Barron Sharpe

Comrade...

I'm coming to take you down to zero now. I'll see you in a few moments.

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Is that some kind of euphemism? [Mirror!Prefect, after all of that fake conversation on your post, wasn't this supposed to end with praise?]

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lotoftrouble.livejournal.com

...I believe you, mostly because I don't have any reason not to.

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[No response over the journals, but a few minutes later, Prefect is showing up outside your door. He's got a blank notepad and some pens clutched under his arms.]

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Thank you, thank you so much. I'm fairly sure that I'm going to be escorted down to zero at any moment and they don't even have any evidence that I know of.

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[Well, this is awkward. Barron's arriving back at the same time, carrying nothing at all. Which is interesting, considering he left with a journal. He just looks at Prefect, somewhat expectantly. He's still hopeful that this will turn out to be a trick on Mirror!Prefect's part.]

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[Prefect looked at Barron, searching his expression for some kind of outrage, for some sign that he's upset or offended. He doesn't see it. What he sees there... isn't any of the things he's expecting, Barron almost looks like he expects Prefect to be... pleased with him... and suddenly there's a thought buried in the back of his mind, that he desperately, desperately doesn't want to be real.]

Barron... do you understand what happened last week? During the flood?

[He lifted a hand, to stem the lies which he expected to be automatic.]

And, I know that you never believe me when I say this, but... Beatty's warden, and O'Brien's... they know you did this, but if you tell me the truth, then I can make it better. Please.

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lotoftrouble.livejournal.com

Evidence can be easily hid.

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worstsongever

But - I mean, if there's no proof, then how is anyone blaming you? This doesn't make sense.

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I don't need to be worried about that. If they looked harder, they'd realize that I didn't do anything. O'Brien just set it up well. That's it.

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I- [Barron began, but stopped at Prefect lifting up his hand.]

[Barron shakes his head. What was Prefect doing? This was what he had wanted.] Isn't all of this just dedication?

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Exactly. If they have any proof, I'd like to see it, because I want to know just what is making them think this. It's completely unfair that I have to deal with my warden wrongly thinking I killed people.

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lotoftrouble.livejournal.com

I said that I believe you, and I still do. But I'm allowed my doubts.

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Okay, okay. I'm sorry. I'm just freaking out about the whole thing, you know.

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[Eddie's quenching his feelings of anger and betrayal and keeping himself professional. He speaks in a calm, but stern voice.]

I appreciate that I'm one among the group of people you trust, but, as I informed you a short time ago, I'm Beatty's warden, and I'm required to address his problems neutrally.

We have ample reason to believe you're responsible. This post may well have confirmed it, when initially you were just being considered.

[He gives Barron access to the evidence, including his private message to Prefect.]

[He's silent for a long while, and then, because he needs to know:] Did my offer of comradeship hold no value to you?

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[Prefect put a hand over his mouth. Oh no. No, no, no, no, no, no.

He did this. It was the irrational voice in the back of his head. The same one that told him, that whether he liked it or not, that mad, angry, abusive man he'd become during the flood, was a force inside of him that just hadn't been unleashed yet. The same voice he argued with, the same voice which he ignored, right now was booming through his brain like there was no doubt, no uncertainty, no vaguest of chances that he wasn't responsible for this.]

Comrade... do you remember, when you first got here... the first time I met you, that you thought you were in love with me? And you touched my hand, and made me think that we'd been in love for months? Do you remember that, Barron?

[He swallowed, dropping his hand from his mouth.]

Comrade, last week, what happened to me... it was like those few days when you were absolutely certain that you were in love with me. I turned into a different person, and that other person didn't care if you lost your mind, or if you got hurt, he wanted you to be miserable, and he wanted you to be evil, and... I think, he made you use your powers so much, that you forgot, that I wasn't always that person, or that that person would go away again.

[Oh god. Prefect was suddenly very, very certain that he was the worst warden ever, because good wardens didn't do this. A good, competent warden would never, ever do this in front of their inmate. He pressed his hands over his eyes, almost as if he was trying to physically hold closed his tear ducts because no way were you allowed to cry because your inmate committed double murder and you basically told him to do it.]

I'm so sorry, Comrade. I'm so, so sorry. I was meant to stop this from happening to you.

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[Barron is actually surprised that it was Eddie who compiled the evidence, primarily because he'd forgotten that Eddie was Beatty's warden. He knew about the wrist breaking, though. His last journal had mentioned that.]

So you think I did it because of my height? There's a ton of people around the same height. And for the grudge thing, I'm not gonna deny that, but there's no way that I'd kill them over it. If anything, this is all O'Brien deliberately trying to screw with me. I know he was upset that I told some of the warden's that Beatty had tried to kill Prefect on his account. So clearly he decided to get back at Beatty and me in one move. Or maybe they planned it together, I don't know.

And it does man, you know it does. That's why I'm being honest with you.

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That didn't happen. [Barron said straight away, although the fact that it sounded like straight up emotion working made it the most plausible part of Prefect's story.]

No. [Barron kept on shaking his head, starting to back away from Prefect.] That's impossible. That's all impossible. You said that-

[He broke off, thinking of O'Brien's creepy, determined stare. How he'd allowed it. How Beatty didn't even seem that surprised. Suddenly it all made sense.]

Oh, you're good. [Barron said, smiling despite himself. It had a somewhat hysterical edge.] That's such a good con. You knew that you'd be able to get me to kill Beatty for you, didn't you? That's why you got rid of my journals, so that there was only the one with those instructions. You could get back at him while keeping your hands clean. You and O'Brien, both of you keeping your hands clean in your own way. I don't think the wardens will ever work that one out.

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I, as well as Prefect, think you did it because of the overwhelming evidence. Framing you is something neither Beatty nor O'Brien would do. I say this knowing their intensely negative response to the incident; O'Brien and Beatty didn't interact for a week after Prefect's body was discovered. They wouldn't frame you, especially not like this.

You're not being honest with me.

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You can't know that. You're not a psychic. As far as I'm concerned, you just don't know either of them as well as you think you do.

I am. That's all there is to it.

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It did happen, Comrade. [Prefect dropped his hands from his face, staring at Barron, his expression hollow and pained.] Get your communicator, and go back through your entires, and you'll find one where you go: "The flood didn't wear off on Prefect so I want a new warden" and then twenty comments of me asking you why you don't love me anymore. It happened. It all happened. It happened to you before, you just don't remember because you keep using your power and acting like you don't lose anything from it!

[Prefect's voice broke, his eyes were red ringed and wet with tears that he'd been trying to cram back into his eyes.]

Fuck O'Brien, Comrade! Fuck O'Brien, and fuck Beatty, and fuck Edward Nygma! The only person in this place whose hands I want to stay clean are yours. Everyone else can go look out for themselves!

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That personal belief doesn't add to your defense, I hope you realize.

[He sounds disappointed now.]

Prefect is in charge of drawing a confession out of you. I'll return to this conversation when he has one.

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timesbureaucrat

If you think the evidence is insufficient and wish to prove your innocence, you could always volunteer to submit yourself to a psychic scan. O'Brien and Beatty could, too, once they recover. That would clear this situation up in no time.

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[Oh god, why was Prefect crying? Barron was trying to rationalize it, but there was no reason for it. Nothing except the con that Prefect was doing, but was it a con?]

There's no journal entry of that. [Barron said, even though he hadn't checked his communicator for days. But worse still, what Prefect was saying made sense. Far too much sense.]

I don't- [Barron started to say, trying to process what Prefect had been saying, the way that he'd just denied all those people. Barron clenched his hands into fists. Nothing else mattered but them. That made them something like friends, didn't it? Something like family? He was hit by the recollection of Anton's mother, filling the open wound on her sons neck with ash so he'd never forget. Over and over again. He looked up at Prefect. All he had to do was say that one thing. Those few little words. It was almost a physical effort, but he had very little memory of where he was, what was going on and even who Prefect really was. It wasn't something he'd ever done before. But now, it had to be happen.]

I think I need you to help me. [Barron said very slowly, maintaining eye contact with Prefect.]

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