146 Broken Wings

A/N: This chapter goes out to mi Hermana Maya, aka Luffy, my fellow ultimate Phaya shipper (please still love me after this chapter!), and also my über astute reader, TheFreelancerSeal. Enjoy your music requests, my dear friend. They were wonderful even if I had to look a couple up. Know that as much as this story is a highlight of your week to read, hearing your kind and thoughtful reviews is a highlight of mine! 😊

Um, according to my two totally manly beta readers who shall remain nameless…*coughs* I’m supposed to warn my readers they may need a tissue for this chapter … happy weekend reading!

I never knew
I never knew that everything was falling through
That everyone I knew was waiting on a cue
To turn and run when all I needed was the truth
But that’s how it’s got to be
It’s coming down to nothing more than apathy
I’d rather run the other way than stay and see
The smoke and who’s still standing when it clears

Everyone knows I’m in
Over my head
Over my head
With eight seconds left in overtime
She’s on your mind
She’s on your mind

Let’s rearrange
I wish you were a stranger I could disengage
Just say that we agree and then never change
Soften a bit until we all just get along
But that’s disregard
Find another friend and you discard
As you lose the argument in a cable car
Hanging above as the canyon comes between

Everyone knows I’m in
Over my head
Over my head
With eight seconds left in overtime
She’s on your mind
She’s on your mind

And suddenly I become a part of your past
I’m becoming the part that don’t last
I’m losing you and it’s effortless
Without a sound we lose sight of the ground
In the throw around
Never thought that you wanted to bring it down
I won’t let it go down till we torch it ourselves

Phoenix Wright
Wright Talent Agency
June 14, 2026, 8:05 PM

 Baby, don’t understand
Why we can’t just hold on to each other’s hands
This time might be the last, I fear
Unless I make it all too clear
I need you so, ohh

Take these broken wings
And learn to fly again
Learn to live so free
When we hear the voices sing
The book of love will open up and let us in
Take these broken wings

Baby, I think tonight
We can take what was wrong and make it right, mmm
Baby, it’s all I know
That you’re half of the flesh
And blood that makes me whole
I need you so

So take these broken wings
And learn to fly again
Learn to live so free
And when we hear the voices sing
The book of love will open up and let us in

Take these broken wings
You’ve got to learn to fly
Learn to live and love so free
And when we hear the voices sing
The book of love will open up and let us in, yeah, yeah

Let us in
Let us in…

The atrabilious and saturnine Phoenix treated the stereo to a scathing glare as he randomly hit another button on the remote, in hopes of changing the radio station from the present, merciless one, which had just decided to ruthlessly antagonize him, first with the previous heartrending Elton John track, and now the famous Mister Mister tune.

Loud rock music filled the room from the new channel he’d selected, so he turned his mind away from the mindless lyrics and blaring tempo of the present tune, deciding to take a quick break from Maya’s nearly completed letter so he could spill his guts out to his journal, something he hadn’t done in some time.

Phoenix Wright’s Journal
June 14, 2026

The famous 80’s love song, “Broken Wings” which of course is playing at this precise moment and designed by the galaxy, no doubt, to further torture me, has made me suddenly reflect on the very last time this Phoenix’s own broken wings allowed him to soar high and proud, and take flight. That would probably have been the last time we were together and happy: Valentine’s Day, 2025 at Edgeworth’s Love Shack. I still remember it as clearly as it was yesterday…

Even though she’d practically worn me down to a nub, the ever-frisky and energetic Maya had woken up in the middle of the night after we’d passed out around midnight, partially because she felt like frolicking again, but in the very unlikely event of me not rising to the occasion, she would have settled for engaging in some pillow talk. 

She climbed on top of me and started vigorously tickling my ribs until I finally woke up. At 4:00 AM.

I opened one languid eye and there she was, hovering over me, skin to skin, wriggling her fingers all over my body and lightly nipping at me to get me to stir awake.

Rather than be annoyed at her for disturbing my slumber, all I could do was think about how adorable my little minx was, and how madly I loved her.  She was wearing that duvet like a cape, with her tousled bedhead poking out as she naughtily grinned down at me, her lusty gaze filled with the passionate amorousness that was always there in her eyes whenever she looked at me.

She loved me back; she really did. 

With a playful growl, I flipped her over, pinned her down, and tickled her back relentlessly, until she was shrieking with pure, unadulterated mirth. I will never forget how it was the happiest I’d felt in my entire life – and it wasn’t just because our little tickle fight led to another sweaty, back-scratching swaining session right afterward.

No, it was simply because it was just…her. Simply being with her at that moment. Witnessing her head thrown back, eyes swimming with tears of ebullience as peals of silvery laughter escaped her lips, being in the throes of pure unadulterated happiness, knowing I was the one responsible…it was the most halcyon feeling in the world.

Maya Fey being sublimely happy was so contagious, it made you feel the exact same way. There was something in the way she smiled and twittered, and it was honestly such poetry, watching her laugh. It was like the weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders every time she threw her head back and her eyes crinkled, and it was just such complete rasasvada; the taste of bliss in the absence of all thoughts.

“I’ve been in love with you for so long,” I told her sometime later. She was curled up into my arms as we basked in euphoric afterglow, while I engaged in my typical pleasure of tender cafuné. After six years together, I still could never tire of running my fingers through those glorious, onyx locks.

“How long?” She propped herself up on my torso, staring drowsily at me with those sensual, albeit sleep-filled, topaz orbs, which always made me feel like I was as hopelessly lost as the first time I ever gazed into them.

I chuckled as her tired lids began to droop. She dropped her head back onto my bare chest, inky satiny tresses spilling all over it, placing a gentle goodnight kiss there right before she did so. It seemed my insatiable vixen was down for the count at last.

“So long,” I whispered to her nearly slumbering form; as if trying to pervade her dreams, wishing I could hold onto her forever. “I can’t remember what not loving you feels like. I can’t even imagine it.”

My mind is like a relentless treadmill, and in the manner of all music that I seem to encounter, it is determined to taunt me in every way imaginable, in a manner I cannot control, because for every sweet memory of Maya that my heart attempts to conjure, likewise, my wretched mind insists on taking me back to that fateful date of March 3, 2025.

The night I was forced to tell Maya that I no longer loved her and was leaving her for Iris.

To this day, I have no idea how I pulled it off. I sounded way more confidently convincing than I truly felt. Inside, I felt like crying, and the sight of her tears nearly unraveled me at the seams. I felt like screaming at her to get a grip because this was tearing us apart, while at the same time, I yearned to be sitting on the ground and holding her and kissing her better. It was so unfair that I had to do this to her – shattering her big, beautiful heart beyond all repair while she kept screaming how much she still loved me, even as I kept hammering it home that it no longer mattered.

What’s worse? Breaking someone’s heart or having your heart broken?

I say it’s breaking the heart of someone you love. Because then you break two hearts in one.

Wasn’t love enough? Could it ever be enough? That’s what I wanted to ask her. Did love exist objectively? Or did it only exist subjectively?

Looking back now, I can’t help but wonder: the entire time we were together, did Maya know I loved her more than the air I breathed? Not through words, not through actions…but did she simply just… know? With every fiber of her being, was she sure of it? And if she was, does it even matter anymore?

What I need is a way out of this eternal Koyaanisqatsi; nature … hell – my entire life! – has become so unbalanced that there’s no other choice than for me to seek a new path.

 In a way, I need a change
From this burnout scene
Another time, another town
Another everything
But it’s always back to you

Jesus Christ, I must be a masochist. Why do I insist on tormenting myself like this?

Stumble out, in the night
From the pouring rain
Made the block, sat, and thought
There’s more I need
It’s always back to you

The woman is getting married the day after tomorrow, goddammit! Why can’t I just let it go and move on with my life, the way Maya has?

But I’m good without ya
Yeah, I’m good without you
Yeah, yeah, yeah

Come on, Phoenix! Just who do you think you’re fooling?

Give it up, give it up, baby
Give it up, give it up, now

I am fooling absolutely no one, that’s who. I could tell myself that bullshit lie, over and over again, in hopes I’d finally believe it to be true, but even if I could somehow persuade someone else that I’m doing just fine, there’s no way in hell I can convince myself that I ever have been, nor ever will be good without Maya Fey.

Ha! That’s a joke!

Well, not exactly a joke. Because it isn’t. I can’t even claim that anything about this is even remotely funny, even with my newly acquired darker sense of humour. In truth, giving up the love of my life is just about the most woebegone thing I could think of.

Most days I’m so despondent, I can barely get the will to get out of bed. I can’t recall the last time I truly experienced sophrosyne; a healthy state of mind, characterized by self-control, moderation, and deep awareness of one’s true self, resulting in true happiness.

How many times can I break till I shatter?
Over the line can’t define what I’m after…

For want of a badge. For want of love that was lost. For want of my old life back.

Give me a break let me make my own pattern
All that it takes is some time but I’m shattered
All that I feel is the realness I’m faking
Taking my time but it’s time that I’m wasting…

Phoenix Wright
Wright Talent Agency
June 14, 2026, 8:35 PM 

Time is a valuable thing  
Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings  
Watch it count down to the end of the day  
The clock ticks life away…

Phoenix’s head jerked up with a start as he stared first at the stereo, now eerily playing a dysthymic song regarding time, and then glanced at the wall clock, which indicated that he now had less than half an hour to get to his new pianist gig.

It’s so unreal  
Didn’t look out below  
Watch the time go right out the window  
Trying to hold on, but you didn’t even know  
Wasted it all just to watch you go  
I kept everything inside   
And even though I tried, it all fell apart  
What it meant to me   
Will eventually be a memory of a time when…

“Jesus H. Christ! I’m going to be late for work!”

I tried so hard  
And got so far  
But in the end  
It doesn’t even matter  
I had to fall  
To lose it all  
But in the end  
It doesn’t even matter

Somehow, he had managed to block out the music in the background but then had gotten so engrossed in his journal entry, as he’d figured he had enough time to do so since he’d practically finished Maya’s letter, that everything else had faded away.

One thing, I don’t know why  
It doesn’t even matter how hard you try   
Keep that in mind   
I designed this rhyme  
To remind myself how  
I tried so hard

Ultimately, his zealousness to purge himself via diary entry hadn’t been the wisest move, since his primary goal had been to absolve his guilt by finalizing and sending off that blasted confessional note!

Things aren’t the way they were before  
You wouldn’t even recognize me anymore  
Not that you knew me back then  
But it all comes back to me in the end  
You kept everything inside   
And even though I tried, it all fell apart  
What it meant to me will eventually be a memory of a time when

“Oh, shut the holy hell up, Linkin Park!” Phoenix snarled at the stereo as he hurriedly grabbed his ballpoint and quickly began jotting down his final thoughts on the declaration document turned unintended billets-doux, not even trying to censor or hold back the pent-up ardor within him any longer. There simply wasn’t enough time! Besides, it wasn’t as though he was renowned for his eloquent writing skills anyway. What did it matter anymore, anyway?

I tried so hard  
And got so far  
But in the end  
It doesn’t even matter  
I had to fall  
To lose it all  
But in the end  
It doesn’t even matter

“And… finished!” He crowed triumphantly, slamming his pen back down on the desk and shoving the letter into the envelope he’d thankfully had the foresight to have stamped and pre-addressed to Maya’s Kurain address. If he had timed this right, he still had just enough time to make it to the mailbox en route to Alden Tae’s, where he’d make it exactly at 9:00 at this rate – if he jogged! It was already a quarter to nine!

I’ve put my trust in you  
Pushed as far as I can go  
For all this  
There’s only one thing you should know   
I’ve put my trust in you  
Pushed as far as I can go  
For all this  
There’s only one thing you should know

Grabbing his keys and jacket, Phoenix hastily rushed to the door, patting the inner pocket of his sweatshirt to ensure the letter was there. In his mad frenzy to leave the apartment in time, he forgot to turn off the radio, so the last strains of the song rankled in his ears as he slammed the door shut behind him and sprinted down the hallway.

I tried so hard
And got so far
But in the end
It doesn’t even matter
I had to fall
To lose it all
But in the end
It doesn’t even matter…

Mia Fey
Heaven
2016 – 2026

In heaven, we are enveloped in God’s boundless love, where we find completeness, health, and reunification with our cherished ones. Following our earthly departure, we stroll alongside Him on immaculate shores, serenaded by the gentle lapping of clear waves against our bare feet. His forgiveness is absolute, cleansing our souls of life’s transgressions, and carrying them away on the tranquil tide. Every inquiry finds resolution, and all burdens are lifted from our weary shoulders. As we reach readiness, our beloved ones materialize on the horizon, every vestige of judgment erased.

Since her ascent to heaven, Mia Fey knew nothing of time, either in her everlasting paradise or even how much had passed in the world, as it was not something measured beyond the Pearly Gates. Her eternal activities consisted of enjoying the company of her nearest and dearest, who’d joined her in the afterlife, and staring down, sometimes with fondness, other times with lachrymose, at her loved ones below.

She’d smile down at her dear Diego, in his guise as Godot, globe-trotting across The Americas, still on his quest for the perfect coffee blend, and blow a kiss down to him every so often, knowing he would feel it as a fluttering flower petal in the breeze on his face.

She looked upon her darling Pearly and beloved Maya, each growing even lovelier as the years went by, watching both their moments of joy, as well as their sadness. She could also take note of both Fey allies and adversaries amongst the duo in that village, but mercifully, had had no reason to intervene, because, save for the one time her baby sister had been hospitalized, neither of her relatives had ever been in life-threatening danger.

Also, unbeknownst to her relatives, within the surrounding lands of Kurain existed living, wingless angels on earth, just waiting for the right opportunity to rescue the Fey girls from their present hardships when the perfect moment arose.

Last, but certainly not least, Mia could gaze down at her former protégé, often with a smile of wry amusement at his antics, particularly his floundering moments of fatherhood, and ruefully acknowledged that in the afterlife, Phoenix, more than anyone else, seem to ensure that her second career as his guardian angel was nearly a full-time job unto itself!

Of course, the man she fondly gazed down upon now was almost unrecognizable from the overly emotional, pink sweater-wearing art major with the penchant for garrulity, whom she’d first encountered in his university days. Forever vanquished was that sense of vibrant energy and wide, starry eyes of a dreamer that had been slightly too jejune for his age.

Now, her underling looked so browbeaten, so… old.

He appeared much older than the mere early 30s he must be now. It was still a shock to her system to realize that her formally younger understudy was now older than Mia had been when she died.

She had always thought Phoenix someday maturing would be a great thing. He’d been so eternally grateful to her for saving him from the gallows on false murder charges that he’d decided to completely turn his life around and change his major to law, desiring to follow in Mia’s footsteps, because she had inspired him so much.

There had been something beneath the wimpy, crybaby exterior that Mia had sensed instinctively, and wouldn’t allow her to dismiss him.  Somehow, she’d decided she found the naïve, somewhat adorkable gamine boy, with his heart of gold, unspoiled soul, and wide-eyed, untainted view of the world quite charming. Moreover, she saw great promise in him.

Despite her initial misgivings, and perhaps because she’d been so dispirited and lonely since Diego had lapsed into his coma, Mia had agreed to be the spiky-haired student’s mentor. She reflected that if he only hosed down the overly burning enthusiasm and got a better reign of his constantly unchecked emotions, when Phoenix Wright grew up, he could indeed have the makings to be an infallible Ace Attorney.

She had been delighted to see that her gut instincts hadn’t led her astray. The King of the Turnabout (or Turnabout Terror as his foes would call him) was already in the making from his very first trial. Mia wasn’t even going to claim Phoenix had secured victory in defending Larry Butz only because his opponent had been that mental midget, Winston Payne the alleged Rookie Killer. It was genuinely because of his outside-the-box thinking, keen instincts, and razor-sharp mind, and this was well before he had been bestowed Maya’s magatama!

Then her time in the world had been cut unexpectedly short.

In the afterlife, with Maya by his side, the spectral former lawyer had proudly seen her understudy flourish with an unbroken stream of victoriousness as a champion of justice in his constant quest for the truth. Although he still needed Mia’s guidance on occasion, her protégé was well on his way to becoming a legal legend.

However, despite his victories over acclaimed, long-standing prosecutors such as Miles Edgeworth and Franziska Von Karma, Phoenix was still very young, almost childlike with his continued earnestness and almost too kind nature. Mia had hoped having the vivacious trampoline known as Maya to keep an eye on would be good for him, as it would give him no choice but to be the grown-up in the situation.

Then her baby sister had gotten kidnapped due to that bastard Matt Engarde.

That was when the legal legend had witnessed her protégé growing up almost overnight, as he became an impromptu guardian to little Pearl and the hero whose sole mission in life was to protect her baby sister from harm. It was also when Mia realized, even before the man himself had, just how much he had come to love her kinswoman. There was absolutely nothing he wouldn’t have done for her, from going nearly broke feeding her insatiable burger appetite to accusing an innocent person of murder to contemplating letting an actual murderer go free if it meant saving Maya’s life. He’d always ultimately done the right thing, and Mia had been rest assured her soul could be fully at peace, knowing as long as Phoenix and Maya had one another to lean on, each was in good hands.

Still, Mia could see the battle scars beneath the justice champion’s veneer. Had seen the righteous indignation in those flashing eyes upon discovering what his wannabe imposter, Furio Tigre, had done to Viola Cadaverini. Inexcusable, he’d declared sanctimoniously, the anguish in those animated eyes as clear as day. The two things Phoenix Wright could never abide were poisoning and betrayal.

It was all because of that two-faced She-Devil who had taken Diego away from her. Although he had survived her murderous attempt, Phoenix was still the victim of the aftermath. The duplicitous, malevolent bitch had taken that football-field-sized heart of his and blown it to smithereens, leaving behind a tender wound that had never fully healed. Mia couldn’t help but surmise if the Ace Attorney’s understandable mistrust of women due to the whole Hawthorne twins debacle was part of the reason he had been so slow to confess his feelings to her sister and get together with Maya in the first place!

The Hazakura Temple case had created two absolute givens for Mia from her omniscient viewpoint in the heavens above.

Number one, if she had suspected the lawyer was in love with her sister after nearly sacrificing his conscience and morals during Maya’s kidnapping, that mad love was now irrefutably diaphanous! There was no other conclusion to draw as she watched her former employee risk his own life and run across a burning bridge to save her sister, forgetting not only the fact that he was not an actual superhero (although understandably was now seen as Maya’s hero!) but his nearly crippling fear of heights as well!

Number two, although Phoenix had endured a lot of painful punishment and abuse in his life up until the whole Dusky Bridge incident, he was still mortal, and there was no way any man would be able to survive the horrific scene unveiled beneath the one-time legal legend’s horror-struck eyes.

“AAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Mia had almost been too traumatized to react quickly enough, so ghastly was the sight of the man who’d come to mean the world to both her sister and little cousin, plummeting off that fiery bridge into the swirling rapids of Eagle River beneath him.

Phoenix! NO! It’s not his time yet!

She didn’t even need to consult with God on this one; she immediately intervened.

Without another moment’s hesitation, Mia Fey dove right into that treacherous river after Phoenix, frantically searching for her former student as she surfaced, panic coursing through her as she saw him being swept by the turbulent waters.

Her plenary powers were what allowed her to close the distance between them in record time, grabbing him before his head went under the tow, urgently scouring for a shallow area to bring him over to. She tried to pull him with her to safety, noting with mounting dread that his body felt as cold as the icy water they were both drenched in and as she lay him safely on a bed of rocks away from the current, she felt his head burning up, indicating that he already had a raging fever. Already she could tell his pulse was beginning to slow down as he began to lose consciousness.

No! Mia thought despairingly. I didn’t just save him from drowning only to lose him to hypothermia or pneumonia! She cast her desperate eyes heavenward, having a quick mental chat with the Man Upstairs, imploring Him to please spare the life of the lawyer she’d just taken it upon herself to come and save because Maya and Pearl needed him so badly, and because so many innocent people depended on him.

Fortunately, God was merciful on Phoenix’s soul that day, and Mia expelled a sigh of relief as he mumbled something incoherently, then began thrashing violently in her arms as the burbling grew louder.

“Maya.”

Mia’s heart lurched. Her assistant would survive this! He simply had to… Because she was fairly certain her sister loved this crazy, valiant man just as much as he loved her.

“Maya is going to be fine,” she whispered to his barely conscious form, holding him closer. “Relax, Phoenix. You need to save your strength for her, OK?”

Mia stayed with her friend until she heard the sirens come, and she physically witnessed the paramedics from the ambulance, which had pulled over onto the other side of the river, take him away to the hospital.

Only then did she begin her ascent back to the heavenly skies.

On April 19, 2019, Mia Fey cried ghostly tears, not for the first time, as she saw the man whose life she’d saved had ultimately still died when his badge had cruelly been stripped away.

That was when she realized that Phoenix not only looked but sounded too old for his age.

The disbarment had killed him. Had killed her Phoenix, her beloved student, her protégé, her friend… gone forever.

Those formerly innocent orbs, too young for his age, were gone for good, aged within an instant. In that flash, his eyes became those of an old man.

Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney was dead. He had been replaced by a man she no longer recognized, Phoenix Wright, phony pianist, and poker shark, with haunted, shadowed eyes and inscrutable countenance.

The only solace the elder Fey had found watching over Phoenix and Maya all these years had been that they’d had one another to lean on despite the hardships that had befallen both of them. Their split had left Mia beyond devastated; she could only helplessly look on from the heavens as the vicious hand of fate snatched her sister away from the very man the buxom beauty had once teased would someday be her brother-in-law.

Phoenix without his life mate was no longer living – merely existing. He’d not only risked his vitality for her sister on multiple occasions but now he had nobly sacrificed his own happiness just so Maya could have her life spared; and all because of a jealous, petty, vindictive German monster.

How many hellacious trials and tribulations can one good man possibly have to endure to have his strength of will tested? Her heart cried out.  What harm has he ever done to deserve such agony and perpetual, gut-wrenching misery? Where is the justice for Phoenix Wright in this cruel and unjust world?

Seven years later, Mia’s soul still wept in mourning for Phoenix Wright, who had died more than once in his life and didn’t appear would ever again rise from the ashes; for the man who within a short lifespan, had been three separate people: the kid in pink, the lawyer in blue, and the hobo in grey.

It was almost impossible for her to now fathom how she’d ever thought he’d seemed young for his age.

Phoenix Wright
People’s Park
June 14, 2014, 8:57 PM

The lone individual wandered out of the People Park front entrance; hands deep in the pockets of his baggy hoodie. The night was especially dark on this barely lit street and quiet, save for the distant swooshes of vehicles down the major streets of the sprawling city. Therefore, the figure didn’t hesitate to walk straight out into the middle of the road. The avenue was rarely used by larger traffic, and had a very low speed limit, as it was shared by pedestrians and vehicles, so it wasn’t particularly dangerous for the average walker to drop their guard this way.

What do you know? I’m actually making good time! As soon as I get across the street, I’m only a few more minutes away from the restaurant. I think I’m going to make it! And perfect, there’s a mailbox right there on the other side of the road! I just need to give this one final read…

With the paper clutched in his hand, he squinted under the one dim streetlight above as he tried to make out the last words he’d rapidly scrawled before his pell-mell dash out the door, hoping they would be legible to Maya’s eyes.

Oh well, she’s had nearly a decade to get used to my chicken-scratch handwriting…

An engine roared somewhere ahead, and he paused, glancing up curiously from the note still in his grasp, trying to ignore the hairs on the back of his neck, which had inexplicably raised.

That can’t be something on this street! He assured himself. So then…why does it sound so close?

Abruptly, a pair of lights appeared around the corner ahead. Stealing one final glimpse at the page before quickly shoving the letter back into his sweatshirt pocket, he raised a hand to his face, out of pure instinct, to shield his eyes from the unexpected glare of the headlights in the otherwise dark surroundings. There was no time to react in any other way before there was a squeal of tires. Then the lights weaved away for a split second, just as Phoenix Wright became Fortune’s Fool yet again.

The pernicious crash seemed to take forever; as adrenaline coursed through his system, he already could sense there was no hope.

The universe must have kept flickering its figurative light switch because his vision kept flashing from bitter darkness to blinding white light. His body hit the hood of the car and a startled scream tore from his throat, his lungs contracting with such force, that he was afraid they would fold into themselves. His torso and head smashed up against the windshield while his arms and legs were flailing, searching for somewhere to hold and stop the forward movement of his body.

He saw the spots in the corners of his vision, making his head feel like the only thing inside of it was static. A buzzing noise filled his ears, and it seemed as though hours had passed as he alternated between the sensations of fading and waking and fading and waking.

Then suddenly, everything became light, and he was soaring through the air, his body almost limp from the impact that occurred only nanoseconds before. The concrete path splashed as he thudded against it, feeling cold and sticky wetness on his cheek, and the rattling of metal faded around him as the all-consuming roar of the engine squealed behind him … before vanishing into the night.

Mia Fey
Heaven
June 14, 2026

 “Even when the battle is over and the bonds that connect us are severed… We always return…Time and time again.”

Partially due to her spiritual powers, Mia continued to have an exceptionally close connection to her family from the afterlife. However, since Misty’s passing, she’d only been successfully channeled by Pearl, not her sister… as far as immediate family channeling went.

The last instance she’d seen Phoenix, aside from when Maya had been in ICU, had been at her mother’s funeral when he’d professed his love for Mia’s little sister and sworn to his mentor that he’d protect her for the rest of his life.

Both times, right before parting, Mia had said what she always did when bidding him adieu: “I’m sure we’ll meet again, someday, Phoenix.”

While the farewell was intended to be ambiguous, as the elder sibling had no way of knowing when her paths would again cross with a mortal, it certainly hadn’t been intended to be any sort of actual invitation! Much like a car mechanic or family doctor, ideally, the dead should not be visiting with the living on a regular basis!

Despite not having any spiritual ability, and being male, the quondam lawyer was nonetheless, an honorary Fey. His still-existing photo, alongside Pearl’s, as Maya’s represented Pillars of Strength in her Master talisman, was further proof of such! Ergo, Mia had maintained a connected bond with her former employee which rivaled the one she still had with her sister and cousin. It was that same connection between them that had resulted in Phoenix hearing his late mentor’s voice in the courtroom.

Time was relatively irrelevant in the afterlife, but despite being able to watch over his every move from above, the one-time legal legend hadn’t had contact with her sister’s ex for many years. However, this was hardly a cause for concern, as it was unlikely the highly proficient earthly ones still required the assistance of the dearly departed.

Therefore, it was with unanticipated stupefaction that Mia suddenly got the alarming impression she was being summoned. It wasn’t at all the type of intense signals she got when professionally channeled, but a scintilla of static indication, one that any other entity that was unfamiliar with channeling would have disregarded completely.

Fortuitously, Mia Fey wasn’t just anybody. Focusing all her concentration on the world below her, she focused her quorate psychic powers into zeroing in on the source of the cry for help.

That was when she spotted him – at the precisely same moment that she felt him.

“Phoenix!” She gasped, a chilling sensation creeping over her. Her dear friend Phoenix … Maya’s Phoenix …was in mortal peril. The fact that his own life was in such propinquity to the spirit world, she theorized, must be how he had managed to call her at all.

The ex-attorney’s signal, however faint it was becoming, was strong enough to allow Mia’s powers to expedite her return to the human world. One of the few benefits of being dead was a disconnection from the timeline constraints of the temporals, and the ghost facilitated her re-entry to earth based on her perceptions, in order to adequately comprehend the harrowing scene.

The scrofulous hobo, it appeared, had just been a victim of a hit and run, only remaining among the living because, at the moment of impact, he miraculously had managed to clutch at the car’s side vision mirror, wrenching it off and sending him hurtling through the air.

The brunette thanked Ami Fey and all that was holy that she’d managed to get a hold of her protégé in time, otherwise disaster would surely have occurred had she arrived even a split-second later.

It was Mia’s spectral control of real-world physics and a strong enough connection to the victim that had allowed her to haul her friend away just in time to prevent a deadly collision, allowing her spiritual form to drift and continue his airborne sail, rather than dropping him from a fatal height. Their flight continued in a sizeable arc for 30 feet, upon which the card shark’s guardian angel detected an imminent collision with a telephone pole, which her physical-world influences could not control. She fervently hoped and prayed she’d managed to reduce her dear friend’s accident to a mere hospitalization, rather than a fatality.

The moment of impact left Phoenix only partially cognizant and feeling rather disorientated, even before he sustained the presumable head trauma from the phone pole, which had him drifting in and out of consciousness.

I suddenly hate inertia. I must have a concussion. Or I’m already dead. How else to explain the fact that I can’t seem to move, yet I’m seeing a beautiful seraph, with tears in her eyes, bathed in a luminous golden light? 

He was fleetingly aware of the strange, metallic taste in his mouth, but couldn’t figure out what it was. At times his eyelids fluttered, and he thought he must be at home in bed because it was so dark. Then why the cold and the sound of rain on the pavement? Why the blue flicker, the sound of sirens? Was it the police?

Also, why the pain, God? Why so much pain?

His body convulsed then, and he flailed wildly in Mia’s grasp, struggling to move his uncooperative leaden body, only to be rewarded with more searing throbbing all over. It was more unbearable than anything he’d ever imagined, and at that moment, he would have moved mountains in order to stop the excruciation threatening to consume him.

My pain is the sole thing keeping me alive. It’s the only thing I can feel anymore… but I don’t want to bear this agony any longer. Fuck this shit. I just want to close my eyes and make it all stop… for good…

“Stay strong, Phoenix. Fight that white light. So many people still love you and need you, badge or no badge,” Mia whispered, half-hoping he could hear her metanoia, and half-praying he could not, because of what it would signify if he was able to hear her voice, in otherworldly spirit form. “Meditate on love, carry it in your heart, let it be the power that keeps you safe and well, and He will guide you through. You’re a survivor, Phoenix Wright. Stay with me! I’m begging you!”

For a fleeting instant, the pianist’s eyes flashed open, viewing the figure above him, not one of this world, but somehow, in human form. An angel, surely? It was not reflecting a radiant light, but emanating it, literally glowing from within.

Languorous indigo orbs met liquid amber jewels that were filled with both love and sorrow.

“Mia!” He breathed in wonder, before collapsing into unconsciousness, immediately severing her evanescent, wraithlike connection to him and wrenching her back to the Twilight Realm.

Trucy Wright
Hickfield Clinic
June 14, 2026, 11:15 PM

The hospital corridor exuded a stifling atmosphere, tainted with the scent of bleach. Magnolia walls bore marks from countless trolleys, while generic prints adorned them, attempting to uplift. Plastic signs marked the way forward above double doors.

Trucy loathed hospitals. They symbolized sickness and death, with peculiar odors and unsettling machine beeps.

The hallway leading to the ICU mirrored the hospital’s lack of character, with slate floors and dove-grey walls. Harsh lighting aggravated her eyes after the gloom outside, potentially triggering a migraine.

Restless and agitated, she paced outside Phoenix’s room like a caged lion, unable to sit still since her arrival over 30 minutes ago.

Commercial prints adorned the walls, bland yet somehow comforting. The uniformity of the large plastic signs above each door suggested a lack of risk-taking. Everything appeared pristine, as if the building had just materialized from a place where the dirt was outlawed. Clutching damp flowers, Trucy felt the texture seeping through her magician gloves.

Not that it matters. It’s worth it. Daddy’s going to need some vibrancy in here. Whenever the heck they let me see him, that is! She cast her teary eyes heavenward. Please, God, let my Daddy be OK… He’s all I have left in this world … don’t let him leave me!

The magician shook her head sharply. No! She mustn’t allow herself to think bleak thoughts like this! What she needed right now was to talk to somebody, or she was just going to lose her ever-loving mind!

Despite the late hour, the first person Trucy thought to call was Pearl. At the very least, she knew her best friend would care to know about her father’s accident. And if by some miracle, the spirit medium happened to still be awake at this late hour, the sound of her voice would be most welcome.

The fact that Pearl would unlikely be around, what with being Maid of Honor for Maya’s nuptials the next morning, as well as her boyfriend arriving from overseas that night completely eluded the overwrought teen at that moment.

Unfortunately, Trucy didn’t quite know what sort of update to give her. As she frenziedly dialed Pearl’s cell phone, and unfortunately, got the answering machine, the magician quickly relayed what limited information she had been given in the last hour since being informed of Phoenix’s hit-and-run.

“Hey, Pearly, it’s me,” she said quickly, trying to keep her voice level so as not to cause further alarm – but failing miserably. “I know this is going to sound shocking and unexpected, but…Daddy got hit by a car tonight. It was a hit-and-run, and he’s in intensive care right now. He’s alive, but I still haven’t gotten an update from the staff yet as to the severity of his condition…”

“Miss Wright?”

Surprised to hear her name being called, Trucy abruptly hung up the phone mid-message, making a mental note to leave Pearl a follow-up voicemail once she was updated on her father’s situation, so the poor girl wouldn’t worry herself sick like she had the last time – when Phoenix had been arrested for murder!

Oops! she recalled guiltily. I feel horrible that I freaked poor Pearly out like that– I know how much she cares about Daddy as well! But I will not be such an airhead for the second time! I swear on my missing Magic Panties that I will absolutely call her back this time!

The nurse who came out of the room smiled kindly at the anxious magician, who hadn’t stopped frantically pacing the hallway.

“You can go in and see your father now. He’s still unconscious, and we’re going to keep him here overnight for monitoring, just to ensure there’s no internal bleeding, but it looks like he’s going to be just fine. It’s just a sprained ankle. Not even a concussion – which is a miracle, considering the force of the impact he suffered! He’s a very lucky man.”

“Thanks so much!” Trucy exclaimed, bouncing on her heels, her customary bright smile back in place, sending a silent note of thanks to the Man upstairs. “I’m so happy Daddy’s going to be OK!”

The nurse smilingly noted taking in the keyboard Trucy had under one arm, along with her father’s notebook, which she always saw him scribbling in when he thought she wasn’t looking. It even had sword-wielding Steel Samurai doodles that suspiciously resembled Uncle Miles, and Pink Princess sketches that looked an awful lot like his former assistant, Maya Fey!

“I see you’ve brought some forms of entertainment for him already. I’m sure he’ll appreciate those very much when he wakes up.”

“Well, Daddy needs to keep his fingers from getting rusty just as much as he needs his think-pad!” The magician beamed. “He writes and sketches in it!”

Bouncing into the quarters her father was in, Trucy immediately understood why people took flowers to hospital rooms.

Despite the prevalence of technology in our lives, there remains a fundamental aspect of our nature that seeks solace in the presence of natural beauty. We are not mere machines in need of repair; we are complex beings with emotional and spiritual needs. The sterile decor of many modern facilities, designed to avoid offense, often falls short of providing the inspiration and upliftment that our spirits crave. While hospitals may operate on tight budgets, one might question whether a splash of brighter paint would truly incur significant additional costs.

Phoenix’s hospital room exuded an expected simplicity, with only a small TV and DVD player adorning the modest space beside the narrow bed. The faint scent of bleach lingered in the air, while the cream-colored walls remained unremarkable, devoid of any embellishments save for a limp curtain dividing his bed from the vacant one adjacent. The floor, once a hopeful shade of green reminiscent of springtime, had faded to a lacklustre hue. Brown metal-framed windows adorned the far end, only operational from the top, alongside stands for intravenous drips and monitors. Near the entrance, dispensers for rubber gloves, hand sanitizer, and soap stood ready for use.

These items serve to amplify my fear of germs. They’re so prevalent here that cleaning becomes a requisite each time a doorway is crossed or a patient is handled. But what if the nurses overlook or inadequately cleanse? What are the repercussions? Do the patients’ conditions worsen?

Swallowing back her ridiculous phobia of hospitals – after all, her grandfather had died in one – Trucy cautiously approached her father’s bed, letting out a small sigh of relief when she saw he appeared to be resting peacefully. Leaning forward, she pressed a light kiss on his surprisingly clean-shaven cheek, grateful she hadn’t woken him.

“I’ll be back first thing in the morning,” she promised him, placing the items she had brought with her on his bedside table. “I’m so happy that you’re going to be alright, Daddy. I love you so much.”

She quickly went about the task of straightening out the items on the night table, trying to make room for Phoenix’s toiletries, which she had also brought from home. As she carefully shifted over her father’s sweatshirt, which had been placed into the bottom drawer amongst his other belongings, she spied a white piece of paper sticking out of the pocket.

Casting a furtive glance at her father’s sleeping form, Trucy was unable to resist sneaking a peep at what appeared to be a letter, addressed to Maya Fey, Pearl’s cousin, who she knew to have been Phoenix’s former assistant.

OK, just like the time I was nosy and went through Daddy’s night table at Christmas, I will wholly admit that I’m more Snoopy than the dog from The Peanuts! I’m just going to take a quick peek at it and then I’ll put it right back….

Phoenix began to stir in his sleep and rolled over on his side.

Trucy jumped slightly, and reflexively tucked the note into her cape, then darted out of the room, blowing her father one last kiss as she looked back contritely over her shoulder, silently promising to stealthily return the letter to its proper place first thing in the morning.

Once she was outside the hospital, she plopped down on the bench at the deserted bus stop, thankful that the next one would be arriving in just a few minutes.

The first thing I’m going to do when I get close to home is grab something to eat! I got in from work tonight, washed out my Magic Panties, hung them outside to dry, and immediately afterward, some mystery pervert stole them! Then, the minute I got back home from my futile wild goose chase, I got the call from the hospital that my father got hit by a car!

She tapped a gloved finger to her chin.

Hmmm … I wonder if Mr. Eldoon’s noodle stand is still open at this hour? Anyway, first things first, I wonder what Daddy wrote in his note…

Carefully unfolding the paper once she’d removed it from the envelope, the magician began to read the message Phoenix had intended to send to Maya Fey, the very same woman, she remembered, whose photo had been in the mystery locket she’d found in her father’s drawer, and the original owner, the teen suspected, of the infinity ring which had accompanied it.

The first few mellifluous sentences on the page immediately made tears spring to her eyes, followed by the overwhelming sense of maudlin, causing her previous appetite to become ash on the ground as the girl continued to read, at last solving the mystery of her father’s melancholic disposition and general lassitude for the past year.

Once Trucy had finished, the urge to weep immediately flooded over her on behalf of the forlorn, meritorious man who had written this beautiful, luculent love letter, and on behalf of the forsaken, ill-starred lover he’d had to leave behind, who had equivalently lost as much as he had, due to this whole tragic canard.

In between the floods pouring from her eyes, the force of her sorrow caused an aching pang in her heart. Having realized this irremediable plight only compounded the weight of her conscience, which rested heavily upon Trucy’s soul, for despite being armed with this prescience, she could see zero propitious solution.

I’m so, so sorry, Daddy. Large, hot teardrops of sympathy spilled over her cheeks. I wish I knew what to do…

My love,

I know I have no right to call you that anymore, but that’s what you’ve never ceased being to me, so forgive me just this once for overstepping my boundaries and addressing a now-married woman with my old over-familiarity. It’s what I’ve always called you before and although time has since made us strangers, it’s what you shall remain as in my heart.

In my journal, I do my best to write to you every day. It keeps you close to me. God, I miss you so. You plague my mind every waking hour of my life. I wish I’d never met you. No – I don’t mean that! What good would my life be without my precious memories of you to make me smile?

I keep wondering if you’re happy. I want you to be. I want you to have a glorious life. That’s why I couldn’t say the things I knew you wanted to hear the very last time we were together. I was afraid if I did, you’d wait for me for years. I knew you wanted me to say I loved you. Not saying that to you was the only unselfish thing I did in the six years of bliss we were together, and I now I regret even that.
I love you, Maya Fey. Christ, I love you so much.

I’d give up all my life to have one year with you. Six months. Three. Anything.

You stole my heart from nearly the very start, my love. But you gave me your heart, too. You never had to tell me; I know you did – I could see it in your eyes every time you looked at me.
I don’t regret the loss of my badge anymore or rage at the injustice of the years I’ve spent as a disbarred, forging attorney and a pariah of society. Now, my only regret is that I can’t have you. You’re young, vibrant and so full of the irrepressible joie de vivre – as well as everything a man could dream of.

 I know you’ll forget about me quickly and go on with your own life as you walk down that aisle and toward a man who can give you the world and everything your heart could ever desire…so much more than I could have offered you. Being a good wife to him …. that’s exactly what you should do. It’s what you must do. I want you to do that, Maya.

That’s such a lousy lie. What I really want is to see you again, to hold you in my arms, to make love to you over and over again until I’ve filled you so completely that there’s no room left inside of you for anyone but me, ever. I never thought of physical intimacy as ‘making love’ until you. You never knew that, but it’s true.

The time has finally come for you to know the truth about why I had to end things with you that fateful night last March. Remembering the pain and the tears in your eyes, sometimes I still break down, knowing that I was the cause. It kills me now just as much as it did then. The day I made you walk away; you took away the very heart of me.

Do you remember all the times that I alluded to the fact there was danger lurking for both of us when I was investigating my disbarment? Well, that danger was named Kristoph Gavin. He was stalking you and everybody I ever held dear to me this entire time and wouldn’t have been above eliminating anybody who was a threat to him, just to hurt me. It was when he finally threatened you that I realized you could never be safe if you were associated with me. I knew you would fight to try to stay with me, even if it meant risking your own life. I couldn’t allow such a thing. At your mother’s funeral, I promised Mia that I would protect you with my dying breath, and it’s a promise that I had to keep.

This is why I begged Iris to lie on my behalf that I was leaving you for her. 

Please don’t be angry with your cousin for her unwilling hand in this deception, Maya. It was gutting her all this time, knowing how much you and Pearls must’ve hated her when all the noble Iris did was sacrifice the only family she had left, in order to save the life of her cousin. Now we can come clean with the truth, with Gavin safely behind bars where he belongs, and you about to embark on the brighter future you deserve.

If there had been any other way to do things, and if I could turn back time and change them, I would. But there was no other way. I chose to have you be alive and hate me than die for loving me.

I wish I had time to write you a better letter or that I’d kept one of the others I’ve written so I could send that instead. They were all much more coherent than this one. I won’t send another letter to you, so don’t watch out for one. Letters will make me just hope and dream, and if I don’t stop doing that, I will die of wanting you.

There was never anybody else,  Maya Fey. It was you, and only you. It’s always been you. There isn’t one person in the world that I want more than I want you. You have a place in my heart that no one else could ever have.

I remember the entire time we were together, thinking “I pray our love is sempiternal. I hope we last forever. But if we don’t, this is how I want you to remember me…”

I want you to remember me holding you curled up against my body, listening to the sound of your heartbeat, and tracing maps across your skin. Remember me laughing at your jokes, even the really
out-there ones like the one about stepladders vs. ladders and your insistence that I needed to stop judging things based on narrow-minded cultural assumptions.

Remember us laughing hysterically for absolutely no reason at all and remember me wiping your tears because I unwittingly made you so sad, neither of us thought you’d recover. Remember me brave, that time I held your hand in the hospital when I thought I was going to lose you; remember me scared and gentle and delicate and breakable – only for you though, only for you.

Remember me happy, and all the ridiculous ways I tried to get your attention before you knew how much I loved you. Remember the way I was too stubborn to talk to you and how absolutely insane it drove the both of us. Remember all the firsts and how they were so delightful, we went back for seconds and thirds and fourths. Remember the songs you couldn’t stop listening to and the childish dreams you allowed yourself about the future. If it’s any consolation, I allowed myself to have them too.

If it comes to it, I don’t want you to remember the ending. Remember the beginning. Remember the first time you knew.

In case you ever foolishly forget: I am never not thinking of you. Although I haven’t set eyes on you since the day we parted, I’ve seen that breathtaking face of yours in all the newspapers since your engagement. It’s been a bittersweet experience for me, to have something tangible to show how you’ve grown even more heartbreakingly beautiful since I saw you last.  But even if I hadn’t seen those photos, that visage will haunt my dreams for the rest of the days of my life. Your face is my heart, Maya Fey, and the love of you is my soul. 

I love you, Maya Fey. I loved you that final night I was forced to bid you farewell in Kurain. I love you now, I will love you until I die, and if there’s a life after that, I’ll love you then.

Forever yours, faithfully
Nick

The Fray – Over My Head (Cable Car) Chapter Quote
O.A.R. – Shattered (Turn the Car Around)
Mister Mister – Broken Wings
Linkin Park – In The End