Merry-Go-Turnabout/Turnabout Carousel

Prologue

"...round and round she goes,

where she'll stop, nobody knows!"

The cheerful electric voice sang out its only message to the world, as horses and hippos and lions and tigers and even bears circled beneath its colorful top. Round and round they circled about, with all sorts of people riding these statue-esque beasts showing no fear but rather enjoyment, laughter, merriment.

"Round and round she goes,

where she'll stop, nobody knows!"

The jubilant tune accompanying this bizarre scene simply made it all the more enjoyable for everyone inside the ride. There was nothing to fear, nothing to worry about, not a care in the world. Just the spinning of everything, going around and about the world.

"Round and round she goooes..."

A sudden blackout and the lights on the top dissipated, the beasts halted their rotative progress, and the people edged out of their delusional state of euphoria and looked about the darkness that quickly grasped their vision. They began to call out to each other, wondering what was going on, who to talk to, what to say.

"...wherrre she'lll stoooop..."

Their merriment had changed to bewilderment, and when the lights came back on, this changed to panic, as a little girl screamed at the sight of her father, slumped over a white stallion.

A knife in his back.

The tune came back on for the last time.

"...nobody knows..."

Chapter 1

May 5, 9:10 A.M.
Wright & Co Law Offices

Ah, sure feels good to wake up in the morning and enjoy a nice heap of nothing, a spiky-haired man thought to himself sarcastically.

In truth, he sat in his office chair simply staring at the ceiling. There hadn't been any new court cases for a while now, and he was sure that if anything was to happen today, he hoped ironically it would be some grisly murder with a defendant asking for his services.

Great, I'm starting to think like the old Edgeworth, he thought to himself, thinking of his prosecuting rival and friend. He heard Edgeworth had left the country not long ago to perform some work overseas. In the meantime, nothing happened.

Lazily, he plucked a feather off his blue suit, figuring it must have come from the pillow he slept on and blew it into the air. The days went by so slowly that sometimes he decided simply to laze about the office, even sleeping there for the night. The only thing that gave him peace of mind was that at any given moment, his good friend would come waltzing through the door and start talking about burgers or spirit medium stuff or the latest Steel Samurai spinoff show or something like that.

And just like that, he heard the door open up. He decided that he would at least sit up for his guest.

"So, how's it going today?" he asked absentmindedly.

"Terrible. Perhaps you'd like to listen to what's on my mind."

"Uh, okay, what's been going on?"

"Well, aside from my husband getting stabbed in the back, my daughter's been charged with his murder."

"What?"

The man finally took notice of the woman before him and realized it was not who he first thought it was. No, this was a client, and a very stern one at that. Her brown hair came down to her broad shoulders, her cat-eye glasses giving her eyes the cold stare of a very angry person. Or was that just her? She did seem rather ticked off. Her clothes were rather sharp to look at; he thought for a moment he'd cut himself just by trying to comfort he, if she had needed any.

"Um, yes, I'm sorry," he spluttered, "I must've dozed off or something."

"Well, wake up! I don't have all day to get you down to the detention center!" she spat, her fists nudging into her hips.

"I'm sorry, but who are you?"

"Of course, I take the time to look you up for being so famous and don't even bother introducing myself," she mumbled, folding her arms and looking particular pouty. Quickly she shifted into her previous position, her hands digging into her hips once more as she glared into his face. "Well, I'm Olivia Vale Fearanst, but you will address me as either Ms. Fearanst or Olivia, Mr. Phoenix Wright."

Whoa, take it easy, Phoenix thought, instinctively putting his hands defensively and leaning back.

"Now come on! We don't have all day!" Olivia cried, forcefully grabbing his arm and quite literally dragging him out the door.

May 5, 10:00 A.M.
Detention Center
Visitor's Center

As usual the detention center was empty of everything but the security guard at the door and the few people who bothered visiting. Olivia was impatiently tapping her foot while Phoenix waited for his new client. He had already talked with his friend via cell phone and alerted her to where he was, and so it was not at all long before she arrived on the scene, dressed as normal in her traditional spirit medium acolyte's gown.

"Nick! Hey!" she said, calling Phoenix by her nickname for him.

"Hey, Maya," he responded. "Sorry about getting you to come here instead. Ms. Fearanst is -"

"Right here," Olivia interrupted, swiftly extending her hand. "The pleasure's all mine, Miss Fey."

"How do you know my name?" Maya asked curiously, a little taken aback by Olivia's sudden advance.

"Of course, I'm the only one who even knows who anybody is," Olivia mumbled, crossing her arms. "I happen to read the paper every now and again. Don't think I haven't seen your picture come up a couple of times!"

"Oh...uh, well, that's nice," Maya said.

Phoenix knew of what Olivia referred to. He had to defend Maya in a couple of cases in the past, one being for the murder of his long time mentor Mia Fey, Maya's older sister.

"Well, I guess it's good to meet you too," Maya continued, a little timid of Olivia now. Turning her attention onto Phoenix, she asked, "So who's the one behind bars?"

"I don't know, but hopefully she's more pleasant than her mother," Phoenix said. Then he thought, And how...

"One coming in," the security guard called. And in walked the client.

Her very appearance was rather startling to Phoenix. It wasn't what she wore, nor any distinctive body feature of hers, but rather it was her youthful appearance. She appeared no older than 15 years. Considering most of his clients were at least in their twenties - with Maya being the one exception on multiple occasions - Phoenix couldn't figure why they would send a young girl to the detention center.

But then again, this was a murder case.

She sat down, her hair pulled back into a ponytail She was dressed casually in a small form-fitting tee, a navy blue with the design of a flower that looked more like it would appear in a video game.

"Um, hi," Phoenix said hesitantly. "I guess you are Ms. Fearanst's daughter then?"

The girl nodded her head slowly. She had evidently been crying and trying to remain calm and collected, but now her eyes began to well up once more. She began to remind Phoenix of Maya when he first saw her in this same position on that case so long ago.

"My name is Ellie Ipssiss Fearanst," she said, wiping away at her eyes to disguise the tears.

"Ellie," Phoenix said, "I know you're upset over being thrown in here after the death of your father and all, but -"

And then she looked away, reaching for her mouth as tears slowly dripped down her slender face.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Wright," she said sorrowfully, "but I don't know what to do at the moment."

"That's okay," he replied. "Most of my clients don't know what to do. And that's why I'm here."

Ellie turned back to Phoenix, wiping her eyes. "Of course," she said, sniffling a little. "I hope I can count on you."

"Maybe you could start by telling me what happened," Phoenix said.

Ellie bit her lip for a moment, then finally described the night before:

"Well, my father wanted to take me over to the carnival last night. He knew it was a special place, and that I'd never actually been to one before. I mean, there are circuses and then there are carnivals, right? Anyway, he took me there just to have a good time. He was supposed to leave tomorrow morning on one of his business trips, and so he thought he would catch up with me before then. We tried all sorts of carnival rides and games and stuff. And then we went to the carousel..."

Phoenix had an idea of where this was going, but as he hadn't heard anything about this case at all, he decided to press on the matter. "Ellie, please, could you continue?" he asked kindly.

She bit her lip once more before finally saying, "That's where it happened.

"I remember distinctly that we rode around the white stallion. It's one of my dad's...well, was one of his favorite symbols. He was a philosopher in himself, really. But while we were on the ride, the lights went off. And not just the carousel, but most of the carnival suddenly just blacked out! For a moment, he held my hand saying that it would be fine. And then I could feel his hand twinge in the dark. And when the lights came back on..."

She covered her mouth and turned away, tears rolling down her face once more. Phoenix turned toward Olivia, who was looking away from this tragic scene.

"How did he...pass on?" Phoenix asked, cautiously wording his phrase so as not to upset the defendant any further.

"I told you, didn't I? Stabbed in the back," she spat, annoyed by his question - or maybe just him? Then she grumbled something indistinct and looked away, her arms folded up in front of her.

Phoenix returned his attention back to Ellie, who had by then recovered from her recent episode of streaming rivers. "Ellie, if you please," Phoenix continued, "after the incident..."

Ellie looked at him, her tear-strewn face suddenly wrinkling into one of anger and hate. Her lips trembled but frowned, and finally she said, "I was immediately accused as the murderer and brought here. Incredible, isn't it?"

He was taken aback by her change in behavior, but he could understand why she was upset. When the world has turned its back on you, what else could you feel? He knew the feeling all too well.

"Listen," Phoenix said, "don't worry about the police. I'll handle the case and defend you until you're free. I promise."

Ellie continued to glare unintentionally at him, but finally she lowered her head and said, "Thank you."

"How are you feeling?" he asked in an attempt to break the ice.

She sniffled a little, then replied, "Alright, I guess. It's not great being behind the glass here. I'd rather be on your side."

"Don't worry about it," Maya said unexpectedly. "The food's actually not that bad. And the bed's kinda comfy too!"

Ellie smiled a little, the first time she had done so since they got there. "I take it you've been here before then?" she asked.

"Just a couple," Maya joked. "I'm a hardened criminal, ya know."

Since when? Phoenix thought as he looked at Maya in a peculiar manner. Turning his attention back to Ellie, he asked, "You mentioned your father was going to leave on a business trip today. What exactly does he do?"

And just like that, her smile disappeared. "He's an accountant," she said.

The surrounding area darkened as chains appeared and a complicated red lock bound them together. Phoenix knew what this was, but he was a little surprised to see one so soon.

A Psyche-Lock, he thought. The only reason he could see these Psyche-Locks to begin with was because of Maya's cousin, a little girl named Pearl who was apart of a branch family of the Fey clan and whose mother had once tried to put Pearl as the heir by framing Maya for murder. He had encountered Pearl at the house, where she gave up some spiritual energy to power the Magatama he received from Maya. This spiritual power enabled him to see the Psyche-Locks that kept people's secrets hidden from him - and unlock them.

"I see," he said, trying not to draw her suspicion. "Well then, I suppose I'll just leave you to your thoughts. I've got a little bit of preparation for the case ahead."

"Thank you for doing this," Ellie replied, nodding her head. "I owe you so much."

And with some investigating, you'll owe me an explanation too, Phoenix thought to himself as he stood up and smiled. Then he turned to Olivia and asked, "Where was it your husband was murdered?"

She snorted and quickly said, "He was killed on the carousel at the Pidisque Carnival. It shouldn't be that hard to find; just look for the police."

"Thanks...I guess," Phoenix said, thinking, This isn't going to go well, is it?