The Triangle Waltz: Hope, Harmony, Despair - Deadly Life 1
It was a few moments before I could bring myself to look at the others. Everypony had looks of utter shock and despair on their faces, save for Pinkie Pie who had wobbled out of sight into the hallway. Even so, I could hear her wailing just outside.
"Why...? Why Applejack...?" Rarity whimpered, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Poor dear..." Flam's lips quivered as he took off his hat and held it over his chest.
Why...? Why her...? Why her...?! She was just starting to heal...!
"So much blood," Nurse Redheart sighed sadly before hardening her gaze. "I may not know which of you has done this, but murdering her like this... I demand justice! This has gone too far!"
"You... one of you... did this...!" Coloratura seethed through wide, watery eyes. "Which one of you killed her?! Why, damn it, why?!"
Why... why...
I asked myself over and over again. Why? Why did this keep happening?!
*boing!*
"Geez, I didn't know your power level would increase by that much just by getting mad!" Monokuma suddenly appeared, leaning to one side inquisitively as he grinned at Coloratura.
"What are you doing here?!" Lightning Dust growled.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm here to hand out my little murder flyer," he replied. "That's right! It's the next Monokuma File! ...And don't get so mad, Miss Coloratura, or you're gonna ruin that lewd little face of yours!"
Biting her lower lip, Coloratura exhaled a loud noise that sounded like the beginning of a profane word, but remained silent as Monokuma passed out the files.
"Now, then! With that, I-"
"WHO COULD HAVE KILLED HER?! SHE WAS EVEN STRONGER THAN ME!" Bulk Biceps bawled and trembled, interrupting Monokuma.
"She didn't have to die... oh, curse this horrid game of yours!" snarled Rarity.
"Hey, before you get all pissy-potty at me, you better figure out who did it first!" Monokuma shrugged, smirking. "Cuz, I mean... your lives are all on the line... right?"
"...He's right..." Redheart grunted, a few tears even brought to her eyes. "You... bastard..."
"Puhuhu... puhuhuhuhu!" Monokuma's laughter could be heard as he dashed out of the Weight Room and down the hall until he was out of sight and earshot.
"I... HAAATE YOUUUUU!" Pinkie screamed as loudly as she could before breaking down into more loud sobs.
"Fuck... fuck!" Lightning stomped her hoof. "I swear to fuck, I am never gonna get over this..."
"WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO?!" Bulk cried out.
"The same as we always do," Redheart lowered her head in resignation. "We have to investigate. We have to find out who murdered Applejack... or else."
"Yes... uh, it would seem that there will only be one pony to watch over the body now," Flam grimaced, glancing at Bulk.
"UH... CAN I DO THE WATCHING FROM OVER THERE, PLEASE?" Bulk whined, pointing to the benches at the opposite side of the room. "ALL THIS BLOOD IS MAKING ME QUEASY..." Redheart nodded, and Bulk quickly trotted over to a bench and sat down, grabbing a nearby wastebasket just in case.
"I... I-I will remain with her, as well," Rarity sniffled.
"Alright... let's get started, then," I swallowed hard, squeezing my eyes shut to force the rest of the tears out and away.
We have to do this... we have to find AJ's killer...! For those of us still alive, and to honor her memory... It isn't a matter of hoping we can do it...
"...We must do it."
*Investigation Start!*
First thing's first - I opened the Monokuma File, choking on my grief as I saw Applejack's grayed-out, X-covered face. Blinking away my tears again, I read aloud.
"Victim is Applejack, Ultimate Farmer," I swallowed down a pang of nausea before continuing. "Cause of death is exsanguination. There are also minor lacerations and contusions located on the back and legs. Time of death is estimated to be 11:30pm."
Meanwhile, Redheart examined Applejack's body. "Hm... ooh. Oh, that's nasty."
"What is?!" Coloratura gasped. Redheart then stuck her hoof partially into the tear in Applejack's chest, making Coloratura's face pale in disgust.
"She was stabbed. Deep, too, it went right through her heart diagonally under the sternum and into her aorta," she remarked. "Whatever weapon did this was pretty damn big."
"Oh, Celestia..." Rarity shivered. Next, Redheart gripped Applejack's shoulders firmly.
"Yes... rigor mortis has set in pretty good, she's stiff as a statue." With a grunt, she lifted the body - it was horrifically disconcerting to watch as Applejack's limbs refused to obey the laws of gravity as she went - and flipped it over, gently setting it down. She then grabbed a clean, wet towel she had laid out on the nearby dumbbell rack and wiped away much of the clotted, dried blood stuck to her back. "Alright, now... a bit of livor mortis, I see... But the bruise on the shoulder is still visible."
I glanced at Applejack's back... just like the Monokuma File said, there was a pretty big bruise on the back of her right shoulder along with some long but shallow cuts, though it was difficult to tell apart from the dark, blotchy patches of reddish-black that outlined where her body had touched the mat. More bruises and cuts dotted her legs, though none were as big.
Being placed in a weird angle on a stone-like corpse, Applejack's signature hat tipped off of her head and wobbled in the pool of blood like a paper boat. I frowned as I watched, but soon my eyes caught a glimpse of something white inside of the brown leather interior. Not wanting to touch the hat and accidentally squeeze blood into it like a sponge with the pressure, I instead willed magic into my horn.
"Hm? What is this?" Redheart asked as I carefully picked up the white object in my magic. It was a piece of paper folded neatly into a square; I quickly unfolded it to reveal a short note.
"Meet me in the Weight Room at 11pm, my dear," I read.
"Ah, so that's why she was here," Redheart nodded. "I wonder who she was meeting with... they are likely the culprit."
"Who, indeed..." I gulped. There were obvious conclusions I could draw, but I knew from past experience that it was always wise to reserve judgement until more facts had come to light. Having documented the injuries on Applejack's backside, Redheart hefted her right-side up once more. She gingerly picked up her hat and placed it back on her head.
"...Hm?" she paused.
"What is it?" I asked. Redheart took the hat off Applejack's head and brushed the fur beneath her bangs.
"There's something on her forehead," she replied, lifting her hoof to examine it. "...It's transparent, whatever it is... but it feels waxy."
"Waxy?" I repeated, pondering the meaning. Nothing came to mind, however.
"Yes... just in that spot, too," she continued, quickly patting the corpse down. "Curious."
Feeling confident that I had searched over Applejack's body enough, I then turned my attention to the rest of the room. What caught my eye first was that it appeared there had been a bit of a struggle here: the mirror panel closest to the body was cracked right in the center, and if I looked at the indentations on the floor, some of the nearby weight machines had been shifted out of position... far away enough that normal usage wouldn't have been the reason.
Then I studied the bloody hoofprints on the floor. They led to the Laundry Area of the weight room, right where the now-empty shelves of towels were located, and back again. If I remembered basic pony physiology right, most ponies had about the same hoof size regardless of height or gender - glancing quickly at everypony's hooves, I deducted that that factoid was accurate.
Finally, I noticed that while there were a number of blood-soaked towels sitting in the pool of cold blood surrounding Applejack, it didn't quite match the number of towels the shelves could hold. Also, a trail of blood droplets was intertwined with the hoofprints, leading in a drippy mess into the washing machine. I took a deep breath, then glanced inside.
Inside the washing machine was a horror show of towels and coagulated blood... but something odd caught my attention. Something striped. My horn glowed as I reached inside with my magic, feeling instantly nauseated as I felt a squish in the aura, and slowly pulled out a blood-drenched article of clothing.
"Oh, come on now!" Flam shouted angrily. "What did they have to use one of my vests for?!"
"This is your vest?" I asked apologetically, wincing. A rather stupid question, as Flam was the only pony among us that regularly wore clothing.
"Oh, dear..." Rarity swooned, her face somehow even whiter than usual. "I'm afraid there's no cleaning... that."
"Please tell me it was just the one..." Flam begged. "I was in the middle of doing laundry before Nighttime last night and figured I'd put them in the dryer later this morning!"
I held my breath as I grabbed the entire blood-soaked bundle in my magic and lifted it up, then peered inside. "Uh... maybe you can save these ones..." Flam shrieked in response.
"Great. Just great! Do you have any idea how hard it is to get blood out of a linen-silk blend?!" he shouted.
"Oh, of course! ...I mean, I've only ever gotten a pinprick's worth of blood on it before, however," said Rarity. Happily releasing my hold on the bundle of bloody laundry, I intently studied the room before concluding that I had examined everything there was to examine.
"Well, I think that's everything here," I murmured.
"It would seem we should be on the lookout for a large murder weapon and a recently-used notepad, correct?" asked Flam.
"The murder weapon could be anywhere," Redheart hummed in thought. "But the notepad where the note came from... I have a hunch we'll find it inside somepony's room... the pony who most likely is the killer."
"So... we have to go inside everypony's rooms...?" Coloratura gulped, shuddering.
"Ah! But..." Rarity stuttered, her face contorting uncomfortably. "I have... private things... in my room..."
"Would you rather we go through your personal belongings, or else find no evidence and die an unspeakable death?" Redheart deadpanned. Coloratura and Rarity squirmed and groaned, but ultimately agreed that living was definitely preferable.
"Alright... let's go search," Lightning grumbled.
"We had better group up into pairs," Flam suggested. "We'll search each pony's room thoroughly, together. Twilight, dear, would you accompany me? We can begin with my own room, in case you're feeling wary."
"Ah, sure," I nodded.
"So, I guess that's us, then?" Lightning motioned towards Coloratura. She nodded and began walking over towards Lightning, but grunted as she walked on her front left leg.
"Ow... damn it, Bulk," she cursed under her breath. "Hey, is it alright if we stop by the Infirmary first? I need some pain medicine if I'm going to search all over the school."
"Sure thing," Lightning shrugged. "I gotta piss first, anyway."
With the others in tow, I left the weight room and headed for the staircase. Pinkie, her curly mane pin-straight once again, was huddled in the corner across from the stairs, facing the wall as her body heaved with strained sobs.
"Hey, Pinkie... you gonna be alright?" I asked quietly, placing a hoof gently on her shoulder. She struggled to reply.
"...Y-Yea... I-I'm just... gonna s-stay here..." she sniffled. I nodded silently as I let go and left... this situation of ours was slowly becoming just too much for my friends to bear.
~
Once we had descended to the school's first floor, Coloratura slipped inside the Infirmary while Lightning headed for the mare's restroom by the Gym, leaving Flam and I to continue on towards the Dormitory. We walked in silence until we were just in front of the door to his room.
"Ah, just a moment," said Flam as he began digging in his vest's pocket for his room key.
*boing!*
"There's no need for that right now!" Monokuma suddenly exited from inside Flam's room. Upon seeing the two of us, his face flushed red and he grinned jeeringly. "Oh, my... You're going into Flam's room together? Is this really the time...?"
"Er... ahem..." Flam coughed, bewildered.
"We are simply investigating... nothing more, nothing less," I glared.
"Ah, so you'll be going room raiding, I see... well! Usually I don't do this, but I think for the sake of fairness, I'll unlock everybody's rooms! ...Well, everyone that's still alive, that is! Va-Va-Valuse!" A chorus of quiet clicks echoed in the halls before I could say anything. "You don't even have to beg while licking my black eye!"
"Uh... why would we do that...?" I asked carefully, disturbed by the very notion of such an action.
"Don't knock it 'til you try it! It's sweet cuz it's made out of black bean paste!"
"...I don't even know how to respond to that," Flam turned to me and muttered quietly after we stared at Monokuma for a few moments.
"Please leave," I sighed. Monokuma thankfully did as I asked, but not before slumping over in rejection as he toddled off. After we were certain that he wasn't peering sneakily around the corner or anything, we went inside the room.
"Eheheheh... ahem, excuse the mess."
Flam's room was surprisingly messy, or at least everything that wasn't the bed or floor was. Bits of random machine parts, devices in various degrees of finished assembly, hoof-drawn schematics and tools littered the desk, bookcase and table, while a spare vest and hat laid in a crumpled heap on a chair.
"I... wasn't expecting this at all," I commented, feeling one of my eyelids beginning to twitch from the disorganization.
"Yes... Flim is the tidy one out of the two of us, I'm afraid," Flam glanced away sheepishly.
Regardless, we searched the room together, every little nook and cranny that could conceivably hide a murder weapon. We moved the furniture aside with our magic to search beneath the bed and behind the desk and bookcase, but ultimately found nothing that would match the wound to Applejack's chest. Also, while searching the desk I found a notepad, but it was brand new and had been entirely unused.
"I think that covers that," Flam huffed. "Whose room shall we search next?"
"Well... my room is closest. I guess we should look there," I shrugged. I knew I had nothing to hide, except perhaps some of the lewder loot from the MonoMono Machine.
~
After searching my room thoroughly, Flam and I moved on to Rarity's room, then Bulk's, then Redheart's. We passed Lightning and Coloratura as we climbed the stairs to the second floor of dorms, who both had yet to find anything. They went down the stairs to check our rooms, while we searched Lightning's, Pinkie's and Coloratura's rooms. Just like them, we found no clues or traces of a murder weapon, although I had to admit I was a little envious of Coloratura's lip balm collection atop her vanity.
But just as we were about to think about our next move, I heard Lightning and Coloratura scream from downstairs. We hurried down and found them inside Flam's room; Coloratura's face was pale, while Lightning had a look of pure fury.
"What is it?!" I shouted.
"Why don't you ask that asshole right there?!" Lightning pointed to Flam, snarling.
"What did I do?!" Flam recoiled.
"Just what the fuck is this?!" Lightning pointed behind Flam's desk, which had been moved slightly away from the wall. We both moved to examine it more closely, and we gasped loudly in unison: lying behind the desk in a puddle of blood was a very large knife with dried blood on the blade.
Flam's face paled, and beads of sweat formed on his forehead. "I-I... w-where did this come from?!"
"Oh, playing dumb, are we?" Lightning shouted. "Pretty piss-poor attempt at hiding the murder weapon, buddy! We might as well not even have the fuckin' trial anymore; you're fuckin' done!"
"No... no! I'm not the murderer!" Flam panicked. "I'm clearly being framed here!"
"We checked behind the desk when we searched the room, that wasn't there before!" I agreed, although feeling worried.
Just where did this knife come from?! It definitely wasn't here when we searched the room!
"He's a Unicorn, Twilight! He probably cast a spell on it to hide it from sight before and it wore off!" Lightning argued.
"I did no such thing!" Flam cried.
"Hold on... let's see for ourselves." I held up my hoof as my horn flared to life, and I examined the murder weapon with my magic. "Hmm... no mana signature... at all. There definitely wasn't any magic used on this knife, not even a scroll."
"Bah, who cares?!" Lightning scoffed, glaring maliciously at Flam. "He's obviously the fucking killer!"
"I am not! I am innocent!" shouted Flam. "I've been framed!"
"What's going on in here?!" I suddenly heard Redheart's voice behind me. Turning around, I saw that she and Rarity had come to investigate the rooms as well.
"I'll tell you what's going on! Flam's a murdering shitbag!" Lightning growled, pointing at him again.
"Look... behind the desk..." Coloratura whimpered. Rarity and Redheart did as she asked.
"Oh! ...You!" Rarity shrieked angrily, now also glaring at Flam. "How could you?!"
"But we searched this room before you two did, and there was nothing behind the desk!" I protested.
"And I'm telling you that he tricked you somehow!" Lightning retorted, grinding her front hooves together. Meanwhile, Redheart was silent, save for quiet, contemplative humming.
"I would never-"
"You fucking bastard..." Lightning interrupted Flam, her hooves recoiling in preparation to attack. "Too bad for you there's nothing in the rules saying I can't beat your fucking ass right now!"
"Hold that thought," Redheart stood up, speaking clearly and loudly enough that Lightning froze. "Something's... off here."
"What?" I asked, peering behind the desk once more.
"The blood on the blade is dried, but the puddle beneath the knife is wet," Redheart pointed out. "If this weapon was used last night, then the puddle should be dryer than this."
Hmm... I see where she's going with this... this blood is fresh... too fresh...
"See? I couldn't possibly be the killer!" Flam protested.
"Yea?! Maybe you had the knife in a bag or something, and it popped!" Lightning scowled.
"Let's save the wild accusations for later, alright?" Redheart spoke sternly. "I can only imagine we have a short while longer before we'll have to report to the trial room. We can't afford to waste any time."
"I don't know... this is pretty damning evidence," said Rarity. "I'm not sure there's much more to figure out."
"There's no fuckin' point. I'll be waiting by the elevator," Lightning spat before flying off. Coloratura glanced nervously at us, as if wondering whether to keep searching or not, but in the end she left the room as well.
"Sheesh... for somepony who was framed for murder herself, you'd think she'd be willing to listen to reason," Flam sighed. I nodded in sympathy.
"...Hey, if you and Rarity are here, did you leave Bulk and Pinkie with Applejack?" I asked Redheart.
"Yes... I had to literally drag Pinkie into the room, and then she and Bulk started holding each other and crying," she replied with a frown.
"...That can't be good for her mind," Flam grimaced.
"It's not good for anypony's mind," she answered back. "We'll all have to deal with the psychological consequences of this ordeal later. Should we survive this, I will get us all appointments with the finest therapists Equestria has to offer."
And then, before anything more could be said...
*ding dong, bing bong*
"Shit. I knew it," Redheart hissed as a nearby monitor buzzed to life.
"It appears... that it's time for the class trial," Monokuma sighed before pausing. "...To tell ya the truth, I'm tired! Extremely tired! I feel like spending the rest of my life hibernating already! Man... I know it's bad, but I'm so sleepy. I just wanna ditch."
"Oh, if only he were serious," Rarity sighed.
"Phew... Though I don't really feel like it... I'll show you my serious side when you come to the class trial... Even though it's impossible since it's so annoying... You can count on me to take this seriously." With that said, Monokuma then downed a full wine glass in one gulp before the camera feed shut off.
"Hmm... perhaps it'd be too much to ask for him to be drunk enough to fall asleep mid-trial and cancel the whole thing," mumbled Flam.
"No, we'd better go," Redheart sighed. "If he's drunk, he might just execute the lot of us for any minor infraction."
"I cannot believe we must do this again..." Rarity whined despondently as she and Redheart left the room. I looked over to Flam; his shaking limbs held him fast to the floor, and his mustache did little to muffle his chattering teeth.
"Me... they think it was me..." he breathed heavily before his wide, accusing eyes shot over to me. "Twilight... what if I cannot convince them of my innocence? I know I've done some detestable things before in my life, but never anything like this!"
"I..."
I wanted to comfort Flam, but I knew I also had to remain impartial and reserve my judgement. It felt like an hour had passed before I could make myself speak.
"...We'll come to the right conclusion. I'm sure of it."
"...R-Right," he coughed. "Come, we'd best not be late."
Even so, Flam tripped a little as we exited his room. I stopped to make sure he was alright, when I noticed a strange smell in the air.
"Hey... do you smell that?" I asked. It was faint, but thick and acrid, like burning chemicals.
"I do... is there somepony in the Garbage Room?" replied Flam. Puzzled, we walked over to said room and opened the door. As we peeked inside, we found Coloratura staring into the warm incinerator, frowning.
"Coloratura?" I asked, causing her to jump in surprise.
"Celestia's sake, you guys scared me," she sighed in relief.
"What are you doing?" said Flam.
"I had the idea that the killer might've hidden evidence in the trash," she replied, closing the incinerator's hatch. "So I came in here to look around, but I was too late... there's nothing left in there but ashes."
"Ah... that's too bad," Flam lowered his head. I moved over to the incinerator and opened the hatch myself, nearly burning my hoof from the heat - the inside was full of gray ash and some unrecognizable shriveled bits. Grimacing in disappointment, I closed the hatch.
"Uh... h-hey, I don't think you did it," Coloratura reassured. "...I mean, I-I'm not sure, yea, but... I don't think so."
"Thanks, my dear," Flam smiled sadly.
"C'mon, we'd better go," I reminded.
~
"So, we're all here now," Redheart nodded as we entered the elevator room. Lightning was pacing anxiously in front of the elevator doors, Bulk was sitting squarely in the center of the room and staring at the floor, and Rarity was trying her best to comfort a nearly-catatonic Pinkie, huddled in the fetal position with her mane and tail so straight they could be mistaken for blades.
"Yea, took you long enough, taking a final walk of shame down the halls?" Lightning growled.
"He's not guilty, Lightning! ...Not yet, anyway," said Rarity.
"We cannot pass judgement until we are all absolutely certain of the killer's guilt," Redheart reminded. "I don't need to remind you of what'll happen if we're wrong."
"Fine, fine, whatever... Flam's still sus as fuck, though," muttered Lightning.
Flam sighed dejectedly as the elevator doors slowly opened, inviting us inside. One by one we stepped inside, until I was the only one left.
It was time once again. Time to unravel the truth behind a friend's death, and condemn yet another friend to die. It was a miserable cycle that we just couldn't seem to break. My vision darkened as I stared straight ahead, my heart threatening to leap into my throat and suffocate me.
...Calm down... I need to calm down...
I took several deep breaths, and once my nerves had settled, I stepped inside the elevator. The doors closed, and it descended with a violent creak.
Applejack... I will find out who did this to you.
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Okay now I'm sure it's Bulk
its Colotura..
As for the scenario overall, I get the feeling this is all just a changeling induced-nightmare, and the "dead" ponies are still alive.
Chrysalis got taken out suspiciously quickly.
And it's the only real explanation for why Celestia, Luna, and Discord ALL lost their immortality
10489245
hmm, you do gotta wonder why Starlight's not there...
10489267
I get the feeling she's trying to rescue them.
Also, witegrlninja, when does this take place?
Not that it matters much, but I'm just curious
10489279
After the War of the Bell but before Twilight's coronation
10489279
well re-reading the beginning. Its set season 7-9 ish .. they are stuck inside the school of friendship
10489284
I see.
That DOES put a bit of a hole in my changeling theory, but I'm not completely ruling it out just yet.
And that explains Twilight's shock at Chrysalis showing up, but it's a bit weird that no one actually verbally reacted.
Also, going back to the beginning part, I love that you picked out 17 victims rather than 16 like the games.
That makes things a bit more open as to how many will "survive" the game itself.
But looking into the past events a bit more deeply, I get the feeling that this is going to go down like Danganronpa 2 in more ways than one.
Okay so I got ideas of what happened when the knife came from the kitchen so anyone could have got it. The last chapter has a lot of cooking mention a lunch date and the dinner. Curfew is at 10 so during that time someone when the kitchen and got the knife. So right now possibilities of who got the knife. Idea number one Applejack did it commit suicide. Number two Pinky has access to the kitchen. Number 3 could be Coloratura after getting rejected by Applejack and was destroying evidence before the story. Number 4 could have been lightning Dust framing the con man. Number 5 it could have been the con man. And finally number 6 it could be a pony that I didn't expect it
10493030
I mean, it's the only thing that makes sense.
Maybe not necessarily a dream, but the way things have been playing out, there's no way it could be happening in reality
So it comes down to Coloratura & Flam, both are suspicious in their own way, however it's incredibly obvious that Flam is being setup, and by Coloratura no less, therefore the most likely Culprit of the Murder of Applejack... is Coloratura.
HOWEVER Coloratura being the Culprit seems a bit too obvious, there's definitely more going on than we are currently aware of, and I believe a third-party is involved, but just who is this third-party is where we hit a dead end.
I wanna say the Culprit may be Bulk solely because it's the fourth trial, and fourth trial always see's the death of the muscular character, but I'm not sure at all how he was involved IF he was involved at all.
Can't wait to see how this all plays out.
10491313
or idk, Rara acted irrationally after being rejected. Just spur of moment anger where she surprise AJ with a stab . I will not believe Rara be able to defend herself if AJ is the attacker. Applejack's hella strong
Okay, I've thought about it for a little while.
So much of this points to Coloratura, but it almost seems a little too perfect. I still can't figure out what the waxy substance on Applejack's forehead is, and I have a feeling it's really important. The knife being found with fresh blood makes me think the killer had to return to Applejack's corpse (or at least, to the bloodied rags) to re-wet it. From what I can tell, the body was left alone by everyone, meaning anyone could've gone there and done the deed. Pinkie was nearby, but I don't see it as being her. Lightning seemed pretty quick to join with Coloratura, making me think perhaps this was a set-up by both of them? Even Applejack might struggle against two attackers.
So in the end, I guess I'm tentatively saying Coloratura or Lightning, but I'm not particularly confident.
This is very interesting. Still not sure between Flam and Coloratura. A lot of emphasis was put on suspecting Flam, Coloratura was acting sus by being in the garbage room, and she could've planted the knife in his room while her and Lighting were searching. Furthermore, the reason she was limping could've been because she was concealing the knife on her somehow, so I'm leaning towards her. However, if this story is gonna follow DR rules, it's probably Bulk. Ehhh... this is a tricky one.
10502050
Hmmm.... the lip balm. Coloratura has an extensive collection of lip balm. A kiss on the forehead after death, perhaps?