102 No One Like You

Remember when we held on in the rain
The night we almost lost it
Once again we can take the night into tomorrow
Living on feelings
Touching you I feel it all again

Didn’t we almost have it all
When love was all we had worth giving?
The ride with you was worth the fall my friend
Loving you makes life worth living
Didn’t we almost have it all
The night we held on till the morning
You know you’ll never love that way again
Didn’t we almost have it all

The way you used to touch me felt so fine
We kept our hearts together down the line
A moment in the soul can last forever
Comfort and keep us
Help me bring the feeling back again

Didn’t we almost have it all
When love was all we had worth giving?
The ride with you was worth the fall my friend
Loving you makes life worth living
Didn’t we almost have it all
The night we held on till the morning
You know you’ll never love that way again
Didn’t we almost have it all

Didn’t we have the best of times
When love was young and new?
Couldn’t we reach inside and find
The world of me and you?
We’ll never lose it again
‘Cause once you know what love is
You never let it end

Didn’t we almost have it all
When love was all we had worth giving?
The ride with you was worth the fall my friend
Loving you makes life worth living

Didn’t we almost have it all
The night we held on till the morning
You know you’ll never love that way again
Didn’t we almost have it all

Remember when we held on in the rain
The night we almost lost it
Once again we can take the night into tomorrow
Living on feelings
Touching you I feel it all again

Didn’t we almost have it all
When love was all we had worth giving?
The ride with you was worth the fall my friend
Loving you makes life worth living
Didn’t we almost have it all
The night we held on till the morning
You know you’ll never love that way again
Didn’t we almost have it all

The way you used to touch me felt so fine
We kept our hearts together down the line
A moment in the soul can last forever
Comfort and keep us
Help me bring the feeling back again

Didn’t we almost have it all
When love was all we had worth giving?
The ride with you was worth the fall my friend
Loving you makes life worth living
Didn’t we almost have it all
The night we held on till the morning
You know you’ll never love that way again
Didn’t we almost have it all

Didn’t we have the best of times
When love was young and new?
Couldn’t we reach inside and find
The world of me and you?
We’ll never lose it again
‘Cause once you know what love is
You never let it end

Didn’t we almost have it all
When love was all we had worth giving?
The ride with you was worth the fall my friend
Loving you makes life worth living

Didn’t we almost have it all
The night we held on till the morning
You know you’ll never love that way again
Didn’t we almost have it all

Phoenix Wright and Maya Fey
Eagle Mountain, Hazakura Temple,
February 23, 2019

“You know you don’t have to do this, right Nick?”

“Maya I heard you say it the first few hundred times!” Phoenix nervously fidgeted with the sash on his navy blue kimono and avoided her eyes. “As you know, I am a man of my word, and if I promised both you and your cousin that I’m going to do this Ultra Course with you, then I meant it!”

“This isn’t like the Gatewater Hotel, Nick. Even though Pearly is the one who signed you up to do this, you won’t be losing a four-digit amount of dollars if you back out!” Maya eyed him anxiously. “Besides you’re only just now getting over that terrible cold you caught a couple of weeks ago from falling into that river. You know this waterfall, after 30,000 chants, is going to be 100 times as cold, right?”

“I’m sure I’ll survive. Sister Bikini can revive me if I’m at risk of dying from hypothermia,” he deadpanned. “Besides, this training will be helpful for you to harness your powers for when you take over the Master duties, right?”

“Well, yes, but I’m also used to this sort of thing, you aren’t! Unless of course,” she added playfully. “You’re doing this just so you wind up back in the hospital, and are hoping I’m gonna nurse you back to health!”

“Don’t even go there, Maya!” Phoenix moaned. “I don’t even want to hear the word hospital! If I never see one again for as long as I live, it will be too soon!”

“I think I still have that Très Bien uniform from my short-lived career as Jean Armstrong’s waitress,” Maya teased, nudging him in the ribs. “If you wind up strapped to a gurney again, I can always nurse you back to health wearing that, seeing as how I don’t have a nurse’s uniform!”

“Ha-ha, very funny!” Even as he mockingly said the words, Phoenix felt his face turning a bright red at the memory of Maya in that uniform. The image was permanently etched into his memory, and still made him hot under the collar, even six weeks later…

Phoenix Wright and Maya Fey
Très Bien Restaurant
January 6, 2019

The French restaurant, while possibly the most overpriced one he had ever been to ($45 for a lunch special – seriously?!) was nevertheless pretty, frilly, and pink.

Phoenix glanced around, noting he was the sole person in the otherwise empty restaurant.

“Ah! Welcome! Bee Avenue!”

Wow. What a cute voice.

“Oh, it’s just you, Nick.” Suddenly, his assistant appeared before him, a tray in her arms, flashing her trademark contagious smile, dressed in a waitress uniform that could only be described as an orange Creamsicle with a skirt.

“M- Maya!” The blue attorney’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head, as he was so unaccustomed to seeing her in anything but her acolyte robes.

She caught his startled expression, flashed an adorable, shit-eating grin, and gave him a coy, sideways glance.

“Well?” The brunette prompted when he continued to gawk at her with a slack jaw and saucer-sized orbs.

Holy Christ-ola!

“How do I look?” Maya twirled around in her waitress uniform, causing the skirt to lift slightly.

Phoenix was trying his hardest not to salivate like a dog ogling a steak bone.

Legs.

All he could see was beautiful, shapely, smooth legs.

OK, legs…and…a hint of a bosom, which Mother Nature had somehow sneakily augmented over the years, without his notice! Of course, this was possible because that bust was always hidden underneath a baggy spirit medium ensemble!

The legal legend had had over a year now to get used to the fact that he was madly in love with his office manager – the tell-tale velvet jeweler’s box sitting and collecting dust in his night table was tangible evidence of such! However, it was one thing to love a woman because of her beautiful heart… And quite another to admittedly also be lusting after said woman because of her very well displayed… Beautiful parts.

Life would have been so much easier on me as a man if this former girl before me had never blossomed into a woman! Why couldn’t she just remain a skinny, flat-chested, burger-loving teenager?!

With the addition of the white apron tied around his employee’s narrow waist, the fitted top clinging to her breasts, not to mention the frilly white cap atop her head, the pretty waitress ensemble could have passed for a naughty French maid uniform.

Thankfully, it was more orange Creamsicle than had it been black and white!

Nevertheless, the combination of naughty and Maya Fey was bad enough in his mind, but having it in living color right before his eyes, was nearly his undoing!

She’s your best friend, Phoenix!  Play it cool! Even if she is going to be 21 soon, by no means does it now gives you a free pass to be a debauched lecher and drool over her like a hormonal teenage horndog! Good Lord, if she could read your mind right now, what a tale your thoughts would tell…

The psychic was still eyeing him expectantly, but her smile was fading slightly due to his continually delayed silence, and slowly being replaced by a quizzical frown marring her smooth forehead.

The lawyer cleared his throat and realized that during the duration of his lame-ass, extended eye banging, he still hadn’t spoken. He wasn’t sure why a uniform needed to be so tight-fitting and short, but ultimately, as discomforting as it was for him to see her like this, he didn’t mind one bit!

“Er, maybe you should quit being a spirit medium,” he finally ventured, in what he hoped was a completely normal tone.

Was he imagining things, or was that an expression of disappointment on Maya’s face by his neutral response?

Maya gave a small shrug and resumed her customary sunny smile.

“Should I take that to mean that you like it then, Nick?”

“Oh yes,” he nodded, his mouth still dry. “I like it.”

More than you’ll ever know…

Phoenix Wright and Maya Fey
Hazakura Temple, Sacred Cavern
February 23, 2019

“Nick?” Maya studied him, puzzled. Phoenix appeared to be about a million miles away. “Are you OK?”

No answer from the defense attorney.

“Yoo-hoo!” Maya waved a hand in front of her friend’s face. “Earth to, Nick! Come in, Nick!”

Phoenix blinked, startled. He felt himself blushing slightly as his mind was reluctantly dragged back to the present and saw Maya studying him oddly.

“Sorry, Maya. My mind was in another place for some reason…”

It was a very nice, happy place… Albeit a completely inappropriate one… But she doesn’t need to know everything, does she?

“Mr. Wright, are you sure you’re up for this? This is your last chance to back out,” Sister Bikini said gravely. “I promise you, we will not think any less of you should you want to opt-out of this.”

“It’s fine,” he responded. He didn’t blame the nun for appearing concerned, or even if she was questioning his sanity at this moment. After all, he was certainly questioning it himself!

I mean, who in his right mind would willingly sit on a block of ice, chanting words in a foreign language, 30,000 times while having an arctic waterfall pouring on his head the whole time?! Answer: I would! Me, Phoenix Wright, who is undoubtedly so besotted with Maya Fey that I’ve taken temporary leave of my senses, that’s who! Jesus Christ, first fire and lightning, now ice and freezing water. I do seem to completely lose my head when it comes to this girl! The funniest thing is, this isn’t even the most insane thing I’ve ever done for Maya Fey. Not by a long shot…

Phoenix Wright and Larry Butz
Dusky Bridge
February 7, 2019, 11:18 PM

Elise Deauxnim was one hell of a mentor. Under her patient guidance and tutelage, Larry was pretty sure that he would be able to properly capture the strange sighting he had just witnessed by the burning Dusky Bridge. The artist, who henceforth preferred to be known as Laurice Deauxnim, was so engrossed in his sketching that he didn’t even notice the huffing, puffing defense attorney rushing towards them until the panicked man was practically on top of him.

It’s farther than I thought. The bridge is just up ahead, the spiky-haired man thought frantically. I have to go tell Maya what happened, too!

“Dusky Bridge…! It’s burning down! Aaaaaaaaaah!” Phoenix shrieked as his sprinting form nearly collided with his friend, obviously too distracted to have spotted him until then. “D-Don’t scare me like that, Larry! I almost had a heart attack!”

“Nick?! What the heck are you doing here?”

“Larry! Hurry up and call the police!” He shouted. “I’m going to the Inner Temple!”

Larry felt his heart lurch as he noted the other man’s wild eyes. Phoenix had most certainly lost his mind! What he was proposing was beyond preposterous! Couldn’t he see that the path to the Inner Temple was only reachable by the bridge, which was currently aflame?! Did the lunatic man have some sort of death wish?!

“D-Don’t be stupid!” The artist stammered, putting a halting hand on his friend’s arm. “The bridge is nothing but a burning wreck right now!”

“Listen to me!” The defense attorney cried. “There’s been a murder! Here! At Hazakura Temple!”

“Wha-Whaaaaat!?” Larry’s jaw dropped to the ground in shock, as the panic coursed through his bloodstream. His mind reeled.

Holy smokes! Nick is totally spazzing out, somebody has been killed, and we’re stuck on an isolated mountain… With a murderer?!

“The murderer might have fled across the bridge!” Phoenix shrieked, flinging Larry’s hand off his shoulder. “I have to make sure Maya is safe!”

Larry was no stranger to doing crazy things in the name of love. He had switched cities, occupations, interests, and had even proposed to a girl with an overhead blimp at a football game, (on their second date, back in high school… but he’d still been heartbroken when she’d disappeared at half time). But this… This was pure insanity! And this is coming from him! Phoenix Wright was his best friend, he couldn’t let Nick risk his very existence, especially for a lost cause!  Because in the effort of trying to save Maya’s life, in this case, all he would be doing was surely ending his own!

“B-B-But…” Larry grabbed Phoenix by the shoulders and shook them as he tried futilely to talk some sense into the blue attorney. “I can’t let you do this! Have you lost your mind?!”

“Please!” Phoenix pleaded hoarsely, his face white with terror. “Call the police! I’ve got to go! Get outta my way, Larry!”

“It-It’s too dangerous!” Larry shook his head stubbornly and tightened his grip. “Nick, you’ll die! There’s no way in hell you’ll make it!”

What superhuman strength he didn’t even know he had, Phoenix forcibly removed Larry’s hands and pushed him aside, causing the poor man to tumble to the ground in the process, as he then made his mad dash across the burning bridge.

“Nick, w-wait!” Larry called after him desperately. “Have you forgotten that you’re deathly afraid of heights?!”

“I don’t care! I need to get to Maya!” Were the last words Larry heard Phoenix Wright scream. “Maya!”

I will do whatever it takes to save that girl! My acrophobia takes a backseat in dire straits like this! It doesn’t matter what happens to me! Without Maya Fey, life just isn’t worth living!

…*crack!*…

Weakened even more by the fire, the rickety old bridge’s planks snapped and gave way, swallowing Phoenix Wright into the eternal darkness.

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!” A final, terrified scream rose to pierce the frozen air of that harrowing night.

“Niiiiiick—-!”

Phoenix Wright and Maya Fey
Hazakura Temple, Sacred Cavern
February 23, 2019

Sitting on a block of special extra-cold, slow-melting spirit ice while being hit by a relentless shower of frigid water is tough enough, but try repeating a mantra 30,000 times when your teeth are chattering so hard that you can barely form the words! If given the choice to do this again, I would take the plunge back into the Eagle River any day! At least that was only once!

“You can do this, Nick! Just stay with me!” Maya instructed through chattering teeth. She was sitting on the large ice block across from the one Phoenix was situated on, while a freezing torrent of subzero water poured over their heads. “Mind over matter! Mind over matter! Just keep repeating with me five times: Toho Kami Emi Tamae.”

Phoenix repeated the Japanese Shinto prayer after her through blue, numb lips.

“Now repeat this after me one time: Harae Tamae Kiyome Tamae.”

“Aaaahhhh!” he gasped, trying to suck in air, but it was icy cold, like breathing in frozen blades. He took a peek at Maya, frigid air puffing from his nose and mouth, to see that although she was soaking wet and shivering as badly as he was, she was still somehow chanting the words.

I have to do this. I have to be strong for Maya. Even if it means wearing a flu mask for the rest of my life.

His teeth were chattering, his lips were numb and he was positive his frostbitten nose was about to fall off his face, along with other, more precious parts of him, even though he had kept his pants on beneath his kimono! He also had the token additional covering of the Demon Warding Hood on his head –  for all the good that did! It clung to his hair and head like a glacial blanket.

Ice water coursed over him, seeping through his clothes, driving onto his face like pinpricks. He could feel the frost forming onto his hair, his nose, his hands. His eyes were watering. He was shivering all over. Trembling all down his spine, in long, powerful shudders.

The words were coming out as breathy whispers. His muscles felt like slabs of burning ice.

So, so cold. So cold and numb, so painful. I can’t feel my body anymore, it’s so numb. I’m drifting on a cloud of ice water…

“Nick, I can’t hear you chanting!” Maya rasped through purple lips as she swayed slightly. “Focus!”

Silence from Phoenix.

Maya opened one eye to peek at him and panicked as she realized he seemed like he was about to keel over!

“Come on Nick, stay with me!” Maya’s voice rose in fear. “It’s basically meditating until we eventually get to a level that sends us spiraling into a vortex of cold.”

Phoenix began slowly sliding off his ice block.

Alarmed, Maya reached over and shoved his drooping form back onto his frozen boulder. She had to do something to keep him from fading on her! Perhaps she could keep his mind away from the painfulness of the stinging icy water and somehow allay him. A beacon of hope shone through her. While she wasn’t a spiritual healer by conventional definition – her touch couldn’t fuse a broken arm or close a wound – in this case, her hands could at least help soothe, and help his mind, body, and soul relax.

Reaching out, she took his hand in hers. This man had done and endured so much for her. She couldn’t let him down!

The spirit medium’s hands slid up his arms, then neck, until she was cradling his face. With the softest of touches, she lowered her face to his, until they were resting forehead to forehead.

Maya raised her hands to Phoenix’s temples and began massaging his scalp. Every touch was meant to stimulate the senses and relax the body. She combed her fingers through the slick black spikes at the base of his neck. His slow exhale burned hot against her throat and a shiver went through her body that had naught to do with the cold.

Desire flooded through her. A desire to help him…but also so much more. A desire to be with him, love him, as well as take away his discomfort. Moreover, the desire to make sure he made it through this!

Mystic Ami help her, how she loved and needed this man! Needed him to survive this ordeal, never leave her side, and be with her completely. Moving her hands to his face, she ran her fingers along the sculpted line of his jaw. The rough sandpaper sensation burned against her fingertips. She wanted to feel that roughness as he kissed her neck, the scruff scraping her mouth as he claimed it with his own. She wanted to hear his voice growling out her name…

Maya stopped in mid-caress. This was healing … not a seduction.

She coughed slightly and then continued coaxing in her most soothing voice.

“Once you focus your thoughts – that’s when you’ll achieve a weightless feeling. The feeling of being so numb, so disconnected, that you’ll feel like you’re floating. Listen to me, Nick! Channel your mind to the moments that led you here, and once you get to that place just repeat after me… Harae Tamae Kiyome Tamae…”

Phoenix felt himself stirring slightly as some slight sensation began to get restored in his body.

Focus, Phoenix. You can do this!  He ordered himself to mindlessly repeat the Japanese words, feeling himself warming up a tad, while he tried not to melt under the warm sweetness of Maya’s hands on his skin.

He clutched his magatama tightly in his hand and felt Maya’s blessing in his ears, fortifying an inner strength in him he didn’t know he possessed. He could do this. Water above, ice below…it was nothing. With Maya Fey by his side, he could handle anything.

Focus Phoenix. Focus your mind on everything that led up to the events of you being here at this very moment…

Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth
Hotti Clinic, ICU
February 8, 2019, 12:00 PM

Sometimes Phoenix wasn’t sure if he was the luckiest or the unluckiest man on earth. However, seeing as how he was still alive after falling off an 80-foot high suspension bridge into frigid, rocky waters, with only a high fever and pesky cough that wouldn’t seem to abate, he supposed he could veer his thoughts more towards the former.

I must have been crazy. I knew how dangerous it was, but I still went for it. And if I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing. Pearls once asked me if I would walk over burning hot coals for her cousin. Yes Pearls, I would. Maya’s mad…but she’s magic. There’s no lie in her fire. There is no limit to the things I’d do for love. Not when it comes to that girl.

Miles Edgeworth would never understand that. Sure, he was with Franziska now and was no stranger to love, but he was also a man who was strictly by the book and didn’t believe in taking unnecessary risks. Edgeworth would never even jaywalk across the street, never mind run across a burning bridge!

Therefore, he was grateful that Edgeworth wasn’t in the country at the moment, knowing full well what kind of tongue-lashing he would get from his ever logical and sensible friend about his irrational behavior that had led up to this.

It’s just as well that Edgy is in Europe then. I don’t need one of his infamous lectures right now!

Phoenix had been told that his temperature had been wavering between 103°F and 104°F. Therefore, he was sure that his highly fevered state had to be what was causing him to be seeing confusing visions. How else to explain the fact that he had just been thinking about the former demon prosecutor, at that moment… Only to have The Edgeworth himself suddenly materialize, at that exact minute, in his hospital room?

The two men locked eyes wordlessly for a moment. There was an expression of exasperated relief on Edgeworth’s normally stoic, guarded visage.

Astonished, Phoenix started to speak, but suddenly his body began to shake as he went into a coughing fit. Winded with exhaustion, he flopped back down on his pillow and silently waved at Edgeworth in welcome.

“Wright.” Edgeworth nodded in greeting, speaking in his normal composed tone, as though seeing his friend in ICU under these circumstances was an everyday occurrence.

What I’d give to have an ounce of this man’s composure. Nothing ever rattles Edgeworth. Absolutely nothing.

“Edgeworth!” Phoenix’s eyes were the size of silver dollars. “What are you doing here? I thought you and Franziska were happily shacked up in Europe!”

“Working international investigations and for Interpol – not at the same residence! – should anyone else ever ask,” Edgeworth said wryly. “That insider information is strictly for you and Miss Fey’s knowledge only, thank you.”

“Whatever you say, buddy.” Phoenix nodded solemnly, well aware of how Edgeworth and Franziska were with their jealously guarded privacy.

“Anyhow, to answer your question, Wright, I took a break from said duties because I was awakened in the middle of the night by a phone call from a hysterical friend of ours, who led me to believe that you were on the brink of death.”

Phoenix’s shoulders drooped as he grimaced.

“Let me guess…this friend wouldn’t happen to occasionally be referred to as Harry Butz now, would he?”

“Yes, although the man of many names rather insistently informed me that he now wants to be known as Laurice Deauxnim.” The prosecutor’s lips twitched with amusement.

“Heh, heh…there’s a bit of a story to that. I have quite a bit to get you caught up upon. Why don’t you pull up a chair?”

As Edgeworth sat down, his eyes fell on the Demon Warding Hood tossed carelessly at the foot of the bed.

“Wright, what in God’s name is that ridiculous-looking contraption?”

“Oh, yeah, that’s another tale entirely. It’s the Demon Warding Hood that Iris gave me.” Phoenix felt his face flush and awkwardly scratched the back of his head, knowing how ludicrous it must sound to Mr. Logic. “I was wearing it up until you came in. It was making my head itch…plus it seriously flattens my spikes.”

“I didn’t think there was any force of nature that could achieve that, Wright,” Edgeworth quipped, smirking when he saw Phoenix’s scowl. “So tell me, how are you feeling?”

“Well, I feel dizzy, my ears are ringing, my throat burns, and my head’s on fire. Other than that, I’m fine, thanks.”

“Uh-huh. I spoke with the doctors. They told me that you’ll need to stay here for at least another few days and get bed rest.”

“They told me that too, but I don’t need to stay here that long. I told them I’m completely fine!” The minute Phoenix finished the sentence, he went into another coughing fit.

“Oh yes. You’re doing splendidly.”

Once the coughing episode had subsided, Phoenix let out a deep breath and flopped back against his pillow again, shutting his eyes.

“I can’t stay here, Edgeworth! There’s so much I need to do! I need to find make sure Maya is alright, find Ms. Deauxnim’s murderer, locate Pearls and defend Iris…”

“What you need to do,” Edgeworth stated firmly. “Is get better, Wright! You can barely talk, never mind walk! You’re not a superhero, and it’s a miracle you’re alive after falling off an 80-foot high burning bridge! You’re lucky you didn’t catch pneumonia or your death! I’ve never known you to be this foolish before. What the hell were you thinking?!”

Phoenix’s eyes remained closed, and he only managed to whisper one word.

“Maya.”

The defense attorney cringed inwardly as he steeled himself for the barrage of questions that were sure to follow, probably something along the lines of: Are you bloody mad?! and What the hell were you thinking?!

Phoenix wasn’t even sure how he would answer. How could he possibly explain his secret, hidden feelings, ones that he as of yet had never uttered to another human being, which had caused him to do what he had done? Feelings that he could barely even admit to himself, even now?

He studied the other man’s face apprehensively, and rather than a harsh, judgmental countenance, instead found, to his amazement, his friend’s expression was one of compassionate understanding.

“I know you love her, Wright.” The barrister’s tone was surprisingly gentle and matter of fact.

The spiky-haired man felt his throat closing up, and reached quickly for his bedside water glass.

Edgeworth…knew? How? Since when? Was it possible he’d known…before Phoenix himself even had? Before he could raise an objection, his friend continued in his mild castigating.

“But you’re no good to Miss Fey, or anyone, as a dead man. Sometimes…it may be better to lead with your head than your heart.”

You condescending, sanctimonious, prig!

Phoenix was completely incensed, despite his feeble state, and had to summon up all his inner strength before he could find the ability to speak. This was coming from a man who had dropped his position as a High Prosecutor like a hot potato, completely on a whim, without any fear or heed of ramification, to jump on a plane to Germany and chase the woman he loved?! Was he going to claim it had been a decision led entirely by his head? That it had been nothing but his enormous, Poindexter, genius brain which had led him to spontaneously pick up and move back halfway around the world, with Franziska Von Karma?!

Phoenix sucked in as deep a breath as his congested lungs would allow, finally opened up one dark circled eye, and glared.

“You mean like you do?”

“Like any logical person, Wright,” Edgeworth replied primly, making Phoenix wish he wasn’t as weak as a kitten, because otherwise he would have completely forgotten that he was a pacifist by nature, launched himself right then and there at the preachy prosecutor, and choked him with his own cravat!

The dark-haired legist opened both his eyes then, the bags underneath them proof of his sleepless state over his current plight. A plight that his oh so quick to judge ‘friend’ had no idea about whatsoever! He would love to see just how rational Edgeworth himself would be if he were the one lying helplessly in a hospital bed, knowing he still had to contend, simultaneously, with the following harrowing scenarios:

• The woman he loved – yet again! – was trapped somewhere, and may have her life in jeopardy
• The little girl he loved like a daughter was missing as well and her life also could potentially be in peril
• A children’s book author and illustrator, a kind, seemingly harmless, a woman of evident saint-like patience (as she had taken Larry Butz under her wing as her protégé) who the child had completely idolized, had been inexplicably and brutally murdered, and there was a horrific possibility that both Pearls and Maya were still trapped on that remote mountainside with the killer
• That his psychotic, serial killer, ex-girlfriend Dahlia, who supposedly had been hung for her heinous crimes five years ago, magically appeared to be very much alive, somehow… in the form of the demure shrine maiden residing at Hazakura Temple, now going by the name of Iris, who was the accused murderer of the crime!
  

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“Edgeworth, you freakin’ hypocrite!” He seethed, his eyes boring holes into the other man. “You and Franziska wouldn’t even be together now if you hadn’t followed me and Maya’s advice to follow your heart…and her, back to Germany!”

Edgeworth’s cheeks reddened, and he looked away guiltily.

“You got me there, Wright,” he replied humbly. “It was never my intention to try to make you over in my own image or to not give credit where it is due about you and Miss Fey’s assistance with getting Franziska and me together. Our sincere thanks for that.  I merely wanted to ensure that you’d be more careful in your actions henceforth, as neither one of us would ever want to lose our favorite courtroom adversary.”

Translation if Edgeworth were a normal human being with easily expressed emotions, and not an android: I’m sorry Phoenix. No, I’m not trying to turn you into me. I realize that you and Maya are the reason Franziska and I got together, and I am forever indebted to you for that, nor can I ever thank you enough. You’re my oldest, dearest friend, and I wish you would be more careful, because you mean a lot to me, and I don’t know what I would do if anything happened to you. Moreover, I’m not just saying this out of concern of losing you because you are my favorite courtroom rival, but because you’re my best friend, and I love you.

The defense attorney’s defensive expression softened. He was still getting used to how similar but separate he and his friend were, despite sharing the same values and being champions for justice and truth.  On the surface, Edgeworth would always claim that Phoenix Wright was a hot-blooded, overly passionate, emotional basket case, whereas the other man would tell anyone that would listen that Miles Edgeworth was an ornery tight-ass who suffered from the worst possible case of alexithymia known to man! But that didn’t matter, because time and time again, the prosecutor proved to his childhood chum that underneath his lofty exterior was a heart of gold, unwavering loyalty and that just because he couldn’t express his feelings, it didn’t mean he didn’t feel them. 

He’s proven to me that even in adulthood, he’s the same great kid that defended me in class. He’ll always stick up for me in front of others, even when he knows I was wrong. Then privately, he’ll let me know what he really thought and how I should have behaved differently, who I should apologize to, how to avoid repeating the mistake, and I’ll listen to him. Sometimes, he can lose his temper and be a right prat, and then it will be my turn with the sage advice, and his turn to listen to me. It’s how we roll. Edgeworth and me – we’re friends no matter what.

“You’re welcome, Edgeworth, don’t sweat it. I know if the roles were reversed, you’d do the same for me. I shouldn’t have jumped down your throat like that. I know you’re just looking out for me,” Phoenix sighed. “It’s just hard to keep it together with this particular predicament… ”

“I don’t know much about your current situation,” his friend admitted. “I have to go meet up with Larry at the detention center after this, and we both know however noble his intentions, he’s not exactly the most credible source of information. If you are willing to tell me about it, I’m willing to offer you my assistance in any way I can.”

“Really?” The patient eyed him with a mixture of skepticism and hopefulness. “You aren’t pulling my leg here?”

“I thought you’d know me well enough by now, Wright.” Edgeworth crossed his arms and tapped his finger. “I rarely make jokes, and especially not about matters of such importance. Now, you can tell me what’s been going on in my absence, or I shall take my leave.”

“Wait, don’t go! Sheesh, I’ll tell you!”

Phoenix went on to explain the details of events that had transpired: the medium special training course Maya had wanted at Hazakura Temple, meeting Sister Bikini and Elise Deauxnim, and the other subsequent details leading up to her murder. He bit back a smirk at the incredulity in his friend’s eyes when he tried to explain the workings of the magatama that he handed to Edgeworth, who still insisted on dubiously referring to hidden secrets as “psycho locks” instead of “psyche locks.”

“I know this is a lot to take in right now.” His face was earnest. “However, I’ve never bullshitted you before, and I’m not about to start now. You have to believe that.”

The chess lover arched an eyebrow but said nothing.

“Edgeworth, you can go ahead and say I make strange choices, but they’re not strange for me. I don’t need logic to fuel my fascination with human behavior, by the worlds inside people. I am led purely by intuition, not logic, to try to understand and probe what’s underneath the surface. It doesn’t matter how much of a genius you are, or how well you know the world, or world of law, because the truth is, ultimately everyone you will ever meet, will know something that you don’t.”

“Like how to raise the dead and read secrets inside people’s hearts?” The prosecutor derided, barely hiding a smirk.

“Exactly!” Phoenix nodded vigorously, opting to ignore the barely veiled sarcasm within the last question. “There are three things that I have learned over the years. Number one: anything that gets our blood racing is probably worth doing. Number two: you will have a much more fulfilling life if you choose to be happy rather than dignified.” The rest of his words were cut off as he suddenly went into another hacking fit.

Edgeworth closed his eyes and seemed to contemplate Phoenix’s words for a moment, before opening them and nodding solemnly, as he waited patiently for him to continue.

“And the final life lesson?” He asked kindly.

The blue attorney locked eyes with him then, indigo against slate grey, the veracity in them as clear as day.

“Do you trust me?”

The other man appeared startled by the question.

“At this point in our lives, Edgeworth, do you trust me? In your heart of hearts, do you believe I know what I’m doing, and what I’m talking about? That  I would never steer you, or anybody else that I care about, wrong?  That regardless of what I say or do, my intentions are always true and never false?”

The cravat-wearer paused for a moment, then slowly nodded.

“You have more than earned that from me at this point in our lives. Yes, Wright. I do trust you.”

“Then trust me when I say this Edgeworth, and I say it with all my heart. Things are not always what they seem; the first appearance deceives many; the intelligence of a few perceives what has been carefully hidden.”

Phoenix Wright and Maya Fey
Detention Center
February 11, 2019

Seeing Iris had still been very difficult for him. Every time he’d gazed at her, which he just couldn’t stop doing, all he could see was Dahlia.

“I’m going to see what I can do about getting you a reduced sentence, Iris,” he mumbled through the prison glass, casting a sideways glanced at both Maya and Pearl for a moment before turning his eyes back to the teary-eyed inmate on the other side. “You have no previous record, and it’s very unlikely that you would be making a repeat offense…”

“Oh, Feenie!” Her doe eyes welled up with tears. “I can’t believe you’re still willing to do this for me… Especially after…”

“Please don’t,” Phoenix muttered, swallowing back the heavy lump in his throat.

“I hope someday you can find it in your heart to forgive me.” She choked back a sob. “Even if it meant deceiving you, please believe me when I say I only wanted to protect you.”

“Iris, it’s OK. I understand. And I do forgive you.”

“Thank you, Feenie,” she whispered. “That means the world to me.”

He peered into her lovely eyes and mentally berated himself for not having been able to ever see the differences between the twins before. There was nothing but limpid sincerity in those orbs, and only gentle sweetness behind that smile, whereas with Dahlia, he’d only seen calculating hardness in those same eyes, and malice, thinly veiled by her saccharine veneer. How could he have been so foolish and blind?

What did it matter now? What was done was done. Because of Dahlia Hawthorne, Phoenix had had severe issues with trusting another woman with his heart ever since. And unfortunately, Iris was part of that equation. Perhaps subconsciously, that was a key factor of why he still hadn’t declared his love for Maya. His uncertainty about his best friend’s feelings notwithstanding, he wasn’t sure when, or if, he would ever be ready to put his heart on the line like that again.

The shrine maiden’s cheeks reddened and she dropped her eyes, making Phoenix realize, belatedly, that he had been gazing at her this entire time.

Pearl, who was seated on his left, glared at him and gave him a very sharp jab to the arm.

“Seriously, Mr. Nick?” She snapped. “How can you be so insensitive and be ogling another woman, when your Special Someone is sitting right here next to you?!”

Phoenix winced, and it wasn’t just from the sting of the slap. It was Maya’s pained visage that felt like a kick to the gut.

“Pearly, stop that!” The elder Fey commanded, jerking up from her seat then, and averting her eyes. “We wanted to pay our respects to your half-sister and my cousin, and now we should give Nick and Iris a chance to say their goodbyes privately.”

The catch in the spirit medium’s voice was not unnoticed by Phoenix. He gazed beseechingly at her, not quite sure what to say, but hoping to somehow give her some sort of reassuring look, and in some way, convey that Iris was no longer the keeper of his heart! However, Maya refused to meet his gaze.

“Even in prison orange, Iris is the most beautiful woman here. How could I ever fault Nick for thinking the same thing that I do; that I could never compare?” She murmured forlornly under her breath, but Phoenix heard her all the same. “There’s no contest.”

Then she straightened up and gave her cousin one last, strained smile.

“See you later, Iris. Nick, we’ll see you out front.” With that, she grabbed Pearl by the hand and dragged her out of there as fast as she could.

Phoenix stared after her speechlessly, his heart aching in his chest at the rift and misunderstanding he had just unwittingly caused.

How had he done that? How had he managed to give three females the wrong idea, and all at the same time?! It had to be some sort of record!

Iris saw the distress in his eyes and regarded him sorrowfully.

“It seems I’m destined to still cause you pain, even from behind bars.”

“Please don’t say that.” He shook his head vehemently. “This wasn’t your fault. Maya – she doesn’t know…”

“That you ran across a burning bridge for her?” Iris eyed him steadily. “That you nearly had a complete breakdown when you thought she was dead? Or that you’re desperately, hopelessly, in love with her?”

“How can you know?” Phoenix studied her with a pained expression, too upset to even deny anything. “How is it that everybody just seems to know, except the one person who really matters? Are you all psychics? Mind–readers?”

“I’m not psychic, Feenie,” Iris shook her head. “That mystical gene skipped me and my equally unworthy sister, remember? I knew… because the way you looked at her just now…” Her voice trembled. “It’s the way you used to look at me.”

“Iris…”

“It’s OK, Feenie,” she smiled sadly. “The past is the past. But if you want Maya to be your future, heed my words: Nothing haunts us like the things we don’t say.”

Phoenix Wright and Maya Fey
Misty Fey’s Funeral
February 16, 2019

The entire gang banded together for Maya’s mother’s funeral. Edgeworth, Franziska, Gumshoe, Maggey, Larry. Iris, of course, was incarcerated, so she was unable to attend. When Phoenix, Maya, and Pearl had gone to go see her when she had been sentenced, she had sent her sorrowful, repentant condolences.

Silent drops rolled down the attorney’s cheeks and drifted down onto Pearl’s hair as he held the tiny, sobbing spirit medium in his arms. The tears were not for Misty Fey, for he had not known her but for a heartbeat. His tears were for his best friend. For the family that she had lost. For the burden of the unwanted duty that she had gained.

Maya still had not cried and remained dry-eyed and dignified amongst all the mourners. At one point, Phoenix left Pearl’s side in the capable loving arms of Gumshoe and Maggey and went to her side.

“Are you all right?” He asked tenderly, putting a hand on her stiff shoulder. “I feel like I’m not being supportive of you because I’m crying more than you are. I’m so sorry.”

“I’m sorry that I can’t be fake, Nick.” His assistant regarded him with dull eyes. “When Mia died, the sister I had known and loved as a maternal figure, I cried. However, I just can’t shed crocodile tears, when I never knew Misty Fey. She was like this mythical figure that everybody talked about, but I had no real proof existed. I didn’t even recognize her when we were standing right in the same room.”

“She loved you, Maya. Misty loved you enough to die for you…”

“But she didn’t love me enough to live with me,” Maya stated flatly. “Maybe I’m still numb from seeing her be murdered in front of my very eyes. Maybe the tears will come later. Right now, though, I’m fine. But I feel like you’re expecting some sort of response from me, that I just can’t give you.”

“That’s not true!” He protested. “I don’t expect or want anything from you, Maya. I only want to be there for you. My parents are gone, too! It’s not like I don’t understand what you’re going through!”

“Your parents died in a plane crash when you were in college, after knowing and loving you for 20 years.” Maya shook her head and crossed her arms protectively over her body. “So no – you just don’t get it! It’s not the same Nick. I’m sorry, but it just isn’t…”

“Maya, I –”

“Miss Fey,” Edgeworth’s smooth voice suddenly cut in behind them.

Phoenix and Maya turned around to face the handsome prosecutor, whose hands were jammed into his pockets, his expression somber but sympathetic.

“Franziska is chatting with Gumshoe and Maggey about their upcoming nuptials, so I thought I’d steal away for a moment. I couldn’t help but overhear. Please allow me to extend my deepest condolences and to let you know that if you ever need to talk…” His voice trailed off and he cleared his throat awkwardly as he regarded Maya with compassionate grey eyes. “Unfortunately… I do get it.”

Tears flooded Maya’s vision then.

“You honestly do know, don’t you?” She whispered brokenly. “You know what it’s like to have your parent be murdered before your very eyes…” Small tears formed in the corner of her eyes and a slight sob escaped. “Mr. Edgeworth…”

The prosecutor was already reaching out his hand to her, and the pair silently moved off into a corner and began speaking quietly amongst themselves.

Phoenix stared after the two of them, feeling a tightness in his chest, as well as inexplicably hurt, even though he hated himself for it.

This one time, when Maya needed him most, he couldn’t seem to get through to her. He couldn’t be there for her, because he wasn’t what she needed. While he was happy she could find solace, even if it was with Edgeworth, he still felt simultaneously worthless and miserable beyond all reason.

“Don’t worry about my sister seeking anything more than comfort from your courtroom rival, Phoenix.”

Astonished, Phoenix spun around and found himself face-to-face with his late mentor.

“Chief!” He gasped.

“Mystic Matilda told Pearly that maybe I would like to have a chance to pay my last respects to my mom.” Mia smiled softly. “Plus, Pearly was so genuinely distraught; I don’t think she needed much convincing to channel me to be here in her stead. Funerals aren’t a place for little ones, are they?”

“No, I guess not.” He gestured towards Maya and Edgeworth. The new Kurain Master was now weeping in the prosecutor’s arms, and as bizarre as it sounded, he couldn’t help but feel slightly envious that he hadn’t been the one to have allowed Maya to finally release her grief and cry. “You can still read me like a book, can’t you? Was my misery that obvious?”

“Seeing your best friend seeking comfort in another man’s arms might sting, just a little.” Mia tilted her head and gave him a knowing smile. “However, I am very aware that Edgeworth’s heart lies elsewhere.” She nodded her chin towards Franziska, who, also no stranger to parents lost, had merely nodded her head in approval at her partner’s gallantry, and resumed conversation with her friends. “And so does my sister’s.”

“How can you possibly know about them?!” Phoenix stared at her incredulously, so astonished by how in the loop his deceased employer was that he altogether overlooked the second part of her statement.

“We dead still have our ways of finding things out.” Mia shrugged and flashed him an impish grin.

“They haven’t even come out publicly with their relationship just yet… The only ones who know are Maya and me, and we’ve both been sworn to secrecy!”

“I know a lot more than you think I do.” The former attorney smiled softly in the direction of her baby sister. “I also know that once all this funeral stuff is over and done with, Maya is going to need you more than ever now. You – you’re her rock, Phoenix. Maya will always need you.”

“That’s good to hear.” He cleared his throat awkwardly. “And rest assured, no matter how much she might try to push me away as she did just now, I will always be there for her.”

“I know Maya is in good hands with you, Phoenix.” Another knowing smile. “You truly do love her, don’t you?”

The lawyer goggled at Mia for a second in surprise then lowered his gaze to the ground.

“Of course I do,” he mumbled. “She’s your baby sister. My best friend.”

“You’re the reason that this funeral is for my mother, and not her.” The buxom beauty suddenly grabbed his shoulder and pulled her former protégé into a tight hug. “I don’t think I had a chance to properly thank you, after the trial, for saving the day as always. I knew you would. I even wrote Maya a letter telling her as much. Nevertheless, that still doesn’t mean I can’t let you know how I’m eternally in your debt for being my sister’s guardian angel here on earth. You’re her hero, Phoenix. For what it’s worth, Maya loves you, too.”

Yeah as her brother/hero figure, Phoenix thought ruefully, shaking his head, but then he regarded Mia with intense sapphire eyes.

“Three years ago, you made Maya promise to take care of me, Chief.” He solemnly took her hand and placed it against his heart. “So now it’s my turn to make one to you. As I stand before you, I swear an oath to God, and if it better pleases you, on your mother’s grave, Mia Fey, that no man nor woman will ever harm the hair on Maya’s head, as long as this heart of mine still beats within this chest.”

“I trust you, Phoenix Wright. I know I can hold you to that promise.” Tears of relief, love, and gratitude flooded Mia’s beautiful eyes. “I know that you won’t break this vow to always look after my sister, because you love her that much.”

There was a fierceness to his tone as his passionate eyes gazed unwaveringly into hers. The King of the Turnabout knew he couldn’t lie to a dead woman, just as he knew she would take his next secret confession back to the grave with her.

“You’re right, Chief. I do love Maya. ” He finally professed the words aloud. “I love her more than the air I breathe. And I will protect your sister like a cloak and shield her with my body, until the day I draw my last breath, no matter what it takes.”

Phoenix Wright
Wright Talent Agency
December 24, 2025, 4:45 AM

“Maya!”

Phoenix jolted awake in a cold sweat. Sitting up in his bed, his heart spreading rapidly, he swallowed hard, clutching furiously at his chest, hoping that by a scratch or simple graze, his heart would stop racing, and his body just might entirely shut down – causing him clarity. The fluorescent numbers of the alarm clock beside his bedside table teased him with the ungodly hour of 4:45.

It was all a dream. Dreams of memories from another lifetime ago. A dream that ends in nothing and leaves the sleeper where he lay down.  He harshly rubbed at his eyes with bruised palms. But I wish you knew that you inspired it, Maya Fey, because maybe then you could also explain to me why it is that I removed you out of my life for going on one year now…and yet, you still regularly haunt my nights, and my dreams! Not even my subconscious can be free from you! Damn you!

Feeling completely drained, he glanced over at his cell phone next to the alarm clock and saw that it was blinking. Apparently, he had a text that must’ve come in right after he’d come home from work, then completely crashed and burned.

Feenie, you still haven’t let me know if you and Trucy plan to come up for Christmas. Let me know either way so I can plan accordingly. I miss you. Call me whenever you get this.

Shit, he hadn’t called Iris in a while. And yet, the angel that she was, she still hadn’t given up on him.  

That nun truly was a saint.

“Oh Iris, sweet Iris.” Phoenix groaned and flopped back on the bed, burying his head in his pillow. “You’re too good for me. You deserve so much better….”

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