“How about we host a party?”

Reika had come with that out of the blue on Tuesday night. Filbo didn’t know what to think about it, but then he thought...why not?

There was no harm on hosting a party Wednesday night. There had been two murders already and sooner or later the group would fracture further. Something to foster unity would be very important.

-ooooo-

John Constantine absolutely wasn’t sure this was a good idea – but it was clearly underway. There was no way to convince them to stop now that there was an invitation on his hands. Constantine sighed and shook his head, reading the piece of cardboard paper he had received:

‘Now that the bar’s open we should take advantage of it as much as we can! Snacks, drinks, party games, and Sylvando’s entertainment. We three hopes to see you at the bar tonight at 9PM!’

Filbo Fiddlepie, Reika Rikudou, and Sylv—‘

There was a pawprint almost on top of Sylvando’s name, as if to hide the lack of a last name for Sylvando. Cute invitation, but a party probably wasn’t going to be too great of a thing to do right now. That aside, he couldn’t say no to Filbo and Sylvando and there would be drinks. At least passing by should be a worthwhile time. Reika being one of the three hosts was a surprise, but it wasn’t any of his business, really. The other two probably had asked for her help. He’d have thought Freyja would be the one involved instead of Reika, though.

It seemed the party zone and the bar were the areas for tonight’s enjoyment. A couple hours before the start of the party Filbo was there, tying very long banners of fabric to the chandelier. He looked rather cheerful, humming to himself. The grumpus was standing on a short stack of tables – a very precarious perching point! “You’re gonna fall if you make a wrong move” Constantine commented with some concern.

Filbo waved, greeting him, the fabric shaking. “I’ll be fine! I have done this before, and falling doesn’t hurt that much”

“You know that from experience?”

“During the first party I fell from this height while I was getting the big confetti balls up? That wasn’t a fun time but I was up and going in no time!”

Ah, true. Filbo did say he was sturdy, somehow. Well, he knew what he was doing! Constantine shrugged and looked towards the stage, set up for what presumably would be once another great show from Sylvando. Now that he thought about it, Sylvando’s spectacular work would be once another reason to come tonight. The more he thought about the party, the better idea it seemed.

His thoughts of expectations were interrupted by the very predictable sound of crashing tables and Filbo’s muted ‘ow’. He didn’t have to turn around to know how Filbo would be like – and indeed, once he turned around, he found the stack of tables lying around all banged up and Filbo lying on his back, staring up at the ceiling with a frown. “Told you. You okay?”

“I’m fine...I’ll just lie down for a while, if you don’t mind?”

Oh, that meant it hurt. Constantine sat beside Filbo, ready to wait for his friend to feel okay enough to go on with the preparations. “You should get someone else to help you with this. If you keep getting hurt there won’t be any partying tonight”

“I know, I know, I just...have to hang the stuff I made for Sylvando...that’ll be quick” He feebly pointed at something left to a side: a large ball with similar fabric to the banners he was hanging “They’re full of confetti again, but Sylvando said it was all for this—this trick he’s gonna do?”

“You three really thought of everything”

“We do what we can! Now I just—ow, okay, lying down a little more”

“You’re hopeless, Filbo”

It took five minutes for Filbo to feel ready to continue his preparations. Once Constantine made sure the grumpus would be fine, he left to the bar, finding Reika behind the counter, browsing the selection of liquors. She looked as serene as usual, counting the bottles and putting a few aside. Sylvando hadn’t been seen at all yet, but he probably was somewhere else, practicing for the show he was going to do for the party.

The sight of the preparations was starting to make him feel frustrated. Constantine was never an optimistic person – he was already certain somebody would die on Thursday. This party would only make morale drop lower than before once people started thinking about how hollow the displays of unity they were trying to create were. Filbo probably didn’t realize it, Sylvando probably did but helped because that was the kind of person he was, and Reika...she probably was just along for the ride.

This party seemed more and more like a bad idea – but he wasn’t going to get in the way, he decided. If people insisted in getting their hopes high, then he was going to let it happen and then try to deal with the vortex of bullshit that’d come not even 36 hours later.

-ooooo-

To the hosts’ credit, their effort was obvious to anyone taking a look at the decorations!

Clearly Filbo had taken advantage of the crafting room to make the party zone as colorful as he could. Banners and bands of fabric were tied to the walls and the chandelier, forming a net of colors and patterns that mesmerized the eye and made you want to look everywhere. It was such a festive arrangement without getting overbearing, enhanced by the three humongous balls made of papier mache, hanging near the stage like giant round bells. Constantine actually had to stop and take a look around, surprised Filbo had worked so hard to decorate the party zone for one night.

He really must have wanted to distract people, he thought.

Lalli and Constantine had been the first ones to arrive, looking around with attention. “Filbo didn’t hold back at all” commented Constantine with a smirk, seeing Filbo hanging out near the tables. One was covered with snacks, even including that ketchup plant that had been left at the buffet for a few days already, while the other was full of drinks. There was Filbo, standing near the snacks one, glancing at Lalli and Constantine. “You gonna—Lalli?” The scout seemed sullen, looking around with a confused expression.

“...something feels off” mumbled Lalli.

“What does?”

“I haven’t figured it out, it just feels off”

Constantine looked around, unsure what Lalli was so fixated on. The party zone didn’t seem off at all to him. For all he knew Lalli just didn’t like colorful places – and whatever it was didn’t really bother him that much, he still went straight to the snacks table, giving Filbo a wordless greeting and getting under the table. That guy certainly wasn’t going to join any drinking games, that was for sure.

One by one people started arriving to the party zone, stepping over the confetti that already covered the floor. The colorful decoration above their heads drew all stares right away, gathering near the stage where Sylvando was already waiting, proudly looking at everybody with the confidence of an artist who was about to present his magnum opus. Knowing him, it really was going to be as good as his attitude hinted!

The moods were soaring quite high, everyone who attended the party seemed to be in pretty good spirits! Not everybody was there, but those who had decided to come looked genuinely happy to be there, eager to leave behind the heavy mood brought by the motive given the day before. Many of them had already taken food and drinks, mingling with each other animatedly and asking Sylvando questions about his upcoming performance. Constantine had to admit there was something about the party that just made people be in good mood – perhaps it was that everyone noticed how hard the hosts had worked to make this a fun night for everyone.

Except Filbo, apparently. Constantine’s good mood dampened somewhat when he saw Filbo hanging out by the snacks table, looking at the crowd, with a melancholic expression. He wasn’t even looking at Sylvando finishing his preparations for the show. “Something wrong?” Constantine inquired, approaching.

“A-Ah, John! Here, take this” Filbo hurried to plaster a smile on his face, reaching behind him and giving Constantine something written: instructions for drinking games. He really had aimed for the known ones! Those for Never Have I Ever were written on this side.

“Thanks, Filbo. Now tell me what’s got you so blue”

“That’s just—you know, the fur. Genetics”

He definitely was trying to dodge the issue. Filbo did have that bad habit of trying to stop himself from opening up, but this time it seriously seemed like he was trying even harder. If even his own parties weren’t cheering him up, it had to be a big problem. “Filbo, you’re not fooling anyone. If you don’t want to talk that’s fine, but don’t lie like that”

“John, I...” Filbo stopped, probably trying to think of the right words to say, but in the end he backed down, shaking his head. “It’s nothing. Sorry for bumming you out”

“You know you can tell me anything?”

“I know! I just—“

Whatever Filbo was going to say was interrupted by the sound of Constantine stepping on something squishy. Looking down, he saw a puddle of red substance. Surprised, Filbo lightly oushed Constantine back, away from the puddle. “A-Ah! I’m sorry about that, I, well...one of the ketchup pods fell here when I brought the plant. I was meaning to clean that. I’ll be right back!” he said, hurrying towards the buffet entrance, leaving Constantine to stare at the mess.

Right, ketchup for the chips and other salty stuff on the snack table. It made sense. While behind him Sylvando started his show, Constantine crouched, taking a look at the glistening substance. He wasn’t sure why, but the sight of the supposed ketchup was giving him a really bad feeling.

It was Wednesday. It couldn’t be something horrible already had happened, right? Extending a finger, Constantine touched the edge of the substance, taking a fingertip’s worth and looking at it closely. He had seen blood many times before, both fresh and dry. This here...

...it really was ketchup. The smell also confirmed it, and if it wasn’t such a bad idea, he’d give it a taste. Filbo probably wasn’t lying about having spilled a pod from the plant.

Then why was the sight of this giving him such a bad feeling?

Filbo returned with a bundle of napkins, not noticing Constantine had been taking a closer look, and started mopping up the mess. Constantine leaned on the table, arms crossed, trying to watch out for any signs something was off – but it certainly was hard to do with Sylvando right over there doing pirouettes!

It was just as impressive as the one from the first party, although this time limited to the stage instead of using everything else. Sylvando had spheres of clay, throwing them upwards and making a huge show of catching them until, with a flourish, he threw them all towards the confetti containers hanging above everyone, unleashing a deluge of pieces of paper and streamers all over the crowd. Perhaps it was good to not have been right there.

“Alright, it’s done” Filbo balled up the napkins soaked with ketchup. “You should go say hi to Reika”

“She’s at the buffet?”

“At the bar! I’m in charge of the party zone, Reika handles the bar. I...I don’t feel like drinking tonight, so you go have fun with everyone else”

Constantine raised an eyebrow, mildly alarmed – he really thought Filbo would join them in the drinking games. It was his idea, after all! That he didn’t kept piling more onto the feeling something was really wrong. “I’m staying with you for a while”

Filbo blinked, surprised. “Y-You don’t have to! But if you wanna then...I guess that’s fine? You don’t really have to--” a hand snaked from under the tablecloth, grabbing a plate of cookies and dragging them under the table. Filbo stared at that spot for a moment and nodded. “Nevermind! I guess a few drinks will do me some good”

“That’s right, mate. Look alive, Filbo, I’m not letting you go until you have a good few drinks with me” Constantine said, hiding how uneasy he felt. This was all a way to try to watch Filbo in case something was wrong. If it turned out there was nothing to worry about then good, they had a good night of drinking anyway. If it turned out Filbo had gotten involved in something that, say, could lead to a trial, then he’d know about it before the investigation started. Filbo didn’t seem like the kind of person that’d hold under scrutiny, he should be able to drag the truth out of him in no time.

-ooooo-

That didn’t happen at all.

Reika was nowhere to be seen once those who wanted to play gathered at the bar, forcing Filbo to host that part of the party as well. Constantine’s plan of having a talk with Filbo was left for later – and after a few drinks he didn’t get the chance before the party ended. Shambling and with the feeling he was forgetting something, Constantine returned to his room, throwing himself on the bed and falling asleep rather quickly.

‘...Cooking Mama has gotten thrown out with the trash. You know the drill already, go play detectives’

That was what he heard once he woke up. What? It was Thursday morning! With a headache splitting his head and a bitter taste in his mouth, Constantine left the room he shared with Data, unsure what he was going to find.

...now that he thought about it...from his fuzzy memories from last night there was something he did remember: a faint smell of blood. He couldn’t recall when, he couldn’t recall what he was nearby of, nor who was with him. All he knew was that a couple times he had smelled blood. Something about the smell felt off, though. He couldn’t really put his finger on what, it just did.

The party zone! Right, he remembered as soon as he stepped out of his room: he had felt something was wrong about the party zone. Entering, he found a few other already there, milling and poking around.

Sylvando was one of them. Good. Since one of the hosts of the party was dead and the other was his prime suspect, having the third one to talk with was good. He hadn’t even gotten to approach Sylvando, instead he was the one to approach. “Darling, it’s awful. I’d have never thought we’d have to investigate so soon after our celebration!”

He sounded rather aghast. Constantine couldn’t help but feel a little at ease by that – it didn’t sound like he was faking it. “Right, right. ‘cept when it’s about murder it doesn’t tend to fit a nice and neat schedule”

“True...” Sylvando sighed. “Poor Reika, but we will have to find the culprit. Have you checked other places yet?” at Constantine’s denial, Sylvando decided to fill the most basic details: “Plumeria found her in the snow room. She saw this wide track on the snow and a pile of snow at the end, and when she checked she found her!

“Hidden in the snow?” That could be useful. “Any footprints?”

“Oh, about that...” Sylvando looked apologetic “She didn’t pay attention to any footprints, and by the time someone thought about that we had all stomped all over the place”

Of course. Lucky break for the killer. “Any idea what killed her?”

“Data was checking her over. You should ask him later. As for here...” Sylvando extended an arm, giving a wide sweep of the room “I thought it was strange to find all this! Dear Filbo had said he would clean up! He didn’t seem like the kind of person that’d forget...”

He probably wasn’t. Still, mentioning Filbo would make it easier to talk about him. “About Filbo, he looked sad last night. You know about that?”

“Sad? Now that you mention it...he did seem distracted. Something must be in his head; probably the motive. I can’t really blame him for forgetting to set that up properly”

“Set up what?”

“The props! Three worked well, but there were supposed to be four of those big confetti bombs over the audience”

Constantine recalled the large balls made of papier mache Filbo had crafted. Forgetting to make one was an oversight he couldn’t imagine Filbo doing on purpose. He seemed like the kind of person that tried hard to do everything right; forgetting a component of Sylvando’s show was just unlike him.

Then again, killing someone also seemed something he wouldn’t do. Maybe he had gotten fooled by Filbo’s friendliness. You can’t know a person for sure after not even one month.

It seemed like the party zone was covered by those in there. For now he should go ask Data about the corpse, see if there was anything of use. Constantine walked outside, going upstairs and passing by the decks on his way to the snow room.

Along the way, on a couple staircases, he found pieces of paper, looking like they had fallen off those props – they definitely were the same color, he recognized them. Taking one of them, Constantine turned them over, trying to determine if they had fallen from it or if someone had torn it apart or anything. It was...intact! Relatively intact. Strange. And so far away from the party zone. It wasn’t anything that made Filbo guilty, though.

Entering the snow room had to be done through the changing room and the sauna. Quite the trek to take a body though – did that mean Reika died over there? Passing through the doorway to the snow room, Constantine looked around.

Indeed, there were a lot of footprints around, too many. Nothing useful would ever be obtained from that. From what he could see there was no blood or anything like that, but it was also possible the snow was kicked around until it was buried under a layer of snow or something. There really was nowhere to be found other than a corpse – and a wide track on the snow. Very wide, around a meter wide, enough for it to not be hidden by the myriad of footsteps.

Only Data remained in the snow room. Wasting no time, Constantine sidestepped the track and got to Data, who was carefully moving Reika’s limbs, probably looking for injuries. She looked like she was sleeping – her skin pale and her expression calm. Still, it was impossible to ignore the vending machine knife sticking out of her stomach. “That the cause of death, doc?”

“I’m not a doctor” was Data’s laconic response while he turned Reika’s wrists. “The term for this situation would be coroner, although it also wouldn’t apply to me”

“...not the point. Did the knife kill her?”

“I wouldn’t say so. Her cause of death is still unclear and I cannot determine when exactly she died. As you may imagine, the cold has affected her body”

So she hadn’t gotten stabbed to death...that probably meant it got stuck in there after her death – and indeed, he didn’t see any blood. “What about wounds?”

“None. However, I did find a bruise on the back of her neck” Data carefully moved her head until Constantine could see the bruise: a long, thin bruise crossing from side to side of the neck. It reminded him of the one that had been on Carmen Sandiego two weeks earlier. That one had been an accident – and frankly, an accidental death seemed to be more like what would happen with Filbo.

Was that why he had been so downtrodden? Had he accidentally murdered Reika and knew he was going to die very soon? In that case, had Filbo just...grabbed a vending machine knife and stabbed her corpse with it? It was hard to imagine the grumpus doing such a thing.

“Is her neck broken?”

“It doesn’t seem to be. From what I can tell, her neck is fine. I can’t even tell if she was unconscious from the impact”

Constantine looked around. There were no railings that could make such a mark on Reika, nor any benches or anything similar. Perhaps she had been hit with an object brought in here? Or she was knocked unconscious somewhere else – such as right outside this room, on the sauna. That wide track could be from when Reika was dragged in!

...or probably not. It was too wide to be from Reika’s body. Still, if the track led to the corpse...

“I don’t like how any of this looks like, Data”

“Have you come up with a theory?”

“I possibly have. We’ll talk during the trial”

Frankly, Constantine was kind of hoping his theory was incorrect – and not in a way that’d make everything worse such as, for example, Filbo murdering Reika in cold blood. Now that would shake things around quite a bit.

-ooooo-

There was a lack of evidence to be found. It seemed the only two places that had clues were the party zone and the snow room – and the pieces of paper Constantine had found on the stairways. Regardless, the clues found at the party zone only made Constantine’s headache and bad feelings get even more intense.

Zero held up a tube from the vending machine – those that’d contain cyanide. “This was on the table with the drinks. One of them was spilled over, and I found this tube right behind it”

“Then there’s a chance that drink was poisoned and Reika had some of it” theorized Risotto.

“The tube seems to have been thoroughly washed, though. I couldn’t find any poison in it”

“So...the killer left a tube of poison to deceive us? Data, were there any signs of poisoning?” Sylvando asked.

Data certainly didn’t hesitate: “I found no signs Reika was poisoned”

Chloe grunted, exasperated. “This is so much bullshit, of course they left a fake cause of death somewhere!”

“That wasn’t the only dangerous-looking clue we found” explained Jasper “From one of the decorations hanging over where we were standing I found a spear”

“It’s likely it was meant to be dropped on anyone who stood under it” Albedo said “With the right mechanism you could drop it on your desired victim”

“You checked that. What’s the mechanism?” Constantine asked Zero. Zero, though, shrugged with indifference.

“There was no such thing. The spear was held tightly amidst the fabric”

“So it was just...meant to stay there? Are you serious?” Plumeria sure didn’t seem convinced! “Why place a spear up there for nothing?”

Freyja said patiently: “For the same reason there was an empty cyanide tube: to distract us. Did you find anything else?”

“There was a trashcan in the bar full of napkins. Many of them were soaked in ketchup for some weird reason I don’t care to think about, but others had blood on them”

“Reika’s blood, probably. She did get stabbed”

“As I stated, that stab didn’t bleed – but I can’t ascertain that blood you found isn’t hers” Data clarified.

“She may have gotten any blood on her cleaned up with those napkins. Let’s not discard the possibility the stab killed her. What else was found in the party zone?”

“How to explain this...” Flayn hesitated before placing on her podium something: a piece of the confetti bombs Filbo had made. It was different from what Constantine remembered, though: sewing needles were sticking from the piece. Long, sharp, and probably would injure you if you got careless. “This was in there. Someone tampered with Filbo’s decorations”

“Everything was in that party, but there’s no way we wouldn’t have noticed any of it at the time. Sylvando, you checked those props?”

“Of course I did! None of them had needles or any other dangerous tricks in them” Sylvando asserted. “I wouldn’t have allowed anything that would put anyone in danger!”

“In that case, all this stuff must have been done after Sylvando’s show, ja. Probably while the rest of us were drinking at the bar” Yeager said.

“Not all of us were there. Lalli wasn’t present. Magica wasn’t—“

“I’d say I’m surprised you had the restraint to not name me first, but it’s you” Magica piped up, only to get ignored by Data.

“—and more importantly, Reika wasn’t present”

“Y-Yeah, honestly I’m sure she should have been? I dunno why she wasn’t doing what we agreed, she was supposed to be tending the bar while I cleaned up the party zone” said Filbo.

“She may have been murdered while the rest of us were playing Never Have I Ever...” Sylvando clutched his hands, hiding his anguish. “I should have gone looking for her. We were supposed to be the hosts”

“It’s not your fault! We couldn’t have known what was happening...I mean; it wasn’t even Thursday!”

Risotto had something to say about that: “It’s likely the party convinced somebody to kill. It’d have been easy to take advantage of it to murder one of us”

“S-So if we hadn’t hosted a party nothing would have happened...?” Filbo looked incredibly distraught!

“It simply would have happened one night later” was the reply to that, which of course didn’t bring Filbo much consolation. Murder was awful no matter when it happened!

“Anyway, the killer tampered with Filbie’s decorations. If Reika came across the killer doing that—“

“She may have been murdered to silence her” Decus finished.

Constantine crossed his arms. “Lalli, for how long did you stay there?”

“Lalli?”

“He was under the snacks table and as we all know he didn’t come drinking with the rest of us. If someone came by to tamper with everything he’d have noticed”

“Unless of course Lalli’s the one who did it” Jasper said, earning an annoyed look from Lalli.

“I didn’t do it” was all he said. Constantine cleared his throat and repeating the question, getting him to answer: “Just until I ran out of cookies. It wasn’t that long, half an hour at most. Nobody came by”

“Half an hour isn’t much time. There’s quite the range of time for Reika and her killer to have been in the party zone – including after we all left to our rooms” Data pointed out.

“Or Lalli may be the killer” Risotto said.

“I told you all I didn’t kill anyone” Lalli repeated.

Constantine nodded, just filing that away for later. “Unless there’s anything that links Lalli to all this let’s just continue. As Data said the tampering can have happened at any point after the party”

“So how about we talk about where Reika was found?” suggested Decus. “All the way to the snow room, and there’s that trail there”

“Something is strange about that trail. It clearly wasn’t made by dragging Reika around” Albedo said. Apparently he had taken a look at it not long before Constantine did.

“Then it was done by something used to drag her with less effort than it usually would take” Yeager said.

“Something like what?” wondered Sara, looking around at the many clues people had placed on the podiums until her gaze fell on the pieces Constantine had brought. “Wait...what about one of those things Filbo made?”

“The ones filled with confetti?” Jasper asked, although his tone of voice sounded rather unsatisfied with that thought.

“Do you think Reika’s body would fit inside one of those? Constantine said he found those papers on the stairs. They may have fallen from the ball while the killer used it to—“

“All those things were shattered during Sylvando’s show” Plumeria said, as if she couldn’t believe everyone had missed that somehow. “There’s no way any was left intact enough to be used for dragging the body”

Zero faced Filbo: “Did you make any other and left it unused somewhere?”

“N-No, not really...I  was supposed to craft four but I kinda forgot, so...” the grumpus explained, Sylvando hurrying to support what his friend said:

“That’s true, there were going to be four of those, but we had to make do with three. As you all saw I made sure to break them to release the confetti. The body can’t have been carried in them”

“Then it must have been something else. Something from another room...probably” Lorna supposed

The discussion led to what it could have been the killer used to transport the body from wherever she died to the snow room, but Constantine didn’t join in. He didn’t like how easily they dismissed the confetti ball – to be fair it wasn’t for no reason, and anyone could say the killer took papers from the wrecked confetti bombs to leave them on the stairs, but it bothered him anyway. As he saw it, it was really likely that was how the killer moved the body – and if that was so...

...well, that meant Filbo had just lied. Not only to them all, but to Sylvando previously. That was premeditation – he may have crafted a fourth ball after all, only to use it to transport a body.

Filbo really may have killed Reika on purpose. If that was what happened, well, Constantine couldn’t just brush it aside. The grumpus had been relatively quiet during the trial, letting everyone else take the lead. In the past two trials he had taken active part, but this time he was on the sidelines, just letting things happen. A sign of guilt?

If it had been an accident he would have said something already – he was as upset as everyone else Shard hadn’t said anything, back in the first trial!  The only conclusion he could reach was that Filbo was actively trying to hide his murder, if he was the killer.

Moving to Shard’s empty podium, Constantine leaned towards Lalli. “Hey, you. Did you figure out why the party zone seemed off to you last night?”

Lalli frowned – his default expression, really – and nodded.

“What? What was it?”

“Those confetti things. They were off-center”

Off-center? That was all? “What do you mean?” Constantine asked, hoping it was something more meaningful than that.

Holding his index fingers up, Lalli tried to illustrate what he had seen: “It was all moved to the left. One here, another here, another here, and then this empty space”

Of course Lalli’s expert scouting eye had noticed something like that. Constantine nodded.

Filbo had been the one to place those confetti bombs up there. In that case he must have left that space on purpose. Why?

...unless...

“There already was confetti on the floor when we arrived, wasn’t there?”

“There was”

“Alright”

Constantine returned to his podium. That confetti, it really hinted something he wasn’t sure he liked – and so far Constantine hadn’t mentioned the mess Filbo had cleaned up. At this point he couldn’t consider it unrelated.

“Filbo” he said aloud, interrupting the discussion. “Are you sure there was no fourth one?”

“Uh, y-yes, completely sure. I mean, I made them, I’d know”

“Because I find it hard to believe you’d just forget to make one. You work hard, Filbo. You wouldn’t just forget”

Filbo gulped, but managed to hold Constantine’s stare. “Really? What are you saying, John?”

“I’m saying you’re lying”

Decus glanced at Filbo. “Lying how?”

“What if there was a fourth one after all? But Filbo removed it from the decorations before we all arrived”

“Wouldn’t that mean Reika was dead before the party had even started?” Jasper asked.

“It’s not impossible, but then the body would have to be hidden somewhere” said Sylvando.

Hurrying to say something as a defense of some sort, Filbo said: “What if it was in the snow room already?”

“That’s possible but it wouldn’t mean you didn’t...” Flayn seriously didn’t seem to want to finish that particular sentence.

“O-Oh. Right. Uh...”

-ooooo-

He wasn’t nowhere caught, he knew that! With the right words Filbo knew he could turn this around and make people look somewhere else. It wouldn’t be too difficult – after all, he could see many people in the room were hesitating to outright accuse him. That Constantine had done so had surprised Filbo, admittedly! But that was just how Constantine was: reliable.

Now that all eyes were on himself, Filbo knew it was time: he had to confess. The nervousness and fear he felt were very much genuine, but the way he had expected the trial to go had been mostly calculated, for the sake of everyone else.

“...I can’t take this anymore!” Filbo shouted, burying his face in his paws.

“Filbo?!” Flayn’s horrified exclamation was like a knife to Filbo’s heart.

“Oooooh, how delightful! The blue marshmallow finally showed his claws” he heard Magica say, although she also sounded disappointed – knowing her, it was because he had confessed so quickly. There had been barely any pressure on him!

“What does that mean, Filbo?” Sylvando asked. He did sound aghast as well, but there was a small bit of hope in his voice, like he hoped it was all a misunderstanding somehow.

“We all are awaiting for an explanation” Yeager added.

“I lied! I...I really made a fourth one. And I used to, uh...I-I moved Reika’s body in it. I used it to move Reika to the snow room”

“That would fit the evidence so far” accepted Data. “Why did you conceal this fact?”

“Because I...I-I killed her. I killed Reika!”

“Couldn’t you have fought it a little harder?” Magica needled. Yup, definitely disappointed it had been over so soon.

“I don’t want this to end in everyone dying! So...that’s it. I admit it, I killed Reika and then I took her body to the snow room before the party started”

“Filbo, enough. Calm down, take a deep breath, and don’t rush this” although Freyja sounded calm, there was a noticeable undercurrent of disappointment in her. How was everyone so good at making him feel so incredibly guilty?

Well, he deserved it, really.

Freyja continued: “Please explain what happened. Don’t spare any detail”

Alright, it was time for his confession. Filbo had spent quite a while practicing it silently while lying on his bed, he should be able to do this. Time to lie as much as he could while also making sure he’d be convicted for Reika’s murder.

“It was before the party started. I just...I wanted to get out of here! And I just knew—I can’t survive this place. I was bringing the stuff for the party when I got this knife from the vending machine. Reika came by, bringing drinks, and I just...”

“You saw your chance?” Sylvando definitely was more resigned than hopeful now. Filbo had begun his confession, after all.

“E-Exactly. I was holding that knife and then I...I stabbed her. Right in the stomach” he lied. In his head he pictured his lie: grabbing that serrated knife, Reika approaching him, and he plunging it deep into Reika. That hadn’t been at all how it happened, but...if he could make everybody believe it then good.

“That’d leave a lot of blood, wouldn’t it...?” Lorna mentioned.

“Uh, y-yeah, it did! I cleaned it up with those napkins, and...well, I threw it all away in the bar trashcan...” while saying that Filbo couldn’t help but look at Constantine. The man was looking at Filbo with attention, following his every word. Even though Constantine had been really reliable and managed to point the finger at Filbo enough for him to feel like it was time to confess, he really hoped his friend wouldn’t say anything else.

Because if there was someone who could ruin this all, it was Constantine.

Data was the one to have objections, though. “I’m reasonably certain Reika was stabbed after her death”

“Wait, Filbo already said he did it—“ Plumeria started, so Filbo interrupted to try to make things go like he wanted.

“But I stabbed her! That’s—what’s what killed her, and...”

“I really have a hard time imagining Filbo murdering Reika like he said he did” said Sara.

“What?!” Okay, that definitely wasn’t according to plan.

“Filbo wouldn’t plan someone’s murder. He must be hiding something” said Lalli.

No! This wasn’t how this was supposed to go!

“I can accept he did take the body and hide it in the snow room. It was his confetti thing and he lied about it, that part must be true” Chloe said, although she was glaring at Filbo.

“So he stabbed her corpse” Scott said.

“Most likely. But that doesn’t mean he killed her. He probably is protecting someone”

“I’m not!” Filbo objected. “I-I told you the truth, I killed her! Come on, can’t you—can’t you vote for me already? I confessed!”

“There are a few details I’m not convinced about” Constantine said, but he didn’t say what Filbo feared. He definitely was thinking about it, though! Filbo could tell!

“Filbo. Did you tamper with your own decorations?” Albedo asked. A little caught off-guard by the question, the grumpus hoped he could use it to direct everyone’s attention towards himself. He had to do it!

Come on, Filbo, like you practiced!

“...th...the party was a trap”

“A trap? How?”

“I convinced Reika and Sylvando to help me host a party because I planned to use it to murder someone!”

“...Filbo did come to me for help...” Sylvando admitted.

“Exactly! And I did the same to Reika. I was—I made all those traps so somebody would die. I mean, I told John, I was in charge of the party zone. Everything that’s in there is because I set it up”

“Is there a reason why you didn’t ask for my help?” Freyja inquired. Oh, that question...

Frankly, the only reason was because three hosts had worked well last time, four could have been excessive. Perhaps he could twist it... “I thought you’d—uh, you’d catch onto what I was doing and stop me. I’m so sorry, Lady Freyja”

“I certainly would have stopped you if I had an inkling of any of this”

“You really could have done it...but I wasn’t gonna change my mind. Someone had to die, so—“

“How were those traps supposed to work?” Constantine’s sharp question derailed Filbo’s argument. Right, the tampering. This was going to be simple enough to talk about.

Filbo tried to sound as indifferent as he could – pretty unsuccessful effort, given his voice trembled at times, making it obvious he was pushing himself really hard: “I poisoned a couple of the drinks. I also set up a spear to fall during Sylvando’s performance, so...so it’d fall and i-i-i-impale anyone watching, and—“

“How was the mechanism like?” asked Zero.

“The—the mechanism?”

“How did you intend to let the spear fall?”

“Oh, uh...” good question. Filbo hadn’t thought ahead to that. “W-Well, I had hoped Sylvando would knock it down when he threw the clay spheres we had prepared?”

Jasper crossed his arms. “The spear was close to those spherical decorations”

“See? So when Sylvando made it fall...”

“I don’t think Filbo killed Reika...”

Lorna’s uncertain statement was exactly what Filbo feared. No! He was supposed to draw everyone’s suspicion on himself and get them to vote for him right away! Was he really that unconvincing? True, he may be lying about how it happened, but he did kill Reika. Voting for him was the correct answer. If they did anything else, they would all die!

“I agree. Filbo wouldn’t kill anyone in cold blood like that” Plumeria said. In any other moment that’d have been such a great thing to hear, but not right now!

“You know what I think?” Constantine started. As soon as he said that, Filbo felt like something was gripping his throat. He wasn’t going to say what he thought he’d say, was he...?

He did:

“I think Filbo is protecting someone”

-ooooo-

Constantine was completely certain that was what was going on. Undeterred, he kept going: “He tampered with the decorations time after the party was over, all to make us think he had planned to kill someone during the party. Why else would he be so ineffective at doing that?”

“Ineffective?!” Filbo exclaimed. That he looked offended make Constantine smirk.

“You were pretty bad at planning a murder, mate”

“Filbo!” Jasper shouted, upset. “If you don’t tell us who you’re covering for, we’ll all die. Tell us who is the killer”

“It’s me! I killed her!”

“Who would Filbo want to protect so badly he’d risk all of our lives?” Albedo asked.

“I’m sure many of us here are in good terms with Filbo” said Yeager – that was probably true, all things considered. Still, it got a soft laugh from Alice.

 “Well, he’s close to Freyja over here”

“I have nothing to do with this murder” Freyja said bluntly.

“Is that so? What say you, Plumeria?”

“She’s not involved at all!”

“Stop it already!” Filbo shouted. He sounded desperate – genuinely desperate, something that made Constantine look at him, concerned. He had grown convinced Filbo was covering up for someone, but something in Filbo’s voice made him wonder if perhaps he was wrong. “You just don’t get it...I killed her! I killed Reika, and...g-guys, if you don’t vote for me, all of you will die!

Please, you have to vote for me!”

What if the first thought had been right – that Filbo really was the culprit? What if they were all overthinking it, somehow? If they were and it turned out Filbo wasn’t protecting anybody then they were all walking to their own deaths! And Filbo was trying to stop that, trying to get them to vote correctly.

Still, Filbo was very clearly hiding something, he could tell that much. How else would he still be unable to keep his story straight? The only part that was holding water was that he took Reika’s body to the snow room – something that made him an accomplice at the very least, backing up the theory that he was protecting someone. While others tried to figure out who among them Filbo would value so much he’d sacrifice everyone’s lives over the others, Constantine considered that carefully.

Perhaps he should put logic aside and think about what he knows of Filbo.

Filbo cares. Filbo has been nothing but helpful. Filbo sincerely wanted to reach out to everyone and try to keep everybody united. Would someone like that put somebody’s life over everybody else’s? When he thought of it like that, it just didn’t make that much sense Filbo would be protecting anybody.

Did that mean Filbo was lying to them all for a reason, then? Why couldn’t he just be honest about how Reika died?

“...Filbo, was Reika’s death an accident?”

What if he never intended Reika to die and the reason he was lying so much right now was because he was trying to hide that? Wouldn’t Filbo be the kind of person that’d want to make people want to feel as little guilt as possible when voting for him? Trying to make himself look like some sort of unrepentant killer would do that, wouldn’t it?

“W-What?!” Filbo’s confused stare didn’t give Constantine much confidence, but he went on anyway.

“That’s why you tampered with your decorations: you wanted to make it look like you were planning to kill someone, because you thought we would hesitate about voting for you if it was an accident”

“That’s ridiculous. We already did that with Shard” Risotto said, drawing agreement from some people.

“And we voted for Allenby too, even though she didn’t kill on purpose” Magica added. “I don’t doubt Fiddlepie would be sappy enough to do something like trying to seem evil and botch that up, but we wouldn’t think twice about voting for him. He must know that”

“Y-Yes, listen to them! If it had been an accident I...it wouldn’t matter, right? Because we must vote anyway”

Constantine frowned. They all made sense, and Filbo looked confused – confused but also a little afraid. Afraid Constantine had figured it out?

Rubbing the back of his neck, Constantine changed gears: “I’m just saying because I remembered what Data said about the bruise on her neck! It reminded me a lot of what happened in the first trial”

“I see. Ja, I see why you’d think that” Yeager nodded. “The bruise does have a startling resemblance!”

“You think Reika was killed wherever she hit the back of her neck?” Sylvando wondered.

Data piped up again, reminding them of an important fact: “As I noted, her neck is intact. She didn’t break her neck”

“Wait, what?” Those two words had been said aloud by Filbo, drawing stares. Noticing he had gotten people’s attention, the grumpus stammered something else: “Uh, I mean, of course. That was just to knock her out!”

“Knock her out? And then what?” Flayn asked.

“Then I stabbed her. With that knife. That’s it!”

Sara narrowed her eyes, thinking. “Filbo, how did you make that bruise happen? You can tell us that much, right?”

“Uh...” for a moment Filbo seemed at a loss for words, like he was seriously evaluating if he could say – but apparently decided it was alright, because he nodded. “Well, what happened is that I needed to knock her out? Because if I didn’t I could never stab her and then hide her in the confetti ball, so...I shoved her. She fell and she hit her neck like, uh, like I planned”

“Hit her neck against what?” Yeager prompted.

“The—The edge of the table”

Constantine’s eyes widened. The table...the snack table, then? That was where Filbo had been standing at, that was where that ketchup mess had been at. What if Reika impacting against the table was what made the ketchup pods fall and splatter on the floor?

“Data already said many times neither the neck bruise nor the knife killed her” Sylvando said. “Are we overlooking something...? Filbo, darling?”

“I-I...I really...she must have died from...” for once Filbo seemed truly lost. Constantine really didn’t like that. There seriously must have been something he hadn’t thought of yet, something that’d explain why Filbo had been covering so much stuff yet also outright admitting he was the killer, something that’d turn things around and force all the pieces to make sense.

“She may have frozen to death” said Albedo.

“No way...!”

“Filbo probably is telling the truth about making Reika unconscious by pushing her onto the table. After that, he may have taken the body to the snow room and left it there, then returning to the party zone. Some time later, probably after the party was over and he was finished tampering with everything, he returned to the snow room and stabbed her, but by then she had died from the cold, without regaining consciousness”

“She can’t have been alive...!”

Filbo seriously looked horrified about that. Wait, he had said he had knocked Reika out. Was that a lie too? Did he think knocking her against the table had killed her?

“That makes sense. I don’t see any flaws in that theory” agreed Risotto.

“I have to agree. The only thing that doesn’t fully fit are those napkins – Filbo must have cleaned her blood. If she froze to death, then there was no blood to clean--” said Jasper

“Can we vote already?!” Filbo suddenly shouted, looking at Davy Jones. “I confessed an hour ago, a-and none of this changes I’m the killer! Does anyone really have any doubts by now?!”

The moment Jasper had mentioned blood Filbo had panicked, shouting and trying to call up the vote right away. Was there something about blood that made him nervous? He wasn’t wrong, none of that had changed the fact Filbo probably was the killer – the cause of death didn’t change that, neither did the circumstances. Filbo still was guilty. Then why was he so...

...what if he hadn’t been wrong after all? What if Filbo really was trying to protect someone – but he had been so wrong about why he would do such a thing?

“It was never confirmed that’s Reika’s blood”

“If not the victim’s blood, whose blood would that be?” Data asked, although it sounded rhetorical. He probably was already figuring that out too.

“It may be Filbo’s blood” said Albedo, spelling it out for anyone who hadn’t caught up yet.

“What? But he doesn’t have any injuries! Look at him, he can’t be hiding any bad wounds” Decus said – being right beside Filbo, he sure could take a good look. He didn’t see anything.

“A-Are you completely sure? Someone should examine him...” suggested Lorna timidly.

“Davy Jones, please! The votes!” Filbo pleaded, making Constantine sure they were getting really close to the bottom of the case. Slowly, Constantine started approaching, Filbo looked at him with panic in his eyes.

“Filbo, that’s enough. Just let me check you”

“You can already see I don’t have any wounds!”

“True. But let me confirm anyway” he said. Filbo really was showing most of his body, but there was a chance, even if it was really small, he was hiding a wound anyway. Filbo looked at Davy Jones, hoping the vote would start, but nothing happened. No help came, no voting phase started...

...he was done for. With a whimper, Filbo submitted to Constantine’s request.

It took less than five seconds to find it. Constantine walked around Filbo, looking at him up and down, before tapping the sash. “Take that off, just in case”. It was a strip of cloth, but it hid just enough of Filbo to make Constantine wonder if perhaps underneath it, was what he was looking for.

It was: an ugly wound, still fresh. The kind of wound that looked like it’d need stitches. Constantine inhaled through clenched teeth, this was worse than he expected. Filbo seriously had been hiding this since the night before?! “Filbo, what’s that?”

“...I...I tripped?”

“Filbo!”

“That looks awful! Filbo, are you okay?” Flayn gasped when she saw it.

“It hurts. It really hurts, but...” but he had hidden it anyway. Hovering a paw in front of it, Filbo nodded, begging one last time: “Can we start the voting already...?”

“Why does Filbo have such a bad wound?” Data wondered.

Constantine had a good suspicion why. If that was true, then he had been right after all:

“Filbo, did Reika attack you?”

-ooooo-

That was the question he had feared all this time. As soon as Constantine asked it, Filbo gave up. Losing the hope of concealing that particular fact, Filbo slammed his face against his podium, profoundly disappointed of himself He couldn’t hide the truth like he hoped. He couldn’t push for the voting and hide Reika’s involvement.

“Filbo, please tell us the truth. Did Reika attack you or not?” Constantine pushed on.

“...I just...”

“Tell us the truth, Filbo” Freyja asked. She sounded tired. Couldn’t blame her, this must have been an exhausting trial, what between Filbo leading people in circles and also her best friend being the prime suspect. Nothing else he could do but confess.

“...it was shortly before the party started. Just ten minutes or so?”

-ooooo-

Filbo pushed the flowerpot with his ketchup plant further onto the table, happy to have some quality sauce for the chips. This would make the snacks truly memorable! Some of them, at least. Everything above him was ready already – the fabric decorations, the four confetti bombs for Sylvando’s show...perfect! It was all ready, and just in time.

Reika entered the party zone through the door to the buffet. “Filbo?”

“Reika! Everything’s ready over here!” Filbo said proudly, looking up. “It looks great, if you ask me! How are things looking at the bar”

“It’s all prepared too. I have something I’d like to ask you, though...”

“Sure? What’s it?”

Filbo had moved from where he had been standing, intending to go around the table and towards the buffet and bar, when suddenly he felt a strong, horrible pain on his chest, right above his heart. When he looked down he saw blood trickling down – a lot of blood, flowing and splattering on the floor, and, standing in front of him, was Reika, holding a knife. She was staring at Filbo with a puzzled expression.

“...tough bones” she muttered. She had intended to make this quick: just a stab on the heart, drop the knife, and walk away. A death on Wednesday instead of Thursday, so simple it’d be impossible to track onto anyone, would confuse everybody. The stab probably also would hit a lung, make him unable to talk – if it wasn’t an instant death. She hadn’t expected Filbo’s ribs to be so tough they’d withstand the knife. Instead of cracking and worsening everything, the knife had bounced, forcing her to draw the knife out, leaving a wound that albeit serious-looking was shallow enough to not be dangerous.

No big deal. She could try again, just a bit lower or higher than where she had struck.

Filbo couldn’t believe what had happened. One moment he was happily organizing the party, party that’d start in ten minutes, and the next Reika had stabbed him! And probably would do it again. His blood went cold, he realized he was going to die. He was going to die, and Reika...she probably would get away with the murder! She would kill everyone by winning a trial! She could...she could win...!

It was a dangerous move, perhaps even stupid, but he jumped forward, throwing himself on Reika. Not having expected Filbo to attack back, having thought he wouldn’t dare, Reika’s eyes widened, moving back, but not enough to avoid the large grumpus trying to tackle her. He collided against her, making her fall backwards.

The sound of her neck hitting the edge of the table was not what Filbo expected, but when he heard it, he knew there was no way back. When he stood up, holding a paw to the wound that was still leaking blood, he saw Reika’s prone body. She was dead? She was—he killed her? Was Reika dead, then...? Feeling his heart beating hard like a sledgehammer against the inside of his chest, as if it was trying to escape through the stab wound Reika had inflicted on him, Filbo tried to find Reika’s pulse. Where did humans have a pulse? Was it the—the wrist? Filbo grabbed Reika’s wrist but he couldn’t feel anything – he touched the back of her wrist right where the hand connected with the wrist, and felt no pulse at all. She must have been dead...he really had killed her! He murdered Reika!

Filbo stood up, horrified.

-ooooo-

“I couldn’t believe what I had done...I had killed someone! Even though she had attacked me, I had murdered Reika and I just...I couldn’t believe I had done it with my own two paws...!”

“You made it sound like it was an accident” said Freyja. “Was it an accident, Filbo?”

“...I honestly dunno. M-Maybe part of me was aware of the table, and after it happened I remembered...I remembered what happened to Carmen. What if my head thought about it and—and pushed me to...to try to make Reika slam her neck against the table? I can’t...I can’t say it was an accident...!” the last few words came out as a squeak. He really didn’t know if he had done it on purpose or not, but if he had to guess...

...maybe it wasn’t. Because in that moment he thought about how Reika would probably get away with murder. Would that push him to try to murder her? Both to defend himself, and to try to get everyone else to stay alive?

“It doesn’t matter. The table didn’t kill her, but I...me taking her to the snow room did. If I had known she was still alive I could—I could have gotten help for her! And then it would all have been okay. It doesn’t matter, I killed her!”

“You could have told us right from the start instead of making us waste time in this trial” Yeager said, unamused.

“...when I thought she was dead I thought...part of me thought in that moment about getting away with this. Because what did I do to deserve this? Why did I have to die? I had done nothing wrong! A-All I have tried to do was help, and instead I got stabbed, and I was gonna die! I was gonna get executed! It wasn’t fair!

So I splattered ketchup on my blood to hide it, I lowered one of the confetti balls and emptied it, and then I stashed Reika’s body inside, and then I just...left the ball under the drinks table”

“Seriously? Under a table?” Zaveid asked in disbelief.

“The party was about to start and anyone could come by at any moment! I just hid it in the first place I could think as long as it wasn’t under the snacks table because, well, because Lalli would get under it. And then...I hurried to the bar to get napkins. For my wound. I just stood there for a while, pressing napkins until I stopped bleeding. When I ran out of time I bundled napkins on my sash, and just...left it against the wound all night”

That got a noise from Constantine. Had Constantine noticed something was wrong? Maybe he had smelled blood or something during the party.

“I really thought about getting away with this all. I thought that after the party I could just...do something. To hide evidence. Or something. But when it all started and...everyone was so happy, and excited, and I saw how many of you came to the party...

...I realized I couldn’t. I’d never accept myself if I...if I did anything that could end with all of your deaths. I decided I would confess everything  the next day, after...after the party. Because I wanted to spend one last night with you all”

“Filbo...” Decus said. He sounded rather unsure about what to think.

“After the party I took the body to the snow room because I wanted to preserve it. As a sign of respect? I-I think I had heard once the cold helped with that, so...I just took her there. But then that night while I was trying to sleep I had this thought about how betrayed you all would feel. That I had killed someone. It didn’t matter if it was an accident or not, I was gonna be voted guilty. I know how we all felt about Shard and Allenby, we’d all feel so betrayed a-and also regret it! Even though I was going to die, my death still was gonna cause regrets! And if you all found out Reika had tried to murder and get away with it, it’d only get worse! So I decided to do something to make it easier for everyone.

I planned to make myself look like I had planned to murder and didn’t care about everyone getting executed. Clearly I failed at that, right? Hahaha...” he laughed, self-deprecating “And I also planned to hide that Reika had wanted to kill. So anyone who had befriended her wouldn’t know. So...so nobody had to find that out”

“So you wanted to obscure the truth because you wanted to spare us from heartache?” Data tried to confirm.

“...I guess that’s right. I-I know it was bad, but...there are things one are better not knowing...no?”

The silence that followed such a statement was heavy, almost disbelieving. Filbo didn’t dare to break it – now that he had said everything, it felt like such an excuse.

Chloe was the one who broke it.

“You have to be fucking kidding me!”

“Chloe?” Filbo saw such a reaction coming, but he was surprised anyway. It was such an exclamation, so full of anger, he hadn’t really expected it like that.

“Not knowing is better? That’s such a load of bullshit! Who are you to say what’s better for others to know?!”

“What else did you expect from someone like him? They love to shove their own thoughts and ideas onto others” Magica shrugged. “I’d have thought the green-headed one would be the one to do it, but I’m not surprised Fiddlepie did it”

“That’s...not...” if Filbo could go pale he would have.

“Aw, Filbie, you did it to spare people from pain! That’s so sweet of you!” Alice exclaimed, cutely grabbing the sides of her head. Despite her words, she looked to be really pleased for some reason – and if she was pleased that couldn’t be a good sign.

“I...I...”

 “We could have died due to all your meandering around” Yeager said, venom actually dripping on his voice for a brief moment. “Your attempt to conceal the truth only made it all worse. You can see it, ja?”

“I...didn’t...think that...”

“Come on, it wasn’t surprising at all. Filbie doesn’t think anyone can handle the truth! Maybe he thought we all thought Reika was an angel who wouldn’t harm a fly. Filbie, you have to be the most condescending thoughtful person I have ever known”

“Condescending?!”

“What else would you call someone who thought others couldn’t handle something like this?” Freyja said. Her tiredness and disappointment didn’t hide the frustration she felt. Her voice still was calm, but Filbo felt chills anyway.

Looking around, Filbo noticed how annoyed, angry, and disappointed people were. He had tried to spare the heartache; he had tried to do that out of concern for everyone! He was...condescending? Seriously? That couldn’t be it! Wasn’t it better not to know some things?!

...

Only then he realized it: he was projecting.

Ever since he had been brought here and started to face the reality of death on the murdercruise, he started going down a path of deceit. It had started when he thought about how people at home would be better not knowing the fate that befell their loved ones. Then he thought about how he didn’t want to face the likely possibility after all these months Lizbert was dead. Then, once Bugsnax started being brought onto the ship through the vending machine, he lied and hid the true nature of those Strabbies and their devious effects. And now he was lying to himself, trying to ignore the growing possibility he was losing everything at home – his job, his friends, everything he had achieved.

On this ship he had gotten in a vicious cycle of lying to everyone else and to himself, all to spare feelings. All to try to hide the awful reality. What had started out of concern for everyone and for himself had progressively gotten twisted into outright denial.

What a moment to be figuring this out: when he was so close to death.

If things had gone wrong, his intentions of hiding the truth for feelings’ sake could have ended in everyone’s deaths if they had thought he was covering up for someone alive.

Filbo finally saw it: he had screwed up. Majorly.

“...I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, I...” he said softly, but didn’t look up to see if anyone had heard it.

What did it matter now? In his wish to help everyone and shield them, he probably had ruined his friendship with the majority of people here, if not with all of them.

He had ruined everything for himself. He was going to die despised, having lost the friendships he had cherished.

The Captain finally called for a vote.