"WHAT?!"

Kipo leapt out of her chair, staring at the screen intensely. Her arms shook, and her hands were clutched onto the side of the table so tightly it looked like it was going to break under her, but Kipo hardly noticed, all her attention was on the face on the screen underneath her, the face of a friend.

Gale gave Kipo an annoyed look, before sighing. He seemed to decide to wait this one out quietly.

Eventually, Kipo gulped, and found her voice enough to talk. "W-What happened here? What happened to Norman? Why is he on trial?"

"I don't know," Gale told her. "I'm right with you, aren't I? I don't know what he's been doing."

Kipo opened her mouth again, prepared to ask more, before she swallowed her questions. Right... there was probably no point in asking Gale anything. Anything he didn't know, he couldn't tell her, and anything he did know, he wouldn't tell her.

Kipo sat back down in her chair, despite how hard it was. She just felt so angsty and worried that sitting down felt like the wrong decision. Kipo hadn't realized, but she'd already accepted the worst. That Norman... Dipper... Wirt...

Kipo shook her head. "He's okay... I guess I should just be happy that Norman's alive and probably alright, that means the rest of them probably are, too! I just need to keep them alive..."

Gale didn't say anything in response. He just started up the screen again.

"That's Norman!" Mabel whispered way too loudly, but thankfully it was lost among the whispers in the church. "But he isn't like any of the things that Father guy described! Why's he up there?!"

Kris shook their head. How should they know?

"Quiet, please, people!" Father Arlen called out, and he waited until the church was at least mostly silent before continuing. "Mr Grier, if you could give us the charges, please?"

"Of course!" Grier announced, urging Norman the finally couple of steps before locking it to the statue. Norman, for his part, looked mildly annoyed, but he didn't fight back. He seemed to crouch on into himself timidly.

"I," Grier continued boldly, stepping forward and waving his arms like a showman, the opposite of Norman. "Am accusing this boy of witchcraft, satanism and not paying his tab on time."

"Thank you, Mr Grier," Father Arlen said to the young man, before turning to address the rest of the people. "Now, there is-."

"This boy came in the dead of night and brought with him HELL unlike we've ever seen it-!" Grier continued dramatically, and Father Arlen visibly grit his teeth before turning back to Grier.

"Mr Greir, please, we have another person to call to the stand," Father Arlen said, continuing with upmost politeness despite the visible irritation on his face. Grier looked appropriately chagrined. He took of his hat in apology.

"Of... Of course, Father, my apology, Father," he said, mostly sincerely, and Father Arlen shook his head before continuing.

"There is another to call to the stand, another with different accusations," Father Arlen told them. "Mr Fraser, if you can come to the stand, please, and announce your charges."

Another man walked in, one that looked a little older than Grier, who was giving Grier an odd look as he walked in. He seemed nervous, but he walked nonchalantly and relaxed. It didn't look like the worry was because of the crowd or for himself.

"I can, Father," Fraser said. He surveyed the crowd as he spoke. "Well, Father, I don't know about, er... 'devils' and all that, but as we were holding Norman, waiting for trial, he tried to escape. Nearly did, too. I don't know how he managed it, honestly."

Father Arlen frowned, before shaking his head. "Right. Now, Mr Grier, you can describe the crime in full and present the evidence."

Mr Grier seemed to visible radiate with excitement, like he had been waiting for this, be he seemed to try to hold it back. "Of course, Father."

Grier stepped up, throwing his arms up as if to present the boy on trial.

"This boy!" he started enthusiastically. "Has been lodging in my Inn, just down the street for the most of the past week. While he was lodging there I heard him talking to someone, someone I know I did not see enter or leave the room. In fact, when I opened up his room one day for cleaning, I found him conversationing with unsee creatures, EVIL creatures!"

"I see..." Father Arlen said, nodding. "And you believe these creatures to be malicious?"

"I do," Grier answered. "When I asked him who he thought he was talking to, he told me he was talking to Nobody."

"Nobody?" Father Arlen's eyes widened. "Like the stories-!"

Finally, Norman spoke up. "I wasn't talking to a person named Nobody," he told them. "I just meant that I wasn't speaking to anyone. I had been talking to myself?"

"A one-sided conversation?" Grier asked him, sounding skeptical. Norman winced before he nodded, slowly.

"Y-Yeah... I guess..." he said, as quietly as he could.

Grier turned back to the audience. "He's lying."

"They'll be the judge of that, Mr Grier," Father Arlen corrected. "Now, is that all you have or is there more?"

"There's more, there's more," Grier said quickly. "As is CLEARLY obvious, this boy was lying to me, so I listened in on some of his conversations, and though I could only hear half of the conversation, I heard a lot of interesting things..."

At this, Grier turned to give Norman a look. Norman gulped and tried (and failed) to keep his worried expression off his face. When Grier turned back to the audience, he was smirking.

"Yes, the first thing I learned is that this boy was using this... 'Nobody'-." Norman opened his mouth to protest before he seemed to think better of it. "-To gather information on the town. Information that he, nor I, could have known otherwise. For instance! How could I have known about the extra money Kiley had been saving up."

Father Arlen straightened, looking startled. He frowned, surveying the crowd until he found who he was looking for. "Miss Kiley, if this true?"

All eyes turned to the person in the third row, who had a face of shock on before it soured into annoyance.

"Yes," she grumbled, she glared at Grier. "How the hell did you guess that?"

"..." Father Arlen seemed to collect himself. "I... I suppose that proves it. Miss Kiley, come talk to me later, please. You know that's against the rules. Now, Mr Grier-."

"No, there's more," Grier told him, and this time, his face took on a grave expression. He didn't look like he was playing around anymore. "I also learned the true identity of whoever this guy is talking to. He said he was talking to the DEAD!"

The church gasped, and Mabel and Kris exchanged glances.

"So, like... a ghost?" Mabel whispered. "Those things are the worst! I think..."

"Ghosts?!" someone else cried out.

"No, that can't be right!" Father Arlen cried over the talking of the church. "Ghosts don't exist. As the Book explicitly states, everyone either moves to Heaven or to Hell! The Lord doesn't permit the dead to stay behind!"

"What?" someone cried out. "Ghosts are real! I saw one yesterday!"

"Yeah, me too! My dog's still around even though he's dead!"

"There one haunting the public bathroom, I'm sure of it!"

"Ghosts are not. Real," Father Arlen called out firmly. "Think about it. While would God force anyone to stay behind while there is a perfect Heaven waiting for us all after death? He wouldn't be that cruel, the Lord leaves no one behind!"

To Kris' surprise, the crowd seem to take that easily, even though it sounded a little fishy to Kris. They quieted down.

Father Arlen nodded to himself, satisfied. "In any case, we can move onto Mr Fraser now-."

"Actually, I have more proof-," Grier started, but Father Arlen shook his head.

"Ah, no, we've heard enough, Mr Grier," Father Arlen interrupted quickly. "You've already proven yourself. Though, I would be interested to hear these things later, though, so come to my office later."

Grier smirked. "Of course, Father."

Grier stepped back, finally finished with... whatever he was doing, and Father Arlen called Fraser up. Unlike Grier, Fraser waited for Father Arlen to prompt him before starting.

"Now, Mr Fraser, you are a jail keeper at the station, is that correct?" Father Arlen asked him, and Fraser nodded.

"Yes, Father, that is correct," Fraser told him. "I was on duty when the boy tried to escape."

"Right... And your evidence."

"I have witnesses," Fraser said, he nodded out to the crowd. "Axel, Ferdie and Doyle were on duty with me. They saw the boy escape, too."

"Ah, I see," Father Arlen replied. He looked out to the crowd. "Miss Axel, Miss Ferdie, Mr Doyle, can you all stand up and confirm this?"

Three people simultaneously stood up from the crowd and nodded.

"Yes, that happened," one of them called out. "But it happened in a weird way."

Father Arlen frowned. "Oh? How so?"

Fraser picked up the story as the other three sat down. "Well... you see, Father, the way he escaped almost seems impossible. Somehow, he'd gotten a key that was hanging were it was impossible for him to reach. In a whole other room, even! He even managed to escape into the mines in a tunnel none of us knew about until Doyle noticed how he had tried to cover it up. And when we found him, well... we didn't catch him at first, because just as we cornered him, the bucket beside us fell, distracting us and letting the boy get away. And lastly..."

Fraser seemed to hesitate at this part, but before Father Arlen got too impatient and tried to urge him on, he continued.

"When we caught him, he said something odd," Fraser explained, hesitantly. "He said... "Thank you, for your help. But it's alright now. It's okay, you did your best." We didn't understand what he was talking about, so we just ignored it as we took him back."

Father Arlen frowned. "Hm."

"It's that creature of his!" Grier cried out. "The devilish one I had been talking about."

"Hm," Father Arlen said. "I suppose that is for them to decide. Now, as we have heard all the evidence..."

Kris felt Mabel straighten up beside them. "What?"

"...And have listened to all the charges and witnesses..."

"That's it?" Mabel continued, probably speaking a little too loudly, but Father Arlen ignored them. The people around them didn't, though, they actually turned to stare, clearly listening in. "But what about the defense? ...That's a thing in court, right?"

"....I think you all have the correct information to make the correct choice," Father Arlen finished. "Now, as usual, we'll do this as a vote. If you'll all close your eyes, please...?"

"This is less fair than my mind trial!" Mabel pouted, before she thought about that a little more. "Mostly."

Kris nodded. Hey, if Mabel felt this was so unfair, why didn't she try being the defense?

Mabel brightened. "Oh? Hey, that's a great idea!"

"Ah, thank you all," Father Arlen called out after apparently counting. "Now, after all this I can safely say that..."

"Hey, what was that word they use again?" Mabel asked. "In court?"

Objection?

Mabel grinned. She looked excited. "Oh. Right."

"...I can safely say that this boy is guilty of witchcraft-!"

"OBEJECTION!" Mabel cried, jumping out of her chair and pointing dramatically at the stage. "Norman is innocent! This trial is unfair, he doesn't have a defense! And also! I accuse THAT GUY of SNITCHCRAFT!"

"What?!" Grier cried. Father Arlen, on his part, only could gape at Mabel in shock, his mouth opening in closing like a fish. Fraser watched her, wide-eyed, and Norman looked horrified. "YOU accuse ME of... of... whatever that is?"

"Yeah!" Mabel yelled. She crossed her arms and gave the people on stage a scathing look. "Like I said, this trial is unfair; Norman doesn't have a defense!"

For a second, nobody seemed to know what to do. Some looked at their neighbours and the priest for guidance, while others stared at Mabel, their brains clearly short-circuiting. Kris got the sense that this didn't happen often.

Eventually, Father Arlen seemed to gather himself. "I... I see. Well, young lady, that isn't usually how we do things, so-."

"So, ALL your trials are unfair?" Mabel demanded. Around her, whispers started rippling, and Father Arlen started to sweat.

"That is a strange accusation, young lady," he argued, but his voice was shaky. "We gave everyone all the evidence-."

"Not quite!" Mabel cried. "You know what? I have evidence, too! I knew Norman before, so me and Kris-!"

Kris tugged on Mabel's arm quickly, shaking their head. Mabel gave them a confused look.

"Huh? Kris?"

It probably wouldn't be a good idea for them both to go up, but if Mabel went up and distracted the church, then Kris could sneak around and grab those flowers.

Mabel's frown lessened as she listened, until she grinned. "Oh, right, yeah," she whispered to Kris, before she straightened up, addressing Father Arlen again. "Okay. I'LL be Norman's defense!"

And with that, Mabel left Kris' side and ran up to the front of the church with her hands on her hips, standing beside Norman. Norman was trying to hide his face in his arms, but with both of his arms in handcuff, his red, embarrassed face was on full display.

Father Arlen stared at Mabel. "You... know this boy?"

Mabel nodded firmly, and even Norman forced himself out of his embarrassment enough to call out a small confirmation.

Father Arlen frowned at Norman. "Well, I suppose that confirms that you aren't lying... this time, but we can't trust the boy, so why should we trust you?"

"Well.... Uh..." Mabel seemed to have a hard time thinking of an answer to that question, so Kris decided to help her out, 'calling' out a message to her:

The way they decided that Norman was 'guilty' is clearly unfair, so use that, Mabel!

"Oh, right!" Mabel realized, before glaring at Father Arlen. "You only decided Norman was evil because this trial is so rigged! We're redoing it! Innocent until proven evil!"

"I-," Father Arlen looked prepared to argue, but Kris watched as he looked out to the crowd. Kris isn't completely sure what he was saying, but it seemed to worried. He turned back to Mabel, clearly disgruntled, and sighed. "Fine, then. In the sense of 'fairness', we'll let you waste our time more. Just try to keep it short, ok?"

"Fine," Mabel huffed, and Norman's trial 2.0 was a go.