trusthell | Taking Responsibility.

And a while after that strange, dark floor is accessed, after you've had time to look things over and get some idea of what's happening...well. There won't be any sort of official announcement to tell you to get downstairs, nor will there be a personal invitation for you to do so.

Instead, the doors at the end of the corridor (were they there before? You find that you don't remember. It doesn't matter anymore, though-) slide open, as they always do, and the elevator ride to the courtroom is probably the first familiar thing that's happened all day. It's smooth and quick, though it seems to take a bit longer than it usually does.

And when the doors open at the end of the line, the courtroom looks different.

The dark, weirdly cylindrical room is largely the same in and of itself, but the usual twenty-seven podium circle is gone; instead, there's a smaller setup in the center of the room - ten podiums total, and you'll likely find the way your spots have been distributed to be very familiar indeed.

Of further notice is the balcony - there's a structure that wasn't there before in view of the courtroom, situated high above, barred-in by a railing that'd probably be at about waist-height on your average person; there's no one up there just yet, however.

There are so few of you now.

It seems that today there are no speeches to give; maybe the Kingmaker is absent, maybe he just doesn' have anything to say. Either way, however, the implication in the fact that you're here at all is clear.

For one last time, make the guilty take responsibility.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[...]

Was Mettaton in the same round as you? He said something kind of funny to me once. Was real sure of it, too.

What did he say?

I was going through a tough patch. It was after Misa died.

[Hard for her to talk about though. It's... not her best moment, in a growing list of not-best moments.]

I felt frustrated by everyone still dying no matter what I tried. And... in the end, his response was that you need to walk away from something. To cut your losses and stuff, and if you know everyone's going to die you need to save yourself.

Which isn't really unusual for him, especially knowing what I do now about him. But he said that there's a way to win this game easily, and that I'd seen it.

[A pause.]

Which would be to outvote someone. If I'd just accepted everyone as a lost cause and wanted to survive myself, take him home to Dalsnes, then... I guess we would've killed everyone else, left someone alive to be the third witness, and then outvote them.

Isn't that a way to win? It's just-- I didn't think about it all that much then, but now...

...Yeah, that's an effective way to win the game.

Sounds like you're speakin' from experience.

That's because I am.

Just couldn't swing it alone, could ya?

Is that how you won yours?

It'd make sense, considering how poor of a liar you're turning out to be.

Sounds like there's a reason he didn't like to talk to us much.

[here's an answer even though you're being rude]

[why do you need to be polite to serial killers who run murder games, again]

[She thought so. Mettaton and her could've won together, then, and then he wouldn't have died, and she could take him home, maybe, but--]

I couldn't accept it because I didn't want to damn the rest of them.

Did you and Mettaton work together to win?

You know I'm not going to answer that. Are you accusing me of that? Because if so, I want to hear it.

[Alright then. She'll stand straighter. She'll lift her chin.]

Pretentious, you and Mettaton each killed the people leftover in your group, that way you'd have equal standing of being culprits. You left one person alive so you could have a trial in the first place and then outvoted them.

And then you became the Kingmaker.

Okay, so what happened to Mettaton in this theory of yours?

Since he was a culprit, too, he would've won with you. He wouldn't have been killed. He'd be a winner just like you.

[A hesitant pause.]

Murdershows are what he does, and he's never shied from the spotlight. If he got a role like a kill switch, to be able to perform in front of an entire city's worth of humans, then he surely would've taken it. That's what I think.

[Well, here's your answer.]

...hmmmm...

...if Alphys-san and Mettaton-kun were in the same round...do you think she would vote against her own creation, the friend she helped to create a new body for?

Maybe it wasn't necessary to leave only one person alive. It's possible Alphys was manipulated to vote wrongly by taking advantage of her friendship with Mettaton-kun.

[If only Mouri knew Mettaton's secret...then he would be absolutely sure of this]

.....That's right. I don't think she could ever vote against Mettaton, no matter the circumstance.

She didn't look the sort.

If she really was anything like how Mettaton said she was like to me...

[A pause.]

No, I don't think she could ever vote for Mettaton.

He seemed to like her, but it doesn't really matter much with that guy.

[He liked Aqua too.]

It doesn't. Everyone is secondary to getting ahead in life - and at the time, he really would have thought his life was in danger.

[...Bruce could never do it himself but

yeah

he can see it happening]

...it would have been easy enough, from what I know of her from Mettaton. Play the right cards, and she'd have easily done whatever he wanted.

Corr... [Speedwagon just... says nothing.

There's a lot he's thinking, and honestly, as he looks around this trial room... he doesn't like one bit of it.]

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... Sounds right.

[She's not gonna tell his secret. Not even now, though she's really quickly realizing that she's got the worst taste in boyfriends, gods above have mercy on her.]