March 4th, 2028
7:20 A.M.

Ah, the days of my youth…like the scent of fresh lemons.

Oh my God, I could not believe that that quote had just crossed my mind. I'm not old! …I'm only thirty-nine. I couldn't really say the same for my former employer, who often said that line more often than not. Lord knows what he has been up to nowadays.

The defendant's lobby was rather empty at this time. From what I had been told, they were still escorting my client over to the courthouse. It had to be done privately because too many protestors of the legal system have gotten violent and caused riots whenever a trial was held. Apparently, things have gotten so out of hand that attorneys and judges had to park their cars as far away from the courthouse as possible out of fear that their vehicles would be vandalized. Not even the increasing amount of security was enough to keep people in line. This truly was the dark age of the law…

"Mia!" I turned to see my roommate walking towards me with a cheerful expression on her face.

"Morning, Kol." I tried my best to give her a confident smile, though there was a raging storm of anxiety inside me right now. It didn't help that I was sleep deprived at the moment either. "You're here early."

"Really? I got caught up at the precinct questioning a drug dealer we nabbed earlier this morning." She paused as she looked around. "This entire courthouse is deserted. I didn't even see any bailiffs on the way in."

"They're probably running into trouble with some extremists on the way here." I muttered. "Because of the chaos, they try to hold trials as discreetly as possible."

Kol frowned. "I can't believe it has gotten this bad."

"Me too. But this is why I decided to come out of hiding. This needs to be dealt with accordingly."

"I could not have said that better myself, Fey."

I nearly flinched when I heard that familiar voice. In walked Lana, dressed in military-style clothing with her signature red muffler hanging around her neck. It had been so long since I've seen her last, yet I would be able to recognize her from anywhere. Despite how long it has been, there were no hugs or excitable greetings exchanged as we saw each other again. We merely smiled and shook each other's hands like professionals.

"Lana, you have no idea how glad I am that you showed up." I said. She nodded her head slightly as a response, and I couldn't begin to imagine what was going on in her thoughts right now. "So, I want to know…what were you expecting when you walked into the courthouse?"

Lana crossed her arms as she creased her brow in thought. "Let's see…how would you feel if you saw me after a long time of believing I was dead, when in reality I was merely asleep for some odd years, then woke up, moved in with another person, and disappeared off the face of the earth once again?"

I laughed at her statement, though I felt a pang of guilt for my actions bubbling in my stomach. "Yeah…it's crazy, I know."

Her serious façade faded as she laughed and pulled me into a quick embrace. "All the same though, I'm glad to see you alive and well. I must say, you look…just as you did in law school. You know, most people age forward."

"Ha, really?" I didn't bother to tell her that I changed my appearances for security reasons; I wasn't comfortable showing my face around just yet, and knowing how forgetful the judge was, I knew I'd be able to go unremembered by just changing my hairstyle to the one I had when I was younger. "I could say the same about you too! You look like you haven't aged at all since I've last seen you."

Lana shrugged. "You think so? That's rather a surprise, considering all the stress I've been putting up with."

I knew Lana went through a lot over the years, so I decided not to press on the topic further. Instead, I figured that some introductions were in order.

"Lana," I said, gesturing to Kol. "This is my roommate. I believe you talked with her briefly last night."

"Ah, yes." Lana smiled as she offered her hand. "Lana Skye, Chief Prosecutor."

"Detective Kol Blanchard." Kol replied a little enthusiastically as she shook Lana's hand. "Nice to meet you."

"So, how did you come to know Mia?"

"Well," Kol put a finger up to her chin, obviously trying to hide her amusement. "She knows my brother. I wouldn't say their meeting was a pleasant one…after all, he thought she was dead when they first met."

Lana was visibly shocked at that. "You mean…"

"Yeah, my brother was her would-be coroner! Gave him quite a fright too when she suddenly got up from her bed. When Mia was released from the hospital, my brother advised her to come stay with me, since I am a detective and well educated in law. We bonded over that, and she's been very helpful with some of my cases too."

"Quite a friendship. Wouldn't you agree, Lana?" I asked with a chuckle.

Lana just shook her head; she was probably caught off guard by how casual Kol and I were about this whole ordeal. "You never seem to meet people under normal circumstances. In fact, when we first met, you were hardly…"

"Okay, let's not venture there!" I shouted, trying to keep my temperature down. It's been a while, but I still had my "courtroom" voice as Maya would call it. "I didn't get a chance to tell you much about the case."

"My brother will be speaking in court, but he gave me a preview of the autopsy." Kol added with a hint of pride in her voice. She seemed rather thrilled to be taking part of a case with the return of a legendary attorney.

"Thank you, Detective. We'll look at it later." Lana placed the autopsy files into a manila folder, which looked pretty old and torn at some edges. "Does this look familiar, Fey? It's your friend, the Court Record."

"Of course I remember it!" I retorted. "It's not like I was born yesterday."

"Just testing you to make sure." She smirked. "Looks like you've still got a bit of lawyer left in you. So tell me more about this case. Also," She put her serious front back up, as if to emphasize whatever she was saying next, "keep in mind that despite the partnership we have now, you are still a defense attorney and I am a prosecutor. This will be the first and last time I will help you out like this. Understood?"

Oh, Lana…well-reserved as ever. I sighed. "Crystal clear. So here are the details for this case…"

The first case I took up was a murder case. The victim was a thirty-year-old man named Billy Williams. His body was discovered stuffed in the freezer in his parents' basement at around 3:30 A.M. last Friday, and the suspect was his twin sister, Vilma Williams. According to her, Billy lived unemployed with their parents, mooching off of their retirement pensions, until the both of them were moved to a retirement home. When discussing with an insurance agent about inheritance, he had gotten into a heated argument with his sister because he was going to get less money than she was when both of their parents would "kick the bucket." This argument carried on well into the early hours of the morning, and after police were called over by a neighbor complaining of all the shouting, that was when they discovered Vilma stuffing her brother's body into the freezer. Vilma gave me a copy of the will, should it be useful.

After I was finished explaining, Lana put a finger to her temple, probably contemplating all of the information. "Caught in the act…and with the perfect motive as well."

"Motive?" Kol questioned.

"Yes." I stifled the urge to groan. "With Billy out of the way, that would leave only Vilma to inherit the rest of the money. There are no more names on the list that point to potential relatives."

"Yikes…so it's no wonder all the suspicion gets pinned on her. The fact that they saw her trying to hide the body doesn't help either…"

By the tone of Kol's voice, I could tell she was pretty much asking me why I would decide to take up a case as hopeless as this one. Well, the truth is…

"That's Mia for you, Detective." Lana chimed in. "She never settles for the easy ones."

Way to take the words out of my mouth, Lana. I rolled my eyes. "When did you become a mind reader?"

I was expecting a witty answer, but I got a witty smirk instead, therefore wittingly stopping that conversation. Then, something seemed to have caught her interest and she leaned forward as if to get a better look at it. I followed her eyes until they locked onto an ash-gray haired woman in a burgundy sweatshirt, the name of some college university fading away. A single bailiff stood next to her. He appeared shaken, like he just experienced a terrible ordeal he would never want to relive again in his life. I would bet a couple of bucks I knew what it was.

"Is that your client?" Lana asked.

I nodded my head as I went over towards them with Kol and Lana following me behind.

"Good morning, Ms. Williams." I greeted in a cheery tone.

"It is anything but a good morning, Ms. Bennet." She practically spat out those words.

Lana and Kol gave me incredulous stares when my client mentioned the last name I chose for myself. I shrugged; what was I supposed to do after being "dead" for so long? If I'm going to live a new life, I might as well go by the last name of my favorite fictional character.

Vilma, not really paying attention to us, continued on with her rant, "First, I am arrested for the murder of my brother, then my poor parents try to contact me at the Detention Center demanding to know why I did it, and to top it all off, this guy…" She motioned towards the bailiff, who instinctively took a step away. "…decides to take me through an angry mob where they swarmed us like hornets. They said they were against this trial, so I assumed they were on my side. But no, they wanted to deal with me themselves! They even had the noose waiting for me hanging from a flag pole outside the courthouse!"

There went my attempt at trying to cheer up my client. I thought it best not to tell her that I hadn't taken up a case in a little…a long time.

"So…the Dark Age has sprung a lynching trend?" I asked Lana.

Lana glanced away, a horrified expression on her face. "It's terrible. We try to make arrests, but it does nothing. Not even the criminals are safe anymore."

"In some cases where lynching is considered an unjustifiable murder, the lynchers become the lynched…with a more "proper" trial, so they say." Kol added.

This was sickening. People who let their emotions get the better of their judgment have no place in playing God. What happened to innocent until proven guilty? I noticed Vilma giving me a skeptical glare next to me.

"Well?" She asked. "Am I going to be found guilty or not?"

"Do not worry, Ms. Williams." I had to pause for a bit before I could start talking like this woman, emphasizing every other word…though I do admit, it would make everything more interesting. "Yes, there is a lot of evidence pointing to you as the killer, but I believe that without a doubt, you are innocent. Just leave it to me, and I'll have your name cleared in no time."

Vilma studied me for a long time as if she were trying to see if I was capable of living up to my declaration. I've seen her will, and her family was pretty well off financially so she could have hired any high-ranking attorney in the state…yet she chose me. I wondered if she was questioning her choice in lawyers as we spoke. Finally, she gave me a satisfied nod. "Very well then. I look forward to good news after the trial."

I inwardly sighed out of relief. My client trusting me was just as important as me trusting my client. After we talked, I tried to put on my best confident face as I followed them into the courtroom. The nerves were twisting my stomach inside and out, and I was feeling very light-headed for some reason. This feeling of anxiety was almost nostalgic, but I wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing. A hand suddenly gripped my shoulder, snapping me out of my thoughts. Lana peered back at me, giving me an encouraging smile.

"Still putting all of your trust in your client." She commented light-heartedly. "Same old Mia."

Her words, short yet simple, was enough to remind me who I was as a defense attorney. I shouldn't be nervous when I wasn't the person on trial. My only job was to keep believing in my client until the very end. Defending them was only part of it.

I grinned back at my co-counsel, feeling rejuvenated by her reassurance. "Thank you, Lana. And…call me Misty."

PX: The purpose of this chapter was to explain in a little more detail the atrocities of the Dark Age (plus if I added the entire trial part, then it would be too long) and to introduce my OC. Yes, Mia is a fan of Pride and Prejudice. Courtroom drama to come in the next chapter! Don't forget to leave a review!