Title: Second Chances

Rating: PG-13

Word Count: 5,810

Pairing: USUK

Chapter 2: Doubt & Trust

Alfred titled his head to the side slightly in puzzlement. It appeared that Arthur was about to say something, but stopped and was currently staring right down at his arms. Which was downright strange-what was going through his attorney's head?

...But yet it can't possibly be that reason, could it? Another sense of plausibility emerged from the recesses of his brain. It seemed highly impossible but it had to be the only explanation. Alfred's eyes immediately moved right down to his little finger. There was a red string tied around it, invisible everyone but him, and people who had been there and back again, like him.

His eyes flickered right up to look at the man sitting in front of him.

"You can see it, can you?"

The question had seemed to startle the man out from staring. He adjusted his tie and cleared his throat. "My apologies, I was..distracted. My name is Arthur Kirkland and I am-" Arthur hesitated for a moment, uncertain by how the next phrase should sound. "-Your defence attorney. Can you tell me where were you on the night of crime?"

"I was at home watching a movie all night. Didn't go out of the apartment at all." Alfred recited mechanically from memory. He had been at regurgitating the same story for the last few hours. "No, there is no one who can vouch for my alibi. Nobody was at home." Arthur had evaded his question, which meant that he definitely could see the string. However, Alfred decided to let this pass for now.

"But the evidence says quite the contrary, Mr. Jones." Arthur slipped a photo across the table. "This is your jacket and your Swiss Army knife, right? They were found dumped in a bin a few lanes away from the crime scene. There were also eye witness accounts that they have seen a male, wearing a hooded jacket of the same colour in the area around the time of murder." Arthur folded his arms together. "And fingerprints on the knife were identified as yours." Pause. He looked up at Alfred. " What do you have to say to these?"

Alfred clicked his tongue in annoyance. "I don't know. I wasn't even there. I lost my jacket together with my Swiss army knife on the same day-"

"-You lost your jacket and your knife on the same day? When?" Arthur interrupted. This could prove to be a lead worth chasing towards. At the same time Arthur could not shake the sense of doubt over what Alfred said. How could anyone lose something like a jacket and a Swiss Army knife? He leaned forward, although he found difficulty in making eye contact with Alfred. It made him uncomfortable that he had to look someone in the eye, especially at this close proximity. "I need you to tell me everything you know."

"I am a volunteer in the local youth community centre. Every weekend I drop by there to help out. Right now there is a counselling and motivational workshop for troubled youths going on at the centre, and I am in charge of it. Anyway, my knife was in my jacket. I hung it right upon the coat rack in the staff room after signing in that afternoon, and when I returned my jacket was missing." Alfred's shoulders shagged. "This was the day before the murder And then the next thing I know, they turn right up in some murder scene-" His throat tightened. "..of John."

"Yes, the case file says here that you know the victim, John Williams. Says here on the file that he has been attending your weekly workshop and has a criminal history of aggression and anger management." Arthur leaned back and folded his arms. " You know the victim, which establishes the basis that you most likely have a motive. The victim has problems with controlling his anger-he might have, oh, I don't know, landed a couple of punches and frequently disrupted your sessions? And you might have been rather angry over this, and therefore you might have, in the fit of rashness, killed him? And the three other murders over the span of two months; all of these boys had criminal records and attended your workshop. Maybe you killed them too-"

Alfred stood up and slammed his hands down on to the table. "Are trying to help me or are you trying to get me to confess to a baseless accusation?" Damn right he was angry. He had came in hoping that finally there was someone out there who at least believed in him, but this...Arthur seemed otherwise. "Somebody killed John and is framing me for all these damn murders I have never committed!"

Ahh goddamnit this was why Arthur didn't want to take this case. He was a prosecutor, and therefore worked with how prosecutor worked-getting people guilty verdicts through evidence and empirical logic; if they confessed, they could plead with the court for a lighter sentence and their defence attorney would But to defend someone required the basis belief that his client was innocent, which was something he was incapable of doing. Arthur gritted his teeth. What was he supposed to say? That he did not trust anyone, including his client and all he believed that whoever was on that stand, the accused was definitely guilty of something? That fundamentally, everyone on earth was? This was useless. There was no point in taking up this case, reputation be damned.

"Arthur."

Arthur was ready to voluntarily step down as Alfred's attorney. "...I will get another lawyer from my firm assigned to your case instead." He started gathering the rest of the papers back into the case file."I am not going to be your presiding attorney for your trial."

Alfred took a deep breath and sat down. "I need you to listen to me." He reached over and caught Arthur's wrist in the midst of keeping the file." Arthur flinched at the touch., his mouth going dry all of a sudden.

"I noticed that you have not been able to meet my eyes." Alfred continued quietly, a hint of curiosity evident. "Why is that?"

Arthur wanted to say something, but it But to Arthur he had never once made proper eye contact even when in court; and when he did it was with people that he considered that he could trust, like Kiku. Gilbert Partly because he was afraid to see what was reflected right in Alfred's eyes? Emotions that were intangible, unfamiliar and complicated every single equation that he had analyzed and dealt with accordingly so painstakingly? "...let me go." He could have easily broken away from the grip, but it was as if his body had froze up from that mere touch and he was unable to move, and if he did it was as if that something would simply break.

Alfred did not. He simply resumed speaking in the same quiet, calm tone. "I did not kill anyone. John, Caleb, Gabriel and Will. I cared for each and every one of them. Whoever killed these four people knew them personally. But it isn't me." He paused for a moment and withdrew his hand. "Look me in the eye and tell me that you don't believe me."

Somehow, Arthur forced himself to lift his head up and met Alfred's eyes for that three seconds, and instantly regretted it. Alfred's own brilliant blues were intense and in spite of how he felt, Arthur could not tear away from those eyes even if he wanted to. Everything behind those eyes spoke of care and grief over the deaths, and beyond that, Arthur came to conclusion, in that moment, that Alfred was telling the truth.

"...I will do my own investigations to ascertain these facts." Arthur quickly averted his own eyes back down, hastily shoving the papers and photos back in the briefcase. He did not want to analyze what exactly had happened, not now. He had to concentrate on this case. For very well he could know that Alfred was a bloody damn good actor and he was great at convincing And there was that odd feeling that he had felt during the three seconds he managed to make eye contact with Alfred; and that he was determined to find out exactly that was. "I will drop by again." He stood up and made his way towards the door. Each step closer towards the exit made him felt a little better that he was leaving this somewhat awkward situation.

"Arthur?"

Arthur stopped, his hand already on the doorknob. "...What now?" Arthur wanted to get out of here.

Alfred remained silent for a moment. He had spotted the unmistakable red thread tied around Arthur's finger during their exchange. There were so many questions he wanted to ask, but he understood that there were some things he had to wait.

"I trust you."

Rule Number One: Do not get emotional with your client.

Somehow Arthur had a feeling that he had broken it Arthur decided that by the time this case was over, he was heading to the nearest pub to have a much needed drink. Was this how defence attorneys felt when they were told that their clients would trust them? Or was it just that kid? Arthur had a system when it came with dealing people; separating them mentally into different categories and dealt with them as accordingly. However Alfred did not fit in any existing category he had for his mind; it was as if..as if he was another new species of human that Arthur had just stumbled upon.

Arthur shook his head slightly. No, he had to concentrate. Concentrate on the problem before him first. Just then his mobile chimed, indicating a message.

From: Gilbert

Found smth a note stuck on firm's dr. Might be relatd to ur case! Drop by asap.

Chatspeak- Another thing that Arthur will never understand the appeal of it. In his opinion, that was one of the reasons why the quality of spoken English was getting more and more atrocious. Arthur hailed a cab and instructed the driver to drop by the firm first-he was interested in seeing that note.

If Alfred was not guilty-at least he himself was convinced that he was not-then he had to follow the lead that Alfred gave. Someone other than him that knew the four victims; something or someone who knew these four people. Assuming that Alfred was telling the truth that the jacket and the knife had disappeared the day before the murder in the community centre and that there was someone else other than Alfred that knew these four people personally, the most likely conclusion was that the real culprit had been to the community centre enough to know about Alfred, and had a form a relationship with these four victims. The suspect he had to look for was someone who had something against Alfred. Something big enough to frame him for murder.

The doors to his firm slid opened as Arthur stepped in, mind alive with activity and planning, what he should do once he reached the community center, who he should be contacting and the necessary people he needed to find and talk to. As much as Arthur preferred that he could send someone in his place for him to collect information, no one was free enough to run such an 'errand', and so unfortunately, he had no choice but to do it. If anything, he preferred working right in front of the computer to talking to people.

"Hey, Boss!" Gilbert came over, waving a letter overhead. "Here's the note." He held the piece of paper out to Arthur. "Think it was some kid who left it. Was coming back from lunch and saw him sticking this note on the door."

Arthur took the note from Gilbert and examined it. Hmm. The words were rather untidily scrawled, implying that it was written in quite a hurry. On it, the note simply said:

Alfred is not guilty. Help him!

"Did you get a good look of our anonymous sender?" Arthur slipped the note back into his pocket. This could come in useful later.

"Nope. Kid was wearing a hoodie and kept his head down when he ran past me. I could check the security cameras in this building, see if they caught a clear face of him."

"-Do that. See if you can get more information on this person. Once you do, call me." Another lead. Someone out there knew Alfred was not guilty. And if they knew that then the other person must know who the real killer was.

Gilbert grinned. "Gotcha. Another good excuse for me to get out of the office. I've been sitting right on my ass for seven hours straight and it's starting to get a little painful."

"I am glad that you were hard at work for the last seven hours, then." Arthur rolled his eyes. He turned and headed back down to where the cab was waiting.

Youth Centre, huh?

"Alfred's lawyer?" The lady said right after she glanced at the card Arthur had given. "Well. Anything to help. Even though I have spoken to Name's Amy. I run this youth center What do you want to know?"

Arthur cleared his throat. "Can you tell me more about these weekly workshops that Alfred is in charge of?"

Amy tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Let's see..well, it was more like something that Alfred and I discussed about, really. He thought of doing
something that would engage on the street kids, and encourage them in reconsidering their life they were leading right now, and I thought that it'd be a good idea, and so we collaborated and wrote a proposal to the local city council. The approved the project right about a year ago. Initially there were some trouble in finding the youths we wanted to participate since they weren't too trusting and all, but eventually Alfred got a small class size about 10. One year later, now we have a size of 20 per session, twice a week during the weekend afternoons. There were some successful cases where a couple of youths trying to contribute back to the society, like clean up vandalism and helping out with any events we hold in this centre for the public." She paused to pick up a leaflet from the counter and gave it to Arthur. "You can take a look if you want to know more. Anyway, Alfred was bloody excited for the last few months. Wouldn't shut up about 'how awesome things were going to be!', I remembered. "She chuckled, a fond look appeared on her face when she recalled that particular memory of Alfred.

"-Apparently there were four kids that wanted to come up with a play performance for the weekly Performance Night we have here; they said they'd recruit a couple of friends to help out." At that, Amy's face grew solemn, her eyes drooping slightly. "...but one by one they stopped coming. We never did find out what happened to them until we read the papers. And now John's dead, Alfred's arrested." She sighed. "The world ain't making sense anymore."

If the world had made any ounce of sense, Arthur was sure that he would not be standing here questioning. He would already be back at his office preparing to plead guilty and appeal for a lighter sentence for Alfred by now. Arthur stood silent for a moment as he processed the new information. "Did any participant in those sessions were, er, particularly close to the four people?"

"Well-" Amy turned her head and gestured right at the exit. A trio of boys were right outside, laughing and smoking. "Those three. I often see the seven of them hanging together. Maybe they know something."

Arthur quickly thanked Amy. Delinquents, huh? They were much more challenging to talk to than normal people. If Alfred was truly innocent then it would only be right to pursue this till the very end. He headed over to where the trio were standing and stopped a few steps right in front of them.

"Oi. Someone's here." The boy with a piercing on his nose noticed Arthur and nudged the other two of his friends by his side. All of them gave Arthur a full body glance. They were sizing him up. "What do you want?" The other boy holding a cigarette stick finally piped up, eyeing at Arthur with disinterest.

Arthur reminded himself to remain civil. There was no reason to be rude to these people. "I'm a lawyer. For Alfred F. Jones." He looked at boys. "Know him?"

"Yeah, we do. So?" Nose Pierce rose an eyebrow, perhaps answering a little too quickly. "We ain't saying anything."

"He's being held in the detention centre. For the murder of John Williams. He's also accused of the three other murders that happened over the past two months. The nanmes of the three victims were Caleb, Gabriel and Will. Know any of them?" Arthur casually observed their faces for their reactions. All of them showed barely no expressions, except the two beside Nose Pierce jaws tightened for the fraction of a second and immediately shifted their eyes down to the side. Only Nose Pierce remained completely relaxed, staring at Arthur and smirking.

"Yeah. They used to hang out with us. Until they got themselves killed." Nose Pierce continued. "They were fools."

"Shut up, you idiot." Smoke Boy hissed and kicked him in the foot. Nose Pierce glared and flipped his friend a middle finger. "What the fuck did you do that for?"

"Oi, that man's still here. He's looking at us!" The Quiet One gestured at Arthur. "At least answer his questions so he wouldn't bother us!"

"Why should I?" Nose Pierce crossed his arms together. "I got nothin' to hide."

Arthur twitched. Obviously these boys did not seem to care that an authority figure was in their presence. They weren't one bit intimidated at all, and Arthur had a hunch that all of them were hiding something, but obviously they were not going to reveal anything. Not unless Arthur could talk to just one person. Alone.

"..alright." Arthur turned to Smoke Boy. He would question this one. "Mind if I ask you a couple of questions? Inside?"

The three of them exchanged looks, as if deciding on whether Arthur request was valid. Smoke boy turned back to Arthur and stubbed out the lit cigarette under his Doc Martens. He gave a shrug. "Fine."

"See you later, then. Same time same place." Nose Pierce gave Smoke Boy's shoulder a firm squeeze. "Don't forget."

The youth nodded his head and once the duo had disappeared round the corner, he followed Arthur silently back into the community centre, and into the lounge room. Arthur locked the door behind him once both of them were in.

"What's your name?"

"...Adrian." He took a seat down on the couch.

Arthur sat down. "I noticed that when I mentioned your...friends' names, you averted your eyes immediately. That's a sign of shame. And guilt. You know something, don't you?"

"..." Adrian looked at Arthur coolly, remaining perfectly still-or as still as he could because Arthur was scrutinizing him, and Arthur noticed Adrian's Adam's apple bobbed up and down again. Another indicator that he definitely knew something.

"And so you do. Did you still the jacket and knife the day before John was killed?" Arthur decided that he could go further. This kid wasn't going to simply crack. "Did you murder the rest of your friends too?"

Adrian eyed at Arthur for a second, and then immediately stood up. "No comment." He headed right towards the door. Arthur stepped right in front of the boy and slammed him right up against the door, growling. "You are not going anywhere until I get an answer from you. "

Adrian smirked. "Then look me in the eye. If not, I am not going to tell you anything."

"..." Really? After Alfred Arthur couldn't bring himself to do that again. He took a deep breath and instead, kept his eyes fixated at the spot right beside Adrian's head. Arthur hoped that the bluff would work. "...I am looking."

Adrian snorted. "You aren't. Liar. Can't even bear to look at scum like us, can you?"

Arthur gritted his teeth together. It was not that. Not that at all. "No. It isn't that."

"Oh come on it is. Don't kid yourself! Everyone here looks at us like that, 'oh, don't go near them! They are all nuisance! Street trash! Those rascals would never succeed!' I know that type of person when I see one." Adrian sneered. "-and you are one of those poor bastards, aren't you? Those who always think they are right and forever will be?" His hands came up to grip on Arthur's wrists tightly. "Well, go on then. Arrest me. I confess. I confess that I stole the jacket and the knife when nobody was looking. I confess that I killed all my mates. I confess that I used the jacket and the knife to frame Alfred, the only person who so naively and wholly trusted and believed in us, poor, silly naive sod-"

At this, Arthur immediately let go of Adrian's collar and socked him in the cheek, breathing heavily as he stepped back. "Don't insult my client." Now why did he say that? He took out his mobile and punched in some numbers.

"..Hi. Police?" Arthur glanced down at the injured boy, still cradling his cheek. Adrian looked up at Arthur. Arthur immediately looked away. "Alfred F. Jones is not the killer. The real culprit confessed." He did not want to know how exactly Adrian felt.

There were too much going on in those eyes for him to handle.

"What? Adrian?" Alfred exclaimed in disbelief. "Seriously?" He slowly sat down, shaking his head. "I don't believe this."

Finally, the case was going to end. And Alfred was going to be off the hook. "The police have taken down his statement. It seemed that the security camera at the community centre, while it didn't catch Adrian taking your jacket, it did catch Adrian hiding something underneath his clothes when he exited the centre. Once the formal forms are processed, you are free to go. By this evening you'd be out of this detention centre." Arthur really wanted this case to end. After this he was going to head to the bar with Gilbert and drink. He didn't want to see or even meet Alfred anymore, if that was the case.

"No. I am not going." Alfred leaned back against the chair. "Adrian is not the one. I am sure of it."

...What?

Arthur had to pause for three seconds to process what exactly Alfred said. "What?"

"I am not going anywhere. I am staying. I am confessing that I am the murderer."

For once in his life, Arthur was completely speechless. On the same day Alfred had told him that he wanted an acquittal, that he was innocent, and now he was confessing? What the hell?

"Are you insane? That kid's confession and that video feed is already as good as decisive evidence. Enough to clear your name. Don't be ridiculous-"

"I am not being ridiculous! I trusted you, Arthur!"

"And I fulfilled it, you bloody idiot! The real killer has been already identified!"

"I trusted you to make the right decision, not to blindly point a finger and select someone that's innocent of murder!" Alfred leaned forward and banged a fist down on the table.

Something inside Arthur snapped. "And I fucking did. What the fuck is wrong with you? The evidence-"

"-shut up about that! Everything's all about evidence and logic to you!" Alfred snarled. "Have you tried feeling for once? Doesn't this seem strange to you? How fast Adrian jumped to confess? He's protecting somebody else and I know that!"

"Adrian is guilty as far as I know and he confessed right in front of me! Don't be delusional!" This was unbelievable. Completely unbelievable. Alfred was doing this just because his stupid belief in some kid that he was innocent? "Why can't you just accept that fact and deal with it?"

"No, why can't you open your eyes and look at the truth?" Alfred was half yelling by now. He was completely infuriated, nostrils flaring. "Don't you understand? You are supposed to bring the right people to justice, not people you think that deserve punishment! You are a goddamn lawyer, so do your job properly!"

Oh. Oh. So that was it. After everything Arthur had done for Alfred, even meeting him in the eye and going as to believe, for that very very tiny instance, that Alfred was indeed not an idiot and he was innocent. And instead of gratitude, he had gotten anger. Fine then. If that idiot wanted to remain in here and take the rap he couldn't care less. Arthur stood up. "I don't need you, of all people to tell me how to do my job." He started walking towards the door. "If you want to stay here, it's fine with me. I don't care. My job is done here."

The door slammed right behind his back. Arthur did not bother to even look at Alfred's face as he stormed away.

Somehow, Alfred's last words had lodged right into his brain and it would not go away.

It just wouldn't go away.

"Arthur-san, I will be going now." Kiku stood by the doorway of Arthur's office. "It is getting late. You should leave the office too. Do you want me to wait for you?"

"Ahh?" Arthur blinked. Oh. "Ah, no. It's fine. You can go first. It's late." He waved his hand dismissively. "I...I'll go as soon as I finish this report." To tell the truth the report wasn't urgent at all. He just needed something to do to avoid any thinking.

Kiku surveyed Arthur for a moment, wondering if he should say something. But instead he seemed to have decided that it was probably for the best to leave Arthur alone, and so he gave a nod. "I understand. Don't go back too late, then. Good night."

"A-Ah. Goodnight."

As soon as the glass door closed behind Kiku, Arthur stopped and slumped back against his office chair. Fuck this. He couldn't even work properly, not with Alfred's words still on his mind.

'You are supposed to bring the right people to justice, not people you think deserve to be punished!'

That was right. Arthur found that he could not argue. He was the prosecutor because he wanted to bring the guilty people to justice, and in his opinion he had believed that everyone was guilty and therefore deserved some form of punishment one way or another; and Alfred's words...he was right, Arthur realized, with some bitterness, that in a way that he was bringing justice to people the thought they were supposed to be punished. Like Adrian. And who knows, probably a few countless others in all the previous cases that he had taken. How many of those people were innocently locked away?

And Arthur realized that he did not want to know. And he did not want to admit to Alfred that he was right either. He was too prideful to do it. Admitting it meant that he was wrong. And Arthur had always been right in the end, eventually.

"-Oi. You Arthur Kirkland? Mr. Kirkland?"

...why can't people be polite for once, like Kiku? Arthur, however, recognized that voice. He looked up and saw the same youth he had seen in that afternoon. The Quiet One. Arthur frowned slightly. Kiku must have let him in.

"...Yes? What do you want? Please don't tell me you want to be an idiot like that wanker and confess that you are the murderer instead." Arthur said flatly.

The youth shook his head. "I was the one who stuck the note on your firm's door. And I want to confess something. I know who's really killed them all, and he's going to kill me too once he discovers I am talking to you."

"Kid-"

"David. My name is David."

"David, look." Arthur was tired. He didn't want to deal with this anymore. "Whatever you are going to tell me right now-"

"-Ben. Ben's the killer. He threatened Adrian to steal the jacket and that knife from the room. He was the one who killed my mates." David swallowed, his hand forming into a tight fist at his side. "He killed them all and he framed Alfred. And now he's going to kill me too."

...well Arthur wasn't quite expecting that. "Ben? Is it the person that commented that all four of your friends were fools?"

David nodded his head.

"...why would he want to kill your friends and frame Alfred? And why are you telling me this now?" Arthur himself was getting more and more puzzled by the second. David obviously had the chance to not tell on his mate and could have kept it a secret. Why would he come clean now?

"...look, we...you have to understand. Us people, we come from different backgrounds. Broken families, parents that never gave a damn, people that outright refused to accept us for various reasons, dropouts...you name it ,we all got it. All of us just..want one thing." David fidgeted slightly. "We just want somewhere we can belong to, see. With people who wouldn't judge us for who we are; people like us." Pause. "And once we get together, there's no turning back. We become close, like brothers. Whoever's in trouble, we help him. In return we ask for nothing but equal loyalty. Caleb, Will, John, Gabriel, me, Adam and Ben..the seven of us. We were close. Like brothers. Nothing could separate us. When Alfred came in and the four of them-"

He inhaled deeply before continuing. "-And the four of them started to drift from the group, see. Ben was pissed. He saw it as a form of betrayal, that they had left the group. Left us. Nobody leaves the group if Ben's in there. So he started killing them, one by one. Said that they don't deserve to live anymore because they betrayed us. And when he got to know that Alfred was the one who was 'changed' them, he came up with the plan to frame Alfred with John's murder. Set things right, he said. Revenge, he said." David voice broke at that. He lifted his head up and looked right at Arthur. "I..don't think it's fair for Adrian. To take the rap for somethin' he didn't do. And it's bloody murder. I just want to do the right thing. If you are wrong , you are wrong. You should take responsibility."

Finally, the truth. It was completely ridiculous how far humans could go when it came to betrayal. Arthur found it amusing in the twisted sense he could somehow understand Ben's reaction, although exaggerated. He had been betrayed not too long ago, too. And had, technically, died as a result of it.

"...how am I supposed to believe you?" Arthur exhaled heavily. He did hope that this lad was telling the truth, but he was unable to simply believe spoken words. Not after what Alfred had said. "You might be lying."

"You wouldn't know that, would you?" David replied. He took a step closer and leaned over the desk. "If you don't believe me, the next morning you are going to see a dead body right down at the alley behind your office and Ben walks free. If you do, you get a chance to deliver justice to the right person." He gave a grin. "Doesn't take much to figure out which option to pick, does it?"

Indeed, it didn't. Arthur found himself, slowly, moving his eyes to meet David's own subconsciously. There were still that many complex emotions flitting around, most which Arthur was unable to decode, but he was able to identify, intuitively, that David was telling the truth and the fear that if Arthur did not believe him, he was going to end up dead.

' You are a goddamn lawyer, so do your job properly!'

Was this for the best? Without breaking eye contact, Arthur reached for his phone and pressed a single button thrice.

Nine...Nine...Nine.

A/N: Annnd it's the end of chapter 2! I..am glad that this is the end of Arthur's POV for now because I really really had a hard time attempting to keep him IC to the best of my abilities. I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter! Regarding how exactly did Alfred die, everything will be revealed in due time 8')