"Ok..." Her father started, "Uh... well... it was the wall. I mean, I thought it was pretty obvious, but...."

"Please shut up." She replied for what felt like the hundredth time.

"We're literally waiting for the Council to schedule your execution. Might as well find something to pass the time. Ok, I spy with my-"

"I told you to SHUT UP," she burst out, throwing a pillow at his head.

"Ok, ok. Geez, starshine-"

"Don't. You. Even. Dare."

"Dare do what? Finish my sentence?"

"Call me that."

"Starshine? What's so wrong with that nickname?"

"First of all, you gave me that nickname when I was, like, 6. Secondly, your obsession with stars has led us both to be doomed to a restless afterlife. And I don't know about you, but I don't really want to be called my own murderer."

"That's why my name's Corin and not Harper."

"Oh wow. You had to go there, didn't you. Haha very funny, way to go, I'm so proud, blah blah blah."

He shrugged, "Well, I'm not completely wrong. You did kill me-"

"And I'd 100% do it again right now if I had the chance. But, of course, there has to be a 'No death' policy here-"

"The Council's ready for you," a guard interrupted, crossing his arms.

"Tell them to wait," she replied, frowning.

"I would, but they've all gathered for this, which is surprising, since for some of them it's midnight and others it's 8 in the morning."

"...why did the morning thing matter?"

"Because that means my shift is done and I can go home. Come on." He pressed a key in the lock and pushed the door open, "You stay," he added, pointing at Corin.

"I think I have the right to be at my daughter's trial."

"And I have the right to deny you that right."

"I also do not want you there," she added, standing, "See you later if I don't die."

"You said there was a no-death policy."

"Maybe they'll push me into the void. You never know."

Her father rolled his eyes but smiled, "You're exactly the same."

"....Surprisingly, you're not." She gave him a small smile and walked to the door.

"Ah ah ah. Wait," the guard put out his arm, stopping her before she could walk out, "You need to wear this." He held out a weird looking bracelet. It was bulky with tons of wires wrapped around it.

"...why?"

The guard gave a small smirk, "You don't want to be pushed into the void, do you?"

"Not really, no," she admitted, holding her arm out so the guard could clasp the band on. As the ends connected a sound like a fan turning on came from it and a small screen that was so hidden by wires that she hadn't seen it before lit up blue.

"There. Now we can go." The guard gestured for her to walk ahead of him.

"I don't know where we're going," She pointed out as she stepped ahead of him, "So I really shouldn't be leading here."

"And let you sneak away? I'm not losing my job. I'll tell you where to go."

She thought for a bit, "What happens when you lose your job?"

The guard hesitated, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, everyone here's dead, right? And when you get here you're given a job by your 'Ruler' or whatever."

"Not everyone gets a job," the guard countered, looking almost offended, "Only a select few chosen by the Ruler."

"Which means there's no replacements, right?"

"...no."

"So if you lose your job, what happens?"

"It means longer shifts for everyone else. Besides, the Ruler picks everyone for reasons the Council refuses to reveal. Now shut up, will ya?"

"Look, I don't have anything better to do. I haven't spoken to anyone in however long it's been."

"Not my fault you chose to be stubborn."

"Less stubborn, more trying to wake up."

The guard chuckled, "Good luck with that."

"Excuse me?"

"The prison's designed so people can't leave, no matter what means they might use. That includes you just leaving the world as a whole. You're stuck here until the Ruler decides what to do with you, and, even then, you'll likely be kept here."

"Great. I feel so much better about this."

"Glad to hear it."

She rolled her eyes but her annoyance quickly dissipated when they entered the hall. As the guard had said, the Council was all present, which was a strange sight for her to see. Giving a quick glance behind her, she saw the guard stop at the door and close it behind her, nodding slightly in what was either support or a wish for luck. Neither of which was very reassuring.

"Harper Annesley," Edge started, "Daughter of Corin Hanshaw and Isabelle Annesley. You are on trial."

"For what, exactly?" She asked, "I didn't do anything."

"Your mere existence is a crime," a man who she didn't recognize insisted, pounding a hand on his desk.

"Calm down, Jordan," a new girl sighed, tucking one of the strips of her stark white hair behind her ear, mixing it in with the rest light brownish-red hair, "It's not her fault her dad's a psycho."

"Ok, yes, I agree, my dad is insane," she admitted, "But what does that have to do with me, exactly?"

"You're aware that you're the result of a scientific experiment, are you not?" Kate began.

"Yeah, and?"

"And you understand that your father rigged your testing, correct?"

"My father did what now?"

Grace sighed, "I knew this would happen."

"Oh shut up," the new girl piped up again before addressing her, "Harper, the simple way to put it is that your father modified the test serum to match your DNA and yours alone. He also messed with your DNA to make it easier to match with the serum, which is a whole other story, but that was mostly it."

"But what does that have to do with me?"

"Uh... well..." Kate trailed off.

"I knew this would happen!" Grace repeated, getting a collective glare from the rest of the Council.

"I guess we all figured that, Grace," Koda sighed. She stood, causing the others to stand as well, "Harper, if we're completely honest, we really have no grounds to keep you here besides you knowing this place exists, and even then you're supposed to, so..." she sighed again, "The Ruler demanded that we keep you here, though, until she knew enough about you to talk to you herself. Which... I guess we're supposed to do now. If you'll come with us..."

She nodded and watched the Council file out of the desks to the floor. When they were all on ground level, they weren't nearly as intimidating. Only 3 or 4 of them were taller than her, and none of them looked very strong other than Koda. Slowly, she followed behind Koda and Edge, who led the way hand-in-hand. On either side of her were Jordan and the new girl, and behind her were the rest of the Council. They walked in silence except for the sound of their shoes clicking on the tile.

Apparently the awkward silence became too much for the new girl, because she turned to her and tried to start conversation. "Hey," she said quietly, "I'm Delaney."

"Shut up, will ya?" Jordan hissed through clenched teeth.

"Sorry, Jordan," Delaney rolled her eyes, "But this is too stressful for me, so I'm gonna at least try and be considerate." She looked back at her and continued, "Just ignore Jordan. He's a jerk, but he does it on purpose. When he's not acting, he's actually pretty nice."

"I told you to shut up," Jordan cut in, crossing his arms over his chest and keeping his eyes on the floor, cause Delaney to smirk.

"And I told you no." She grinned at her, "See? Look at him! He's all flustered-"

"I'm not flustered!"

"Keep telling yourself that, Jordan."

She smiled. Even in the face of imminent death, these two were managing to make her calm through their bickering. It almost reminded her of Evie, her helpless romantic friend back in the land of the living.

Remembering her still-alive friend made her mind wander. She thought back to their home in the small town just above Lake Superior. To Bailey, Hayden, and Thomas. To the little dog that they had adopted before they had gotten to their new home, and how they had found his owner a few weeks into their stay in the small town. She remembered how Hayden and Thomas had tearily said goodbye to the little dog as if it had died, even though the owner said they could visit whenever they liked.

She thought about Logan. He was supposed to go back home. Did he? Or was he still here helping Bailey watch the twins? She couldn't be sure. And she wasn't sure she wanted to know, if she was completely honest with herself. Of course she wanted him to be safe at home, but the thought of him leaving...

Her thoughts shifted to Holiday. She hadn't seen her since Holiday brought them to the small town they'd made their home, but a part of her still missed her, especially since Holiday explained her weird shift from "best friend" to "worst enemy" and back. It was nice knowing she was safe, though, considering her parents were pretty upset with her when she came back empty-handed five years ago.

Then there was her mother. Isabelle Annesley. For the longest time she had hated her. So much so that she ignored all custody laws and lived with her dad for a few months. But... her mom actually did care, which she made clear by messaging her and Bailey and by, apparently, sending the police to look for them. Not because they were criminals or anything, but because she was, apparently, worried. And now, if her weird phase-through-time thing was accurate, her mom was with her siblings. She wasn't sure if that made her feel better or worse about the situation.

"Right, Harper?" Delaney asked, nudging her arm.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, yeah." She had no clue what they were talking about, but she liked Delaney more than Jordan.

Delaney gave a smug look at Jordan, who only rolled his eyes and sighed. She smiled slightly at their playfulness, but it faded as soon as the entourage stopped.

"Why did we stop?" She asked Delaney, whose joyful light had instantly faded from her green eyes.

"This is where She is," Delaney replied in a whisper, "Just... stay calm. Hopefully you'll walk out of there unscathed."

"Hopefully?"

"Good luck."

"You're gonna need it," Jordan muttered, pushing her forward as Koda and Edge split to either side, forming a small... path, almost.

"Come along, Harper," Koda said, an almost sad smile on her face. They opened the doors in front of them and gently pushed her through, shutting the doors behind them.

The room was dark except for the strange blue glow at the other end. Unfortunately, the room was so big that she couldn't see what was causing it. Slowly, the three of them walked towards the weird blue, but after about a minute or two the realized Koda and Edge had stopped. Turning around, she gave them a questioning look.

"This is as far as she wants us to go," Edge explained, "You must continue forward."

She wanted to protest, but instead she did as she was told. As she got closer to the other side, she saw a huge thing on the wall. It seemed to be made of glass and almost looked like a tube, but more curved? It was weird, and it was what was radiating the blue light.

Below it, on the ground, was a chair. A simple chair. And sitting in the chair was a girl. Her hair was that strange blonde color, and it was pulled up in a low bun on the base of her neck. Her eyes were a blue as vibrant as the light above her, but they were sunken in, as if she was old. In fact, everything about her looked old, but also young, say, about 20 years old. It was disorientating.

"Ah, Harper Annesley," the girl said in a voice that didn't really seem to match her appearance, "I was hoping to see you sooner."

"Look, I came here with your Council, I couldn't really have gotten here any faster."

"Oh, I didn't mean today. I meant before that."

"...What exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"It's irrelevant. But, no matter. I believe introductions are in order?"

"You already know me."

"Yes, but do you know me? Everyone here calls me 'The Ruler' or even just 'She' or 'Her'. But I do have a name." She stood and bowed, "Welcome to my home. I am Ashley."

Wow. Ok. That took wayyyyyy to long to finish. I'm super super sorry. To make up for it, I doubled the length of the chapter, but honestly that's probably nothing at this point.....

I really should've gotten this done sooner, but I've been going through a low and needed a little time for me, y'know? So I took... 4 months.... Still feel bad about that....

We're almost done tho, so you won't have to worry about poor updates for much longer hehe-

If you have any constructive criticism or feedback, I'd be very appreciative!

Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see y'all later! Bye!