VENGEFUL ✸ Matt Murdock

𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘-𝐒𝐈𝐗 , 𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒍.

[ CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX ! ]
trial.

"ALL RISE." The entire room stood at once. Clay included. "This court is now in session. You may be seated." 

Clay felt completely out of place. Here she was, sitting in a courtroom for a murder trial. One where she is the accused offender. She didn't know what to think, really. She hadn't been thinking much lately. It's like her body was just there as a clone while her soul went into a deep slumber and didn't have any plans of returning. 

"Your honor," The man at the table placed to Clay's right rose from his seat. "Today's case is the State versus Clay Azalea." 

"Are both parties ready?"

Now, Matt stood up as well. "Yes, your honor." 

The woman nodded. "I'd like to hear from Mr. Murdock first." 

"Your honor," Matt managed a smile. "Members of the jury, my name is Matthew Murdock and I am representing Ms. Azalea in this case." He reached for his file folder.  "I was able to conclude surveillance footage from the night of Mr. Parr's death." 

Mr. Parr's death. 

Clay felt her stomach clench and suddenly, the room was shaking and all she could feel was puke making it's way up her throat. 

Swallowing it down, she looked up at Matt to see him now pointing at the projector next to the stand. She watched as the glitchy images of that night appeared on the screen. Watched as the timestamps and angles changed each time. 

People were talking all around her, she couldn't focus on who was saying what--or what they were saying, all she could focus on was the way her stomach tightened with each photo, each memory. 

And now, on screen, it was a video. One that showed the rooftop, and Mason, Ada, Elektra, Clay, Matt, and Leo were all in perfect view. It was a calm and steady pace. 

Until it wasn't. 

The first thing the courtroom saw was Elektra collapse. And the group ran toward her as bullets shot all around them. It was like they were watching a movie scene. Clay couldn't believe this was real life. 

And then, Leo was down. On the ground of the rooftop. 

Clay watched as her past self ran to his body, watched as the puddle of blood began to ooze out of his body. 

She couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. The entire room was moving--spinning. The walls were closing in at the same pace her lungs were letting out air. But she couldn't speak. She couldn't do anything. 

Clay was watching her best friend's death all over again. 

And within a minute, Mason, Ada, and Matt were running away. From Clay and Leo's body. She watched as she collapsed over her best friend's body. And before she could prevent it, she felt a warm tear slide down her cheek. 

You could hear the cries and screams Clay had been letting out on the recording. The sounds are echoing throughout the courtroom and Clay had never felt so vulnerable. Another tear slid down her cheek and quickly to her neck, but she couldn't move her hand to wipe it away. 

She couldn't even blink. She was just left with her gaze pried to the screen. 

But she felt something else. This time, on her shoulder. 

And she was suddenly unfrozen. She looked to her left to see Matt, he wasn't turned toward her, but his hand was on her shoulder. Comforting her. 

And maybe it would have helped, if she hadn't been so goddamn horrified. 

She was watching him leave her. All over again. 

But Matt was attempting to comfort her, his hand on her shoulder was like a silent apology.  

But her eyes were still stuck on the zoomed-in image of Leo's dead body. And the puddle of blood she was now sitting in. But then, the FBI officers came up behind her and swarmed her and picked her up like she was some doll. 

Once again, her screams were the only thing the courtroom could hear. 

"Turn it off," She found herself saying, but it was as if no one could hear her. Like she was completely invisible and this was some cruel nightmare. 

The image on screen was now Leo's body lying there. Alone. On the rooftop. Just his body laying there in a pool of his own blood. 

Clay managed to find the power in her to quickly divert her attention and drop her head, squinting them shut as her face pointed toward her lap. And once again, Matt's hand was on her shoulder, but she moved out of his way of direction. She didn't want to be touched. Not now. Not ever again. Not when she can still feel Leo's cold hand against her own. 

The video concluded and finally, the judge said, "That's enough. Let's take a brief recess."

CLAY WAS ALONE again, for a moment. Before the door opened and within a second, her little sister was hugging her tighter than she ever had. "Hey," Clay said softly, managing a small smile.

"Sissy!" The girl squealed as she sunk herself further into Clay.

The two parted, and Clay moved the loose hairs that had fallen out of the girl's pigtails and tucked them gently behind her ears. "I've missed you, Lia."

Amelia's smile grew at this as she looked up at Clay. "Why isn't Leo here?"

Her voice didn't come out so much as a slur, like it had six months ago, when her front two teeth were missing. They were almost completely grown in now. "He's on a trip. He'll be back in a little while."

"Oh." She seemed sad, at first. But after assessing it for a few seconds, she seemed to be okay with it. Like she would simply wait for him to return now.

Clay heard a sniffle, and she glanced up at Carissa--who had tears in her eyes--for a moment before clearing her throat and calling Mason's name and motioning for her to come over there. She smiled briefly at Amelia, once again. "Why don't you go with Mason? We can talk some more in a little."

Mason grinned at the little girl and held her hand out, which Amelia soon took.

Clay's eyes returned to Carissa, and the two shared a mutual understanding. One that words could never do justice. Something so heartbreaking yet pure. "Come here," her voice was hardly a whisper. She just held her arms out and Carissa's lips quivered as she rushed to hug her sister. Clay rested her hand on top of the girl's head, while her other was wrapped around her small frame. "You don't deserve this. Any of it," She said to the thirteen-year-old. "I'm so sorry. Carissa"

She broke down in her sister's arms. So fragile.

Her shoulders shaking as her sobs muffle into Clay's shoulder.

And they just stood there. Clinging onto each other.

WHEN THEY RETURNED TO the court room, it wasn't long before the judge declared her innocent and allowed her to go home. But he deemed her unfit to be her sister's guardian and they'd be placed into foster care.