Chapter Text
A woman stands, alone. Her scarf whips about in the wind, the same wind that threatens to steal the flowers she's holding right out of her hands if she isn't careful. But she is careful, these days. She always is, now. She can't afford not to be. Can't afford to lose anyone else. It's with this in mind that she kneels, setting down her flowers in the same spot she always does before standing up again, blinking hard, and clearing her throat.
"Good afternoon," she whispers, in a voice thick with unshed tears. "We're coming up on the anniversary, soon. I know you wouldn't want me to, but sometimes, late at night... I can't help but wonder. What could I have done differently? Would it have changed what happened to you? What happened to me?"
The flowers, where she's set them, don't answer. Neither does anything else, except maybe the wind. It's picking up. If this bluster keeps up, it'll be unsafe to drive in, so—she should probably get a move on.
And yet, and yet.
How can she?
The woman smiles, unhappily. Wistfully. And she says, not moving from where she stands, "I suppose none of it matters now. What happened, happened, and there's no changing the past. All we can do is move forward from here. Keep pushing forward... I know that's what you'd want me to do. You wouldn't want me blaming myself for any of this, even the things that unequivocally were my fault. But— god. Is it so selfish to wish that you were still here with me?"
Personally, she doesn't think it is. The wind continues to grow stronger—though certainly not in answer. She's long since stopped believing in that sort of thing.
She sighs, and stops averting her eyes from the thing she hasn't directly looked at once since she arrived here. Not looking at it won't make it any less real, unfortunately. What happened... happened.
"You know? I... if I had the choice to trade my life for yours, I don't know what I'd do," she confesses to the wind and the sky. "A few years ago, I would have taken that choice in an instant. Now, I don't know. I think about you, standing here like I am, remembering me... I don't think I could do that, anymore. And I know you wouldn't want me to."
MIA FEY, reads the gravestone she so badly wishes didn't exist. But it does. She'd know.
She's been bringing flowers here weekly, herself or via another, every Tuesday for what will soon be twelve years. Twelve years... it seems like only yesterday that she and Mia weren't speaking to each other for far more trivial reasons.
(Technically speaking, Mia died on a Monday. But she was informed of it herself so late that it might as well have been a Tuesday.)
"I... should probably go," the woman says, regretfully, and with a pointed glare at the sky. "But I love you. I... wish you'd known that, at the end. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you, at the end. You deserved so much better than to just be... murdered, alone, in your office. And there's nothing I or anyone can do to change that now, but... god. I wish it had been different. I'm moving on, slowly, I promise, but no matter what—I'll never forget you, Mia. It's the least I can do, for the remarkable woman you always were."
With the scarf that was once Mia’s, she wipes away the tears before they can fall. Lana Skye lingers, for a long moment. Then she ducks her head in a nod, and walks away.
If only things had been different. But the past is the past, and no force that Lana has ever encountered can change that. She'll never see Mia again, unless it's via a channeling, but—Lana doesn't think she could handle that. Not yet. Not anytime soon, that's for sure.
It's been twelve years. She should have accepted that the dead don't come back, not really, by now.
May 21, 12:58 PM
Wright Anything Agency
The office is going to be a whole lot emptier without Apollo here, that's for sure. Whole lot quieter, too, though Phoenix is sure that between Trucy and Athena, they'll find some way to pick up the slack on the noise level front. Athena's making great strides in becoming a competent lawyer in her own right, to the point where Phoenix is pretty sure she'd be able to handle herself in a courtroom by herself if she had the confidence in herself to do it.
She doesn't, not yet, but what the hell. She'll get there.
He did, after all.
"I'm really going to miss Polly," Trucy announces glumly. Her hat is settled on her lap upside-down, and she's staring down into it like if she tries hard enough, she can reach inside and pull an Apollo out of the hat instead of a rabbit (though, Trucy has never actually pulled things out of her hat, has she?) "He's basically family, right, Daddy?"
Phoenix is suddenly and quite violently struck with the realization that she and Apollo still don't know that they're siblings.
Oops.
Assuming they don't get any new cases in the near future (and who is he kidding, something's bound to come up just when he least expects it) he makes a mental note to call up Lamiroir and... encourage her to, if not tell her kids that she's alive herself, at the very least let Phoenix tell them that they're siblings. It's been two years, and he understands being afraid, he understands being in a bad place, but now... well, now one of them's in an entirely different country for the foreseeable future.
Maybe he can convince her to tell them once Apollo comes back. That'll be something to look forward to.
"Daddy?"
Phoenix blinks. "Honestly, yeah. For that matter, so are you, Athena."
"Aww, really, Boss?" Athena looks about ready to cry. "I-I'm honored!"
Trucy's phone chimes, somewhere. Trucy pulls it out of thin air, glances at the screen, and says, "Looks like Auntie Maya and Uncle Miles both got home safe. Or... well... Auntie Maya did."
"Edgeworth's being a workaholic as per usual?" Phoenix asks.
"Mmmhmm. Drove both ways to drop Auntie Maya back home safely and he's already back to work." Trucy sighs dramatically, and sinks backwards into the office couch. "Imagine working on your first day back. Couldn't be me!"
"Speaking of which—"
"Hey, that reminds me, actually," Athena says, slowly raising a hand as if she's in a classroom somewhere. "Mr. Edgeworth said something about the old 'Let's Stow Away in Mr. Edgeworth's Suitcase' trick...? Like you'd done this before?"
"Yes, and—"
"Some of my finest work, if I do say so myself," Trucy says smugly. "You should have seen the looks on his and Daddy's faces the first time I pulled it off... though in retrospect, I learned the hard way to pack snacks for next time."
"Trucy," Phoenix says at last, "correct me if I'm wrong, but your school doesn't get out for the summer until early June, correct?"
The smug look fades far too quickly for it to be unrelated, and his daughter leans in to Athena to whisper, "Uh oh."
"I can hear you, you know. I'm not that old." Phoenix sighs. "How much schoolwork do you need to catch up on?"
She grins nervously. "Not that much...? Pearls is helping me with it."
Phoenix nods. "And if I were to text her right now, she'd tell me the same thing?"
"...maybe? Come on, if I hadn't snuck over with you, I wouldn't have gotten to even tell Polly goodbye!"
"I'm not faulting you for that, Truce, though I would have appreciated if you did stay in the States given the political situation over there." Phoenix shakes his head. "What's done is done. It's close to the end of the year, it can't be that hard to get caught up, can it?"
"Um... do you think my daddy being at risk of being put to death on the other side of the world counts as an excused absence?"
"If it doesn't, it should," Athena says. "Let me know if it doesn't, I'll fight your school for you."
"It should," Phoenix agrees. "But I'm going to have to put my foot down here, Truce. No more investigating cases or stealing either of us for magic act purposes until you're all caught up, alright?"
Trucy visibly pouts, but nods. "Fiiine... I'm going to head over to Pearl's place now, then. It's only a few blocks, don't give me that look, I am seventeen —"
"I think you can forgive me for being a little more worried than usual given what happened..." Phoenix pauses. "Yesterday? Two days ago? Something like that. How was that only two days ago?"
"...I'll text Iris to ask if she can pick me up?"
"That, I'll agree to. Tell her hi for me."
"Will do!" Her phone is in her hand again, and she launches herself up off the couch and onto her feet with a little twirl. "I'll wait for her downstairs. Have fun with your... oh, who am I kidding, you'll get some kind of a case while I'm gone, I just know it. Love you, Daddy!"
She waves, and she's gone. Phoenix waves after her.
"Así que..." Athena punches her fist into her other hand. "Cases! Feel like doing some good old-fashioned wandering around until we stumble onto a murder, Boss? Because I sure feel like it! Jetzt!"
"Uhh... maybe not today." Phoenix walks around his desk, pulls open a drawer, and takes out a specific file he's been saving for... a bit. He passes it over to Athena. "Take a look at this."
"State v... huh, I swear I've heard that name around somewhere before..." Athena flips through the file briefly before freezing. "Wait, this guy got a guilty verdict!"
"Well, yeah, he did kill someone," Phoenix admits. "But I never thought he deserved the death penalty for it, even if he himself kind of did. I managed to get his execution date pushed back pretty far before getting... y'know, disbarred..."
Athena, to her credit, glances up and winces sympathetically on cue. Then it's back to reading over the file herself, until she finds the newest addition at the very back. "H-He's getting a retrial?!"
"Yep. Authorized by our own Chief Prosecutor and all." Phoenix pauses. "I'm pretty sure Edgeworth would strangle me if he heard me referring to him like that, but, yeah. He's going to be prosecuting, and... honestly? I'm going to need you for this."
"Mood Matrix?"
"Mood Matrix," he confirms, and Athena lights up like an out-of-season Christmas tree.
"Eccitante! When is the retrial scheduled?"
"End of this month, which is honestly more time to prepare than I'm used to, so we should be fine," Phoenix says dismissively. "The hard part's going to be—"
"Oooh, retrial based on new testimony? Those are always the fun ones!"
"—getting him to actually give new testimony. That's where you come in."
"Ahh." Athena nods. "Je vois. I think—"
Whatever it is Athena thinks is abruptly cut off by someone, or something, pounding on the Agency's door. Both lawyers exchange a look.
"Trucy's... got a key, right?" Athena asks.
"Of course. But if not her... we did leave the sign on closed, didn't we?"
"Unless she turned it to open on her way out? She should be well on her way to Pearly's by now, though?"
Phoenix sighs. "Could be a new client. Let's go see who it is."
Athena reaches the door before him, practically bouncing on her feet. She peers through the peephole, then lets out a gasp and a cry of, "Oh, this isn't a client! ...I hope."
She opens the door just as Phoenix gets there to a beaming Robin Newman, someone neither of them have seen in person for a good several months now. She's still wearing her bright red jumpsuit and paint-splattered headband, just like the last time Phoenix talked to her... hmm, must have been around the new year? Maybe?
"Robin!" Athena beams. "What brings you to our fine little office? We just got back from—"
"Khura'in, I heard!" Robin tackles her friend into a hug, a motion Athena gladly reciprocates. "Wow, that must have been W-I-L-D, but I'm glad you're back now! Because, get this... Athena! Mr. Wright!"
"Yes?" Phoenix says, feeling a little bit left out.
"Your girl's got her very first C-A-S-E!" Robin exclaims. She strikes a pose. "Are you ready for Prosecutor Robin Newman? Because I sure am!”
Athena gasps. "Wow! That's incredible, Robin—uhh, I mean, Prosecutor Newman! Congrats!"
"T-H-A-N-K-S! I'm super excited!"
"Hold on," Phoenix says slowly. "Robin, doesn't your class graduate in June? I mostly remember because it's exactly a week after Trucy's high school gets out for the year, but..."
"No, no, you remember right, Mr. W-R-I-G-H-T!" Robin's grin grows. "But! But but but! The local Prosecutor's Office has had their eye on some of the top students in the prosecution course for a while, and you'll never guess who's number one! Guess! Guess who's number one?"
"You?"
"That's right!" Robin giggles. "I mean, I still have to actually graduate and, y'know, pass the bar to be really Prosecutor Newman, but I do get to act as co-counsel for Mr. Edgeworth and I'm really excited! Anyway, you two should absolutely take the defense—I heard the defendant doesn't have an attorney yet, and also there was a note on Mr. Edgeworth's desk to himself that said call Wright, and I'm pretty sure he didn’t mean Trucy? Sooooo..."
"Sounds like fun, Boss!" Athena turns to him with an equally winning smile. "What do you think?"
"Edgeworth's prosecuting?" Phoenix asks, for confirmation. He gets a very firm nod. "Well, I... I'd want to talk to my potential client first, but... sure, we can check it out."
"Y-E-S!" Robin jumps and punches the air, and nearly hits the ceiling light in the process. "Oops. Sorry, Mr. Wright, that was a close one! But oooh, this is gonna be so E-X-C-I-T-I-N-G! I get to go against Juniper's girlfriend and the Turnabout Terror!"
"What, all I am is Junie's girlfriend?" Athena jokes.
"Sorry, sorry. Juniper's girlfriend and the woman who proved her, me, and Hugh innocent!"
"So... what can you tell me about this case, besides the fact that you and Edgeworth are prosecuting?" Phoenix says, hoping to get the girls back on task. At this point, he is genuinely curious, even if the defendant in question ends up being truly guilty.
"Uhh... honestly, not that much, sorry. I don't want to get in trouble, you know? I just figured, H-E-Y! I can help my future boss out and go tell you about the ca—hey, is that your phone?"
It is, indeed, Phoenix's phone—he'd know that old jingle anywhere, and obviously no one is currently watching The Steel Samurai: Warrior of Neo Olde Tokyo in their general vicinity. He fishes it out from under a stack of papers on his desk and hits the button to accept the call without even glancing at the screen.
"Hey, Edgeworth," Phoenix says. "How's the jet lag treating you?"
"Hello, Wright. I am... used to it," Edgeworth replies, which does not answer his question. "Have you taken the day off like your daughter so enthusiastically encouraged me to?"
"Uh... not exactly, but—"
"Good. Meet me at the detention center in half an hour's time."
With that, he hangs up, leaving Phoenix staring at the phone dumbly. "Huh."
"Huh?" Athena raises an eyebrow. "What did he say?"
"He said—"
Another phone starts ringing, but it's apparently not Athena's. Robin digs into her painter's apron for her own, winces as she looks at the screen, and clicks the button to accept the call. "Hi, Mr. Edgeworth! What's up? ...oh. Oh, yeah, sure, I can get there! No S-W-E-A-T! Robin Newman is ON THE CASE!"
She lowers the phone from her ear and says, "I've got to be at the detention center in half an hour!"
"Oh, cool." Athena nods. "Hey, Mr. Wright, you mind if I go drive her over? I don't think Hugh's available right now—"
"Oh, no, he definitely isn't. He's studying his A-S-S off, but he'll be caught up to graduate with the rest of us soon!"
"Nah, I don't mind," Phoenix says, "so long as you're willing to drive me too."
"Oh hell Y-E-A-H! The more, the MERRIER!"
"Yeah, no, I don't..." Athena trails off. "Wait, why do you need to be at the detention center?"
"One, our potential client," Phoenix holds up one finger, and puts up another next to it. "Two, Edgeworth just told me to be there in half an hour too."
"Huh. Interesting." Robin gulps. "Uh oh. Do you think he knows I'm here? Working with the E-N-E-M-Y?!"
Phoenix sighs. "First of all, no, I don't, he would have just told me to tell you if he knew you were here. Second of all, we are not the enemy, we're working toward finding the truth just the same are you are, and Edgeworth knows that just as well as I do."
"He won't be mad that I'm here? S-W-E-E-T!"
"Err..." Phoenix winces. "Maybe don't go out of your way to tell him? He shouldn't be mad, but better safe than sorry?"
Athena looks between the two of them, puts her hands on her hips, and shakes her head. "Whether we're the enemy or not, we need to get going now or he will be mad at us. Because we're going to be late."
Phoenix winces harder, and nods. "No objections here. Let's go."
May 21, 1:26 PM
Detention Center
Now, Phoenix had every intention of splitting off from Robin once they arrived. Small issue with that plan: Edgeworth is waiting for them outside. He raises an eyebrow at Robin hopping out the passenger side door, right before the younger prosecutor freezes in terror.
"Mr. Edgeworth! Hi!" Robin says nervously. "I, um..."
"Good afternoon, Ms. Newman, Ms. Cykes..." He glances at the backseat door of Athena's car, where Phoenix had ducked out of sight from outside as soon as he caught sight of his old rival. "...Mr. Wright."
"Hey, Edgeworth," Phoenix says sheepishly. "Sorry. Dropped my pen."
"Your... pen?" Edgeworth asks dubiously.
"My pen, yeah. I was, uh, drawing something for Athena, so—"
Robin gasps. "Mr. Wright? You can draw?"
"Yes?? I was an art major for a while???"
"Que interesante," Athena says, which thankfully both isn't in a language Edgeworth understands and even if it was, isn't a dead giveaway that he was bluffing out his ass. "And lo siento, Mr. Edgeworth!"
Edgeworth raises an eyebrow. "I'm sorry?"
"No, I'm sorry! I nearly hit your subordinate—"
"Future subordinate, and what?"
"—with my car on the way here!"
"Poor Robin," Widget beeps, for an entirely different reason.
Speaking of Robin, the girl in question laughs nervously and says, "Y-E-A-H... I wanted to run all the way here and, uh... it... didn't go so well."
"Really?" Edgeworth asks, equally if not more skeptical than before.
"Really," Phoenix says firmly. "Athena must be rubbing off on her, she’s tried to do the same on more than a few occasions, I am so sorry. Anyway, Edgeworth! Why did you call Athena and I here?"
"I called you here, not Ms. Cykes."
"I'm his ride," Athena chimes in helpfully. “And his co-counsel, probably.”
"Yes, be that as it may... Wright, can we talk? Privately?"
"Uh... sure?" Phoenix lets himself be led off to the side, away from where Robin has promptly begun regaling Athena with tales of her latest art project. Once they're far enough away that even Athena with her enhanced hearing surely can't hear him, he asks, "What's up?"
"There is a particular case set for trial tomorrow, Wright," Edgeworth says without stopping or even slowing his pace. "The defendant, a Mr. Franklin Stein, has almost certainly committed the crime he is accused of."
"Franklin... Stein?" Phoenix repeats. "Why does that sound familiar?"
"Frankenstein, Mary Shelley. Not my personal favorite book, but clearly his parents had a rather cruel sense of humor. In any case, Wright—"
"Frankenstein?? Yeesh. That's... terrible."
"Putting it remarkably lightly, but yes."
Phoenix nods. "You didn't drag me away from the kids just to talk about this defendant's unfortunate name, though, did you? Does he not have an attorney or something?"
"He does not," Edgeworth confirms. "A public defender will be appointed to him at four o'clock today, should he not find an attorney on his own, and this will undoubtedly result in the truth being lost for all eternity."
"Dramatic." Phoenix quickens his pace enough to step around Edgeworth and look him in the eye. "I thought you said you thought this man was guilty?"
"Make no mistake, he is guilty, and it will be proven in court tomorrow." Edgeworth pushes up his glasses with one finger. They catch the light in a manner reminiscent of anime. "However, there is more to this case than meets the eye. I am equally sure of that."
"So... you want me to take his case."
"I didn't say that."
"You were sure implying it, though."
"Wright, do not put words into my mouth."
Phoenix sighs. "Listen, I want to talk to the guy first, and I make no promises before that. But... you really want me to take this case, don't you, Edgeworth?"
"I have said nothing of the sort." Edgeworth gives him a meaningful look.
"Of course you haven't."
But he's definitely thinking it, and for whatever reason, he won't—or can't —say as much. There's also what Robin said, and while Phoenix isn't about to out her, even without her information it's not at all a leap in logic to realize why Edgeworth is telling him about this.
"Are you prosecuting?" Phoenix asks, and receives a vaguely affirmative noise. "Why are you prosecuting? This isn't a retrial or a super high profile case... is it?"
"Not quite," Edgeworth agrees. "It was Gavin's case—with Newman shadowing him—but he came down with something while we were in Khura’in and I’ve made sure he’s taking the week off to recover. No one else was free to take it over and if it was a few months later, I'd have faith in Newman to handle it herself, but—"
"She hasn't passed the bar yet."
"No, she has not. Which is a shame, because with Sahdmadhi's... with Regent Sahdmadhi's departure, the Prosecutor's Office is once again understaffed to an almost comically sad extent, and she is more competent than certain prosecutors who will not be named that have passed the bar."
Phoenix laughs. "Let me guess, Payne?"
Edgeworth sighs. "I suppose I should be glad that the one who hasn't fled the country is at least above twisting the truth to his own ends... quite unlike his brother. I have heard that his daughter is studying to become a prosecutor herself—we shall see if she is any better at it than her relatives."
"Wait, Winston Payne has a daughter? He has kids?? Or at least one kid???”
Wow. Phoenix can’t imagine Winston Payne as a father at all. He’ll worry about that particular revelation later. Much, much later.
"Seeing as my own reaction wasn’t dissimilar, I can't very well fault you for yours. But we are getting very much off-topic." Edgeworth clears his throat delicately, and turns to start walking back in the direction of Athena and Robin. "You'll consider taking this case?"
After taking a few precious seconds to just pause and stare, Phoenix goes to follow him. "Yeah. Honestly, I probably will at this point, so long as he's not a Matt Engarde or a—" He winces. "—Paul Atishon-Wimperson."
"That, I'm certain he is not."
"Then... yeah. I'll take the case, Even if he is guilty—and no matter what you say, I'm going to believe in his innocence 'til the very end—"
"You wouldn't be Phoenix Wright if you didn't." Edgeworth smiles, for a moment. Phoenix would like to believe it’s fondly.
"—the least I can do is make sure everything comes out into the open where it belongs. Besides, it isn't as if I haven't defended guilty clients before."
Edgeworth nods. "A certain prosecutor comes to mind."
"Well, yeah, he saved Maya's life—"
"He?" Edgeworth's brow furrows. "We are not thinking of the same prosecutor. How many prosecutors have you defended in court?"
"Three." Phoenix holds up three fingers and counts them off. "You, Lana, and Godot."
"...I was referring to Lana Skye."
"Fair," Phoenix says. "She wasn't guilty of murder, though."
"No, she was not... Mr. Armando's retrial is quite soon, isn't it?"
"You'd know. You're prosecuting."
"I suppose I am," Edgeworth agrees. "I trust you have a plan for that?"
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I do.”
Edgeworth raises an eyebrow. “A plan that does not involve throwing your apprentice at the case and hoping for the best?”
"Uh," Phoenix says. Fortunately for him, Robin and Athena are right here. "Hey, Athena! Let's go, we've got a new client."
"Fantastico!" She waves to her friend, who waves back. "See you in court, Prosecutor Newman!"
Robin beams. "See Y-O-U in court, Ms. Cykes!"
Edgeworth gives Phoenix a dubious look, but shakes his head to himself and says, "Ms. Newman. Come along now, we have a crime scene to investigate."
"We D-O! Ooooh, I'm so excited, I could burst! Onwards!"
Without any kind of warning, Robin breaks into a sprint past Edgeworth. What is far more impressive is the fact that Edgeworth reaches out and manages to snag her by the back of the jacket before she gets far. The Chief Prosecutor sighs, and says, "Do you not drive, Ms. Newman?"
"Um... no? Are we not walking?"
"No, we are not. I'll be driving."
"S-W-E-E-T!"
Phoenix watches them go, grinning fondly despite himself.
Athena elbows him. "Boss. Our client?"
"Client. Right." Phoenix clears his throat awkwardly. "His name is Franklin Stein. Edgeworth is very convinced that he's guilty, but he's hiding some truth beyond that, and he wouldn't out and say it but he really, really wants me on this case for some reason."
"Huh. Maybe he just really likes going against you?"
"Maybe. I sure don't mind going against him."
"Of course you don't!" Widget beeps.
Phoenix decides to ignore the implications of whatever Widget is hinting at for now. That can go into the post-case box right next to the mental image of Winston Payne as a father, and probably a good deal of other things besides.
Instead of responding to Widget, he continues, "I don't think that's necessarily it, though. Anyway, let's go talk to our client and... uh... actually get him to let us defend him, first?"
"That's a good idea," Athena agrees. "We should do that."
And so they do.
Getting the paperwork through to visit Mr. Stein is easier than usual—suspiciously so, and if Edgeworth were still in the area Phoenix would be giving him many a meaningful look at this point. Athena and Phoenix get into the visitor's room slightly before Stein is brought in, and once he does...
…well…
If Phoenix had to pick one word to describe Mr. Franklin Stein, it would be exhausted. The man doesn't look like he's slept recently. And sure, Phoenix knows from experience that the detention center's not exactly comfortable to sleep in—though to its credit, it's significantly better than it was the first time he was framed for someone's murder. But that would be one sleepless night.
Mr. Stein, on the other hand, looks like sleep is little more than a distant memory for him. The bags under his eyes are so deep they practically have eyebags of their own. Consequently, he looks... perhaps far older than he actually is.
Phoenix glances down at the admittedly sparse profile he has on him, just to check on that.
He's... twenty-four.
He's only twenty-four. The haunted look in his eyes, though—that makes him look far older.
(Apollo, on the other side of the world now, is twenty-four. Phoenix had been twenty-four when he passed the bar, and… when his mentor was murdered.)
"So... who are you," is the first thing out of Stein's mouth. "And why are you here?"
"We're your lawyers!" Athena blurts out, bouncing a bit in her seat. "¡Tus abogados! Vos avocats! Die rechtsanwälte! L'avvocati!"
Phoenix sits himself, pulling up a second chair, and he amends, "If you'll have us, Mr. Stein."
"...oh." Somehow, Stein looks even more hopeless now. "Dad sent you?"
"...no?" Phoenix says. "I offered to take a look at this case as a favor to an old friend of mine involved with the prosecution. He's under the impression that there's more to this than meets the eye, and... he tends to be right about this sort of thing. Athena here's largely here for experience, but she's just as qualified to represent you as I am, if the situation calls for it."
Athena nods vigorously, holding out her badge for Stein to see. "I'm Athena Cykes. This is my boss, Phoenix Wright. And you're Franklin Stein?"
Stein winces, hard. "Uh, yeah. I prefer Frankie though. Franklin Stein's what my father calls me." He pauses. "Wait, did you say Phoenix Wright?"
"Yep. That's me." Phoenix waves. "Nice to meet you, Frankie. You've... heard of me, then?"
"Oh, I bet he heard about what we did in Khura'in!" Athena gushes. "Or—"
"Uh... no, sorry. I just remember seeing something on the news about some lawyer who cross-examined an orca in court," Frankie says sheepishly. And as embarrassing as that being what he’s known for is, he does look at least a little less on edge and at least a little more comfortable, which is a definite improvement over before. "What was that about Khura'in?"
"Long story. Very long story, not at all relevant to this case and a lot of the details aren't actually mine to share." Phoenix shrugs. "I'll share what I can once this is all over, if you'd like, but to be honest I do think we all have higher priorities right now."
Frankie slumps back into his chair, fiddling with his hoodie strings. "Yeah... yeah, I guess we do. Sorry, sir."
"No need to be sorry! We get sidetracked all the time!" Athena pauses. "I probably shouldn't be advertising that, should I?"
"I... wouldn't really know how lawyering works, but probably not..."
"I mean, sometimes the most seemingly unrelated things end up being just what we needed to turn everything around," Phoenix points out, patting her on the shoulder. "So really, the more information we've got, the better, as far as I'm concerned. Anything you think might be useful, would be useful, if you'd like to have us."
"I don't...honestly, I'm not sure," Frankie says, looking down. "I'm not really sure why anyone would want to help me, let alone someone involved with trying to put me in jail."
"Because that's what we do! We help." Athena flashes a nervous grin and a peace sign, heedless of Widget glowing bright blue around her neck. "So long as you're innocent, we will prove it."
"And if you aren't, we're still going to do everything in our power to make sure you get a fair trial," Phoenix adds. "To be clear, though, because this is going to affect what angle we'll take in court: did you do what you've been accused of?"
"No! Of course I didn't!" Frankie says urgently. "She was my friend, at least... I thought she was..."
No psyche-locks, so it's fairly likely that he's telling the truth about not having committed this particular murder. Athena must be hearing a lot of discord, given the look of sheer concern she shoots Phoenix, far less subtly than she thinks she does.
It's not simple, because of course it isn't, it never is.
"Right." Phoenix takes a deep breath, and lets it out again. "So, to be clear: tomorrow you're going to be on trial for the murder of Justine Thyme. You... knew her, before this?"
Frankie nods. "We used to work together at a funerary home. She got fired about... uh, today's... Sunday?"
"May 21st, for another ten hours," Athena supplies helpfully.
"About a week ago. Little more, now. Last Saturday. I... hadn't seen her since then, until the night she... well..."
"...got murdered."
"Yeah..."
"You saw her the night of the murder," Phoenix says, and gets a nod. "I... suppose it would be too much for you to have an alibi for us to work with?"
Frankie shakes his head. "I can't tell you that. I'm sorry."
And there, just as Phoenix is opening his mouth to protest—to say that they can't help him if he doesn't tell them everything— something happens that changes the situation quite a bit. Locks spring into view, red metaphysical ones that only Phoenix can see.
There's five of them. Of fucking course there's five of them. Why wouldn't there be five psyche-locks? It's not like that's the most that he's ever seen in one place or anything, oh no. Oh. Wait. That's exactly the issue here, which makes it abundantly clear that whatever it is Frankie is hiding, he will in fact not be talking about it easily.
It could be... okay, no, he isn't even going to think that.
But at least there aren't— nope. Bad Phoenix. As the kids are fond of saying, if he had a nickel for every time he'd jinxed a case and it ended up getting significantly more convoluted, he could take on cases for the rest of his life pro bono and still be able to make the office rent without trying.
...admittedly, they probably still would have ended up being that convoluted without him jinxing it. Realistically, it's not like the facts of the case change just to make his life more difficult, it just seems that way sometimes. A lot of times.
He's really bad about not jinxing things.
To add insult to injury, it's then that Frankie continues, voice shaky, "But I swear I'll tell you everything I can. And I-I promise, it wasn't me who killed her. I... if you do uncover the full truth, I don't think you'll still want to be my lawyers, but..."
"Everyone deserves justice," Phoenix says firmly. "If you say you didn't kill her, then I believe you. We'll do everything we possibly can to prove that, alright?"
"Alright." Frankie gulps. He's fiddling with his hoodie strings again. "Thank you. I didn't think anyone would... er, I can give you my address? That's... where the murder happened..."
Without any warning, Widget blurts, "Geez! Are you SURE you didn't kill her?"
Mortified, Athena covers her necklace up with a hand and says, "I am so sorry, sir, that just does that sometimes, it doesn't mean anything—you were there, you know what happened there—do you at least know who did kill the victim?"
"I-I can't tell you that," Frankie stutters, looking very much like he wants to melt away into the ground and leave the hoodie and this mortal coil behind. "I'm sorry. I wish I could."
Phoenix nods. Gently, he says, "Can you tell us why you can't tell us this? Is someone forcing you to keep quiet?"
Frankie shakes his head, shrinking further back away from the glass. "I'm so sorry. I can't... I'm sorry. You shouldn't want to represent me. Why?"
And maybe this is getting a little too personal, but that's never stopped Phoenix before, so he says, "Because I've been where you are before. I know what it's like to know that you're innocent, but so many people are so convinced that you're not that even you are starting to doubt it. I know what it's like to feel like the whole world's against you."
"You... got declared innocent?" Frankie looks shocked. A little hopeful.
And so Phoenix nods. "My old mentor, actually—though she wasn't my mentor then. She had every reason to believe what everyone else did, but she knew something wasn't right, and so she started digging. I'd kind of already wanted to be a lawyer for, uh. Other reasons? But I would never have made it through law school without her help. I'd be in prison or possibly long since dead, actually, without her help. I owe her a lot. She was there for me when no one else was."
"She sounds nice."
He blinks hard. "She was."
"Oh. Oh, shoot, I'm—I'm sorry—"
"No need to be." Phoenix offers Frankie a smile. "It was years ago, and it certainly had nothing to do with you. You would have been a child then."
"I... know what it feels like too," Athena says, having taken Widget off and stuffed the offending robot into her bag. "But I can tell you from experience, Frankie—it's the worst feeling in the world to be stuck there. But it's the best feeling in the world to be declared innocent. You'll feel it too, soon! I just know it!"
Tentatively, gingerly, like he's afraid of the expression somehow—Frankie gives the duo the very smallest of smiles back. "I... so, so badly want to hope you're right."
"We'll believe in you until the end," Phoenix promises. "So just do your best to believe in us, too, if you can."
"I... don't know that I can, just yet," Frankie admits, smile fading as he shrinks back into his hoodie. He does look up, though, after a moment. And he adds, in a small voice, "But I would like to."