fifth trial

[stagemanagers]

[When the investigation finishes, the lights begin to flicker on and off as that low, gentle rumble echoes through the opera house.

Your intermission is ending. Please return to your trial room.

The court room looks just as it always has for you: the grand chandelier glittering above your heads, the dusty red velvet seats. In the orchestra pit your circle of wooden podiums are waiting. Jeremy and Steven's podiums are draped in black crepe with their grey scale funerary portraits, just like your friends before them. The ghost light glows softly behind the podiums.

The curtain is closed, waiting to open when a decision has been reached and the execution can commence.

When everyone is in their places, the Phantom's voice echoes loud and clear through the theatre from his place in box 5. His tone is even, with none of the distraction or terse notes in the weeks before. He almost sounds curious for how this all will play out.]

You must now determine who was responsible for the death of Steven Universe. Submit your vote on the podiums when you are certain of your choice.

[Gather your evidence and let's begin.]

Comments

EXECUTION: NEVER GIVE UP, NEVER GIVE UP

[stagemanagers]

[Again, when the lights go down, no one is there to note when exactly Stephen falls away from your number. Is this how it went when he saw all of you executed in the previous timeline? Who can say?

When the lights return, Stephen is standing alone on stage.

This time, there is no set. There is no music. There is not even a catwalk; the Phantom stands opposite Stephen, on the level wooden stage. He's watching him, but casting occasional glances out into the house.

Still, no music plays. No one comes out of the wings. No song begins.

After a moment or two of silence, the Phantom steps towards Stephen himself and starts to sing, unaccompanied, his voice steady despite the lingering bits of uncertainty in his body language.]

An everlasting farcical disaster
You play your part
You march the march
You don't complain
You find - what?

[He stops singing abruptly, turning towards the house. He only looks for a moment, before turning and bolting off-stage.

You were probably all focused on him and Stephen, the execution he was trying to find his way through. You didn't see what he saw. But you hear, moments later, a groaning of metal and a clattering of chains, following by a cacophony of crystalline crashing as the chandelier above your heads drops.

It falls in an arc, still restrained by several remaining chains. When it crashes, it crashes on the stage - and on Stephen, who did not flee when the Phantom did. Crystals smash, glittering fragments flying everywhere, and bits of twisted golden metal bounce off the hardwoods and down into the orchestra pit. For the second time in as many minutes, sparks and glass fly from broken lightbulbs, but this time, there's hundreds of them, surrounding by layers of fabric. The sparks quickly start to catch on the curtains hanging around the stage. You smell smoke.

You should go.]

[heathencall]

[Despite the anger, the betrayal, Mephisto isn't ready to see this. He stares at the floor as the lights go down, and doesn't look back up. It's only after the crash, when the smoke hits his nose, that he looks up.

It's all gone to shit.]

Move. Now.

[madgiganticfeelings]

[Christine doesn't need to be told twice. She grabs onto Mephisto's arm with one hand, reaching out with her (still clenched) other arm.]

Nana! Hurry!

[likemypicture]

[She forces herself to look-- to watch-- but now everything's burning. She finally releases Santana, to jump up, though she's quick to grab her wrist and pull.]

Mephisto! Get Nana and Christine! Let's go. [Assuming Santana comes along, she'll be hauling ass out of here, stopping only to scoop up Tad Cooper on her way out]

[heathencall]

[He's got Christine who's got Nana.]

Outside. Out of the opera house for now.

[musacal]

[ NANA'S GOT NANA IT'S COOL ]

[heathencall]

[ITS FINE FREE HAND TO PICK UP RIRI.]

[garbageface]

[ once she’s disposed of that knife, Santana follows. ]

[musacal]

[ Nana's eyes go wide as the chandelier falls and everything starts to catch fire. For a moment she doesn't move and she wonders for a split second if this is somehow her fault. For asking the patron to end it.

She almost doesn't run. But eventually her feet remember what to do and she's off. ]

[garbageface]

[ Santana will likely be swept away by Anne, or Mephisto, or someone else who’s been able to keep it together. But before that happens, she shakily stands, a white-knuckle grip on Stephen’s knife.

She lets out one last scream before throwing that knife into the flames. ]