"If I'm the sun, you're the moon, because when I rise, you go down..."
~Cypher PT. 2: Triptych-BTS
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He took a deep breath. They were right. They were absolutely right. If he didn't say something, he might as well be guilty anyway. I have to, I can't do anything else, this is the only way I can stay with them, even if it's just a chance...
"H-How much do I have to say?" He asked, swallowing hard.
Jimin put his hands in the pockets of his black slacks, looking at the floor. "Remember when I asked you if you really killed you dad? You've never really told anyone what happened, only you and Jae-hwa saw it... I know you just woke up, I know you're probably in pain, but... Taehyung, you've got to tell them everything, start to finish."
Taehyung looked down at his hands, fiddling around with his fingers absently for a minute. He was scared. He wasn't ready to say it, but he had to, it was just a matter of how ready he could get himself before he had to say it. "Okay. I'll do it...I'll tell them." I don't know if I can, but I'll try. I have to.
~~~
After a bit of discussing, they decided Jungkook should go out and tell Mr. Lee Taehyung was going to testify, while Jimin and Hana helped him get ready.
And Taehyung needed help. When he stood up, he felt sick, and weak, and like he was going to collapse. The paramedics were still there, and upon being called into the room--though initially surprised that Taehyung was even alive, said that it was an effect of overdosing like that, that he'd probably be a little weak for a few days.
But I'm going to do this anyway. Was all he told himself while Jimin helped him out of the prosecutor's lounge and to the outside of the courtroom. But even so, he was relieved to sit in a bench just outside of the courtroom and rest.
Hana handed him a little paper cup of water that she'd gotten from a dispenser across the vast hall before sitting to Taehyung's right on the bench while Jimin sat to his left."You sure you can do this, Taehyung? You're shaking." Jimin said, giving Taehyung's leg a pat to get his attention. "You're breathing hard too..."
Taehyung shook his head, He could hear the case still going on inside the courtroom, everyone basically arguing over who was right and what had happened and who was guilty. I can't let it continue, it has to end.
"I could still go in there and tell them you're not feeling well...You almost died, Taehyung..." Jimin said, leaning over to look into Taehyung's eyes, his wide and worried, "If this is too much...Don't push yourself..."
Taehyung could see there was a lot Jimin wasn't saying. It was in his eyes, the fear, the concern, the nervousness. Taehyung may have been shaking, but Jimin couldn't keep still either, his leg bouncing in place as he sat.
"It will help, won't it, Jimin-ah?" Taehyung asked, licking his lips absently after.
"Yeah, but Tae, I--."Right then, Jungkook came bursting out of the courtroom, "He's about to call Taehyung to the stand, you've got to get in there.
Jimin sighed, and Taehyung nodded before Jimin stood up and helped Taehyung stand up. Then they made their way into the courtroom. He felt queasy walking, but tried to keep it under control by taking deep breaths. But even then, concentrating on keeping his breath even, he could see within the rows they passed, that people were surprised to see him, gasping and murmuring and putting their hands over their mouths. They all thought I was dead too.
After passing everyone, they sat in the front row on the prosecution side, behind Mrs. Park and Mr. Lee, and next to Seokjin, Kyung-mi and Yoongi.
They all looked beyond words for a full minute, all wide eyed, except for Yoongi who raised an eyebrow, "Had a feeling that wouldn't kill you, Pumpkin-head."
Before anyone could say anything else, Jungkook held a finger to his lips, "I don't know about you, but I want to see that smug-ass look get wiped off Dr. Park's and Jae-hwa's faces when they see the surprise."
It was quiet for a moment, everyone thinking that over, then Seokjin reached over and hugged Taehyung, squeezing hard, and his hands holding tissues he probably used to wipe tears. "Tell them what happened, okay? Don't be afraid, we're all here for you."
Soon after Seokjin hugged him, everyone else did too, all tight and warm and full of...he could place the emotion now, it was love, it had always been love. You all care, all of you, the world isn't full of people who can only hate, it isn't what I thought. It isn't. Yoongi was the last to come over to Taehyung, and he didn't hug him, just punched him on the shoulder playfully. But even then, Taehyung couldn't help the smile coming to his face, though he looked down to try to hide it, he was almost grinning. I can do this, I have to, they did so much for me.
"...I call Kim Taehyung to the stand." Mr. Lee said. Taehyung would have missed it, but by now the courtroom was eerily silent, and the words had left the room tense.
Dr. Park laughed, shaking his head, "Your honor, surely we don't hold séances in court? This is ridiculous."
Taehyung frowned, looking up at Dr. Park. He still hadn't looked back, just sitting at the table over by the Defense side, a big smile visible on his face even from on the other side of the courtroom. Mr. Kwon looked like he wanted to strangle Dr. Park for opening his mouth.
"You sound so sure, Dr. Park." The Judge said, same monotone she had before, though she was looking right at Taehyung, her expression was blank.
Since the Judge was looking at him, Dr. Park glanced back too. Then he double took, then he stood up, his mouth moving, but not a single word coming out, then he pointed at Taehyung, still trying to say something but failing.
"Don't point, Dr. Park." The Judge said calmly.
"I-it's not possible! This is a trick, he can't be--that can't be... She's pulling some kind of trick!" He gestured over to Mrs. Park frantically, though she was only sitting at the Prosecution side, a folder of evidence in her hands, not the least flustered by his accusation, "You can't allow this! She's pulling some kind of trick! He died! We all saw it, he can't, not after--."
"Why can't he, honey?" Mrs. Park asked, not looking up from her evidence. "Why not, Mr. Park? What happened to Kim Taehyung to make you think that?" Her voice was full of venom, but her actions were calm, deliberate, slow. Eomma...
Dr. Park gestured wildly to a spot on the floor, his eyes looking as frantic as his actions, "Who could survive that?!"
The judge gave one sharp bang of her gavel, making everyone jump in their seats and become suddenly deathly quiet, "Order!"
For a while, it was quiet and nobody moved at all, and Taehyung just stared at Dr. Park and he stared back, him with a look of utter shock, Taehyung with not much more than a blank expression.
Then the man in the uniform that looked similar to a police officer's went beyond the gate and stood by the row Taehyung was sitting at, holding out a hand for Taehyung to take to help him stand up.
Taehyung exchanged a look with Jimin, then with Jungkook, they both just nodded, so Taehyung took the hand offered to him to stand up, and the man led him slowly through the short wooden gate and up toward the stand for the second time that day.
It won't be like last time, I'll be okay, it'll turn out better, I've got to answer their questions...I've just got to...say what happened.
If he thought about it, he could see flashes of it, that moment when he wasn't sure what he was doing, that moment he'd taken that broken bottle and repeatedly shoved it toward Appa's stomach. It sent a shiver up his spine just thinking about it. But for everyone else, I'll relive it, I'll tell everyone.
Taehyung found himself sitting at the stand again, looking out at everyone again. Mr. Lee walked up to him, his face straight and not that much familiarity in them. "We can start with that, then, your honor, why Dr. Park is so sure that Kim Taehyung must be dead when he's not." He said, addressing the judge and looking toward her before looking back at Taehyung. "Taehyung, testify to the court as to what happened at the mental institute and leading up to coming here if you please."
Taehyung licked his lips. It's not about Appa yet, it's not too bad yet, it's not about what I did yet. Maybe it won't be for a while. But Taehyung was silent for a second anyway, not sure where to start.
"Ah... " Taehyung started, biting his lip hard in an effort to try to think of how to say what happened so it made sense. "How do I...?"
Mr. Lee cleared his throat. "Why did they take you back, Taehyung? Start from there."
Taehyung nodded, licking his dry lips once before glancing around the courtroom. At the Jury who stared at him with a mix of either a frown or a certain amount of pity, or just surprise. "Mr. Park took me back to the mental hospital...Because he thought I was...not being taken care of, but he didn't have proof, I agreed to go..."
"Why did you agree, Taehyung?" Mr. Lee asked, bringing Taehyung's attention back to him.
"He was hurting Eomma--Mrs. Park, he came to the house before dawn with more doctors and he wouldn't leave, he threatened her and--."
"Objection." Mr. Kwon said, raising his voice just above Taehyung's. "This is just conjecture."
"Overruled, no one said this was fact, Mr. Kwon." The judge said, sounding bored this time, "Continue, but get to the point."
Mr. Lee cleared his throat and straightened his tie. "What about after?"
Taehyung swallowed, he wondered what the point was? He hadn't been listening to what was going on before. "All the way to the mental hospital, he boasted, saying that he'd won the game, something about chess... I thought they were just going to throw me back in a white padded room, same routine...but...it wasn't, he threatened to make me overdose that day too, but the pill, it wasn't right..." Taehyung looked down at the ledge in front of him, remembering how it made him feel, that painful tight feeling in his chest, like he couldn't breathe. "It wasn't the right drug, it wasn't anything they'd given me before, it made it hard to breathe, it didn't make anything better, I gagged myself and threw it up."
"Do you remember what it was called?"
Taehyung shook his head. It was too long, too complicated, he could only vaguely picture the bottle of pills, it had been over a month since he'd seen it. I wish I did. it would make it easier, wouldn't it? It wouldn't make this so hard...
"They were giving you that? All that time?"
Taehyung shook his head again. "No. They'd come in once a day, grab me, and throw me toward the bed in the room, hold me down, but I never swallowed it after that first day, I kept it under my tongue and spat it out later."
"Where? You spat it out where?" Mr. Lee asked, the tone of his voice a little more excited then it had been. He was excited about this, this was the point. The drug, they're looking for the drug, they need to know what they were giving me. "There's no garbage cans, no windows to open, you're allowed to go to the bathroom twice a day, but they search you whenever you leave the room, where did you put all those pills?"
He remembered where, he'd sat the third day, after realizing he had nowhere to put the pills, taking the pillow case off the bed, ripping the top of it off and ripping that to shreds, spreading it all across the room, then taking the remaining bottom, bag-like portion and stuffing it between the mattress and the box-spring. When the nurse came in to leave his food, she'd assumed the missing pillowcase was all over the room, and just replaced it without a thought. "There's a bag under the mattress, I stuffed them in there..."
Dr. Park got pale, his face resembling a sheet of paper, the blood rushing away from his face, his mouth looking like it was saying something, but not a sound was coming out.
"I'm sure we could get an officer to check, if you don't mind, your honor?" Mr. Lee asked, a smile starting to come across his face. That was it, that was what he wanted. I didn't mess it up, I didn't fail yet, no one hates me yet. They will soon, but I wish it could stay like this.
"WAIT!"
Everyone looked up, toward the police officer running into the room. He was running like it was a marathon and the judge was the finish line, his black hair bouncing a little as he came running in, white latex gloves on and a clear plastic baggie that Taehyung could recognize as what they were putting evidence in. He looked disheveled, his uniform all sideways and dirty, but Taehyung recognized him, he was the officer that had patted him down coming in, the one he'd told about the syringe.
"This is it, there's still remnants of it in here!" He said, before literally leaping over the gate separating the audience from the actual court. Many of the audience was murmuring and asking questions and exclaiming.
"Order! There will be order in my court!" The judge banged her gavel several times. "What is the meaning of this, Officer?!"
Everyone got quiet, and the officer stood in front of the judge, panting, then held up the evidence bag with the syringe. "This is it. He came in here, saying that Doctor had made him overdose, at first I didn't believe him when he told me to find it, but this is it, there should be traces, and if we're lucky, fingerprints."
The courtroom was back to murmuring, but the judge didn't stop them immediately, just staring at the officer. Then she banged the gavel hard three times, and the room instantly fell silent.
Taehyung wasn't looking at anyone else, just Dr. Park, more specifically his hands. He wasn't wearing gloves, not even the latex ones he tended to have.
"This is incredibly damning evidence. The court will take a 20 minute recess." The judge said, then banged the gavel again before getting up out of her seat.
How's this for checkmate, Dr. Park, you son of a b*tch.
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A/N:
Aye bud~~~ sorry, I'm late :') Work and school and everything is a butt :")
I WAS GOING TO JUST FINISH THIS UP ALL AT ONCE, BUT i SAID I'D POST SOMETHING BY A CERTAIN TIME AND THAT IS THREE MINUTES FROM NOW ASDFGHJKL >O<)/
So I shall hopefully post the rest of it in like a couple hours? lol, the editing is just-- but yeah, here's an update in the meantime~~ :)
~Neri~