One Step At A Time (Phoenix x Reader)

The Truth Revealed

Your Pov:

As Iris spoke, I looked through the court record. Then, as her testimony came to a close, I turned to Phoenix.  "Her testimony...It conflicts with the court record. The victim was stabbed in the back..." Phoenix nodded and in that moment, shouted his famous line.

"Objection!"

He turned to look at Iris. "...Something about you just isn't right today, Iris!" Iris flinched at his words. "Huh...?" Phoenix took the autopsy from me. "According to you...Maya Fey stabbed the victim, who had her back to the stone lantern...Correct?" Iris nodded hesitantly. "Y-Yes...That's right." Phoenix hummed. "But in that case, the victim would've been stabbed in the stomach, right?" The judged tilted his head in confusion. "Y-Yes, I think so...?" Phoenix slammed his hand down on the bench. "But! According to the autopsy report...the cause of death was due to blood loss from a stab wound in her back."

Iris held a hand to her chest. "Ah!" But Phoenix paid no mind to it and continued. "This proves that the victim was stabbed from behind, not from the front! Sister Iris! It appears another seed of doubt has sprouted from your testimony!" And for a split second, I saw Iris's expression change to a scowl before it returned to its frightened one. After a few more words from Phoenix, Godot spoke up. "I can also say that darkness loves to play with the human mind." Phoenix shook his head. "Could you please knock it off with the cheesy proverbs and illogical metaphors already!? The point is, too much of this testimony just doesn't make sense! Throwing away a useful staff, the people fighting being mother and daughter...And now, she falsely claims the victim was stabbed in the stomach!"

Something was screaming at me that something was wrong, off even. But I pushed it down and continued listening as the judge spoke up. "Prosecutor Godot! Explain yourself!" And in response, Godot took a drink of his coffee. "The witness was quite unambigious about her own ambiguities when she said...that the garden was dark and she couldn't see clearly. A human needs one thing to see clearly. And that is...light. By the way, did you know? The Inner Temple has a rule that on nights when an acolyte is there training...the stone lantern in the garden is to always be lit."

I glared at Godot as the judge spoke. "Well if that's true...shouldn't the witness have been able to see the crime more clearly?" Godot continued his spiel. "...Normally yes, Your Honor. But according to the head nun, Sister Bikini...on the night of the crime, it was impossible to light that stone lantern." Phoenix looked at me before looking back at Godot. "Impossible...?" Godot looked at him with a wide grin. "It hadn't been used in a long time and the wick was no good. In other words... It had to be nearly pitch black in the garden that night. There could have been a faint light coming from the Training Hall, but that's all."

Then, the lantern was submitted into evidence and that's when I noticed the writing in blood.

This, in turn, flipped some kind of switch in Godot as he acted like he couldn't see the blood on the lantern. Then it all clicked. He must've not been able to see certain colors at all. Across the room, I could see him slightly trembling. Why was he freaking out like that?

And after all of that, we had to hear Iris's revised testimony. It was still nothing but lies and I could tell that Phoenix knew that as well. I intently watched Iris's face as Phoenix once again pointed out the fatal contradiction.

"Because 5 minutes before the snow stopped...Dusky Bridge was struck by lightning and had caught on fire."

Just like before, her face shifted a little, but no one seemed to notice. She looked at Phoenix in disbelief. "What did you say!? Th-The bridge... It was on fire...?" There were murmurs in the court as the judge looked at her. "You don't mean to say... you didn't know about it? It was because of that lightning strike that the bridge burned down!" Iris flinched back at his words. "Whaaaaaat!? But it can't...It can't be...!" Phoenix shook his head at her words. "It looks like you still haven't figured it out. No matter how hard you try to deceive or conceal the truth...you can't pull the wool over the eyes of a real defense attorney!"

The court flew into an uproar but the judge was quick to calm it down as he called for Iris to give new testimony again. At this point, I was getting tired of this. She was repeatedly warned and still lied. And so, she gave her testimony again.

...

"...I think you finally get it, Your Honor. The correct way to view Laurice Deauxnim's sketch is like this! This is how it should actually look! The victim's body wasn't flying above the bridge! It was actually swinging below! ...That's right! Just like a pendulum!" Phoenix glanced at me for a moment and I smiled at him. He was onto her. Finally.

The mood shifted as the hypothetical thought of an accomplice was brought to light. Phoenix looked at me and I could tell that we were thinking the same think. If Iris was truly innocent, then the killer was someone else and she had to be the accomplice. That's the only way that any of the reasoning up until now could be true.

The judge spoke to Phoenix. "...Very well then! If you please, Mr. Wright. Who was the person that received the body on the Hazakura Temple side?"

Phoenix turned and pointed. "It can only be you...Sister Iris." The way Iris flinched...she looked just like her. It could've been my mind playing tricks on me for all I knew, but I couldn't help it.

As everything proceeded, Phoenix finally decided to answer the question that everyone in the courtroom must've been thinking. "...Sister Iris. Let me ask you something...Why didn't you mention it when you first gave your testimony?" Sweat began to build up on Iris's forehead as she stuttered over her words. "M-Mention what?" Phoenix smirked. "The pendulum, of course. Using this sketch drawn by an eyewitness...I have established how the body was moved using the burnt-out bridge. Which means it's now a fact that this occurred, something you should've already known." Iris shook her head, seemingly panicked. "N-No...! I...had no idea! I-I didn't know anything about a pendulum!"

Phoenix spoke once more, the court falling silent at his words. "But the body couldn't have been passed along to the other side without your help! So you should have known about it! In fact, it'd be impossible for you to be clueless about this whole thing..."

Then, from next to Phoenix, I finally spoke up.

"...Unless you're not really Iris to begin with."