She opened the door slowly, in anticipation for what might be discussed between her and her boss. "I-I'm here, boss."

Her boss, Phoenix Wright turned around on his swindle chair with a mellowed look sending reassurance to Athena. "There's nothing to be afraid of, Athena. You're not in trouble. I left a chair for you in front of my desk. Have a seat."

"S-Sure."

Athena slowly sat down on the chair as she maintained an uneasy eye-contact with her boss. When she got a phone call this morning that Phoenix wanted to talk to her, he sounded rather serious and stern. Perhaps it was her imagination, she thought.

Phoenix softly crossed her arms as he maintained eye contact with her. "Give me an honest answer, Athena. Do you know why I called you down here?"

Athena slowly shook her head. "N-No. You were pretty vague about why you wanted to call me here, boss, even when I asked why. I'm guessing you're about to tell me?"

The corner of Phoenix's lips moved slightly upward. He turned around on his swindle chair and reached for a small picture frame that was directly in front of him. Then, he turned back toward Athena and reached out to her with the picture. He signaled at her to take it.

Cautiously, she slowly took the picture frame from Phoenix. Her eyes scanned what picture was contained and what she saw made her quirk an eyebrow. It was picture of a brunette woman who was smiling straight ahead with a soft look in her eyes.

"Who is this?" Athena asked as she looked up at him from the picture frame.

Phoenix shot a serious look at her. "That would happen to be your grandmother."

"K-KAH?!"

Phoenix broke out in laughter and slammed his desk with one hand twice. "That got you better than I thought it would! Ha! Ha! Ha!"

Athena felt chills crawl down her body from the morbid joke he just played on her. "B-Boss…for real, who is this woman?"

"Right." The spike-haired attorney combed his hair backward with swagger before answering. "That woman is Mia Fey, my former boss if you will. The one who taught me everything I know and what I'm now passing down onto both you and Apollo."

Gently, Athena put the picture frame down onto the table standing up. "This is your mentor? You never really talked much about her. And to be honest, I can't say I know a lot or why you would decide to tell me about her just now. Why not Apollo, too, boss?"

"Because you and somebody else remind me of how she and I used to be."

"H-Huh?" Her eyebrows rose up.

Phoenix explained. "From the time I've spent with you, Athena, I've noticed a similarity. An indirect one but still one, nonetheless. First of all, let me tell you about her. Mia Fey was the truest friend I've ever had in my life."

"Was?"

"…She's…permanently retired, let's just say…"

Athena gasped as she put both hands on her cheeks. "I-I'm so sorry for your loss…"

He gave a hollow chuckle at her. "It's okay. No use crying over spilled milk. Anyway, before my first trial, I've studied under her for at least three years. It all started after she gave me a complete acquittal for a murder charge that was pressed against me. Overtime, we got to know each other as people. And soon, we started seeing each other outside of work. Soon, we were happy just to be able to see each other and again, overtime, we changed. I became less of a crybaby and she became less of a hothead, because of the time we spent. We changed each other for the better because of the time we spent with each other."

"Wow… He's making it sound like they were…close once…"

After waiting for a response from Athena but not getting one, Phoenix continued. "…Sometimes, we knew what the other one was thinking without even realizing it. We were a team, she and I. A team that I thought was inseparable. And then my first trial came. As you can imagine, I was a nervous wreck at the time. My first trial, it was the defining reason why I wanted to become an attorney. …To help my friend."

Athena raised her neck at that reasoning. "You wanted to help your friend? That's...that does sound similar to how I wanted to help Simon…"

Phoenix nodded in approval. "I knew you would catch on. …In the end, I was successful with a little help from her. To celebrate, we'd go on a date, her and I. …But sadly, it was never meant to be."

Athena gasped as she got a feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Y-You mean…?"

He sighed. "Yes… When I went to meet up with her, she was already…dead, murdered. I had no idea at the time but she was dealing with more than what I can imagine. And it got her killed. I was just getting started with my career and time took her away from me. Yet, somehow, I could still feel her. I could still hear her giving me advice whenever I was in a jam in court. I could hear her…giving me just the right words to keep going, never giving up on what seemed to be a lost cause. She taught me to always look towards the light of the truth, and that's all that mattered in the end."

After he was done, he took out a tissue from the tissue box and lent it to Athena.

At first she was confused but then she realized that she had been crying all this time, listening to Phoenix's story about how he came to lose his mentor at such an early point in his career. She took the tissue from him and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Th-Thanks, boss…"

"You're welcome. Sorry I put you through that."

She shook her head at him. "N-No, it's just...that's both a sad and beautiful story you told me, boss. You and your mentor, you two really sounded like you were really a great pair of friends… I mean, the way you described how you could still feel her whispering, it was like how I could still feel Simon's smiling at me as I studied psychology. He had the best smile in the world before everything happened with my mother… I felt like that smile was destroyed forever when he falsely got convicted."

Phoenix's lips curved into a faint smile. "But you saved him. You said it yourself, it was very reason why you wanted to become a lawyer." He paused again for a moment and glanced down at his desk. Then, after a few seconds, he glanced back up in Athena's direction. "Forgive me, Athena. But, there are actually two reasons why I called you here."

"H-Huh?"

He curved his lips even more to make a more obvious smile. "…I also wanted to thank you for everything you have done for us up to this point. If you weren't there, Simon would have been executed and the phantom would never have been caught. It was your mother's gift and your ability that have ended it. Even though you suffered the most at the hands of the phantom, it was you who delivered the final blow that finally brought him to justice. You could have chosen to live a peaceful life in Europe but you didn't run. Instead, you trained yourself for years on end for that moment of saving Simon, the man who understood you through and through as you struggled to live a normal life when your power was very volatile."

Athena felt her chest growing warm. She rested both her hands on her chest as she gave a warm smile to her superior. "B-Boss… I'm just happy that Simon is free at last. I didn't want to lose him. He didn't deserve to die. I…"

"Love him?" Phoenix finished for her with his eyes closed.

Athena gasped as she felt her cheeks rising in temperature. She couldn't hide the blush on her face. "M-Mr. Wright! Th-That's…!"

Phoenix had his eyes half-opened as his smile became a bittersweet smirk. "…I told you that you and I had an indirect similarity. We both have someone precious in our lives that we wanted at our side, always. …Sometime after her death, I realized how much she truly meant to me and my life. …B-But… I never…got to tell her. It's…a huge shame…" Phoenix could barely contain his own tears that were about to stream down his face. "I took everything I had with her for granted, what I felt for her for granted. Who I am today is drawn back to that woman."

"M-Mr. Wright…"

Phoenix's own tears started to stream down his face as he maintained that bittersweet smirk of his. "…Athena, there is one major difference between you and me, and that's where our indirect similarities end. And it's that he's still alive. He said something back in the lobby when everything was all over. It's that his sworn duty was to protect his mentor's greatest treasure, which is you. But I think that his loyalty extends beyond that. I think you are also his greatest treasure for all that you done for him."

Athena started sobbing audibly as she buried her face in both her cupped hands. "S-Simon…"

In this conversation that yielded many tears, Phoenix had one more message to preach to her. "Athena, do something for Simon that I couldn't do for Mia. Let him know how you feel about him, how important he is to you. I couldn't, and now she'll never know… So don't take him for granted, although you probably knew that."

"AWW, BOSS!" She yelled with a crack voiced through her sobs. "I-I'll do it… I'll do it, b-but, boss?"

"Yes, Athena?"

Athena managed to crack a smile through her tears. "Call this a hunch but, I'm sure she already knows how you feel about her and that she's proud of you."

Phoenix used a tissue to gently pat his tears away. "…Yeah, I think you're right. Anyway, that's it. You're dismissed, Athena. You can leave."

Athena nodded as she slowly stood up from her chair. "Boss?"

"Yes?"

"…Just…thank you…"