167 I Will Find You

A/N: Once again, thanks for your music suggestion of using the “Last of the Mohicans” soundtrack theme for the chapter quote, Ilet Moratar!

I am so delighted you guys enjoyed the two former Ace Assistants, Kay and Maya meeting up even though it was only a small part of the last chapter! Looks like these raven-haired beauties were the total scene-stealers in Miles’s opening arc! Going to try to give those two mischievous girls some more interaction! 🙂

Hope is your survival
A captive path I lead

No matter where you go
I will find you
If it takes a long long time
No matter where you go
I will find you
If it takes a thousand years

(Mohican)
Nachgochema
Anetaha
Anachemowagan

No matter where you go
I will find you
In the place with no frontiers
No matter where you go
I will find you

Miles Edgeworth
Courthouse Offices
July 11, 2026, 4:30 PM

Ah, karma. Why do you continue to come up to me and kick me? Have I wronged you somehow?

With a heavy sense of inquietude and an unshakable sense of foreboding, Miles’s weary body trudged down the seemingly endless hall. The sensation of dragging his unwilling leaden feet to his destination felt as though he was walking the proverbial green mile.

He had no inkling of why he’d been summoned to the courthouse office, but he couldn’t imagine it to be for any sort of extolling purposes.

Quite the contrary.

In fact, in light of the calamitous aftermath from the previous day’s State vs. Machi Tobaye trial, which in the manner of all bad news, had already swept across the Prosecutor’s Office like wildfire, he irrationally intuited that he was about to be heavily sentenced, despite having committed no crime.

My life summation: it’s Rückkehrunruhe. That’s what I’m experiencing right now. The feeling of returning home after an immersive trip only to find it fading rapidly from your awareness… take a trip… come home… be thrust precipitously into a world even more mystifying and bizarre than the one you just came from.

The effect of the egregious outcome on the flabbergasted attorney was ineffable. Besides discovering the shocking true murderer of Romein LeTouse, the man who’d been the insider for the Interpol cocoon operation, it’d been almost more staggering news that the catalyst behind the smuggling fiasco, and the whole tragic chain of events itself, was none other than the esteemed Minister of Justice himself.

Whoever had said trouble came in 3’s didn’t know their arse from their elbow!

The corruption which had begun with Manfred Von Karma, Damon Gant, and Blaise Debeste a decade ago certainly hadn’t ended as a completed trilogy. Instead, it appeared new darkness was incipient, and if they were lucky, there’d only be three more bodies of evil to contend with consequentially in this Dark Age of the Law.

Here’s my journey-bated self, freshly back in the country after so long, still reeling from the latest earthquake that shook up our entire legal system and has left actual casualties in the aftershock! I was barely able to register desideratum over LeTouse’s murder before I was forcibly engulfed by yet another scandal involving a high-ranking bureaucrat of the courts. Once again, an official whom I’ve long trusted and admired, ever since I began my legal career, ultimately turned out to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

While the normally unshakable prosecutor was still reeling from the allegorical macroseism tremors as he sifted through the copious rubble of the aftermath, his recent dysthymic nature couldn’t help but make him reflect upon this latest tribulation with tremendous dispiritedness, rather than trepidation.

In a similar manner to my former lorthew, the ruthless perfectionist, immediately followed by the disingenuous swimming enthusiast and then the cold-blooded pyromaniac thereafter, the Minister was proven to be equally as self-serving and morally bankrupt as his three predecessors.

This latest bombshell had filled Miles with a nearly overpowering sense of hiraeth – the feeling of homesickness for a home to which he could not return, although maybe never truly was, yet knowing that still didn’t erase the nostalgia, yearning, and grief for the lost places of the past.

He’d wanted nothing more than to spend the day in his pyjamas with a cup of tea while lamenting over the complete degradation of the entire rotten world from the sanctity of his penthouse.

As Kay would have said, today I yearn for nothing more than an extensive stint at Club Bed, featuring DJ Pillow and MC Blanky!

Thusly, being presently seated in perpetually irritating taciturnity for the past five minutes, while his presence had yet to even be acknowledged, was truly the last thing in the world the dyspeptic Miles was in the mood for!

Another few moments of reticence passed.

By this point, the magenta-clad lawyer was inwardly fuming.

I’m afraid the moss is growing under our feet as I await the recognition of my existence!

Still in his official work attire, despite it now being the end of business day, the man before him blithely continued to be preoccupied with shuffling through some paperwork, mumbling and nodding incomprehensively to himself, while being seemingly unmindful that he had company!

Miles found himself hankering for the power of Superman’s x-ray vision at that instant, so the daft man would unignorably feel the steadily increasing heat of his irate glare!

How can he not feel my visibly unimpressed, baleful stare, which I’ve spent years perfecting?! If something glares at you, it’s only polite to return the favor! That is what I was taught! This is grossly unacceptable, ungracious, and inhospitable behavior on his behalf! He should have at least offered me some sort of greeting and hot beverage by this point!

After what seemed like ages, the officeholder, whom Chief Gant had at one time affectionately referred to as “Udgey” had finally moved on from his disarray of papers.

The barrister watched him hopefully, but the gent of flawless, bone china pate was now obliviously squinting at the computer screen on his desk, his bushy eyebrows knitted into a pensive frown that the beleaguered prosecutor knew mirrored his own!

“Whatever does that mean?” The old man mumbled. “It makes no sense! Life was so much simpler back in my day when you didn’t need to worry about these space-age, bone-headed whatchamacallits and
thingamabobs!”

A deep, perplexing wrinkle marred his glabrous head as he continued grumbling to himself. Then, just as Miles was about to explode from agitation, the magistrate glimpsed upward at last.

“Prosecutor Edgeworth, what size would you say my computer’s…” he fumbled for the word while gesturing at his computer monitor. “Picture screen is?”

The prosecutor stared at the bald man incredulously, trying to grasp that those would be the first words the normally congenial judge would utter to his visitor!

Egad! Would it kill you to at least say hello first?

“If you’re referring to your PC monitor, Your Honor…” the chess lover struggled to maintain a cordial tone. “It appears to be about 24 inches. Why do you ask?”

“Bah! Inches? That doesn’t help at all!” The judge exclaimed. “What would that measurement be in centimeters?”

Do I look like a human calculator to you?!

The increasingly annoyed and now bewildered logical genius did a quick mental conversion.

“About 61 cm, Your Honor.”

There was a moment of silence as the bearded gent stared at him blankly.

The legist barely stifled a sigh of ennui.

That far-off look in his eyes suggests that his mind is far-off in La-La land….

The legal eagle never had a chance to finish his cynical thought as in the next instant, the bearded judiciary abruptly exploded into a fit of wrath.

“Laird Thunderin’ Jaysus!”

The official in black robes forcefully banged a frustrated fist on the heavy wooden bureau, making the picture frames and office supplies upon it bounce precariously.

The resulting loud rattle of the desk objects made the magenta-clad man’s eyelids flutter ever so slightly.

The old man seems to have acquired an iron fist that rivals the bang of his courtroom mallet! It reminds me of a dream I had once that I was being squashed from above by his gavel…

“The sizes don’t go up that high! The largest hat I see here is 48 cm!”

Now it was Miles’s turn to stare vacuously.

What the blazes is he going on about?! He summoned me to his chambers and now he’s hat shopping?! I got out of bed for this?!

“Ahem, at the risk of sounding presumptuous, I agree that does seem rather small,” Miles ventured cautiously. “The average human skull has a circumference of 57 cm…”

“It’s not for me!” The judge shot him a withering glance. “It’s for this…monitor, as you call it, of mine!”

Noting the cravat-wearer’s man’s baffled expression, the chrome dome gestured at his computer screen.

“My grandchild told me if I wanted to copy lengthy documentation for future reference, without having to type it all out manually, I should just get a screencap! But all they’re showing here are these Santa Claus ones, none of which seem like they’ll fit! It just makes no sense, these Christmas hats, since we’re in July now…”

The cravat-wearer dubiously regarded the kindly old man, for whom he’d always felt a combination of respect (and occasional exasperation) over the years. Yet right then, all he could do was internally groan as it dawned on him that he’d finally stumbled upon someone who was truly even more technologically clueless than even Phoenix Wright.

And that was saying something!

Boneheaded His Honor said, without even a hint of irony. He barely resisted the urge to facepalm. Well, indeed that was the operative term – although in this case, it is most definitely not about the computer!

“I do believe your grandchild meant the latter word as a short term for capture, Your Honor.” Somehow, he maintained a remarkably straight face. “It refers to the ability to take a snapshot of something, images or documentation, that’s on your … picture screen for future reference. I can assure you, a screencap doesn’t entail getting an actual hat for your computer monitor. Please allow me to show you…”

The old man smiled gratefully as the prosecutor got up and patiently demonstrated the how-to shortcuts on the keyboard, then took his seat on the other side of the desk once again.

“I think I’ve grasped the basic know-how, thanks. That was a most comprehensive tutorial on your part,” the judge praised. “I know bupkis about these hi-tech doohickeys! It’s very kind of you to take the time to try to teach this old dog some new tricks if he’s ever gonna keep up in this 21st-century futuristic age we’re in!”

“Think nothing of it, Your Honor,” the urbane DA replied chivalrously, hoping they could now finally get to the point of his unofficial subpoenaing. “It was my pleasure to be of service.”

“Even though I called you here on business, it is after hours,” the judge declared, leaning back in his chair and smiling benevolently. “I’m going to call you Miles. And I want you to feel free to use my first name as well.”

“Ah, I’m afraid I can’t do that, Your Honor.”

“We’re not in court at the present, Miles. Smile! Lighten up for once and stop being such an unyielding old fuddy-duddy!” The judge jibed good-naturedly. “All these years of being so rigid and austere is taking its physical toll on you. Is that a line – or a crease which I just spotted between those ever-frowning brows?”

Nnngrrrrk…! Et Tu, Your Honor…?!

Similar maddening taunts from the past, vis-à-vis to his supposedly aging appearance, made by the ever-goading, adolescent Franziska flashed through his memory. Disgruntled, he barely bit back an angry retort, only because he needed to remind himself this was a rare instance where he was in the subordinate position!

“Th –They’re not lines!” He clenched his jaw. “They’re perfectly normal and a part of my natural face!”

“No need to be in denial, Mr. Sensitive,” the judge chuckled. “Getting older is a natural part of life – not to mention a privilege denied to many!”

“What? I am not in denial!”

“Don’t get a bee in your bonnet! I am merely busting your chops, my good man! I just don’t think it would kill you to have some smile lines to balance out those frown lines of yours! No need to fret – you’re aging better than me anyway! At least you still have a full head of hair!”

I should hope so! I’m only 33 years old!

The slightly triggered attorney mentally counted to 10 so he wouldn’t erupt.

“I wasn’t trying to insist that we maintain unnecessary formality when I said I can’t do that. It was because I’ve never been privy to know your given name, Your Honor.”

“Huh? Is that right?” The judge blinked in surprise, then smiled winsomely. “Apologies for that then! My name is Chambers. Jughead Chambers.”

“Oh?” For once, Miles wasn’t sure how to respond! “Is that because you served in the Marines?”

Chambers blinked once more upon hearing the question, then fell back against his chair and let out a loud shout of laughter for a good half minute.

“Haha! That’s a good one!” The judge wiped two stray tears of mirth away from his eyes. “No counselor, no formal military life for me. However, in the days of my youth, I did briefly serve in the Coast Guard before I decided to pursue the legal path. Seems like you are getting up there in age, my boy, visible brow lines or not!”

Gnnrgk! I wish I could inform you that there is not a single crinkle upon my youthful brow!

“Either your hearing is starting to fade with age, or I need to enunciate.” The expressive dark orbs were now twinkling with merriment as they regarded the bristling prosecutor. “I said Jughead, not Jarhead! My friends, however, call me Jug, and I invite you to do the same, son.”

Miles’s eyes widened, and his signature composure vanquished momentarily at this latest absurdity.

“Do you mean to tell me that your name is literally: Jug … Chambers?”

“It is, and yes I am! I suppose I would’ve fit in very well back in the golden days of yore when a man’s surname also dictated his occupation …Cook, Carpenter, and so forth.”

Chambers smiled ruefully, while his subordinate took the opportunity to give a moment of silent thanks that Larry Butz was not present to make a lewd inquiry about what sort of occupation was assigned to men named John Handcock!

“In my case, I suppose some things are just meant to be, aren’t they? My mother Veronica was a huge fan of the Archie series. She thought it was a sign from up above that she married a man named Reginald. Luckily, since I wasn’t born with red hair, I was spared being named after the main protagonist of the comics, so instead got named after his crown-wearing, food-enthusiast sidekick. You have no idea how mocked I was in school for having such a moniker! As I got older, my nearest and dearest began calling me Jug. All except for my wife, who calls me Juggie.”

He caught the amused flicker on the younger man’s countenance and his grin broadened.

“My dear mother, God rest her soul, never believed more in destiny than the day my younger brother, whose name is Benjamin, not Archibald, by the way, joined me in the ranks of becoming a fellow judge –except of course, on my wedding day. It was on the said fateful date that I pledged my vows to a beautiful blonde woman named Elizabeth. Mom was always slightly disappointed her daughter-in-law refused to be called…”

“Betty?” Miles finished, a small smile tugging on his lips, as the snickering Chambers nodded.

“Now that you’ve been given the backstory and insider, information about my Christian name, I suppose you’re wondering why I called you to come in today.”

All traces of humor then vanished from the mug of the Honorable Jughead Chambers.

“I’m sure you’re aware of the scandal regarding the outcome of yesterday’s trial, which is now public knowledge?” His phizog grew wary. “Jeepers creepers! An international Interpol Agent was murdered by a criminal affairs Detective/smuggler who exploited a foreign teenage musician to be an accessory! And all because of an unlawful request made by our own Minister of Justice.”

Chambers dragged a hand down his suddenly weary mien.

He looks like I feel, the logic enthusiast realized empathetically. We’re both overridden by a seemingly inescapable impression of kuebiko. A state of exhaustion inspired by acts of senseless violence, which force you to revise your image of what can happen in this world—mending the fences of your expectations, weeding out all unwelcome and invasive truths, cultivating the perennial good that’s buried under the surface, and propping yourself up like an old scarecrow, who’s bursting at the seams but powerless to do anything but stand there and watch.

“He was someone I’d known, admired, and worked alongside for longer than you’ve been alive!  I’m his son’s godfather! Oh, the humanity! Cheatum, of all people! I still can’t believe Howie – er, Howard – was the mastermind behind the whole series of unfortunate events!”

It was the first time Miles had heard the Minister of Justice’s full designation, but seeing the goodhearted senior appear so distressed instantly obliterated any snide thoughts about the ironic name of the disgraced bureaucrat.

“We’ve had to do a clean sweep of everybody and anybody who’d served under Howie, or been appointed by him,” Chambers continued despondently. “It’s a crying shame just how far the crooked long arm of the law – enforcement – reached! It wasn’t only about the officials in high-ranking positions above you and me either. In the end, not even the Prosecutor’s Office itself was free from venality.”

His dialogue partner frowned upon hearing this particular news as the distraught judge went on.

“Due to all this hoopla, we are now down to a bare-bones skeleton staff of reliable lawyers. I’d honestly thought after the whole incident with Lana Skye, that we’d finally gotten somebody unswerving to be in charge of the prosecutors. Nevertheless, they ultimately had to be taken out with the rest of the trash, too, hence the Chief Prosecutor position is now vacant, alongside the one for Minister’s. Moreover, I have been tasked to fill the role.”

“Are you saying that you’re stepping down from the bench and into the former Minister’s shoes… Jug?” Miles was struggling to comprehend this deluge of eye-opening information which had just been hurled at him.

“I’m just not being clear with you at all today, am I?” Chambers groaned and shook his head. “No, no, no. I shan’t be changing roles. The Governor of California is very friendly with a diplomat confrère of mine, Harold Palms. He took it upon himself to offer his assistance to the newly elected politician – who, you can imagine, was quite overwhelmed by all of this calamity that’d occurred within his first few months of being sworn in!”

Most unusual … a diplomat’s involvement pertaining to the assignment of legal officials? The legist arched a brow. This should be interesting!

“Harry and his wife, Rosie, have a business associate who is quite familiar with most of this district courthouse staff. This influential contact made a specific endorsement to the Palms about who could help out the young governor in this trying time…by taking the daunting task of selecting these new legal representatives off the politician’s plate.”

“It’s quite astounding, is it not?” Miles commented wryly. “How diplomats always  know how to craft a reply
– that doesn’t answer a bloody thing!”

“They’re infamous for it,” Chambers agreed humorlessly. “The overwrought governor venerates my friend’s opinion as much as Harry and Rosie revere that of their ascendant chum! Ergo, it was decreed that I would be the most upright and uncorrupted source to count on for this designation duty.”

“While quite the honor, it is nonetheless an unenviable responsibility you’ve had thrust upon your shoulders, Your Hon – er, Jug.” He tried not to cringe at the incongruous name. “As you know, I shall be here to render my services if they’re required, at any time.”

“Considering I’m starting from scratch with the hiring and assigning process, those words are music to my ears! I’m not surprised though, as I would expect nothing less from you.” Chambers looked relieved beyond belief. “As a matter of fact, you have only further reinforced my decision!”

“Decision?” The oblivious lawyer echoed. “I don’t understand what you mean.”

“Why, Chief Prosecutor of course!” The old man rubbed his hands together gleefully. “I couldn’t think of a more qualified, no-nonsense man to help me clean house than you, Mr. High Prosecutor!”

The surprised but ever-cautious Miles peered into Chambers’ mien, now filled with ebullience.

“Are you absolutely certain about this, Jug? While I’m flattered you think so favorably of my capabilities, surely you should at least consider another prosecutor? One who hasn’t been out of the country for the past seven years? Who may be more familiar with any legislations or procedures which may have changed during my long absence abroad?”

“My options are limited, and it all comes back to you, irrespective of how many different ways I look at it,” Chambers maintained stubbornly. “Klavier Gavin is not only too young and relatively inexperienced by comparison, but he’s also a flashy rock star! The last thing we need is extra eyes on us at a time like this, which is what would happen should we put a headlining celebrity in charge of things!”

“Gavin’s not a rock star anymore. What with his best friend, the second Gavinners guitarist, being incarcerated, I would assume the young man’s sole job henceforth would be strictly that of a prosecutor.”

“Even so, he was too personally involved with the last case for me not to question his impartiality. Also, his track record, compared to yours, prevents me from seeing him as a true contender for the position. Now, young Franziska Von Karma – she was quite a brilliant and experienced prosecutor. However, I also know she has other responsibilities elsewhere and is presently unavailable…”

Don’t remind me! Grumpworth thought sullenly. I have other responsibilities as well, plus I’m also still attached to the sting operation with Interpol! How can I just abandon Lang at a time like this?

“It’s because you’ve been out of the country that I just know you’re the most trustworthy and qualified candidate for the role!”  Chambers pressed. ” Consequently, this means you’ve also been away from all the shady undertakings – that were happening right beneath my nose! And that’s without even taking into account your exemplary history as a prosecutor as the cherry on top!”

Since the Minister of Justice and everybody he ever appointed was completely corrupt, and now that they’ve done a full sweep, there aren’t too many people remaining who can be trusted, he reflected sardonically. Essentially, I’m almost being offered the job by default! I would be affronted if I didn’t agree that I probably am the most qualified candidate left!

“This is a great privilege, but it’s not something I can just make up my mind about overnight,” the soon-to-be promoted legal eagle said at last as the magistrate eyed him hopefully. “For one thing, the very same responsibilities that Ms. Von Karma has to apply to me as well. She and I were both partaking in the same investigative operation with Interpol. You must understand that it’d be quite the breach of trust, not to mention most unprofessional, to just leave them high and dry, with zero notice.”

“It’s either you or Winston Payne!” The judge cried frantically. “Don’t make me choose a man bearing a seven-year losing streak – most notably to greenhorn defense attorneys! Please, Miles, I implore you don’t make me do it!”

The prospective Chief Prosecutor winced in pain at the mention of the barely competent counselor formerly known as The Rookie Killer while the judge’s voice turned to beseech.

“That follicly challenged bumbler is essentially the sole prosecutor who was too much of a dullard simpleton to ever be besmirched! We are so dreadfully short-staffed right now, that if he hadn’t already been released from prison, we would’ve welcomed a nameless blind man with unverified credentials back into the position!”

Chambers was practically wringing his hands in desperation now.

“The Prosecutor’s Office is in such dire straits that we’ve had convicted felon Simon Blackquill step in and prosecute cases, even though he’s on death row for murder! Also, my brother Ben is not a viable option because he’s Canadian and hence, they worry he’s too liberal! Please, Miles! We need you. More than Interpol. More than anyone or anything else… Justice needs you.”

The former Demon Prosecutor shook his head back and forth as he struggled with the decision. As much as he knew Lang would hit the roof if he were to pull out of the cocoon operation, Judge Chambers was right – they couldn’t possibly let an incompetent imbecile like Payne have the position! The buffoon would run the courthouse into the ground and criminals would run amok!

The answer was a given. His decision wouldn’t earn him any popularity points, but he had no other choice.

Chambers studied him expectantly.

“How soon do you need an answer?” Miles queried at last. “When does this position need to be filled?”

Bushy-browed dark eyes bored intently into his.

“Immediately.”

Miles Edgeworth and Phaya
High Prosecutor’s Office
July 12, 2026, 1:22 PM

There was a terse silence among the trio following the Kurain Master’s earth-shattering proclamation, rendering the normally articulate logic master wholly speechless.

Never before had Miles ever experienced such a disorienting sense of acatalepsy – of the impossibility of comprehending the universe; of the belief that human knowledge could never have true certainty.

It was official. Nothing made sense to him anymore.

The prosecutor’s jaw hit his chest as he googled speechlessly at the still-huffy spirit medium, while his stupefied mind was churned at warp speed, a kaleidoscope of ranging emotions –shock, doubt, skepticism, rage, grief – all swirled together, nearly indecipherable from one another.

Phoenix was the first one to recover.

“Lang’s lying? About not knowing where Franziska is?! Maya, do you even realize what you’re saying?” He gasped, shooting up from the couch and staring at her with round eyes. “You don’t know Agent Lang from a hole in the ground! How can you possibly make such a bold accusation?”

“FYI, I don’t need to know somebody’s character to be able to see their psyche locks, Nick!” The village leader puffed out her cheeks with indignation and held up the yellow magatama hanging around her neck. “Or have you somehow forgotten you’re not the only one that has one of these spiritually powered lie detectors?!”

The Master tore her defiant eyes away from her lover’s questioning ones and swung them back at the thunderstruck Miles, who was clutching the edges of his desk as he fought to regain control of the senses.

“Psycho locks,” the prosecutor repeated numbly while the remains of his world slowly crumbled around him. “Of course. That’s why you chose to keep watching Lang’s face on the monitor, even after he ended your conversation, isn’t it? You sensed something awry! Something that neither Wright nor I could ever fathom, in a million years…”

His words trailed off, and his face was so pale that neither Phoenix nor Maya had the heart to correct his consistent mispronunciation of the mystical locks and chains Lang had been harboring.

The psychic’s face was wreathed with sympathy now, her former righteous ire on his behalf entirely obliterated as she saw her friend’s distressed expression.

“I’m so sorry, Miles. I wish more than anything I could tell you that I was the one who was lying! I know you were counting on Lang to help you find Franziska’s whereabouts. But you’re going to need to find another source to get you that information because the Wolf Man already knows – he’s just not telling you! I can’t even begin to figure out why…”

The barrister’s brain couldn’t register the words for a split-second – it remained frozen and suspended; an inability to compute. It was too much. It was all just too damn much…

“Maya, please.” He shook his head vehemently and shut his eyes. “Please … just …stop. I need a minute.”

The raven-haired beauty obediently shut her mouth and instead silently rubbed his shoulder in a soothing gesture of compassion, while Phoenix awkwardly shuffled his feet and kept mum, uncertain of what to say.

The lawyer stared sightlessly at the blank computer monitor as he tried to register the ugly truth that’d just been unleashed upon him. He felt sickened and infuriated. Disheartened and defenseless….

Then, as he took a few deep breaths, all his previously roiling emotions were swept away like the tides and replaced by only one.

Betrayal.

Above all else, nerve-grinding, brain-shattering, stomach-churning betrayal.

Phoenix’s unassuming swain, despite all her otherworldly psychic abilities, may not be able to wrap her head around possible reasons for Lang’s deception, but the festering green-eyed monster rapidly growing within Miles most certainly could!

His gorgeous, fiery, easily incited former lover.

The darkly mysterious, prowling, equally inflammable Wolf Man.

Shi-Long Lang and Franziska Von Karma. An incompatible match made in hell … a fiery, burning,  passionate hell.

True, his ex-fiancée had never deemed the infuriating Agent to be anything more than a whipping post, and Lang had always referred to Franziska as “Sister”… But then again, at some point so had he, himself!

There was no denying history – or the fact that it was capable of repeating itself. His own feelings for Franziska had done a complete turnabout over the years, so was it so far-fetched that the same could happen with Lang?

Together, the hot-tempered Interpol Agent and tempestuous Wild Mare had always clashed and butted heads, creating flaming rages that’d always needed to be hosed down whenever they were within one another’s vicinity for too long.

To date, no other man had ever ignited the fire within the stormy German woman in the same manner as Lang … except for Miles himself.

Now, with the chess enthusiast out of the way and the on the other side of the world, was it possible that without the prosecutor’s calming presence to smother the dually blazing inferno … Lang had decided to fan those flames?

The idea of the wannabe Wolverine’s underlying lustful intentions as the true sinister reason for his willful duplicity made Miles feel sick to his stomach. Another white-hot surge of impotent rage coursed through him, along with another wave of hopelessness and frustration at the whole damn situation.

Staring at his desk, he felt as though he could see his own obstructing locks, visible to only his own eyes. They were attached to invisible hindering chains that were binding him to his duties in his LA Office … Which was suddenly the last place on earth he wanted to be!

Slamming his palm on his desk, he gritted his teeth.

“So what the hell am I supposed to do now?”

He hadn’t realized he’d spoken aloud until he felt Maya’s hand leave his shoulder. She then leaned down towards him, so her face was level with his.

“Duh! Isn’t it obvious? You go after her… Just like you did the last time she took off!”

He slowly turned his head and regarded the beaming spirit medium, whose hands were clasped together in front of her chest, then at Phoenix, who shrugged helplessly and nodded.

“It’s not the worst idea in the world, right Edgeworth? I mean, when Franziska took off after the Engarde case eight years ago, all it took was a five-minute prodding conversation from us to get you to jump on the first plane to chase her all the way back to Germany!”

“It’s different this time, Wright!” He snapped. “That was when I knew where Franziska was going, and she hadn’t mysteriously disappeared and forced me to play an unwitting game of Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego!”

“You’re a resourceful, wealthy guy, my friend,” the pianist shrugged, unaffected by the outburst. “So what if you can’t rely on Lang to get you a lead on her whereabouts? Put out your own feelers and trackers! If need be, storm back to Europe or Asia or wherever the heck those Interpol guys are stationed and force Lang to talk if you have to! Bribe Kay if you must! If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my life, it’s that absolutely nothing is impossible!”

“Nick’s right, Miles! People can’t just vanish!”

“Be that as it may, your newly donned rose-colored glasses seem to be making the two of you
conveniently forget a key glaring factor here.”

Grey eyes affixed the duo with an icy stare.

“How is it your idealistic selves have both been so busy trying to simplify my plight that you’ve forgotten why Lang flared up just now? It was because I told him I was withdrawing from the Interpol investigation to accept my newly bequeathed role of Chief Prosecutor! I’m stuck here in LA whether I like it or not!”

“You technically haven’t even started yet!” She pointed out. “Didn’t you just get the offer yesterday?”

“Well yes,” he admitted. “I told Judge Chambers I couldn’t very well commence my new position until I had resigned from my old one!”

“So it’s just like I thought. The Chief Prosecutor position is still vacant.”

“Yes … and?” His patience was wearing thin, as it appeared they were talking in circles now. “What’s your point?”

The diviner glanced over at her beau for help but found him staring back at her with a lost expression.

“Sorry, my love. I’m not following you either.”

“How is it that two men who were both legal legends in the courtroom could be this unbelievably clueless?”

The Kurain head blew upward at her bangs in vexation, then spoke slowly and deliberately, as though talking to a dimwitted child.

“If you have not accepted the position yet, Mr. Not-Quite-Chief-Prosecutor, it means you still have the leverage you can utilize! It’s called parleying. To put it bluntly, Udgey needs you more than you need him! Should it come to that, though I don’t think it will, you’re definitely in a prime position to bend that old man over a barrel!”

The two best friends grimaced at the exact same time.

“Ugh! I could’ve lived without that imagery!” The hobo shuddered.

“Same,” the DA inserted dryly.

“I can’t believe I need to spell this out for you guys!” Maya scowled at them. “Read my lips, Miles! Tell the judge you need time! And then use that window of opportunity to go find your ex! Didn’t my sister tell you that you’d need to keep your passport updated, because you might need to make a trip overseas again? It seems that prophecy is coming true! Wherever Franny is, it sure isn’t here in this country!”

She clapped her hands excitedly.

“Time for another Euro Trip!”

“At the very least, it may give you the opportunity to properly wrap up things with Interpol, if not be the key instrument to solving things entirely, what with the newly acquired insider information you may be getting from interrogating Crescend,” the DILF added encouragingly. “I know you, Edgeworth. You can’t possibly be happy leaving things with Lang like this. Even if you’re justifiably furious with him right now, you hate loose ends as much as you despise leaving anyone in the lurch!”

The pianist morphed into full courtroom persuasion mode.

“The Miles Edgeworth I’ve always known never leaves a task unfinished! It’s just not you. This gives you a chance to at least try to tie things up with a neat little bow pertaining to your Interpol operation! Finding Franziska on top of that will just be the icing on the cake!”

The card shark smiled coaxingly at the contemplative barrister.

“Besides, as much as Franziska may have claimed she didn’t want to be found if you don’t try to do everything in your power to get answers regarding this whole thing, it’s going to haunt you for the rest of your life. And don’t even try lying right now and claiming it won’t!” He waved his own magatama in the air and smirked. “Remember I’ve got one of these too, you know!”

“Damn you two and your psycho locks,” the tea-drinker muttered disgustedly, drumming his well-manicured fingers against the top of his desk as he mulled this over while the couple studied him, anxiously awaiting his answer.

A few more seconds of agonizing stillness dragged by before the spirit medium lost her serenity.

“Well?” She prompted impatiently. “What’s it going to be, Mr. Chief Prosecutor-To-Be? Poop or get off the pot?”

“This is absolute madness!” He protested but with less conviction. “Let’s just say I do go and confront Lang about being Judas. What’s to stop him from lying to me again, this time to my face?”

“Oh, that’s easy!” She chirped. “You’ll have a trusty magatama with you this time! And not just the gemstone! It’ll have a real-life, polygraph psychic attached to it because I’m coming with you!”

“You’re going to come to Europe with me?” Miles was taken aback at the unexpected offer. “Wouldn’t it just be easier to give me the magatama?”

“No way, Jose! You have no idea how to use it properly!”

“Objection! I’ve used it before when I was playing defense attorney for your boyfriend!”

“Oh puh-lease! Compared to me, you have no idea just what this thing can do! Besides, you don’t even know how to pronounce psyche locks properly, Mr. Psycho Locks! You need me!”

Maya linked arms with her beau and smiled winsomely.

“In fact, why rely on one set of investigative eyes when you can have three? Heck, you need us!”

” Say what? Us?” The baffled ex-attorney parroted. ” Do you mean me?”

“Naturally!” She slightly tapped the beanie-wearer’s nose. “You and I – we’re a package deal! No way am I leaving the country after just getting you back! No ifs, ands, or buts, buster! You’re coming with me!”

“Maya, I can’t even afford to take a taxi to The Borscht Bowl Club! How the heck do you think I’d have the funds to go on a cross-continental trip?”

“Nick, when are you going to be like a regular human being and take advantage of the fact that your girlfriend is loaded? I’m already paying your rent again, so what’s a lousy plane ticket?” She stuck out her tongue playfully. “Just this one time, let me be your sugar mama!”

“As if I have a choice!” Phoenix groaned, but he was laughing as he spoke. “I learned a long time ago that I could never beat you in any sort of argument!”

“Glad you learn fast!” The Burger Queen quipped. “What’s a little airfare among lovers, right?”

She leaned over and whispered throatily in her beau’s ear.

“You can work off the entire cost of that ticket if you simply agree to join the Mile High Club with me, Old Man.”

Pulling away from her suddenly flush-faced swain, Maya winked at her friend.

“Unless of course, you want to handle the flight preparations … so then nobody needs to buy any plane tickets?”

“I am not chartering another jet! We’re going to fly the friendly skies like regular mortals this time!” Miles crossed his arms. “However, if you taking care of your boyfriend’s expenses means I don’t need to foot the bill for him, I fully support that notion, Maya.”

He turned to Phoenix.

“And as a matter of fact, I do remember Mia saying Europe has a jury structure that should be studied firsthand, Wright. Let’s not waste a good opportunity to kill two birds with one stone – I’ll resume investigating with Interpol and tracking down Franziska, while you can look into their legal system.”

“I’m really happy we were able to talk some sense into that thick skull of yours, Edgeworth,” Phoenix joked, then surveyed his best friend’s face with a serious expression. “But at the same time, I want to make sure you’re truly prepared for this, both mentally and emotionally. Do you honestly think you’ll be able to handle potentially facing not only one but two of your exes again?”

The words carried a lead weight across his ears and into the prosecutor’s brain.

Lana.

He blew out a slow breath. He’d tried to push all thoughts of his former paramour out of his mind since he’d sent off that irrevocable letter, but it didn’t change that Lana was technically still his official undercover partner. It’d be nigh impossible to resume things with the operation without coming into some sort of contact with her, one way or another.

A wave of guilt washed over him.

There was one particular demand he’d have to make when wrangling concessions with Judge Chambers if he ever wanted to sleep soundly again.

He caught Phoenix’s questioning gaze and nodded mutely in response to the query.

Yes, he could handle seeing Lana again. Whatever the outcome of that would be, he’d handle it somehow. It could be no more painful than finding Franziska once more – and discovering if his gnawing, ever-mounting paranoid suspicions about her and Lang had any validation.

“Let’s just say, for the sake of the argument, I go through all the trouble of booking three plane tickets…”

“Four,” Maya corrected sunnily. “Have you forgotten that I have a little girl who just tearfully bid her English boyfriend goodbye after the wedding, and wasn’t expecting to see him again until Christmas? Heaven help me if I went to The Continent without her! She’ll be over the moon about this! Plus, I’m positive Pearly will be as excited about finally meeting Kay Faraday as I am!”

Miles sighed.

“As you wish,” was his resigned response. “Suppose I go to the trouble of booking four airline tickets…”

“First class!” She interrupted boisterously. “Or at least business! No coach for me! I don’t want to be crammed like a sardine in a can for 10 hours!”

The prosecutor affixed his best friend with a pointed look that clearly said, how do you keep up with her?

Phoenix gave a barely discernible smirk in response, which just as plainly stated: she’s worth it.

“It would be greatly appreciated if you would stay here with me in reality, and within the moment, please and thank you!” Miles gritted his teeth. “Now, as I’ve been trying to twice ascertain … What if we’ve gone through all this trouble of making arrangements to go to Europe, but the judge doesn’t agree to any sort of compromise or meet any of my demands?”

“Oh trust me.” She smiled smugly. “He will.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because the chain of command dictates that the overwrought governor leans very heavily upon the shoulders of his darling diplomat friend! The very same one who suggested Udgey be the one to appoint new, trustworthy officials,” she drawled with a wicked grin. “The judge holds his old comrade in the highest esteem! Almost in as much esteem as dear Harry and Rosie Palms hold their influential friend who suggested His Honor in the first place!”

A business associate who is quite familiar with most of this district courthouse staff…

Miles gawked at the spirit medium as the realization dawned on him.

“Ngh! Maya…it was you?! You’re the one who suggested to the diplomat to relay to the governor that Chambers should be the one delegating the newly vacated posts?!”

“Was I wrong to do so? They didn’t know where to turn, and the judge is as pure as snow! It wasn’t like I gave anyone a bum steer by suggesting him, although I swear I had no idea you’d be the one he’d appoint for the Chief Prosecutor position. Nevertheless, he chose wisely – I can’t think of anybody better than you, Miles.”

She smiled innocently as the legist and Phoenix gaped at her.

“Come on! Stop looking at me like that! It’s not like I broke any laws or anything! Don’t you think after all these years of being in an influential position like Master of Kurain, I’d learn a few things about politics? Dealing with the duplicitous, backstabbing harpies on the elder council has taught me to have a trick or two up my sleeve!”

The necromancer flashed a lascivious wink at her inamorato.

“It also doesn’t hurt to have a poker champ for a significant other, either! Nick’s taught me how to play my cards right, literally and figuratively! And for more uses than just being able to beat the pants off him, in every sense of the word, while playing strip poker!”

“Gah!” Miles clapped an aghast hand to his face. “I truly didn’t need to hear that!”

“Jeez, Maya!” Phoenix turned beet red. “Ever hear the term sharing, not scaring?!”

“You two are way too easy to embarrass!” The shameless spirit medium tittered. “It’s just too much fun! Hee!”

Maya reached for her still red-faced partner’s hand, then smiled sweetly at her friend.

“Miles, I think you need to make a very important, power-play phone call to a particular judiciary figure right about now. This time, though, Nick and I are going to leave you in peace to sort things out. We’re headed down to the police station now because there’s some more unfinished business we need to take care of, which partially involves you, Mr. Chief Prosecutor! Meet us there as soon as you’re done making your stipulations!”

She began sashaying towards the door, pulling at Phoenix like a determined little tugboat.

“While we’re waiting for Miles, we can bug Chief Gumshoe for free donuts! And hopefully, I’ll see Ema again – it’s been far too long! Maybe we’ll get lucky and catch her in mid-action, pelting Snackoos at the fop! Let’s go, Nick!”

“I promise we won’t take away the real fun of our surprise visit to the precinct until you join us, Edgeworth,” the spiky-haired man promised over his shoulder as he allowed her to tug him out of the office. “See you soon!”

“Since you refuse to get your driver’s license, it’s a good thing the cop shop is right next door!” Miles heard Maya say laughingly from down the hall. “We should go there via the connecting underground walkway between the buildings! This will be the very first time I’ll be taking that route without being in handcuffs!”

I swear, those two dorks deserve each other!

Miles shook his head with wry amusement and waited until his friends were finally out of earshot before staring pensively at the telephone while he mentally rehearsed his list of so-called negotiations.

However, the only unwavering thoughts running through his mind right then were unspeakably lewd ones, starring Franziska, Lang, and their entwined bare limbs, amongst other torturous similar scenarios! These speculations would drive him slowly insane until he finally got the answers he was seeking!

He needed them. He deserved them. He would get them.

It would be a very grim day indeed when he came come face to face with Shi-Long Lang again.

One way or another, I will discover the truth behind the Wild Mare’s disappearance, Miles swore to himself. You can’t hide forever, Franziska Von Karma. Wherever you are, I will find you.

Clannad – I Will Find You