The pink sporting lawyer with the formerly flawless track record in court raised her hand. "I plead guilty your honor. We killed Hot Dog Johnny to defend ourselves..."

  Trudy and Winona traded incredulous glances. Mina offered them a sad look in return. They wanted her to fight for their rights like she did in the past, but they were mature enough to know that this time, a plea of guilt was also a plea for their lives.

  Mina stepped up before Divine who was still riddled with the shock and horror of the Dark Persecutor being her beloved grandson still in the flesh. "I am willing to take the full penalty of the law for my actions, your honor."

  "But," the judge said, gazing out at William with his detonating heart and D. Vito with the remote in his hand. Even if Mina wasn't going to fight to expose Vito of his sinister machinations, she still wanted to lock him up for threatening to kill everyone in the room with her own grandson.

  "There are no buts in this plea deal," Mina said with a sad smile. "I will deal with the crime I committed fair and square. I robbed this man of his child and he is noticably grieved and disturbed by his son's passing."

  She turned around to look at Vito. There was not scorn in her eyes, but deepest empathy. "I too lost someone very close to me...two people actually."

  Blind's own lip trembled from those words. She knew there was so much stuff he wanted to tell her if he didn't go up in smoke like the rest of the room.

  Mina's voice was gentle and soft, also displaying a warmness that didn't deserve to be there. "And I desperately wanted there to be justice for it, but the justice never came. I won't deprive anyone else of not seeing their justice too. Not even the leader of the Aura himself."

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Mina walked over to Vito, continuing to have an air of melancholy and resignation. The man clutched the detonator remote tightly, even if his hairy fist shook. "Denny," she said. "If a guilty verdict eased the tempest in your soul and helps you heal from all those painful years you endured, so be it. I'd be happy to give that to you. As someone who was willing to call you a friend."

  The Aurafather's own bloodshot eyes shot a vicious glare at her. He looked like a bulldog ready to tear out the throat of his foe. But as his eyes met Mina's there was a different expression on his face. "You know why..." he said, his voice rasping and growling. "Ya know why dis pains me so much. You doing my own son in, pal?"

  Mina was silent. Letting the man talk would finally reveal the crux of his anguish to her.

  "The reason it stings so much, Mina. Is because you were like a daughter to me. Da daughter I neva had."

  "What?" Mina squeaked. Other people in the crowd were just as disbelieving of his words.

  "I treasured dat time in the taxi together. Because even though I loved my son so much. He and I neva had any true heart to heart talks. With you, bub, every taxi talk was a heart to heart. The words I said to you, truly mattered. It made a crusty punk like me so happy to find someone who listened to my words of sage advice."

  "Denny," Mina said, stifling a grasp towards him. What amazed her the most was that his words were a hundred percent true. His words did help her through some troubled times.

  Vito's clenched his jaw, his jowls wobbling and he grasped his remote control tightly. "And then, you go and kill my son. It was like my closest friend and confident turns around and stabs me in da back with the sharpest stick of gas station cheese n' meat in existence. Now I truly have nothing. No son, no friend. No nothin'."

  Vito's face was so fuming red he looked like he'd crush the detonator in his hands. And then, that's what happened. It crunched loudly between his fingers. Horror gripped everyone as they awaited a sudden detonation...