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December 19th, 2027

6:35pm

Ruins of Courtroom Number Four

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No one will stay me now.

A ginger blur stormed up the stairs to the courthouse, blazing through the halls towards the marked double doors.

You may have had your way until now, but the beast is free.

"Legali!" The doors blew open.

Monarchs fluttered from older ears as eyes gleamed upwards towards the cold sapphires in the doorway. "Ah, if it isn't Wright's newest pity project."

The monarchs and their wearer were brunted over the defense bench.

"Mrs. Legali! Are you alright?" A fresh-faced man, around Mr. Justice's age, began to jog over with clipboard in hand.

"Outside!" Newfound Chords of Steel roared while eyes flooded white, and he scattered.

Meanwhile, Legali had just pulled herself from the ground, clutching to her left shoulder and the bench. "What... the hell was that?"

"Oh... you know very well why I'm here." She sneered. "And if you like what you have, you'll keep your mouth shut and this courtroom empty of guards."

A singular scoff echoed through the ruins. "What am I, your hostage?"

She laughed once. "Oh, I don't have to do a thing, do I? All I do is exist... and everything you love is in danger." Even closer she drew, until the ginger's breath was upon the elder attorney's throat. "Oh, it would be so easy... so so easy... but it would leave such a mark." She cackled then, forsaking the professionalism of a single laugh.

"I warned Wright about you. But that foolish man trusted sentimentality over reason."

"Of course you would." The small LED display on her necklace glitched.

Bribery! Briber in the house! Its glitchy little face sputtered without remorse.

Its victim sputtered too. "My pardon?! Who are you to throw out an accusation like that?!"

Legali's assailant chuckled softly, mellow after the psychotic outburst. She turned her back to the elder, but not her head; no, never her head, as she meandered to the prosecution's bench and slid an arm over its polished wood. "I will keep quiet, you won't even know I'm here." She smirked. "You won't suspect a thing, you won't see me in the mirror." A hand gestured out to the attorney. "But I've crept into your heart and you can't make me disappear... 'Til I make you."

"I'm sorry, are you singing?"

No chuckle was heard. "I made myself at home in the cobwebs and the lies, I'm learning all your tricks and I can hurt you from inside." A grimace on her face? "I made myself a promise. You would never. See. Me. Cry. 'Til I make you." The ginger's desk slam rattled the ruins. "You'll never know what hit you. Won't see me closing in. Oh, I'm gonna make you suffer, this hell you put me in, and I'm underneath your skin." A cackle rose once more and she leaned over the bench with her back turned. "The devil within..."

Now the victim seemed angry. "Who even are you?"

Her eyes were empty and no shred of emotion was found on her face. "I will be here when you think you're all alone; seeping through the cracks, I'm the poison in your bones. My love is your disease, I won't let it set you free, 'Til I break you."

Realization tore through Zegali's face. "No... It can't be..."

Victory glowed on the other and a scarred neck was displayed in a show of victory. "Finally! You really think I would just forget everything?! Everything you did to me. Look what you made of me!"

"None of that was me! I know you're just a scared little child looking for a scapegoat, but I am not the cause of your life."

"Oh, really, now? You're sure that you'll get out of this unscathed, without ever having to even fight? You're certain no blood runs down your hands? Really?"

"Murdering me will not undo these past seven years! I understand you're a traumatized little girl looking for control, but please, attorney to attorney, revenge gets you nowhere-"

"Nowhere but prison, I know. I did nothing wrong, but still ended up in the worst of them, because of you. And I don't have to raise a finger. Never again."

"You... are not that little girl..."

"I may never have been. But that matters. All I have in this world is my memories, and I'll follow them until this body fails. How many will fall before me... only time will tell."

Legali turned to flee, and the other allowed her. Instead, she turned to the gleaming emblem of justice, dangling haphazardly to the only object remaining intact: the judge's bench. But she couldn't face the symbol of justice. Her head bowed for the first time that evening, and her voice soft and weak. "And now we're here at a standstill, I wonder if you feel the kind of pain that rips your insides out... That's something I know all about. Shocking, ain't it? Is it because I can't be her? Made your mistakes and make me hurt." Her voice cracked and broke as she desperately fought the thoughts and tears.

"I can't fix you."