December 22, 8:30 pm
Pearl rolled over against Trucy as the movie credits rolled.
“Think Mr. Nick is going to be gone all night?”
Trucy’s arm rested against Pearl’s shoulders as she huffed thoughtfully.
“I dunno, actually. Sometimes when daddy and Mr. Edgeworth meet up like this he’s not home till morning…though he usually calls and gives me a heads up first.”
“Guess we’ll wait for a call then.” Pearl smiled at her in the dim, flickering light of the TV. “It’s been a pretty rough few days for everybody, huh?”
“I’d say!!” Trucy propped herself up enough to look her in the eyes. It’d been a really rough few days–between the staged hostage situation and the murders–the stress of their friend being accused of murder, and the difficult aftermath.
And something was weighing on Phoenix, Athena and Apollo, but Trucy wasn’t sure just yet if it was just the fallout of the case or something more.
“I thought that whole thing with Vera had been bad, but this really took the cake!”
“Seriously,” Pearl murmured. She gave her a squeeze. “You’re sure you’re okay, right? After all that stuff with Ms. Blackquill? and being a hostage?”
Trucy ducked her head, tongue sticking out embarrassedly as she gave her a squeeze back.
“…I mean, it was a little scary…but Miss Aura was a lot nicer than she pretended to be on the phone with the court, you know? Mostly she was yelling into a microphone on the other side of the cleaning robots, while I kept everyone calm with magic tricks. It was almost like a show at the wunder bar, only with less drunks.”
It would have been scarier if it was more of a surprise she thought, but it hadn’t been. She’d started getting the idea it was in the cards when she’d run off to go help Apollo with his investigation and make sure he kept out of trouble…and heard them whispering about backup plans as the date of execution drew near.
‘Today is all there is when there’s no tomorrow!’
“Miss Aura just didn’t wanna lose anyone else, you know?”
Peal smiled a little and bumped Trucy’s shoulder with her head. “I think I understand. You’re not mad at her, huh? Maybe there was a little magic involved in that whole thing…”
Trucy turned a bright pink before she broke into a little giggle.
“uh oh.The jig’s up! Alright, Detective Pearl…looks like I can’t get anything past you anymore, huh?” She nodded with a little grin “I”m not mad at all…nobody even got hurt…and mayyyybe there was a little magic behind the scenes making sure things went the way they were supposed to~. But don’t tell daddy, alright? He’d go ballistic if he found out.”
Pearl nodded, and pressed her finger to her lips. “Don’t worry, I know how to keep a secret! … maybe you’ll trust me if I tell you a secret too?”
Trucy’s eyes lit up as she leaned in with an eager grin .“Absolutely! A secret for a secret’s traditional, especially when a magician’s involved!”
Behind them, the film hit the end of the credits, bathing them in the soft blue light of the still frame end of the tape.
Pearl nodded, and leaned forward. “Well… I guess you know how Mr. Apollo was pretty upset– and he’s been kind of weird the last couple of days?”
Trucy nodded slowly.
“Yeah..I mean, it makes sense yeah? That guy who died was apparently his best friend…and it’s only been a few days since then. Plus I AM kinda working him to the bone out of revenge for him doubting Athena.” She tilted her head to the side “…is there more to it than that?”
Pearl bit her lip, and nodded slowly. “There is… but you have to promise not to be weird about it. And to believe me, okay?”
Trucy placed a hand atop Pearl’s head , her expression serious as the grave.
“A magician never gets weird about a secret…or doubts someone they care about. It’s in the Gramarye creed…the part I wrote anyway I promise.”
“Alright–Well…” Pearl leaned in and cupped her hand around Trucy’s ear, even though no one else was around. “There’s a ghost with him. Mr. Clay.”
Trucy’s heart skipped a beat despite herself.
“W-wait, for real?” she asked in a hushed whisper.
Pearl nodded slowly. “Yeah… like, hovering over him this whole time. Sometimes like… fully merged with him? Almost like a possession.” She chewed on her thumb. “I’ve been um, debating saying something to him about it.”
“….” Trucy thought back to Apollo’s behavior since the case…the fact that he still hadn’t changed out of the heavy blue Cosmos coat, and the strange look in his eyes…especially when he’d doubted Athena’s innocence up there on the stand.
“That…actually kinda makes sense, Pearly. He’s been really weird lately. If…if it’s because there’s a whole other guy there, that makes sense.” she murmured “..maybe we should? Though I don’t think he believes in ghosts.”
“Yeah…” she chewed on her thumb nervously. “That’s kinda what I’m afraid of, you know? Plus, I don’t know if it would make him happy or sad…”
“Want me to try breaking it to him?” She tilted her head to the side , her dark hair falling in her face. “…I’m used to breaking weird news to Apollo.”
“If you really want to.. but like, it’ll probably resolve on its own, you know? Once they’re ready to say goodbye? Ghosts don’t usually stick around the living forever.
“I guess that makes sense. Though…if I were a ghost…” She poked Pearl on the nose. “I’d probably stick around and play pranks on you guys forever.”
“Aww, Trucy… that’s a sweet thought.” Still, Pearl chewed on her thumb nervously, and thought about ghosts.
December 22, 9:35 pm
Simon’s hotel room was full of bags and boxes now, though they’d been pushed off to the side to keep the center of the room clear for sparring practice.
He stood with his coat and shirt off in only his sleeveless undershirt and his pants and socks. Taka watched from the sidelines as he stepped a carefully circle, holding onto the wooden bo-ken with practiced ease.
Athena stood opposite him, her coat tossed over the bed and her dress shirt partially unbuttoned to give her room to breathe as she paced slowly in a circle opposite him.
Her hands gripped the bo-ken tight, her grip not perfect but held with some mild familiarity likely borne from memories of her mother.
“Easy there,” Simon warned her in a low tone. There was a smirk on his face as he watched her. “You’ll choke the life out of your blade if you hold it like that– and hurt your hands.”
“Aren’t I supposed to choke the life out of it?” She asked with a playful grin. “..if I loosen my grip you’ll just knock it out of my hands!”
Still, he watched as she tried to loosen her grip just a little, fingers shifting against the wood.
“You have to stay flexible, Cykes-dono. Ready for whatever your opponent brings to you.” He watched her fingers shift. “Of course, you’ve got quite the advantage on the battlefield…”
“Oh?” she asked as she shifted the sword into a more ready position, though she had left her right arm open.
“And what’s that, Simon? Is it my natural, stunning beauty?” she teased.
“While I can’t discount it,” he countered, “I meant something else.”
He lunged toward her opening, and she sensed his joy just as he did.
It pinged her senses, and she quickly moved to cover the opening by side stepping away with a gasp.
“Woah!!”
Around her neck, Widget flashed yellow and yelped out “that was close!”
Simon twirled the bo-ken in a flourish and stepped back.
“And well dodged,” he purred. “I’ll wager you used just the advantage I was thinking of– your empathy. Knowing when an opponent will strike based on his emotions.”
Athena’s smile split across her face.
“That’s…actually a really good point! Most opponents, especially if they don’t expect empathy like mine…won’t go hiding their emotions that well.” She took a swing at him with a huff “which means I can react faster than most…right?”
Simon’s sword-stick came up to meet hers with a deft parry, and knocked her blow aside.
“It does indeed– once you’ve had proper training,” he grinned mischievously. “For now, it’s more like… beginner’s luck.”
“Beginners luck he says! You know mom showed me some too! Not– a lot, but some!”
Mostly she’d taught her the judo moves she used in self defense, but she’d heard her wax poetic about swords in the distant past.
She half stuck out her tongue, before she readjusted her grip “I’m not gonna ask you to go easy on me.”
“Good, because I don’t intend to.” He stepped forward in a flash as if he weren’t even thinking about it, and cut right through her defenses.
She suddenly found his stick to her throat, and the back of her knees against the edge of the bed.
She gasped, her breath hitching as the stick pressed against her throat, and her knees wobbled under her, almost sending her falling back onto the bed as her face heated up into a scarlet flush, her smile shaking as her sword arm hung at an angle too awkward for retaliation.
“Oh w-wow…”
Simon had a brilliant grin on his face– until they were interrupted by the buzz of his phone on the bedside table. It was set to silent, but the vibration of it cut through the room like a knife, and it moved its way across the table.
“Damn it, what now?” he grumbled.
“….” Athena’s butt hit the bed as she grimaced and looked down.
“…dammit…just when things were getting good, too.” She pressed her hands to her face to hide the flush. “….please tell me it’s not Mr. Wright calling about a job, Simon. Not tonight.”
Holding his sword at his side, Simon strutted over and snatched up the phone with a frown. His eyebrows raised.
“Not Wright. Edgeworth-dono.” His thumb hovered over the answer button for a moment. Athena could feel his apprehension.
Athena’s grimace only deepened, and Widget turned a bright blue on her neck. “Mr. Edgeworth..? But I thought we both already checked in with him today…”
Her flush refused to go away, and she shifted on the bed. Mr. Edgeworth certainly had a way with…really, really poor timing, it seemed.
“We had,” he said with a frown. “I’ll take it out in the hall.”
Without another word he walked out the door, and it closed behind him.
Athena winced , sagging against the bed as Widget pulsed blue on her neck.
“….”
She fell back onto the bed with a whimper soft enough she was sure Simon wouldn’t hear in the hall. “…Can’t things go right for one night?”
When Simon walked back into the room five minutes later, phone in hand, Athena could feel the waves of emotion radiating off of him. It was almost sickening– a roiling mixture of anger, apprehension, and curiosity– and even eagerness.
“Well,” he said, setting his phone back down on the dresser. His face was carefully composed, but in the sleeveless shirt she could see the tension moving through the muscles of his neck and back. “It wasn’t exactly good news. And yet.”
Her stomach roiled with the onslaught of emotions, but she forced a smile onto her face as she sat up all the same.
Still, her brow furrowed and her throat felt tight as she asked the question that was pinging every nerve in her body.
“What happened, Simon?”
“There’s been a break in the espionage case,” he said slowly. He stood next to Taka, and stroked the bird’s feathers with his thumb. “Two interpol agents are missing, presumed dead, in Cauli, but they’ve identified a suspect. Edgeworth-dono wants to send us on a flight out to investigate the scene tomorrow morning.”
“He…” Athena blinked slowly at him. “he wants to send us to investigate?? Like, you and me?”
Her hand went to her chest, as the rest sunk in. Two dead agents in Cauli, international espionage…and them, investigating on a case she’d assumed Interpol had sole jurisdiction over.
Fear and sadness for the lost interpol agents mingled with a note of excitement and curiosity of her own, even as her lips drew into a tight line.
“He said he’s making a call to Justice-dono as well,” Simon continued, thoughtfully, as he groomed Taka’s feathers.”And we’ll be bringing the Phantom, as well.”
Simon’s gaze was glassy as he looked off into the distance, and his emotions were such an intense mixture as to be utterly unreadable.
“The–” her hand went to her lips in a sharp gasp. “…Simon we’ve only had one day of therapy with him! I…”
Her protest sputtered out, partially from the onslaught of mixed emotions and the tumultuous roiling of her own mind as it turned the idea over and over.
She hesitated, and her fingers clenched on her lap. “I…I suppose the Phantom would know best on how to catch a spy.”
“Set a thief to take a thief,” Simon agreed, distantly. “And he’s familiar with the culprits. I see Edgeworth-dono’s logic. He’s assured me that it will be done securely. Haha. Heh… the shoe on the other foot.”
“Yeah,” Athena chuckled quietly, but without much humor. “A real turnabout. But…we can make the best of it. We’ll be striking back at the real culprits behind …everything…and at the same time it may help us make a breakthrough. Sometimes…something immersive is better for getting to the core of a problem than sitting in a room and being lectured.”
“Perhaps you’re right,” he murmured. “Ah, Cykes-dono, I think perhaps I’ve buried the lead a little. I’m sure the chief prosecutor will ask you himself but…”
Athena tilted her head to the side, “hm?”
Simon chuckled a low, strange chuckle, and slapped his hand lightly on the table beside him, startling Taka, who sidled a little away.
“He’s setting us up as opposing counsels. He wants you– and Apollo if he’s willing– to defend whoever we arrest! It’s going to be just like our last few cases!”
“………………………………” Athena stared at him for a long moment. “…oh.”
She got the joke, because really, it was one. A cruel joke, but a joke all the same.
‘Heal the man who killed your mother’ was the set up, accepted with the understanding that justice would come to the real culprits, and he–another victim of this horrible conspiracy, a tool of monsters– would be rehabilitated by the power of analytical psychology and empathy.
The punchline didn’t make her laugh, though. It threw her for a loop, and left her staring at Simon with a shaking smile.
Widget had turned completely black, its face drowned out in the abyss.
Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth wanted her to defend the innocence of the people who signed her mother’s death warrant with an uncaring hand. All in the name of a rock. Somewhere out there an audience was laughing.
“That makes sense,” she managed to say. “Someone has to defend them, or how will we learn the truth? R-right? That’s just the legal system. It makes sense.”
“In its own twisted, horrible way, it makes sense,” he chuckled. He took a series of long, deep breaths and stilled his laughter. “What a world we suddenly find ourselves in, Cykes-dono What a world.”
Mirroring him, Athena pressed her hand to her forehead with a deep intake of breath.
“Sometimes it feels like it’s turned upside down, Simon. But the best thing about the human mind is its adaptability, right? Maybe we’ll find our footing , even in a world like this” She offered him her shaking hand, her fingers outstretched. “it’ll be easier because we’re not alone, yeah?”
Simon stepped toward her, and twined her fingers with her, squeezing her hand in his. She felt the tumult of emotions in him diminish and melt away– still present but less of a cascading assault and more of a background hum. Of the sensations that remained, a sort of amused curiosity stood out over a background of sorrow.
“Because we’re not alone, Athena.” He nodded. “This strange future is one we will both face, together.”
December 22, 10:05 pm
“No, I don’t know how many tickets at this point,” Miles grumbled to his secretary as he leaned against the wall beside her desk. “I’m still waiting to hear from Apollo, and I don’t know if he’ll want to bring along his assistant. Justitia knows Trucy will probably insist on coming with him even if he doesn’t– ha– that’ll be a stick in Wright’s eye.”
“Alright, alright. But believe me when I tell you how much of a pain in the ass it is to book a flight when we don’t even know how many seats we’re gonna need.” His secretary reached up to fiddle with the hair sticks holding her long, dark hair in a neat ponytail.
“Should I account for Trucy, then? You know… to spite Mr. Wright, of course. Maybe we should send her an official invitation.”
“Hah! I think that might be a bridge too far, but let’s account for her anyway.” Miles smiled an exhausted smile and pushed his hair out of his face. “Thank you for your assistance as always, Mr. Faraday. I know I’ve run you ragged today. And tonight.”
Kay Faraday laughed, spinning her key-shaped pen in her fingers with an impish grin.
“Not any worse than any of the investigations you dragged me on, Edgey. Honestly the biggest challenge is making sure you don’t collapse in front of your next meeting.”
He pushed up his glasses and rubbed his eyes, well aware of the dark circles that were certainly under them.
“Hopefully no more meetings tonight. Unless the phone rings. Which it might,” he sighed. “I’m waiting to hear from Lang of course… I think I could use another cup of your coffee to keep me going.”
“I think if I give you another cup you’re just going to dissolve into a puddle of coffee and regret, boss.” Kay held her hands up. “I could break out the blankets if you wanna take a nap on the couch. I promise I won’t steal anything too valuable while you’re out!”
“Very funny as always, Ms. Faraday,” he drawled. Halfway through her name it turned into a yawn. “Well, maybe just for a few minutes…”
“Finally, this time your Steel Samurai Statue is mine for the taking.” She rubbed her hands together with a grin, before she hopped up and moved to dress the couch for some sleep. “Alright, promise you’ll get a little shut eye, because I know you won’t get any sleep on the plane after That Incident.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Ugh… why’d you have to bring that up? No, no you’re ri– damn it. Hold that thought. Kay, we can’t all go in one flight, it’ll be too suspicious. You’re going to have to break it up into two different flights.”
“Aw boss, you’re kidding me.” Kay groaned , rubbing at her own sleep-deprived eyes. “Alright, geeze. Two flights. Do I need to worry about certain people being together, or can I just wing it?”
“I’ll trust your judgment. Send ‘Detective Halblicht’ with his therapists, obviously. Anyway else, figure it out.” Miles realized that his head was pounding. Kay was right, he needed to get some sleep or he was going to make a serious error in judgment.
Maybe he already had.
“You got it, sir. Maximum drama, just in case the in flight movie’s excessively dull.” She snapped a salute with a wink. “…don’t worry , Miles. I’ve got this.”