Disclaimer: The "Ace Attorney" series does not belong to me. I make no profit from this. Phoenix Wright originally created by Shu Takumi.
Author's Note: More depressing Ace Attorney stories. I have to stop listening to Paradise Circus.
July 6, 2026, 7:00 P.M., Sunshine Coliseum, Stage
One day before the big concert, Valant is feeling confident. His disappearing trick involving the singer, Lamiroir, is going to work. He knows it.
Though not everyone else is nearly as certain. Case in point: Klavier Gavin. The man is a fervent fusspot. He insists on at least five practices every day to make sure the execution is flawless.
Which explains why Valant is still at the Sunshine Coliseum past five o'clock. He rolls his eyes for the seventh time in as many minutes. To him, this is only a reminder of how the Gramaryes have been forgotten by so many. The troupe had accomplished much greater feats than simply disappearing here and showing up there. But Valant doesn't dare say it. If he does, then Gavin will demand that Valant perform one of those instead and then they'll all be sleeping in the coliseum
It isn't all bad, though. Lamiroir is pleasant enough to be around. She isn't a temperamental diva, like that Gavin. And she had memorized her route quite easily. So here they are. The soft-spoken singer and the conceited conjurer.
"Mr. Gramarye?" Lamiroir says.
"Yes, Lamiroir?" Valant replies, looking up from his map of the tunnel.
"I counted the steps from my spot to the tunnel and I think it would be quicker if I moved more to the left." She says, her chin on her hand.
"You do? Well, we ought to do that, then don't we? Everything must be perfect for the pretty boy in purple." Valant says, chuckling at his own comment.
"Yes, I suppose." She says. She quite likes Klavier, but humors Valant nonetheless.
"In that case, let's run through it once more." He says.
Lamiroir nods and moves towards the left side of the stage, but trips over a previously discarded microphone. Valant swiftly catches her and her veil falls off. And then he sees her.
Thalassa.
He can't help but stare. The resemblance is too much and he says nothing.
"Thank you, Mr. Gramarye. I apologize for burdening you with my clumsiness." She says, embarrassed.
He still says nothing.
"Mr. Gramarye?"
She died. She died. She died. And now she is haunting him.
"Are you all right, Mr. Gramarye?"
Why not Zack? Haunt him. He felt guilty, too. He should have felt guiltier than Valant. He was married to her, for heaven's sake!
"I, um, I'm going to get up now."
Wait, Zack was dead. And so was Magnifi. Why didn't she stay dead with them? Leave him alone? The nightmares were enough. The sleeplessness was enough. Why not go away?
Lamiroir removes herself form Valant's death grip (dead, dead, why am I not dead? Why couldn't I go with them? Trucy can survive on her own. She has. New lawyer father, new school, new name,) and gets up. She opens her mouth to say something to Valant and doesn't. He's still staring at the ground.
Still remembering and wishing he was dead and that the old man had given him the rights and why does she look so much like Thalassa?
Author's Note: The alliteration is too much, isn't it? Please tell me. Also, is the shift from lighthearted jabs at Klavier to dark thoughts and wishes too jarring?