River's Devastating D's

A bird cawed above as River stood frozen, gripped by a mix of fear and frustration. He wanted it all to end. The scouts held their spears at the ready, and Johnathon stood between them, cane out, just in case.

River's gaze dropped to Amaya's body. He quickly yanked his head away. No matter what she had done to him, it still hurt to see a childhood friend lying dead especially after she had finally found peace with herself.

The weight of it all crushed him. His throat tightened, and he struggled to speak as the scouts kept their weapons trained on him.

Luckily, Johnathon stepped forward.

"Stand down. I'm Johnathon Bloomfield, a member of the New Council. Now, what reason do you have for arresting River?"

One of the scouts cleared his throat. "We, uh, know who you are, sir. And... the reason? Well..." He pointed to Amaya's body, as if that explained everything.

"And what reason do you have to assume River was responsible?" Johnathon asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Apologies, sir, but multiple witnesses reported seeing this man shove your wife off the roof. We even have photographic evidence," the scout replied with a shrug.

"Blasphemy," Johnathon said sharply. "He was with me all day."

The scout raised a skeptical eyebrow. "He was by your side the entire time? Never left for a second?"

"Well," Johnathon admitted, "he did get teleported somewhere but he had me on call the whole time."

"You can fake a call, Mr. Bloomfield. And besides, you of all people know we have systems to detect and block illusion magic in this building. You helped Amber Sinclair install them."

River saw Johnathon's cane lower slightly.

"Sir," the scout added, gentler now, "it's protocol. And... you're not in the right mind right now."

Johnathon glanced down at Amaya's body. River noticed, for the first time, how badly he was shaking.

With a heavy sigh, Johnathon lowered his cane and stepped aside.

The scouts moved forward. River blinked and took a step back, finally finding his voice.

"But I didn't do it!" he exclaimed.

Johnathon kept his head down, refusing to meet River's eyes. "They're right. We need to follow protocol and process this properly. Don't worry, it'll be fine. I know you didn't do it."

He offered River a weak smile, but something about it felt hollow.

Then he turned and walked away, muttering that he needed to sit down, leaving River in silence as the scouts cuffed him and led him toward the jail wagon.

The next few hours were a blur. River couldn't understand why anyone would do this—or why they'd target him. Was it the same person who had framed him for cheating on Nori? Who would go to such lengths? Had he ruined someone's life without even realizing it?

Time passed without him noticing. One moment he was being escorted through the guard station, vaguely aware of his name being logged; the next, the clang of the cell door snapped him back to reality.

The guard sneered through the bars. "You disgust me. We're trying to build a stable community—one that's barely recovering after Bellos, that genocidal maniac. And then people like you come along, making everything harder because you think you're better than everyone else."

"I didn't kill her!" River shouted.

The guard scoffed. "Yeah, yeah. Save it for the council." He glanced at a clipboard. "Your hearing's in six weeks. They'd have it sooner, but apparently the council needs time to review and regroup or something."