There's something so much eerier when a body is suspended as opposed to just limp on the floor. It just... makes it seem so much more like a ragdoll. A puppet on strings. And it gets even eerier when the victim's own flute is lodged into his chest.

I'm frozen in spot, no noise coming out of my mouth. My heart thumps loudly in my chest. I have so many questions- when? How? Why? WHO??

As these thoughts swirl in my head, I realize how quiet it is. Too quiet. I mean, there's no screaming, but by now we'd also have heard-

Wait a minute.

"The body discovery announcement hasn't gone off!" I realize, horrified as it dawns on me. "He's still alive!"

"What??" Caim exclaims.

Dana grabs the chair and gets up on it, gently reaching out and checking Iris's wrist for a pulse. "No, she's right. I can still feel his heart beating."

"Wee-woo! Wee-woo! Get 'em to the emergency room before someone becomes the blackened!" Monokumace orders from the loudspeaker. "You don't want another trial, do ya?"

Will runs to her side, carefully positioning himself next to Iris as Dana methodically begins to remove the ropes the flautist is all tangled up in. The videographer catches Iris as the last rope is removed.

"Light as a feather," Will mumbles, adjusting the ash-blonde in his arms before hurrying out of the cottage as fast as he can, Dana hot on his heels.

I stand there for a long minute before a small voice in my head tells me what needs to be done. And that voice sounds an awful lot like Stolas.

"If Iris... y'know... we're gonna have to have a trial," I say to Caim.

He blinks as he processes my words. "Yeah."

"Let's start by figuring out what we can right now." I slowly approach the chair, staring up at the ropes still dangling from one of the wooden ceiling beams.

"How on earth did someone manage to get him all the way up there?" Caim asks, his gaze locked onto the ropes.

"I don't know, but they managed it." I pause. "Not perfectly well, though, because the ropes were loose enough that Will slamming the door too hard caused Iris to roll off."

"I mean, that kind of makes sense.  But the fact that he was all the way up there... There's no ladder, so they must've used some sort of pulley system," he says thoughtfully.

"That still requires some skill," I murmur. "So the killer stabbed Iris and then, knowing they couldn't move it in broad daylight without getting caught, attempted to hide the body where nobody would check. And then that would make it so while everyone would be searching for Iris, they could properly dispose of the body?"

"I guess so. And they wanted to leave as little evidence as possible, so they used the flute as opposed to a knife or something," Caim adds.

"What's going on?" Azrael demands as he appears in the doorway. "I heard commotion and..."

He looks past us towards the chair. "Did he... escape?"

I bite my lip. "Yeah... not quite."

Azrael's expression darkens. "Oh. But I didn't hear the body announcement-" His eyes widen in realization. "He's alive?"

"I hope so," Caim answers.

"W-well, we should go make sure he's okay!" Azrael insists, turning and hurrying down the line of cottages.

Caim and I exchange glances before chasing after the poet, who's definitely regained some speed since cooling off in the hotel lobby. As someone who really isn't that athletic, I'm gasping for breath by the time we breeze through the central island and cross over to the third island. We rush into the hospital, where Dana and Will are exchanging anxious words outside a closed room.

"Apparently, Monokumace is doing a procedure," Will grimaces. "We didn't really see any other options, 'cause we're not doctors, so we kind of just let them take over."

"Probably wasn't the best decision, but what else could we do?" Dana sighs.

"Who do you think could've done it?" Will asks me. "I mean, as far as I know, nobody visited Iris all day, so who knows when he got stabbed. Could've been anyone."

"If Iris makes it through this, then maybe he can tell us," Caim says hopefully.

"You mean... when he makes it through this?" a high-pitched voice announces as Monokumace exits the room, decked out in a surgeon's coat and mask. "He's fine. I'm a little rusty on my medical skills, but those stitches will stay. He got really lucky- the flute missed all of his organs, and was too shallow to do any real damage even if it hit something."

"So he's alive?" Azrael repeats.

"You bet! Just give him a few minutes to wake up before you go overwhelmin' him," the headmaster advises before practically disappearing right in front of us.

As soon as they're gone, all tension disappears.

"Oh thank god," Dana breathes.

"I'm really glad we don't have to do another trial," Caim says. "I don't think I could take another one."

Azrael has been bouncing in place for the past few seconds, and he suddenly throws open the door to Iris's hospital room and goes to rush inside when I grab his arm.

"I'll ask the questions about the case, you just keep him comfortable," I say quietly to him.

He gives me a nod before disappearing into the room.

"Let's give him a few minutes," Dana decides.

Will lets out a loud exhale as he pulls off his beanie and scratches the back of his head. "Yeah. Yeah."

"I'm going to go try to find Zeben and Flauros to fill them in on what happened," Caim announces. "Let me know what you guys find out, okay?"

"Okay," I agree.

The engineer gives me a double thumbs-up as he turns and hurries away.

Dana stares after him. "Damn, after all this, I'm gonna get some tea going once I get back to the kitchen."

"Now would be a great time to learn that this was all just a simulation and nobody's actually dead," Will grunts. "Y'know, like the Matrix or something."

"You're still making movie references?" Dana raises an eyebrow. "After all the hell we've been through, you still somehow have it in you to reference movies."

The videographer gives her a look. "You want me to sulk around and mope? Thinking of the things I love during rough times is my coping mechanism. From what I've picked up, working in the kitchen is your coping mechanism, but I haven't judged you for that."

"Okay, okay, you're right." The barista holds up her hands in surrender. "No need to go off on me."

Will's shoulders slump. "Yeah. Sorry. I just get snappy in tense moments. It's a director thing, I think."

The sound of the door startles me slightly, and I turn to see Azrael exiting the room. That was pretty fast. He gives me a nod, motioning behind him. Looks like I've gotten the go-ahead. I take a deep breath and step inside, shutting the door behind me.

Standing by the window and looking out at the tropical foliage is Iris. I notice his vest and dress shirt are laid out on his hospital bed, and his torso is bare save the bandages wrapped over where he was stabbed. Without anything covering his torso, I notice that he looks... malnourished.

"You shouldn't be out of bed already," I tell him.

Iris glances over his shoulder at me. "I know. But it's not like my legs are broken or anything. I can walk, I can move, I'm fine. I'll be back to normal in no time."

"You should rest," I argue.

He shrugs. "No need. I'm feeling better already. Though that might be from the amount of pain meds I'm on."

"So, what happened?" I ask slowly.

He turns back towards the window. "Well, I was tied up and lost in thought. I thought I heard my window opening- I don't think I've ever locked it, so it very well could've been possible- but I couldn't see because my chair was facing towards my door. Next thing I knew, the back of my head hurt like hell, and I blacked out. After that, this excruciating pain came out of nowhere, so much that I lost consciousness again. And now I'm here. ...can you tell me what happened?"

I don't want to, but I know I have to. "Someone stabbed you with your flute and tied you to the wooden beams right below the ceiling of your cottage. We thought you'd escaped at first."

"You really thought I was up to something?" Iris furrows his brow as he finally turns around fully. "If I think something is balanced, then I stick by it with my life. We've been over this, Sophie. Time and time again, I've told you all how much balance means to me- I've shown you, too. The fact that none of you trust my word now that I've been up-front and honest is irritating."

"Well, to be fair, you-"

"Murdered a cow, used my bare hands to smear its blood in an ominous message, used En and Furfur's blood to create more symbolic chess set-ups, could've immediately solved a case or two, and lied in the name of balance," he lists. "Completely reasonable things to do if you understand where I'm coming from."

Yup, now he's starting to sound crazy again. But I don't want to say that to his face while he's recovering from a near-death experience, so I'll cut him some slack. Until his expression suddenly darkens, his eyes widen, and he smiles.

"I... I just don't get it," he chuckles. "If someone tried to kill me... someone's willing to disrupt the balance. Someone here's causing imbalance..."

His gaze becomes distant as he stares past me, thinking for a moment. "There's someone here we need to weed out and punish. No matter what it takes, because we need to restore balance."

Iris looks back at me, his smile widening as he gets closer. "Don't you see, Sophie? Everything's unbalanced again. It needs to be fixed, or we're letting a potential murderer walk free. They need to be found and they need to be punished."

Yeah, I see, but not what he means. I realize at last who I'm looking at, between the panic and instability in his voice and the sickening sight of how unnaturally thin he is. It's the look of someone who's suffering. And it's killing me that I've only just realized it.

I look him in the eyes, despite how wild and unsettling they are, and say, "Yeah, I get it. But if I help you, can you promise me something?"

Iris relaxes slightly, his expression lightening up again. "Sure. What is it?"

"You need to start eating more." I gesture to him.

He recoils at my words, turning away slightly. "I-I forgot I don't have my shirt on. It was taken off for the stitches and bandages, I think."

"Iris. Don't avoid what I'm trying to tell you."

"...Fine. But I don't really have much of an appetite normally, so-"

"Iris!" I practically shout.

He stares at me for a long moment. "...Okay. I'll try."

Satisfied, I bid him farewell and go to leave. Once out in the hallway, I grab Dana.

"Do you think you could cook some stuff for Iris?" I whisper to her.

She gives me a confused look. "Uh, yeah, why?"

"He needs it."

Dana seems to immediately pick up on what I'm trying to say, because she gives me a determined nod. "Yeah. Of course. In fact, I'll go head over to the kitchen right now and-"

"Oh no you won't!" comes an annoying voice from the loudspeakers.

I see Will set his jaw. Sooner or later, there's no doubt he's going to throw hands with Monokumace. Still, he listens as the announcement continues:

"Y'know, I've been thinking. We were just robbed of a fantastic trial! It just fills me with complete and utter RAGE. So here's the dealio. Until there is a HOMICIDE- there is to be NO self-sacrifice or there will be punishment- all food privileges will be REVOKED! Will you all choose to be weaklings and let everyone starve... or will you find the guts to do what needs to be done?"

And then it's silent.

***

(2085 words)

^ Wait that's the name of an AJR song-