Lucy's POV
"Your honour, I'd like to introduce a new piece of evidence.", she requested, while turning around, dropping her fierce gaze and arching her lips into a smile. As her eyelids fluttered shut, she took in a deep breath, and for the first time, I felt an air of confidence exuding from her.
"Don't worry.", she mouthed, as she opened her eyes.
It was already the court-date. We were all seated, including myself. I was beside Juvia, who was wearing her wavy hair in a tidy bun. The judge was in-front of me, perched on his chair, wearing his black, silk robe. I, on the other hand was sleepless, wearing bags under my eyes, and dry, chapped lips. I've been completely worn out by these past two months. To put it simply, Father died, I took over his role and now I'm being convicted of murder. Great, isn't it?
I quickly glanced at Juvia, surprised by her empathy. Her usual gaze was lowered, and she seemed determined to defend me.
"Objection, you honour! This is against court laws.", the prosecution retaliated.
"It's only against the law if it's inaccurate. Permission granted.", the judge allowed, without even addressing the prosecution.
"I'd also like to press for my clients' immediate acquittal, your honour.", she stated, pressing her hands against the table.
My dry eyes widened in absolute shock, as I contained myself from blurting out my thoughts. Apart from me, almost everyone, including the Judge himself expressed their shock, with one or two gasps permeating throughout the court room. My eyebrows began to furrow, as I stared intently, awaiting the Judge's decision.
"Objection, you honour!", the prosecution repeated themselves.
Miss. Hart jumped up from her chair, intent on blaming me, with her auburn hair bouncing along with her sudden, rapid movements.
"Miss. Hart, nothing has even been said. "Overruled! Miss. Lockser, continue.", the judge glared at her.
I glanced back at Juvia, who had already gotten up, holding a sheet of paper, creasing it slightly as she gripped tightly onto it. She went up to the stand and began.
"Your honour, if you look here, you can see that my client was supposedly at two different places within a 5 minute interval.", she paused, sliding the sheet towards him.
"She actually found evidence regarding that?", I muttered to myself in surprise.
The Judge took the sheet and adjusted his plain, thin-framed glasses. The wrinkles under his eyes folded, as he squinted, trying to read the paper. "Yes.", he uttered.
"After testing it with a car going above the speed limit, we found it would still take 39 minutes to get there. This would make it impossible for my client to have been at those two places simultaneously.", she finished.
"Objection! Your honour, how is this relevant?", the auburn haired lawyer suddenly interfered, her face etched with concern.
"Why don't you actually wait before objecting, Miss. Hart. Overruled! Miss. Lockser, please continue.", he stated.
"Now, after tracing the address, we found an a building which is set to be demolished according to local authority. Inside, we found a sim-card-", she continued, waving her hand around, before she was interrupted yet again.
"Objection, your honour! It may have just been a coincidence.", the prosecution claimed.
"Well, let's see if it was a coincidence or not. Overruled! Miss. Lockser, continue.", he raised his voice.
"It's going well.", I sighed to myself in relief, allowing some of the tension to wash away.
"So, it's a coincidence that it happened to be a duplicate of the sim-card my client owns? Your honour, if I may say so myself, I think not.", she used the objection to my advantage, putting emphasis on the word coincidence.
"I have nothing more to say.", Juvia finished, leaving everyone speechless, including me.
I'll be honest, even I was scared. Law doesn't always favour the victim, and it's far from true justice. The basis of it flawed in several ways, and lawyers manipulate it, twist it - do whatever to prove their clients' innocence. But in this case, it wasn't favouring me, the true victim.
"Objection! Your honour, this has no relevance.", the prosecution were pretty much begging at this point, their voices shaking in desperation.
"Overruled! Miss. Lockser has finished, if you weren't aware already.", the judge sarcastically retorted. I felt myself wanting to snicker, but I held it in.
"However, you have your opportunity to talk now if you wish, Miss. Hart.", the judge said.
Just as she said that, someone came racing in with a piece of paper. He passed it onto her, and with the blink of an eye, she had switched.
"Yes, your honour. I would also like introduce new evidence.", she smiled, while glancing at me, curving her previously desperate expression into a smirk.
I felt my heartbeat starting to race, like something bad was about to happen. My eyes started to wander around the room, and I noticed the jury taking notes. This is bad. Even Juvia looked onwards with obvious concern.
She moved a strand of her hair behind her ear, and stepped forward. Smiling, she called for trolleys to be brought out. That person probably planned this.
"Your honour, as you will soon see, this is an interview we had with the accused straight after conviction.". Juvia stopped her as she was about to press play.
"What?", I muttered under my breath.
"Objection! Your honour, how is this of any relevance?", Juvia stood up.
"Overruled! Miss Lockser, not you as well.", the judge shook his head.
After quickly eyeing me, she pressed play.
"So, you've never used that gun before?"
"No."
"You're sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure."
She then paused the video and began. "Although she said that the gun was never used, when checking, we found that it had a bullet missing."
"No.", I uttered. I never used that gun. They went to such an extent to frame me. I clutched onto my furiously beating heart and began to feel hazy, until I felt a hand touch mine. "Don't worry.", Juvia whispered, her blue orbs filled with warmth.
"The law of our nation requires you to report any usage of the gun. Despite this, it was not reported. These suspicious actions show that the accused is most likely the perpetrator of the crime.", she continued.
"Objection! Your honour, just like the sim-card, this piece of evidence could have been planted in order to frame my client. I request time for further investigation.", Juvia interrupted, once again.
"Sustained! This evidence is not significant enough.", he stated, with hesitation. "Miss. Hart do you anything else to say?"
"No, your honour.", she spoke, her confidence shattered.
"See, I told you.", Juvia turned around and smiled at me.
"Thanks.", I responded, not knowing what else to say.
"Miss Lockser, although we won't give immediate acquittal, I will allow one more week on the basis of significant doubt.", he began.
Then, the jury will deliberate the verdict. Court adjourned!", he decided, slamming the brown, wooden hammer against the table as usual.
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Shrouded In Secrets [Fairy Tail]
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