A/N: Aaaaaaaah I almost didn't finish this on time (I'm already too late for some timezones ahahahaha) and man, I wasn't even planning on making this a real Singles Awareness Day fic. It was only supposed to take place across from Cool Cat Turnabout (and that doesn't even matter!), and then the time of year forced my hand...

Anyway, here's the "more next-gen AU and less sci-fi" you've all been waiting(?) for.

February 14, 6:00 PM, Ivy University

'I'd love to go out to dinner and a movie with you,' she said.

'Meet me at Ivy U in front of the fine arts building,' she said.

'I'll be there at five o'clock,' she said.

…yeah.

Stupid Stacy, Miles Wright thought sourly, I wasn't that interested in her anyway. She probably only agreed to go on a date with me because my parents are famous… He snorted and rolled his eyes. Yeah, famous. One's a famous attorney, and the other one's a famous MISSING PERSON'S CASE.

He left out the fact that his step-father was also a famous attorney.

"Yo! Miles!"

Miles would have recognized that voice in a crowd of babbling seiyuu, so he didn't really need to turn around around to see who the tall, slender, twenty-year-old (one year his senior) girl with channeling robes (partially covered up by a faux-fur-lined coat) and a ponytail was. "Hi, Mairwen." She was standing at the other end of the path that Miles had stood waiting at for an hour, and waving.

"What's up?" Mairwen said, coming to stand next to Miles. "What are you doing here?"

"Just got stood up for a date," Miles said, "what are you doing here?

Mairwen shrugged. "Mom said it'd be a good idea for me to look into taking some classes somewhere. I mean, I know my future is already secured since I'm next in line to be Master, and all, but it'll be a while before Mom kicks it…"

"…plus something might happen to disgrace Kurain again," Miles said, cracking a smile, "and you'll have to get a real job to keep electricity running to Fey Manor."

Mairwen puffed out her cheeks. "Not likely, Miles!"

"What classes were you thinking about taking, anyway?"

Mairwen put a finger to her mouth. "Let's see… either history or filmmaking."

"What? They have nothing to with each other."

"Film history?"

"They don't offer that here."

"Oh." Mairwen said. "Speaking of people not offering things… why'd you get stood up for a date?"

Miles shrugged bitterly. "How am I supposed to know? 'The depths of a woman's heart have not yet been explored…'"

"Gods, maybe she rejected you because you quoted Dostoyevsky at her. Only do that with nerdy chicks, Miles."

"Nerdy chicks? Stacy's a STEM major of some sort."

"Dostoyevsky's better suited for a Russian literature major, obviously. Preeeeetty sure they don't have those here." Mairwen smiled. "I bet she just agreed to go on a date with you to make you shut up."

"Well," Miles grumbled, "I was actually just thinking it was because my parents have been in the newspaper…"

"Oh, of course: Phoenix Wright's oldest son, the catch of the century," Mairwen said sarcastically, "I'll bet Stacy was just enamored with all those stories about your dad making the courts just shake their heads in baffled wonderment. And, and, the enthralling tales of your step-dad publicly denouncing corruption in all these random places… next up on the chopping block is probably the upper management of the local grocery store."

"Edgeworth does not count as one of my parents," Miles snapped.

Mairwen ignored him. "Actually, didn't he do that already? That grocery store that Uncle Nick always shops at - didn't Mr. Edgeworth, the chief of police, and one of their friends end up exposing its board of directors for embezzling, like, last November?"

Miles ignored her in turn. "Maybe Stacy just felt sorry for me because my mother's missing."

There was a brief pause, and Mairwen took a breath. "Miles," she said almost tentatively, "it's been almost thirteen years. Don't you think you should-"

"That sentence better not end with 'get over it', Mairwen," Miles said loudly.

Mairwen clapped Miles on the back. "I'd never tell you to just get over it like that," she said, "it's just that… well, getting over something doesn't mean forgetting that it happened, or forgetting the person that it happened to-"

"It's not like I could ever forget," Miles said, stepping away from Mairwen. "I can still remember everything about the day that it happened, even though I was only six years old…" He blinked. "It was June 3, 2041. It was hot that day…"

"Miles…"

"We were all playing on the roof, all of us who lived in the city: Misty and I, Alois and Jana, Wat, and Miguel, and Maria, Ace, and Ares were sort of watching us up there, and Satsuma was downstairs helping Mom with Valerie and Diego, because they were really little back then. The water pressure to the sprinkler suddenly stopped so Misty and I went down-"

"Miles!" Mairwen shouted, grabbing him by the shoulders. He started. "How many times are you going to re-live this? Don't tell me you still blame yourself!"

"B-Blame myself? I don't… why would I…?"

Mairwen dropped her arms, frowning. "Come on, I remember. Right after it happened, my mom and I visited a bunch of times, even though Mom was really busy back then… you would keep running to me and pulling me into a closet or empty room so you could cry about how it was your fault without anyone else seeing."

"I, I, I-I don't remember that part at all. Seriously?"

Mairwen laughed once. "Maybe you suppressed the memory because it was so pathetic."

"Mairwen!"

"I'm kidding," she said, half-shrugging, "maybe I really did convince you back then that there was no way you could have been responsible. I mean, you were only six. And what you wanted Aunt Iris to do was to fix the water pressure… not offer popsicles as a replacement and make a run down the store."

There was another pause, long this time. Miles' jaw worked. "And she never came back."

"I know, Miles. I know."

"And then it was like Dad didn't even care!" Miles suddenly burst out, throwing his hands up. "He- it just didn't matter to him - his family, he turned his back on us! After all he and my mother went through - they, they were the perfect couple, Mairwen, and then when she vanished right off the face off the Earth-"

"Miiiiiiles, calm down."

"Our mother was missing and what happened? Dad wouldn't even come home."

"He was looking for her!"

"Then why did he never find her?!" Miles demanded, "he's solved so many cases, except for the one that should have mattered the most to him - he just… he just let her go."

"Miles," Mairwen said gently, "Uncle Phoenix is sure that Aunt Iris is dead. He accepted it and moved on with his life… Mom says that that's exactly what Aunt Iris would have wanted."

"But Mom can't be dead," Miles insisted, "you should know that better than anyone. One of the first things he did was ask your mom to channel mine, and he kept asking-"

"-every month for four years," Mairwen said, "I know. I even tried to channel Aunt Iris myself, once."

"But you didn't suceed," Miles said, "and Aunt Maya didn't either. Neither of you could summon her spirit, so - she must be still alive. She has to be - and what does Dad do? He proposes to Edgeworth Christmas of '45, when he should have still been looking for her, and they get married June of '48, just two weeks after Mom's death in absentia. Thrift, thrift, Mairwen!"

Mairwen pinched the bridge of her nose, squeezing her eyes shut. "For the love of… Miles, every time you quote Hamlet, I die a little bit inside. Why am I always Horatio?"

Miles opened his mouth to respond, but Mairwen cut him off. "Also - one, everyone knows that the reason your dad got remarried to Mr. Edgeworth was because he was really the only one who was available to take care of you and your siblings while he was off exhausting every lead searching for your mother. Don't you remember? Everyone was so busy at that time with their own lives and families, and Athena Cykes, you know, the expert in psychology, said that you all would be worse off if you had to move in with someone else right after that traumatic experience, so it had to someone who could come live at your house until things settle down. Mr. Edgeworth was the only one who could do that! It wasn't some kind of conspiracy!"

"I didn't say it was some kind of conspiracy!" Miles protested. Mairwen put her hand over his mouth to shut him up.

"Two, as much as I hate to say it, the Kurain Channelling Technique isn't perfect. They may be obscure, but there are ways that you can block it. We can't channel every dead person. And I don't know what your father found, or how he found it, but he's got some kind of evidence that says that whoever kidnapped your mom, it was someone who could have blocked our power. I heard him talking to Mom about it years ago… and you know what? She agreed with him! Actually, I'm pretty sure that that was right before he stopped searching and returned to you guys." She paused, thinking. "All this time I just thought it was because Diego and Valerie were going to enter kindergarten soon, and he already missed all the stuff like first steps, first words…"

Miles grabbed Mairwen's wrist and lowered her hand, scowling. "Even if he thinks the people that kidnapped Mom could have killed her and prevented her from being channelled, he should know better than anyone that that doesn't mean they did. He's a lawyer. He's a lawyer that can't even keep his own family together."

"Can't even keep his own family together!" Mairwen put her hands on her hips. "Miles, didn't you hear me? He missed some major milestones his two youngest children's lives because he was looking for his wife. Do you wish that he could have missed more? I'd say the reason why he gave up the search when he did was because he wanted to keep his family - better to lose one member by giving up than all of them by chasing down an impossibility."

"He wouldn't have-"

"Don't you remember what it was like when he first came back?" Mairwen said, "I heard about it from Mom - Valerie and Diego had, like, no idea who he was. They thought that Mr. Edgeworth was their dad, and Uncle Phoenix was just some guy who'd sometimes come into their home after dark, sleep somewhere, and leave again before morning. Did you forget?"

"I, uh…"

Her cheeks puffed out in anger. "And even after five and half years, you're still mad about your dad's remarriage! Gods, Miles, let it go! He was just trying to put a family back together again - and you go and move out when you were fourteen. What on Earth did that family court judge even think about that?"

Miles grimaced. "Ah, he, uh, was just… surprised that two prominent members of the legal community, um, and my siblings were s-so well-adjusted… or at least he thought, anyway, I mean, Misty-"

"Don't bring Misty into this," Mairwen barked, "she might remember the day your mom disappeared almost as well as you do, but she didn't try to tear her family apart in retaliation!"

"I am not trying to tear my family apart in retaliation!"

"Misty moved on! She accepted what happened - she accepted the fact that your. mother. is. DEAD, Miles!"

"SHE IS NOT-"

"And four!" Mairwen said.

"…Mairwen, you skipped three."

"Bite me, Miles," Mairwen said seriously, "seriously. Do you plan to spend your whole life moping about your mother?"

Miles twitched. "I just want her to come home. I just…"

"You're not the only one who wants a parent to come home," Mairwen said hotly, "but you don't see me lashing out at my mom and living by myself or anything like that. If I can accept the fact that my father is… gone all the time, why can't you - you, who can be totally sure that your mom wanted you and loved you, and she didn't leave of her own accord, if you discount Valerie's theory - why can't you move on?"

There were tears in her eyes. Miles felt… awful.

"M-Mairwen, it's… not the same as-"

"Shut up!" she yelled, stomping her foot, "you obsess over the past anyway - why can't you just appreciate the parts of it that were good?! You had an awesome, loving family, and you'd still have one, even if it is a bit different, if you'd go back and make up with your dad already!"

"Did he put you up to this?" Miles said defensively, taking a step back.

"Miles- what do you take me for, huh?"

"Did Misty put you up to this?"

Mairwen took a deep breath, drawing herself up angrily - then sighed, deflated. "…yeah, a little bit," she admitted. "She told me about your date here tonight and suggested that I should just 'happen' to visit Ivy U… and see if we could have a little talk."

Miles grunted. "Some plan. How were you planning on bringing it up if I didn't?"

Mairwen shrugged. "We were sure that you'd bring it up yourself."

"I'm… not that predictable, am I?"

"Well, how could you not? I mean, this is the place where your parents met, after all."

Miles turned and looked over the campus. He hadn't even thought of that, but it was true - even if for a few years his dad was under this impression that he'd met his wife at the courthouse. Strange that he would end up here at all - he'd been hired by Quetzalcoatl Law Firm right out of Themis Academy, so he hadn't technically attended this or any other college - but, on Valentine's Day of all times…? He glanced at the blooming cherry trees that lined the walk, and at Mairwen who was glowering at him with arms folded.

He started to laugh, in spite of everything. When everything was framed that way, it almost seemed like a sign. Didn't the dead do that? Send signs?

I'd believe it if Misty and Mairwen hadn't set me up, he thought, chuckling. "So," he said to a confused Mairwen, "did Misty call Stacy and tell her to blow me off, or did you happen to meet her on the way here and sent her away?"

"Uh…" Mairwen said, "actually, when I came here I wasn't expecting to find you, since the train got delayed. I was supposed to bump into you before your date."

"…so I really did get rejected?"

"Yeah."

"…dammit. I made reservations."

Mairwen checked her watch. "Have you missed them yet? I'm getting kind of hungry."

Miles gave her a look. "Do you really think I'm about to take my second cousin out on a Valentine's Day date?"

Mairwen stuck her tongue out at him. "It's not a date, stupid, and anyway, even if it were, no one really thinks that second cousins count as incest. I'm hungry, Miles. Feed me."

"Alright, alright," Miles said, half-laughing again, "hope you like Spanish food."

"I like everything. Also…"

"Mairwen… right now, I don't have any intentions of talking it over with my father… alright? I've already moved out, it… just doesn't matter that much anymore."

"Miles…!"

"And I want to exhaust my own search first." He looked up at the sky. "When I come to my own conclusion… I'll go home. But not before."

The wind blew. Mairwen smiled sadly. "You're so thickheaded… Mom's right. You are just like your dad."

"H-Hey…"

"Alright, nevermind. We have una reserva to catch."

Finally I get the chance to establish Miles&Mairwen as being the next Phoenix&Maya. Also I get to go into more detail about Iris' kidnapping/murder/whatever happened then. It's plot-relevant! (The Janaverse plot is completely out of control, BTW. Just FYI.)

(I believe, actually, that the plan is that most of the Miles and Iris stuff is to be handled by Sith when he comes off his mission and I go on mine. When he left, we decided that after our collaboration on LAL, I would lay the groundwork for the next generation AU that follows it, and then hand off the writing to him, and then when I get back we'd continue to collaborate like we did with LAL. Uh... yeah, that does mean that the Janaverse is projected to continue for several years.)

I actually still have three more Janaverse fics that I hope to finish and upload by July, which is the earliest I might leave: Alea Turnabout Est, the next one, which I am currently working on; Triple Turnabout, which will be one heck of a trip let me tell you now; and Tennessee Turnabout, which will FINALLY wrap up Subterranean Turnabout AND set up some key things about the Tula Group. Keep an eye out. I got two and quarter chapters of Alea so far out of an estimated five.