Depreciation (Criminal AU) (WayV x Reader)

Relay

Chapter warnings: Mild language and violence

Word count: 1295

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Y/N was promised complete privacy as she met with "the defendants" before the trial. It had been a few days, and she had triple checked that she had accomplished everything Kun required of her. They were brought in, thankfully unhandcuffed, into a remote office as an offshoot of the detention center. As each met her eyes, they had different reactions, but said nothing until their accompanying monitors were gone.

Once they were alone, Ten was the first to move, immediately getting up from his seat to give her a hug. It took her by surprise, and the others looked on with a bit of awkwardness. In a mostly soft voice, he spoke first.

"It's nice to see you again." He started. "I'm sorry about... about Lucas." This again... she didn't want to think about it. She couldn't believe he was dead. She just couldn't.

"When will we be speaking to the lawyer?" Kun asked, already honing in on the logistical aspect of their little reunion.

"Yeah, about that..." She looked down. His face shifted several times as she explained her situation. The voicemail lawyer, the house arrest, the choice she was given. Finally, everyone was staring in awe.

"You're our lawyer?" YangYang asked. "That's so cool!"

"That's so awful." Hendery commented, catching her off guard. She honestly assumed that he was in their out of necessity, not choice. Although, it did make sense that he didn't like the setup. She held his life in her hands, and if she could find away to get just him fucked over, she would do it in a heartbeat.

"Hendery." Kun warned, looking over. They obviously hadn't had a chance to speak since the arrest, which would cause some tension to say the least. Once he was sure the man had settled down, no matter the hatred pouring from his eyes, he turned back to Y/N.

"Have you been through discovery?"

"Yes."

"Summarize."

"They have three categories of evidence: bystander witnesses, physical evidence, and victim witnesses."

"That's impossible." He commented idly. "I can't think of a scenario in which even a single person we've dealt had made their way back and into the hands of a prosecutor that quickly."

"The prosecution says otherwise." Was all Y/N could comment. She didn't know what to tell him.

"You've been working with him on this?" She assumed Kun was talking about the real lawyer.

"Yeah, we... we think we've got it. It'll be quite the move to pull, but just trust us."

"I do." He said with no hesitation. Looking to the left and right for a moment, he sighed. "With all due respect, none of us want to do this right now, and it seems like there's not much we can do. We all know the cover story, we'll all get to hear each other in court, so..." Clearing his throat awkwardly, he asked, "Maybe we just talk?" She nodded.

"I'd like that. I think we all have a bit of explaining to do." There was a long pause as everyone waited for someone to start.

"Well?" Kun asked.

"I think we all want to hear an explanation from the same person." Ten snarled, looking over to the other side of the room. Henry glared back, asking,

"Do we have a problem?"

"What kind of a question is that? Of course we have a problem. You killed two of my best friends!" He shouted, clearly willing to get violent much more quickly than she had expected.

"And stole half a million dollars." WinWin added.

"And killed a bunch of girls!"

"You think I was just doing it for fun?" He yelled back, standing threateningly as well. He was clearly weaker than he had been in the previous days, even since she'd seen him in the cell.

"Well what the fuck kind of reason would you have?" Ten was screaming at this point, tears practically forming at the corners of his eyes. She'd seen him emotional one time before, but this... this was something different. This was some sort of self-destructive absolute passion. "Lucas is dead and Xiaojun is close. They never did anything to deserve that, especially not from you! When you nearly cut your finger off playing with those stupid knives, XIaojun is the one that fixed it! Who's the one that covered us after we got into gang fights? Xioajun. He'd fix us up no matter what. Lucas would do anything for you because he respected you, and respected all of us! We may not have been a perfect group, and the things we're doing might not be conventional, but they were good men and you're a fucking demon for killing them!" He said, shaking at the knees as if he was going to fall over.

"I bet you would have killed us too if you could! I wish I had done it before you'd gotten the chance! Then Lucas and Xiaojun would be alive! I hope you die, I hope you die, I hope you die!" He cried, sinking to the ground as he put his head in his hands, still muttering the phrase over and over. I hope you die. Just die. Hendery looked shocked as Ten sat on the floor sobbing, YangYang now having taken the liberty to try and comfort him, saying something that she couldn't quiet hear.

"You have no idea what I've had to go through!" Hendery shouted down at him out of nowhere, voice cracking in fury. WinWin rose to try and calm him down, muttering something in his ear. "No, really! You're naive and stupid if you think I'd recklessly make decisions like that for no reason! I thought we knew each other, huh? You want to call these people your best friends and then treat me like shit? Is that what it's come to?" His eyes wide in some sort of crazed state, he lurched forward to drag Ten up off the ground by his collar, practically choking him for a moment.

"You disgust me. You're just a fucking child that wants mommy and daddy to go away, you don't know how the world works. If you even had a sliver of the knowledge that I did, you would have killed them too. Everyone wants the big guys gone until they have to deal with the consequences."

"Hey! Break it up!" YangYang was trying to separate them as Hendery slapped Ten clear across the face, causing his head to snap to the side. He put a fingertip to it, feeling it for just a moment, before jumping forward as well to knee him in the gut.

"Stop!" Y/N was begging as it turned into an all-out fist fight between the two. She wouldn't be surprised if they started biting and pulling each other's hair before long. Finally, she was able to push Ten back by the chest as WinWin dragged Hendery away by the arm.

"Don't blame me when the consequences come." Hendery spat as Ten looked over Y/N's shoulder at him.

"We're giving you the chance to explain." YangYang begged him, trying to be reasonable as Kun looked on silently. "Just tell us what's going on and we can all get past this."

"I'm done explaining." Hendery snarled. "I'll explain in court." And with that, he fell to the ground, eyes shut. Rushing to his side, WinWin put a hand to his neck.

"I think he's just exhausted. He hasn't eaten since we were arrested."

"How is he alive?" Y/N asked, still a little shaken. Ten clearly was as well, as she could feel his heartbeat beneath her hand, racing at a thousand miles an hour.

"Sheer willpower, I guess. It's wearing on him. We'd better hope this gets solved quickly..."