Take Responsibility.

[kingmakereffect]

And once the allotted time for investigating comes to a close, those elevator doors slide open at the end of the first-floor corridor, offering another of those fast, smooth rides down to that black void of a courtroom Twelve out of the original twenty-seven are dead; there are four less of you present for this trial than there were last week. That's incredibly obvious as soon as the doors slide open and the podium circle comes into view where it's encircling that dark pit in the center of the room; Norman, the King, Tarrlok, and Lynne have joined the deceased, photographs in greyscale watching the proceedings from their podiums draped in black. Of course and as always, the Kingmaker is watching too; he waits until everyone is settled at their podiums to begin speaking, though it's still impossible to tell exactly where his voice is coming from. "Assured and Perceiving have been taken from you. You guys are really getting excited, aren't you? Two people dead in one night... Whether the guilty party succeeds or not, though, is up to the rest of you." Fifteen Survivors remain. However many will be down by the end of the day is up to you.

Comments

[happysweets]

It does. "The human whose name is written in this note shall die." Those are the rules. "If the cause of death is written within the next 40 seconds, it will happen. If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack."

Misa-Misa uses this to be the Second Kira. This and her special Eyes, of course, but she doesn't have those here.

[goodforsomething]

What the hell's a Kira?

[happysweets]

No point in pretending anymore. Kira is the God of the New World. He kills criminals with his own Death Note and brings justice to society! ...But he doesn't have the Eyes like me, so, in actuality, Misa-Misa is stronger than Kira is!

But Misa-Misa is content just being Kira's Eyes, of course.

[penduli]

[ ... ]

Do you kill criminals too, Misa?

[happysweets]

I do. It's justice.

The very first innocent people I killed were Tarrlok and Lynne. But Misa-Misa has had blood on her hands for a long, long time.

[notjustawriter]

Justice.

What you do isn't justice. This is insanity.

[captainobnoxious]

It's a kind of justice.

[Sigrun's willing to stick up for that, anyway. Or at least explain it.]

I've even told her so. It's justice if you're in the right, it's murder if you're in the wrong. Criminals are in the wrong, so someone like Kira would be in the right. I'd guess.

[penduli]

Exactly. There's hundreds of murders every day—it's called war, and as long as you're fighting for something the majority of the population believes in, it's not considered murder. It's doing the right thing.

[ratingspoint]

...Thank you for not killing the criminal you knew of.

[And that's...awkward, and it's stilted, but it still needs to be said. And yes, that's a terrible goddamn thing to say because Tarrlok and Lynne are fucking dead as a result, but he really can't say he cares.]

[cherryblooded]

[He's not going to say anything, but... He really needs to give Mettaton a hug later.]

[happysweets]

So you knew I knew, then?

I wanted to. I wanted to so badly. But I knew he might have told people that we were fighting, so, I decided against it.

[cherryblooded]

...I thought you might say something like that.

After all, everyone's definition of what crimes are the worst is different. For some, killing another criminal isn't even on the register.

[happysweets]

It isn't in the slightest. We were going to change the world one day.

[pokexplorer]

[Colress is the last person to get into a discussion about morals, so he's not going to speak on the matter.

He will look rather disappointed though. So that was it, then.]

Do you think the Kingmaker will hold up his claim, then? Now that you have lost here.

[If the whole dream discussion was truly part of this plan, at least.]

[happysweets]

Nope. It was my last chance, and I failed. I don't know if I can look him in the face when I see him in nothingness, but, at least I died knowing I tried.

[goodforsomething]

.....crazy evil Batman shit. Got it.

So what'd you kill Tarrlok and Lynne for?

[happysweets]

It's not evil! Evil is criminals who murder and steal just because it's fun! Criminals who break the rules of society and the law can't punish them and doesn't want to! Criminals who break into your house, murder the people you love right in front of your face, and make you look them in the eyes every day while the judges say they're innocent! That's evil! And I won't stand for it!

And I killed Tarrlok because Misa-Misa thought no one would think the smallest person would be able to kill the biggest person. Simple as that. Lynne was a witness, and Misa-Misa didn't want to kill her, but, it was easier that way, and you were all going to die if I got away with it regardless.

[goodforsomething]

[Stan actually looks a little taken aback at her vehemence. That was more of an offhand comment from him than a real moral pronouncement or anything.]

...yeah, I can see killin' the folks who killed your family. But that's still got nothing to do with you murderin' us.

[happysweets]

I did it because I need to be insurance for Kira. And I need to be there for Light. If he was really dead like those memories said, I needed to do something.

[uro_cyon]

Killing people, whether their criminals or not doesn't make anyone a God. Telling yourself that is just... [ You know what, he can't even finish it.

Because it's too close to what he's done, but he's never once entertained the thought that he's anything but one man bent on a personal mission of vengeance.]

[notjustawriter]

Jesus Christ!

[happysweets]

There are lots more rules to it, too. You can make someone die by any cause you want. Even a suicide.

[notjustawriter]

That's monstrous. You can call it justice all you want, but at the end of the day, you're just a murderer.

[sleepingkogoro]

[Mouri nods firmly. Someone had to say that, and Gabriel did it before Mouri could]

Well said.

[happysweets]

That's fine. I'll know that I did some good with my life, and I helped to avenge the people I love, even if you may not think the ends justify the means.