It was the start of something everyone had been waiting for - the start of Eva Edgeworth's prosecuting career. Like her parents, she was starting early, at thirteen. People were expecting something amazing. She would win with flying colours. But what would it be like if YOU were Eva herself? Well, it would be an understatement to say that Eva was nervous.
"Just do your best," her father had said. But Eva wasn't sure her best would be good enough. She was sat in the prosecution lobby, looking over her court record for what seemed like the thousandth time. The witnesses were prepared, she had spent ages making sure her case was contradiction-less, so surely nothing would go wrong, right? Eva's head began to fill with a million what-ifs and she was just about to run out of the lobby screaming when the bailiff said it was time to go in.
"Thanks," she choked out, before walking into the courtroom. It was now or never. She saw her parents sitting up in the gallery, and Eva saw her father smile and give a nod, which gave her some confidence. She stood behind the prosecutor's bench, checked the court record one last time, and before she knew it, it was ten o'clock and time for the trial to start.
"Order! ORDER!" the judge had to yell to make himself heard - there were a lot of people in the gallery today obviously. "Now, is the prosecution and defense ready?"
"The prosecuton is ready, Your Honor,"Eva managed to say she was ready without sounding too nervous, but the defense merely smirked.
"The defense is prepared... to babysit a thirteen year old!" the woman at the defense stand said mockingly.
"And you are?" Eva said coldly. She took an immediate dislike to the woman who had just tried to trash talk her.
"Kelsey De Villiers," she answered, and Eva saw that infuriating smirk was still on her face.
Fortunately, before anything nasty happened, the judge intervened.
"Ahem! Ms. von Karma, please give an outline of this case," the judge said.
"Your Honor, my surname is Edgeworth, not von Karma... please refer to me by my correct surname in future if you please. Now. The victim was Carter Newt, a scientist at the local laboratory. He was found dead outside the aforementioned laboratory at 1am on Tuesday morning. Cause of death was chemical poisoning. The suspect is his collegue Katy Murk. We know that the suspect was in the vicinity at the time of the murder and witnesses claim to have seen her knock the victim unconsious before injecting the poison into his body. Her fingerprints are all over the syringe that was used to inject the poison. A very open and shut case if you ask me Your Honor," Eva stated, smirking at De Villiers.
"Hmm, it does seem to be, Ms Edgeworth. Please call your first witness!" Eva nodded.
"The prosecution calls the security guard who witnessed the murder!"A woman wearing a space helmet walked to the stand, which Eva thought a little weird. She saw her father mouthing something frantically to her, but what Eva couldn't make out, and so she simply shrugged and turned to the witness.
"Witness, please state your name and occupation for the court," The lady took her helmet off to reveal a pinched face which resembled a lemon and a really strange hairstyle.
"Wendy Oldbag, security guard, whippersnapper!" Oldbag screeched. She paused. "EDGEY POO!"NO! NO! PLEASE NO! NOT THE WICKED WITCH OF THE WITNESS STAND! ARGH! Eva nearly cried out in exasperation at her bad luck. This was just not her day... at least if she had known about it beforehand, she would have been able to psyche herself up for what would surely be a very irritating and exasperating trial. Eva sighed, putting all her thoughts aside for a moment, she said "Witness, please testify as to what you saw for the court!"
"Don't worry Egey-poo, I'll do a good job for your litle girl!" Eva nearly face palmed, but decided not to, she wasn't about to show De Villiers she was getting frustrated.
"So I was walking around the building, making sure no whippersnappers were loitering, when I heard a curious noise,"
"I decided to investigate in case there was trouble,"
"I then saw the defendant knock poor Mr Newt out and poison him!"
"I always knew that she was a whippersnapper all along!" Eva exhaled. The testimony was all right, De Villiers would have to work to get a contradiction.
De Villiers smirked and began her cross examination of Oldbag. She annoyingly pressed every statement and soon Eva began to tire of it.
"Your Honor, it appears the defense is unable to find any contradictions with this witness therefore her testimony can be considered credible, which indeed proves the defendant guilty. However, the prosecution wishes to call one more witness just to cement its case. Ms Oldbag, you may step down," Oldbag blew a kiss at Edgeworth before leaving, muttering to herself.
"The Prosecution calls Miss Lesley Harper, the receptionist at the laboratory!"
The judge then declared a recess and then they would hear Miss Harper's testimony. Eva walked out into the lobby, deciding not to bother preparing Lesley as they had gone over her testimony several times already, and so Eva contented herself with just sitting on the couch in the lobby and trying to calm herself down. However, she couldn't keep back a memory from years before when she had first started to learn to prosecute, at the age of eight.
FLASHBACK
"Now, Eva. You understand that you do not have to become a prosecutor if you do not wish to," her father had said.
"No, father, I want to hold the family's good name. I want to be a prosecutor, I was born to prosecute,"
"Very well, as you wish. The first thing you must know is that prosecuting is about finding the truth. More often than not the defendant is guilty, but keep an open mind at all times. Things are often bathed in new light in court. If the defendant is innocent, accept it and guide the defense attorney to the not guilty verdict. Prosecuting is NOT about winning or attaining a perfect record, do you understand?"
"Yes, father. But.... Grandfather Manfred...he had a perfect record, did he not?"
"Your grandfather was not an honest man, Eva. Please do not use him as a role model - in fact, I forbid you to think of him. He brought many people pain and suffering and you will not do the same, is that clear?!"
END OF FLASHBACK
Eva sat and thought of her long dead grandfather. What I didn't know at the time is that Manfred murdered Grandfather Gregory... I understand my father's bitterness towards him. He then tried to pin a murder on my father which he committed.... Eva felt anger rise up in her for the first time in a long while and she vowed to never be a prosecutor like Manfred von Karma, who had caused both of her parents so much agony.
Meanwhile up in the gallery, Miles and Franziska were discussing their daughter’s performance in the trial so far.
“She’s doing well, and definitely not taking any nonsense from the defense attorney!” Miles commented.
“Yes, I agree,”
“She works so hard to please us, perhaps too hard,”
“You’re right, I once found her collapsed in the library at about 4am with a pile of law books spread out in front of her. Sound familiar, Miles Edgeworth?” Franziska smirked, recalling the endless nights of their teens, studying to all hours of the night if necessary, and working for their insane control freak of a father. Franziska felt pure rage seep through her. How could she have ever seen that man as a role model?
"I hope you repimanded her, Franziska, I don't want her getting into a habit off doing it like we did," Miles said worriedly.
"Do not trouble yourself, Miles. I woke her up immediately and sent her straight to bed, after telling her she was not to do it again," Franziska soothed.
“So, I thought you looked a little worried when the security woman took to the stand,” she said, effectively changing the subject.
“You’re right; I was concerned as she is a difficult witness...” Miles trailed off.
“And has a little crush on you, no? Don’t worry, you’re MARRIED. She cannot do a THING about that. However, I will take the precaution of giving her a good whipping, just so she gets the message,” Miles smirked. He did love his wife when she said things like that, even though whipping was violent and many people, including the judge’s brother and Lotta Hart, had tried to sue her for assault and battery as a consequence of this.
“Oh, it appears recess is over,” Franziska mused, snapping Miles out of his reverie. They both turned to face the court as their daughter and the defense attorney took their places once more...