Title: Complete Turnabout
Author: Nenilein
Rating: T
Genre: General/Mystery
Status: In Progress (Currently 11 chapters in existence)
Pairing: Several, but only for plot-reasons and not the focus of the story. Examples: Phoenix/Iris, Phoenix/Maya (alluded), Mia/Diego. There's also a great crack-pairing in there, which will probably cause you to spit out your drink once you spot it. I thus request you not to eat or drink until you spotted it.

Summary: Phoenix Wright wakes up alone in an unfamiliar appartment, wearing his jammies and there's an Prosecutor's badge on the nightstand. But, no, this doesn't mean what you think it means.
After a rather unpleasant encounter, Wright slowly understand that he apparently isn't in Kansas anymore...
Prepare for a world where everyone is just a tad different from how you remember them and where Phoenix Wright is considered more evil than Dahlia Hawthorne. And for a murder case which will require Phoenix gather more information than ever before... especially about himself.

The story contains characters from all released Ace Attorney Games and is, thus, Spoiler-tastic. There are also Original Characters, but they serve the plot, not the other way around.
A court-record with author-drawn sketches of some evidence and character art for OCs and characters who look different from usually will be provided after each chapter.
Cross-Examination Scenes are held in a style that is meant to mimic that of the games.

Oh, the story is also beta-read.

I woke up this morning and found something. Something that shouldn't have been there.

It was a morning which would just progress to get weirder and weirder as it went on. I was asleep and woke up immediately forgetting everything I might or might not have dreamt that night, which is quite normal for me. Maya once told me that writing down your dreams right after waking up helps getting better at remembering them, but, to be honest, I'm not keen on being able to remember every single one of my nightmares in detail. I opened my eyes and turned my head to the side just to take a look at the clock, which is also normal for me. It was 8:07, meaning I woke up around 8:00, which, too, is normal for me. However, this is where things got weird.

As my eyes left the clock, I was already trying to remember if I had anything planned for this day, or if I would just spend it in the office watching TV and eating soup and burgers with Maya, boring myself to death. Which is, actually, still normal, of course. However, my eyes wandered across the nightstand… And there it was.

A Prosecutor's badge.

A neatly polished, shiny and highly attention-seeking Prosecutor's badge. Just like the one Edgeworth had. Come to think about it, I never actually saw him wearing it, or any Prosecutor wearing a badge for that matter. I can understand why though. Seen from this close, that thing is ugly…

The first thought this sight triggered was, naturally, the following:

(…What is a Prosecutor's badge doing on my nightstand?)

Sitting up in the bed, the first thing I did was not to stretch myself and yawn like usual, but to reach out my hand for the badge, which my eyes were still fixed on, and pick it up. I hesitated a little though as the question whose badge this might be crossed my mind. But it didn't take me long to decide that, one way or another, I had to pick it up anyway if I wanted to find out. The first thing I noticed was how it was noticeably heavier than the Attorney's badge. But I think I could have guessed that, it looked heavier in the first place since it was a little bigger and had that cross-like metal piece all over it and that red jewel thing and all. I examined the design closer. It was a lot more… "sharp and edgy" than my badge.

(Edgy…)

I guess a smile crossed my face here.

(How fitting.)

Still, I could scratch the idea that it might be his badge right away. Edgeworth never lost anything, he was too neat and he was a perfectionist. And if he did, he'd probably wear a paper bag over his face for three days afterwards out of shame.

I could exclude Franziska von Karma as well. She never visited my office…

…And this was when I noticed the second weird thing, which shouldn't have been possible. In fact, it was even a lot more noticeable than the prosecutor's badge and I seriously wondered how I managed to miss this. I was surprised… well actually, more like "shocked", when I finally noticed it. I fell back onto the bed when I noticed it.

This wasn't my bedroom.

Yes, in case you're wondering, I'm pretty sure I broke into a cold sweat at that point. Waking up in a unfamiliar bedroom, with no idea how I got here? I don't like what this implies. I don't think anybody would like what this implies.

Trying to search my mind for the memory of what happened the evening before, and failing, I jumped out of not-my-bed and started coming up with ideas of how to get out of there, without getting noticed by whoever lived here. I came up with a rather time-consuming tiptoes-stop-listen-tiptoes-again method when I noticed another problem:

I was wearing my pajamas. Well, at least if I could trust that giant mirror before my eyes. A rather unnecessarily pretentious-looking mirror, in my opinion. It was like the owner only bought it so he could spend money on something. I took a look around the floor. My clothes were nowhere in sight. I found nothing but a neat, expensive looking carpet and started to wonder if somebody had actually kidnapped me from the office while I was sleeping. At least that appeared to be the only logical explanation. The only other explanation that kept coming to my mind was killed by the fact that I was rather sure that I knew myself well enough to be able to determine that I would have definitely not done that. Still…

(OK, let's piece everything together.) I thought. (I'm in the bedroom of a house I think I have never seen before, dressed in pajamas and there's a Prosecutor's badge on the nightstand. I have no idea how I got here or what I did last night. Either some rather radical Prosecutor is trying to dispose of me, or I- *gulp* … let's leave it at that.)

It was then that I took another look through the admittedly rather large, well furnished room with the large, white bed which, much to my relief, seemed to be intended for just one person despite its size, the lone pillow and the single blanket I had been lying under just a few seconds ago confirmed this as well, and the equally white nightstand. Also, there was, of course, this Prosecutor's Badge, which was still resting in my palm.

(No wait… that makes no sense… ) I tapped my chin with my finger nervously. (A kidnapper wouldn't lock me in the 'Suite Royal', would he? Also, why would he leave this badge with me? Could he have just forgotten it…? But why put it on the nightstand in the first place? And most importantly… do I have any enemies who would actually do this to me?)

I pondered about this question for less than three seconds before I came to the conclusion "not anymore". Every Prosecutor who had ever hated me held me in at least some kind of regards now… At least I thought they did. I just couldn't come up with a valid reason why I was here, no matter how hard I thought about it. Why would anybody kidnap me? This was just ridiculous.

If Maya had been here, she would have probably come up with a few wild conspiracy theories by now. If Mia had been here, she'd have probably told me to stay calm and take a careful look around.

(…in fact, that's probably what I should do now, I guess…)

Slowly, I approached the door, trying not to make a sound. It was easy since the carpet deadened my steps. It was almost like the designer had been trying to go for the most burglar-friendly design they could come up with. I placed my hand on the doorknob and turned it around. Much to my surprise, the door came open. It wasn't even locked. My kidnapping theory was becoming more unlikely every second… And if it still happened to be true, this was probably the most incompetent kidnapper in the history of kidnapping. However, there was still the old saying, "never praise the day before nightfall", so I decided to act as carefully as possible regardless.

My first steps out the bedroom were rather slow and hesitant, but as I progressed through what appeared to be an apartment in a house with several levels to it, that's what a glance out of the window told me, it became more and more apparent that there was, in fact, nobody here except me. The other rooms I found, among them a kitchen, a dining room, a living room, and a bathroom, were all devoid of any other person who could have eventually spotted me. It was a very expensive-looking apartment. The rooms were all spacious and equipped with the kind of furniture I only knew from catalogues or visits at other richer lawyer's offices.

(Uhh… It's places like this that make me wish my clients were a little… richer. Or at least spendable.)

I continued looking around. It took me a long time to find the entrance door, which I can probably account to the size of the apartment and the slightly illogical way everything was set up… To say it bluntly. Even with all the expensive furniture, the place was far from being tidy in any sense of the word, but I knew that I should probably shut up in this respect; Maya reminded me often enough that my office wouldn't exactly win a prize for the neatest place in town.

(…My office.)

I had to get back there, quickly. Placing my hand on the doorknob, I soon realized that the door had no keyhole… and noticed that it was one of those locks, which only lock the door one way. Ergo: anybody can get out, but only the owner of the keycard gets in. I made a face in disbelief.

(No… They can't be serious. So I can just waltz out like that? Why even bring me here in the first place?...

…Ok, let's think. This is obviously not a kidnapping. No kidnapper in the world could possibly be that stupid. Which means that I probably entered this place of my own free will. Too bad I don't remember doing that… Well, hello again, bad implications.)

I sighed and wiped away the sweat from my face, wondering what reason I could have possibly had to come here. I remembered that I still had the mysterious Prosecutor's badge in my hand and looked at it again.

(Hm… this badge. I wonder who it belongs to. …Maybe I came here yesterday evening to meet a Prosecutor? But why can't I remember coming here then? Did they drug me? …No way. Or… way? I don't know. Those guys… they can really be unpredictable at times. No, wait… Neither Edgeworth, nor Franziska von Karma would have any reason to lure me here and then drug me into sleep without even locking the door. …And, to be honest, I can't imagine them doing this. Also, they both wouldn't have left their badge behind, right in my reach, not even by accident. Hmm…)

My only way to find out whose badge this was to go out and ask Detective Gumshoe if there were any prosecutors who were recently missing their badge. Then again, if I did do that, they would have probably suspected that I, in fact, stole the badge and that was exactly the kind of trouble I did not want to get into if it was not absolutely necessary. Additionally, leaving the place would have probably not been too good of an idea at the moment anyway, considering I was still in pajamas…

(I need clothes first…) I decided after taking a look down myself. (Otherwise I won't be able to move two steps around in public without ruining my own reputation in record time. I'm already seeing the newspaper headlines… And I don't like them.)

Yeah, had I even seriously considered walking around in the streets like that, it would have probably been perfect journalist bait. Not to mention incredibly embarrassing. There was no way I could do that, no matter how badly I wanted to return to my office. I walked up and down the apartment for a little while, before I finally remembered that there was a wardrobe in the bedroom.

(Yeah… The wardrobe. If I hurry over to my place, switch the clothes and return what I took quickly, nobody will suspect a thing… No, wait. What if whoever is living here doesn't share my size?

...What if whoever is living here is a woman?)

That moment, a very disturbing mental image crossed my mind:

Me in Franziska von Karma's clothes. I almost choked on the very air I was breathing.

(Yikes! Somebody, pass the Brain Bleach, please!)

I don't even know, why I thought of her, but it might have been because of that Prosecutor's badge. Apparently my mind had already set itself on the idea that this apartment must belong to a Prosecutor, which was the most logical conclusion given that I found this badge here.

Still, I had no choice. I had three options: the wardrobe… waiting for the apartment owner to return and find me awake… or wearing my pajamas in the streets. I finally got myself to return to the bedroom and approach the huge wardrobe. I took a deep breath.

(Take the clothes, return to the office, change, return, put the clothes back...) I kept telling myself (Simple. No need to worry.)

I pulled open the doors of the wooden wardrobe, dreading what kind of embarrassing outfit I would be forced to wear now.

(…What the-?)

I was quite surprised to realize something: The apartment owner apparently had the same taste in clothing as me.

The same blue suit, the same red tie, the same black shoes.

Not just one of each. En masse. I didn't even know that this many of them existed. As the question who was living here finally became so urgent that it actually felt like it was piercing my mind, I started to change into one set of clothes, feeling familiar right away.

(…No way… My exact size too…)

There was no doubt in my mind: this was the same clothes… The same stuff I always wear. Well, except I had no Attorney's badge to pin onto the suit. I just wanted to close the door, but I noticed something near the back of the closet on the floor.

(…Wait a minute… My suitcase!)

I quickly picked it up from inside the wardrobe and opened it, taking a look inside. My suspicions were confirmed: I found some of my belongings inside there, which ensured me that this was, in fact, my suitcase. Among my belongings in it an eighteen-year-old photo of me, Edgeworth and Larry Butz. However, I soon noticed that several other things were missing all of a sudden. The photo of my victory in the Hazakura Temple Case for example, or the photo of Maya and Pearl eating noodles with me at Eldoon's stand…

(Why would anyone take those away? That makes no sense… Hm?)

Between my fingers, I suddenly held a photo of me during my time at university. Iris and me, to be precise.

(Iris…)

Of course, Iris, Dahlia Hawthorne's' twin sister, dated me in order to sustain the illusion that Dahlia and me were a couple, but eventually fell in love with me herself. How could I ever forget her…?

The problem was that I couldn't even remember taking this particular photograph with her during my time at university, and I especially couldn't remember keeping it in my suitcase like that. What really confused me was the location it showed: Kurain Village.

I was never in Kurain before I met Maya. I didn't even know about it. So how could a photo of me visiting it as a nineteen- or twenty-year-old young man possibly exist? I was used to dealing with contradictions, but this one just made my head hurt. I decided to put away the mysterious photograph for a moment and to check on my other belongings in the suitcase.

I found several photographs of my elementary school time, most of which I was sure I never put in there, a cell phone which, for some reason, responded to my pin-code, but was a much newer model than my own, a model I wouldn't be able to afford in a hundred years, and my Magatama. I picked it up and sighed.

(Well, at least I didn't lose the Magatama. Maya sure wouldn't take it lightly if I did.)

What I couldn't find was my Attorney's badge. I frowned. So I apparently had been drugged in an unlocked room in an unlocked apartment by a Prosecutor's-badge-owning thief, who specialized in blue suits and red ties, and who just happened to share my size and taste? I had worked on weird cases before, but this was just too stupid to be true. It probably wasn't anyway, but I just couldn't come up with a better explanation.

I found my wallet buried under my belongings and not-my-belongings at the very bottom of the suitcase and was surprised by how unusually heavy it was. So I opened it and found… money. Lots of it. So much that the wallet looked like it was about to burst. I gasped.

I had never seen that much money in one place before. Especially not in my wallet.

(OK, I give up… why would anybody drug me and then fill my wallet with money? It makes. No. Sense! )

I held one of the one hundred dollar bills from the wallet against the light in order to test it. It appeared to be the real thing, watermark and all…

I sweated. I had to find out what happened that night… At any cost. I took a look at my watch.

(9:15… Rather late. Maya will wonder where I am and be worried… First stop: my Office. Everything else comes later.)

I picked up the suitcase and left the apartment quickly, taking the mysterious Prosecutor's badge and the extra items in my suitcase with me. Of course, the thought that taking them from the apartment would probably count as 'theft' struck me, but they were my only evidence about whose apartment this might be. There was no name written on the door, after all. Also… I just had a feeling that I would need it with me in order to find out how I got into the apartment in the first place.

I ran along the corridor, planning to go down taking the steps, but I scrapped this plan when I saw a sign saying '20th floor' right next to the elevator. I took a sharp turn and tried to run back and call said elevator instead, but then I suddenly felt something bumping into me.

"Uhf!"

Opening my eyes and looking at the floor before me, I found the 'something' to be a blonde girl with a lollypop in her mouth, which she now quickly removed with a fast move of her hand. She threw me an angry glance as soon as she opened her eyes.

"Eh… Sorry, I didn't mean to push you over." I quickly said. "Do you need a hand?"

The girl didn't answer, but stared at me with the same expression for about three more seconds before she stood up, sighed, went past me without even paying me a single glance and disappeared through a nearby door.

(Sheesh…What kind of manners are those? I told her I was sorry, didn't I?... Argh! I have no time for that now!)

I hurried into the elevator, went down all the way, and left the building. I caught the first taxi I could get.

On the way, I tried to call Maya, but for some reason the voice on the phone kept telling me that her number didn't exist. I guessed that I was probably misremembering it. And since that other phone, despite using my pin-code, did not have her number stored, I had no choice but to let her wait for me to arrive at the office.

The time just sitting on the taxi's back seat and watching the scenery pass by was killing me… I knew that something was very wrong, the feeling just wouldn't leave me alone.

I had no idea how correct this feeling really was…

The world had suddenly decided to take a joyride on the road of irony, and had decided not to take me with it.

Evidence:

*) Prosecutor's Badge

Found on the nightstand. Now, if anybody could please give me a hint just who this thing belongs to, I would be very grateful.

*) Magatama

This gem allows me to see the locks on people's hearts whenever they hide the truth from me. It was a gift from Maya and is charged with Pearls' spiritual energy.

*) Photo of Iris

A picture of me and Iris. Was apparently taken in Kurain, despite this being impossible.
CHECK: http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/1896 ... feenie.png

Profiles:

*) Phoenix Wright

Me. A Defense Lawyer with a good reputation... I think. Not that this would do me any good in this situation...

May 1st, 9:55am

Wright&Co Law Offices

I learned one thing from the taxi trip to the office that day: taxi drivers give you a weird look when you try to pay a comparable small fee with a one hundred dollar bill. It's just that I didn't really think before handing it to him. Come to think, I didn't even take any of the money back… That taxi driver probably got the tip of his life. But I didn't care and just rushed inside the building and boarded the elevator. I had to talk to somebody about what could have happened last night and Maya was my first choice. Not only would she listen to me, she also wouldn't insist on a certain option regarding how I could have gotten there, like other people surely would. Not to mention that she was my assistant anyway.

The elevator door opened. I ran outside and towards my office door, picking up my keys, just to notice that none of them fit. Of course not… The office key was missing all of a sudden. Instead of it, a rectangular, white plastic card was hanging on my keychain. The theft choices and 'replacements' of my hypothetical 'kidnapper' here were starting to make me dizzier and dizzier… Finally, I just rang the bell hoping that Maya would come to answer the door. The sound of steps approaching made me sigh in relief and I was prepared for the door to open and to see Maya standing before me and asking me what had taken me so long to get to the Office.

However, something- or rather, someone- entirely different was awaiting me.

I first noticed the slow way the door opened… A thought crossed my mind.

(Maya doesn't open doors like that.)

Whenever Maya opened a door, she did it in a way that would have made a preschooler on a sugar rush look calm. Which was the reason why I was usually the one opening all the doors in our investigations. In fact, I specifically asked her not to open any doors at one point.

…This wasn't Maya. That's what my mind decided that moment, even though I knew that this made no sense. Maya was the only one except me who had the office key. She couldn't have brought a visitor that early in the morning… could she?

The truth was revealed, when the door finally opened completely and revealed the one who opened it from behind.

So… yeah…

My jaw must have dropped at that moment.

The jaw of the man before me dropped as well, if I remember correctly.

So, in conclusion, we were staring at each other with dropped jaws for several seconds there. I would have never thought that this would ever happen to the two of us. Especially not in this situation. I rubbed my eyes just to check if I was seeing things. Apparently, I was not.

Miles Edgeworth was standing there in the door to my Office wearing a red suit and a bowtie and holding a doughnut in his left hand. Yes, the doughnut struck me almost as much as a shock as the fact that he was there in the first place. I swear, I never saw him eating any of those before.

"P-Phoenix?"

This was the first thing he said once he recovered his voice, which he did faster than me. Which was the third thing that struck me.

('Phoenix'? Why so informal today, Edgeworth?)

A bowtie-wearing Edgeworth eating a doughnut in my office and calling me Phoenix. If there was a time to realize that something was dead wrong here, it was now. I guess this was the moment I started suspecting that I was, in fact, still asleep. This was just too similar in feel to the kind of nightmare I tended to have usually. Well, not that I had ever dreamt of a bowtie-wearing-Edgeworth eating doughnuts in my office before, but hey, it was a whole lot more plausible than this kind of thing actually happening, right?

Then there was the tone in his voice when he saw me. I swear his voice was a whole octave higher than usual.

"What…?"

For a moment it looked like he was desperately trying to put the doughnut in his hand away, only to find no table in reach, so he gave it up. Next, he took a breath, apparently attempting to calm down. Immediately, an expression more typical for the Miles Edgeworth I knew appeared on his face and also his voice became as calm and, most importantly, deep as I was used to it again.

"…What do you want here?"

"What… do… I want here?" I wasn't quite sure what to make of that question and broke into a cold sweat again. "I should be the one asking that question, shouldn't I…?"

Edgeworth then gave me a skeptic look, which just screamed 'You-can't-be-serious-can-you?' at me, before he rather calmly returned: "I am working."

"But… this is…"

"And now, it's your turn to answer my question." He cut me short. "So? What are you doing here?"

He then crossed his arms and did his thing… you know, where he moves his pointing finger up and down, just to show that he's waiting.

And wait he did, since I was quite speechless. A normal reaction considering he was apparently just asking me for the reason I wanted to go into my office. Still I had to say something. I mean, this was Edgeworth, and behind him was my office. So… I had to think of something.

(…Something that doesn't sound as awkward as those last two sentences, if possible… Uhm, yeah. That should do it, I guess…)

"You… want to talk, Edgeworth?

(…And why does that sound even more awkward than the other stuff, now that I said it?)

Edgeworth frowned in a weird way, which reminded me a lot on how a father frowns at his nasty child. I felt like I was a kid again. In a bad way. As soon as the frown had disappeared from his face again, he started talking to me:

"Listen… Wright…"

(So, now I'm 'Wright' again, all of a sudden?)

"If you want to talk about the recent trial with me, I'm all too ready to do so. To be honest, I'm quite relieved that you appear to at least show some remorse. But now is probably a bad time for you to visit. That girl is here, you understand?"

"That… girl?"

I only asked that because that was the question which came to my mind last. Other options would have been 'Recent trial?', 'Remorse?' or 'Visit?'. I still felt like a kid. Only now I was a kid in school who fails to understand a word of the teacher's question. Not that this felt any better.

"Yes, and I'm quite sure she wouldn't exactly be… pleased to see you after all that has happened. So I'd suggest you come back la-"

"Miles! Didn't somebody just ring the bell?"

"Hm?"

My ears twitched. That voice…

I knew this voice so well, I couldn't be mistaken. Of course that was her! I smiled in relief and was already seriously considering to just push Edgeworth aside, I mean it, and hurry into the office. A second later, however…. Well, that's when I froze in place.

That's when I saw 'that girl'.

The girl who appeared behind Edgeworth-

"Ah, Miles, you're mean! You told me, I could answer the door the next time arou-"

She abruptly stopped talking when she noticed me. Her face, which had been cheerfully smiling just a second ago, suddenly fell and she froze in place, just like me. And that look in her eyes… I knew that look. Only that I couldn't remember anyone ever looking at me like that. This was the look my clients usually had on their faces when the Prosecutor in charge of their case had just brought up an objection with a horrible piece evidence that might ensure the death sentence for them. Those sad, yet accusing eyes which were clearly asking 'Why? Tell me, why are you doing that? Can't you see I'm suffering? Why are you so heartless?'. I had no idea why she was looking at me like that, and this frightened me.

I would have never imagined ever seeing Maya look at me like that. And it hurt. So much. I bit my lip.

There was another thing that was off. In my whole time knowing her, I never saw Maya wearing anything else than her Spirit Medium clothing or the waitress uniform of Trés Bien. But today she was different. In more than just one way…

Maya was wearing her long hair tied up in a ponytail and the purple pearls she always wore on her bangs had been replaced by ribbons with a heart pattern on them. Her Kimono-like robe was gone as well. Instead, she was wearing a light, colorful dress. The only accessory that was still the same from every time I met her was the pearl necklace with her spare Magatama around her neck.

"…M-Maya…?"

I wanted to ask her what was wrong, but every time I tried to say the words, I had to gulp. That's how much her expression irritated and frightened me.

She kept looking at me for a few seconds longer, her eyes slowly beginning to fill with tears:

"Y-You…"

Unable to say anything, she continued to stare at me a few moments longer until I saw the first two tears rolling down her cheeks. She quickly wiped them away. And that's when her sad look turned into an enraged glare. I felt like she was trying to kill me with her eyes!

"…What is this person doing here, Miles!" she asked, turning towards Edgeworth.

Edgeworth remained silent, but I could tell he was tense and slightly confused by the way his eyes twitched. Apparently he was at a loss for words. And so was I.

(Maya… Maya, just what happened?)´

"M-Maya… Is something wrong?"

"Ah, so now that the trial's over, I am suddenly 'Maya' and not 'Ms. Fey' or… or… -what was the other one…? Oh, yeah, 'Missy'! Well?"

"Mi…ssy?... Hngh!"

Before I knew it, I had to back off, since Maya was approaching me with steps, so loud they would have scared a lion into running away.

" 'Something wrong'? How can you just ask that after what you did to them?" she shouted at me, apparently trying to make me lean backwards enough that I'd trip and fall.

(Them…?)

"Maya, I don't get it! Did something ha-"

"You horrible, heartless monster!"

(Ouch. That one hurt.)

"Miles and I will give you thirty seconds to leave, you hear me?"

At least now I knew that she was being serious. Something I didn't remember must have happened… Apparently I did something, and apparently it was something terrible enough for Maya to shout at me like that. Which meant it must have been something incredibly horrible. As Maya suddenly turned around for some reason, I used the chance to take another quick glance in Edgeworth's direction… and it was obvious, that he was trying hard not to look at me.

( …Maya… Edgeworth…what is going on here?)

I tried to recall everything that had recently happened, but a possible reason for Maya's anger just wouldn't come to my mind. When I left my eyes of Edgeworth, in order to look at her again, she was gone.

(Did she run back inside…?)

"You should leave now…" Edgeworth told me from the side. "We can talk later. Somewhere else."

Again, I turned towards him: "Edgeworth…"

"Just one more question, Wright… Do you feel sorry?"

"Huh?"

I looked up confused, but Edgeworth was still not looking into my eyes. Nervously, I started gesturing, so he would look at me:

"Sorry? I don't even know what happened!"

"Hm…"

Finally, Edgeworth looked at me from the corners of his eyes.

"I see…"

"Would you please be so nice as to tell me what is going on here?"

"…"

(Hey! Don't give me the ellipsis! I'm really in the dark here!...Hm?)

This moment, I noticed something on Edgeworth's jacket. A small, golden 'button'.

A kind of button I knew… all too well. And definitely didn't belong there. I gulped.

"Edgeworth… Is that an… Attorney's Badge?"

My eyes were fixed on the familiar shape of the badge, pinned on my old friend's jacket. Edgeworth reacted rather surprised:

"Hm? Well, yes… I'm always wearing it there. Did you never notice?"

(No, because you're not supposed to have one!)

I felt the sweat running down my forehead as I thought this. Edgeworth smiled a little bit for a short moment:

"Well, it's quite small after all, so I guess it's easy to miss it. This makes one wonder if the slightly bigger Prosecutor's badge is supposed to imply something. Then again, I never saw any of you openly wearing your badges before... Why is that, actually?"

('Any of us'?)

I didn't like what this sounded like… Especially, because this was entirely impossible.

(What do you… Damn it! Just what is going on here? I need to know…Now!)

"Edgeworth, why-"

"Still there? I'll show you!"

My eyes were still on Edgeworth, but my ears told me that Maya had just returned. They also told me that she apparently had not calmed down yet. In fact, she seemed to be even more enraged then before. I moved my head to the left side and…

(!)

Baseball Bat. I think I don't need to say more.

"You! Leave! NOW!" Maya screamed, so loud, I could downright feel my eardrums struggling to not shatter. I couldn't remember Maya having such strong chords. She clumsily swung the baseball bat back and forth, glaring at me in a way that made me wish I could turn invisible right where I stood. I stared at her waving the bat.

(…M-Maya, you can't be serious-)

"HIIYA!

A strike, and one that just barely missed my nose at that.

( Yikes! She can be serious!)

Maya's random movements with the bat had also caused Edgeworth to duck and back off in shock. Immediately afterwards, he raised his finger in an attempt to get Maya's attention: "Listen, Maya, I'd really appreciate it if you'd put away that ba-YARGH!"

She swung to strike once more, just barely missing Edgeworth's head on the way. This was the moment when I realized that, no matter how hard I tried, I wouldn't get inside that office now, let alone be able to lead a normal conversation with Edgeworth or, least of all, Maya. There was only one option left for me: run. Run before berserker Maya here got a chance to crack my skull like a chestnut. By the time of her third strike I was, thankfully, out of range, I don't know about Edgeworth, though. I ran down the corridor wishing I had never left the bed this morning.

(Why is this happening? Why? Edgeworth … The Attorney's Badge on his clothes… Maya…)

"Yeah! Run! …Next time in court, Miles will smash you! Right, Miles?"

The fact that Edgeworth wasn't adding anything, made me quite sure that at least some of Edgeworth's thoughts right now were quite similar to mine.

"Go away and never come back, you lying, truth-twisting, ruthless…Uhng…!

I stopped. Maya had sobbed. Just for a moment, but I had clearly heard it. I knew that she had told me to go, but… I couldn't help but turn around once more. What I saw where two wet eyes, which were, regardless, still carrying that angry glare. I had really never seen her like this before… What had she called me? A liar? Truth-twisting…ruthless…? Maya would never say something like that without a good reason. So...

Before I knew it, I noticed that I had clutched my hand to a fist. And it was trembling.

(…I can't just leave. I have to find out what is going on and help her… She is my friend, after all…)

I tried to talk loud enough for her to hear me over the twenty meter distance:

"Maya…. Listen, I don't know what happened, I swear, but if there is something I can do, I'll-"

But she didn't allow me to end the sentence. A hit on my forehead cut me short:

"Uhff!..."

As I heard my ears ringing like doorbells, something fell down to my feet and I spotted a yellow baseball rolling down the corridor. I looked over towards Maya. She had thrown it:

"Go away!" she repeated once again.

"Ma-"

"Just… leave!"

I had wanted to try talking to her once more… Even though I knew it was useless. She wouldn't listen. I still had no idea why…

(…!)

All I knew was, that she was raising the baseball bat again and that the strong suspicion that she was about to throw it at me like the ball before was enough to persuade me to run away.

Still, her sobbing and wet eyes from some minutes ago just wouldn't leave me alone for some hours afterwards. Maya was obviously feeling horrible… and it appeared to be my fault.

How was this possible?

An unpleasant idea was starting to form in my head and, just like Maya's sobbing, just wouldn't leave anymore. It was a rather stupid idea, which sounded more like some make-believe story from a children's book.

And yet I could downright hear my own voice in my head telling me "But it has to be like this. There's no other way." Over and over again.

My head was starting to hurt and this was not exclusively thanks to Maya's little demonstration of her 'talent' at ball sports. I needed some time to think. To think very, very hard.

May 1st, 12:20pm

People Park

The park was about the calmest place in town. Usually when I needed a calm place to think, my office did a fine job, but with that option out of question, the park had to do. The park bench was uncomfortable, and it was a cold and cloudy day, but I really didn't feel like driving back to that mystery apartment… Even though I slowly was getting an idea of whose apartment it was.

Staring at the Prosecutor's badge that I had found this morning, I sat there, gnawing my lip. This was all just too weird.

(Alright, what do I know now... I woke up in the bedroom of an expensive-looking apartment, which had a wardrobe full of clothes my size and taste. None of the doors were locked and nobody was there, thus I can safely assume that I, in fact, got there on my own. Also, there was this ownerless Prosecutor's badge. And then, there's also apparently Edgeworth 'working' in my office, wearing an Attorney's Badge, and asking me why 'my kind' doesn't wear their badges all the time… uhm…)

I knew what this meant. It was just, that this was sounding too ridiculous to actually be true. And this is coming from the guy who just recently cross-examined a ghost, not to mention working alongside one in irregular intervals for the past 3 years.

(… Why would Edgeworth think I was a Prosecutor all of a sudden? He's what Maya would call my 'archrival'. If anybody should know what side I'm on, it's him. … Maya… I wonder what the reason for her outburst upon seeing me was… Hmm…)

I closed my eyes and tried to reconstruct the mental image of the baseball-bat-wielding Maya.

(She was dressed completely differently from usual. I'm sure that quite a few people we know wouldn't even have recognized her like this. What happened to her Medium's uniform? And she was calling Edgeworth "Miles"… And only called me by name one time total, and even then she was using my full name… Of course, that would be nothing too special considering she seemed to be extremely mad at me for some reason, but then there's also her informality towards Edgeworth… And then she mentioned me 'lying' and doing something to someone… Apparently something horrible…)

I pondered about it for a few seconds, but came to no conclusion and shook my head.

(Darn, I have really no idea what is going on here…)

Without truly meaning to examine anything, I kept turning around the Prosecutor's Badge in my hand.

(What did Maya call me again? A truth-twisting, ruthless liar… Uhmgh…)

There was the sweat again. I'd soon be forced to change into a different suit and wash this one if this went on like this.

(Why does that sound like about two thirds of all Prosecutors I ever met? That can't be… can it?... Hm…)

I looked at the badge again.

(OK. It's obvious that both Edgeworth and Maya are thinking I'm a Prosecutor now… And I have that badge in my possession for some reason… Also, most Prosecutors earn a lot better than Defense Attorneys… that explains the luxurious apartment. And it's an apartment to which I apparently happen to own the keycard to and it looks a lot like the kind of place I would live at if I was rich… Well…Uhm…Everything points towards me being a Prosecutor. Everything but my own memory …Uhf… That's not good.)

Well, at least if I was actually in need to change clothes sometime in the near future, I now knew where I had to go in order to do so…

(Alright, let's follow this strange train of thoughts a little longer… So, I am a Prosecutor. And Edgeworth was in my office… with Maya acting informal towards him. Does that mean he's the Defense Attorney among the two of us now?...)

Considering this weird possibility brought something to my mind… Edgeworth had always dreamt of becoming a Defense Attorney when he was a kid… In fact, he had been one of my inspirations and reasons in becoming an Attorney myself. However, Edgeworth had given up on this ambition long ago. He had finally decided to focus on finding the truth and nothing but the truth in his cases as a Prosecutor… making him more honorable and a heck lot less ruthless than a high percentage of the other lawyers in his occupation. It took him several years to get to this point, but it had been good to know that he got there when he did and even better to know that I played a huge part in bringing him there…

(Still, this has nothing to do with what is going on right now, does it? I might as well scratch that… No, wait, what am I thinking? There has to be a connection. Edgeworth's and my own job-decisions were strongly connected in several ways… Both of us suddenly having each other's job must mean something. Also… There's still the mystery of Maya's sudden clothes-switch… And her sudden hatred of me…)

The more I pieced everything together, the less believable it seemed and I was feeling that if I kept going on like this, I'd end up with the script for an episode of the Steel Samurai, instead of a believable story about what was actually happening here. In an act of despair, I took a look at the cell phone, in order to check on the date, praying that it was April 1st, but, frustratingly, I found it to be a whole month later.

(Hm… let's see, who else could I ask about what is going on here…?)

Mia came to mind, but contacting her was out of the question, considering what Maya was like at the moment. And asking Pearls to do it was not an option either, considering that she always did what Maya told her and Maya surely wouldn't want her to go near me right now. So much for Mia.

Gumshoe was not exactly what I was looking for either. He barely ever had a clue about anything, so even considering he might be able to tell me what happened would be weird.

Actually… this whole story was looking far too much like being of supernatural nature to be discussed with anyone but Maya and Mia, who were both, as mentioned, not available. Palm to my face, I sighed.

(This is leading me nowhere…)

That was when a familiar sound suddenly interrupted my thoughts: The Steel Samurai th- my cell phone's ringtone. Yeah, it just had to be this ringtone. This was weird, considering the cell phone I had on me currently was a different one from the one I originally had… still, the ringtone was exactly the same, except that the sound quality seemed to be a lot better. Surprised, I reached into my pocket and pulled the cell phone out. As expected, the screen was highlighted and showing me that I had just received a text message. The source was given as "Ema" by the message. Surprised, my eyes widened.

Ema… I knew only one girl by that name… But this girl wasn't supposed to be in this town—no, this country right now.

…Then again: bow-tie-wearing Edgeworth eating a doughnut. Everything was possible.

Quickly, I pressed a few buttons and opened the message which then opened up on the screen, reading:

Found it, Phoenix! ;-)

Wasn't easy, but I think I did it! Scientific proof on its way!

Let's meet at 5pm in your apartment. I'll give it to you then, alright?

Ema.

'Scientific'… Yes, I was thinking of the right Ema. Definitely.

Well, at least she didn't seem to hold a grudge against me all of a sudden… But that was only natural given that she was planning on working to support Prosecutors as a forensic scientist in the future.

This made the 'Me=Prosecutor' theory seem even more likely…

So, Ema was going to meet me in that apartment this afternoon… That didn't sound too bad. At least she was somebody I could hope to get some information about everything that was currently going on from. I quickly returned a short message, reading 'Alright, see you at 5pm' , just to make sure she would actually be there, and then I put away the cell phone. At least I wanted to put it away, but the phone's ringtone went off once more, causing a few birds pecking on seeds near the bench to fly off and almost surprised me enough to drop the phone. In the end, however, I managed to keep my grip on it and take a look at its screen.

'Miles Edgeworth' it read.

Immediately, I became a whole lot more alert again. Sitting up straight on the bench, I pressed the green button and put the phone to my ear. I tried to answer with a calm voice, an attempt which failed horribly due to the fact that I just really wasn't calm at the moment:

"Edgeworth? Is that you?"

I heard a familiar voice responding from the receiver.

"Can you be at Eldoon's noodle stand at 12:45?" he asked.

I took a look at my watch then.

(12:30… At this time of day, the stand is usually a 10 minutes' walk from here, so…)

"You know where that is, right?" Edgeworth asked after a few seconds of silence from me.

"Yeah… I do."

"Good. We can talk about everything there."

'Everything'… That sounded great.

"Alright…" Even though it was unnecessary, I nodded. "I'll be there."

Evidence:

*) Prosecutor's Badge

Found on the nightstand. I have a bad feeling about this...

*) Magatama

This gem allows me to see the locks on people's hearts whenever they hide the truth from me. It was a gift from Maya and is charged with Pearls' spiritual energy.

*) Photo of Iris

A picture of me and Iris. Was apparently taken in Kurain, despite this being impossible.
CHECK: http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/1896 ... feenie.png

*) Cellphone

Compared to the Cellphone I usually use, this is high tech luxury. Now, if I just knew how to properly use all the functions…
CHECK: http://img17.imageshack.us/i/cellphone.png/

*) Keycard

A keycard for opening doors. I think I know which door this one opens...

Profiles:

*) Phoenix Wright

I have been a Defense Attorney for three years now. But now it looks like people were convinced of something else suddenly...

*) Miles Edgeworth

An old school friend of mine. Seems to suddenly 'own' my office for some reason.

*) Maya Fey


A young Spirit Medium. Served as my assistant and co-council in many of my cases. Tried to beat me up with a baseball bat for a reason I don't know. Her clothing changed as well...

May 1st, 12:50pm

Park: Eldoon's noodle stand

I have never been a fan of awkward silences and this was no exception. Standing at a small table, two bowls of noodle soup in front of us, both of them untouched and slowly getting cold, we were just looking at each other like we were holding a staring contest. And Edgeworth was winning.

(…He didn't blink even once yet. I'm sure, he's waiting for me to say something. …If I just knew what…)

Finally, thank heaven's sweet mercy, Edgeworth decided to break the silence:

"So… You wanted to tell me something, Wright?"

Then again, it might have been a little too soon to already thank the heavens.

"…"

Of course there was something I wanted to tell him, but there was just no way to say that if I didn't want to be admitted to the local psychiatry right here and now. Edgeworth, however, Defense Attorney or not, still seemed to be as unwilling to waste his time was always.

(Uh Oh, he's doing the up-down finger again… I should better come up with something to say, before he leaves… Let's see-)

"So… We wanted to talk about that 'recent trial', am I right?"

This was the only question I could come up with, and I prayed that I wouldn't hit some kind of nerve with it. I was already bad enough at not hitting those when I actually knew what I was talking about. This way, every single word I said was pure conversation gambling. Edgeworth waited for a moment, as if he was thinking about something and then… smiled.

"… Well, you've been 'Wright' ever since I first came to know you, so I guess that this is the case here too."

(Wait a minute… was that just Edgeworth attempting to make a friendly joke? Could anybody please tell me what planet we are on right now?)

That calm smile he suddenly had on his lips was making me nervous because I sure as heck knew that it wasn't supposed to be there. It was weird… on one hand, this was the Edgeworth I have known for such a long time with most of his traits and quirks… on the other hand something was just so horribly off, that he could have as well been a very talentless imposter.

"However, this is no time to make jokes." He said, returning back to a lot less unsettling expression: His disagreeing, condescending face. "…And surely not the time to smile like an idiot either."

(Oops…)

I quickly pulled the corners of my mouth, which seemed to have been stuck up there in this stupid position ever since I asked Edgeworth about the topic down and tried to look as serious as possible.

"I… am sorry."

"You better be. This is about human lives. I can't see how you can bring up this topic smiling."

(You were smiling too! …Wait. Human lives…? Oh no. I don't like where this is going… If I just knew what this trial he mentioned was about… Hmm… alright. Seeing how he apparently has no clue that I have no clue, I should probably just try to play along with the 'Prosecutor' thing. Maybe I'll find out something then.)

"Yes, I see… Uhm…Well, anyway… good work in the courtroom the other day, Edgeworth! Heheheh…"

(…I was not supposed to laugh now, was I?)

"Hm…" Edgeworth turned his head away and sighed. "But not good enough…"

(OK, apparently I won that trial…Too bad I don't feel like a winner at all.)

"It was obvious that those two were not guilty…" He looked at me again "But you still managed to persuade the judge of the opposite. I am always baffled by how far your stubbornness can go.

(Was that a compliment or…?)

"I really tried everything, but in the end… No matter how many stupid mistakes you make, you always find a way to turn things around again. That's a talent, I'll give you that. I just wish you'd think about the consequences when you do…"

"…"

I just stood there and let him talk. I don't know if my speechlessness was due to my lack of knowledge of the whole situation, or simply because I felt sorry for Edgeworth looking as miserable as he did. After all, from what he told me, he failed to get a "Not Guilty" verdict for a pair of perfectly innocent clients… Because of me.

I still didn't understand what was going on here, but no matter what, at the core, Edgeworth was still the same boy who once told me that one is "Innocent, until proven guilty". In the end, his objection was what inspired me to become a Defense Attorney…

…So why was it that this wasn't the case anymore? What happened? I needed to know… as quickly as possible.

I needed to talk some more with Edgeworth, in order to figure out, but I couldn't go on about this case. I knew virtually nothing about it, so I'd pretty surely raise suspicions and hit several of Edgeworth's nerves if I just opened my mouth and started talking about it like I knew what happened. My only chance was to change the topic to something more harmless.

"…So… Did Maya calm down?"

Edgeworth's expression, thankfully, became a whole lot calmer again when I brought up Maya's name.

"The Fey girl?" he asked. "Yes, she stopped raging shortly after you left. I think she's still asleep…"

"She's sleeping? At this time of day?" I asked rather surprised.

Edgeworth nodded.

"She went through a lot in the last few days, I think you suddenly showing up was just a little bit too much. She fell down onto the sofa and asleep right afterwards. She's a very busy girl you know, so the additional stress is dragging her down even more than necessary…"

Maya, a 'very busy girl'? That would be news to me.

"So… she's working at your Office, right?"

As soon as I asked that question, Edgeworth suddenly started laughing, causing me to back off in shock.

(That would be a nice, pleasant laughter he's got there, if it wasn't coming out of Edgeworth's mouth. This way, it's just out of place and creepy. Brr…)

"Very funny, Wright, if that girl was working at my office, I'd have more clients per month than I can take!"

"…?"

What did he mean by that?

"No, she's not my partner, if you were asking that… She just acted as my co-council during the trial because of her personal involvement in the Case, nothing more."

"…Oh."

(If I knew what you were talking about, this would be useful information, nothing less.)

"I know her quite well because she's the twins' cousin, and I guess she must have taken some kind of liking to me by now… She keeps asking me little requests, like-"

"…Going out and buying her mountains of burgers and instant noodle-soup?"

"Hm?"

Edgeworth looked up in surprise: "How do you…?"

"Oh, I just guessed!" I quickly lied.

(At least, Maya still seems to be pretty much the same as before personality-wise…)

"…To be honest, it is rather annoying that she only seems to be visiting so I can do things for her, but it's just hard to say 'No' to that permanently clueless smile she has there… Still, it is a little strange that she insisted on using my first name right away..."

(Exactly the same. Hm, maybe I should warn him…)

"You should probably keep an eye on her…" I said, trying to appear calm "Girls like this one are, you know… quite prone to getting themselves into trouble. Kidnappings and wrong accusations… the works, you know."

"Hm… Yes, you're probably right about that."

(Wait…Is he agreeing with me? Wow… What a strange feeling.)

"I guess, that's probably the reason why she spends most of her spare time in my office in the first place. Before, she used to stick close to her sister. It's quite clear that nobody would have even dared to harm her while she was near her… But now…"

"Her sister…?" I looked up for a moment, before I let my head sink again: "Mia…"

"Mia Fey was the best at her profession, nobody can deny this." Edgeworth told me. Obviously, I hadn't whispered quietly enough.

"Yes… That's more than just true." I agreed… "She was something… special."

And I seriously couldn't remember the last time I agreed that much with Edgeworth. Probably because it had been our job to disagree with each other for several years now, and, even in the current situation, it actually still was.

"Wright…" Edgeworth was apparently noticing that I was about to space out "If you too think like this, then why did you do this?"

"Huh?"

(Do… what?)

Once again, this weird feeling of not understanding something I was clearly expected to understand overcame me. I was about to ask him what he was talking about, but I should never get this far… The voice on the noodle stand's radio interrupted me.

I'm not talking about the DJ, he wasn't even moderating at this point. It was the voice singing the lyrics of the current song that surprised me. Turning around to face the radio, I started to listen more closely. The voice wasn't singing English, but this wasn't what struck me as weird. It was rather a certain feeling of familiarity, which had startled me. I didn't notice right away, why exactly the voice of the songstress seemed familiar… only when I had heard several seconds of her singing, I finally understood what was going on. Or, rather, didn't understand.

"That song…" I looked up and stated my revelation wide-eyed: "T-That's Maya's voice!"

"Oh?" Edgeworth looked towards the radio as well, apparently ignoring my baffled look, as he made no attempt to ask me about it. "Ah, 'Gyakuten Shimai' again. Apparently the song is still in the Top 10 after all this time…"

I turned towards him:

"Gah-ku-… what?"

"It's Japanese. The title means 'Turnabout Sisters'." Edgeworth smiled "I think it is not hard to grasp where the girl got the inspiration for this title, is it?"

"You mean… that's actually Maya singing there on the radio?"

"Well, rather, 'MAYOI's."

"…'Mayoi'?" I guess my face had 'I don't get it' written all over it in this moment. Was he speaking Spanish all of the sudden?

"…So you really don't know?"

As Edgeworth's skeptic look hit me, I started sweating again and felt dumber than ever before.

The grin which then appeared on his face was a whole lot more familiar to me than the smile he had previously on it; I had seen it in court many, many times before, so I had a feeling what was going to happen now…

"Please be so kind as to show me the rock you are living under sometime, Wright. It must be a very calm place."

(I knew it... Ungh…)

The condescending look disappeared from his face again, as he started explaining:

"Mia Fey's younger sister, Maya Fey, is the girl behind the stage name "MAYOI", who had her breakthrough three years back. I cannot believe you actually forgot that."

"Eh… I-It must have slipped past me…"

(Maya, a pop-idol? No way… Then again: Me, a prosecutor? No way… No way… No way…Hell! How did I end up here?)

"Are you alright?" Edgeworth's voice called me back to reality. "You look a little pale."

"Uhm… N-No. I'm fine. Thanks…"

It cost me all my nerve not to jump up and randomly yell "Objection" at everything happening around me right now.

(So Maya became a songstress several years back?… But… I don't understand it. All those changes… How far do they go back? …Hm…)

A thought crossed my mind:

(If I could just manage to lead a conversation about our schooldays with Edgeworth, I might be able to determine where exactly our memories start dividing from each other's… That way, I would know how much knowledge I'm missing exactly… Then I could… I dunno… go and claim I had amnesia or something…)

This actually wasn't too far off the mark. I have had amnesia before. That way, I wouldn't have to constantly apologize for "not remembering" stuff… But what then? How do I fix this whole mess?

Thinking about all of this, my head actually started to hurt, reminding me even more of the one time I actually had amnesia.

I heard Edgeworth talking all of the sudden:

"I'm quite sure she is listening to this song right now as well."

"Hm?" I looked up again and at Edgeworth "You mean Maya?"

"You probably don't know this, but she wrote this song for her sister." Edgeworth said "So they could think of each other when apart. And their mother helped her write the lyrics. She told me this a few days back."

"I see…"

(Thinking of Mia to such a cheerful melody… Well, that's Maya for you.

… Wait.)

"Her mother helped her with the lyrics?" I asked in surprise. "You mean… Misty Fey?"

"Hm… Misty… Yes, I think this was her name."

(So Misty Fey is still alive and in contact with her daughter…?)

The more information I was picking up, the clearer it became where exactly the "turning point" where my memory was starting to differ from everybody else's had to be… But I couldn't be quite sure yet. I had to wait a little longer… even if it was a hard thing to do.

"Hey… Edgeworth…" I tried to look him in the eyes without showing how nervous I was. "…Remember back in school, when we first became friends?"

Bringing up this topic was obviously surprising Edgeworth, but it didn't seem to displease him. He nodded: "Of course I do. It was the first time I was trying to defend a person in a 'trial' after all."

I returned the nod: "They were accusing me of taking your lunch money during PE class. Nobody believed me that I was innocent, nobody was standing by my side… And then you objected and saved me from the angry mob."

"You were just a really sorry sight, you know." Edgeworth told me, shrugging and shaking his head. "And even though it was more than obvious that it was actually Larry who had taken the money, they were still pressing you to confess to the theft. It was disgusting enough to just listen to it, I didn't even want to start to imagine how you were feeling."

"I felt helpless." I confessed "Like the whole world had turned on me suddenly. The only thing I wished for this moment was that there was just one single voice in the world helping me, opposing all the others… And you did. You and Larry. You really impressed me back then. That objection you delivered back then was actually what inspired me to-"

I stopped right there, when I noticed that the words "Defense Attorney" had almost slipped me. I then thought of badge lacking on my suit and suddenly felt naked.

"Did you mean to say something just now?" Edgeworth asked.

"N-No… Not really…"

Did I ever mention that I am a horrible liar when I'm nervous?

Edgeworth was obviously aware of this fact and looked at me in a way like he was going to press me to end the sentence every minute. Believe me, I know how people look when they are about to do this. But in the end, he just decided to let it be for a reason and resumed talking himself instead:

"You know, Wright, for a few months after that incident back then, I was actually convinced that you were going to become a Defense Attorney as well."

"Hm?" I locked my eyes on Edgeworth again in surprise "Why?"

"Every time I mentioned it, your eyes would light up brightly." Edgeworth explained. "Like somebody had just told you that your allowance would be doubled in the near future. This made me think that I had lit the 'fire' within you as well… The fire of enthusiasm for this kind of work, I mean."

"…Yeah… I guess you really did…"

I stood there for some seconds and listened to Maya's song on the radio, which had just entered the chorus for the second time. I still couldn't understand the words, but the song was sounding way too cheerful for my current mood.

(God, even when she's not actually here, she can still kill my nerves…)

"Is that so?

Edgeworth's voice again. My ears perked.

"Then tell me, if you truly developed a passion for the work of Defense Attorneys back then, how come you're working on the opposite side of the courtroom now?"

(That's a very, very good question. Would you care to answer it for me? Please?)

And Maya's song in the background was still as unfitting as ever. I wished for somebody to pass me a boot, so I could shut it up. Or make it a ballad at the very least. Yeah, a slow, depressing ballad version of that song. That would have gone wonderfully with my mood at the moment…

Edgeworth was obviously waiting for an answer… again. And again, I had no idea what to say.

"Uhm… I think…"

(There's just one way to get out of this one… bluffing!)

"Because of that incident, of course!"

"No need to slam the table."

(Oops.)

Force of habit had kicked in. I quickly hid my hands behind my back.

"Still… yes, you are probably right. Yes, what happened back then… that was the cause, wasn't it?"

Bingo.

The bluff had worked. Mentioning some detail without actually being sure if it held any kind of significance and pretend that I knew about it had worked. All I had to do then was wait for the 'witness's' reaction. It was simple. I had done it a thousand times before and was relieved that it had worked this time too. By mentioning an 'incident' I had made sure that Edgeworth would start talking about the point where what 'has happened' and what 'I remember' start departing from each other. I was waiting for Edgeworth to resume talking, but now he seemed to be the one thinking about something… But I couldn't wait. I needed him to tell me… if my suspicion was right…

The class-trial was still the same in 'both versions'. And Misty Fey was alive. This meant…

I would have never thought that I'd ever have to bring that topic up again.

"It… happened around DL-6, if I remember right, correct?"

"You do really hate this table, don't you?"

(Ungh!)

Hands behind my back. Quickly.

"Also…"

Edgeworth finally took a small sip of his soup… to my surprise. That soup must have been standing there for 45 minutes now. The only person I would have imagined to take a sip of this now without putting it into the microwave beforehand was Maya. Then again, Edgeworth somehow managed to make soup drinking look like something incredibly elegant. I strongly suspected that he was only doing this due to the lack of a cup of tea on this table. He was probably trying to give up this calm gentleman-vibe… And successful in doing so.

"Say… what do you mean by 'around DL-6'?"

I held my breath for a second and jerked.

(Did I just hear that right?...)

"DL-6… is that a case file?"

(… I did…)

I couldn't believe it… Of course! This made sense!

Apart from the fact that everybody's pasts suddenly seemed to have been reorganized with me as the only one noticing, this fit perfectly into place.

"…And you are sure, that you are alright?" Edgeworth asked again "I have seen pieces of chalk looking less pale than you, to be honest."

"I-I'm fine, don't worry!" I quickly lied. "Well, uhm… maybe I'm catching a cold… I'm prone to those, you know? Ehe…"

"And that bruise on your cheek?"

"Hm?"

When Edgeworth mentioned it, I quickly touched my cheeks and was surprised to actually find one of them actually feeling a little numb…

(When did I get this one?)

"Uhm… Ehehe… I guess this must have happened before, at the Office… You know… Maya… Ehe…"

(Even though I'm quite sure that she didn't manage to hit me…)

"But that bruise looks more like somebody had hit you with their bare hand.

(…It does?)

"Also, if she actually managed to hit you with this bat of hers, you probably wouldn't be standing here now."

(…True.)

Great, so now there was yet another mystery to add to my mystery pool. Just who slapped me so hard in the face that my cheek was still feeling numb and why? Not knowing this kind of stuff was slowly driving me nuts… And I'm sure that it showed.

Edgeworth was looking at me with this pressing look again. I knew that he was suspecting something, I just knew it. But for some reason, he just didn't try to make me tell him the truth about my behavior. And I was seriously glad he didn't. I had been cross-examined before. By Mia. And back then, I failed horribly at delivering a solid testimony. Given, I had been a young university student at the time, but I seriously doubted that I could do any better now.

Also, I had no time to come up with a 'testimony' for Edgeworth right now. My mind was busy with something completely different… Trying to piece together everything I just found out.

It made so much sense all of a sudden…

Still, that did not explain why I was a Prosecutor now… I needed him to tell me more. At all cost.

Thinking about this, I started staring at Edgeworth in anticipation.

And he stared back.

I suddenly didn't feel like staring at all anymore and felt the nervousness kicking in again in its stead. Darn.

"In any case…" Edgeworth finally stopped stabbing me with his eyes "…we have departed too far from our actual topic, haven't we?"

(Wait, what… NO! Keep talking about whatever you just mentioned! I beg of you!)

"All those things are of complete insignificance to this recent case…"

(Ungh… Did I ever tell you, how much I hate it when you use that word? 'Insignificant'?)

"So, you wanted to tell me something. Do it now. I am waiting."

He stressed 'waiting' in a way that would have given me goosebumps if I hadn't had them already by this point. Once again, I needed to come up with something to say…

…So, I was a prosecutor. And I apparently just won a trial and got a set of defendants declared guilty. A set of defendants which, according to Edgeworth here, were absolutely innocent.

(Alright, what would I want to hear… Ah, I think I know…)

"Edgeworth!"

"Congratulations, you just shortened this table's lifespan by another 2 years."

Hands down. I really had to stop doing this.

"This is not a courtroom, Wright."

"I know, I know…"

"So, what were you going to say?"

I refrained from hitting the table again.

"Are you absolutely sure that the defendants from this last case were innocent?" I asked "Because, let me tell you this: It was never in my intention to get a guilty verdict for someone who doesn't deserve it!"

"So you seriously thought those two to be guilty?"

Edgeworth raised an eyebrow.

"W-Well, yeah!"

"How exactly did you come to that conclusion?"

"Because… (…Yeah, this sounds good.) Because I trusted the judgment of the policemen who worked on the case! They did their best to figure those two out after all, didn't they?"

"You mean that incompetent, permanently broke detective, who apparently gets progressively less salary every month and wouldn't able to tell the difference between a knife and a ruler without trying to cut his own finger with them?

(Why do I have a feeling I know whom he's talking about…?)

"Excuse me, but I just don't believe that person's opinion overrules that of your own girlfriend in your priorities."

"My… what?"

I wished I hadn't shouted this. Edgeworth was watching me from the corner of his eyes, obviously registering my reaction into his mind and trying to figure out its meaning.

(If this goes on like this, he'll figure out what's wrong with 'me' before I do…) I thought.

"No wonder she broke up with you… You took away two family members from her after all…"

(My… girlfriend…? Two of her family members…?)

It was only then, that I remembered something… The photo, which I found that morning. The one which showed me and…

"W-Wait, you're not talking about…Iris?"

I felt the strong urge to slap myself after I heard my voice shouting out her name. Edgeworth nodded:

"Iris Fey, of course. Or do you have any other girlfriends nobody knows of?"

"O-Of course not!"

(Actually, I don't have any girlfriend at all… Iris… That's been over for years, damn it! How come… Why… Wait. Iris… Fey?)

Suddenly… it clicked in my head.

Iris was 'Iris Fey'.

Everything was different now. I could not rely on my memories of everyone's history to be "correct" any longer. And Iris being called "Iris Fey"… meant that Morgan Fey probably never divorced from the twins' father. Meaning they grew up as cousins alongside…

I took away two family members… and Maya's behavior towards me… Edgeworth mentioned that Maya was probably thinking of the song she wrote for her sister at the moment…

(…!)

I felt a heavy lump in my throat trying to suffocate me. That conclusion… couldn't be correct. I'd never have done that! I'd never have…

Why was everything starting to blur out…?

Even Edgeworth's serious voice was sounding unclear…

"So… you were loyal to your Iris. And you hold respect for Mia Fey. I'll ask you again then, Wright… Why did you tear Iris's family apart and get Mia Fey declared guilty of attempted murder then?"

I had led a huge chunk of the previous conversation under a wrong assumption.

Mia Fey wasn't dead. Not here.

Mia was alive. She was still alive.

But she was in jail. Probably for life. Because of… me?

The last thing I noticed was how my legs failed to support my weight any longer… My body hit the ground.

Evidence:

*) Prosecutor's Badge

I never thought I'd ever hold this in my hands. The design closely resembles the police's emblem.

*) Magatama

This gem allows me to see the locks on people's hearts whenever they hide the truth from me. It was a gift from Maya and is charged with Pearls' spiritual energy.

*) Photo of Iris

A picture of me and Iris in Kurain. Apparently we were still a couple here, up until recently.
CHECK: http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/1896 ... feenie.png

*) Cellphone

Compared to the Cellphone I usually use, this is high tech luxury. Now, if I just knew how to properly use all the functions…
CHECK: http://img17.imageshack.us/i/cellphone.png/

*) Keycard

A keycard for opening doors. I think I know which door this one opens...

Profiles:

*) Phoenix Wright

I have been a Defense Attorney for three years now. But now it looks like people were convinced of something else suddenly...

*) Miles Edgeworth

An old school friend of mine. Apparently, he's a renowned Defense Attorney here. The "Him" I remember, on the other hand, was an extremely talented, but arrogant Prosecutor.

*) Maya Fey


Apparently a famous pop idol known as "MAYOI". In my memory, she was a Spirit Medium and served as my assistant and co-council in many of my cases.

I'm trying to write the characters as In-character as possible, however, I tried to tone down the Von-Karma-traits in Edgeworth's character a lot and make him a hint more open hearted, due to his change in history. I'm still having a little trouble writing that guy, since I haven't played "Investigations" (Read: 50% of his Character development) yet.(This author's note was written about a month ago. I have played it now.)

As for Maya being a Pop-idol, I got that idea when I realized that she was voiced by Nana-freakin'-Mizuki in the Japanese trailers, one of my favorite J-Pop singers ever. If you want to know what Nana Mizuki's voice is like, think Hinata from Naruto or look up some of her songs up on Youtube. She has a pretty awesome range and can go from tomboy-ish deep to girly high. And I tend to listen to her brand of Anime-Pop a lot while writing my Fanfictions. The songs have a pretty strong atmosphere.

'MAYOI' is a reference to her original japanese name, "Mayoi". It means, depending on how it's written either "True evening" or "Hesitation/Doubt", by the way. It's written in all-caps to reference the tendency of japanese Pop and Rock singers to write their (band's) names just like that.

The song on the radio is, of course, Maya's theme from the games, the "Turnabout Sisters theme". Yes, that bubbly, cute melody that's playing every time you're staring at her sprites in the office. As for the song being in Japanese, I mean, why not? It's a proven fact that the language used for mystical documents in Kurain is Japanese and that Misty Fey can speak it, so I thought that would be a nice way to get her name to be dropped in the conversation.

Finally, I hope you have as much fun imagining Phoenix banging an innocent wooden table in a park to death with his hands as me. :-D

May 1th, 16:20pm

Law Offices

"Ungh…"

My head hurt. A lot.

There's not much more to say about my state of being from the moment I woke up again.

The environment around me appeared as a blurry mess to me. I opened my eyes and asked:

"…What… happened?"

"You fainted, fell to the ground, knocked over the table you had previously harassed, which completely destroyed it in the process, spilled two-hour-old noodle soup on my lap as well as yours, and you hit your head on a stone. I had to pay the damage and call the ambulance for you." A voice answered. "Do you need any more details?"

"…No thanks… I think I get the idea… Uhh…"

Slowly, my eyesight cleared up again. As I sat up, I found myself lying on the sofa in my office… No, wait. Since everything was different, this was Edgeworth's office now…

…The very thought boggled my mind.

I let my eyes sweep through the room and noticed that it was a lot different from how I remembered it… Charley the plant was missing, and so was the poster of Mia's favorite movie. The law books were still there, but they appeared to be different ones from Mia's. Also, one of the shelves was now being claimed by a suspiciously large Steel Samurai doll…

Apparently, the only thing that was really the same was the furniture which had probably already been there before Mia rented this office in the first place…

Still, I felt more at home here than I did in the spacious, expensive apartment I woke up in earlier. I sighed.

Edgeworth was sitting at the desk, apparently looking through some files. I was wondering if he was just faking work, in order not to have me trying to talk to him, but that suspicion died when I noticed with what kind of precision he was reading, adding comments and correcting the papers. I would have never been able to do that… To be honest, I never really spent my free-time looking through files. I only cared about them as long as the trials were still going on…

…Was that the reason why he kept claiming that my methods were 'amateurish'?… Well, probably they were. Still… I won a fine pile of cases using those methods! Isn't that better than nothing?

Finally, I brought myself to ask something.

"…Where's Maya?"

"Apparently, she left a while ago," Edgeworth answered without even looking up from his files. "And left a note, saying that her manager had called her for a meeting."

"Oh…"

"Since we're talking about her now anyway: I noticed how you keep using her first name ever since this morning." Finally he looked over to me. "Is there a specific reason for this?"

I jerked.

(Ungh, how to get myself out of that one…?)

"Uhm, well, you see… I just think that 'Maya' is a cute name, and she's quite a cute girl. So I found it only fitting to call her that since it's her name and all… yeah…"

Edgeworth's face had 'I don't buy it' written all over it and made me wish I hadn't answered his question at all.

"Interesting." he said in a very unimpressed tone. "Just 3 days ago she was 'an annoying, loud mouthed brat who seriously needed to get all that air out of her head', to quote you in your own words. And now all of a sudden you are calling her 'cute'."

I couldn't quite believe what I was hearing. Did I seriously call Maya that? Out loud? I mean, sure, it was likely that I thought it, but actually saying those words…

"S-She's not annoying…" I quickly replied, as if to take back what Edgeworth claimed I had said before. "Just way too energetic... But that's just part of who she is, so..."

Edgeworth interrupted me.

"I see."

The tone in his voice made me jerk again. It sounded to me like I wasn't supposed to know that much about Maya's personality…

As I had nothing to say, another awkward silence happened. I tried to use those few seconds to piece together a few careful questions to ask in my head, but I couldn't even get that far…

"You're acting strange today.

Edgeworth looked up from his files again, focusing his eyes on me. I gulped.

"I noticed a while ago… Actually, not too long after you came here this morning… Ever since then, you've been behaving very strangely, and not at all like your normal self. For example, your informality towards Maya Fey… Or the fact that you seem rather clueless whenever I mention our recent trial… Or your sudden respect of me, as well Mia Fey… Not to mention you haven't made a single arrogant, sarcastic remark yet. Nor have you laughed at me for still showing interest in my old case files, for that matter."

He made an obvious gesture towards the sheets of paper on his desk.

I gnawed my lip, as I started to realize why exactly Maya… the Maya of "here" seemed to despise me so much. From Edgeworth's description, the "me" who she knew didn't exactly sound like he was a pleasant character.

"Your whole mannerism today… it is like you were…"

"…Not really 'Phoenix Wright', huh?"

"No."

This quick answer hit me as a surprise.

"Actually…" Edgeworth continued, interrupted by a single sigh "It's exactly the other way around."

"Eh…?"

"It is like you were much more like 'Phoenix Wright' all of a sudden. …The one I know, of course…"

The last four words were only whispered, but I still understood them clearly.

Edgeworth paused for a few seconds, before he resumed talking.

"Wright, I know that something is wrong with you today, even though I don't exactly know what. It's in a certain way, like you were back to… how you where when-
I even considered amnesia, but the obvious traces of your usual courtroom behavior, which you displayed down at the stand, caused me to reject that idea."

"Uhm, about that… I'm going to pay that table, promise."

"Wright, this is not about that poor, abused table. This is about you."

"…"

(What should I do? Edgeworth is on to me… should I just tell him? But what if he ends up thinking I had just lost it…? Argh, but he even considered amnesia! He knows that I have absolutely no recollection of taking part in that trial he and Maya mentioned!)

"You don't need to tell me what happened to you." Edgeworth said, interrupting my train of thoughts and rendering it useless. He kept looking at me focused. "But it's clear that you have no recollection of what happened during the trial of Mia and Dahlia Fey, right?"

I held my breath:

"W-Wait… Dah… Dahlia is in this too?"

Dahlia Hawthorne… The young woman in white who had pretended to be my girlfriend for several months… She abused Iris's sibling love. In the end, the true face behind her innocent mask was that of a heartless serial killer, who would have done anything for a comfortable life…

Edgeworth nodded, apparently feeling reassured in his suspicions. I, meanwhile, continued stuttering.

"But Dahlia was… Dahlia is…"

"Currently in prison for a crime she never committed."

(Dahlia… innocent…? …Alongside… Mia…? I don't get it… I don't get it… I don't get it… I don't get it!)

"As I thought… Judged by your face, you have clearly no idea."

"…"

"Again, I'm not interested in you telling me why exactly you don't seem to remember it or why your personality took such a sharp turn all of a sudden… All I know is that considering your current state, you might be a little more open to what I said the other day."

Confusion was, yet again, my reaction to this.

"What you said the other-?"

Edgeworth seemed to be aware that I didn't know and went right on to explain it.

"I wanted you to realize this: you've caused a great deal of damage in the past few days. If you really have adopted this much more open hearted personality you show right now, I'd like you to use it to feel actual remorse over what happened and maybe even try to undo a part of that damage. This sudden outburst of compassion of yours might be your only chance to set at least part of what happened right."

"…But I…"

"Here."

Before I knew it, Edgeworth had thrown something at me. I caught it and identified it as a card. A moment later, I realized that it seemed to be a ticket of some kind. I took a look at it. 'Doubted Sentence', the writing on it read, and the picture showed several musicians, surrounded by flashy effects… Maya was among them.

"This is a backstage pass for a concert at Sunshine Coliseum tonight. 'MAYOI' will be singing there, as well as one other band." He told me. "Maya gave it to me, but I have absolutely no time to go see it. I am investigating on a few of the older, more curious cases right now. I thought it might be useful to you."

"…Useful?"

"As I said, I noticed that you seem to be in the impression that Maya was someone you are close to, so I think you should talk to her if you want to find out more about what happened."

I looked up: "But Maya is gonna tear me to shreds if I dare go anywhere near her, isn't she?"

"With this pass, you can get near Maya Fey in a safe environment where she isn't allowed to carry any weapons which she could use against you. You should know that the security around there is rather tight. It's there to prevent any kind of violence, including hooliganism, attempts at her life, robbery, suicide…"

"I doubt that they can take her chords for shouting or hands for strangling from her."

"See it like this: you can either talk to her and find out why exactly she is now keen on seeing your grave being shoveled… or you can stay as clueless as you are now for the rest of your life."

Admittedly, the latter option wasn't too attractive either…

"Why don't you just tell me what happened?" I asked.

Edgeworth looked at his files again. "I am a Defense Attorney for those innocently charged of crimes, not your investigation partner or, least of all, your babysitter. You have to put some effort into it."

(But there is NO difference between hearing it from you and hearing it from Maya, right?... Oh, right, Maya is gonna try to annihilate me as soon as I ask her. THAT'S a difference!)

"Hmpf… Ouch!"

In the middle of my thoughts, my head started to hurt again all of a sudden. I quickly touched the back of my head and felt bandages warped around it. I wondered where they came from for a short moment before I realized that Edgeworth had mentioned my head hitting a rock while explaining why I passed out. A thought then crossed my mind.

"Hold it…If I collapsed down at the stand, how did I get up here? Did you-"

"As I mentioned before, I called the ambulance." Edgeworth interrupted me, probably in order to prevent me from using the word "carrying" in this relation. "You were taken to the local hospital, examined, and, since I couldn't just search for your briefcase for your apartment's key card, I brought you here. Despite hitting your head on a rock upon landing on the ground, you stayed uninjured save a small bruise. But you should be used to those yet, right?"

"Oh." Was my answer as I touched the bandages around my head once again.

"You'll be able to take them off tomorrow morning." Edgeworth claimed "That's what the doctor told me."

I now could feel the bruise, but the pain was not even worth being mentioned. Actually, the headache was already wearing off. Apparently, I got off 'lucky' once again… Well, with my very own brand of 'luck', of course.

"Wait… I was examined and then brought up here, you say…?" Something had suddenly come to my mind "How long have I been out cold anyway?"

Edgeworth took a quick look at his watch. "About two hours. It's 16:30 now."

"What?" Hearing the time, I finally jumped up from the sofa: "That late? That means it's just half an hour till 5 o' clock…"

"Well, obviously."

I still wondered why the time '5 o' clock' was causing my alarm bells to ring, when I suddenly remembered something.

"Right… Ema's waiting…"

Edgeworth looked up from the files again, an interested look in his eyes:

"Ema…?"

"Uhm… Another Prosecutor's younger sister." I quickly told him, hoping for this information to still be correct. As the things were right now, I couldn't really tell. "She's a friend of mine." (I hope.)

"Oh… You're talking about the younger Skye sister, aren't you?"

(Alright, at least this is still right…)

"Yes. She wanted to meet me at my apartment at 17:00."

"Well, you better get going then."

"Yeah…. Uhm… about that… heh heh…"

I started laughing nervously.

"You know Edgeworth…" Without actually wanting to do it, I had already started to rub the back of my neck with my hand. "I… this'll probably sound a little weird… well… I kinda lack a-"

"A driver's license, yes, I know."

Edgeworth said in a rather emotionless voice:

"You fell through the practical exam three times in row, from what I heard."

(…I did?)

I sweated knowing that I definitely preferred the 'universe' where I didn't own a license because I was too lazy to take the test rather than too incompetent to pass it.

"You know, Edgeworth, with the public means of transport I'll never make it back in time… (Not to mention the fact that I've completely forgotten where that place was already…) so… it'd be really great of you… If you… well… if you'd help me out…"

Edgeworth had already focused on his files again, so he was only watching me from the corners of his eyes, which made him look kind of intimidating, at least to me.

"I told you, I am busy and not your babysitter."

"But I'm gonna be late…"

"Use a Taxi."

"But those are expensive…"

"Says the man with an income several classes better than mine."

(Darn it.)

"I don't trust Taxi drivers! They're… uhm… kinda shady figures…"

"Why do I get the feeling that you actually managed to forget where you live?"

Silence was what followed this statement. A silence which probably said more than all the meaningless babbling I had cooked up in the past forty seconds combined.

Finally, I heard him sigh. He put down the papers in his hands and stood up:

"Well, I guess if I want some peace here anytime soon, I'll have no other choice but to bring you home."

"…Huh?"

Rather surprised by this reaction I just stood there and followed him with my eyes, as he cleaned up his desk within a few seconds, he picked up his keys and briefcase and headed towards the exit. He then turned towards me.

"Can we go?"

Baffled, I stared at him for a few moments.

"…You are not going to ask me how I could possibly forget my own-?"

"Like I said before, I'm not asking you anything. Including this."

"…"

"Come. I don't have all day, you know?"

Without losing any further words, I just followed Edgeworth outside.

Upon boarding the car waiting outside, the first thing I noticed was how different it looked from the pretentious, red sports car he 'usually' drove. Though far from looking shabby, this car was just so… plain.

Too many things were different all of a sudden. The amount of money me and Edgeworth earn were just the icing on the cake here. There were so many more factors which were probably influencing everyone's personalities which caused them to differ from what I remember about them in certain ways…

So many differences… I was a Prosecutor, Edgeworth a Defense Attorney… several things apparently never happened. Dahlia 'Hawthorne' was a Fey. Mia was alive. Maya was a songstress… How could this all happen overnight? Absentminded, I started playing with the Magatama in my pocket…

…The Magatama.

Suddenly, it struck me… I shouldn't have it.

If every evidence that Maya and me ever had any kind of friendly relationship at all was gone… no photos… no nickname-calling… no nothing… how come I still had this with me?
I quickly pulled it out and started examining it as closely as I could. The same gem, the same shape, the same green glow, caused by Pearl Fey's spiritual energy…

"You're blocking the rear-view mirror." Edgeworth told me all of a sudden from the driver's seat and I noticed that I was holding my hand with the Magatama probably a little too high. I lowered it.

"Excuse me." I said.

(…Come to think… Why am I riding in the back seat anyway?)

My thought had just finished when Edgeworth spoke once again.

"That thing in your hand… it's one of the gems the Fey women wear, isn't it?"

Surprised by the question, I put the Magatama back into my pocket and nodded:

"Y-Yes."

True to his statement not to ask any question about my 'weirdness', Edgeworth fell silent again after this.



May 1st, 17:08

Apartment Building

The trip back to the building that I had left that morning took us a little more than half an hour. We had barely spoken in the meantime, mostly because I had struggled with the decision whether to tell him about what 'I was like' at the moment or not. I had finally decided not to do it. Even if there was some kind of friendship between him and the Fey family now, Edgeworth had always been a rather rational person. I was pretty sure that he wouldn't just accept it if I stepped up to him saying, "Hey, I think that this is parallel reality or something, because I'm a Defense Attorney, actually, and you're a snobbish Prosecutor!"

Also, he had no reason to trust me at all right now. For now, I'd have to wait for what I could gather from talking to Ema Skye. And after that, I'd try to get some information out of Maya… Actually, I should even be able to meet Mia and Dahlia. Sure, they'd probably be far from happy to see me, but it was worth a try. And there was also Iris… I had no idea whether it would be a good idea to go and try talk to her. After all, she apparently had just broken up with me. Still, she was another source of information which I just had to consider. I needed everything I could get if I wanted to have even a hint of a chance to get out of this mess.

"…Ouch!"

It was just a few seconds after we had left the car, that I felt a small, hard object hitting me behind my ear. Surprised, I turned around.

A pair of small boys, surely not older than 12 with slingshots stood on the sidewalk, glaring at me in a rather unsettling way. The second one was already 'reloading' his 'weapon'. I gulped.

"W-What's their problem…?"

"Judged by their shirts, they must be 'MAYOI' fans."

I turned towards Edgeworth, who had said this.

"And? Did Maya openly ask her fans to attack me in public or something?...Ouch!"

The second boy's hot had hit me and the first one was already getting ready his next 'bullet'. I was trying to hide behind Edgeworth, but he just stepped out of the way, leaving me defenseless when the next two pieces of ammunition hit me.

While I was still trying to dodge the children's shots, Edgeworth told me:

"I guess they're blaming you for the fact that she stopped performing that one song."

"…That… one… song…? Argh!"

I couldn't take those trigger-happy kids anymore and just ran around the corner, waiting for Edgeworth to follow me, which he soon did. Finally free of the two boys and their slingshots, we continued our way towards the building's door. Edgeworth then answered the question I had asked him.

"In the guise of 'MAYOI', Maya Fey has a lot of popular songs, but the one she's most famous for is certainly '180°C'."

"That's… a weird name for a song." I replied.

"Probably, but she had her reasons for naming it that." Edgeworth replied. "The song tells a story: A girl finds herself alone in a wasteland, devoid of all her hope. Over the course of the song, against all odds, she builds up more and more confidence and finally ascends to the top of a mountain."

"Sounds like a nice story… but what has this all to do with me or that trial? (Or with the song title, for that matter? ...)"

When I asked this, Edgeworth turned his head towards me:

"You see Wright… The girl in the song is being led by something… A 'bird of dragon fire'."

"A bird of… dragon… fire… Ah…!"

(I get it… the 'bird of fire'. That song is referring to the…)

"You see now why she doesn't want to hear or sing it right now?"

"She actually prevents the song from being played because of this? B-But it's just my name! And not like I had chosen it for myself or anything…"

"If someone close to you was murdered in a cinema, would you go to see any movies anytime soon afterwards?"

"…Probably not."

"I thought so."

"B-But Mia isn't dead-"

(Which, by the way, is still a weird thought.)

"A life sentence isn't pretty either."

"…"

(So not only am I a giant jerk and have just recently broken the hearts of a whole family of good friends of mine, now I'm also universally hated by the fanbase of a famous pop idol. Oh, how much I love my life…)

We entered the building and were standing in the hallway now. I stepped up to the elevator, pushed the button waited for the door to open, stepped in and…

I was just about to turn around and bid Edgeworth 'goodbye', when I saw him getting in.

"Uhm…"

Dumbstruck, I watched as he leaned against the wall inside, apparently waiting for me to press the "Up" button, which I didn't do because I was, like I just mentioned, dumbstruck.

"Something wrong?" Edgeworth asked me with crossed arms.

"What are you…?"

"I figured you might need help in finding your apartment. You didn't even remember the way back here after all."

"B-But…"

"Yes?"

"Edgeworth… this is an elevator."

"I know."

"And the apartment is on the 20th floor."

"So?"

"You sure you want to do this?"

"Has this elevator a history of randomly bursting into flames?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Then the answer is 'yes'."

"…"

"What are you waiting for, Wright?"

Edgeworth glared at me impatiently when I didn't budge an inch for a few more seconds, so I finally decided to just press the up button for the 20th floor and get it over with. It took me a few seconds afterwards to realize why exactly my dear friend wasn't curling up on the floor and bursting into tears right now.

(Oh... right. If DL-6 never happened… Edgeworth has absolutely no reason to be afraid of earthquakes or elevators...)

I watched him calmly standing there, arms crossed and eyes looking at the wall on the opposite side. As the floors passed by behind the elevator's glass door. No people boarded the elevator on the way, so it was quiet all time along.

(I guess it's true then…) I thought. (The reason Edgeworth is a Defense Attorney now… is because DL-6 was somehow erased out of history. He was never traumatized and orphaned, never under the impression he might be responsible for his own father's death, never came under Manfred von Karma's influence… This is the only explanation for him being the way he is now and for Maya's mother being alive and… well... I just wonder how exactly I ended up as a Prosecutor then. What happened?)

16th floor… Four more and we'd be at this unfamiliar place which was, according to this universe's opinion, my apartment. I returned back to the question I had already asked myself at the noodle stand and before in the car: Should I just tell him, what exactly was 'wrong' with me? After all, he was an old friend. And seeing how had already played with the idea of me having amnesia, there was a good chance he'd believe me… In the end, however, I again decided not to do it. Even with Maya hating me like this, I still had the feeling that I'd rather ask her something like this than him… At least she wouldn't declare me crazy if I did.

The elevator reached its goal. Much to my embarrassment, despite having been here this morning, I actually couldn't remember which way to go. I guess I had been too excited when I first was here to actually perceive where I was going. I let Edgeworth take the lead who registered that he had been right about my recollection of the way to the apartment with a short nod and proceeded to lead me there. On the way, something caught my eye.

It was the girl I had met here the same morning, except that she was now eating crackers of some kind from a bag in her hands. She was entering an apartment door and closing it behind her.

(OK, apparently this girl lives here.) I thought. (…I guess she knows me. We're neighbors after all. She probably reacted the way she did when I tried to help her up because "I" am not usually that nice… Brr. That 'other' Phoenix Wright… I don't think that I'd ever want to meet him, even if it was physically possible…)

"So… this should be it, if I remember right."

Edgeworth's voice caused me to leave my eyes of the door the girl went through and look at the door before me instead. It didn't look much different, except that it was, of course, closer.

Using the keycard I had found in my suitcase before, I unlocked the door and placed my hand on the knob:

"Well… thank you for driving me here, Edgeworth."

"You're welcome."

I opened the door.

I had actually wanted to step inside, turn around and tell Edgeworth goodbye now, but it came different. The image which greeted both of us as soon as I had opened the door just didn't allow me to do this.

The place was a mess. The carpets were ripped, the sofa was tipped over, the shelves were half emptied, their contents were all over the floor…



And sitting against the wall, head sunk, her white coat stained by what appeared to be her own blood, was a young girl with brown hair…

"E-EMA!"

For a moment, I was frozen.

That image… that pose… it was almost the exact same as back then… When I found Mia's body-

… No. There was a difference. A huge one. A stab wound, right in her chest…

Edgeworth and I rushed inside, with me sitting down on the floor before Ema right away and Edgeworth getting out his phone and dialing a number.

I took Ema's hand as soon as I could reach it. It was still warm and she had a pulse… She wasn't dead yet.

"Ema!" I shouted "Can you hear me? Please wake up!"

I quickly opened my suitcase beside me and got out a band aid I carried around just in case I might need it. I had to stop the bleeding… Of course, it was useless and I knew it. All the blood on her clothes… there was even a puddle on the floor. She had already lost so much of it… How long had she been sitting here like that? Fifteen minutes? Half an hour?

(Had I just come sooner… Why did I have to faint?)

"Ungh… Ehh…"

"Ema?"

I saw Ema trying to raise her head. She opened her eyes a little bit.

"P-Ph-Phoenix… I-I'm so… s-sorry… th-they took… it…"

"Took? Took what?"

I finally noticed that I couldn't see Ema's handbag anywhere… Did they rob her?

"Who did this to you?"

"The… black… hair…"

"..What?"

"Hngh…"

"Ema, don't move! You'll lose even more blood if you do!"

(…What the heck am I saying? I have to calm her down! I'm only making it worse like this!)

"Ungh… c-cold…"

My heart was racing. The bleeding just wouldn't stop and Ema…

"Please, hold in there, Ema!"

"Uhn…"

This was the last sound I heard her make before her eyes fell shut and her body slipped away from the wall sideways. She hit the floor, not budging a single inch more.

"Ema!"

She wouldn't answer. She wasn't breathing. I tried to feel for a pulse…

"…"

"I called the ambulance." Edgeworth's voice told me from behind. "They should be here in a few minutes."

I didn't turn around, but lowered my head and closed my eyes.

"I think there's no need for that anymore… She's dead."

"…I think that we will need the help of a medical team anyway."

"Huh?"

I looked up again, as I heard Edgeworth say.

"Phoenix… The bathroom."

The tone in his voice alarmed me. I stood up and ran towards the white door on the other side of the room. It was open… Edgeworth had probably gone in there in order to make his calls as undistracted as possible. I went inside…

…and found someone lying on the floor.

I gulped as I let my eyes wander quickly across the person. She had a rope around her neck which was ripped on the end… What appeared to be the rest of this rope was hanging down from the shower's curtain-rod, which was ridiculously high up…

The woman was Lana Skye. Ema's older sister.

"Do you think she tried to…?"

I looked at the rope around her neck and the one on the rod above our heads.

Edgeworth answered. "At least that's what it looks like… Hm?"

"What is it?" I turned towards him.

"There…" Edgeworth pointed down at the floor. "There's an envelope beside her."

"An envelope…?"

Now I saw it too. Carefully, I bent down and picked it up from the ground and opened it. Inside was a letter…

Evidence:

*) Prosecutor's Badge

I never thought I'd ever hold this in my hands. The design closely resembles the police's emblem.

*) Magatama

This gem allows me to see the locks on people's hearts whenever they hide the truth from me. It was a gift from Maya and is charged with Pearls' spiritual energy.

*) Photo of Iris

A picture of me and Iris in Kurain. Apparently we were still a couple here, up until recently.
CHECK: http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/1896 ... feenie.png

*) Cellphone

Compared to the Cellphone I usually use, this is high tech luxury. Now, if I just knew how to properly use all the functions…
CHECK: http://img17.imageshack.us/i/cellphone.png/

*) Keycard

A keycard for opening doors. It opens the door to 'my' apartment.

*) Concert Ticket
A VIP ticket to a concert at Sunshine Coliseum, entitled 'Doubted Sentence'. Maya is singing there.

*) Suicide Note
Found near the unconscious Lana Skye. Check for details:
CHECK: http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/9123/suicidenote.png

Profiles:

*) Phoenix Wright

I have been a Defense Attorney for three years now. But now it looks like people were convinced of something else suddenly...

*) Miles Edgeworth

An old school friend of mine. Apparently, he's a renowned Defense Attorney here. The "Him" I remember, on the other hand, was an extremely talented, but arrogant Prosecutor.

*) Maya Fey


Apparently a famous pop idol known as "MAYOI". In my memory, she was a Spirit Medium and served as my assistant and co-council in many of my cases.

*) Ema Skye

A teenager, who was dreaming of becoming a forensic investigator one day and good friend of mine. Was murdered in the apartment.

*) Lana Skye

Ema's older sister. Apparently tried to commit suicide in the bathroom. Her suicide note implicates her as her sister's killer.

Alright, guys, there we have it! Our first crime!

To make one thing clear right away, I am not an Ema Skye hater. I just made her the victim because it was convenient for the plot in several ways. And because it's dramatic. Because I like her as a character...

I am going for a plot-structur simmilar to that of the games, so this is pretty much the start of Investigation-phase one. I am also using pictures in-story for certain moments from now on. I'm glad that I can do that here... it's impossible on FF.net after all. ^^;

From now on, everything is getting a little more complicated for me... Trials have to make sense after all... -.-;

I'm having some fun with the fact that Phoenix Wright doesn't own a driver's license. I just always found this kinda funny. (even though I don't have one myself yet... ^^;)

(No… She wouldn't have done that. Never.)

"She is merely unconscious. I think she should wake up soon." Edgeworth, who was now sitting beside her, told me. He turned around, looking at me. "What does the letter say?"

I hesitated to answer.

"…It looks like… a suicide note."

I handed the note over to Edgeworth, who went on to study it closely right away.

"She didn't do it." I stated nervously, as he was still reading. "She couldn't have…"

"Investigations will show…"

He folded the note and put it away: "Is it alright if I keep this as evidence?"

"Are you going to defend her?" I asked, a little glad that I actually remembered what his occupation now was.

"With the crime scene being the way it is now, she will be named the prime suspect for sure. But you are right… Seeing this place in this state, I too doubt that it was actually her."

"In this state…? You mean there are contradictions here?"

Edgeworth nodded and took a look at the rope around the curtain-rod again.

I frowned… Contradictions… Had I spotted any yet?

(Well… actually… Yes, if I think about it, there are quite a few.)

"Once she wakes up, I will offer to defend her in court. All I can do now is investigate and hope she will take my offer… if not, I will just hand the results of my investigations over to the Defense Attorney of her choice. Simple."

"I doubt she would turn you down. You are good." I stated honestly, remembering his work in Iris's trial a few months back.

"Thank you."

This was the moment when I heard steps. Surprised, I listened and remembered that neither I nor Edgeworth had closed the door when we came in… which meant that anybody could just walk in here right now. So this could be anybody: a clueless neighbor, a thief or… the murderer maybe? I gulped and turned towards the door to the living room, carefully peeking before walking to through it…

My worries had been needless. Instead of criminals, I found a rather familiar sight: that of a crime scene under investigation. 4 or 5 policemen were examining the room closely, looking behind every piece of furniture and examining the victim's body. And the one who was leading them was the most familiar of them all. I approached this person quickly and called his name.

"Detective Gumshoe!"

"Hm?"

He was facing a policeman who had been taking a look at Ema a moment ago, probably now telling Gumshoe that she was already dead, so he didn't notice me right when I entered the room. Only when he heard me calling him, it was that he finally turned towards me. His eyes widened right when he saw me.

"Mr. Wright, Sir! You're already here?"

(He called me 'Sir'…) I thought (I don't know whether to like or hate this.)

Gumshoe then suddenly saluted. I felt a little uneasy when I saw him doing that. I was so used to this detective being as informal as you can get, it was just strange to see him act this way towards me. I tried hard to appear cool though, but I'm not sure how well I managed to do this. Anyway, I looked away from him.

"Yes. This is… kinda my apartment…"

"Yours?" I couldn't see Gumshoe's eyes, since I was, like I said, not looking into his direction, but his voice alone made it obvious that this statement excited him. "So you witnessed the murder?"

"No…" I explained as calmly as possible, slowly turning my head back towards him. "I only arrived here myself a few minutes ago. Edgeworth and I found the body…"

That was when a question occurred to me…

"Hold it- how did you guys get here so fast anyway?"

I had remembered that Edgeworth had made the call less than 5 minutes ago. It was actually impossible that the police had come up here this fast.

Gumshoe put his hands into his trench coat's pockets and, eyes to the floor, explained.

"Well, we got a call from a young woman, who claimed she heard screams up here and when we arrived, we found the door wide open. We were prepared for robbers and the like, but this… Poor girl." He then turned his head back towards me. "Wait a sec, did you just say that Mr. Edgeworth was with you when you found the body, sir?"

"Well…"

I didn't get to say much more, since Gumshoe's eyes suddenly left me and he raised his hand up, waving.

"Oh! Hi there, Mr. Edgeworth!"

I suddenly had the strange feeling of being watched from behind and turned around. Of course, Edgeworth was right there. He apparently had entered the room just a few moments ago.

"The police are already here?" he asked me with a hint of surprise.

I nodded. "Apparently, someone else beat you to reporting the murder."

"Someone else… So there is a witness?"

"Uhm… I don't know…" I turned towards Gumshoe "Is there a witness?"

"I don't think so…" he answered, yet he sounded rather unsure when he did. "The woman who called reported unusually loud screams in this room… She never mentioned a murder, so I guess she didn't see anything."

"But she heard the screams…" I thought aloud, tapping my chin with my finger "If we just knew who she was, we could ask for a few more details…"

Gumshoe started rubbing his back and appeared to be thinking about something. "Well, we could trace back the call. This way, we'd be able to figure out who made it…"

I looked up in surprise and turned towards Gumshoe. "You could actually do that for me? Just like that?"

"Well, that's… kind of my job, you know, sir?" Gumshoe shrugged and laughed a little bit.

Something inside my mind suddenly told me that my reaction just now had been inappropriate, so I thought hard and realized that, of course, Gumshoe had no reason to not help me right now. I was, no matter how much I despised the thought, a prosecutor. So helping me wouldn't cause him additional salary cuts, if anything he'd get a raise. In theory, of course, since I doubted that he'd ever do a good enough job to justify such a raise.

…On the other hand, I had always felt a little bad for him and his pasta-only diet… And since I was his superior right now…

(Hm… Maybe I should…)

"What are you thinking about, Sir?"

I jerked.

( Argh! 'Pal'! You are supposed to say 'Pal!')

The 'Sir' just felt so… Out of place.

Would I ever get used to that? …No, probably not.

"I was just wondering… Did you guys find anything out yet?" I finally asked.

Gumshoe looked a little uneasy. "Uhm, well, you arrived here long before we did, so you probably know more than we do…"

"Oh, right…"

"However…" Gumshoe suddenly grinned. "We found this under the girl's lab coat!"

(…"This"?)

Wondering what Gumshoe meant, I waited for him to hand me the object which he was talking about… It was a piece of paper.



'Lana' it read in big, red letters.

I gulped.

"I think this should make the case easy!" Gumshoe smiled. "Don't you love it when the criminals overlook something like this and leave it in plain sight? Ha Ha Ha!"

(No… Not that again!)

I felt the strong and almost irresistible urge to just rip this piece of paper apart. Right now and in so many tiny pieces that nobody would ever again be able to reconstruct it.

"You look nervous, Wright." Edgeworth told me. "Is there something about this piece of evidence?"

"Grr…The old 'The victim wrote their killer's name with their own blood' –trick..." I thought aloud and sighed, wrinkling my forehead "I have seen this kind of 'evidence' so often now, it's not even funny anymore…"

"So you think it's a fake?"

"Fake? Hah. There's a better word for this kind of evidence-"


I stopped here. The weird thing was… I didn't even know why.

But for a short moment there, I felt like my world was standing still. I could even feel the next of my own heartbeats very clearly, very slowly…

And suddenly, I knew what was going on… or at least understood it a little bit.

Something… something was ringing a bell here…

I didn't know what it was. I didn't know how it was… But I know that something that was said just now was supposed to remind me of something…

(…Why is this …?)

"Uhm… Mr. Wright?"

I jerked when I heard my last name, returning to reality and quickly shaking my head. After registering that it had been Gumshoe who spoke to me, I turned towards him and Edgeworth, with the later crossing his arms and telling me:

"Are you planning on passing out a few more times today?"

"Did I pass out?"

"For a moment, it looked like you did."

"…"

(…I wouldn't call this 'Pass out' as much as 'Enter Far Away-mode', but… well…)

"Wow, Sir, you and Mr. Edgeworth are sure on casual terms today!" Gumshoe, much to my surprise, suddenly stated, chuckling a little. "I wouldn't have thought that so soon after that one trial."

When Gumshoe mentioned this, Edgeworth looked away. It needed no master of body language to understand that he obviously felt uneasy being reminded of the 'fact' that I was the person who made him lose two innocent clients.

I was still feeling bad for him, but there really wasn't anything I could do about this now. Also, we had worse problems at the moment.

"Gumshoe." I started, facing the detective. "Could you do me a favor?"

"Everything you want, Sir."

"Then get rid of this for me, please."

I handed him the bloody note, which caused his eyes to widen in surprise: "Get… rid of it, Sir?"

"And make sure that nobody finds it. Ever."

"Wright!"

Edgeworth's disagreeing voice. One of the few familiar sounds I did not want to hear right now.

I turned around. "What?"

"You are aware that destroying evidence is just as bad as forging it, aren't you? Prosecutor or not, there is no excuse for ordering something like this!"

He was moving his pointing finger up and down again…

"But this note is clearly a fake!" I defended myself. "Using this in court would only make it harder to find the true killer!"

"Wrong." Edgeworth shook his head. "The truth can only be found by taking a close look at every single detail you can find. No matter if the criminal placed it intentionally or left it behind by accident, every single trace he or she left in here can help us to get close to the truth."

I got a little angry, hearing him talk like this about this piece of 'evidence'.

"But I almost lost cases because of this kind of fake message!" I exclaimed, not really thinking what I was saying.

"Me too." Edgeworth replied calmly. "But this, too, is a vital part in discovering the truth in the end. Every time."

"We have a three day court system!" I said. "Every second counts for an innocent defendant, you know?"

"You didn't seem to mind this on the third day of the Fey cousins' Trial."

I jerked. Mia and Dahlia…

"Holding back evidence… of course I knew that there are Prosecutors who do this, but…"

Edgeworth turned his head away. I could hear him making a disappointed sound. The next thing I heard was Gumshoe's voice:

"Mr. Wright, Sir…" I turned towards him, as he seemed a little nervous. "Should I really do this…? I mean, sure, if you tell me too, but… It doesn't seem, you know… very right and…"

I sighed. "Never mind… Forget what I said. Register it as… evidence."

I clenched my teeth. The last thing I wanted was having even more evidence against Lana. On the other hand, Edgeworth was right with what he was saying…

"Oh… OK."

Gumshoe seemed very relieved after I said that. I, on the other hand, still felt unsettled, for several reasons. One of them was the fact that I had to be aware that I had actual 'command' over Gumshoe right now, as well all the other policemen investigating. The other was, of course, the thought that an alleged victim-note would once again be evidence in court. I hated those notes with all passion. This kind of note almost got Maya guilty in court. Twice. Same applied to poor Maggey Byrde, even though it only happened once to her. And then, there was Ema herself, of course… her name written on a jar in Neil Marshall's blood…

Trying to pin a murder on somebody else… If there was one thing worse than murderers, it was murderers cowardly enough to ruin yet another life to get away with it. I had to find out who did this to Ema, so I could give this person his or her well deserved payback… in court-

No- wait.

(A Defense Attorney gets to choose who he can defend and who he can't… A Prosecutor, however…)

"Detective, take a look at this!"

"What's this… A suicide note?"

"Yes. Apparently this woman has tried to hang herself! Look!"

"But she's alive… Did the rope rip?"

"Looks like it. Hm… judged by the note…"

"Guys, I think we have found our prime-suspect!"

(…represents the state, its law and this law's enforcement.)

Naturally, due to me already knowing all the necessary details, I was chosen to prosecute the case. Lana was, of course, named the prime suspect right away. The suicide note and her name in blood let the police jump to conclusions. Like always.

Of course, I knew that Lana Skye was innocent. If there was one thing I knew for sure about this woman, it was that she loved her sister above all else and would have done everything for her and her future. She wouldn't have been able to commit the murder, not even if her own life had been at stake. But try telling that to the police. All they are interested in is having a suspect to present to the court. A suspect and evidence against them as well, of course. Everything was about evidence in our court system… one of its defining flaws, in my opinion. The fact that Lana was the person most unlikely to harm Ema in any possible way in the whole world was null and void before the Law.

Because of all of this, I initially thought about refusing to take the case… until I realized that someone else would do it if I didn't. Someone who would be interested in getting a guilty verdict for his or her record. Someone, who is actually good at prosecuting.

The case would already be hard enough for the Defense to win as it was. Especially with this kind of Defendant…

Lana woke up just mere minutes afterwards, before the medical team even arrived. When she saw Ema… I can't describe the look that was on her face when she saw the dead body. 'Too horrified for words' doesn't come even close to it. In her eyes, it looked like everything she had ever believed in had shattered in that moment. That alone should have made it obvious that she wasn't the killer. But I guess I was the only one who saw it. She stared blankly into the air for about half an hour afterwards. And then, she confessed. In a voice devoid of any emotion whatsoever and stiff like a robot, she admitted every single detail.

Lana, why are doing this again? What are they pressing you with this time?

I wished that I could help her… but it wasn't in my power to defend her.

Just like he had promised, Edgeworth went up to her, finger on his badge, and asked if she would like him to defend her. Lana agreed. But as she did, she said something which made me feel like having Déjà vu…

"Defend me all you want, but don't be disappointed if the outcome is not to your liking, Mr. Edgeworth. I, for my part, am ready to accept my fate."

I then gave Edgeworth the permission to investigate the crime scene for as long as he wanted… his reaction to this was more reluctant than I had expected…

"You are aware that I am the Defense Attorney in this case and that every bit of information I gather is to your disadvantage?" he asked me with a look coming rather close to a glare on his face.

It made me nervous.

"Yes, sure, but…"

"Why are you being so obliging then?" He cut me short.

My reaction to this was a sigh. "Look, we both know that Lana Skye is innocent, so why don't you just go ahead and gather proof, that she's-"

"Wrong."

"…What?"

Edgeworth's one word answer caught me off guard and almost threw me out of balance.

"I know that Lana Skye is innocent and am representing this opinion in court. You are supposed to represent the opinion that she is guilty. "

"You don't want me to get a guilty verdict for her, do you?"

"No, I want you to at least put some effort into trying to prove her guilt, so I can find all holes in your assumption and use them as a gateway to the truth."

Edgeworth's voice stayed so calm all the time, it was almost frightening.

"You're starting to freak me out with your 'truth'." I told him in all honesty. "Could you tone it down?"

"I am just telling you how I think a trial should be conducted." He replied. "And it doesn't work when there's no Prosecutor."

"I will be there. I'll just not… do the job very well…"

"Then there might just as well be no Prosecutor at all."

"…"

"Wright, I know that prosecuting against your mentor surely isn't an easy thing to do for you…"

(…my… mentor?)

I listened up, but refrained from voicing my thoughts again, like I had done in our previous conversation.

Lana Skye… my mentor? …Yes, this made sense. After all, she was very similar too Mia in a lot of aspects. I would have surely chosen a woman like her for a mentor if I had the choice…

"…but there's no place for your personal feelings in the courtroom. I know I am repeating myself, but the only thing that should matter in a trial is the absolute truth."

I didn't know what to answer to that, so I remained silent.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have investigations to do… And I think you do too."

Investigations…

This was my first time investigating with the aid of a police team, rather than having a police team as an obstacle during my investigations. The differences were… surprisingly minor. I was downright baffled by how much those guys seemed to rush every little thing they did. Apparently the fact that they had already found a prime suspect in Lana was causing them to not take the remaining investigations serious at all. I actually had to keep them from slacking off a few times, even once catching them trading Steel Samurai cards right next to the victim's dead body. This seriously made me wonder what those guys learn in police training.

"Thank you, I will be taking this!"

"B-But Sir!"

Without even looking at them, I put the cards I had taken into my pocket.

(Wow, I just confiscated property from a member of the police force… I mean… No, just 'wow'.)

I then went on to berate the card-traders about their behavior, which, by the way, was a weird feeling. I'd have never thought I'd ever find myself bossing policemen around. Berating Maya, OK, but policemen? A certain shiver went down my spine every time I did it. I simply wasn't used to giving out commands like this and for some reason didn't really enjoy it at all. Maybe the responsibility connected to this made me feel uneasy? Still, I had to do it. Edgeworth was right after all, every piece of evidence could prove to be vital in the end.

I didn't know if Edgeworth himself found anything that the police or I had missed, but among all the pieces of evidence I added to the court record while searching the room with their aid, there were three which stayed especially well on my mind right away.

One was a bag of treats, half eaten, which was found on the floor, near Ema. The writing on it said "Snackoos"… Well, that was all I could understand. The rest was in a foreign language. I was eventually informed that it was German.

"Oh, I know those, Sir!" One of the policemen told me. "A friend once brought some from a Europe trip. I think they are gonna produce them over here too soon… but for now, the only way to get your hands on those is to import them!"

I was pretty sure that they must belong to Ema. I wasn't that big a fan of this kind of snack, so I was rather sure that I didn't import them myself, and I knew for a fact that Ema and Lana had friends in Europe. It would have been easy for Ema to get her hands on a few backs of those treats, especially if she sent a photo of that puppy-dog look of hers along with her last letter to those friends.

The second thing which I noticed was… a dart. Just a dart.

There were faint traces on blood on its needle, but I didn't quite know what this meant. Sure, maybe the killer used it to put Ema into narcosis, but why was the place as messed up like this then? If he had the chance to shoot her with a narcotic dart, there should have been no struggle. Also, I found the dart next to the sofa, many feet away from Ema's body. This dart… I would have to think about it later.

The third thing was the rope with which Lana had supposedly tried to kill herself. What about it struck me as weird? I had no idea. I just took a look at it and found it to be odd… But I couldn't quite tell why. Just like with the dart, I decided to concentrate on this later.

"Good news, Sir! We managed to find the witness!" Gumshoe eventually told me some time during the investigations.

My eyes left the rope that I had just been examining, and I turned towards him:

"And? Who is it?"

"A high school student, a girl by the name Susan Alia. She reported the incident to us using a cellphone."

"A high school student? An hour ago, you still claimed the call had been made by a young woman!"

Gumshoe then started laughing a little nervously. "Well, on the phone, she sounded like a young woman… "

"Alright, alright…" I sighed. "When can I question her about the murder?"

"We called her back a few minutes ago. Apparently, she lives in one of the other apartments on this floor. You'll be able to meet her tomorrow morning!"

"Tomorrow morning?" I replied a little too loud.

"Yes, she agreed to meet with you around 7:00am."

I knew for a fact that the trial would be held the next day at 10:00, which would leave me with three hours to question that woman, find out exactly how I could use her testimony in court and how it connected to the evidence. Also, I wasn't exactly a morning person and questioning her that early in the morning would surely end up being a torture…

Why was it that I always ended up with almost no prep time at all?

"Don't look at me like that, Sir, I know that it's rather late…" Gumshoe told me, looking a little uneasy. "But we couldn't get her to meet up with you any sooner. Apparently, she left the building right after reporting the murder to meet up with a friend of hers. They are currently at a concert and she refused loud and aggressively when we asked her to leave and come back here. You know, teenagers…"

"A concert?"

"At Sunshine Coliseum. Started 20 minutes ago. A rock band and a young pop singer are performing, I think."

(Oh yes, now I remember. He must be talking about the concert for which Edgeworth gave me that ticket. He said that Maya and one other band were there… Hm, I wonder…)

So it had just started… I had never been to a concert before, but I still knew enough to know that this event would go on at least till 10 o' clock. After all, another band was playing there as well, right? So there was still enough time to go and see it…

But before that… There was someone I just had to see before the trial tomorrow. Just once, just in case…

"Gumshoe…" I hesitated to ask.

"Yes, Sir?" with a ready smile he waited for me to end the question.

I gnawed my lip a little bit:

"Mia Fey and her cousin are still being held at the local Detention Center… right?"

"Uhm… yes, as far as I know, they are." He nodded a little confused. "You want to go see them? You know, not that I'm stopping you, but why would you want to do that? The case is over…"

"I need to ask Mia Fey a few questions. And since I'm done with investigating here for today anyway, I figured I might do it now. The sooner, the better."

"So, you're leaving now?" Gumshoe looked rather surprised when he heard that. "Alright, Sir, but what about Mr. Edgeworth? He's still doing his own investigations… Should we throw him out?"

"I'll leave him the keycard. I'm not planning on sleeping here tonight anyway." I stated in all honesty. Spending the night at a crime scene was seriously the last thing I wanted to do, especially not when I had access to enough money to rent myself a room in a four star hotel. I then handed the little plastic card over to Gumshoe and told him:

"Just give it to him. And you, uhm… keep investigating a little more. And help Edgeworth, if you feel like it."

"That's a… weird request you have there, Sir…" Gumshoe stated, seeming unsure whether to laugh or to be skeptic. "I mean isn't Mr. Edgeworth kind of… the 'foe'? Helping him... wouldn't be good for my wallet, would it?..."

(I guess I am breaking his brain with this anti-routine input… Poor Gumshoe.)

Finally, completing the decision I had started to settle myself on about an hour ago, I reached for my own wallet, took a quick look around me, pulled out five one hundred dollar bills and held them right under Gumshoe's nose.

"Whatever you buy with this…" I whispered. "…please make sure it has nothing to do with noodles whatsoever."

"S-Sir…"

The detective was staring at the bills like they were a long lost sacred document chronicling the creation of the universe.

"I-I can't take that…"

"It's an order!"

I looked at him with my most determined look, just to drive the point home that, yes, this was indeed his money now. It took Gumshoe a few more seconds to make his expression go from 'astonishment' to 'sheer happiness'.

Finally, he took the money.

"Sir! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Sir, I am…"

"And never ever call me 'Sir' again, alright?" I cut him short as quickly as I could.

I had decided that I would never, definitely never, get used to being called that, and thus decided to end it while I still had the chance to.

(Hm, should I ask him to call me… On second thought, no. That's taking it a little too far.)

"Just 'Mr. Wright' is enough." I stated.

"M-Mr. Wright…"

"Exactly."

Gumshoe had big, wet puppy-dog eyes right now. I guess my gift was worth more than all of his last twenty paychecks combined. I then realized that this look was reminding me of someone… Finally I remembered who it was: Maggey Byrde.

(Hm, I wonder if Gumshoe and Maggey are still… Maybe I should ask him about her later. Just 'cause.)

Right now, however, I didn't want to lose any more time talking to Gumshoe. There was somewhere else I had to go, someone else I had to see…

…A Mia Fey who despised me from the bottom of her heart…

(…Uhm… Why is this a good idea again?… *gulp*)

Evidence:

*) Prosecutor's Badge

I never thought I'd ever hold this in my hands. The design closely resembles the police's emblem.

*) Magatama

This gem allows me to see the locks on people's hearts whenever they hide the truth from me. It was a gift from Maya and is charged with Pearls' spiritual energy.

*) Photo of Iris

A picture of me and Iris in Kurain. Apparently we were still a couple here, up until recently.
CHECK: http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/1896 ... feenie.png

*) Cellphone

Compared to the Cellphone I usually use, this is high tech luxury. Now, if I just knew how to properly use all the functions…
CHECK: http://img17.imageshack.us/i/cellphone.png/

*) Keycard

A keycard for opening doors. It opens the door to 'my' apartment.

*) Concert Ticket

A VIP ticket to a concert at Sunshine Coliseum, entitled 'Doubted Sentence'. Maya is singing there.

*) Suicide Note

Found near the unconscious Lana Skye. Check for details:
CHECK: http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/9123/suicidenote.png

*) Victim(?) Note

Reads "Lana" in red letters of blood.
CHECK: http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/4660/victimnote.png

*) Steel Samurai Cards

Some trading cards I confiscated. I didn't really look at them yet, but the writing on at least two of them is sparkling. They must be quite rare.

*) Snackoos Bag

Found near Ema. She was apparently eating them before she was killed. Imported from Europe.

*) Dart

A small, needle-like projectile, made for use with a tranquilizer gun. There are faint traces of blood on it. Found near the sofa.

*) Rope

Ripped. Apparently, Lana tried to hang herself with it. Something is weird about the rupture, but I can't quite point my finger at it.

Profiles:

*) Phoenix Wright

I have been a Defense Attorney for three years now. But now it looks like people were convinced of something else suddenly...

*) Miles Edgeworth

An old school friend of mine. Apparently, he's a renowned Defense Attorney here. The "Him" I remember, on the other hand, was an extremely talented, but arrogant Prosecutor.

*) Maya Fey


Apparently a famous pop idol known as "MAYOI". In my memory, she was a Spirit Medium and served as my assistant and co-council in many of my cases.

*) Ema Skye

A teenager, who was dreaming of becoming a forensic investigator one day and good friend of mine. Was murdered in the apartment.

*) Lana Skye

Ema's older sister. Apparently tried to commit suicide in the bathroom. Her suicide note implicates her as her sister's killer.

*) Dick Gumshoe

Still detective of the local police force. Still as underpaid as ever.

Eh, yeah, I know that the bloody note looks cheap. But I could hardly use real blood to write it, could I? -.-;
Several mugshots I chose for evidence are actual unfitting, but I didn't really have a choice. There was nothing else available. -.-;

The Detention Center scene not-yet-brought to you by: "My Disability To Keep Things Short".

It was supposed to be part of this chapter, but eventually turned into 10 A4 pages worth of text… I'll have to shorten that, otherwise the fic's timeline will be a thing of impossibility.

I listened to Gumshoe's theme, as well as "Search: Opening 2004" and "Search: Opening 2001" while I was writing this scene. (Not to the 2002 version. It makes me think of Ini Miney too much.) I think I can make the scenes a whole lot more authentic when I actually 'feel' the intended atmosphere while writing them.

May 1st, 6:45pm

Detention Center

It was already rather late, but I guess Prosecutors are always welcome at the Detention Center. Probably because they are the reason there was anybody occupying this Center in the first place. Nervously, I sat there at the table in front of this glass window, playing with my fingers. The guard in the room's corner was as unmoving as ever, the camera on the wall still pointing where it had always pointed to.

Despite sitting on the side of "Freedom", I felt like I was the hopeless defendant here. And every moment, a judge would come through this door over there and declare me guilty.

This 'judge' would be nobody else than Mia Fey. My mentor and friend, who always trusted me, encouraged me, aided me even after her death…

This was going to hurt. Badly.

(…Argh! Since when am I biting nails? No, stop, stop, if I make that a habit now, I'll never get rid of it again! Ever! Uhf…Relax, Phoenix, it's just Mia… Ha. Ha. 'Just' Mia. Of course. There is no 'just' when it comes to Mia. And the fact that I still feel like I was her student up to that day will. Definitely. Not. Help. Somebody help me!)

Finally, the door opened. I sat up straight, trying to appear as calm as possible. Led by a policeman, two women finally entered the room before my eyes.

A young woman with dark brown hair, and a muffler, wearing a black suit: Mia Fey.

An even younger woman with red hair, wearing a clean white dress and clenching to a parasol, which she carried in her arms: …Dahlia.

I gulped. As if Mia alone wouldn't be enough. But Dahlia too… I really hoped that I could take this…

It didn't take long, until Mia's eyes wandered towards the glass window and hit me. And I shrunk away. Just a little more, and I've been too small to look into the room before me. At least that's what it felt like.

As soon as Mia saw me and realized who I was, a certain expression appeared on her face… Not unlike that of Maya from the morning of that day… Except even harsher, even colder, and more serious. Mia's eyes were like… knives. And she was not merely piercing me with them. She was slashing right through me.

I tried my best not to show how scared I was, but I just couldn't feign any coolness. Not in front of her. Especially not her.

So what if this Mia had no recollection of me ever learning under her? So what if this Mia probably never defended me as the loser in the pink sweater that I once was? This was still Mia. The woman I had always looked up too. And she was now looking down on me. Deep down. I was so low under her, I could just as well have been dirt on the floor… I guess that was also pretty much the worth of the esteem she held me in right now.

For a moment, it looked like she was just going to turn around and leave again, but she hesitated halfway in her turn and I soon realized why: because of Dahlia.

Dahlia was standing there, several meters away from the glass window, staring at me through it in an incredibly sad way. She looked heart wrenchingly miserable…

That parasol she held… this was the first time I saw her holding it closed. Yes, the very first time. And she was pressing it to her chest in fear, like it was a pillow. She looked frightened, fragile, insecure…

This was… Dahlia?

Then again, how much did I know of the real Dahlia…?

…I remembered that one day, in court, when she delivered her testimony.

'Dollie will make it right, I can trust her, she loves me.' I had kept telling myself. But even back then… deep inside… I had felt that this woman was a 'fraud'. Everything about her had been fake. Her smile, her voice, her laughter, all her soft words to me… At least on that one day.

I had felt that the girl in the witness stand wasn't the girl I had loved so much for months. I had felt it the whole time, but refused to admit it to myself, right till the very end…

…I can't remember what exactly had caused me to finally see the truth in the end, but, anyway, I eventually figured out that 'Dollie' and 'Dahlia' had been two separate persons all along. And I had been right with this. Since 'Dollie' eventually turned out to actually have been 'Iris'…

So now, there she was, this 'other' Dahlia, who carried the last name 'Fey'. She wasn't my 'Dollie' from back then either. And yet… she also wasn't the 'fraud'.

Her fear, her shaking, her timid movements… they were real. Nothing about her seemed 'fake'. Yes, I was absolutely sure, that she wasn't just faking it.

Dahlia Hawthorne, the coldhearted killer, whose dress had been stained by the blood of many and yet who never cried, except to get undeserved sympathy…

…But this Dahlia was different. This Dahlia before me here seemed… scared, weak and fragile…

In a way, she reminded me more of Iris than of Dahlia.

She kept staring at me, but never made any effort to approach the window. Probably, she just couldn't. Her legs were shaking a lot, I could see it clearly. She finally said something to Mia. I couldn't really hear it, since she was whispering, but Mia answered with a calm nod and finally approached me, while Dahlia herself went into the room's corner. I gulped.

Mia… Mia Fey…

Mia Fey, with her own brown hair. In her own clothes… Her own body, not Maya's, not Pearls'.

She sat down right in front of me. And started slashing me with her eyes right again:

"What do you want?" she asked with a voice so freezing cold, it could have probably frozen over hell itself. Apparently, it had already frozen my chords at the very least, since I found myself unable to answer. I couldn't even stutter.

Mia was growing more and more impatient.

"If you just came here in order to stare at me for an hour or two, Mr. Wry, I'd politely like to ask you to leave now, since I hate it when men do that. Especially your kind of man."

"U-Uhm… I… I mean…."

(Well, at least the stuttering works now. Now on to forming complete sentences…)

"...I came here, because… I… M-Mia!"

(…Not a sentence…)

Mia's eyes slanted when she heard me speak:

"Did I ask you to call me by my first name, Mr. Wry?"

"N-No…"

"Then don't do it. I haven't sunken that low yet."

Scared, I evaded her eyes for a few moments and instead looked at Dahlia in the corner behind her, who had sat down on a small chair. She was now starring at the ground, still hugging her parasol tightly. A little girl with a doll, out alone in the night, scared to death- That's what she looked like now.

Then I looked at Mia again, hoping that her eyes might have softened up even a tiny little bit in the meantime… My hopes were, however, crushed.

This wasn't getting any easier… and it hurt just as much as I had expected. Still, I had to somehow turn this into a normal, logical conversation…. I took two deep breaths, and finally said:

"Ms. Fey… I am not here to make fun of you or Dahlia in any way. And not to stare at you either… I… I came here because I wanted to ask you some questions and… because I need your advice."

"You? Need my advice? Ha!" She turned her head away in a rather dynamic way. "If I remember right, you didn't care much for my opinion when it actually mattered, Mr. Wry."

"It's 'Wright'…" I said. "And, yes, you might be right about that but I… I…"

I looked up. "Miss Mia Fey, please listen to me! I now realize that I made a mistake and I'm going to do everything to correct it, I promise! I will get you and Dahlia out of here again, just give me some time!"

"Hm."

She looked at me with her eyes half closed, apparently not believing a word I said.

"Is that a change of heart I sense there? All of a sudden? Well, that would sure be convenient for your conscience, right? Too bad it's too late for that now. The verdict was already pronounced."

"But if there's decisive proof that you couldn't have done it, the verdict can still be revised! And I will find that proof! I will prove you innocent, I promise."

"Talking like a Defense Attorney now, are we?"

"…"

I tried to keep looking at her. Just keep looking at her. The moment I'd look away, Mia would think I wasn't serious about what I was saying and would just leave. I knew her well enough to be sure of that. Mia watched me for a few seconds, before she said:

"…You know, Mr. Wry, I trusted you. Not too long ago, I thought that, if it comes down to it, you'd make the right decision. But you didn't. You ended the trial as soon as you had a chance to do so. Killing Mr. Edgeworth's last statement mid-sentence with an objection, claiming that what he was saying was irrelevant, and urging the Judge to just pass his verdict quickly. You did absolutely everything I would have never thought you would do… And so you proved my judgment regarding you to have been horribly wrong. So, tell me, why should I trust you again?"

"Because I am the only one who can still help you two now."

Both of us fell silent for a few seconds after I had said this. I had no idea what Mia was thinking now. I just hoped that she'd believe me.

Finally, she raised her head a little bit.

"Ha…" she said. "…Mr. Wry. I know but one thing: If you really are our last hope, then we both are hopeless."

"I will get you out of here." I repeated, my hands trembling a little bit. "I swear it, Chief."

"…Chief?

I jerked when Mia's repetition of this word made me realize that I had actually said that last sentence out loud. I didn't actually mean to. It was then, while I was still startled, that Mia started to look at me closer. She even leaned forward, almost touching the glass. She stared right into my eyes, like she was scanning them for something, making me even more nervous, given that this was still possible, of course. The icy contempt in her eyes was slowly disappearing now, being gradually replaced by confusion. Finally, she opened her mouth again:

"…Who are you?..."

I didn't answer this question right away. I just had no idea how to do it… Then, finally, I made a decision… a risky one.

"Mia… Fey." I started after some time. "You come from a long line of Spirit Mediums… You know that there is more to this world than our eyes can see, right?"

As usual, I wasn't exactly sure where I was going with this, but I had a faint idea. And I hoped that it would help. Mia had to believe me… she just had to…

"This is right." Mia nodded. "I'm a member of a branch family of the Fey Clan, a line of women, with the ability to contact the spirits of those who have passed on."

(A… branch family?)

My eyes wandered to Dahlia again.

(This means that the current head of the Fey Clan must be Morgan Fey… Making the twins the heirs for the Master title. They are older than Pearl after all… Oh, I see. That photo of me and Iris in Kurain… Iris must have been training to become a Spirit Medium.)

"But what has this to do with anything?" Mia suddenly asked, causing me to look at her again.

Focusing my mind on what I was about to tell her again, I took a deep breath and started talking.

"Miss Fey… What if I told you… that I am not the one who did this to you?"

"You're… meaning to say that the Prosecutor during our trial was an imposter?"

"No… I mean that…"

This was crazy. And I knew it. How exactly was telling her this gonna help either of us? And why should she believe me? Just because she knew that supernatural phenomenon did indeed exist? Still… this was Mia. And if there was anyone I could talk to…

"I mean that…I am not the same Phoenix Wright who prosecuted in this trial."

Mia suddenly twitched out of her piercing look and a weird mixture of skepticism and confusion entered her face instead she hesitated a few seconds, before she finally asked.

"…How am I supposed to take this? There is only one Phoenix Wright. Especially with your face. Not to mention your hair."

(Is my hair really my only defining trait…?)

"Miss Fey… I know, this sounds weird and impossible… But I can't be the Prosecutor who got you declared guilty in court. I can't be him because…

A few seconds of hesitation more. I finally closed my eyes for a short time and answered.

"Because… as far as I remember, I was a Defense Attorney, right until I got up this morning."

"A… Defense Attorney?"

I couldn't read the expression on Mia's face, couldn't see if she was shocked, confused or just skeptic. Did she believe me, or was she already telling herself internally to just categorize me as 'Utterly and completely out of his mind'? I couldn't tell at all. But I decided to just go on. Turning back now was useless anyway:

"Yes." I confirmed my previous statement with a nod.

"And I am supposed to believe this?"

I had known that she would ask this. Every sane person would have asked this.

"I know… it is hard to believe. But… I promise you, I am not lying. I… I never prosecuted a case in my life. Up until yesterday, I was the head of my own small law firm. And you and your sister Maya were my mentor and my assistant respectively."

"Your mentor…?"

Mia initially reacted surprised to this last statement… then suddenly, she started laughing a little bit.

"I am sorry to tell you this, but this is entirely impossible."

She now looked a whole lot softer at me and supported her head with her hand, putting her elbow on the table. She looked rather relaxed that way.

"In order to be the mentor of a Defense Attorney, I'd have to be a Defense Attorney myself. But, as you should know, I am a Detective."

(Detective…)

"Exactly…"

"Excuse me?"

Mia looked up surprised when she saw my reaction. A little satisfied, I explained it to her.

"Listen to yourself Miss Fey… Had I really prosecuted your case… No, if I really knew you at all, wouldn't I know about your job then?"

"…"

Mia stared at me silently, as I continued to explain.

"Yet I am convinced that the 'You' who I remember was a Defense Attorney. A really good one at that. Miss Fey… isn't that proof that I have no idea what is going on here?"

(Like I suspected, she is not an Attorney here.) I continued by own train of thoughts (The main reason why Mia became a Defense Attorney in the first place was researching whoever leaked the information about her mother to the press. But since DL-6 never happened… It's more than possible that something different happened in this case's stead, causing her to take on a different occupation instead… Apparently that of a Detective.)

"…"

Looking at me dumbstruck for a few more moments, Mia finally started laughing again. "I have never seen anybody that satisfied about proving himself to be clueless!"

"Oh, but I am clueless. Very clueless in fact." I replied with my hands on my hips.

"You could just as well be faking it." Mia answered but she remained a whole lot more soft and relaxed that she had been before: "You will need something stronger than this to persuade me, that you are not the Prosecutor Phoenix Wright."

"Uhm… Something stronger than that?" I started sweating a little "But how am I supposed to prove something like that? I mean, I am still Phoenix Wright, just not, you know… quite the same… well…"

"Hm…" Mia seemed to be thinking about something. "You mentioned before that 'I' was your mentor?"

"Y-Yes…?"

"Then say something." She leaned back a bit. "Say something only somebody who studied under me would say or know."

(Something only her protégé would say…) I thought to myself (Well… this should be easy.)

I took a deep breath. "There are a lot of things I learned from you… but... if I had to choose the most important among them, it would probably be this:

I looked her in the eyes, trying to appear determined:

"In order to prove someone's innocence, you have to be ready to believe in them and trust them to the very end. In order to believe in somebody… you have to believe in yourself first. Mutual trust and trust in your own abilities… Those are the keys."

"Hm…"

Mia closed her eyes for a moment and smiled in a way that was very familiar to me.

"Nice. Very nice… Yes, this definitely sounds like something I would say… If I was a Defense Attorney, of course."

"So… You believe me?" I asked Mia and noticed, that my voice was still sounding extremely nervous.

"Well…" Mia kept smiling, much to my relief. "I do believe that you are really not quite the same guy who sat in the Prosecution's bench a few days back. Whether to believe your Defense Attorney-story, however, I am not quite sure yet… You might just have hit your head on something."

She then eyed the bandages around my head, causing me to touch them and blush a bit. "Uhm, yes, I did, but I assure you, this has absolutely nothing to do with this! Eh Heh…"

"Heh Heh Heh…"

Mia replied to my laughing with her own laughing.

"That nervous, somewhat childish smile…" she paused to look at me. "And I already thought I wouldn't see this ever again."

Surprised by this statement, I sat up a little straighter.

"You… saw me smile like this before…?"

"Three years ago…Back then, in Kurain… The two of you were having lots of fun, right? 'Feenie'? Heheheh…" Mia answered, still laughing.

I blushed crimson red when I heard her say the nickname. Apparently she had seen me there with Iris.

(So… about three years ago, I visited Kurain, and spent some time with Iris there. And Mia was apparently also present…)

A few seconds later, Mia finally stopped laughing. She took a breath.

"That smile… I thought it had died. Just like hers."

"Whose?"

"Lana's."

Lana Skye's smile... Of course I knew what Mia was talking about. Even though my interaction to 'this' Lana had been rather limited yet, Mia's statement alone made me realize one thing.

DL-6 may have been erased out of history. But this doesn't mean that other wounds were 'healed' as well.

Apparently, SL-9 had still happened one way or another. This was the only reason why Mia would mention Lana's smile 'dying' now.

"Let's assume, and I mean, just assume that you are really convinced of this 'Defense Attorney' story you just told me …

(…She doesn't believe me after all…)

"…I guess I can see how you would come up with me being your 'Mentor'. After all… People always told Lana and me that we were quite similar. We were in the same Law-School, you know?"

I nodded. And was glad that there was at least something about Mia's history that was still like how I remembered it.

Apparently remembering something, Mia grinned.

"You know, to be honest, this is a little bit funny. Back then in Law School, I actually played with the thought of becoming a Defense Attorney for some time."

"Why didn't you do it in the end?" I asked curiously. "You… would have been the best."

(And you were.)

Mia sunk her head a little.
"Because… I decided that there was a more efficient way to protect."

"Protect…?"

"Also, this way I got to work with Lana for some time." She smiled again "That was quite nice… Well, until this incident at very least."

(Probably SL-9…)

"I just hope that she'll get back to normal now that everything got out…"

(…Huh? )

"After all, she has no reason to shield herself from everybody anymore…" Mia looked at me and grinned. "And you know what? Seeing you like this actually gives me hope that Lana might become the woman I once knew again."

"About Lana…"

I gulped. Since we brought her up, I just had to mention it to Mia. As a friend, she had a right to know.

"…she was arrested this evening."

"Arrested?" as expected, Mia seemed rather shocked and put her hand to her mouth out of reflex. "For what?"

"Murder… of her own sister." I bit my lip. "I found Ema dying in the living room when I got home today. Lana was at the crime scene and some evidence is pointing towards her… She also confessed to the murder…"

"Her sister…? But Lana would have never…"

"I know. The idea of Lana killing Ema is just as absurd as the idea of Maya killing you." I said, clenching my teeth.

Mia, however, seemed a little confused.

"… 'Maya killing me'? Why did you give that example?"

"…Huh?"

"I mean… Wouldn't the other way around be more appropriate in this situation?"

"Uhm…"

(Well, if you really want to know…

'Oh, Miss Fey, I forgot to mention, you are supposed to be dead. Done for, kaput, buried, an Ex-Woman. But don't worry, as long as you don't mind wearing tight Kimonos, there're always your sister and cousin on standby if you need channeling!'

…No, I definitely won't mention that. Not if it's not 100% necessary. Telling her that Ema's dead and that Lana was arrested is a big enough shock for today. Also, she doesn't really believe me anyway, so why bother telling her?)

"Anyway… Her trial is going to be tomorrow. Edgeworth will be Lana's Defense Attorney and I will be the Prosecutor… But I promise you, I won't let the same thing happen to her that happened to you. She will not be declared guilty."

"So you'll lose for her sake? I mean, you haven't lost a case in almost three years after all… I thought you were going for a perfect record from this point on."

'Perfect Record'? Now I sure as heck knew that I didn't like this other 'me'. And I still didn't know how 'I' managed to sink this low… I mean, what I had heard about 'Phoenix Wright, Prosecutor' so far was bad. Almost Von-Karma-Family-level bad.

"Screw a 'Perfect Record'!" I said loud and clearly, almost shouting. "Lana Skye is innocent! I won't treat the lives of defendants like cards in a card game!"

"I see…"

Mia seemed very satisfied by me saying this. Still full of energy from my little outburst, I leaned forwards a bit.

"Miss Fey, in the past 12 hours, many people mentioned your trial to me, yet I still don't know what actually happened. If you could explain it to me, it would be a huge help."

While we were speaking, Mia's bang had slipped into her face from behind her ear. She flipped it back before answering.

"So you really can't remember a thing about it?"

"Nothing." I confirmed.

(But 'can't remember' is probably not the right phrase. It's more like it had never happened for me at all.)

Mia nodded to indicate that she had understood when I finished talking. I still had no idea whether she believed my story or not… But in any case, she closed her eyes and explained.

"Dahlia and I… we tried to kill a man."

"Y…You…? You don't admit to-"

"At least that's what's written in the protocol." Mia cut me short. "Actually, we were just investigating this person, using some tricks… But we were never planning to harm him. At least not physically."

"You and Dahlia?"

"I needed help. The man in question was a lot stronger than me. Without the element of surprise, the plan I had prepared could have easily backfired… Well, in the end it backfired anyway."

"What happened?" I asked.

Mia answered.

"Somebody poisoned him, while we were still talking. I don't know how they managed to do it. I was knocked out during a struggle. When I woke up again, I found myself in custody, accused of attempted murder, along with Dahlia."

"So, you didn't do it. And Dahlia…"

"Couldn't have done it either." She quickly stopped me, before I could go any further. "I heard her being knocked out shortly before me, she didn't wear gloves and there were no fingerprints on the injection needle which was found. Assuming she didn't apply the poison with telekinesis, it's entirely impossible that she could have done it. By the way, I wasn't wearing gloves either and they also didn't find any at the crime scene."

"Yet you were declared guilty?" I asked stunned.

"Thanks to your prosecution."

I gulped. Mia's look had hardened a little bit more again. I backed off a tiny little bit and looked away.

"Was it really that… persuading?"

"The trial proceeded in a, for you, typical manner." Mia explained. "It started out quite weak for you, with very few persuading arguments and a lot of guessing around and bluffing… and then suddenly, out of nowhere, you turned the whole case upside down by bringing something that everyone had missed up to that point to the court's attention."

(Yeah… this does definitely sound like me…)

I tried hard to imagine a Prosecutor using my methods. It just didn't fit into my image of a typical Prosecutor. To me, a Prosecutor was someone, who worked according to a plan, who knew how to impress the judge and had all the details that the Defense lacked. My methods seemed just… weird for someone in this position. Mia seemed to have a similar opinion.

"This is, by the way, a quite unusual 'tactic' for a Prosecutor…"

"Well, I guess I'm just not cut for that job."

"Oh, but you are good." Mia said. "The fact that I'm sitting here proves it."

Again, I looked at Mia, sitting there behind the glass window, in her own body. Mia Fey, a woman with incredible passion for the law… she didn't belong here. What did I do to bring her here? How could I have possibly 'proven' this woman guilty of attempted murder?

I then looked at Dahlia behind her. I remembered what an incredibly good actress Dahlia was. Even Mia has had trouble to get the judge to snap out of her charm and get the court back on her side after this woman had taken the witness stand. And I seriously managed to persuade the judge that this apparent embodiment of innocence was trying to commit a murder, when she was actually innocent? Just like that? How could I ever find proof strong enough to support such an obvious misjudgment?

Was 'I' actually that good? And if the answer was 'Yes'… How could I use those skills to do this to Mia, of all people?

The only explanation for this would be, that the 'other' Phoenix Wright lacked most of my morals and many of my character traits… And this explanation confused me. How could the lack of one single event in the history of all of us, everyone who ever had anything to do with DL-6 at all, have such a huge impact on my personality? Especially since I was never directly involved.

From what I knew, the one it should have had the hugest impact on was Edgeworth. And sure, a lot about him changed, but at the core, he was still quite similar to the Edgeworth I knew. Then there was Maya, on whom the whole thing should have had a certain effect as well, but she was apparently the same enthusiastic girl as ever, except that they now paid her for being the way she is. And Mia… I couldn't make out any notable differences, except for the fact that she wasn't a lawyer.

Then again, there was Dahlia… And I had no idea what to think about the changes to her. I barely knew anything about the 'real' Dahlia in the first place, except that she had been coldhearted, greedy and obsessed with revenge. So what to think about this shivering scared girl in the corner over there? I had absolutely no idea if any of her other personality traits were still the same. Maybe everything else, except the fact that she wasn't a coldblooded murderer was still the same? But Dahlia's change had a reason… If her family was now the main Fey-family, this meant that she and Iris grew up in Kurain, alongside Mia and Maya, which was a huge change in background, considering what originally happened to the twins. It was only logical that this had positive influence on her character. So… what about me?

Thinking about this made me realize, again, how lost I actually felt at the moment. After all, I still had barely any idea what was actually going on… I just wanted things to return to being how they were the day before. Wanted to be back in my office, watching TV while Maya talks about things that make no sense. And then, after some days, someone bursts in and tells me that they have an un-winnable case and I step up and promise to help them. That's how it had always been the past three years. That's how I wanted it to be.

…Something occurred to me.

Maya… There was something about Maya.

I thought a little harder…

…There was a reason... why Maya… wouldn't be in the office. Even if everything went back to normal. For …some…reason… Maya wouldn't be there.

But I couldn't recall why.

(This is weird… I know that I should be able to remember that. But somehow, the memory just doesn't come… Am I blocking something out…?)

Maya… Suddenly, I just felt like I had to go see her. Her smile, her voice, her naïve remarks, her boundless enthusiasm… I needed that now. The concert ticket in my pocket came to my mind. With a quick look at my watch, I knew that it was 7:27pm now. There was still enough time to go and see that concert.

But first, there were some more things I had to ask the Fey sister before me.

"Mia… I mean, Ms. Fey… Because of tomorrow…"

"Yes?"

Mia listened to me closely and the feeling of having her attention gave me a little more confidence. I went on.

"…I am not quite sure what I should do now. Because of Lana, I mean. I am supposed to prosecute against her but… but actually, I just can't see how she could have killed her own sister, evidence or not. I thought that maybe I should just perform miserable on purpose, so she'd be declared Not Guilty, but then Edgeworth told me that we'll never find the real killer if I do that…"

"And Mr. Edgeworth is right." Mia told me "Rushed trials are always full of errors, no matter the given verdict. If you prosecute badly on purpose, Lana will probably be spared, yes, but we'll still never know what really happened today and the case's file will forever be nothing but one big misunderstanding."

"But if I give my best, the judge may be persuaded of Lana's guilt too soon and pass the verdict before the truth was found regardless. So what am I supposed to do now?"

"Mr. Wright…" Mia started, her voice sounding as calm and soft as I remembered it to be. "Do what you think is right."

"But what if I make the wrong decision?" I asked nervously.

"If you really want to make the right decision, you'll figure which one it is." Mia said. "Just trust me."

"Y-Yes, Chief…"

I was trying to come up with something else to say, some other question to ask, just something else to talk to her about, just to make sure that I wouldn't forget anything, when suddenly a sound echoed through the room.

*BRZZ*

The next moment, everything was pitch-black. For a moment I thought that I might have passed out again, but I was still feeling the table under my hands and the chair I was sitting on. After about a minute or something, I heard steps again, people walking around and talking to each other.

"Why are all the lights and computers out?"

"Something must have blown the fuses."

"All of them? At once! Have you any idea how many fuses there are for the electricity in this building?"

"Lightning probably struck somewhere close by."

"That's weird, why did the weather forecast not mention this?"

"No matter what caused it, go and fix it! We have dangerous criminals here, we can't afford a power shortage of this kind for more than a few minutes! Hurry!

It was not too long after those words, that I started hearing cries from somewhere. After turning my head a few times to find the source, I realized that it was coming from the other room… Someone was crying loud enough in there for the sound to pass through the thick glass…

Three minutes later, the light finally went back on. The first thing I saw when I could make out the room behind the glass again were Dahlia and Mia.

Dahlia was kneeling on the floor in the middle of the room, sobbing, her opened parasol lying beside her. Mia was apparently trying to comfort her.

The microphone turned back on again now. Since Dahlia was talking so loud, I could understand every word she said… or rather, cried.

"…It's all over now… W-We will never get… home again… We are going to die here, Mia! We are going to die in here! If I stay here any longer, I…I…I want to go home! M-Mia…"

"Dahlia, calm down. Don't worry, I'm sure we will get out here soon. They'll find out what really happened that day and we will be released. You just have to stay strong a little longer."

"B-But they all think we did it… Mia… everybody thinks that we did it! Nobody will help us!"

"That's not true, Dahlia."

"But… But…"

I could barely believe what I heard. Dahlia really seemed to be on the edge of her last reserves of strength. Also, I never thought I would ever see Mia trying to encourage her. While the Dahlia and Mia I knew had been each other's nemesis, those two were... friends.

I decided that it would probably be best to leave now, so I prepared to stand up, just when I heard Dahlia's voice once again through the mic.

"W-What about Miles? Didn't he come?... He said he was going to come today… He said he was going to visit."

I stopped mid-movement, sitting down again immediately and listened up. That tone in her voice… that sounded like she was talking about her…

(No… way…)

She couldn't possibly mean the Miles I was thinking of… There was no way she could mean him…

Mia's voice came through the mic next.

"It seems like he got a case this evening. He's probably still investigating on it."

I gulped. The same Miles.

"Because of… another case?... B-But I want to see him! I need him now…!"

"I'm sure he'll come to see you tomorrow. He wouldn't forget about you."

I thought that I had finally found out where I was here: In a bad soap opera. Yes. Because this was only possible in a bad soap opera. Yes, because there was no way in the world, no way in hell, no way in the whole universe that Dahlia and… and… Miles Edgeworth were a… a… a…

"I-It's because of that person, right?

Or maybe, Dahlia said: "It's because of that person: Wright." It was hard to tell the anyway almost non-existent difference through the mic alone. Also, this wasn't exactly what I cared about that moment and so I just listened.

"Iris's boyfriend…this… 'Phoenix Wright'. He wasn't supposed to come here tonight… Miles didn't come because he came, right? It's all … this person's fault…!"

"Dahlia, visiting time had been over for a while. He wouldn't have come anymore today anyway."

"But… if it wasn't for… for this disgusting, lying man… We wouldn't be here! He did this to us! And… and Iris… My poor sister Iris, he tricked her! All along, he just tricked her! This…"

"That's enough. You need to calm down, alright?"

"I… I don't want to…!"

"Dahlia. Calm down."

"…"

"Let's go back to our cells."

I had already decided to leave and to rise from my chair two sentences ago. Now I was at the door. I caught one last, quick glance of Mia and Dahlia leaving the room behind the glass, guided by the guard, I pushed the door open and left the building.

I still had no idea where I ended up or why or how. Or if maybe I was still in the same place, just with heavy alterations made to everyone and everything.

So many things were still like I knew them… the people I knew were there, most places I knew looked pretty much the same as always… and yet, there were also these changes, which caused this place to feel unfamiliar to me, to scare me. At least the few minutes of talking to Mia I got here had given me courage and confidence… and yet something had been missing from them. And this something… was the Mia I knew. Probably because 'this' Mia wasn't really my friend, didn't even really know me… Or maybe, there was more behind it? I couldn't quite tell.

When I stepped outside, I was greeted by a clear night sky, decorated by a large number of bright stars.

(Ah, yes, I know this situation from TV. I'm now supposed to search for constellations, in order to find out whether I am still on the same planet, right? Well, let's see then…)

I let my eyes wander across the sky.

(Big Dipper, Big Dipper, Big Dipper… Wait…Come to think of it, actually, I don't even really know where to find the Big Dipper this time of year… or what the Big Dipper looks like for that matter… Phoenix Wright, you just earned yourself an F in astronomy.)

Sighing, I stopped looking at the sky before my neck could turn stiff, and I went down the street. Sunshine Coliseum wasn't too far… I would be able to see Maya. Maybe even talk to her. In the end, I was incredibly glad now, that Edgeworth gave me his one ticket. At the same time, however, I felt that meeting Maya would be just the same as meeting Mia: Something would be missing.

Our friendship, probably…

After all, she wasn't the Maya I remembered.

A frightening thought had been there in the back of my head for a while now: What if I was the one who had changed? The only one? What if the things I remembered actually never happened? Maybe the 'world I know' had never really existed? However, there were some things keeping me from giving in to those thoughts. The most important of them was right there in my pocket.

I took a look at the Magatama again. Its green glow was even more visible now that it was night and dark.

The Magatama was a gift from Maya. My friend, Maya. It was the proof that she existed.

The energy which caused this gem to glow was a gift from Pearls. This proved that we met, that I gave the Magatama to her, like Maya had asked me to do and that she charged it. It was proof that we, the three of us, were friends.

And why were we friends? We met because of Mia. Because I was her protégé. And this proved that Mia, the Defense Attorney, too, existed.

Why did I become her protégé in the first place? Because I wanted to save the Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth. Meaning that Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth existed as well.

The list could be continued endlessly. In the end, the Magatama was the one evidence I needed: My career, my life had not been a dream. If anything was a dream, it was this place.

And I would wake up and get back home. One way or another.

…After I set everything right here, of course.

Evidence:

*) Prosecutor's Badge

I never thought I'd ever hold this in my hands. The design closely resembles the police's emblem.

*) Magatama

This gem allows me to see the locks on people's hearts whenever they hide the truth from me. It was a gift from Maya and is charged with Pearls' spiritual energy.

*) Photo of Iris

A picture of me and Iris in Kurain. Apparently we were still a couple here, up until recently.
CHECK: http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/1896 ... feenie.png

*) Cellphone

Compared to the Cellphone I usually use, this is high tech luxury. Now, if I just knew how to properly use all the functions…
CHECK: http://img17.imageshack.us/i/cellphone.png/

*) Concert Ticket

A VIP ticket to a concert at Sunshine Coliseum, entitled 'Doubted Sentence'. Maya is singing there.

*) Suicide Note

Found near the unconscious Lana Skye. Check for details:
CHECK: http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/9123/suicidenote.png

*) Victim(?) Note

Reads "Lana" in red letters of blood.
CHECK: http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/4660/victimnote.png

*) Steel Samurai Cards

Some trading cards I confiscated. I didn't really look at them yet, but the writing on at least two of them is sparkling. They must be quite rare.

*) Snackoos Bag

Found near Ema. She was apparently eating them before she was killed. Imported from Europe.

*) Dart

A small, needle-like projectile, made for use with a tranquilizer gun. There are faint traces of blood on it. Found near the sofa.

*) Rope

Ripped. Apparently, Lana tried to hang herself with it. Something is weird about the rupture, but I can't quite point my finger at it.

Profiles:

*) Phoenix Wright

I have been a Defense Attorney for three years now. But now it looks like people were convinced of something else suddenly...

*) Miles Edgeworth

An old school friend of mine. Apparently, he's a renowned Defense Attorney here. The "Him" I remember, on the other hand, was an extremely talented, but arrogant Prosecutor.

*) Maya Fey


Apparently a famous pop idol known as "MAYOI". In my memory, she was a Spirit Medium and served as my assistant and co-council in many of my cases.

*) Ema Skye

A teenager, who was dreaming of becoming a forensic investigator one day and good friend of mine. Was murdered in the apartment.

*) Lana Skye

Ema's older sister. Apparently tried to commit suicide in the bathroom. Her suicide note implicates her as her sister's killer.

*) Dick Gumshoe

Still detective of the local police force. Still as underpaid as ever.

*) Mia Fey

Maya's older sister and a detective. Currently under arrest for attempted murder. I remember her being my mentor as a Defense Attorney and murdered shortly after my very first trial.

*) Dahlia Fey

Maya's and Mia's cousin and Iris's identical twinsister. Was the coldblooded killer 'Dahlia Hawthorne' in the world I remember, but declared guilty for a crime she didn't commit alongside Mia in this one. Her personality seems to have been turned upside down...

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present you... THE CRACK PAIRING!!!

DUM DUM DUM!





Disclaimer: The author in no way or universe actually supports this pairing, let alone actively ships Miles-What-The-Hell-Is-Libido?-Edgeworth and and Dahlia-I-Will-Kill-You-All-Hawthorne. This pairing is only there for the sake of showing how impossibly messed up this alternate timeline is. Have a nice day!

Moving on...

Now, if anybody could please tell me how exactly it is possible to drag out a scene originally intended to be TWO A4 pages long for a total of SIXTEEN pages I'd be very grateful. Ahh, me and my verbosity...

A~nyway, this chapter is mainly for showing off Mia and Dahlia, as well has providing Phoenix with a bit of information that he'll need.

Eh...

Again, yes, Alt!Dahlia and Alt!Edgeworth are a couple. NO, this is not implying that I support this pairing. In fact, I don't support any pairings involving Dahlia, because she's pretty much the human incarnation of the demon Lilith and we know how that worked out for Adam. ( ) Also, I think that Edgeworth's libido is pretty much equal to zero, at least in the games' continuity. Believe me, there are plot reasons for absolutely everything that's happening, so don't jump to conclusion and think the author (aka: Me) had just gone nuts. Well, maybe I am a little nuts, but I'm still trying my best to deliver a good story, promise! XD

Listened to "Elegy of Surveillance Cameras" during the whole writting process of this chapter, since it's my favorite Detention Center BGM in the games.

Next chapter will have a whole lot more stuff happening and cover a larger time frame. It will also see a cameo by a character I personally like quite a lot.

I hope you'll enjoy it!

Alt!Dahlia is adorable. Oh and you managed to discribe Mia so well!

May 1st, 8:03pm

Sunshine Coliseum

The Coliseum was, naturally, extremely crowded when I arrived. I had a hard time fighting through the hordes of teenagers present to get anywhere near the entrance, not to mention the torture that was moving forward inside. Mind you, I had a VIP pass. I don't want to know what moving around in there would have been like with a normal ticket. I promised myself to thank Edgeworth for this one later. The concert had started two hours ago, so the music was already echoing through the area, and ear shattering loud at that. Actually, if you just came to listen to the songs, the concert ticket was a pure waste of money: Standing in front of the Coliseum was enough to understand them. Probably even better than in here, since the volume in the hall was already starting to cause me tinnitus and I hadn't been in here for too long. I couldn't see the singer on the stage yet, but the voice was clearly male and, thus, it was not Maya. The other band was currently playing.

From what I picked up of the lyrics, the current song was about love and... being arrested. However those two were supposed to go together... The song writer was probably an overly enthusiastic policeman. Spotting the Blue Badger as decoration when I drew closer to the stage confirmed this suspicion.

I could see how Maya was holding a concert together with this band. With Mia being a Detective, she certainly had some ties to the police as well.

Still... why did it have to be a godforsaken rock band?

I wasn't a rock music hater... It was the volume that bothered me. There was a thin line between "noisy" and "eardrum killing noisy". This band had crossed that line five times and then continued their way another hundred miles straight forward. I was actually reluctant to continue my way even further forward, closer towards the source of this so-called 'song', but I wanted to see the stage. Maya would be singing on it soon... at least I hoped that I didn't miss her.

Finally I caught my first glimpse of the stage... And heard something incredible: Fan girls actually screaming loud enough to be audible through this noise!

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"KLAVIER, I LUV YOU!"

"OMG OMG OMG OMG!"

"ARREST MEEEEEE TOO! PLEASE!"

"HE LOOKED AT ME! I'M FAINTING! I'M FAINTING!"

(No girl, that's just the music. Don't pin it on the singer's eyes.)

Wondering how it was possible for anyone to be that obsessed with a single person, I finally took a look at the band on the stage myself.

What I found was a five people band, led by a singer and lead guitarist, whom I guessed to be the one those girls were obsessing about: a blonde boy, looking like he was in his mid-to-late teens, with sun glasses and pierced ears, dressed in dark purple leather. There were so many rings shining on his fingers, I wondered how he could even play his instrument with those.

However, I had to give this guy credit: his voice wasn't bad. Very strong and yet clear...

There was something…

Something about this singer gave me a weird feeling... But I couldn't quite pinpoint it.

I felt dizzy, like losing the ground beneath my feet, but, then again, this could just as well have been because of the music. At least that's what I told myself, until it grew worse and worse while I kept looking at the singer. I closed my eyes and immediately felt relief... I opened them again and saw the singer. The dizziness returned. There was no denying that the singer was the cause. The more I looked at him and the closer I listened to his voice, the more I felt like...

(...passing out again? No, please not here! The crowd will mercilessly trample me to mash for sure if I fall down here...)

I took a deep breath and tried, with my eyes closed, to calm down, but as long as the singer's voice was still there, the feeling of dizziness just wouldn't vanish completely. A guitar-solo finally gave me a break long enough to think a little bit.

It then came to me: I had seen that boy before. Some...where...

I was stunned when I found the information about "where" exactly I had seen him before to be... not there. I knew exactly that I had already met this boy. But I couldn't recall in the least where or when exactly I had met him. Like the memory had been cut out clean with a pair of sharp scissors. It was unusual in that it felt kind of obvious that there was... a gap. Yes, I could actually feel the gap in my memory. The same thing had already happened half an hour prior, when I had tried to remember why exactly I had the feeling that Maya wouldn't be in my office once everything returned to normal. Now that I thought about it, it had been the same too when I held the blood note in my hands...

What was going on with my head? Why where there Swiss-cheese holes in my memory?

(This singer... If I could just remember where I saw him before...What did those girls call him again? 'Klavier'? ...Klavier, Klavier, Klavier...)

Even searching my mind for the name made me feel dizzy, yet I couldn't find anything. Not a single thing about a rock star by the name "Klavier".

But there should have been something. I just knew it. The answer was there… somewhere. But I couldn't access it, no matter how hard I tried. And the loud music didn't make it any easier to think for me...

Finally, the song ended.

My ears actually felt numb and were ringing loudly, but at least that song was over. The guitarist's voice was gone... I could finally take a breath again...

The only noise in the hall was now the shouting mass of people, cheering up to their idols, especially the band lead guitarist and singer. He was definitely getting most of the attention. From what I heard, the cheering for the other band members was downright ridiculous compared to the countless screams of "KLAVIER! KLAVIER!" which echoed through the hall loudly.

Finally, the young man, who was somehow constantly blessing his fans down there with a glamorous, calm smile, stepped up to the microphone at the stage's edge again and started to speak.

"Danke! Thank you, Thank you, everybody, you are all amazing!"

Even when he was merely speaking, his voice still had something melodic to it. Still, I wondered what exactly the first word was supposed to mean. It was apparently a foreign language. Seeing how this was a rock band, probably German or something similar...

"Werte Damen und Herren! Dear audience, you can't imagine how glad we are to be able to play for you today! In the name of the whole band, I have to thank you all! It's because of you loyal fans that the Gavinners are where they are now! Therefore: Herzlichen Applaus! An applause for everybody in here, please!"

Momentarily, the audience, especially the girls, broke out into loud shouting, squealing and screaming, repeating phrases quite similar to those of the girls whom I had heard before over and over again, until the guitarist rose his hand on the stage. The fans turned quiet again.

"However, being the young band we are, we are, sadly, all out of songs already and thus already arrived at the end of our little Gig here!"

Cue the loud moaning from a chorus composed of about a few thousand in the audience. Right until the guitarist raised his hand yet again and continued talking.

"-That means… this would be the end, if not for tonight's real main attraction! ...I think mentioning Fräulein MAYOI should ring a bell?"

Immediately a mass of screams of 'MA~YO-CHAN, SUKI-DA-YO!' echoed through the air, loud enough to cause me to momentarily twitch.

Also: 'Mayo-chan?' I didn't know what was more ridiculous: the rocker's gratuitous German or the MAYOI-fan's gratuitous... uhm... Japanese? Actually, I could only guess... I wasn't that good with languages.

"Ah, ja, I see, everybody here knows her! Of course, she is a voice to know. However, what would a passionate, powerful voice be without passionate, powerful music? And this, meine Damen und Herren, is the reason why I think that my friends and me can't quite leave yet, ja?"

The screams of the band's fans resumed once again, but even louder than before. Apparently, the 'MAYOI'-fans had now joined in. Interestingly, there seemed to be a whole lot more male voices shouting now than before...

The Guitarist stepped back a little bit from the microphone, giving his fellow band members a sign, before he hit the chords of his guitar. With this cue, the band started playing again. The kind of music they now played, however, sounded rather different from what they had played before. More emphasis on melody and rhythm, less emphasis on volume... Of course, I was no expert, but this was quite a nice relief for me.

"Damen und Herren!" The guitarist, already playing, repeated once more, making me wonder if this was one of the only ten phrases he could say in that language. "We give you... MAYOI!"

With those words, the stage was suddenly died in a purple light, as all the spotlights focused at one single spot in the back of the stage.

And... there she was.

Even though I couldn't remember seeing her enter the stage... The guitarist had just pulled all the attention to himself, so her entering had passed by unnoticed. But now she was there.

Maya.

She was dressed in a rose top with sequins on it and a short, purple skirt. Also, she wore detached sleeves and her hair was still tied up in a ponytail, like it had been when I met her that morning. I will not try to explain all the different kinds of frills and ribbons there were to her outfit, because that would probably take hours. But, bottom-line is she looked sugary cute, which befitted a young pop idol.

...Actually, it was quite obvious that she had picked that wardrobe herself. This was just… her.

With a great, big smile on her lips and a microphone in her hand, she ran up to the front of the stage and exclaimed:

"Everybody! HI!"

The audience reacted by loudly repeating the word "Hi" after her. Maya laughed.

I just stared at the stage. There she was, my friend and assistant: that cheerful, energetic, somewhat weird girl... right there at the centre of everyone's attention. She was smiling and laughing and preparing to sing for everyone here.

Just half a year ago, Maya offering to sing in public was nothing more than a little joke of hers to cheer up an upset her manager. Now it has become reality. I was about to witness... a singing Maya Fey.

"Alright!" Maya exclaimed loudly into her microphone. "Since this is a Gavinners concert too, I guess everybody knows which song I'm gonna start with! Right, right?"

"YES!"

Maya's eyes seemed to glow with joy when she heard her many fans voices. She really seemed to enjoy having all those people cheer for her. The intro of the song was still playing and she wasn't even singing yet. Apparently she wanted to make it 'interesting'.

"Well, OK, but let's see if you're really ready for it first! Everybody, tell me the codeword!"

Then she held her microphone down towards the audience, this caused them to loudly fulfill her plea with a single word:

"OBJECTION!"

(...Uhm... WHAT?)

My first thought was just how many unlikely, weird, uncanny coincidences there could possibly be in the world.

My second thought was that this was going to be a song that I would like.

"AH! What was that? Now, people, you have to put some spirit into it, or nobody will listen to what you have to say! C'mon! 3, 2, 1... OBJECTION!"

"OBJECTION!"

Uhm... yes, I had joined in now. I was now officially part of the screaming crowd... But for a good reason!

Apparently the volume of the audience's objecting was now pleasing Maya since she started jumping across the stage cheerfully as she kept 'objecting' in the music's rhythm along with the crowd ...including me. The music finally changed and a loud cue made it obvious that the main part of the song had finally started. Maya ran back to the stage's centre and brought the microphone close to her mouth and sang.



Maya kept on singing, followed by the cheering voices of the crowd. She really seemed to be enjoying herself, even varying her mimic according to the lyrics. I was a little baffled by how well she was doing this, like she had never done anything else. Without any nervousness, and also apparently without the need to take a breath now and then, she hit absolutely every note and kept singing this weirdly appropriate song.

I'll be honest: I liked the song a lot. The music, the lyrics, the emotion in Maya's voice... Suddenly, I didn't mind the volume of the music, which was, after all, still extremely loud. I just watched as Maya 'danced' all across the stage and kept on singing. With the start of the song's second part, background singers had joined in, and Maya integrated them into the show by using them as 'actors' to perform the song's 'plot'. It was weird, but, all in all, the song, despite obviously being meant to be about a couple that was breaking up on the basis of betrayal, felt a lot like one of the many cross-examinations I already did over the course of my career. A young woman cross-examining her boyfriend... that image was a little strange, but, surprisingly, it somehow worked. It wasn't hard to guess how exactly Maya came up with the idea for this song... with her family-ties – I tried hard to not think of the Dahlia-Edgeworth thing – there was more than enough inspiration for this kind of song in her environment.

(...Hm, she said she was singing this song first because it fit to the band accompanying her. Well, with those Blue Badgers all over the place...)

I shivered when I remembered that those creepy creatures were everywhere here.

(...I guess I was right when I guessed that this band had ties to the police... Hm...)

I took another look at the guitarist who was now calmly playing his guitar to Maya's singing. Again, just seeing him gave me a strange feeling, but now that he wasn't singing anymore, it was a whole lot less intensive than before. Apparently, his voice was the main trigger for the dizziness from before.

So, his band was somehow connected to law enforcement... This meant I could just as well know him from court...

(If I just knew what exactly his job was, this would be easy... I would just have to recall every trial I led and browse through everyone who was involved. I'd surely remember who he was then...)

The song carried on for about 3 minutes more and Maya kept moving around in a hyper-motivated manner the whole time without showing signs of exhaustion. It was obvious that this was far from her first time doing this. With the last "Woooh!" she slowly sat down on the floor and finally just stretched out her arm one last time:

"OBJECTION!"

The whole band and the background singers had 'objected' along with her, causing a, admittedly, rather good looking scene on the stage since everyone on it was now in more or less the same pose: Finger outstretched, pointing straight at the audience. Had I known how to handle that cellphone in my pocket, I would have taken a picture of this just because I kind of liked what it looked like.

The crowd was still cheering loudly when Maya got up from the floor again. She bowed a few times to her audience, her hands folded while she did so. She then picked up the microphone, which she had left on the floor, and spoke into it.

"Thank you everybody! That was awesome! Now, because it was so much fun, let's hear it once more: Now...!"

She held out the microphone to the audience.

"OBJECTION!"

Maya grinned satisfied and put the mic back to her mouth. "Great! Alright, I hereby declare you all ready for the courtroom! Oh, that reminds me, I could probably use this part to do some advertising, couldn't I? OK, everybody, listen up: if you ever got trouble with some guys accusing you of murder, theft, or copying their homework, just pay 'Edgeworth Law Offices' a visit! Miles is a pro! He'll bail you out for sure! And serve you tea while doing so!"

(Though I doubt he'd actually take that last one...) I thought to myself quietly. (Wait... Edgeworth is serving his clients tea?)

"...Well, actually, you'll need to visit around 5pm to have that work... and ask really nice... Hm..."

(5pm. Tea Time. Figures.)

"Ah...Anyway, count on him, he's really good! My cousin can approve of this for you!"

(Don't think of Dahlia, Phoenix… don't think of her and Edgeworth standing side by si- Darn it.)

As always, Maya had no idea how to advertise a law firm. But that probably didn't matter anyway. I was rather sure that at least ten dozen people in here would have jumped into the Eagle River if she told them to, so this little speech of hers should do its magic anyway, regardless of her complete lack of marketing talent.

"So, now..."

Maya grinned cheekily, as she suddenly ran across the stage. She stopped right next to the guitarist, who looked at her with a smile when Maya started staring at him, hands folded behind her back, eyes shining in expectation.

"Ach, does Fräulein have a request?" he asked into his microphone and Maya proceeded to pull her own forth from behind her back and spoke.

"Well Mr. Gavin, we now know that the audience is real good at objecting, and I don't want to boast, but I'm not too bad either, I think... But now it's time that the real Master shows us how it's done!"

The guitarist flipped one of his bangs: "So, you want me to raise an objection for the fans, ja?"

Maya nodded. She seemed really excited: "Yes, please! I haven't seen you in court yet, so I'm really curious what your trademark pose looks like!"

"My 'trademark pose'?"

"You all have one!" Maya claimed, sounding rather convinced of her opinion. "Don't try to hide it! I know all about it! Every lawyer has his own, distinct pose they take whenever they dramatically yell their loud and clearly audible 'Objection'! That's basically a law!"

(So that guy is a lawyer...?)

I was quite surprised. This teenager didn't exactly look like a lawyer... Not at all.

...How old was he anyway? He couldn't possibly be older than seventeen! What age did he start? I mean, sure, Franziska von Karma started when she was thirteen, but that was supposed to be an exception!

Also, there was another question: If this guy really was a Lawyer, was he a Defence Attorney or a Prosecutor? I had a feeling that I wouldn't figure that out from the way he was objecting alone...

...But if I had really met this guy before, there was a high chance that he was a Prosecutor. Only someone I faced off against would leave an impact huge enough on me to cause me to feel faint when I hear his voice. I wasn't like those fangirls here after all. Hopefully...

"Hah..." The singing-guitarist-lawyer adjusted his sunglasses and tilted his head slightly.

"Well, if it's what this sweet Fräulein wants, how could I possibly not object? Of course, only if the fans don't object to me objecting..."

(Wait, when you say 'objecting'...Do you mean actually yelling "Objection", or objecting to doing so, or... Argh... Why do I even bother? ...I hereby object to myself bothering my brain with this. Yes, that's exactly what I'm doing.)

Without any further ado, the singing-guitarist-lawyer – and I decided that I should better start calling this guy by his name now – took his hands off his guitar, letting it hang down on its strap on his body freely, took the microphone into his left hand, and, finally, dynamically stretched out his right arm and yelled in a very dramatic manner:

"OBJECTION!"

That moment... my heart skipped a beat.

...A beat? Make that a few.

I don't quite know what exactly happened to me the second I heard this guy's objection... But, suddenly, for no apparent reason, I felt like... there was nothing around me. Absolutely nothing. Like I had ended up somewhere in a dark void as the last person alive, with only this single word spoken in this young man's voice, echoing around me. I couldn't perceive anything else for the next few seconds... and those seconds felt like hours.

I was about to faint again. I knew it. I just knew it. Forcing myself to stay awake with all my power, I brought the young guitarists name to my mind and tried to make a connection to something. Anything At all. I knew him. I just had to know him from somewhere. Otherwise he wouldn't be causing me this reaction. I had met him before! But where? I had to remember. I tried to force myself with all my might...

(Klavier... The fans called him that. And Maya called him... 'Mr. Gavin'... Klavier Gavin. That must be his name. Klavier... Gavin... who is he? Just who is he? Gavin... Gavin... Ungh...)

My consciousness was on the verge of shutting down. I felt it, but at least I could also feel that I was still standing on my two feet... barely. Regardless, I didn't let go of the name and tried to force my brain to dig up something regarding this name. Anything. Just anything...

As I tried to remember harder and harder, finally, a weirdly familiar feeling overcame me. I didn't understand right away what it was, but then, I felt a certain warmth coming from my pocket...

The Magatama... was it reacting to something?

And then I heard the sound.

The rattling of chains and something closing off tightly. I saw them when I still couldn't perceive anything else around me.

Right before me, in plain sight, there were five sets of chains... each of them joined together by a big, mystical-looking white lock.

I gasped.

(P-Psyche Locks?)

The locks were so close to me that I could have touched them, but I didn't dare to. And when I let my eyes wander across the chains in order to see where they were going, I noticed that they were basically drawing a circle around... me.

(W-Why are there Psyche Locks on me? That's impossible...)

I stared at the chains and the locks for a few more moments before they slowly but surely started to fade out of my view...

The dark nothing around me dissolved and I started to hear voices again... my normal perception of the environment had returned.

When I was back in reality at last, I was greeted by a monster headache, causing me to momentarily twitch. I finally noticed that Maya was already singing again... Wondering how long I had been in my thoughts, I looked at the stage and saw her dance, as she sung with a strong voice.



I was surprised when I realized that Maya's voice had actually trembled at one point and that she had almost failed to complete the word "happened" because of this. Her smile, as well, seemed a little more... forced now. And she generally seemed quite exhausted. How long had I been out? Maybe I had missed a few songs while trying to tear my mind apart for this 'Gavin'...

A look at the watch told me that it was 20:32. I had spaced out and stayed that way for about fifteen minutes...

If I knew one thing now, it was that I had to find out more about all of those mysterious topics my brain was apparently blocking. Those Psyche Locks couldn't mean anything good...

I suddenly heard someone talk in front of me...

"MAYOI seems a little tired today..."

"Well, of course she's tired! Didn't you hear about what happened to her sister?"

"Yeah. I even saw the trial on television. That guy in the Prosecution's bench really crushed her Defence Lawyer..."

"MAYOI was there too, right? I think I saw her in the Defence's Bench..."

"Yeah, she was trying to help her sister's lawyer. It ended with her almost getting removed from the room trice, because she called the Prosecutor... uhm... names. The nasty kind."

I gulped.

"MAYOI, cursing? No way!"

(Yeah, no way!)

"That's not all! Her third threat included something among the lines of 'I wish you'd drop dead'."

"Not true!"

"True."

(That's not like you at all, Maya... Oh my god, how much exactly does she hate me?)

Suddenly I didn't feel like talking to her at all anymore... Then again, I had felt similarly about talking to Mia too... I couldn't just turn around and leave now. I still had to at least try to talk to her.

"Well, I wish that guy would drop dead, too! How dare he go claim that MAYOI's sister could have tried to kill somebody?"

"That guy's a Prosecutor. It's his job."

"Well if bringing innocent people into jail was my job, I'd quit it."

"Also, you apparently didn't see how stubbornly he kept insisting on it! It was disgusting!"

"I just hope somebody at least stepped up and punched the guy in the face afterwards! Even though he deserves far worse than that! Hmpf!"

...Punched the guy in the face...

I remembered the bruise in on my cheek and touched it. It was still feeling slightly numb...

(So that's where I got it...) I thought to myself. (Somebody tried to slap some sense into me...)

The song Maya was singing ended. With a last, enthusiastic pose and a loud cue, the music stopped and the crowd cheered loudly once again. Maya smiled merrily, yet the exhaustion in her sweaty face was now very apparent.

"Huh! Now, I think we all earned ourselves a little break now, didn't we?" Maya asked the crowd over her microphone.

I recognized that shine in her eyes... I knew what she was about to say...

"Well, OK, if you all excuse me now, there are some burgers with my name on them waiting for me backstage! "

The audience actually started laughing when she said that.

"No, I mean it, the cook actually wrote my name on the buns! With sesame seeds! Isn't that cool? We should call them MAYOI-burgers and make them official merchandise, so all of you can get some!"

As always, she had managed to miss the point. Luckily, Maya didn't seem to feel offended by the audience's loud laughing.

The audience finding some of her quirks to be funny was probably already regular routine. Also, I could more than just see why it was really hard to not laugh at somebody who's singing about hope, struggling and inner strength one moment, and obsessing about hamburgers in the next. Apparently, Maya didn't need her Kimono to keep the weirdness factor up.

"Alright everyone, see you in thirty minutes! Break time!"

It was then that the lights in the hall all turned on. Maya and the band members left the stage as the concert guests moved from their places, probably to go buy some snacks and drinks. I, however, had different plans. Holding my V.I.P ticket ready, I hurried towards the entrance leading to the backstage area.

Naturally, the security guard was very sceptical when I tried to get past him, so he first scanned me for weapons and everything like that before he let me pass. His metal detector reacted to my suitcase, so he opened and searched it. It turned out that the Prosecutor's Badge was the cause. Damn that little thing, I knew it was gonna cause trouble. So, after about seven minutes of the guard searching me for potential weapons for killing Maya or the rock band members, I finally got past him and ended up in the backstage section of the concert hall. The question where to find Maya was easy to answer: Just follow the smell of grilled patties and French fries. That would lead me right to her for sure.

I noticed rather quickly that I still wasn't feeling too secure on my own two feet... My basically unintentional tries to break through the Psyche Locks on myself had left me quite exhausted. I was still wondering how I should ever manage to break through those. The usual method wouldn't work here for sure... After all, I didn't even know what exactly those locks meant. This was going to be difficult...

"So, she didn't show up yet?"

I jerked.

(The guit- That Gavin-guy's voice...)

"No, she didn't come."

And that was Maya. I was 100% sure. The two of them seemed to be talking right behind the corner... I pressed against the wall, so they wouldn't notice me. I didn't want to 'face off' against Maya while she was accompanied by someone who'd possibly call the security guards as soon as I'd try to talk to her. Sharpening my ears, I tried to hear what they were saying, more out of habit than actual interest...

"But, to be honest, I'm not really surprised." Maya continued. "After all that's happened... I'm actually glad that it seems like she'd decided to not come after all. I think it's best if she takes herself some time to recover..."

"The same with the little girl?" Gavin asked.

"Yes. Well, actually, I told her to stay at home. She tried to insist on coming despite what happened, but I thought standing on the big stage now would probably be a little bit too much. She just lost part of her family too, after all..."

"And what about you?"

"Huh?"

"Fräulein, why are you here today? It was your sister's trial as well, after all."

I listened closer. This Gavin-guy had just made a very sound point.

"Ah- I'm fine!" Maya said, trying to sound cheerful. "I have fans waiting out there for me after all! I can't just disappoint them like that, can I? They paid to hear me sing! It wouldn't feel right to just tell them all to go home and wait for the next concert! ...Still, I feel kinda bad. Many of them were here for the Preview of the movie's theme song after all."

"Yes, the 'Moonlight Dance'... It would have been your first time performing this song and choreography on stage, ja?"

"Yeah. But I can't really perform it with both of the other actresses missing, can I? I guess I changed into this for nothing after all..."

"I wouldn't say 'for nothing'. It suits you a lot."

"Really? You think so?"

"I hadn't said it if it wasn't true. You should keep it on for the remainder of the concert."

"Well, if you say so!"

"And about your fans... if you want to make up for this one missing performance, why don't you just sing this other song instead?"

"Which one? I have a lot of 'other songs'... Like, for example-"

"I mean "180°C"."

A silence followed. Since I couldn't see their faces, I didn't really know how Maya had reacted, but I imagined her to be a little bit shocked. After all, there was a reason why she had stopped singing that song. That 'reason' was standing just around the corner at the moment and she didn't even know it...

"M-Mr. Gavin..."

"Fräulein, to be honest, I had really been looking forward to playing this song on this guitar here when you first agreed to hold this concert... I'm actually also quite upset that you decided not to do so. And many of the fans out there probably think just the same. A lot of people would be really grateful if you'd reconsider this decision."

"Mr. Gavin... I am sorry, but I really can't. Not right now..."

"There is only a single direct mention of this bird in the whole song. It would be very easy to just alter this single line."

"But I never alter my lyrics or shorten my songs. I just don't think that would be right. They would feel so... 'incomplete' if I did."

"I see. ...Well, if that's how it is, I guess I can't change your mind, ja?"

"Thank you a lot for understanding this!"

The short pause after this told me that Maya was probably bowing gratefully now.

"Oh, just another fifteen minutes till break end!" Maya then exclaimed surprise. "Well, I'll go get myself two more burgers!"

"Two more? I thought you had eaten three already before..."

"I need at least five to activate my full vocal range of five octaves!" Maya claimed boastfully.

I didn't know if she was just joking or if her voice range actually spanned five full octaves. I, however, had my doubts. Why would a pop singer need a voice range of five octaves?

"Well, I guess we will meet again after the break then."

"Alright! See ya on stage, Mr. Gavin! Heheh!"

I then heard steps. Running. Probably Maya... Right in my direction.

(...*gulp*)

"And around the corne-!"

Maya didn't get to add the "r" to this last word anymore because she had taken mentioned corner in an incredibly, unreasonably sharp turn and crashed right into me as soon as she was... well, to say it with her words, 'Around the corne-".

An uncomfortable, hard impact on my right arm was the first consequence, being smashed to the floor the second, and feeling how a bruise came into being on the hit spot on my arm the third. Maya, however, was now sitting right in front of me, rubbing her forehead:

"Ou-Ou-Ou-Ouch... Hey...Can't you-! Huh?

Maya had opened her eyes again. And now, she was staring at me. And I was staring right back, though for a probably entirely different reason than the one she was staring at me for.

Now I knew what she had meant when she claimed that she had 'changed into this for nothing'... Maya was wearing her Medium-garb.

Her rose Kimono, fuchsia Obi-belt, purple vest, black sandals, the pearl necklace with the orange Magatama... Even that ponytail was suddenly gone again, replaced by the hairstyle I had seen almost daily ever since I first took over the office...

This was her. Maya Fey. Spirit Medium and my assistant... Just like I remembered her...

Not that she had known this, of course.

Her reaction fell out accordingly. With a five second delay, but still.

"Y-You?

Still on the floor, Maya suddenly backed off from me with an amazing speed, raising the distance between us from one to three meters.

"Y-You...came?" she stuttered nervously.

"... I was given a VIP ticket..."

I didn't mention who I got it from since I wanted to spare Edgeworth the 'Rage of Maya Fey'. However...

"Y-Yes, I know..."

"...?"

"Don't '...?' me, Mr. Wright!" Maya turned her head away. "I... I mean..."

And now, she got up from the floor and turned her head back at me, making me wonder why she turned it away in the first place.

"What do you want?" Her hands had balled to fists. "Can't you see I'm busy?"

"...What? Busy ruining your health with an overdose of fatty junk food?"

Right after finishing this sentence, I felt the strong urge to hit myself. I froze.

(Why. Did I. Say this? Reflex! Pure...stupid... reflex.)

While I was still trying to come up with some excuse for what I had just said, Maya's eyes widened as she jumped a few centimetres.

"Y-You just made fun of me, didn't you?" she finally asked.

(...Do I even need to answer to that? Maya, seriously! ... Oh no, her eyes... *gulp* Bye world, it was nice knowing you.)

Maya was glaring at me in a way worthy of a murder thriller. All this image needed was a knife in her right hand and some lightning in the background...

She would kill me. Then get someone to channel me, verbally harass me with the worst names she could come up with, beat me within the inch of the medium's life, exorcise me with the most uncomfortable technique she could come up with, apologize to the medium and then get the next one and repeat the procedure.

OK, maybe she wouldn't kill me at all, but she still looked surprisingly menacing.

"Y... YOU!" she shouted.

(Ouch! My eardrums!)

It seems like all this singing really did wonders to the volume of her voice. Actual voice-training was apparently really a whole lot superior to 'training' by simply, let's say, standing in front of a mirror and practising shouting for an hour or so. I'd have to remember that in case I ever had problems with my volume in courtroom suddenly decreasing...

Also, I have no idea why I was wondering something like that, when there was an angry Maya right in front of me, getting ready to try out her Steel-Samurai-Fangirl-'Skills' on me. With a Samurai Kick and a Samurai... Oh, you know the works.

No. I had to act. Some...thing...

(Well, that's not exactly one detailed plan I have there...)

"M-Maya...

(One M. Not two. Let's try this again.)

"Maya!"

(Better.)

"Maya, before you do anything rash, please listen to me!"

"NO! I don't want to!

Maya stomped towards me, which made me want to sink into the floor and disappear.

"You... You leave right now or I call security!"

"But I thought we both agreed that I have permission to be here..."

"Well, your so-called 'permission' has just been re-... uhm..." Maya's eyes left me and she put her finger to her mouth, continuing to stutter as she tried to spit out the word she was searching for "Re... re... re..."

"Revoked?" I finally put her out of her misery.

"Yes! It's been revocate...revoca...You haven't got it anymore!" she declared. My only response to this was letting my face sink into my hand's palm.

(This girl is so hopeless...)

"So, would you please go home now and mind your own business?"

"Sorry Maya, but I can't just leave now." I told her.

It was now that I noticed that my nervousness was gone... Apparently Maya's little vocabulary failure just now had been enough to persuade my nerves that this, despite all anger and rage, was still Maya, the Spirit Medium who lives on junk food and insists that being able to tell the difference between a normal ladder and a stepladder is close-mindedness.

"I really need to talk to you."

"Thank you, but no thank you!" Maya growled. "I decided that I've heard enough of your talking the other day! I've had enough!"

(This won't work... I have to show her that I'm on her side first...)

"Maya... I know what I did was horrible and that there's absolutely no excuse for it! But I'll try to make up for it!"

"And how are you planning on doing that! Oh! I know! You can buy me a new sister with all that fancy money of yours!" She crossed her arms, which, for some reason, looked very off. Probably because I couldn't remember ever seeing her doing that before. "You know what? I've had it with you and your lying!"

"Won't you at least give me one chance to explain myself?" I asked her "Just one? After that, I'll leave you alone, promise."

"No."

Even though I quickly realized where she must have picked up the ability to make a one word answer sound that intimidating – probably from someone with the initials 'M.E.' – I backed off a little when I heard her doing it.

(Argh… she's set to stubborn-mode... How can I get her to listen to me?)

"I... Well... I'll invite you out for Burgers and Noodles if you let me talk to you!"

"Really?"

The shine in Maya's eyes gave me a very satisfying feeling. I smirked.

(Bait… Hook… Sinker…)

"...Wait a minute..."

And then, the shine was gone again.

(Eh... I forgot about the 'line', didn't I?)

"Ha! Forget it! I'm a mature, grown up woman and not a little girl who just follows strangers who offer candy to her!

(...I wouldn't be too sure about that one.)

Maya kept her arms crossed in front of her body and started glaring at me again.

"You really want to talk to me that badly, Mr. Wright? You really want to hear my opinion? Well then, listen to this: Mia didn't do anything! She was innocent and you knew that just as well as me! But did you care? No! All you cared about was your stupid job!"

I tried to get my mind clear of all unnecessary thoughts and prepared to say something she wouldn't just cut off. This was my opportunity to talk to her... I couldn't lose it. I had to clearly, and without a doubt, show her that I was being serious about everything.

" Maya… Look. I know that you hate me and that me being here alone is probably causing you pain... But I need your help. I..."

I hesitated a little. Was this really the right way to end this sentence? But I couldn't think of anything different...

"...I can't help Mia now without it!"

"Huh?"
As soon as the name 'Mia' fell, Maya jerked. She finally uncrossed her arms again and stared at me in surprise.

"Help... Mia...?... But the verdict was already passed!" Maya replied a little stunned. "They were given a life sentence, Mr. Wright! There's no way-"

"From what I heard... her and Dahlia's verdict was given on the basis of a lack of other possibilities, right? Maybe there were just some pieces of evidence missing! If we find them, we can still prove that someone else did it and get the verdict revised!"

"...Missing pieces of... evidence...?" Maya seemed weirdly absentminded when she muttered those words after me. It looked like she was wondering something, but I had no idea what it was. It was also now that the anger vanished from her expression. She seemed more flustered than anything now. Finally, she turned her head away and mumbled.

"W-Why are you doing this...?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Helping Mia... You just offered to help my sis..." Maya looked at me again."But you were the one who got her that sentence in the first place! So why are you doing this? And... why are you doing this... now?..."

"Now..." I repeated to myself aloud. I knew where she was going with this... and unfortunately, I was right.

"Yes... As opposed to when you were actually supposed to do it!" she suddenly snapped at me. "Why now, Mr. Wright? Why would you suddenly want to help us when what happened was your fault in the first place!"

(Yes... 'why', Maya. That's a good question... Why did 'I' do this to Mia...? If this other 'Phoenix Wright' is even the least bit like me... do I have any explanation for this?)

In the end, however, all I could do was shake my head.

"I don't know." I answered upset.

"What? You don't know?"

Maya was close to sobbing again. I could hear it in her voice.

"I... don't know why I did what I did." I replied honestly. "I don't understand it at all..."

"Then..." she was shivering a little. "...I don't know why I should believe you then, Mr. Wright."

"Stop... stop calling me...

Maya had already turned around and prepared to just walk away. I knew that what I was about to say now was inappropriate now, but I couldn't hold myself back any longer. It was enough that she was looking at me with those hating eyes...

"...please don't call me that anymore. Please."

"Huh?"

And... much to my surprise... Maya actually turned around again. She didn't say anything, but she turned around and wondered what I meant. It was apparent from the look in her face.

"Please, don't use my last name..." I said, knowing that this probably only sounded stupid to her right now.

I badly wished she'd understand what I was talking about. But I knew she wouldn't. For that reason, I looked at the floor, rather than her eyes. Still, I carried on.

"Maya... you're not supposed to call me that... That doesn't sound right at all...You... You're supposed to..."

It was weird. Even though what I was saying right now was actually the product of me failing to hold myself back from just saying what came to my mind, I also couldn't finish this sentence. Probably because I was afraid of how she might react to what I was about ask her. It was, after all, at least from her point of view, just inappropriate at the moment... Still, something inside urged me to finish the sentence regardless. Probably the part of me which was actually naive enough to believe that Maya calling me 'Nick' would put everything back to normal...

"This is weird... You..."

I listened up. Maya had finally said something again...

"You're suddenly calling me 'Maya'..." she said. "All the time, ever since this morning... Why is that?"

"..."

I had nothing left anymore. Absolutely nothing. I just didn't feel like I was in the position to claim anything, to tell any excuses, to say anything at all. So I stayed silent. Maya, however, wasn't satisfied with this. She sighed. Her next words were more mumbled than outright spoken.

"Why did everything have to become the way it is... Nick?

My ears perked.

(...What?)

That's what she said. Exactly what she said.

I had to reassure myself that it hadn't just been my imagination or wishful thinking for the next few seconds before I finally decided that it was true. Maya had called me by my nickname.

I raised my head again, not quite believing what I just heard. When Maya was in my view again, I found her to be looking at the wall to her left. In my mind, I still tried to make sense of what she just had said. What had she meant? And... was it a coincidence? That she called me... 'Nick'?

Part of me was incredibly glad that she had said this one word. Part of me couldn't be happier because Maya was looking even more miserable now than before. And the final part was just confused. But that was nothing new. I had been confused ever since I woke up this morning. Almost constantly.

But maybe... Maybe everything would go back to normal once I woke up tomorrow? This thought spontaneously shot through my head.

But I knew that it wouldn't be so easy. It never was.

Just like talking to Maya hadn't been easy. And how I had failed at it.

Maya spoke again, but barely louder than before.

"You know, Nick..."

(There it is again...) I thought to myself. (I'm not imagining it. She's actually calling me that...)

"...in the end, it doesn't really matter why everything is the way it is now... because... because I always knew it would turn out like this one day..."

Now she was getting louder again.

"I should have known it... I mean...actually..." Finally, she turned her head towards me again and looked at me. She started shouting. "I thought that you were suspicious right away! Yeah! A-Actually, I always knew that you were bad news! Always!

And then came the sudden sensation like something was dead wrong.

The sound of chains rattling and the clicking of keys, closing off something.

There they were.

Three Psyche Locks slightly obscured my view at the girl before me.

(M-Maya...)

The Psyche Locks had appeared the moment she said that she had known me to be 'Bad News'... Marking those words as untrue. Meaning that...

(She's lying... What she just said... wasn't true.)

"W-Why are you starring at me like this?"

(Why did she call me by this nickname? What is the story behind those Psyche Locks? I have to know... But I have absolutely nothing I could press her with. And I am tired and exhausted... It's no use! If I present the Magatama now, I'm more likely to break myself than any of those three locks...)

A little desperate, I stared at Maya and her three Psyche Locks. If this really was my only chance to talk to her... how would I ever be able to break them?

"S-Stop it!" Maya finally said, backing of a little. "W-What are you looking at...?" She, perhaps instinctively, crossed her arms before her chest. "You're creeping me out, Mr. Wright! Go away! Go away, go away, go..."

She didn't even need to finish the sentence: A bell rang announcing the end of the thirty minute break... 'MAYOI' was required on stage again.

"Ah... No!" Maya snapped out of her fear of my stare and became shocked instead. "But what about my Burgers? That's not fair... You! It's all your fault! ARGH!!"

I didn't answer since I had just realized something: The break was over. And so was my chance to talk to Maya. This had been my one chance to explain everything to her... and I blew it. I absolutely and utterly blew it...

Meanwhile, Maya, after some minor hesitation, finally just walked past me, throwing me one last angry glare.

"I hope you are happy now... Mr. Wright!"

I couldn't say I was.

With this last sentence, she left me to stand there… alone.

Just what had I been doing for the past fifteen minutes? I tried to answer this question, but I couldn't come up with a legitimate answer that could satisfy. The truth was, I did nothing. I told her nothing and I found out... nothing. All that I got out of this conversation was a set of Psyche Locks, which I would never break.

Coming here had been in vein... No, at least not completely. After all... there was something else I found out.

I found out that there is a lawyer called "Klavier Gavin". And I knew something about him. Something I was refusing to remember.

Evidence:

*) Prosecutor's Badge

I never thought I'd ever hold this in my hands. The design closely resembles the police's emblem.

*) Magatama

This gem allows me to see the locks on people's hearts whenever they hide the truth from me. It was a gift from Maya and is charged with Pearls' spiritual energy.

*) Photo of Iris

A picture of me and Iris in Kurain. Apparently we were still a couple here, up until recently.
CHECK: http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/1896 ... feenie.png

*) Cellphone

Compared to the Cellphone I usually use, this is high tech luxury. Now, if I just knew how to properly use all the functions…
CHECK: http://img17.imageshack.us/i/cellphone.png/

*) Concert Ticket

A VIP ticket to a concert at Sunshine Coliseum, entitled 'Doubted Sentence'. Maya is singing there.

*) Suicide Note

Found near the unconscious Lana Skye. Check for details:
CHECK: http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/9123/suicidenote.png

*) Victim(?) Note

Reads "Lana" in red letters of blood.
CHECK: http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/4660/victimnote.png

*) Steel Samurai Cards

Some trading cards I confiscated. I didn't really look at them yet, but the writing on at least two of them is sparkling. They must be quite rare.

*) Snackoos Bag

Found near Ema. She was apparently eating them before she was killed. Imported from Europe.

*) Dart

A small, needle-like projectile, made for use with a tranquilizer gun. There are faint traces of blood on it. Found near the sofa.

*) Rope

Ripped. Apparently, Lana tried to hang herself with it. Something is weird about the rupture, but I can't quite point my finger at it.

Profiles:

*) Phoenix Wright

I have been a Defense Attorney for three years now. But now it looks like people were convinced of something else suddenly...

*) Miles Edgeworth

An old school friend of mine. Apparently, he's a renowned Defense Attorney here. The "Him" I remember, on the other hand, was an extremely talented, but arrogant Prosecutor.

*) Maya Fey


Apparently a famous pop idol known as "MAYOI". In my memory, she was a Spirit Medium and served as my assistant and co-council in many of my cases.

*) Ema Skye

A teenager, who was dreaming of becoming a forensic investigator one day and good friend of mine. Was murdered in the apartment.

*) Lana Skye

Ema's older sister. Apparently tried to commit suicide in the bathroom. Her suicide note implicates her as her sister's killer.

*) Dick Gumshoe

Still detective of the local police force. Still as underpaid as ever.

*) Mia Fey

Maya's older sister and a detective. Currently under arrest for attempted murder. I remember her being my mentor as a Defense Attorney and murdered shortly after my very first trial.

*) Dahlia Fey

Maya's and Mia's cousin and Iris's identical twinsister. Was the coldblooded killer 'Dahlia Hawthorne' in the world I remember, but declared guilty for a crime she didn't commit alongside Mia in this one. Her personality seems to have been turned upside down...

*) Klavier Gavin

Leadsinger and Guitarist of a Band called "Gavinners". Apparently also a lawyer. His name rings a bell, but I can't remember where I first met him.

Alright, I have a love-hate relationship with this chapter. On one hand, I love everything Klavier and/or Psyche-lock related in this chapter (Not that I was a Klavier fangirl, but I think he's a nice character), on the other hand I'm unsure how well my self-written song lyrics hold up (And actually, they are only written out because I wanted to make it unmistakably clear what Maya is singing about... Don't worry, there won't be any more lyrics written out like this any more from now on Alright, that's a lie, there'll be one more song... ) and the scene of Maya and Nick arguing almost KILLED me. X-X

Anyway, writting Klavier's dialouge was incredibly fun, because German is my first language. Making fun of ones own language is really amusing. ^^ And, yes, "Fräulein" is actually written with an Umlaut. Also, to somebody actually speaking German, Klavier's use of this word makes him sound old, rather than cool, since nobody except 60 years old granpas are using this word anymore nowadays. "Junge Frau" (Young Lady) or just "Frau" are much more commonly in use now. Also, actual native German speakers wouldn't really use the word "ja" the way he does. They'd rather use "oder" which can either mean "or" or "isn't it?"

I should probably mention that Klavier's use of a foreign language is completly gone in the German version of the game, where he just refers to Trucy as "Fräulein" for no apparent reason and calls Apollo "Stirni" ("Foreheady") instead of "Herr Forehead".

The first song-lyrics Maya sings were written by me to the melody of Phoenix' Objection Theme from the first game, specifically this remix of it. Writting song lyrics for Video Game music has always been a little hobby of mine, but I normally wouldn't use them in fanfictions. It's just that it's of plot importance here.

Also, the second song we hear Maya sing... well, while it isn't really based on any actual song, I listenined to Nana Mizuki's "Massive Wonders" to come up with the lyrics. I hope everyone got what the lyrics are supposed to reference. ^^;

As you may have noticed, I love Psyche-Locks. They are just... awesome. ^^ And come with some incredibly cool music! :-D

?

"Wait up, you guys! Hold on a sec!"

"Ah... Could you be any slower, Phoenix?"

"Yeah, Nick! We don't slow down, you speed up!"

"Hey... I only have two legs, you know..."

(And you're not the one carrying everyone's stuff...)

That was no fair! Larry was supposed to lag behind. He usually always did! But nooo….not today. I just can't ever say 'No' to anyone and I ended up playing the porter for the two of them. Why me?

Miles was already standing on the hilltop searching the ground, probably for bugs or plants with thorns or something. He didn't really like to just set up everything without checking first.

"Hm, this is a nice place... Hey, Phoenix, would you please hand me the blanket?"

"W-Wait, I'm not there yet...!"

"Hm?" He turned around towards me and looked a little resentful when he discovered that I wasn't even halfway up the hill yet. "Ah... Seriously, Phoenix, are you planning on getting up here before the sun sets, or..."

"You guys could help me!" I shouted up to them "Especially you, Larry!"

Larry was not exactly happy to hear this.

"Ah? Why me!"

"I've been carrying all the stuff all the way up here! Miles brought us here and his dad drove us, but you haven't done a thing yet, that's why!"

"He has a good point." Miles told Larry and I was really happy to hear that. "You go down there and help Phoenix get the stuff up."

"H-Hey!" Larry grinned a little nervously. "I mean...Nick's a man! He can take this, I'm sure he can."

Miles shook his head. "I'm not so sure about it."

"Yes!" I shouted up to them nodding. "... Hey, wait..."

(Why did I answer that with 'Yes'? Oh, I didn't think before opening my mouth, that's why...)

Miles threw Larry a glance with half closed eyes.

"Larry..."

"Argh… Always me!"

He still didn't seem too happy about it, but Larry finally came down and helped me get the two heavy backpacks up the hill. Finally, we could set up for a picnic. It didn't take us long since all three of us were working together now. It was fun, at least compared to having to carry two full backpacks all by myself...

"Awesome!" I looked all over the food we had put on the blanket. "Let's eat, you guys! I'm starving!"

"Count me in!" Larry's eyes were shining and his mouth was wide open.

The only who didn't seem to be in a hurry to start eating was Miles. "Shouldn't we plan where we go after lunch first, so we don't waste too much time running in circles later?"

"Ah, that's easy!" Larry claimed. "I know a great spot not far away from here by the river with a perfect tree to climb! I go there a lot with my cousin!"

"I didn't know you could climb, Larry." I stated a little surprised, already reaching for a slice of bread with my hand, even though Miles didn't say that we could start yet. Larry just grinned at me.

"Uhm, Heheh... I never said I was the one doing the climbing. I only said that it's great for climbing."

Unimpressed, Miles sighed. "In other words, you usually spend your time down there watching your cousin climbing a tree."

"Sometimes I throw stuff up for her! ... She rarely ever catches though..."

"So it's decided, we go to the place with the tree after lunch!" I said rather quickly. "Now..."

I didn't wait for the others anymore now. After all, I had more than one good reason to be tired and hungry. After dragging up all this stuff here, I had a right to eat it! So I opened my mouth and took a big bite...

I just had chewed three or four times when I opened my eyes again and saw something... someone.

There was someone at the foot of the hill... A girl in a weird, pink bathrobe...

I let go of the sandwich in my hand. The girl was looking at me... She was looking right at me for sure!

I became a little nervous as the girl kept staring at me in an unnerving way.

And then she moved her lips and formed a word. But I couldn't hear her.

"...What did you say...?"

"Hm? Is something wrong, Phoenix?"

Mile's voice surprised me. I turned towards him.

"It's that girl over there... I think she's talking to me!"

"Hm? Girl?" Miles tilted his head a little bit. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, she's-"

I stopped. The spot I was pointing at was empty. Confused, I let my hand sink again.

"She's... gone?"

"You're just seeing things, Nick!" Larry told me with half a sandwich in his mouth, so I had a little trouble understanding what he said. "There was nobody. Believe me, if there'd been a girl here, I would have noticed!"

"I think I have to agree with him for once." Miles shrugged and sighed. "You're probably tired. Just eat something and try to relax."

"Y-Yeah…"

I said that, yes, but I didn't actually believe that I really had just imagined her. She had looked way too real...

I closed my eyes and took another bite of my sandwich. When I opened them again...

I stopped chewing.

There she was. Right next to the bush behind Miles. And again, she was staring at me. Her eyes made me feel so unsettled... I put down my sandwich and looked at me. She moved her lips again. And this time, I actually heard what she said.

"Mr. Nick..."

"Huh...?"

Slowly, I got really nervous. Why did this girl know my nickname...? I was thinking about walking over and asking her when she, all of a sudden, just turned around and ran away.

"H-Hey! Wait!"

"Phoenix?"

"Hey, Nick, where're ya going?"

I had jumped up from the blanket and was now running down the hill. I had to catch up with that girl. I had to ask her something... even though I didn't know what exactly I would ask her. I chased her all across the meadow, right to pretty much the centre, where she suddenly stood still. I stopped as well. The girl didn't do anything now for a little while. And I just stood there and watched her, as her weird clothes moved forth and back in the breeze.

It was late spring, so the wind was warm and the flowers in the meadow were in full bloom. The girl was standing right in a field of roses, tulips and sunflowers...

(...How weird. Do those three ever grow side by side?)

I couldn't really tell... I knew pretty much nothing about flowers. I only knew what tulips and sunflowers looked like. And, roses too, because pretty much everybody knows that name. Others… I couldn't even tell apart... I didn't really like biology. Actually, I hated it. I usually copied my biology tests from Miles… But don't tell him that!

The girl was still barely moving, except for her braided hair and clothes in the draft. She looked a little bit like an Asian princess or priestess from a storybook...

I decided to try talk to her.

"Hello...you?"

She didn't react...

"...Can I help you? ... Who are you?"

"Mr. Nick..."

Finally, the girl turned around. Her big, brown eyes focused on mine right away. Her face was still exactly the same as before. The exact same stare.

"Mr. Nick..." she repeated once again. "...why won't you answer?"

"Huh?" Confused, I didn't reply right away. I tilted my head a little. "Excuse me, but did you ask me a question earlier..?" I finally said. I couldn't remember if she did. "And why are you calling me 'Mister'? I'm not even old enough to drive yet..."

The girl seemed to ignore what I said.

"Mr. Nick... Why won't you answer the call?"

"The... The call?"

I started looking around, sharpening my ears... Was there a phone ringing anywhere? But even if there was, why should I answer it? It couldn't be mine... I didn't have my own phone yet. Miles had one, but not me...

"Mystic Maya has been calling and calling you... Why won't you answer, Mr. Nick?"

"Mystic...Maya?"

I looked up. Maya… Did I know anyone with that name? It ringed a bell at least...

"Uhm... Look, tell her that I'm sorry!" I told the girl. "I will ask Mom about that right when I get home! If that 'Maya' has really called me, I'll call her back soon, promise!"

"Why didn't you yet?" And still, she kept looking at me with that intense stare. "Mr. Nick... Are you a liar?"

"W-What?" Baffled, I backed off a little bit. Where did that come from...? "No! Of course not! I don't lie!"

"But you lied." The girl told me as she came closer to me with slow steps. "They all say you lied. And when you told Mystic Maya that we would all stay friends... that was a lie too, right?"

"W-What are you talking about?" I shook my head a bit. "I wouldn't lie! I don't know who told you that, but they're wrong! I... I didn't..."

"And why are you afraid of answering then?"

Holding my head with my hands, I shook once again and then replied to the girl. "Look, I don't know what you're talking about! I didn't lie! Least of all to a friend!"

"How can I know you're not lying about this too?"

"I told you! I am not!" I told her again. "Please... believe me!"

"Pearly... leave him alone."

And then, there was this woman.

She was just... there behind the girl all of a sudden. A young woman with long, black hair in the same, weird clothes as her, placing her hands on the little girl's shoulders:

"Just leave Nick be, Pearly." she said with a very fake smile. "If he doesn't want to talk to me..." She tilted her head and closed her eyes... They had been wet, so tears rolled down her cheeks when she let her lids sink. "...that's alright!"

(Is she... crying because of me? ...)

I wanted to say something, but my voice wouldn't work. And as soon as I had come up with words to tell her... they were gone again.

"It's probably my fault anyway, right?" the woman with the fake smile and the wet eyes said. "I'm so weak... I can't even handle the least bit of pressure. I have always been useless and everyone around me has been hurt, just because I failed again and again... I let Mia die... I let my mother die... and when the people I like need me the most, I'm not there... Talk about misfortune... Hey, maybe I should start a club with Maggey! Ha...Ha... Ha..."

"Maya..."

'You're not useless!' I wanted to say, but my voice failed to work, again, and I only moved my mouth without making a sound. 'Maya, you're not useless, you've helped me so many times! Please don't cry!' I wanted to say. But she heard not a single one of my words.

She turned around and took the little girl's hand.

"Let's go Pearly..."

"No."

The girl let go of her hand.

"Mystic Maya, he lied. He's a liar."

"Pearly, don't say that." The woman told her softly. "It's not a nice thing to say."

"But it's true!" The little girl claimed.

"No!" Suddenly, my voice was back. "I would never lie or hurt a friend! Not even if I tried!"

"But you lied. They all say so."

As the girl said this, the woman had already turned around and was now leaving.

"Maya!" I shouted. "Wait, Maya! Don't go away!"

"Mystic Maya has always believed in you, Mr. Nick..." The girl suddenly said and I turned my head back at her. She didn't blink, didn't move anything aside from her mouth.

"You lied to Mystic Maya too, right?"

"N-No..."

"What? Nick lied?"

This was Larry's voice. I turned around and there he stood, arms behind his head and eyes wandering around confusedly. "Eh...No way! Or... way?"

"Larry!"

"Sorry Nick, but on second thought..." He grinned. "It's not that hard to imagine! Heh..."

"How can you say that?" I asked him. "We're friends! You should know that I'd not... I'd never..."

"Phoenix." Miles stood beside him. He looked at me with crossed arms. "Yes, we are friends, but what are we supposed to think of this if you don't tell us what really happened?"

"B-But I have no idea what happened!" I replied and pointed at the girl. "Why don't you ask her? She's the one accusing me after all!"

"Are you trying to tell me that you can't even defend yourself anymore?" Miles asked me. "I expected more from you, of all people."

"S-Stop this!" I shouted. "I... I am not a liar! I didn't lie to anyone! I didn't!"

"But they all say you did." The little girl's voice said behind me.

I covered my face with my hands and tried not to show anyone how hurt I was. I am a boy and boys don't cry. Especially not in front of girls. Or in front of their friends.

"Who are 'they'?" I finally asked. "Who claims something like this?"

And the girl answered.

"Just look around, Mr. Nick."

I opened my eyes.

And there 'they' were. All around me. My whole class was staring at me. Every last one of them. And the teacher too. My heart raced.

(No... Please… Not again...)

I knew this situation. I knew it so well, it hurt even to just think about it. And now… Was it happening again? All over again?

The voices around me had already started talking.



(Why? …S-Stop that...)



I pressed my hands against my ears and tried not to listen, but the voices didn't get any quieter...



My eyes got wet.

(Help me... somebody... help...)



(Please...)



I knew what was supposed to happen now. I knew that this was the point where this one voice, this single and only voice in the whole room would rise up to help me. The moment where somebody would tell me that they believe in me...

But it didn't come. The objection I waited for wasn't raised. No one came forward. There... was no miracle. No turnabout.

(Why won't they believe me...? Why isn't anybody objecting...?)

I looked around...

And suddenly, I noticed that I wasn't in a classroom. This was a courtroom. And the people around me weren't children. They were adults... Staring at me with angry, almost glowing eyes. Not a single one of them showed even the least bit of mercy.

They kept chanting...

'GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY!'...

Every last one of them...

(Why...)

...and not a single voice...

(Why... Why...?)

...not even one of them objected.

I finally screamed.



As loud as I could. I screamed until the voices stopped. I just wanted them all to shut up. Just... shut up... and...

"You're such a crybaby, Phoenix."

"Huh?"

I looked up. Miles was there right in front of me.

"I thought you were able to handle a few petty blows on your own by now." He told me with a disappointed face.

"B-But..." my whole body trembled and I couldn't talk without stuttering. "I... I was all... all..."

"Why are you weeping?" Miles asked me.

I looked up to him... all the way up to the man in front of me.

"You never gave up when others needed your help... I would have never thought that you would give up on yourself this easily, Wright."

"E-Edgeworth..."

All I could do was stand there and look at Edgeworth as he waited for me to say something. I wanted to say something, to excuse and explain myself... But I couldn't come up with anything.

Silence reigned until someone from behind suddenly spoke to me.

"Oh, you're crying already?"

I turned around and faced the one who said this. A young woman with dark brown hair. She approached me with slow steps and smiled.

"Well, I guess it really is over then, isn't it? Looks like I was a little too late..."

"Over? ..." I asked confused.

Mia came closer and, finally, bent down to me, looking me straight in the eyes.

"Somebody very dear to me once said that the only time a lawyer can cry is when it's all over." She said. "So, tell me Phoenix... did you already give up?"

"M-Mia..."

"Because... if you really did..."

Her smile didn't waver. Not one bit...



~*~

May 2nd 5:57am

Gatewater Hotel

"...!"

My eyes opened and I didn't know where I was.

(Mia...where is she...? Mia was talking to me just a moment ago...!)

That was the first thing that came to my mind. Only gradually and after I took a look at my surroundings in the dark room did the remaining pieces fill in. I started to grasp where I was and what exactly had happened...

...Gatewater Hotel... I had checked in here... Then I went to sleep...

Then it all came back to me. My whole situation...

"Ahh..."

I let my upper body fall back into the soft pillow. A nightmare. This whole thing had been nothing more than a terrible, terrible nightmare. Thank goodness...

(Wait...)

I leaped up. Throwing away the blanket, I turned on the lamp on the nightstand, stood up, searched the floor for my suitcase, picked it up and opened it. My belongings almost literally leapt at me when I did, because I had removed the cover too hastily, but I somehow avoided spilling the contents across the floor. I started searching through everything.

"... Ungh..."

I sighed disappointed when I found the Prosecutor's badge to still be there. So not everything had been a dream...

Now that I had reassured myself of this, I allowed me to become more aware of my current situation again:

One day ago, I went from Defense Attorney to Prosecutor overnight for no apparent reason. Most of my friends hated me and those who didn't were dead, pretty disappointed by me or living on instant noodles. Also, I would have to prosecute in a trial against a woman who I knew to be not guilty for sure today and had barely prepared for this...

Finally, I had Psyche Locks on me for some reason. Even though this should be absolutely impossible, since this would basically mean that I was keeping secrets from myself... and now the class Trial and Fey Women were haunting me in my dreams...

(Argh! Just how am I supposed to figure out the meaning behind all of this? I'm a lawyer, not Sigmund Freud! Gimme a break, life...)

At least I could be sure about one thing: Not only had I suddenly ended up in a DL-6-less world with no explanation, there was also something wrong with me...

Going right back to sleep now would have seemed like a very pleasant option hadn't it been for the very likely possibility of ending up in that horrifying dream again if I did. The memory of it alone was enough to make me shudder, so I decided that this bed had seen enough use for the night. But what should I do now, so early in the morning...? It was still dark outside after all.

(How late is it anyway?)

I took a look at the clock on my cell phone's display and saw that it read exactly "6:00 am". That was really a bit early, especially for my taste. Still, I had decided to not go back to sleep and was not going to change that decision.

After sitting on the bed and staring holes into the air for several minutes, I finally got up to do something. Anything at all.

I took a look out of the window and eyed the streets as well as the neighboring houses. There was light behind exactly two windows of the building across the street. A little bit of thinking and I realized with slight surprise that those were my office's windows. Was Edgeworth up already? Probably working... Maybe reading some of his juristic books... taking care of paper work... doing other kinds of work I had never quite managed to do...

I tried to peek through the windows and see what he was doing, but the angle was too sharp and I could only see the corner where Charlie was actually supposed to reside. It was probably for the better anyway. Seeing him working twice more efficiently than I ever had would only have depressed me, especially now that I had absolutely no idea what to do with my time...

Argh... what was I thinking? I had a trial today! There had to be something I could prepare! It was just that I couldn't think of anything at the moment. I had already checked all pieces of evidence thrice. I couldn't go investigate on the crime scene again, since Edgeworth had the key card. Checking on the client was out of question too, since she was, for once, not my client.

(Hm... Now that I think about it… Since I'm the Prosecutor, shouldn't I have gotten the autopsy report, as well as all the other results of the police's and the forensic scientist's investigations? Weird... Huh? Why won't the cell phone's screen dim down again? Hm... A blinking envelope symbol on the scr- Oh.)

I finally realized it: I had a text message on my cellphone. It first struck me as weird, since I couldn't remember hearing this phone ring ever since I received Edgeworth's call the day before. So when did I get this message? Or rather… 'Messages'.

'You've got 3 new messages.' The screen read.

(Three? So many at once? How did I miss them all?)

Curious, I finally pressed the button and waited for the message-select screen to open up…

Immediately, three highlighted names appeared on the phone's display. They were, as follows:

*) Ema

*) Chief

*) Det. Gumshoe

The phone almost slipped out of my hand when I read this. Ema… Ema had sent me another message before she died? I didn't notice this! How did this get past me…?

The time was given as "16:10" on the screen…

(That was when I was unconscious…) I remembered.

The last text message Ema sent before her murder… Was it this? Her true dying message?

I had to see it. Right now. My fingers shook like crazy, but I somehow still managed to hit the "read" button. The window popped up on the display, revealing what Ema had written:





"…"

(Well that sure was anticlimactic.)

I felt stupid. There I had been seriously thinking that Ema maybe had managed to type me some details about her murderer, when she actually had only wanted to reassure me that she was going to come. This was so awkward… especially since I only found this message now. Now that the poor girl was dead… The emoticon she had added now seemed to be taunting her.

'See ya'. Hah. Yeah, 'see her' indeed. See her sitting on the floor, slowly and painfully suffering and dying in her own blood… The image still wouldn't go away. It was especially jarring for me because I still found it scary how much she had resembled the dead Mia when she sat there… Was this another one of the universe's tries to drown me in an overdose of irony? I didn't find it funny. Not at all.

I was about to just hit the 'delete' button and try to forget that I ever saw this when I remembered that it would probably be a better idea to keep the message. After all, this proved that Ema had still been perfectly fine around 4pm. It could prove useful in court today.

Next, I returned to the message-select screen and moved the cursor to the next highlighted name: "Chief".

(Chief…)

Immediately Mia came to my mind, but then I remembered our conversation the other day and realized that the person who must have sent me this message was someone else: Lana.

And the time was given as… "16:14".

(Another one from when I was out cold… Didn't Edgeworth mind my phone ringing all the time?)

I opened the message.

'Mr. Wright, come to Hickfield clinic as fast as possible, please.'

(Huh…? Now that's weird…) I thought. (Why should she want me to go to the hospital…?)

There was still more message left. I read on:





(…What?)

For a few seconds, I stared at the screen baffled.

Now that made absolutely no sense whatsoever!

(A Hit-and-Run driver… What, What, What? But Ema came to my Apartment! …Which means that this message is a complete lie. But this doesn't make sense either… Why would Lana try to make me think that her sister was in the hospital? Ungh…)

The more I thought about it, the more unlikely the possible explanations for this gigantic contradiction became. Finally, my head started to ache and I let it be. I would just keep this message and remember it once I found out anything that could possibly explain it…

It was time to take a look at the last message. The one from Gumshoe.

The timestamp said "20:24". I tried to come up with why exactly I hadn't noticed this one arriving, and finally remembered that I had been on that rather disturbing Journey To The Centre Of My Mind at that time. Naturally I didn't notice my phone ringing when there was 200 Decibels worth of music around me, not to mention five weird Psyche Locks laughing at me.

(Now, if that message says what I guess it says, that would explain why I didn't get the… Ah, yes, I knew it.)



So much for why I hadn't got the autopsy report yet. I would have to remember to go pick it up and study it before going to court. Also, hadn't Gumshoe mentioned a witness the day before? I'd have to question her as well…

From what the Detective had told me, the girl was apparently a teenager… A 'MAYOI' Fan who had visited the concert the day before. I remembered the screaming fangirls and suddenly didn't feel like questioning that person at all. Not that I had a choice, of course. Witness was witness, no matter how weird, unpleasant or just downright insane they were.

Now that I was finished with going through the messages, I was, once again, out of things to do. Boredom struck again and hard. It was Thursday, six in the morning… Just what could I possibly do? Gumshoe probably wasn't even up yet, so I couldn't call and ask him to bring me the reports. There was a television in the room, but I wasn't in the mood for watching reruns of sitcoms or cheap cartoons and the chance that there was anything else on right now was rather low. A little desperate, I picked up the service list from the table and browsed through the options. Finally, I decided to just order myself breakfast. I picked up the room's phone and made the call. Not that this had taken care of my boredom…

I then realized that a bellboy would soon be coming up here now and that I was still in Pajamas. Changing into normal clothing was probably the best idea now. A short trip to the room's bathroom and I had taken care of this too. Before I knew it, I found myself sitting on the bed again, doing absolutely nothing. Another look at the watch… 6:15am. Somehow, time just wouldn't pass. I sighed.

(Why isn't Maya around when I need her? I can't stand being all by myself…)

I was a little surprised when I found myself thinking this since I was sure that I would have thought the exact opposite if Maya had actually been here right now. I then guessed that this probably was because you only start to appreciate what you had once you've lost it…

(Hm, what could I do now? Well, I have the court record, a cell phone I can barely use, a television, paper, a pencil…)

As I thought this, I suddenly remembered how much I had loved drawing in high school… This had also been the reason why I had chosen Art as my primary subject when I first studied at Ivy University… Law had actually originally been just my second. My encounter with Mia and the rumors about Edgeworth had finally caused my interest to shift enough for me to drop art and focus on law alone… I hadn't tried drawing again ever since then.

(Hm… I wonder…)

I took a look at the desk in the room's corner and nodded. Picking up the pencil, the sharpener and a few sheets of paper, I sat down at the desk and started sketching.

I didn't really think when I drew. I just did what came to me and let my thoughts wander off in the meantime. Where exactly my thoughts ventured to then… I can't really tell. I don't remember. I just kind of… drifted off, as my hand kept leading the pencil across the paper. Line for line for line…

Finally, a knock caused me to jerk and brought me back to reality.

(Oh… The breakfast I ordered, I guess.)

Without looking at my sheet of paper, I stood up and hurried to the door, where the bellboy was already waiting for me with the heavy tray. I politely took over, thanked him and gave him a tip. He left and I, carrying the tray, returned back to the desk. Fried Eggs, Ham, Orange Juice, Coffee… at least I had something to eat now. I sat down and already wanted to pour myself some coffee, when I caught a glance of my sketch.

(…Hey…)

Only now I realized what I had drawn. I picked the sketch up and took a good look at it. It was obvious from first glance that I was absolutely out of practice. The whole picture was off, off, off. But this was not what had surprised me. No, actually, it had been the motive.



It was Maya, Pearls and me. On a boat…

(Oh yeah…) I remembered now. (…We went rowing in Gatewaterland together not too long ago, right? I had completely forgotten about this…)

It now came back to me… It had been my idea. Maya had been quite down ever since we put Iris's trial behind us, so I told her that I'd finally fulfill this old promise I had made to her at Lake Gourd once... Back, when I had told her I would take her out rowing. When I searched for some place where we could do so- Lake Gourd itself was out of question, given all the unpleasant memories connected to it- Pearls showed me the flyer of this new theme park and demanded me to go there with Maya. Something about a bridge and eternal love… To be honest, I didn't really listen to what she was talking about, but I pretended to.

Of course, it had ended with me doing all the rowing while Maya and Pearl apparently tried with all their might to make us capsize, but we still had a lot of fun there together. If I remember correctly, we had even spotted Edgeworth passing by… On the bridge Pearls had mentioned. With a girl. Naturally, Pearls started swooning over what a powerful thing love is and how not even 'the strong Mr. Edgeworth' could hide from it. I, however, right away had my doubts that this girl was anything even close to his girlfriend. For one, she had looked barely older than Maya. Actually, even younger than her. Also, Edgeworth was not the type for this kind of relationship – don't think of Dahlia, don't think of Dahlia – Not at all. Maya herself went on to nickname Edgeworth's anonymous companion from that day "Mystery Bird Girl" because of that striking, wing like scarf she had been wearing. Come to think of it, I still hadn't got to ask him who that girl had actually been… And I also wouldn't get to do this now since this all had now technically never happened.

(Why did I draw this…?)

…Stupid question. Because I was missing the girls, of course…

"…Huh?"

Familiar bleeps ripped me out of my thoughts. The cell phone… Since it was still right beside me on the desk, one single move with my arm was enough to pick it up and take the call.

"Hello. Phoenix Wright here. Who am I talking to?"

A deep voice greeted me from the other end of the line.

"Mr. Wright! It's me, Detective Gumshoe!"

(Gumshoe…? This early in the morning?)

He sounded pretty nervous. Confused, I took a look at the clock. Was I already late…? No, the trial was set for 10:00am and right now it was just 6:43am. So why was he calling me?

"Where are you right now?" Gumshoe went on to ask me, the tension in his voice not loosening one bit.

"Gatewater Hotel." I answered "I… just got up an hour ago. Why do you ask?"

Gumshoe seemed a little shocked when he heard that. "Gatewater Hotel? But that's, like, at the other end of town!"

"Uhm… as opposed to where…?" I asked a little confused.

"You need to come to the 3rd floor lobby in the courthouse! We've got some problems here, Sir! ...Uhm… I mean…"

The tone in his voice had finally changed. Now, he sounded upset. Not exactly better than before, actually.

"… I called you 'Sir' again, right? ...Sorry…"

"Never mind that now!" I tried to bring him back on-topic. "Anyway, what kind of problems were you talking about?"

"Oh, right! The witness just arrived!"

The witness.

My eyes widened and I slapped my forehead with my hand. Of course. The witness. Gumshoe had told me she would arrive at the courthouse at 7:00… I had absolutely forgotten about that!

"You need to come here quickly, Sir! We've… got some trouble with that girl!"

"Some trouble?" I asked.

"Uhm, she came half an hour early, but now she threatens to just leave if nobody comes to question her in twenty…" The pause here told me, that he was taking a look at his watch "Uhm… fifteen minutes."

"What?" I gasped. "She can't just leave! She's the only witness we got! Stop her!"

"That's easier said than done!" He suddenly started whispering, so I guess the witness was right behind him at the moment. "She's scary, I tell ya… Keeps glaring at us with this kind of look that makes you think she was gonna kill you any second… I think she's grumpy because we called her in so soon in the morning…"

(Heh. Well, sounds like she was a candidate for being the killer.) I thought to myself, knowing from experience that this joke could just as well turn out to be true. Still, I couldn't say anything yet, since I hadn't interrogated her yet.

"We won't be able to keep her here for much longer, I think! She keeps claiming she has 'no obligation' to be here. Do you get this?"

(What… Argh, yes, that's right!) I suddenly remembered. (In cases like this one, the Prosecution is empowered to summon witnesses to court, not the police. She really has no obligation to stay when I didn't personally order her to! …Oh… Oh.)

I was more than just surprised that this girl was seriously thinking of using this law. Witnesses usually didn't even know that it existed. She must have informed herself beforehand…

I had to be fast now. If I didn't arrive before that girl decided to make use of her right and just go home again, chances were high that I wouldn't get another chance to question her before the trial.

"Alright, I will be there as fast as I can!" I answered into the phone, shaking my head nervously: "Gumshoe, whatever you do, make sure that this teenager doesn't leave! I need her to stay, you hear me?"

"I hear you loud and clear, Sir! Uhm...Oops"

Gumshoe seemed embarrassed now. I guess he just couldn't help it. Adding 'Sir' or 'Pal' to his sentences was just how he talked. He probably didn't even know how to form a real sentence without this…

He correcting himself all the time was starting to annoy me… a bit more than him calling me 'Sir' actually, but just a little bit.

"Just find a way to entertain that girl." I told him.

"Got ya, si-… Uhm…" He laughed nervously "I mean… eh… heh…heh…"

My forehead encountered my palm once again and I decided to just give in and finally end this:

"You know what?" I sighed into the phone. "Just call me 'Pal'."

Gumshoe wasn't even trying to hide his childlike excitement when he answered to this.

"I-I can call you that? Really? Wow… Thanks a lot, Pal!"

I had already prepared myself to pity my lost respect and expected to immediately regret allowing him to call me that right when he would first used that phrase when addressing me. But when I heard this last sentence I, much to my surprise felt… really relieved. Like something broken had been fixed…

I then realized that Gumshoe calling me 'Pal' had become something so normal for me by now that him not doing it was enough to make me feel unsettled, because it was just… not normal.

It actually felt comfortable now. Like a little bit of normality had just returned to the world. And after the kind of day I had yesterday, this little bit of normality was incredibly satisfying.

Evidence:

*) Prosecutor's Badge

I never thought I'd ever hold this in my hands. The design closely resembles the police's emblem.

*) Magatama

This gem allows me to see the locks on people's hearts whenever they hide the truth from me. It was a gift from Maya and is charged with Pearls' spiritual energy.

*) Photo of Iris

A picture of me and Iris in Kurain. Apparently we were still a couple here, up until recently.
CHECK: http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/1896 ... feenie.png

*) Cellphone

Compared to the Cellphone I usually use, this is high tech luxury. There are messages from Ema, Lana and Gumshoe on it.
CHECK: http://img17.imageshack.us/i/cellphone.png/
EMA'S MESSAGE(1) CHECK: http://img267.imageshack.us/i/emamessagesooner.png/

EMA'S MESSAGE(2) CHECK: http://img132.imageshack.us/i/emamessage.png/

LANA'S MESSAGE CHECK: http://img121.imageshack.us/i/lanamessage.png/

GUMSHOE'S MESSAGE CHECK: http://img824.imageshack.us/i/gumshoemessage.png/

*) Suicide Note

Found near the unconscious Lana Skye. Check for details:
CHECK: http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/9123/suicidenote.png

*) Victim(?) Note

Reads "Lana" in red letters of blood.
CHECK: http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/4660/victimnote.png

*) Steel Samurai Cards

Some trading cards I confiscated. I didn't really look at them yet, but the writing on at least two of them is sparkling. They must be quite rare.

*) Snackoos Bag

Found near Ema. She was apparently eating them before she was killed. Imported from Europe.

*) Dart

A small, needle-like projectile, made for use with a tranquilizer gun. There are faint traces of blood on it. Found near the sofa.

*) Rope

Ripped. Apparently, Lana tried to hang herself with it. Something is weird about the rupture, but I can't quite point my finger at it.

*)Sketch

A picture of Maya, Pearls and me, drawn in my boredom. Note to self: Giving up the art studies was a good choice.
CHECK: http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/645/sketchonaboat.png

Profiles:

*) Phoenix Wright

I have been a Defense Attorney for three years now. But now it looks like people were convinced of something else suddenly...

*) Miles Edgeworth

An old school friend of mine. Apparently, he's a renowned Defense Attorney here. The "Him" I remember, on the other hand, was an extremely talented, but arrogant Prosecutor.

*) Maya Fey


Apparently a famous pop idol known as "MAYOI". In my memory, she was a Spirit Medium and served as my assistant and co-council in many of my cases.

*) Ema Skye

A teenager, who was dreaming of becoming a forensic investigator one day and good friend of mine. Was murdered in the apartment.

*) Lana Skye

Ema's older sister. Apparently tried to commit suicide in the bathroom. Her suicide note implicates her as her sister's killer.

*) Dick Gumshoe

Still detective of the local police force. Still as underpaid as ever.

*) Mia Fey

Maya's older sister and a detective. Currently under arrest for attempted murder. I remember her being my mentor as a Defense Attorney and murdered shortly after my very first trial.

*) Dahlia Fey

Maya's and Mia's cousin and Iris's identical twinsister. Was the coldblooded killer 'Dahlia Hawthorne' in the world I remember, but declared guilty for a crime she didn't commit alongside Mia in this one. Her personality seems to have been turned upside down...

*) Klavier Gavin

Leadsinger and Guitarist of a Band called "Gavinners". Apparently also a lawyer. His name rings a bell, but I can't remember where I first met him.

Behold! My love for creepy dream sequences! XD Did I ever mention that I am a fan of mindrape of all kind? ^^

I'm so glad I got to write the Nick-Larry-Miles Trio, even though it was just for a short scene. ^^

I love imagining what those three were like in school. I imagine Misty Fey's theme "Simple Melody" playing during the scene where Phoenix encounters Pearl on the Meadow, right till the faux-class-trial. You can, of course, imagine it with every kind of music you like. I will sit back while you try to figgure out this dreams meaning. ^^ Even though a few parts are probably not that hard to unravel...

Yeah... I have to admit, not much happened besides this. The scene in Gatewater Hotel was just there for... the sake of being there. Well, actually, I needed it, but I still feel bad for not giving you more than this. Actually, the interrogation of the Witness was supposed to happen in this chapter, but it would have turned out longer than 20 pages if I hadn't split it and I didn't want that. That's, by the way, also the reason why this chapter has such a lame ending. There was supposed to be another scene afterwards. Well, now that other scene is its own chapter...

Ace Attorney Investigations Reference. Because I love mentioning those little cameos. For those who don't get what I am refering too, there's an easteregg in case 5-3, which allows you to see Phoenix, Maya and Pearl rowing by on a boat in the background. I love how Edgeworth and Kay suddenly start talking about how the prospect says that the bridgebrings lovebirds eternal happines and how Kay goes on to say that they probably shouldn't investigate on how much of that is true. With Nick, Maya and Pearly, of all people, in the background, this exchange was hilarious.

Since I like drawing a lot, I made a (deliberately crappy) sketch of ... Phoenix' sketch. That's where I got the idea for the semi-real court record for, by the way.

I think Phoenix might be a bit too calm about Ema's death. I know the scenario focuses on alternative-Maya and Phoenix has a lot on his mind, having woken up in the wrong dimension after all, but well, Ema just died. I would love to see some more trauma as he examined the body, for example, but that's partly also because I'm a huge Ema fan. It's a bit of a side point, I don't think it really affects the main storyline.

The writing's really stellar, and that bit about the magatama was pretty moving... and Phoenix asks a few good questions about the impact of DL-6.

I actually perfer making my characters more emotional, but shortly before writting this story, I played the first game again and saw what Phoenix reacted like when Mia died in "Turnabout Sisters"... And he wasn't all too traumatized or incredibly shaken from it. He imediately focused on gathering evidence about who did it and protecting her sister.
That's why I didn't have him completly freak out here either. Remember, Mia was incredibly important to him as a mentor and friend. If he can stay collected finding her dead, he can stay collected finding anyone dead. I guess it's a lawyer thing.

May 2nd 7:11am

District Court

While exiting the taxi after a quarter hour long ride, my mind was with that poor, untouched breakfast I had left behind in the hotel. I rushed to the Courthouse so quickly that I didn't even get to take a single sip of coffee, not to mention a bite from the eggs. My stomach protested loudly when I entered the building, but it wasn't exactly like I had a choice. I was already more than 10 minutes late and our witness was apparently a very unpleasant person. Not that I wasn't used to unpleasant witnesses, but I had to question her as thoroughly as possible before the trial started at any cost. I had to keep in mind that I wouldn't get to cross examine her in court this time- This would be up to Edgeworth.

Of course, I could just join in on the examination, Prosecutors did this now and then after all, but I was sure that it would seem pretty suspicious if I did it right away. I wanted Lana to be found Not Guilty, yet I also knew that Edgeworth was right with his claim that just plainly trying to lose on purpose was a bad idea for several reasons. One of them was the judge. He was sure a little gullible, but he had seen enough prosecutors yet to know that it's absolutely abnormal for them to just go with everything the Defense claims without raising even a single objection. With Lana being 'my' mentor, this would quickly bring the fact that I was not really trying to get the job done right to everyone's attention and the trial would probably be postponed and continued another day- with a different Prosecutor. There were enough others.

My only hope was to find enough flaws in the witness's testimony before the trial started. I'd just question the heck out of her until it became clear that her testimony did everything but prove that Lana had tried to commit murder and suicide. I'd then declare her testimony unnecessary, send her home and lead the trial without a witness. And since the only other ones who had anything to testify about the case were Edgeworth, Lana and Myself, aka Defense, Defendant and Prosecution, all not fit to count as objective witnesses in court, this case would become as easy as pie to win for the Defense, even if I tried to play the big bad, scary Prosecutor. After all, I had only a few pieces of evidence and I knew that Edgeworth would manage to dispel all of them. He always conducted his investigations very carefully.

Trying to find the witness, I found myself entering the Defendant Lobbies twice, only to leave right again when I saw the yawning emptiness awaiting me there.

(3rd floor Lobby!) I told myself. (I'm not meeting a client, I'm meeting a witness and she's waiting in the 3rd floor Lobby!)

Finally, I was at the right door. I put my hand down to the doorknob and sighed when I caught a glance of a nearby clock.

(7:15… I hope Gumshoe managed to keep her from leaving.)

I pushed the door and stepped inside. Well, that means, I wanted to step inside, but something stopped me. Or, rather, someone. Someone who bumped right into my stomach, throwing me down to the floor in the process.

"ARGH!"

"OUCH!"

I wasn't too sure what happened, but I guessed that someone's elbow rammed right into my guts when they tried to leave the room. My empty stomach now had yet another reason to spout out its very own kind of loud objections and I was just glad that the impact hadn't hit me a few inches… lower. This would have been incredibly painful otherwise.

The second yell had been a girl's voice. This fact was reconfirmed by the very same voice starting to mutter something in front of me.

"Ungh… This is… really…

I spent a few split seconds longer rubbing where it hurt, before I opened my eyes again and saw the person in front of me, still muttering.

"…Argh… You….Can't you living bulldozer watch where you're going?

The girl jumped up from the floor and started glaring at me as soon as she managed to get a glance of me.

"You deaf? Outta my way!"

"Uhm…"

Usually, I would have gotten up and moved right away now, so I could avoid any further conversation with this kind of person, but quite a few things told me that this would be a bad idea now.

Why? Well…

Teenage Girl? Check. Unfriendly Attitude? Check. In Hurry to leave the Courthouse? Check.

And why else should she be here this early in the morning?

(Congratulation Mr. Wright, you found yourself your witness…Hurray…)



Something told me that this was gonna be a long, long interrogation. Gumshoe hadn't been exaggerating when he described her. No, not at all. This girl was far from being the incarnation of sunshine and happiness. I mentioned that she was 'glaring' at me, but maybe that was the wrong word. To be exact, she wasn't even really looking at me. Just peeking from the corners of her eyes, in a way that made it seem like she was deeming me unworthy to see her irises or pupils.

Actually, she would have been quite cute. Blonde, curly hair in two pigtails, unusually big eyes, round face, clover shaped buttons on her clothes… Admittedly, her build seemed otherwise a little too developed for her age. Based on certain aspects, she could have passed for a short 18-year-old easily. But aside from that, on the surface she really fit the typical image of an adorable schoolgirl to the tee.

Adorable, however, she was not. To blame for that was mostly that grumpy look on her face. That look that pretty much said "Go. Die. Now." I really hoped that she was only looking like that right now because I had knocked her over, but something told me that this was actually her default expression. Maybe it was the fact that she was so incredibly good at doing it…

So this was her. The one witness Detective Gumshoe could find.

I gulped. This girl… I suddenly realized that I had seen her before… somewhere…

And, surprisingly, I found myself not drawing a blank when I tried to recall where.

"Y-You!" I pointed at her "You're the girl from yesterday... The one I…"

"Rammed onto the floor like a drunken Truck Driver? Yeah, you seem to be making a habit out of that. Hmpf!"

She grunted and turned her head away.

(Oh yes… now I remember.) I bit my lip. (I ran into her before, right? Quite literally, actually…)

She was the neighbor girl, whom I had seen both times I had been in the Apartment building. I should have guessed it before… I saw her run back to her Apartment when Edgeworth and I arrived after all. She was probably hurrying to the phone to report the screams.

"Alright, would you now be so kind and scram, so I can finally go home?" the girl hissed at me, not changing her expression one bit. "I've got better things to do than sit here till my legs fall off."

"N-No, wait… I…" I finally got up from the floor, but carefully watched to not move out of the way, so she couldn't pass by me. "I'm sorry it took me so long. I'm the Prosecutor you've been waiting for. My name is Pho-"

"Phoenix Wright, yes, I know." She started playing with one of her two pigtails in disinterest. "You live next door. The neighbor with the worst haircut I've ever seen in my life."

"W-Wa—"

(Calm! I have to stay calm! I have to get her on-topic as quickly as possible…)

Placing myself in a position that made it impossible for the girl to just walk past me and leave, I took a deep breath and disregarded her comment.

"So… You must be the witness, right? Ms… Uhm…"

I tried to recall the name Gumshoe had told me the day before.

"Ms… Alisa?"

"Alia." The girl stated in an obviously deliberately annoyed tone. "The name's 'Susan Maria Alia'. Friends can call me Sue."

"Well…"

(Alright, I have to try to make her warm up a little bit.) I thought to myself, when I wondered what to say next. (The way she is now, I won't get much more than the usual 'I saw X and I'm sure' out of her…)

I forced a smile and tried to appear as friendly as possible, holding out my hand to her.

"Well, then, Sue…"

"Wrong." she coldly cut me short. "You don't call me 'Sue'."

"…Huh?" Confused, I pulled back my hand. "But you just said…"

"I said that friends get to call me that. Did I say that this includes neighbors who fail to memorize my name?"

"Uhm…"

"I didn't." she said, before I could even say anything, causing me to reply more quickly this time.

"Yes, I know…"

And once again, she cut me short.

"Wow, what incredible insight."

(30 seconds…) I clenched my teeth. (She needed all but 30 seconds to rob me of almost all my nerves… God help me.)

I had to stay strong. I had managed worse witnesses than this brat. However, I had never before been both tired and hungry at the same time when I did…

"Ah, sorry… 'Miss Alia' then." My grin probably looked dumb but it was the only grin I could produce right now. "Pleased… to meet you."

I held out my hand to her again, waiting for her to shake it, but she just looked at it skeptically for barely two seconds, before losing interest. She stepped to the side and tried to get past me, but I followed her step and placed myself, again, right in her way. An annoyed grunt showed me that she was well aware why I did this. I tried to just keep on smiling and pretend nothing happened.

"Well… If you don't mind, I'd like to ask you a few questions about yesterday afternoon."

"I mind."

"Eh… what?" I looked down at her slightly stunned, as she started spinning her hair around her finger again.

"You said 'If I don't mind'. Well, I mind."

(Rhetorical! That question was rhetorical!)

"Eh… well… Why do you mind? Is it maybe too scary, or…"

"It's boring. I'm not in the mood."

"…"

I had seriously nothing to add to this kind of statement. Especially since she was here to give a testimony regarding a murder trial… This girl apparently had the compassion-capability of a brick.

An annoyed sigh indicated that she was about to say something again. She crossed her arms.

"But you're not going leave me alone about it anyway, right?"

After a short pause, I slowly nodded.

"…Right."

"Wonderful."

I have seriously never in my life been opposed to sarcasm. That would have been hypocritical. However, for some reason, this girl's sarcasm made it really hard for me to not just turn around and leave with an angry look on my face.

"Eh. Yes…" Nervously, I started rubbing my back and laughing a little bit, hoping that this would make her lighten up slightly. It didn't.

We were still standing right where we had bumped into each other, the doorway to the 3rd floor Lobby.

"Heheh…You know, we shouldn't be talking right here. We're probably in the way."

"You don't say."

Keeping my fake smile up became progressively harder. I had the strong urge to just drop it, counter her unfriendly remarks with my own and get her off her high horse this way, but I couldn't afford accidently making her any more uncooperative than she already was.

"Eh… Yeah. So… why don't we go back into the Lobby and sit down the-"

"Forget it; I'm not going back in there." Apparently the unwritten rule 'Let people finish talking, before you reply' had never been taught to her. "I've had it with those brain-dead policemen in there. If I hear one more stupid remark from that Detective, I'm gonna be sick."

(I'm gonna be sick soon too, believe me…)

She made a quick step to the side and went just past me, before I could stop her. I quickly turned around. "Wait! You can't go! I need you to testi-"

"Defendant Lobby." She stated, without turning around to look at me.

"Uhm… what? Why there?"

She raised her hand and waved, apparently wanting me to follow her.

"They've got rather comfortable sofas."

"But those Lobbies are for…"

I stopped when I realized that I really didn't want to argue about the location of her questioning with this girl. Also, she had already headed for the door to Defendant Lobby No. 2 and was halfway there. Her statement about the Defendant Lobbies' sofas had surprised me a bit…

(That kind of sounded like she had been here before…And she found the door to the Defendant Lobby right away. Could it be that this is not her first time being involved in a trial?)

Alia had already reached the door to the Lobby in the meantime and was now standing in front of it, obviously wanting me to open the door for her. She rapidly tapped her foot to the ground.

"What are you waiting for? Hurry up, Prosecutor Wright!

The use of my name and the title 'Prosecutor' in the same sentence made me flinch. I had hoped that I could avoid having anybody call me that out loud, but apparently life denied me that mercy as well. If I hadn't known better, I would have thought that she had called me this on purpose to annoy me.

Since my speed of approaching the door didn't exactly increase, Alia's impatience reached a new peak.

"Hmpf! I'm waiting! Do you want to interrogate me or not?"

(Do you want to hear the truth?)

When I reached the door, my suspicion that Alia wanted me to open it for her was confirmed, as she just crossed her arms and waited, instead of going inside like every other person would have done. Wordless, I put my hand to the doorknob and opened the door. The result was that she pushed me aside as soon as I had moved it enough for her to go through. Then, she entered the Defendant Lobby, closing the door right behind her. A little dumbstruck, I stood there for two or three seconds, trying to figure out why exactly she thought this had been necessary and opened the door again with a sigh. When I followed, I found her already heading for the sofa. She sat down on it and yawned.

"Ah… That's nice…"

I went up and wanted to sit down on the spot next to her, but as soon as I approached, she suddenly stretched out her legs. She turned to the side and laid down on the sofa, making it impossible for anybody else, namely me, to sit down beside her. Still baffled, I was trying to comprehend the sheer extension of her egotism, when she put her arms behind her head and looked up to me.

"Fetch me a pillow," she said.

"…"

I stared. For at least five seconds.

"W-Where…" My voice was coming back to me. "Where am I supposed to find a pillow here? This is a courthouse not the local Walmart!"

She turned her head towards me, raising her voice.

"Geez, I just asked!"

(Actually, no. A question sounds different.)

"Anyway…

Choosing to just ignore her pillow demands, I quickly fetched myself a chair from a nearby table and sat down in front of her.

"Miss Alia… I'd like you to answer me a few question about-"

"…What happened yesterday afternoon. Yes, I know." She once again interrupted me. She started playing with her hair again. "But is this really that important? You already found the murderer, didn't you?"

"We can't be sure about that before we figure out what exactly happened in my apartment that day." I told her. "And for some reason, you seem to be the only one who noticed the victim's screams. Everybody else on the 20th floor seemed to be unaware that anything had happened at all."

"Because I was the only one at home at the time."

"The only one?"

"…So, you really want me to tell you everything that badly?" she sighed. "I knew calling the police was a mistake... That's what you get for fulfilling your civilian duties. Geez… Alright… I'll give you your testimony…

The last word was accompanied by her doing the quotation marks with her fingers.

"Even though I didn't actually witness the murder…"

"That's alright, just tell me what you know."

"OK…"

She took a deep breath and started testifying, still spinning her left pigtail around her index finger.





"Well… That's it."

Alia was still spinning her hair of her left pigtail around her finger.

"My testimony. Solid, huh?"

(I can't see contradictions to any of my evidence…) I thought to myself nervously. (That can't be right. If Lana really was the only person who entered the Apartment, aside from Ema, it couldn't have been anybody else… Either I overlooked something… or…)

"What you just said… I'd like to ask you a few questions about your testimony. Is that alright?"

"It isn't."

"…"

(Somebody get a dictionary and show this brat the word 'respect', please!)

I had had actual killers for witnesses who had behaved more cooperative than this teenager. The worst part was that I was so far from done with her testimony; I'd still have to deal with her for at least a quarter of an hour longer. And after that, I'd have to summon her to the stand in court. Oh joy.

"Let me rephrase what I said then.

(And now, off with those silk gloves!)

I stood up from my chair and stared down at her on the sofa.

"You will repeat your testimony now. I will ask you questions. You will answer them. Understood?"

"Alright, alright! Geez!

She finally sat up on the sofa, looking rather irate.

"Ah… Don't you have anything better to do?" she glared at me from her eye's corners again. "I'd like to go home sometime too, you know."

"You can go home…" I told her. "…after the trial. You're the only witness we got and that makes you and your testimony crucial for the defendant's fate. Keep that in mind."

In response to this, she rolled her eyes.

"Okay… I'll let you ask your stupid questions, but don't expect getting any more info than you already have. I don't know more!"

"We'll see about that."





"You were in the hallway the whole time…?" I asked her a little skeptically.

She just kept spinning her hair around her finger: "Yeah, from 14:00 to 17:00, I guess. And, before you ask, yes, I do that a lot."

"Really? Why would you spend so much time in front of your door, when you've got a spacious apartment?"

"I'm a little claustrophobic." she claimed monotonously. "The more empty space there's around me, the better I feel. Also… I have a bad habit."

(One?)

"And that bad habit is…?"

"Spying on people." She said bluntly, without even changing the tone in her voice. "I can't help but watch people all the time. Especially the other occupants of the 20th floor. Sometimes I even peek into the other apartments. Wondering what they'll do next, trying to figure out patterns in their daily life… It's pretty interesting, actually."

(And illegal, but I'll get to that sometime later.)

"Because of this, I also know for a fact that there was nobody home except me."

"Nobody except you? Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. As you know, Mr. Wright, there are five apartments per floor in our building. More wouldn't fit due to their size. You occupy Apartment No. 98 and I occupy Apartment No. 97. I know, for a fact, that the owners of 96, 99 and 100 where not at home that day and I saw you leaving in the morning."

"And what about your parents? Weren't they at home?"

When I asked this question, she glared at me from her eyes' corners once again, except even more coldly than before.

"…Do I look like somebody who still lives with her parents to you?" she asked.

"…"

I refrained from answering to this and instead wondered how she could afford that apartment all by herself.

"…So you live alone?"

"All alone."

"And what happened next?"

"Well…





"Ah, yes, I remember… The locks on the apartment's doors open only with the right keycard, right?"

"Do I really have to answer to this? You live there, for God's sake."

I bit my lip, since she was, for once, kind of right. This had been a stupid question, considering my situation.

"And the person you saw was Ema Skye?"

"Yes. The same girl that comes to visit you at least once a week. That's why she didn't exactly catch my attention, but I'm sure that it was her."

"But you knew that I wasn't at home." I replied. "So why didn't you tell Ema that when she came to visit me?"

"I don't talk to people I don't know. I prefer watching them from afar." Alia answered, actually yawning after the sentence's end. "Also, I knew that she had a keycard. All she needed to do was go inside and wait for you. You wouldn't have minded her doing that, right?"

"…Point taken."

"Good. Well, then…





"Excuse me, but that woman on the picture is my mentor!" I proclaimed, waving the little photograph around. "Why shouldn't I give my mentor the key to my apartment?"

"Why should you give your mentor the key to your apartment?" she countered. "I for one wouldn't do it. I wouldn't give my key to anyone. Locks are there so the doors stay closed. Dispensing keys like gum kinda kills the purpose, don't you agree? I prefer safety."

"And I prefer trusting my friends to not abuse the keys I give them." I told her, probably staring at her, as I did. She, however, wouldn't have noticed anyway, since she still wasn't really looking at me.

Alia yawned again.

"Ah…Well, I guess it's your fault then."

"…My fault?"

"For being naïve enough to trust the two of them." She said. "Hadn't you done that, that woman wouldn't have been able to commit the murder."



"It isn't proven yet that she did it!"

"Well, I think it is pretty clear that it was her."

"And why do you think that?"

"Well…





I hesitated a short moment to say what I was about to say.

"…But you don't happen to have an alibi either, do you?"

"Huh?"

Finally, for the first time during the whole conversation, she actually turned her head towards me. For some reason, I still didn't have the feeling that she was really looking at me… Probably because her eyes were half-closed.

"Don't tell me… Are you saying that I'm a suspect, too…?"

"You stated yourself that you were alone in the 20th floor hallway for several hours, so…"

"It's not possible."

"Huh?"

I sharpened my ears and listened closely to what she went on to tell me.

"Oh boy… Seems like my name isn't the only thing you failed to commit to memory. Well, I'll be so nice to remind you then: You can't open the doors without a keycard. And I don't have one. At least not for your door."

"But I left the building rather hastily that morning." I shook my head. "I have to confess, I was pretty confused that morning and didn't even close the door behind me. So it's entirely possible that the door was wide open for anyone who came by to just walk in!"

"No, it's not."

"Huh?"

Alia was playing with her hair again.

"Those doors don't need to be locked. They close automatically once you walk through them and lock themselves automatically once shut. I don't get how you forgot this. Mr. Wright, you should really go get your memory checked. Just some advice."



"Aside from my memory issues… which I… at the moment… can't really deny having…

(And now, get off this topic, before it becomes any more awkward…)

"… It could just as well be that the door didn't close correctly! Maybe something got stuck in the doorway and kept it from locking!"

Somehow, Alia managed to sound even more unfriendly than before with her next sentence.

"Wow, you were not kidding when you said 'Memory Issues', were you?"

"Hm?"

She sighed. "In the case that something gets stuck in a door, the lock detects it and gives off an alarm sound. Additionally, a red light flashes up in the janitor's office. He would have come and checked on your apartment, had that really happened. You can go and ask him if the alarm went off that day, if you want. I doubt the answer would be a 'Yes'."

(That's awfully good security those doors have there…) I thought to myself. (So… it's really impossible that anybody entered the apartment without the keycard? Hm…)

"No matter how you look at it, the only one who could have killed that girl was the other woman." Alia repeated. Finally she let her hair fall down from her finger and rubbed her hands satisfied, before she put them behind her head. "Case closed!"

"Around 17:00, I heard a scream. I called the police. That's all I can tell you."

"And the scream you heard…?"

"The girl." She answered. "It was too high pitched to be the woman. It was pretty horrible, actually… I thought my eardrums would shatter. I was seriously wondering what was going on in there."

"Did you knock on the door to check on them?"

"Of course not. I'm not suicidal." She told me. "The scream wasn't the first noise I heard, actually, that was just when I became really sure of my suspicions. It was obvious that an act of violence was happening in there and I really wasn't keen on getting caught up in the middle of a brutal fight. You understand?"

"Yes…"

"Alright then. That's all I know. Ahh…"

"Wait… you said, you heard other noises as well… Could you please describe them?

"Ah… Alright…"

"Before the scream, I heard other sounds too. Yelling and stuff shattering. I thought it was your usual fight… I wouldn't have guessed that she was killing the girl in there."

"Yelling… Did you hear the voices?"

"Not clearly." Alia replied. "Only that they were both female. However, I am sure that it was the girl and the woman. There could have been nobody else in the apartment."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Absolutely."

"…Alright."

"Fine. "

"…"



After a few seconds of silence, I finally put my hands to my waist. There was something about this testimony that had struck me as interesting.

"You know…" I started, hoping that I had the girl's attention. She didn't exactly appear to be listening to me…

"It sure is convenient that you were the only one present at the moment…" I thought aloud. "Since, if just one other person had heard the scream…" I smiled. "…There might be someone with a testimony differing from yours, right?"

"…Oh, I see. That again." She crossed her arms and sighed. "Seriously, why are you so keen on implicating me as the killer? I didn't do jack. I didn't even know that girl. And I barely even know you."

"Because you obviously have no alibi!" I replied.

"…And no access to the crime scene and no motive." She finished my sentence. "Geez, for someone who's supposed to prosecute against this woman, you're sure dead set on finding a different suspect, aren't you?"

"I just want to know what really happened." I stated determined. My hand reached for my Magatama in my pocket. "So tell me…

( I will not make the mistake to ask too specific questions again…) I reminded myself. (Not after what happened during the Engarde trial.)

"Susan Alia… Did you tell me everything you know?"

"…"

Instead of answering my question, she started spinning her hair around her finger again. However, it didn't take long before I heard the exact sound I had expected and saw how the barricade set itself up on the girl before me.

Two Psyche Locks.

(I knew it. It was so obvious.)

"Mr. Wright, you can stop staring at me now.", Alia stated. "I already told you multiple times, I witnessed nothing except that scream. So, stop it."

(Ha, I didn't even get started yet. Now, if I just had some evidence to prove her wrong…)

However, this was where my true problem started. I had nothing. Nothing that could prove her wrong in the slightest. Not that this kind of evidence didn't exist, it probably did, but I had left the investigations rather early the day before and still hadn't asked the Detective for the resu-

(Detective Gumshoe… Of course! He's here! I can ask him for the autopsy report and the remaining results of the investigations!)

Alia, however, had already stood up from the sofa. She yawned and stepped away. Surprised, I jumped.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

"Cafeteria." She answered.

"But…!"

"What?" She turned her head around to me. "You're done with my testimony, aren't you? …Or do you have even more questions?"

(Well actually…)

She wanted to turn around once more, but I quickly stepped in her way.

"Stop! I'm not finished questioning you yet!"

"So…?" she raised her head. "And what else would you want to know?"

"Well, I had no time to look at the results of the police investigations yet and there are a few more facts I have to look into a little deeper first, but once I do, I'm sure there'll be something-"

"In other words: Nothing."

"…"

(..Argh… This girl…)

My nerves were lying blank. How could it be that the trial hadn't even started yet and the witness was already making an idiot out of me? Also, I wasn't even the Defence Attorney this time… Was there no love for me, no matter what side of the courtroom? Or even here, in the Lobby?

"Alright, go to the Cafeteria." I sighed. "But you'll come back here for another questioning in thirty minutes, alright?"

"No."

"…"

I was close, that close to losing my last bit of patience with this brat. My hands were already balled to fists, the only reason why I wasn't using them already was my general agenda of not hitting girls or, actually, anyone at all. The last time I had snapped and physically fought back at somebody who annoyed me had ended with me on trial for murder by electrocution, a situation I wanted to avoid repeating at any coast. Still, this so-called 'witness' didn't make it easy for me.

Thankfully, the conversation between me and Princess Goldilocks came to an end when I heard someone's voice from behind.

"You are already here, Wright?

I raised my head and turned around, finding a familiar face to be there.

"I'm surprised. It is rare for you to appear in the courthouse this early before a trial starts."

The man in the red suit looked strangely pleased, similar to a teacher who had just found that the students had handed in their homework at the due-date for the first time in his career.

"Edgeworth..." I started and noticed that my voice sounded like I had been deprived of one week worth of sleep. But frankly, I didn't care. "...Help me…!" I moaned.

"…Hm?"

Edgeworth first gave me a rather puzzled look, then looked behind me, apparently saw the girl, and looked back at me.

"Is that the witness Gumshoe mentioned?"

"She's driving me nuts…" I admitted, not even caring that she was right behind me and listening. "I know, it's a weird thing to ask, but could you please, please keep her from running off while I go and fetch some evidence? You can even interrogate her a little in the meantime! (If you manage to.)"

"'Go and fetch some evidence'? You mean you haven't got it all prepared yet?"

And gone was the pleased look again. Edgeworth crossed his arms and waited for me to answer.

I blushed and rubbed my back embarrassed.

"Eh… I was a little busy yesterday…"

"This doesn't excuse being ill-prepared, Wright! Catching up on such shortcomings should be the first thing you do during day of the investigation! And it should come before the… witness… interrogations."

While saying this, he threw a quick look at the girl, like he had something he was saying on his mind regarding her.

"It's not like I had a choice." I defended myself. "She threatened to just leave…"

"A threat she… as she should be aware… can't fulfill, unless she desperately seeks to end up as the next person to be defended before this court." Edgeworth told me, suddenly glaring at me. I bit my lip. Sure, he did this a lot less frequently than the 'original' Edgeworth, but it still made me nervous when he did it. "Official court subpoenas by the prosecution are to be followed. You should know this."

"He missed out on sending me one." Alia suddenly commented from behind me. "Can I go buy a Swiss Roll now? I'm bored and starving."

"You didn't even subpoena her?" Edgeworth continued glaring and seemed less pleased with each passing moment.

"Ehe… Gumshoe sent one."

"He's not authorized to summon witnesses."

"Eh… Yeah, I kinda forgot about this..."

"What else did you forget?"

"…"

"I will just take that to mean "A lot"."

Lately, I noticed that there were a lot of situations in which I ran out of things to say. This was starting to get pretty ridiculous.

"Don't worry. I find this hardly surprising, actually." Edgeworth said, as he sighed and shook his head "After our meeting yesterday, I began to suspect that you wouldn't be able to perform according to your usual standards today. That's why I arranged some aid for you."

"Aid?" I blinked a few times, wondering what exactly he could mean by 'aid'.

Edgeworth crossed his arms again. "I made a phone call to the prosecutor's office yesterday and politely explained that your performance may be lacking in today's trial due to personal reasons, which I, of course, didn't further elaborate on. I asked them to arrange a young, yet experienced prosecutor to support you as a co-council. Since it is only to their own benefit to improve your chance for success, they agreed."

"You arranged a Co-Council for me?"

"I thought it would the best way to help you concentrate on the facts." He explained with closed eyes. "I led most of my trials with a Co-Council by my side and made good experiences."

"Who is it?"

"I have no idea. I only provided the suggestion. As to whom they choose, I am just as in the dark as you are. And since you apparently weren't informed yet, we'll probably only find out once the person in question arrives."

Baffled, I stared at him for a few seconds; waiting for the moment he would tell me that this had only been a joke. As you probably guessed, this moment never came. I just didn't understand what was going on here. "Edgeworth… This is helping me! We're supposed to be opponents!"

"My intention is not help you, Wright. It is to keep this trial from ending up as a rushed mess." He told me. "The presiding judge tends to be easily impressed by pretty much any kind of valid explanation presented to him. With you not even trying to prosecute correctly, he would give the 'Not Guilty' verdict so fast, the case would be considered closed before there was even a hint of a chance to find out the truth behind it."

"Do you already have some theory what could have really happened to Ema?" I asked.

"A few clues, but not much more. There was simply not enough time to look into the whole affair yet, regardless of your exceptionally forthcoming attitude… Which I, by the way, used as a justification for my own forthcoming attitude. Don't expect the same in court."

"Alright. And… thanks."

"Frankly, I still have no idea what is currently going through your head, Wright. But I would like to ask you, regardless of your condition or opinions, to not hold yourself back from giving it your all and to not act thoughtless. Remember, Wright… In today's trial, you must start under the assumption that Lana Skye is guilty. At least until I raise valid statements which raise strong doubt regarding this matter. Once we get this important point out of the way, we can focus on finding a better suspect. Once Lana is legitimately free of all suspicion, I will leave the rest to you."

"...I understand." I added a short nod to this answer. Edgeworth was sure serious about what he was telling me…

"As for the witness… Since she's back again now, I guess I could take care of her for a few minutes."

"W-Wait… Back?"

I already suspected what Edgeworth was trying to tell me with this and when I turned around… Ah, yes… Alia was sitting there on the couch and eating a Swiss Roll from the Vending Machines in the hallway.

"You're slow, Prosecutor Wright…" She said with her mouth full of cake and her eyes closed. "I guess you won your reputation in the lottery. Couldn't have gotten it anywhere else… Hmgh… Worst Swiss Rolls I ever ate, by the way."

I just put my hand to my face and sighed.

"Miles Edgeworth, may I introduce you to… Susan Alia. Our witness… and apparently my neighbor."

Edgeworth took a short time before he finally answered.

"Susan Alia? ... Interesting…"

(Huh… 'Interesting'?)

I turned my head towards him, not understanding what he meant by this. His face showed certain signs of… distrust. Did he know this girl from somewhere? I was confused.

"Ah, so you're the famous Miles Edgeworth? Son of Gregory Edgeworth?" Alia had just finished eating the Swiss Roll and licked her fingers. Now she looked up to him. "Of course, I already knew this. Gotta stay informed. You made yourself quite a name in the last few years, after all. …Hold on…"

She reached into her bag with one arm, while standing up from the sofa and finally pulled out a pen and a notebook. She opened it and handed both of them to Edgeworth.

" …Hey, I need your autograph in there for my collection, would you mind?"

Oh, how much I would have loved it had Edgeworth answered with 'Yes' now. I was disappointed when he just slowly nodded and took the notebook and pen from here. Once rid of the items, Alia started playing with her left pigtail again.

"Oh, before I forget… Pleased to meet you." She said, not even looking at him.

Edgeworth quickly finished writing his name in the book and handed it back to her:

"The pleasure is all mine…" He said rather unimpressed. "…Defence Attorney Lilie Heatherd."

(W…WHAAAAAT?)

It was at this moment that I was sure, absolutely and perfectly sure, that this was going to go down in history as one of my worst days ever. Not that I hadn't suspected that as soon as this "questioning" had started, but it was at this moment that my suspicions had been totally, one hundred percent confirmed.

While I was still alternately staring at the blond girl and Edgeworth in disbelief, a smile suddenly crossed the former's face.

"Ah… so you found out? Not that I didn't think you would. After all, you're famous for your sharp wits among the Attorneys."

"It hardly needs a sharp wit to recognize this pair of pigtails, Ms. Heatherd."

"Well… I guess I can drop the charade then."

She put her hand into a pocket and pulled out a small, red hairclip with a clover on it. There was something additionally stuck in the middle of the clover… something round and golden…

(Oh please, don't tell me she put her…on her… Ah, yes, she did…)

After putting the hairclip with the Attorney's Badge on to pin back a small fraction of her curled fringe, she put her hands to her waist.

"Lilie Heatherd, Attorney at Law." she told us with half-closed eyes.

I needed someone to smack me in the face now. Fast.

My first witness as Prosecutor, and she had lied to me from the very beginning, starting with her goddamn identity. I refused to believe this.

I begged that this was just one awful, cruel, and incredibly horrible joke…

Please? Please?

Evidence:

*) Prosecutor's Badge

I never thought I'd ever hold this in my hands. The design closely resembles the police's emblem.

*) Magatama

This gem allows me to see the locks on people's hearts whenever they hide the truth from me. It was a gift from Maya and is charged with Pearls' spiritual energy.

*) Photo of Iris

A picture of me and Iris in Kurain. Apparently we were still a couple here, up until recently.
CHECK: http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/1896 ... feenie.png

*) Cellphone

Compared to the Cellphone I usually use, this is high tech luxury. There are messages from Ema, Lana and Gumshoe on it.
CHECK: http://img17.imageshack.us/i/cellphone.png/
EMA'S MESSAGE(1) CHECK: http://img267.imageshack.us/i/emamessagesooner.png/

EMA'S MESSAGE(2) CHECK: http://img132.imageshack.us/i/emamessage.png/

LANA'S MESSAGE CHECK: http://img121.imageshack.us/i/lanamessage.png/

GUMSHOE'S MESSAGE CHECK: http://img824.imageshack.us/i/gumshoemessage.png/

*) Suicide Note

Found near the unconscious Lana Skye. Check for details:
CHECK: http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/9123/suicidenote.png

*) Victim(?) Note

Reads "Lana" in red letters of blood.
CHECK: http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/4660/victimnote.png

*) Steel Samurai Cards

Some trading cards I confiscated. I didn't really look at them yet, but the writing on at least two of them is sparkling. They must be quite rare.

*) Snackoos Bag

Found near Ema. She was apparently eating them before she was killed. Imported from Europe.

*) Dart

A small, needle-like projectile, made for use with a tranquilizer gun. There are faint traces of blood on it. Found near the sofa.

*) Rope

Ripped. Apparently, Lana tried to hang herself with it. Something is weird about the rupture, but I can't quite point my finger at it.

*)Sketch

A picture of Maya, Pearls and me, drawn in my boredom. Note to self: Giving up the art studies was a good choice.
CHECK: http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/645/sketchonaboat.png

Profiles:

*) Phoenix Wright

I have been a Defense Attorney for three years now. But now it looks like people were convinced of something else suddenly...

*) Miles Edgeworth

An old school friend of mine. Apparently, he's a renowned Defense Attorney here. The "Him" I remember, on the other hand, was an extremely talented, but arrogant Prosecutor.

*) Maya Fey

Sprite
Apparently a famous pop idol known as "MAYOI". In my memory, she was a Spirit Medium and served as my assistant and co-council in many of my cases.

*) Ema Skye

A teenager, who was dreaming of becoming a forensic investigator one day and good friend of mine. Was murdered in the apartment.

*) Lana Skye

Ema's older sister. Apparently tried to commit suicide in the bathroom. Her suicide note implicates her as her sister's killer.

*) Dick Gumshoe

Still detective of the local police force. Still as underpaid as ever.

*) Mia Fey

Maya's older sister and a detective. Currently under arrest for attempted murder. I remember her being my mentor as a Defense Attorney and murdered shortly after my very first trial.

*) Dahlia Fey

Maya's and Mia's cousin and Iris's identical twinsister. Was the coldblooded killer 'Dahlia Hawthorne' in the world I remember, but declared guilty for a crime she didn't commit alongside Mia in this one. Her personality seems to have been turned upside down...

*) Klavier Gavin

Leadsinger and Guitarist of a Band called "Gavinners". Apparently also a lawyer. His name rings a bell, but I can't remember where I first met him.

*) Susan Alia

Sprite
Apparently, this is not her real name. The sole witness in this case. Pretty, but egoistic and uncooperativ.

*Peeks at profil above*

So... this is it. The introduction of this story's first Original Lilie Heatherd to the cast!

Uhf... thanks to her, writting this chapter was like hell. OCs are problematic, due to the stigma they have, thanks to Mary Sue Characters, so one has to be very careful when developing them.

I originally came up with Lilie, when I tried to imagine what an ammoral Defence Attorney could be like (I didn't know about Kristoph Gavin or Callisto Yew yet, I had only finished the first triology then). She wasn't originally part of this story, but when I realized that working only with the already introduced characters would cause certain limitations to what I can get out of the concept, I carefully integrated her. Don't worry, she will not take over the story now, even though she has a certain significance. I hope I managed to make her come across believable...

With her name, I tried to follow the Ace Attorney pun-naming theme. "Lilie" is the german word for "Lily"(the flower, not the name). I used the german word because of the obvious pun... Pronounce it as you like, even though (as the german word) it's intended to be pronounced "Lih-Lih-E". As for "Heatherd", there are three reasons I chose that last name. Figure them out and earn yourself some cookies. It's not that hard. As for her "fake" name, the first reference should be incredibly obvious. In "Alia", there's two puns. First, think about what she (again, obviously) is. Second, say "Alia Sue" a few times fast.

The testimony in this chapter was not originally intended to be given Cross-Examination style, but after playing AAI, I decided that using this format here already would be fitting and fun. I experimented a little until I settled on how to present the Rebuttals/Cross-Examinations, in order to make them feel like in the game. I hope this sollution is satisfying.

Somebody on FF.net asked if I knew how to use a casemaker. The truth is, I originally started out trying to make a casemaker-game out of this story. Using Ace-Attorney Online. However, when I noticed that editing all the sprites would take ages (for example, editing all of Maya's Sprites to be Idol-style, or replace Edgey's cravat with the bowtie on every single sprite), I decided that a Fanfic was the more convenient way for me. Even though it limits how close I can stick to the feeling of the actual games, of course.

If I find myself a few helpers, I could eventually continue the Casemaker version, but for now this will stay a fanfic. ^^;

"Lilie Heatherd, Attorney at Law. And witness for this case, of course, but that's hardly an occupation… Then again, you didn't yet ask me for name and profession, did you?"

"B-But…"

I couldn't do much more than stutter. This was just too much.

"You… that name… Magatama… didn't react… how did you…you… you…"

"Hee Hee…" She flipped her fringe. "I'm really disappointed you didn't figure me out first, Mr. Wright."

Ironically, she looked satisfied when she said that. And it was for the first time since I had met her today.

"…Me… figure out?" I replied in disbelief "You lied to me!"

I had finally snapped, at least regarding this girl.

"You gave your testimony under a false name! You lied in the courthouse… you… you…"

She had already started playing with her hair again.

"What? I never said that it was my name. Only that you mispronounced it and that my friends can call me 'Sue' and that's the truth. Also, I didn't lie. The testimony still stands. Every single word of it."

"But… I thought we were neighbors!" I replied "If you're really… how did you… how did I not… all the time…"

She looked to the ceiling, like it was more interesting than my irate face.

"Yeah, I was quite surprised too that you apparently had no clue as to who I was the whole time… I thought you had figured out, like, a few months ago, but well… apparently, my public disguise was better than I thought after all."

"Dis… What? No! Just no! You removed one hairpin! That's not a disguise in any sense of the word!" I let my face sink into both of my palms, knowing that I was actually humiliating myself more and more with every further word I said, but I couldn't help it. "And, please, please put your badge off that thing! You don't wear your Attorney's Badge in your hair! You have a perfectly good vest to put it on!"

"Hm." Heatherd didn't seem to exactly care. She moved the pin around a bit, since it apparently wasn't yet in the position she wanted it to be. "I can wear my badge where I want, Mr. Wright. It will stay up there. It fits the color of my hair."

(This hurts. It just hurts to look. Please make it end…)

"Now, if you'd excuse me, I have to use a bathroom. Later."

After that, Lilie Heatherd headed towards the door and left. I wasn't even trying to say anything to stop her or to ensure her coming back afterwards anymore. I just waited until she had passed through the door, then I stepped the three steps that were left from my standpoint to the sofa and let my body fall down onto it.

"Ungh…This is a nightmare." I muttered, facing the furniture under me. "Every moment, the giant gavel comes and squashes me. I just know it."

Edgeworth apparently could still hear me. "Well, you have to admit that she is partly right." He sat down on the chair I had used just seconds prior.

"You should have known who she was."

"I probably did, from how it sounded… up until yesterday, at least."

"So your lack of memory does not just include that one trial…?" Edgeworth asked. Despite him claiming before that he didn't want to know what was wrong with me, he seemed rather interested now.

"Let's just say, it includes a lot of stuff…" I answered, face still to the sofa.

"Court Proceedings?" he asked with a hint of worry.

"Don't worry, those are still there."

"This is good to know."

"Argh…" Finally, I pushed my upper body up again and sat up, facing Edgeworth again. "I mean… how is this possible? This girl can't be a Defense Attorney! She's like-"

"Twenty three years old." Edgeworth told me with a dead-serious face.

"…Twenty…three?"

There was a reason he was making that face. Otherwise, I would have been convinced that this was a joke.

"She looks like sixteen!" I exclaimed, noticing how my voiced rose higher and higher, like a badly tuned guitar.

"And takes advantage of it on every given opportunity." Edgeworth sighed. "I watched two of this girl's trials from the gallery. She's not exactly what you'd call a genius, but she has quite a few tricks she can often resort to and she knows how to use what she has got. And she is quite creative. Most of her successes relied on her ability to make a connection between almost everything she finds on the crime scene, even if it were just a wrapper from a stick of gum. Her explanations are often so long winded and surprisingly thought through that the prosecution and judge have no other choice but to follow her train of thought for a little while. She, however, hardly ever actually goes anywhere with them and only few turn out to have any basis in reality. It's obvious she's only using the tactic to buy time and she earned herself the nickname "Evidence Spammer" with this."

"Not exactly flattering…"

"She doesn't seem to mind. It is generally really hard to actually intimidate or impress her. The Prosecutors' usual tactics, therefore, barely work on her. This is the other reason why she's quite successful. Finally, she has a habit of eating in the courtroom."

"I imagine that she'd get a lot of penalties with this kind of attitude…" I thought aloud.

"Oh, she does. But she is careful not to reach the limit. Like I said, she exploits everything as much as she can. The Judge's patience is no exception."

"I see… How good is she?"

"Out of the seven trials she's had so far, she's won five." Edgeworth explained. "One of the two losses she just shrugged off without much consideration… The other one she caused herself."

"Herself?"

"Apparently, the defendant had 'offended' her during the recess. She then held a nap in the Defence's Bench for the remainder of the trial…"

A short silence followed after this. Just when I had thought that I couldn't possibly find this person's attitude even worse than I already did, Edgeworth had proven me wrong.

"…And there are actually people who entrust this Heatherd girl with their Defense?"

"For some reason, she keeps getting clients." Edgeworth told me. His voice made it obvious that he didn't know much more about it. "Anyway… weren't you on the way to collect the remaining evidence?"

"Ah, right…" I took a look at the watch. It was 8:30 now. One and a half hour till the trial… I had to inform myself fast. "Alright, I'll go find Gumshoe. If this Heatherd girl comes back…"

Edgeworth nodded.

"I'll try to keep her from leaving, but I can't promise you anything. I still have my own preparations to do after all."

"Thank you!"

With an honest smile, I nodded thankfully before I turned around and headed for the door. I had to hurry. Edgeworth was right, I was lagging way behind with my preparations. If I really wanted to catch up on the time I wasted, I needed to finally get my hands on those investigation results.

I stepped outside…

"Pal!"

For once, I was lucky. The first thing that greeted me when I had left the Defendant Lobby was a great, big grin and the owner of said grin waving at me from across the hallway. It was a relieving sight, at least for me in my current situation.

"Detective Gumshoe!" I ran up to him. "Good thing I found you… Hey, do you happen to have the evidence you mentioned in your text message from yesterday on you? I still need to take a look at it."

"Actually, I was just searching for you because of this, Pal!" he handed me a small bag he was holding in his hand. "Here you go!... Heh… Heh…"

I took it, but not without letting my eyes off Gumshoe… The detective had a weird smile on his face for some reason.

"…What are you laughing about…?" I asked him finally, after deciding that I found that expression a bit too unsettling to just leave him alone about it.

"Ah… nothing... eh heh…" he seemed embarrassed. "I just thought about what a strange feeling it is to be able to call a superior 'Pal'. Like I had been promoted to a higher level… something along those lines!"

(Maybe I gave him a little bit too much freedom there?) I wondered. (You never know, it could go to his head…)

"And yesterday, I got that huge bonus…Actually, isn't that a huge step forward in my career? Hey, maybe the actual promotion isn't that far away!"

(…)

I decided to start another topic, in order to get him off those thoughts.

"Could you tell me something about the new evidence, Detective?"

"Sure thing! Let's sit down over there to talk about it, Pal!"

"Alright."

We went over to the bench on the hallway's end and sat down. I got out the Autopsy Report and skimmed through it:

"According to this, she died from the blood loss…"

"Yeah, the stab wound was located in her chest, but somehow the killer missed the heart, so she stayed alive for some time. Not that this would have done her any good…"

"Yes, she was still alive when we found her." I told him. "…Barely. I don't want to know for how long she had been suffering in that state by the time we arrived."

"And to think her own sister did this to her… poor girl."

"…Hm?" A part of the autopsy report caught my attention. "…There was a bruise on the back of her head?"

Gumshoe nodded. "Yeah, they found it when they examined the body closer. It wasn't bleeding, so her hair was hiding it quite well. She was probably hit there during the struggle. Not strong enough to kill her, but she was probably out for a few minutes after that. That must also be where this ribbon came from."

"Ribbon?"

"Take a look at the crime scene photo."

I did as Gumshoe said and saw a picture of the dead Ema, lying on the floor, her pink glasses next to her. At first the position confused me since I distinctly remembered her sitting against the wall when I found her, but then I recalled that she had fallen over when she finally died…



The stab wound in her chest was clearly visible, as was the blood on her coat, shirt and skirt. Between her scattered hairs, something blue was visible. Only now I noticed that something was missing…

"Oh… I see. Her hairstyle - Uhm… what did Maya call it again- Ah, anyway… It came undone."

"Yeah, the ribbon must have slipped when the killer hit her."

"Hm…"

There was one question on my mind and I voiced it.

"Any chance… you found the murder weapon?"

"It's right here, pal! Look!"

Gumshoe reached into the bag and got out a smaller plastic bag. There was a knife inside.

"We found this with Miss Skye. According to some of the other Prosecutors, she always has a knife on her for self defense. This is probably it."

"Hm…"

I took a close look at it. "But there's no blood…"

"And no finger prints either." Gumshoe admitted. "The knife was probably cleaned with water and soap right after the crime. She tried to hang herself in the bathroom after all."

I looked up from the knife and turned my head to Gumshoe. "No fingerprints? But then this knife could have been used by anyone."

"But there was nobody else present." Gumshoe said and then he started to smile. "And we even have proof for that! Take a look at this!"

He gave me a sheet of paper from the bag.

"What's this?" I asked.

"A list of the fingerprints on the door handle!" Gumshoe stated. "The forensics made this at my request!"

"Your request?" I repeated in disbelief "You actually thought ahead far enough to ask them to analyze the handle?"

"Well…" he seemed a little embarrassed. "…actually, it was Mr. Edgeworth's request. I just passed it on to them. I gave him a copy of the list afterwards too."

"Oh."

(So, Edgeworth requested the fingerprints on the doorknob be analyzed? He must have had a reason for this… let's see…)

I quickly browsed through the names on the list:



"Huh?" My eyes rested on the second-to-last name in surprise. "What is Iris's name doing on the list?"

"Hm… Isn't 'Iris' the name of your ex, pal?" Gumshoe asked when he heard me whispering and he tried to peek over my shoulder.

"Ex-girlfriend." I corrected him "I don't think we were ever married…"

"You… don't think…?"

"Eh… But, you're right. She pro—I mean, she, of course, had a keycard to my apartment." I could say this without a doubt, because I knew that I would have given one to her. "The fingerprints must be from her last visit then… What about the question marks?"

"The owner of those prints wasn't in our databank." Gumshoe answered. "So, we don't know whom they belong to yet, but we recorded them anyway. Who knows, that guy or woman could show up sooner or later during the case, Pal! Better be prepared for everything!"

"…You got that from Edgeworth too, right?"

"…Eh...Heh Heh Heh Heh…"

(It was a good idea to let him support Edgeworth.) I thought to myself. (That list was just what I needed… it clearly contradicts that brat's testimony. But I wonder if I can get through her Psyche Locks with this alone?)

I kept looking through the evidence. There were two more crime scene photos. One showed the messed up room, the other showed the unconscious Lana with the string from around her neck.

After that, there was just a single other piece of evidence left in the bag.

"…Huh?"

I was quite surprised, when I found myself holding one of Ema's decorative badges in my hand. The needle was crooked…

"Where did you find this?" I showed it to Gumshoe.

"Right next to the victim." He answered. "Probably came loose during the struggle, just like the ribbon. It's not really important, but we thought we should take it too."

"…There's blood on the needle…"

Interested, I took another look at the crime scene photo. Really, it was lying there on the floor by her feet… It had just been so small that I didn't really notice at first.

"The blood probably got onto it when it fell down." Gumshoe explained "There was a rather big puddle on the floor… quite creepy, Pal."

"Yeah, I saw it…" I sighed, remembering what had happened when I had tried to keep Ema alive. Taking another look at everything, I put the items back into the bag Gumshoe gave me and asked. "And this is everything you found?"

"Yup. Everything relevant to the case we could find in there, Pal! We searched every corner of those two rooms… Oh, but we didn't touch your personal stuff! I swear!"

"Wouldn't be mad if you did." I told him. "You were just doing your job, after all."

(And you hopefully did it right. I'll need to figure out what really happened based on these few items…)

I still had no clue why the killer had murdered Ema or how exactly he or she managed to access the apartment, but one thing was for sure: that the testimony Lilie Heatherd had given me was phony. The Psyche Locks alone were enough to prove this. I needed another talk with her in order to find out more…

"Oh, by the way, Mr. Wright…" Gumshoe seemed a little nervous. "About the witness… We… kinda… uhm…"

"Don't worry, I managed to catch her before she had a chance to leave." I told him.

"Ah! Well, that's good! And I thought we'd have to start the process witness-less. You have no idea how much trouble she caused, pal."

"Actually, I think I got the idea…" I sighed. "The worst thing is, I'll have to put up with her even more…"

After another look at the watch – which said 9:00 – I got up and stretched a little before reaching for the Magatama in my pocket.

"Time to get the truth out of that girl…"



I left for the Defendant Lobby No.2 again, armed with a bag full of evidence. This time, I'd get her… I finally felt somewhat ready to take on this case and everyone related to it.

However, when I stepped into the Lobby, I knew that my luck had already left me again. I could spot neither my oh-so-decisive witness, nor Edgeworth. Except for a few bailiffs, nobody seemed to be here.

(Huh? Now, that's weird… where did he go?)

It was strange… Edgeworth was not the type of person to just break promises. Then again, he had said himself that his own preparations were still his first priority… Did something happen that required him to leave? I hadn't really been paying attention to what else went on in the hallway when Gumshoe and I went through the evidence…

I took a look around… the bailiffs looked rather nervous. Probably something happened while I was outside… Maybe something relevant to the Defense Team, explaining why Edgeworth left.

(Hm… That girl is not here either… with Edgeworth out of the way, she probably took the chance and bolted for the Cafeteria… Argh… I should probably go look for her ther-)

"…Huh!"

I had finally noticed the one person in here who was, obviously, not a guard or bailiff… A young woman with black hair was sitting at the table… I gulped.

Apparently, my 'Huh' had been quite loud, since she had noticed. She raised her head in surprise and turned it towards me. Then she froze.

" Oh! …Y-You…"

Hands to her mouth, Iris was staring at me with her unnaturally big, clear eyes.

"…"

It took her about five seconds of awkward silence between us before she finally turned her head down again. She quickly looked at the ground, trying not to move her eyes, resulting in her looking strangely tense. Every bystander who wasn't noticing my presence would have probably thought she had a weird obsession with the carpet.

I bit my lip.

('Ex-Girlfriend', huh?)

What a dumb situation. I had no idea what to do now. Not even a little clue. Quite a few years had passed since I had dated Iris, at least for me, and I also had absolutely no idea how to behave in front of a girl one just recently broke up with. Was I supposed to show remorse now or play some kind of egotistic jerk? The first option seemed better, yet I was kind of afraid of accidentally saying something wrong if I try to appear regretful… Not talking to her at all would have been a so much more pleasant idea, hadn't she already noticed my presence. Just walking away now was out of question…

Finally, I decided to approach her a few steps… One, two, three…

"Good… morning, Iris…"

She didn't turn towards me, but lowered her head even more.

"…"

At least she wasn't randomly screaming at me and attacking me with mysteriously convenient sports equipment. That was something.

"…You… don't so happen to know where Edgeworth is, do you…?" I asked carefully.

(Wait…This is the first thing I ask her? The only thing I could come up with? Wow. Fail.)

"…Mr. Edgeworth had to leave…" Iris whispered. "There was an emergency…"

"Emergency…?"

She stayed silent for a few moments, before she continued whispering.

"Because of his client… Miss Skye…"

"Lana… is there something wrong with her?" I asked worried.

"…"

Iris said nothing more, but she continued to stare at the floor. Somehow, the fact that she wasn't adding anything was giving me a very bad feeling… What did happen while I was busy?

"…What to do…?"

"Hm?"

I looked over to Iris… I was sure that she had said something just now. Finally, she continued talking.

"…What to do…" she whispered "…when the last one left to you is gone and you will never be able to see this person again? What to do when you want to hear this person's voice again and see this person's smile again, but are convinced it was impossible?..."

Iris slightly raised her head. She looked at me with a weak smile.

"I think… in a certain way… we Fey women can consider ourselves lucky. Because we know the truth. That the people we love are not lost once their lives come to their end. They will watch over us who stay behind and guide us. This is why I will always know that I am not alone… even if my sister… my aunt, my cousins and everybody pass away from this world. They will still be watching out for me and… and I'll always know that I don't need to follow them to be by their side..."

(Follow them…?)

Iris continued whispering.

"So I should probably consider myself the luckiest person in the world… Probably… I should probably be thankful for being what I am. But… But I am not... I hate it. I always hated it."

Iris paused. I could see her hands trembling:

"…What is behind the veil that separates us and them? I should know. I am… the next Master after all. But I don't know. I am so scared of it… And if those I love the most were to get lost behind that veil… I don't know if I would have the strength to search for them behind it. Even if I could…"

"Iris…"

She clutched her Kimono with her hands as her eyes turned a little wet.

"I… I wanted to help Miss Skye. I really wanted to help her to see her sister again… But I couldn't. I was too weak…"

(…Miss Skye? She tried to channel Ema?...)

What was this reminding me of? The way Iris kept talking herself down… Oh, right. Maya had acted the same, shortly before she first returned to Kurain after we became friends. She had failed to channel Mia several times in a row back then…

I came to wonder… for a Spirit Medium, who spent her whole life doing nothing else but training to channel the spirits of the dead… What must it be like for these girls to find that they are incapable of doing this one thing they had dedicated all their lifetime to?

"I… I am sorry." Iris suddenly said. She turned her head away from me. "What… What am I doing… I don't know why I am even talking about all of this… After all…"

Iris looked up to me again.

"Why should you be interested in what I say…? After all, you… you… Ah- I… I am sorry…I…actually, I shouldn't be here…"

Iris suddenly stood up. "I-I'll be leaving now…"

"Iris!

She stood still.

"Iris, wait! I…"

I approached her a few steps.

"I'll bring Dahlia and Mia back! I promise."

Iris waited a little, before she finally moved her head and looked at me.

"For whom?"

"…What…?"

Iris looked a little more confident now. A certain seriousness was on her face when she continued her question:

"For whom would you do this?…For yourself? Just so I will stay with you?"

"No." I answered. "So you and Maya get your sisters back! So you can actually smile again!"

"…!"

Iris seemed quite surprised by the answer. She blinked a few times, before she lowered her head a little again.

"…Are those words… coming from your heart? Or are they just what seemed the best thing to say for you at the moment?"

"…Iris…"

She took a deep breath and turned around again:

"I… I wish I could just trust your words…Feenie…but…"

"…I already lost your trust… right?"

"…"

I was surprised that I had actually been able to answer this. Iris, however, took a step towards the door. She stopped just once more… and raised her head, still not facing me. But I could clearly hear her words…




(A… song?)

After this, she went outside.

I was left behind a little dumbstruck. What had she meant to tell me by this? Was this supposed to have any… meaning for me?

I bit my lip, as the door closed behind Iris.

"Why did she even come here…?" I wondered aloud.

Loud enough for a bailiff, who passed by, to hear me:

"Oh, that girl just now? I think she's some kind of occult priestess or something. I heard the Defence hired her to get the Defendant to finally talk to her lawyer somehow. Didn't work out too well."

"Huh?" I turned towards the bailiff. "Why? What happened?"

"Dunno all the details, was just watching." He shrugged. "But somewhere along the way, the Defendant just stood up and left for the bathroom. A few minutes later, the guards caught her trying to strangle herself with her scarf there."

"She… WHAT?"

"Yeah, she probably hasn't got all too much faith in her lawyer, if she's already trying to go that route, right? I guess this will be one easy session for you, Mr. Wright."

I seriously hoped this guy was just joking. Judged by his face, however, he was not. I gulped.

(Lana… What are you doing, Lana?) I thought (Now they'll all think she did it for sure… Of course, that's what she wants… Darn it…)

"All the best in the trial, Mister Wright! I got work to do."

And the bailiff left the lobby.

I needed to sit down for a moment, so I chose the chair next to the one Iris had been sitting on and put my arms on the table. Just a few moments later, I noticed that I felt uncomfortable sitting straight up, so I started supporting my head with my right hand and sighed.

(Great… Just great… Two innocent women are in jail, Ema is dead, Maya hates me, Lana's as good as declared guilty, Iris is miserable, my witness is refusing to do anything cooperative whatsoever and I'm right in the middle of the whole mess as the great big jerk of everything. Not to forget that there are three sets of Psyche Locks that I haven't figured out how to break yet… And one of those is on me. Argh…)

Burying my hands in my hair, I finally let my head sink down to the table.

(Can it possibly get any worse?)

And that's when I heard it. The world's most annoying sound.

*SLAP*

Paired with world's most horrific voice. Well, almost.

"Is there anyone named 'Phoenix Wright' in this room?"

My head had already catapulted up from that eardrum-breaking sound, so there was no need for me to raise it. All that was left for me to do when I heard the voice was freeze and stare at the wall before me in horror, hoping that I didn't just hear who I thought I heard.

(I just had to ask, didn't I?…)

"Y-Yes, Miss… he's the one in the blue suit over there…"

"Thank you."

(No. No, I am not! Go away!)

I heard the steps. Obviously caused by someone wearing high heels. And the heels came closer and closer and…

"So, you are Prosecutor Phoenix Wright?"

"…"

I didn't budge an inch. I didn't even try to look at the person behind me. I knew all too well who it was and I did not want to interact with her. Not in any way possible on earth.

(Pretend you didn't hear her, Phoenix.) I thought. (There's a possibility that she doesn't know you. Maybe she'll think she found the wrong guy and lea-)

Well, of course, this wasn't the case, as I was about to find out.

*SLAP*

Pain. Pure 100% of concentrated pain pulsed through my back as the long string hit it with all force.

"OWW!"

"I demand you to listen to me when I'm talking!"

"OK, OK, I'm him! It's me!"

I turned around, rubbing my back, my eyes still closed from the pain. Actually, I didn't even need to open them. I knew who this was. There was only one person in the world that could enforce her will this way…

"Good. Of course, I knew that it must be you. I should probably tell you that I am never mistaken."

(The bailiff told you. Stop boasting.)

"Argh… now, what do you want…?" I asked, finally opening my eyes- Yes, it was her. No doubt. Not that this made anything better…

"…Franziska von Karma…"

Yes, there she was, the same blue hair, the same frilly outfit, the same… may god safe my pity soul… whip.

There was a satisfied smirk on her face when I looked at her. She was probably feasting on my pain…

"So, you have heard of me?"

Or on her reputation. Either goes.

"Uhm… yes… I…" I threw a quick glance on her whip. "…I guess I have…"

"Excellent! This saves time… Of course I had already expected you to know my name, but recognizing me on first glance… I see, you have a good taste when it comes to choosing role models!"

"Role… models…?" I needed a few moments to comprehend what she meant. "W-Wait! I am not your fan!"

"..You are not?"

"No, I am not!"

*SLAP*

"ARGH!"

Wrong answer. Obviously.

"If that is so…" Franziska had crossed her arms and was now clutching her sleeves… I knew what that meant. It meant that I had managed to severely displease her. I had to be more careful now, or I'd end up in hospital bruised from head to feet faster than I could say 'Incoming hurt". So I bit my lip and kept my mouth shout while she continued talking.

"… why is it that you requested me then?"

('Requested'…? You…?...) I had no idea what she meant… for approximately three seconds. Then it struck like lightning.

(…AH!)

"D-Don't tell me… you're the… the…Co… Cou…"

"Why are you shivering like a pile of dry leaves, Mr. Phoenix Wright?" she asked me, stretching out her hand dramatically. "I assure you that there is no need to be nervous. Looking at the facts, today's trial should be pure child's play to win. Just follow my instructions and I promise you that the judge will swing his gavel to announce the Guilty verdict in less than five minutes!"

"…"

My eyes were not at her face, not at her mouth or her eyes. They were at her whip. Just that long, godforsaken, suffering-inducing string on a wooden stick.

(Why her?) I asked myself, feeling how the sweat dropped down my forehead. (Why, of all the Prosecutors there are in this world, her? )

"You should know, I usually don't play babysitter for rookies, but I made an exception for you due to certain circumstances. You can feel honored now!"

(How are you even here? Shouldn't you be in… what do I know… Frankfurt or Munich or Baden or some other strange-sounding place I will never see with my own eyes in my life? …She has no reason to be here! I'm seeing through your scheme, destiny! Go away and screw with someone el-)

*SLAP*

"YIKES!"

My bruise collection expanded by one. By the end of this trial, I would probably qualify for Guinness World Records under the title "Most Bruises received within the time span of three days" at this rate.

"You are not listening to me, are you?" Franziska hissed at me, her eyes slanted. "What kind of foolish fool are you, to think you could just call in a Von Karma to support a rookie like you in your foolishly amateurish way of work and not appreciate them at all for actually accepting such a foolish plea? If you are even lacking the ability to listen to your elders properly, you should quit before you disgrace the whole Prosecutor's office with your foolishness!"

"…Actually, I am not a rookie." I told her, preparing to duck, in case she decided to randomly whip me for no apparent reason, which was more than likely.

Franziska's arms were still crossed.

"Oh? And why did you request my presence in the Prosecutor's stand during this trial then?

"Well, actually, that was…"

*SLAP*

I had finally managed to jump out of range before she hit me. Despite having asked the question, she didn't let me finish talking to answer it, she just whipped me. Apparently she had meant it rhetorically… or something…

"I see. You didn't expect me to be a woman and are now judging me by that fact… What a foolishly foolish way of thinking."

"I-I'm not biased against women! Actually, my own mentor is a-"

*SLAP*

Franziska grabbed the ends of her whip with her hands and angrily pulled on them:

"Don't talk until I'm finished!"

I decided to not move at all anymore. In fact, to do nothing except breathe.

"Mr. Phoenix Wright, I put my promising career in Germany on hold and came to this country for one sole reason… Revenge."

(Uhm…Déjà vu? Didn't you say almost the exact same thing when we first met… for real, I mean?)

"I will tell you right away: I only accept perfection in every way and will not allow an unimportant, little rookie like you to ruin everything! Do you understand?"

In fear of saying something that would cause her whipping reflexes to go off, I just silently nodded.

"Well, in any case…" Franziska let her arms down again. She seemed a lot calmer now. "…the trial should start soon, so we probably should waste no more time in this Defendant Lobby. You can indulge me on all details to this case while you make your final preparations."

"…"

(…I can't possibly explain to her that I need to talk to the witness again when Heatherd's testimony is nothing but one huge advantage for the prosecution… Darn…)

"We will be leaving now. Come."

Reluctantly, I stood up from my chair. Only now, that I was standing, I remembered how much taller than her I actually was, making me wonder why I had remained on the chair this whole time. This had made her seem even more intimidating to me than was necessary… Not that being above eye-level with her changed much. She still had the Karma-glare, the word 'fool' in her vocabulary and, most importantly… her whip.

I was not looking forward to having that whip next to me in the bench. Not in the least.

For some reason, I felt like having her on my side of the Courtroom was going to feel even worse than having her on the other side. For one: she was closer, and that would probably increase her whip's effect on me. Second, I couldn't even defend myself against her since she would now technically be trying to 'help' me, rather than hinder.

But 'help me', in this case, meant 'keeping her perfect score clean by ending this trial with a Guilty verdict at all cost' for sure. This was not good. How was I supposed to give Lana even a hint of chance with her trying to be found guilty and a Von Karma at my side? All I could do now was trust in Edgeworth's abilities as an Attorney… Actually, not a hard task. He was indisputably better than Franziska in a few ways. If both their skills were still at about the same level as I remembered them, it should work out… hopefully…

Lacking any other choice than to follow her, I was just about to go through the Lobby's door after Franziska, when somebody addressed me.

"Excuse me. Could you help me?"

"Hm?"



I turned around and faced a woman with black hair, holding a book. She smiled at me gently as she continued.

"I was searching for the Defendant Lobby No.2. Does this happen to be the right place?"

"Uhm…"

For some reason… the woman seemed familiar…

(Strange… I'm sure, I saw her before… but I'm not sure where…)

"…Yes, this is Lobby No. 2…"

"Really? Ah, this is good then. I feared I might have gotten lost… this building is so awfully huge."

"Excuse me… but who are you?"

I knew that just asking this question out of the blue wasn't exactly polite, but I needed to know now. My curiosity wouldn't let me sleep tonight otherwise.

The woman bowed when I asked her this.

"My name is Misty Fey, Sir." she told me.

"M-Misty Fey…!"

(Maya's and Mia's mother…! That where I knew her from!)

I looked at her face closely now. She wore her hair differently from when I had last seen her, this was probably why I hadn't recognized her right away. Only now that I met her with the knowledge of who she really was did I notice that she did, really, look quite a lot like Mia... They even had the same smile…

"And I am here…" she continued. "…because I want to testify to the court. As a witness."

"A… A witness?"

"Phoenix Wright!"

*SLAP*

I should probably inform you that before the sound of the whip hitting me, there was also the sound of the door swinging open with force and hitting the wall with way too much speed.

Franziska had apparently run out of patience.

"You will not be wasting my time any longer!" she shouted at me. "Do you understand me?"

"Yes, yes…"

*SLAP*

My reflexes were getting better. I had managed to escape her again.

Still, Mrs. Fey seemed quite shocked by Franziska's behavior. "Oh my…"

"And I don't accept half-hearted answers like the last one, Phoenix Wright!"

(Great. She dumped the 'Mister'. I have a bad feeling about this…)

Out of other options, I followed Franziska out of the room, but took one last glance at Mrs. Fey before I did…

…Misty Fey… when I had last seen her, she was Elise Deauxnim… the victim in a murder case which involved many members of her family…

But now she was alive… Alive and there for her daughters.

Come to think of it… All the time I had only thought about how much worse everything had become for me all of a sudden… Now I saw that there were also good changes, which I had completely missed out on thinking about till now. If Misty Fey was still alive… how many other people who had originally died were?

And also… Edgeworth was a Defence Attorney, like he had wished as a kid, and rid of his phobias and nightmares of DL-6.

Also, there was Mia… she had escaped the same fate as her mother had.

And Dahlia seemed to be a normal girl with normal desires…

Maybe for everything else that was worse… there was one thing that was better…?

The people who were alive now… Some of them would be gone again once everything went back to normal… right?

I led my conversation with Franziska in the Third Floor Lobby rather absentminded, but comprehendible enough to spare me any more whipping. My thought still with the now-alive Misty Fey, I explained the basics about the Evidence to Franziska von Karma, getting some rather satisfied smiles out of her in the process. Apparently, she saw this trial as good as won.

It wasn't long anymore until I heard the familiar words:

"Court will commence shortly. Please take your places in the courtroom."

Finally. The trial was starting.

I hadn't had another chance to interrogate Heatherd… But, for some reason, I still felt a little relieved. Only after a bit of thinking did I realize why. It was because Edgeworth had a witness.
Misty Fey would be there… testifying for Lana's innocence.

And now I wondered what she saw…