging by the proximity of time between when I returned to my dorm and when I went with Akik to check Tonix. Meaning within that time period, it's possible that you could've gotten the book, gone to Tonix, and done what you'd planned: killed him."

Fabian stared at him for a moment, processing that. "...no, I didn't kill him, man! I didn't!"

Addie looked around at everyone, unsure about everything. Xerc was deep in thought, shaking his head.

"I didn't!"

"Man, keep your voice down, we got one girl, we should respect her almighty wishes," Gradient said with a snicker. Addie glared at him, ears pinned.

"Is that a wrap?" Monokumadi asked.

Spade and Akik looked at each other, nodding firmly. Addie nodded as well, and Xerc just shrugged. Gradient was smiling now, anticipating the execution.

Fabian's face paled.

"There ya have it, then!" Monokumadi jumped from her seat, and the game show slot machine began to turn. It turned, turned, turned, and finally stopped when all three faces belonged to Fabian.

Fabian stared at it, then shouted some profanity in anger. Addie jumped in surprise, and Gradient just laughed.

"I could've gotten away with it, goddammit! Why'd you have to screw it up for me?!" Fabian yelled angrily at Akik. "I coulda walked out of here with ten million to my name, and you decided to get me killed for it?"

Akik was unfazed. "Tonix meant you no harm, and you killed him out of greed. If you tell me nothing else..." he exhaled. "...then tell me why. Why did he die by your hands, Fabian?"

Fabian sighed angrily, shaking his head. "Guess I can't really do much about it now. I just... I like my money, okay? I see a chance to get some, I grab at it. And it's not every day you get offered ten million just to do something as simple as take a life and get away with it." He shot a glare at Gradient. "I may have never done it myself, but present company proves it to be possible, especially without real technology to figure out any real identity without pure attentiveness."

"You're a disgrace."

"That I've been told."

"Come on, time's a wasting!" Monokumadi said with a swish of her tail.

"Let's see the ultimate punishment for the ultimate explorer!"

-

1273 words

If you don't remember, canon Fabian is a pirate, so I thought he'd be perfect for this :)

Anyway here's your cookie, I don't remember if it was Ace or Tie that guessed but here 🍪