A/N: I wrote this in one sitting since I was inspired by an off-hand comment someone made on Tumblr, and I originally wasn't planning to publish it here but whatever. I wrote more stuff based on this AU as well, and will probably publish them here too at some point...

Metis Cykes was very good at faking it.

Ever since she was a little girl, she was always told 'this is what good little girls do', and so she did it. She cleaned her room, and did her homework, and never cursed or was rude in any way.

Why not?

It was easy, knowing what was expected of you.

And it wasn't like she hated it.

When her mother bragged about her sweet little girl, or when teachers praised her, she felt a surge of power for fooling them.

For faking it so well.

It was like she lived in her own little bubble, perceiving everyone, but no-one knew the real her. But she knew people. She noticed things.

She excelled in school and sports, and had a great prospects.

So when the school career counselor talked with her about her future, she knew what to tell them.

"I am very interested in psychology."

The counselor, a middle-aged man (47, married, but was having trouble. Metis guessed they'd be divorced within a year.) nodded. Of course he would, psychology was perfectly acceptable career choice for good girls. However, he asked for her reasons.

"Well, I want to help people." Metis told him. "I was thinking of a career in medicine, but I don't think I could handle all the blood and all that other icky stuff."

For a moment she wondered if she was going a bit overboard, and just how immature she wanted to sound.

But he just nodded. Metis was, after all, just a little girl to him.

But Metis knew what she wanted. She wanted to know how people worked.

And she was eager to take the opportunity to get away from her parents.

Of her old life.

She wanted to try faking new things.

Metis stood in the corner of the party, mostly staring at her drink.

This was a high-glass affair, a party only for the best and brightest students of this already exclusive American university.

Metis had moved on her own just a few months ago, and was still adjusting to her new life far away from her family and everyone she had known in Europe. Studying was, of course, easy for her, but she was uncertain how to conduct herself outside of it.

She liked the idea of playing a rebel for a change, that was what was expected of university students and young people in general, after all.

But how would that affect her future prospects and career opportunities?

What were those, even?

She was shaken from her reverie by a loud voice. "Kinda a sausage fest, eh?"

"Excuse me?"

She turned to the speaker, a young purple-haired woman she estimated was few years younger than her.

She gestured towards the crowd. "I can't help noticing we are the only two women here."

Now that she mentioned it...

"I didn't catch your name."

The woman (or rather a girl in Metis's estimation) blushed a bit and offered her hand. "Aura. Aura Blackquill."

Metis took it. "Metis. Metis Cykes."

"Cykes? That's an odd name."

"It comes from Japanese. It was originally 'Saikusu', but when my grandparents moved to Europe, they changed it to a more English form."

"So, you're Japanese?"

"Part Japanese, part Creek."

All lies. She had no idea or interest to find out where her last name came from, but she had no Japanese roots. Well, her grandmother from her father's side had been Creek, and that where her first name had come from.

"I don't know much Japanese, though," she told her just in case.

"Oh." Aura seemed disappointed.

"Do you have an interest in Japanese culture?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "I watch a lot of anime. Their fiction explores these technological ideas much more thoroughly than Western stuff."

"So you're studying something technology-related, then?"

"Yup. I want to build robots." She locked eyes with Metis, as if challenging her to call it stupid or childish.

But the psychology-student wasn't yet sure if that was the kind of personality she was going for. "Robots?" Maybe this new Metis would like technology.

Aura's face lit up. "Yes! Don't you just think that's cool? I mean, there have been all these new breakthroughs in artificial intelligence lately! It won't take too long until we can have real sentient A.I's!"

"That sounds very interesting." Metis supposed there was no harm in faking interest.

So she gave her a sweet smile. "Tell me more."

"Wait a moment, I'm out of tea. I could just quickly get some from the corner shop..."

"That would be nice." Metis told Aura.

And with that, she was left alone in Aura's apartment.

She immediately took full advantage of this.

Metis couldn't quite figure Aura out. She seemed far too straightforward, always seemingly showing her feelings and being very vocal about her opinions. Especially with her.

But there was something that bothered Metis. Of course Aura, just as everyone, wore masks. And not being able to figure out what those were bothered her.

So now that she had her chance, Metis quickly opened her drawers, in the hopes of finding some insight on her.

Mostly technical text-books, some novels, DVD's and manga...

However, a cardboard box under the bed caught her attention.

To her disappointment, it turned out to be just more manga and DVD's.

Metis was just about to push them back, when she noticed the common theme;

unlike the comics and movies out in the open, these all portrayed female couples. Kissing, just holding hands, but also some very erotic material.

Metis quickly hid the box again.

So that's what it was.

She wondered if her friend had those feelings towards her...

"Metis! Sorry you had to wait!" Aura stepped in the small apartment. It seemed like she had been running, and the psychologist wondered if she had hurried back because she didn't like the idea of Metis being left alone in her home.

"It's not a problem." Metis told her from the bed.

She paid attention to Aura's expressions and gestures this time. An eager, smile, a slight blush...

Yes, it was obvious, how hadn't she noticed it before?

Now she just had to decide what to do with this.

"Aura..."

"Hm?"

"Do you ever... I don't know if I should say..."

"What?"

Metis looked at her hands to hide her amusement at Aura's confused expression. Now she knew exactly how to play this.

Aura sat next to her on the bed. Perfect.

Metis took her hand. "Aura, you would never hate me, right?"

"Of course not!"

For some reason, that felt... It almost made Metis feel bad for what she was about to do.

"It's just, that I... I think there's something wrong with me." Yes, she was going to play this role sexually confused and inexperienced. Have the younger woman take the lead. "I sometimes have these thoughts..."

Aura's voice was almost inaudible. "What kind of thoughts?"

"Dirty, unnatural thoughts." She avoided her eyes. "About other women."

Aura gasped. For a moment Metis wondered if that had been too much, and if she had ended up driving the younger woman away, scaring her by making her think she found these kinds of relations wrong and disgusting.

But her fears were unfounded.

"No, Metis, it's not unnatural or wrong or anything like that!" The engineer took hold of her shoulders to force the other woman to look at her.

"And if anyone says something like that to you, just come and tell me right away!"

Metis quite enjoyed the position she had gotten Aura in, ready to defend her, willing to help her.

But she wasn't done yet.

"That's not all. Aura, I have those kinds of feelings about you." She leaned closer. "I... like you."

Aura gasped. "Metis?" She bit her lip. "Could I kiss you? I mean, I really like you too."

Metis nodded, and her lips were captured in a sloppy overenthusiastic kiss.

Aura really seemed inexperienced.

But it felt nice.

Yes, she could fake this.

However, when they started dating, it became day by day clearer to Metis that this was one thing she could not fake.

Every time Aura smiled to her, and touched her, a part of Metis recoiled.

She had to put an end to it.

The convenient way out came from a completely unexpected source.

Metis stepped into her apartment, and was greeted by an intruder.

"Welcome, Metis."

She froze.

The intruder, a brunette woman in her late thirties or early forties, gave her a wave from the psychologists' couch. "Please, sit down."

Metis remained standing. "Who are you and what are you doing in my home?"

"Yes, yes, I invade your personal sanctuary, where even your girlfriend hasn't set foot in," Metis's eyes widened at that, and she cursed her reaction, "to make you uncomfortable, you retaliate by not playing my game, have we both postured enough? Sit down, I have a feeling you will find what I am about to say very interesting."

Deciding that she had nothing to gain by standing there Metis sat opposite her. "Who are you?"

She smiled. "Hm, why not call me Tethys? Yes, I'm feeling like 'Tethys' today."

Tethys? The mother of Metis in mythology? "Cute. So, Tethys, what do you want?"

"You are a very impressive young woman."

Something told Metis false modesty would be a bad move. The feeling she got from this woman was that she was tough, and brave and knew what she wanted. So she'd be all those things too, then.

"I am." She told her. "Now let's talk about this offer of yours."

The offer, as it turned out, was for a job.

There were things behind the scenes, people and organizations that decided the course of history, Tethys told her. And she was offering Metis a window to that world.

No, more than a window.

A foothold.

The young psychologist took the offer, without hesitation.

And it turned out it hadn't been just her academic success that had gotten her noticed.

Apparently she hadn't been as good at faking it as she had thought. Not good enough to fool people who did it professionally.

Or perhaps it took one to know one...

The woman called Tethys was assigned as her supervisor.

She trained her in self-defense, and technology.

In manipulation and observation.

And helped her become a better fake.

So once again Metis left her old life behind.

She told Aura that her mother had fallen ill and she had to move back to Europe to take care of her.

It had been more difficult for her than she had anticipated. Not because the engineer had pleaded with her, or gotten angry.

Instead, Metis had simply seen joy vanish from her face, as she understood what this meant.

"I'll write to you." Aura had told her.

But Metis was certain she had been already able to tell that it was the end of their relationship.

It was better for both of them.

Aura would find someone else soon enough, and Metis would quickly forget about her.

Metis Cykes put on her suit and make-up, and stopped being Metis.

Instead, she mentally settled into the role of Calisto Yew.

She thought of the character of Calisto, trying to feel her with every fiber of her being.

This was not her first assignment that included playing a role, but the first one where she would go this deep.

She would have to earn their trust.

She would have to be earnest.

The image of Aura Blackquill came to her mind.

Seemingly cold and abrasive, but for those she let close to her, an invaluable ally.

Yes, she would base this role on her.

Byrne Faraday was not the first person Metis had killed.

So naturally she felt nothing.

Yes, the regret, the horror, it must have been just Calisto.

The fake feelings of a fake person.

'Shih-na' was escorted to the police car, her cover blown.

She immediately noticed something was wrong, as instead of being properly secured, she was simply handcuffed and left alone in the back seat of the police car.

"So, are you here to kill me or to help me escape?"

The police officer driving turned to look back. "The latter, Ma'am."

He grinned. "Don't recognize me?"

"Should I?" There was nothing familiar about this young man with a slight Southern accent.

He sounded smug. "I told'em even you couldn't recognize me now. Agent 108."

"What?"

The voice, the pose, even his build were totally different.

"I have been improving. This is not just a disguise. Well, not just a persona I made up. Officer Colin DaFuzz at your service. Well, one of them. The other is gagged and bound in the trunk."

A realization hit Metis.

"Project Tabula Rasa. 'Wiping away' your identity to take on someone else's..."

The idea of it was nothing new, of course. People played roles all the time and many had made a career of pretending to be someone else.

But that project had been something new; a method of turning a human being into a perfect copycat. Metis had been a part the team developing it, and without her it might not have ever gotten off the ground.

But eventually she had recommended against continuing it. In her professional opinion, it would have turned the subject too unstable.

As far as she had known, the project had been scrapped.

But now she had to wonder what else they were keeping from her.

As it turned out, a lot.

Metis stood middle of the laboratory, for the first time in a long while horrified of what the Organization was capable of.

These experiments...

On erasing and rewriting personality, mind-control, even things like channeling spirits. Were they insane?

And of course there was the little red-haired girl, strapped into a table, with an odd helmet covering her head.

Metis removed it, and the girl screamed.

It had been a struggle to get the girl out of there and to her safe-house.

Metis shuddered to think what had been done to the girl who currently she was sitting in a corner, rocking back and forth.

Metis tried to appear as non-threatening as possible. "Hello. My name is Metis. Can you tell me your name?"

She cowered her ears. "S-11,S-11,S-11,S-11."

It took Metis a moment to realize what she was saying.

Subject 11.

"You think that's your name?"

The girl nodded. "S-11."

"Would you like another one? A proper name?" She nodded. "How about Athena?" Metis suggested.

"You took Subject 11, didn't you?" Tethys asked, taking a sip from her coffee.

"Yes." It was useless to deny it.

"For what reason?"

"Because I wish to continue their work."

"Hm?"

It seemed she had gotten her interest.

"I think this project has some real promise. This girl, Subject 11," Metis did her best not to shudder at what had happened to the previous 10 test subjects, "has an exceptional hearing. I believe she will be capable of reading human emotions in a way we have never seen before. But she cannot achieve her full potential locked away in a laboratory. She requires a variety of social experiences, different human contacts-"

"Enough." Tethys told her. "Her and the projects she was a part of were decided to be terminated. However, I can see what I can do."

Metis went through her contacts in the official academic circles.

Her request had been granted, and she would be in charge of Athena from now on.

So she needed a normal job for cover.

It would be weird, being Metis Cykes, again.

She wondered if she could fake it.

"Metis!"

The psychologist had known this was coming, and now that she was facing Aura Blackquill again, it felt easier than she had feared.

She smiled. "Aura."

"So, you'll be living here then? In the space-center?"

"Yes. Me and my daughter."

"Oh. Are you married? I mean-"

Metis gave her the cover-story. "We were never married. She lived with her father up until few months ago. When he died."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

Metis gave her a slight, sad smile. "We hadn't been close in years. But Athena took it badly. She will be needing special care, I trust you all understand."

"So, yeah, this is my little brother." Aura dismissively waved in his direction.

Metis smiled to the young man, hoping to calm him down.

He bowed clumsily. "Good morning."

Aura rolled her eyes. "Don't mind him. He is a weeaboo."

"I am not!"

Metis refrained from reminding Aura of her past hobbies. And how it was pretty telling she even knew the phrase 'weeaboo'.

But she simply bowed right back. "Nice to meet you, Simon-dono."

She wondered if she was overdoing it. Playing the role of a Japanese woman suited her, so she had kept up that charade after taking this job.

"I would like to ask for your assistance," Simon said. "I believe the understanding of psychology would prove to be invaluable in my profession."

Metis nodded. "I'd be happy to help."

So she started tutoring Simon, both in psychology and Japanese language, customs and swordplay.

There was something oddly relieving about that.

The young man took all those teachings to heart, and in the process, all those things Metis faked somehow became more real.

Maybe even her personality would be more real like this.

Meanwhile, the work Aura and Metis had started progressed in leaps and bounds.

They worked together wonderfully, Metis had to admit.

And with her, and with Athena, and even Simon, she had to play all these small roles, a mother with Athena, a teacher with Simon, a friend with Aura...

Roles that somehow grew into something almost real.

Metis looked at Aura. Really looked.

The younger woman was hunched over her desk, scribbling something on a piece of paper.

They hadn't spoken about their relationship back in university, both having seemingly agreed it had been just experimentation, young foolishness.

But...

"Aura."

Aura turned her head and found herself in a kiss.

To Metis's relief, she returned it.

And she realized the reason she had ran away all those years ago.

It hadn't been because she couldn't fake the attraction to the other woman.

It had been because it hadn't been fake.

"Metis?" Aura asked, and Metis was reminded of the other reason she had run. She hadn't wanted to hurt her.

"I'm sorry. Sorry that I was such a coward."

Aura smiled, embracing the psychologist. "It doesn't matter. It's not too late."

Metis nodded..

Even though she was unsure if that was true.

She should had known it could not last.

But nevertheless it came as a shock when Tethys contacted her and told her she was being smoked out of the Organization.

"You are not trusted anymore." She told her.

"Why?"

"I could tell you that it's because your performance in your last mission was inexcusable, or that someone has become suspicious of your connection to Prosecutor Blackquill who has been chasing Agent 108, or that little affair with your girl... But all those would be lies or half-truths. It's politics, Metis, as simple as that. It's time for you to die. Well, this persona of yours must die. Be glad you get that."

"I'll have to fake my death?"

"You still have people on your side, Metis. I am on your side. And I think we must get rid of Agent 108."

"The Phantom? That's what Prosecutor Blackquill has taken to calling them."

"Hm, that's fitting, I like it. In any case, I have already written the script for this little play. You will 'die', and 'The Phantom' will be caught, red-handed. Compromising everyone involved with Project Tabula Rasa."

"Do I have a choice in this matter?"

"Do you even need to ask?"

"It's the moon." Metis told Athena. "For you to remember me."

"Remember you? Are you going away?" Athena asked, admiring the ear-ring.

"You never know what will happen."

Metis smiled at her own secret joke.

The moon.

A thing that has no light of it's own and only reflects.

Metis Cykes disappeared in the shadows, and was as good as dead.

It would all be taken care of.

And then she found out it had all gone wrong. Simon had wandered in and gotten caught.

"Metis."

The voice of the older woman was cold. "You should not be calling here."

However, Metis was not about to back down so easily. "I call who I want. Constance Courte."

'Tethys' did not sound impressed. "So, you figured out my real name. Well done." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm. "What do you want?"

"What went wrong?"

"Why do you think something went wrong?" Constance asked.

"What?"

"Metis, you should thank me. I got you out. Wasn't that what you wanted?"

"But Simon wasn't supposed to be framed! The Phantom was!"

"Hm?"

"I do not care if Simon Blackquill is executed for my murder." Metis told her. The last thing she wanted was to let these people know she did care. "I just dislike being kept in the dark. Lied to."

"An order from high up. The Phantom is too valuable to get rid of."

"The Phantom is too unstable and ready to take unnecessary risks to NOT get rid of!"

"It is not your business, so do as we agreed, take the false identity you were provided with, and disappear. Or just maybe the Organization will suddenly become interested in a certain little girl."

And with that, she hung up.

There was nothing Metis could do but disappear.

And she ran.

She threw away her name, her identity, even her language.

And in Borginia, Metis Cykes was reborn as Lamiroir.

The quiet life suited her, and her needs.

She even came to almost adopt a young boy, Machi.

It was enough.

She walked through life numb, only feeling alive when she stepped to the stage.

She was done with intrigue, all she wanted was to be left alone.

So she faked blindness, to appear harmless. Someone you would never consider a threat.

And even then she had to admit, with all her decisions of leaving that world behind her, she enjoyed having that advantage over people, seeing through their masks when they let their guard down in the presence of a blind woman.

But when a producer came to talk to her after her number, and offered her a record-deal, she took it.

And when she found out the producer had assumed she could see, she could only laugh.

So she was now a woman being able to see faking blindness faking sight?

Fakes and lies upon fakes and lies...

"Machi, I need to ask you to pretend for me. Help me by faking blindness to hide my condition."

The boy simply nodded.

If he suspected anything, he didn't say it.

He was a good boy.

Athena had moved to Europe after her mother's 'death', and was adopted by her grandparents.

Metis hadn't kept in tough with her parents, but she was certain they'd take good care of her daughter.

Nevertheless, she kept tabs on her and her studies in Europe. Athena had turned out to be an exceptional student, and she would have loved to discuss psychology with her. But it was safer if she kept her distance.

But when she got word that Athena was being accused of murder she almost dropped everything and traveled to Germany where her daughter was currently studying.

But before she could do that, someone else stepped in to offer help to the young girl.

Phoenix Wright.

Interesting.

And then death caught up with her again, when her manager was killed.

And Machi, sweet innocent Machi was accused.

"Machi... Did you do it?" She asked in Borginian.

The look he gave her was shocked, and more than little bit guilty.

But when he shook his head and told her 'No," she believed him.

And yet that was not all of it. She needed to get to the bottom of it.

"What did you need money for?" She asked, after Machi was found innocent.

"Romein LeTouse wanted money," he told her.

"What?"

"He knew you weren't really Lamiroir." Machi looked her in the eye. "Or Thalassa. That both of those were just fake identities."

"Why did he come to you?"

"I think he tried to contact you. But I made the deal with him, so you wouldn't need to know anything about it."

Lamiroir was speechless. He had been protecting her.

"I'm glad he is dead." Tears flowed from his eyes. "Glad! And now no-one knows who you really are. You can go and be Thalassa now if you want. Or anyone you want."

She embraced him, unsure who she wanted to be.

But she knew one thing; this was all because of her.

Because of her the sweet innocent Machi had been keeping secrets, been involved with crime.

And was now happy that a human being had died.

"So, are you going to talk to your children?" The man called Phoenix Wright asked.

She shook her head. "Not yet. But please, don't tell them I am-"

"What, dead?"

It seemed like she had underestimated the man. "You figured it out."

"That the real Thalassa Gramarye is dead? You can try to fake it, but I have seen the real power of the Gramaryes. I'm not sure who you are, but you're not her."

"It was simply a possible cover story in case my identity as Lamiroir was brought into question. I never had any intention to pose as her if I had a choice."

"It seems like you are running from something."

Yes, she had been running. And she was so tired.

"I thought if I just left, everyone I loved would be happier, safer. But it went horribly wrong. And yet I ran, believing it was for the best, that I would only harm them if I returned. But I can't anymore. God, what have I done!"

She decided to take a leap of faith. Metis had never been one to believe in fate.

But this man had been there for Thena when she had not, and offered her a job once she graduated.

It wasn't really 'fate', she supposed, but things she had been running all these years catching up to her.

"Mr. Wright, this dark age of the law stared due to two cases, yours, and the one where a promising young prosecutor was convicted of murder."

This got his attention.

She breathed in, collecting her thoughts, figuring out how much she should let him know. The best case scenario was that the plan she had set in motion all those years ago succeeded, and the Phantom was found guilty.

If that failed, she could always use her ultimate ace in the hole and reveal her true identity.

After all, if there was no victim, there was no murder.

But that would leave Thena in danger from the Organization. Unless she managed to get rid of Constance and others who knew of her...

"What if I told you Simon Blackquill was innocent?"

She could only hope they could prove Simon's innocence without that.

So she would never have to choose between Simon's life and Athena's safety.

A/N: Here you go. Written in pretty much one sitting, so there were probably a lot of plot-holes etc. It was just based on a weird little idea.

Also I involved Lamiroir to explain away why we never hear about her in AA5, and why she apparently didn't reconnect with her children; because Trucy and Polly were not her kids.

Also it was probably Metis who shot the Phantom at the end of DD.

There's also a very short Athena/Juniper piece I wrote that ties into this but couldn't fit here. Maybe I'll publish it later.