final trial

[airlockedmods]

[With the announcement, the Champions can crowd together onto the teleporter with no issues. Once that's done the process of teleporting is automatic and happens in the blink of an eye. Once second they're in the center of the cafeteria before a soft blue light surrounds them and then they're standing in the middle of a circle of podiums. It's so much emptier than it was just a few weeks ago that their voices echo when they try to speak up.

The room itself it the same shiny, chrome-covered atrocity as most of the rest of the ship save for the sections of floor that aren't the teleporter: those are thick clear glass that show nothing but empty space and stars beneath the Champions' feet. As for the podiums they're the same sort of garish chrome with a digital screen facing toward the center of the circle. More portraits and names in blaring red have been added this week. Thomas MacLaine, the Champion Accomplice, Manaka Sajyou, the Champion Mother and finally Roxy Lalonde, the Champion of ████████.

The Overseers are waiting when they all arrive, standing on a floating platform just high enough to be out of reach and back far enough toward a far wall to have a full view of the courtroom. Both are dressed well, Rox in a pressed grey dress jacket and skirt and Blaze in a black suit with the sleeves rolled up to expose his numerous tattoos. He still has the eye patch and Rox watches them with keen interest as they enter.]

Welcome back, Champions. There are six of you here but, if things go correctly, only five of you will leave. I don't think I have to explain at this point what will happen if you choose wrong.

This shouldn't take long though. We all know what happened. Anticlimactic but not everything can be a good mystery I suppose. [She folds her arms across her chest, looking down on the Champions.] Let the trial begin.

Comments

[dejabrew]

[Bolton hides behind his own podium, following Blaze Dudely's movements by ear, holding his breath and looking around for something he can use to counter that sword. If he can just disarm him he can punch him out.]

[theoversaw]

[Blaze turns and slices Jamie's podium in half with a snarl. And then he lifts his head, and stops.]

Hot Fudge Sundaes-- What-

[dejabrew]

[Bolton peeks up over his podium, and stops still as well.

Scorpion Worm stands at Tsurugi's podium, just staring still and quiet. There's no indication that he's dead but, well. He super is.]

[theoversaw]

Hey! What in the-

[Lucina is next, blood dripping from the corners of her mouth, her skin blackened and burned. Next to her is Osomatsu, with blood pouring down the front of Karamatsu's clothes from the gash across his throat, and then Manaka, with blood in her hair.]

What kind of ghosts are you!? If this is a joke, I'm not laughin!

[dejabrew]

[Bolton is messed up by the ghosts as well, but unlike Blaze he knew about the sightings of the dead.

And like Blaze, he knows an opportunity when he sees one.

He slips off his shirt and twists it like he's about to flick a towel, then sneaks out from behind his podium and creeps up behind Blaze.

He jumps at him, looping the shirt around his neck and pulling tight.]

You were looking for me, you bastard?

[theoversaw]

[And just like that, Blaze isn't paying attention to the ghosts anymore because there's an angry barista on his back pulling a hawaiian print rope taut against his neck. He drops his saber to grab at it, twisting the cotton fabric and gasping for air.

He can feel the stars dancing across his vision, giving tempo to the burning in his lungs. He twists and staggers backward, slamming Bolton's back into Prompto's podium.]

[dejabrew]

[Bolton cries out in pain when his back hits the podium, but he pulls tighter until he's slammed into the voting panel on the front of Prompto's podium.]

Is that all you've got?!

[airlockedmods]

[Almost immediately after Bolton's back hits Prompto's podium CECE's voice echos from above:]

The votes have been tallied. Commencing execution.

[theoversaw]

[Blaze freezes. He's loosened Bolton's grip enough that he's not being choked anymore, gasping for breath as he nearly trips over the bubble that's starting to rise from the floor.]

What!? CECE, shut it off! That wasn't a vote!

[dejabrew]

What's the matter, Blaze? You scared?

[Bolton can taste blood in his mouth from where the second slam made him bite his tongue, but he tries to get his arm around Blaze's neck instead of the shirt.]

[theoversaw]

You idiot! You really think you're gonna survive too?

[His fingers dig into Bolton's arm as his voice goes hoarse from the pressure back at his throat.]

If I die, you die too.

[dejabrew]

You think?

[The bubble is up to their hip level on the sides, now. Bolton sucks in a breath and reaches back with his free hand to grip the podium, leaning in to bite Blaze on the ear hard enough to draw blood to startle him into letting go.]

They told me to live, you bastard.

[theoversaw]

[Blaze roars in pain, feels his ear tear and hot blood run down the side of his face when he wrenches himself out of Bolton's grip, whirling to look at him.]

What in the footlong is wrong with you!?

[dejabrew]

[Bolton slumps, panting and clutching his ribs, against Prompto's podium.]

I'm finishing what they started!

[And he kicks out, pushing Blaze Dudely backward toward the opening of the bubble.]

[theoversaw]

[Blaze takes the kick soundly, staggers backward...

And trips over the hard plastic of the bubble behind him. He sprawls backward to the floor, watching helplessly as the bubble closes in front of him.]

No! No, no, no!

[He scrambles to his feet, fingers digging at the seam of the bubble.]

What have ya done?! CECE! Petuu! Somebody, shut it off!

[The floor begins to open. Blaze slams his fist against the plastic bubble.]

Bastard! NO!

[The floor opens all the way. The rest of his screaming is swallowed by the vacuum of space. He looks Bolton in the eye, grabbing at the bubble, the floor, the remnants of Jamie's podium, everything he can reach as he gets sucked out.

You know the song and dance by now. It's all very Disney Villain, really. Also just as gross as always.

As soon as Blaze floats dead in the vacuum of space, the floor closes again and the bubble comes down.]

[dejabrew]

[The minute he's free again, Bolton drops to his knees, trying to catch his breath and calm his heart.]

Jesus... Is - is that it? Is it really over?

[airlockedmods]

Mister Bolton, I would advise you return to the main section of the ship. Mister Jamie's vital signs are dangerously elevated and I do not think my assurances that you are not in Overseer Dudely's position are working on him.

[dejabrew]

[Bolton's head snaps up when he hears his name.]

Jamie.

[And then he's up and on his feet in a second, stumbling over to the teleporter.

Before he disappears, he looks around the courtroom again.

Akira, Marisa, Penny, and Kaiba stand silently staring at him, along with everyone else who died in that courtroom.

And then he disappears in a flash, leaving it behind forever to reappear in the cafeteria.]

[unhappylittletrees]

[Jamie had arrived in the cafeteria alone and, right up until Bolton reappears on the teleporter, was sure he'd be staying that way. Twenty-one people are dead, possibly twenty-two, and he's completely alone in an empty cafeteria with nothing but an AI and his dead best friend's ripped hoodie.

When Bolton finally arrives Jamie is hunched over in one of the chairs, his head down close to his anxiously bouncing knee. He doesn't look up when he senses someone near him but he does visibly tense, like he's waiting for some final blow to strike at any second.]

[dejabrew]

[Bolton's heart breaks at the sight of him. He straightens up, licks the blood from his teeth.]

...There you are, baby. Sorry I'm late.

[unhappylittletrees]

[All at once Jamie goes very still before he lifts his head to look at Bolton. His eyes are wet and bloodshot and his face is splotchy and pale. His lower lip is bleeding slightly from where he's been gnawing it, waiting for Blaze to inevitably come and finish him off.]

Jesus Christ. [He practically leaps from his chair, knocking it over in the process of throwing himself against Bolton and burying his face in his neck with a broken sob.] Jesus Christ, B, I thought-I thought-

[I thought you were gone too.]

[dejabrew]

[Bolton doesn't have the strength left in him to keep them both standing when Jamie launches himself at him, but he tries to bring them down as gently as possible, sitting on the teleporter. He pets Jamie's hair, buries his face in it and breathes deep.]

You're okay. You're okay, Jamie, we're okay. I'm here, I've got you... I'm not going to let anything happen to you.