The Magistrate's Decree

Faust and Evelyn watched Leo with fear in their eyes as he looked back at them, completely drenched in blood. The torn apart Montague hanging upside down behind Leo was etched into their hearts.

Without saying a word, Evelyn turned away with an unclear expression and quickly left. Faust on the other hand stood there, frozen in place. A few tears streamed down his face.

Leo looked away from Faust in shame, he clenched his fist to stop its trembling.

"It's you right?" Faust said with a slightly trembling voice.

"…" Leo remained silent.

"You're the Rainy-Day Killer, aren't you?"

"…Yes." Leo admitted.

"I knew it!" Daniel said as he jumped out of his chair interrupting Leo.

Leo looked up at him with dissatisfied eyes and coughed slightly. Daniel ignored Leo and paced around the room in excitement. A massive grin was plastered all over his face.

He suddenly turned to Leo and asked, "Then what happened?"

"I told him we needed to leave, we left, and you guys were pulling up outside. You arrested us and brought us here. I took my one phone call and here we are."

"Who'd you call?"

"To be frank, that's none of your concern."

"It's in the contract."

"No, it's in the contract that I need to recount what happened after the nightclub incident. I did that. Just because I have to tell you the timeline doesn't mean I have to tell you specifics."

Daniel's eyes narrowed as he thought about how much Leo might've glossed over during the story.

"Do you mind if we add a clause to the contract?" Leo asked out of nowhere.

"Yes, I do mind."

"I'll throw in some extra juicy stuff."

"No thanks, I already know enough." Daniel said decisively.

"Hmm. Alright." Leo mumbled with dissatisfaction.

"I guess that means we're done here Mathias."

"Guess so."

Daniel stood up to call in the men who'd aim their guns at Leo while he unlocked him. But then he froze. He raised his head just a little and sniffed the air. He turned his head over to Leo and asked, "Do you smell that?"

"Yep."

"What do you think it is?"

"Who knows…" Leo muttered with a shrug.

Daniel went to the door and opened it, burning his hand slightly on the handle. Before he could think about that, a massive plume of smoke rose into the door, and he slammed the door shut with a cough. He fell slightly and started coughing due to the smoke that entered.

After a moment, he stood and noticed the expressionless Leo sitting in his metal chair.

"You! What did you do?!" Daniel yelled.

"I just called somebody. I wasn't the one who started a fire." Leo responded promptly.

"You son of a bitch! I asked what you did! I know you're responsible, now tell me!"

"I didn't do anything. It's as simple as that…"

"Shit…" Daniel took off his shirt and wrapped it around his hand. He reached out and turned the doorknob, crouching underneath the smoke that was now entering the room. He was about to crawl out the door when he heard Leo's voice.

"Did you really forget already? Geez, no wonder you got fired, you're horribly incompetent."

Daniel stopped as sweat started to trail down his body, he looked back at Leo and remembered the one thing that Leo had asked for.

'You cannot leave the room unless I leave it first.'

"You've had this planned out since the start! You piece of shit!" Daniel crawled back in and quickly uncuffed Leo.

But Leo remained seated without a care in the world.

"What are you doing?! Come on you bastard!" Daniel shouted near the door. Leo looked at him lightly and scoffed.

"I told you, I wanted to add a clause."

"Fine! What is it!"

"I get to ask you any question I want, and you have to tell the truth." Leo said as he leaned back in his chair that was starting to get hotter.

Daniel's eyes widened. He didn't move as he scanned through his mind as quickly as possible.

"What could he possibly want to know, so much so, that he'd risk his life to stay here?!"

Daniel kept thinking about what Leo could want as the flames got ever closer and the smoke started filling the room.

"N-no deal!" Daniel shouted back to Leo, trying to make his voice louder than the raging fire in the other rooms. He was hoping that Leo was just bluffing.

Although that was his hope, it didn't matter as Leo just shrugged his shoulders and remained in his seat with a nonchalant expression.

Daniel swallowed a bit of his saliva and stood up. He walked over to Leo and drew his gun, he aimed at Leo. He yelled, "If I kill you and push you through the room, I'll be able to leave! So, get your ass up and let's go before I pull this trigger."

Leo watched Daniel and rolled his eyes, "If you kill me, my soul, which is what I used to sign the contract, will head to the underworld. And last time I checked, the underworld isn't here in this room."

As the flames started lightly coming into the room, Daniel looked at them, then back at Leo. He hesitated but eventually yelled, "I call upon the Judge!"

Leo's brows raised when he heard this, "You do realize that you'll be punished if you call the Judge and lose your case."

"I. Call. Upon. The. Judge." He said slowly, emphasizing each and every word.

Leo sighed and raised his right arm slightly. It lingered there for a moment before he snapped it. When he snapped his fingers, it was if both Leo and Daniel were being pulled through the world itself and brought into another dimension.

The two found themselves in a world of mirrors, they reflected infinitely and the two could see themselves infinite times. But there was a single creature in this space, that despite being in the center of all the mirrors, was not reflected a single time.

Strapped to an old wooden chair at the wrists, seemed to be a person heavily resembling a scarecrow. Unlike a scarecrow however, there was no straw and the two couldn't make out any visible body to determine what they were made of. They wore an old worn suit and old gardening gloves. They had a black bag tightly secured over their head as if they were a prisoner being executed.

The two remained silent as they watched the strange creature with a morbid curiosity. The creature suddenly lifted its head from the chair and faced the direction of Leo and Daniel. The two were both unsure of who exactly it was looking at, but both felt a serious dread when it looked in their direction.

"Present… casssse…" It spoke in a low, strange gurgling voice, unintentionally stretching the word 'case.'

Leo looked towards Daniel, and he stood up straight. Daniel cleared his throat and said, "Y-your honor, ah, um… I'd like to render the contract between me and Mathias null."

The Judge faintly tilted its head and looked at Leo. It then looked back towards Daniel.

"I- uh… I…" Daniel kept stuttering, unsure of the words to say. As far as he was aware, there wasn't anything wrong with the contract, and if there was, wasn't Leo supposed to die? He wasn't sure. He wasn't even sure of the contents of the contract as there was quite a bit of jargon he didn't understand completely.

"Speak… upppp…" The Judge spoke in a commanding voice.

"I believe that Mathias v-violated the terms of the contract by, manipulating it in a way to circumvent… any…" Daniel froze for nearly a minute as he tried to determine what to say.

"Ssstop…" It raised a finger to stop Daniel's speech that was going nowhere. It turned its head towards Leo, "What… sayyy… youuu…"

"Your honor. I attempted no foul play with my contract. I simply made a loosely binding requirement with a harsh punishment. There was nothing in the contract that would be stable enough grounds to cause the contract to be rendered void." Leo spoke with a stoic voice, although it slightly faltered at some points.

After listening to him, a contract, the very same that Leo and Daniel had signed, appeared before the Judge's strange hood. A long pause happened in the world of mirrors. During this time, Leo and Daniel's focus never shifted away from the Judge.

A moment later, the contract disappeared, and the Judge looked at Daniel, "The… contract's punish… ment… will be handed… out… accordinglyyy…"

It looked back at Leo, "Any… objections…?"

Leo summoned some courage and spoke up, "If I may, your honor?"

The hooded figure nodded.

"Rather than punishing him with death, perhaps you could instead allow me to add a simple amendment to the contract."

"That… is… fine…" The Judge spoke slowly.

Then the contract appeared in front of Leo, as well as a quill pen and an inkwell. Leo fumbled the feather quill slightly but, in the end, managed to write what he had asked of Daniel earlier.

Daniel stood frozen in fear with a clenched fist. His legs trembled and he had his eyes closed.

"Will… that… be alllll… gentlemennn…?"

"Yes, your honor." Leo said with a bow.

Then he felt himself become much hotter and the world was now dyed a beautiful orange. Leo straightened his back and looked towards the trembling Daniel. They were both now sweating and crouching down to the floor, although it was more accurate to say slouching lifelessly in Daniel's case.

"Hey." Leo said as he made his way over to Daniel.

Daniel was silent.

"I'll take you out of here if you answer me." Leo said seriously.

Daniel looked at him with lifeless eyes and waited for Leo to ask whatever. He'd just face the consequences of Leo later.

"Is Faust actually alive?" Leo asked simply.

"That's it?"

"Yep. So, did you lie earlier?"

Daniel sighed, "Yeah he's fine. He's recovering at a hospital. We weren't sure if he was with you or not, and even if he was, all of us hate you so… Ya know, you aren't going to a hospital if we arrest you injured. He did."

"So, he's fine?"

"Yes."

"Good. Come on." Leo motioned for Daniel to follow him. Leo left the room first.

Daniel, although confused, immediately followed Leo who he now deemed his savior. The two crawled through a flaming mass avoiding all the spots that were pure fire. Daniel found it strange that the path they were crawling along seemed like there wasn't much fire.

The two kept crawling and they eventually reached a part of the precinct that was lacking in flames. In fact, there weren't any flames at all. Then Leo spoke out of the blue.

"Hey, take me to your evidence locker, I want a souvenir."

"W-what?" Before he could even process what Leo had just said, Leo had already wrapped his arm around Daniel's neck and was guiding him to a particular room.

"S-stop! What are you doing?! We need to get out of here before the fire spreads here!"

"I'm sure we'll be fine if you stop dragging your feet and follow me."

"B-but-"

"No cuts, no buts, no coconuts. Now come on." Leo continued to drag him.

They got to a room and Leo swiped a keycard and the large steel door opened.

"W-what?! Where'd you get that?"

"From here." Leo said as he slipped the keycard back into Daniel's pocket. He entered the room while dragging Daniel behind him.

Leo started digging through the evidence while Daniel finally had a moment to think. He calmed his beating heart and took deep breaths. Leo grabbed some cans of spray paint and tested them. After feeling that they were nearly full, he put them under his armpit and continued shifting through the evidence locker.

"You're still under arrest, you know that right?" Daniel asked as he turned to watch the fire slowly consume the building. He was currently thinking about how close Leo's partner had to be in order to torch the upper floor only. He was also wondering how he did it without getting caught or the flames getting put out. He also wanted to know how he wasn't alerted but those were questions for later.

Leo turned back around after picking up a plastic mask that covered the face, it was intended for kids on a holiday, but if it was in here, Leo doubted a kid used it. Finally, Leo also grabbed a long piece of rope. Leo stuffed them underneath the spray paint and motioned for Daniel to follow him.

Daniel frowned upon seeing Leo's arm filled with random crap, but he followed him. The two stepped out of the evidence room and Daniel looked at Leo.

"Where are the firemen? They should be here by now."

"Don't ask me man, this city's a shithole. Maybe they ran out of water or something."

They kept walking, this time down the stairs, and down them again. They made it to the front entrance and Daniel ran ahead. He only had to wait for Leo in the interrogation room, the only reason he stuck nearby him was to make sure he wouldn't run off.

As he got near the entrance though, he slowed down. After everything that had happened, it was getting dark out, but he could still make out all of the people standing outside. Leo caught up with him, but he was wearing the plastic mask now.

"Come on." Leo said.

"That's not gonna protect you from going to jail and getting a death sentence, you know that right?"

"Don't be such a downer, I just don't want my face plastered all over television."

Daniel shook his head and the two went through the doors.

"It seems someone is coming outside right now!" A newsperson shouted into their mic. They continued after a sight pause to adjust their emotions, "We're here live at the 12th Precinct Police Station. Today, family members mourn the loss of those lost in this tragedy.

"Out of view," the newsperson motioned towards an area off camera to the right, "is the station's entrance, where twenty-four police officers were murdered as they evacuated the building from a burning fire. Standing at the entrance are the two perpetrators of the crime, although their identities are unknown due to face coverings. At this time, they are suspected to be a part of a demon hit squad. To our left, we have firemen bound by cable ties, unable to do anything about the fire that is consuming the police station."

As Daniel and Leo stepped outside, Daniel froze at the sight of his fellow police officers laying at his feet. Leo on the other hand pulled out Daniel's gun and killed Daniel on the spot.

Daniel's body fell unceremoniously to the floor as the crowd gasped and Leo looked at it for a moment with disinterest. He pulled out a can of spray paint and went to the police walls.

He wrote, 'The Wolves,' and crossed it out.

He wrote, 'The Eagles,' and crossed it out.

He wrote, 'The Police,' and crossed it out.

Lastly, he wrote, 'The Corrupt Are Dead,' and underlined it.

He turned around and bound Daniel's leg in rope before throwing it up a flagpole that jetted out from the side of the building. Then Leo cut Daniel's throat open, broke the bones in his chest by ramming himself into them, and cut open his ribcage. Without bothering to do anything with Daniel's innards, Leo started raising his body up into the air.

Most of the crowd looked away with horrified eyes, but some watched on. As Daniel made it to a high point, Leo tied the rope to a railing on the building's steps, near a pile of bodies.

Leo turned around and nodded to John and Max, the two then threw a few Molotov's through the building's windows. Then the three quickly started running away before more police arrived and the scene escalated.

As they ran away, the flames in the building were rapidly growing and consuming everything. In front of these flames was Daniel's dead body, hanging lifelessly. Soon, he was consumed by the flames as well.