85 I’ll Be There For You

A/N: Conclusion of Justice For All, case 4, Farewell My Turnabout

“As we grow up we learn that even the one person, who wasn’t supposed to let you down, probably will. When life gives you a hundred reasons to cry, show life that you have a thousand reasons to smile. In life, things change and people change. It doesn’t mean you forget the past or try to cover it up – it just means accepting that some things were never meant to be. You do not give up because you’re weak, you give up because you are strong enough to let go. You never stop loving someone, and if you do, you probably never loved them at all. Life is all about unexpected changes, happy moments, and making the best of every situation.

You will have your heart broken, probably more than once, and it’s not easier the second time around. You’ll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken. You’ll fight with your best friend. You’ll blame a new boyfriend for things an old one did. You’ll cry because time is passing too fast and you’ll eventually lose someone you love. So love the people who treat you right, forget about the ones who don’t, and believe that everything happens for a reason.

Life is short, so take too many pictures, laugh way too much, and love like you’ve never been hurt before cause every minute you spend mad or upset is a minute of happiness you’ll never get back. Life is too fleeting to wake up in the morning with regrets. Know that everything happens for a reason. And if you get a chance, take it. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said that life would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it.”

---

Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth
District Court, Defendant Lobby No. 3
March 23, 2018

 

Phoenix and Edgeworth went at it with all they had in court that day. It was the most emotionally draining, mentally-taxing courtroom session of the blue attorney’s life. The trial was a long, well-fought one, where both lawyers pulled out all the stops, as well as the right evidence to keep the case going, making it impossible for the judge to call a verdict.

Nevertheless, the blue attorney was a complete head case, knowing he was working on rapidly dwindling, borrowed time. It hadn’t helped that Mia as Pearl had reported that Maya hadn’t tried to channel her that morning, as she was probably too weak in her current state…

The fact that both attorneys were secretly on the same side was something they both managed to keep well hidden. However, it also meant that the King of Turnabouts and Prodigal Prosecutor both had to morph into the Sultan and Solicitor of Stalling,  to drag things out and buy as much time as they could till they were sure Maya had been rescued!

Phoenix played every card he had in delaying Engarde’s guilty verdict, even though at one point, he may have gone a bit too far and the judge thought he was immoral enough to hire an assassin! Of course, that may have been partially his fault…

On a transmitter radio, Shelly De Killer was falsely testifying that the client who’d hired him was Adrian Andrews. Talk about an unexpected twist! But how to expose the lie and somehow prolong the trial, without incurring the hitman’s suspicion?

“Um… Witness…” Phoenix floundered, wracking his brain for an excuse to stretch out the conversation with the assassin. “About requesting a hit…”

“Yes?” Queried De Killer’s disembodied voice from the radio.

“Er…” Phoenix smiled sheepishly. “How much is your fee…?”

There was dead silence in the courtroom following the outlandish question. Finally, De Killer spoke.

“I see you are also quite a dark-hearted man, Mr. Attorney…” There was a grin of beguilement in the assassin’s voice. “If you would like to talk business, we can do so after the trial…”

“Ack! NONONO!” Phoenix squawked in horror. “I’m not thinking of hiring –”

“M-M-Mr. Wright!!” The judge thundered.

“Y-Yes!?” He gulped.

“Y-Y-You…” The old man’s eyes were wide with fear and revulsion. “You want to kill me…You want me dead…DON’T YOU!?!?”

Whoever said lawmen had no imagination?!

“Whaaaat!?” The blue attorney clapped an exasperated hand to his forehead, barely suppressing the impulse to either start screaming or burst into hysterical laughter at the sheer lunacy of the situation. “Why would you think something like that, Your Hon –”

“Guilty! MR. PHOENIX WRIGHT!” The panic-stricken judge shrieked, pounding his gavel with each word. “You are hereby declared GUILTY!!”

“Gah!” Phoenix gulped, drawing back in horror.

There was a tense silence in the courtroom yet again, which mercifully, the genius prosecutor broke.

“…Witness.” Edgeworth was all but rubbing his temples at this whole exchange. “Let’s continue…shall we?”

Phoenix was well aware at this point that the entire peanut gallery in the courtroom audience had begun to demonize him if they hadn’t already! But he didn’t care. Like a sacred mantra, he simply repeated the looped thought over and over again in his mind, to get him through the ordeal.

This is to save Maya… This is to save Maya…Even if the whole world turns against me, this is one fight I can’t give up on.

The DA had truly come through in the end. There was no way he could have gotten this far without him – after all, the only reason he’d even become privy to the truth was because of the prosecutor! The other’s man’s unfaltering constancy had been exemplified when Gumshoe had called Phoenix on his phone, asking for a little more time. Panicked, Phoenix had hurled his phone across the court to the opposing counsel, who although hanging up, managed to maintain his legendary cool and helped stall things by asking for 30 minutes to check the authenticity of Celeste Impax’s will.

The spiky-haired man had gotten the opportunity to repay the favor when De Killer’s testimony of naming the client who’d hired him was falsely declared to be Adrian Andrews. With that testimony alone, he could have easily gotten an acquittal for Engarde, but he decided to go on with the cross-examination. He owed it to the other man, not just as his courtroom colleague/rival…but as his old friend.

Edgeworth could have gotten a guilty verdict at any time up until now, but he didn’t.  If I push for an acquittal now, it’ll be like I betrayed him.  I can’t do that. He trusted me. And…I trust him. I do trust him.

But like everything good, it all had to come to an end, and Phoenix was forced to make a decision: Maya’s life or putting an innocent person in jail. Ultimately, he just couldn’t do it. He was a complete wreck about having to make such a decision – he couldn’t have the girl he loved die and he couldn’t do the latter.

That was when fate suddenly came charging through those court doors, in the form of the last person he thought would save him! Franziska Von Karma burst in like an avenging angel at that moment, bringing the evidence that would solve everything. And mercifully, it did just that! The three key presented pieces had been just what they’d needed to put Engarde behind bars while saving Maya’s life at the same time!

Phoenix had never felt more vindicated or such a believer of justice for all when he’d seen the tormented, horrified expression of terror on the fiendish Engarde’s face when De Killer had been made aware of his client’s breach of his revered trust …and announced that he’d be changing who his new ‘target’ would be! He never had thought the day would come when he’d live to see a guilty murderer blatantly confessing his terror so readily…and begging to be put behind bars…because it was a safer, more desirous fate than being targeted by the hitman he’d hired!

I told you I’d get you Engarde, you smarmy, sick bastard! I have always been a man of my word!

The King of the Turnabout was more than happy to have lost his first case, and he couldn’t have done it without the help of the prosecutor he had come to trust.

No matter what an awful thing Edgeworth had done, for whatever reason, by faking his death, he felt contrite about it. He’d gallantly endured all the verbal lashes Phoenix had slung at him with his signature aplomb and had still helped him out every step of the way. That certainly went a long way toward atonement, as far as Phoenix was concerned.

I’ve known him for too long. He’s too important to me. I can’t hold a petty grudge or try to exact any sort of revenge. Even though he’s never fully explained or asked for my pardon… I forgive him.

These were his decisive thoughts, which put his mind at ease completely as he walked out of the courtroom, freshly exhilarated despite the first “loss” on his lawyer record. He was smiling as he faced Edgeworth, who assured him that Maya was now safe, as De Killer had released her, as surely as he had released the two-faced Engarde as his client, and was on her way over to the courthouse! 

“Aaaaaaaaah! Mystic Maya! Mystic Maya’s safe!! You did it!” Pearl screeched, giving him an ecstasy-laden shot to the arm. “You really did it, Mr. Nick!”

Phoenix winced.

Oww… She punches deceptively hard for a kid…even if it was one of joy!

“I… I believed in you!” The girl sniffed. “I kept saying to myself: Mr. Nick will save her…Mr. Nick will save her…Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” And then she lurched herself into his arms.

As he held the little girl, who was sobbing tears of happy relief, in his embrace, Phoenix looked over her head at his friend and smiled awkwardly. “Thanks, Edgeworth.”

The other man nodded, the slight smile on his lips fading then as he spotted Franziska coming out of the courtroom. Following the direction of the prosecutor’s suddenly discomfited gaze, Phoenix flashed an uncomfortable grin upon seeing the German woman and mumbled his thanks.

Instead of replying, Franziska lashed out and whipped him, right on the same spot on his arm where Pearl had just jabbed him!

“OW!” He yelped. “What was that for!?”

“Why are you still smiling Mr. Phoenix Wright!?” She demanded crossly, putting her hands on her hips. “You…You lost!! Your great rival here has triumphed over you, at last, so your perfect win record has now been crushed! And yet… You are still happy!?”

“I don’t think you’ll ever understand… Ms. Von Karma.” Phoenix shook his head pityingly at her. “Which is too bad. I – I actually feel sorry for you.”

“You feel sorry for me?!” Her gray eyes widened in outrage. “How dare you!?”

“Don’t worry. She may get it in due time,” Edgeworth spoke quietly. “After all, I was like that myself, until a year ago.”

Both Phoenix and Franziska gasped in shock at seeing the proud prosecutor humbling himself to speak on behalf of the defense attorney.

“For my own personal victories…and for guilty verdicts… I used every dirty trick in the book. And so my win record remained spotless.” Edgeworth’s voice was laced with regret and self-disgust. “But then one day,  out of the blue,  a man appeared and stood fast against that selfish me. I fought him in my usual manner and tasted my first defeat.  I felt like I had lost everything because of that. And then…the fateful day came when it was my turn to sit in the defendant’s chair, only to wind up being saved…by that person I’d foolishly called my ‘enemy.’  I couldn’t forgive myself for all that had happened. So I left the Prosecutor’s Office, leaving behind that note reading Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth chooses death...”

“Humph, as well you should have!” Franziska snapped. “A prosecutor who has shamed himself with defeat should crawl into a hole and die!”

“But that was not what happened. After I left the Prosecutor’s Office, I finally came to realize something.” Edgeworth’s gaze flickered to Phoenix for a moment before settling back on Franziska, as though trying to privately convey a message to her. “And it was in that moment of clarity that everything began to change.” 

Evidently, the unspoken words rang loud and clear. She blushed slightly while struggling to maintain her lofty tone.

“Wh-What foolish nonsense…”

“It was the truth, Franziska,” Edgeworth’s eyes bored into hers. “I’m not proud to say so, but it is. We prosecutors use anything we can to attack the defendant.  But every time we did so… No matter how desperate the situation, instead of giving up like most people, that man would hold strong with his undying faith. And then, before I knew it… I began to trust that man as well.”

“Wh-What!?” Franziska stared at the prosecutor in disbelief as his words sank in. “You trusted your enemy!?” 

“It doesn’t matter how many underhanded tricks a person uses… The truth will always find a way to make itself known.” Edgeworth was staring straight at Franziska when he spoke again, as though pleading with her to understand.

Once again, it was as though he’d forgotten Pearl and Phoenix were even there.

“The only thing we can do is to fight with the knowledge we hold and everything we have.  Erasing the paradoxes one by one… It’s never easy… We claw and scratch for every inch. But we will always eventually reach that one single truth.  This I promise you. That’s the reason why prosecutors and defense lawyers exist.” Edgeworth, at last, lifted his intense gaze from Franziska and directed it at the astonished defense attorney. “But I’m sure you knew that already, didn’t you, Wright?”

Phoenix was still so gobsmacked by this unanticipated revelation that he was unable to do anything more than gape at his friend, who was back in a staring match with Franziska. The woman’s jaw was clenched tightly, although her lips were trembling.

“That’s why you couldn’t forgive me; this man who went into hiding, isn’t it?” Edgeworth prodded, reluctantly tearing his eyes away from the female prosecutor and affixing them to the still-silent, stunned-looking blue attorney. “Isn’t that right? This man who only had his sights set on “victory”, who ran away like a thief in the night…”

“Ah!” Pearl’s eyes were huge with awe as she looked first up at Edgeworth and then at Phoenix. “Is…Is Mr. Edgeworth right, Mr. Nick…!?”

You really let me down… but at least, now I somewhat understand why.

“When you disappeared, I felt…betrayed.” Phoenix struggled to find the right words. “The reason I decided to become a lawyer, to begin with, was because I believed in the things you said to me, all those years ago.  And then…you betrayed your own words.” He took a deep breath and slowly released it. “That’s why, one year ago, I made up my mind. I decided that the Miles Edgeworth I knew had died… At least, that’s what I told myself.”

At least, that’s what I had to convince myself. I needed to believe that, even though I didn’t want to if I ever wanted to find the strength to carry on…

“You pathetic fool! I don’t want to hear the wretched whimpering of a disgraced loser!” Franziska snarled, breaking the peaceful stillness with a crack of her whip against the floor. It wasn’t clear to whom she was speaking as her infuriated gaze raked both men with scorn, although it seemed to linger a tad longer on Edgeworth. “A Von Karma is someone who is destined to be perfect! Miles Edgeworth… You are no longer worthy!” Her voice shook with emotion.

Edgeworth took a step towards her, but she shook her head and backed away, but not before he saw the hint of angry tears sparkling in her eyes, which he knew she would be too proud to shed.

“You are no longer worthy of being a Von Karma! And neither am I!” Franziska cried, her stormy eyes zeroing in on Edgeworth one final time before hurling something to the ground. “It’s over… It’s all over!”

With that, she stormed off, leaving a forlorn-looking Edgeworth behind, staring after her.

He looks like he wants to go run after her, but is allowing himself to be held back, Phoenix noted, still confounded by what he’d witnessed between the two prosecutors. That’s the first time I’ve seen Franziska so emotional  – beyond mere wrath!  And not even directed at me this time!  But there was more than just anger in that last look she shot at Edgeworth –  there was a lot of pain there, too. There’s no denying it – something is up with these two. And it sure as hell ain’t no sibling rivalry!

That was when he noticed what the fiery femme had left behind on the floor in her wake. Edgeworth followed his eyes and bent down to retrieve the electromagnetic receiver. As he murmured he’d return the tracking device that she’d planted on poor Gumshoe to the precinct later, the former Solicitor of Stalling then spotted the familiar coil of black leather curled up on the tile, clutched it in his fist, and squeezed his eyes shut.

“I’ll never set foot in another courtroom again.” The expression of unmasked anguish on his handsome face was impossible to miss. “I’m sure that’s what she’s saying by this action…”

Good grief, Edgeworth, what are you doing here? Go after her! Phoenix stared at his friend, speechless by the tormented look he saw in those usually hardened grey eyes. You know you want to! And I’d bet my bottom dollar that Franziska wouldn’t pose any objections, either! You two have so much left unsaid…even more than you and I ever did! 

But he remained silent. Things had only just now thawed out between him and the other man, and he didn’t wish to speak out of turn and worsen things or pry into what was clearly a very private, and a very personal affair between a man and woman who, for whatever reason, wanted to convey the impression that there was no love lost.

Edgeworth cleared his throat. “You should keep this, Wright.” He waved the whip at Phoenix then, who only took it because it appeared as though it pained the other man to even look at it anymore.

I was wrong. This isn’t a case of no love lost, the reformed Sultan of Stalling finally realized, looking solemnly at his friend. This is a case of way too much love… left unspoken.

He didn’t have too much time to dwell on this newfound epiphany, however, because in the next instant, Phoenix heard a well-known sound.

“Nick!!”

There was only one girl in the world who called him that name. And never before had it ever sounded more like music to his ears.

He spun around upon hearing his nickname and came face to face with his beloved assistant. Phoenix let out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding as his beloved assistant half ran, half wobbled to him and Pearl. The child was the first one to make it to her cousin her kinswoman bent down to receive her hug, but the lawyer couldn’t wait for his turn and he enveloped both girls in a tight embrace. There were no words to describe his joyous relief. Maya was here, safe and sound. Moreover, best of all, the person he loved most in the world was by his side once more.

Love isn’t perfect. It isn’t a fairytale or a storybook and it doesn’t always come easy. Love is overcoming obstacles, facing challenges, fighting to be together, holding on, and never letting go. It is a short word, easy to spell, difficult to define, & impossible to live without. Love is work, but most of all, Love is realizing that every hour, every minute, and every second was worth it because you did it together.

Maya buried her head in his shoulder as tears streamed down her cheeks.

“Oh, Nick! I knew you would come through!” She wept. “You got Engarde convicted like I knew you would! And on top of that, you even rescued me!”

Phoenix drew back to study that cherished, familiar visage, as beautiful as ever despite looking a tad pale and drawn. There was so much he wanted to say to her. So much he wanted to hear her say. But the time wasn’t now. Not with little Pearl squealing by their side, and Edgeworth smiling shyly in the background, nervously scuffing his shoe against the floor, not wanting to intrude on their reunion.

“Well, of course, I did!” He teased. “You know I would never desert you! What are heroes for, right?”

She laughed giddily and wrapped her arms even tighter around his neck.

He allowed himself a brief moment of savoring the sensation of having her safely in his arms before he chuckled awkwardly and reluctantly pulled away.

“But we sure pressed our luck this trial… You’re really lucky to be standing here!”

“Whatever, whatever,” the psychic quipped, giggling. “Look, it’s over, OK? Besides, if I did croak, I would just come back and haunt you like a bad ghost through Pearly!”

He gulped.

Is it really that easy to do something like that…?

His friend was now flashing her best shit-eating grin.

“Th-Thanks a lot… Nick.”

“Um… Don’t mention it.” He mumbled, trying to keep his tone level, and failing.

The catch in his voice was impossible to miss, and suddenly, the laughter died in her eyes as she stared at him with mocha orbs again brimming with tears…and a myriad of emotions. He gazed right back, hoping she could read what he so desperately wished to convey with his own.

“Maya…” the barrister cleared his throat behind them then, momentarily breaking the spell.

“Mr. Edgeworth!” The spirit medium beamed, at last noticing the debonair man’s presence.

“Um… I’m relieved you’re alright,” he mumbled uncomfortably, looking very much like a man who knew he was intruding on a private moment he didn’t belong in, but not knowing what to do about it.

Her smile grew even broader at his discomfort.

“Hey… It looks like you’ve made some real progress, Mr. Edgeworth!”

“Yes, well, a lot has happened in the past year…” he blushed slightly. “Well, I suppose I’m a little different from who I was a year ago. Er, you know, more forthcoming and approachable and what have you…”

There was no other way for you to go, Edgeworth! Phoenix smirked to himself, and then let out a shout of laughter at the unmistakable sound of all six of Maya’s stomachs loudly growling at that exact moment.

“We are going for food now!” The psychic declared merrily, an impish twinkle in her eye. “I’m starved! I’m so hungry that even you look like a nice, juicy burger on a bun to me, Nick!”

“Y-You think I look like a burger…?”  He demurred, refusing to be enthusiastic about how the woman he loved wanted to sink her teeth into him as if it was in the literal context!  “Come on! I’m a Prime Rib at least!”

“Grand feast in honor of my return to the land of the living!” Maya announced, then winked at the prosecutor. “And yours, too, it would appear, eh, Mr. Edgeworth?”

Edgeworth merely reddened in response.

“Gatewater Hotel, here we come!” The Burger Queen was already headed to the doors.

“Come with us, Mr. Edgeworth!” Pearl implored. “Please!”

Edgeworth smiled timorously, looking pleased with being included but unsure how to convey as much. “Uh, um… If you insist.”

“Of course we do!” Maya shot him a mischievous grin. “Who do you think is driving us over, after all?”

---

Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth
Gatewater Hotel Lobby
March 23, 2018, 7:38 PM

 

Lotta Hart, the newly rehired Detective Dick Gumshoe, and Will Powers joined them for the feast, where the ever-gourmandizing Maya ate her weight in gourmet fare, and then looked disappointed then the Head Chef came downstairs to notify them that they would be closing the kitchen down shortly, despite the early hour.

In other words…the hotel was running out of food since the others were making such pigs of themselves, so would they please stop eating! 

Phoenix was both mortified and relieved, especially since he was sure the bill would add up to close to his next month’s salary! 

Edgeworth greeted his reinstated subordinate with surprising warmth, citing that Gumshoe was the one who’d saved the day in the end. This was despite the Detective’s atrocious driving skills, which had made him hit a telephone pole, resulting in the big man’s mild head injury, and ergo Franziska, not he, being the one to rush the three pieces of key evidence to court!

“It might be the head injury…” Gumshoe scratched at his bandages. “But I could have sworn when I ran off with the things from De Killer’s hideout, I took four things total, sir!”

Phoenix was surprised.  

There was a fourth item?

“Oh?”

“Yeah, I’m sure I put one of the items in my coat pocket.”

“Bah, it’s all over!” Lotta dismissed airily, waving her hand and resting her sharp eyes on Maya with interest. “But whoo boy, I tell ya! You really are somethin’ else! Between getting’ accused of murder and getting’ kidnapped…Never a dull moment with you, huh?”

“Hahaha,” Maya tittered. “You think?”

Had I been a cat, these last couple of days would have spooked me out of eight of my nine lives! Phoenix grumbled to himself. So, why does she look so happy about that…?

“But being shut away for two whole days…” Pearl shuddered. “Weren’t you scared…?”

A slight shadow crossed the spirit medium’s sunny face then.

“Yeah, it was really scary. I felt so hopeless…” She gave her head a shake and affixed her cousin with her customary megawatt smile. “So to keep my mind off of things, I drew a picture!”

Lotta and Pearl, of course, were keen to see the said picture. Phoenix was as well, but he kept silent as he studied Maya’s face, her delicate brows knitted together as she searched her memory for said item’s whereabouts, but then shrugged and blithely said she couldn’t recall where she’d left it.

“Aww…” the girl looked crestfallen. “That’s too bad.”

“W-Well, it’s alright!” Maya replied, a tad too quickly. “It wasn’t anything important anyway!”

Well, if she says so, then I’m not going to give it another thought either then. Phoenix mentally shrugged. It sure is nice to finally see them both smiling again.

His attention was diverted from the Fey girls at that moment as he suddenly heard the familiar beeping of Franziska’s receiver.

Gumshoe groaned when he recognized the device, citing that because of Franziska slapping that tracking device on him, he’d had the most miserable experience of his life!

And this is coming from a man whose salary had been cut so many times he was forced to live on ramen noodles!

“Even though you’re standing right here, the tracking device seems to be in a different location though …” Edgeworth’s brow furrowed in contemplation.

“Oh… It’s probably busted or something, sir.” Gumshoe guessed. “It did take quite a beating when I hit that telephone pole…”

The prosecutor nodded, still looking thoughtful, as he politely excused himself then and cited that he had some work to do.

“Huh!? But Mr. Edgeworth!” Maya protested. “You haven’t even eaten anything yet!”

And you’ve eaten way too much, you glutton! The blue attorney noted wryly.

“I had fun tonight.” The chess lover bowed graciously. “Now, if you’ll excuse me…” He turned to leave, but Phoenix clamped a hand on the prosecutor’s shoulder, halting him.

“Wait.”

“What?” An arch of a well-groomed brow.

“I just want to say, thanks, Edgeworth,” Phoenix smiled warmly. “You really saved me out there.”

“If anyone should be saying thanks, it should be me, Wright.” The other man shook his head and looked away. “It’s because of you that this former Demon Prosecutor regained his soul.”

The spiky-haired man swallowed at the poignancy of the words, as well as the appreciativeness in those normally guarded eyes that the DA’s still stoic nature wouldn’t allow him to convey.

They had come full circle now, and their friendship was well on the road to recovery. It was the kind of comradeship that bloomed within the heart’s utmost center – the rare variety with deeply seeded roots sprung from a seed planted in rich loam nearly two decades ago. It had basked within the rays of the warmest of sun, then flourished into an extensive sapling with many ups and downs, though not enough to mask the magnitude and grandeur of such a tree, nor the sheer brilliance and beauty of it.

17 years later, because of Phoenix Wright, even though he’d strayed from his own predetermined defense attorney path, Miles Edgeworth had discovered the integrity of what being a prosecutor truly meant and had been inspired to become a better version of the man he used to be.

In this life, my good friend, you aren’t Mardi Gras or 4th of July fireworks, nor are you a premium cheese or fine wine. No, with you, there’s nothing pretentious, refined, or overly ostentatious.  Edgeworth fervently wished he could find the courage to say the words aloud.  You are the salt of the Earth; the purest of air and freshest of waters. You are every single thing people don’t even realize that is so desperately loved or needed for their very existence until the day it’s gone. As we both near our third decade of life, I wish I could convey to you what you mean to me, and what you mean to all those lives you have touched. No one can change the world in a single stroke, Phoenix Wright, but with each act of trust, faith, and selfless deed, you made all the difference in the world to me, and I feel blessed to know you.

Because of Miles Edgeworth’s kindness and sense of justice at the tender age of nine, Phoenix Wright had discovered what his life’s destined path would be.

He’s got a kind of brutal honesty that tests most friendships, but I appreciate it. I’ll always know where I stand with him. As a child, he was steadfast, and as an adult, he’s not only that but generous to a fault, both with his time and resources. I get the feeling that he has few friends, so his loyalty to those who stick with him is fierce. Some friends are for a reason, some are for a season and some are for a lifetime. Edgeworth is for life. How I yearn to say all this to him! I feel like words alone aren’t enough here…I wonder if there’s anything I can give him to express how I feel…?

Suddenly inspiration struck him and he retrieved the whip Edgeworth had handed to him earlier.

“Please, take this,” the defense attorney urged softly, pressing it into the other man’s resisting fingers. “Thank you … you two are heroes just as much as I am. It’s all thanks to you two. You … and her.”

“You don’t need to thank me.” The barrister coughed. “I was only doing my job.”

Phoenix peered earnestly into the other man’s eyes, silently trying to convey the message he still didn’t feel prudent to say.

Take this to her, Edgeworth. Go to her, wherever she is. I know your heart is already there, which is the real reason that you want to leave so soon…

The logic enthusiast got the message. He nodded.

“I’ll see you around, Wright.”

“Good luck!” Phoenix called after him, although uncertain if his friend had heard.

“It looks like Mr. Edgeworth has left, Mr. Nick,” Pearl observed behind him, before turning to her cousin. “Hey, Mystic Maya?”

The necromancer paused in the middle of shoveling one of the three pieces of cake on her plate into her mouth.

“Hmm? Yes, Pearly?”

“I guess you two can go back to being lovey-dovey, right?” The youngest Fey clapped her hands. “You and Mr. Nick, I mean…”

Maya turned 50 shades of red then.

“P-Pearly!” She sputtered. “Would you cut it out already!? You’re embarrassing me!”

Had the lawyer’s cheeks not been flaming simultaneously at the time, he would have laughed himself silly at how hilariously the spirit medium had managed to shoot pink pastry icing out of her mouth as she voiced her protests!

After some skirmish about who would pay the bill – including the $3000 one for Lotta’s new camera – the diviner had oh-so-valiantly offered her boss to be the sole payer, while the spiky-haired man, of course, had voiced a very loud Objection! Regarding such matters, Pearl turned to Phoenix and Maya, pressing her hands to her pink cheeks and assuming her most angelic expression.

“I’m so happy that you could save Mystic Maya, Mr. Nick! And I’m so happy for the two of you!” The little spirit medium affixed them with a bright, hopeful smile. “Speaking of… I think this hotel is a popular place for honeymooners…So I sort of… made reservations for the two of you… Just in case!”

The last thing Miles Edgeworth heard before he exited the main doors of the Gatewater Hotel was the indignant squawks of Phoenix and Maya at a decibel which, up until that point, he’d thought only dogs could hear!

“Pearls! You did what?! When did you even get your hands on my credit card?!”

“Pearly! What the hell?!”

The prosecutor chuckled to himself as he climbed into his Alfa Romeo and headed towards the direction of where the device beeping had come from.

Good luck, Wright! He thought with amusement. Looks like I’m not the only one who’s going to need it!

A/N: Those of you who’ve read my Fredgeworth story, The Ties That Bind, know exactly where Miles rushed off to after he left that dinner party – as well as what happened!  😉

Bon Jovi – I’ll Be There For You