Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from Ace attorney, the rights to the franchise belong to Capcom and not me.

The price of perception.

It was a nice and pleasant day in Japanifornia.

The sun was shining, the season of Summer was fast approaching and everything was quite nice.

The city had been calm and even relaxed so there wasn't as many false accusations being thrown around and, therefore, no client had come for a good and solid week now. It was a good thing that there was peace all around the city but not so good because the bills were needing to be paid with mediocre piano songs that were poorly played.

It had been a solid couple of months since one of his students/employees, Apollo Justice, had decided to stay in Khura'in to try and help mend the legal system and to try and inspire some more lawyers to base themselves in the kingdom to try and set everything right after the tyrant queen Ga'ran had been booted off the thrown in court.

Everything was quiet for the most part.

The famous Phoenix Wright, attorney-at-law, was the only one occupying the "Wright anything agency", his adopted daughter was staying over at a friend's house for a sleepover and Athena had been given the day off due to her catching a case of hay fever. He had been busying himself at the agency in spite of the lack of work lately and simply just dived into some disregarded paperwork. He sat at his mahogany desk as he scribbled away, signing check after check and even having to sign letters and the very rare bit of fan mail.

The attorney in blue liked this part of his job the least, mainly because of how terribly boring and tedious everything was.

He glanced over to the nearby table clock that read "16:45 PM" and sighed.

It made him wish that something exciting would happen.

He also hadn't received any letters from Apollo at first but he assumed that was just because of the country's situation where the law was recovering. He had to wonder how he was doing, how he was coping with everything in Khura'in? He guessed that he was overwhelmed by all of the cases he was getting, especially since (as far as he knew) Apollo was the main attorney to go to so everybody went to him when it came to claims of homicide and even a few civil matters.

Phoenix shook his head.

He hoped he was doing well...

Everything remained quiet until, all of a sudden, the lawyer's phone burst out with the "Steel samurai theme song".

"Eek!"

His heart jumped into his throat and started to pound hard and fast, his whole body trembled and his breathing became erratic as he cried out in surprise.

It shocked him so much that he almost jumped right out of his chair and dropped his phone, but made a desperate fumble with his right hand and managed to snatch the phone right out of midair before swiftly open it and pressed it firmly to his ear so he could catch the voice of whoever decided to try calling him out of the blue.

His hand was still trembling as he gripped his phone so hard that he could have easily crushed the small device in half.

"H-Hello?" Phoenix answered, breathing deeply to calm himself from the intense shock he just went through. He felt as his heart slowly sunk back down into his chest where it belonged and he placed his free hand, still gripping the pen he was previously writing with a mere minute ago.

"Greetings, Mr. Wright."

The king of bluffing's eyes widened in their sockets. His heart skipped a beat. He recognised that overly calm voice. He would recognise it anywhere, even though he had only heard it once. He couldn't help but let out a disbelieving chuff of surprise as he exclaimed, leaping out of his chair and standing to his feet.

The force knocked the chair backwards and sent it hurtling to the floor.

"Hey, Nahyuta. This is an unexpected surprise!"

(Especially since I had no idea you could even use a phone...) He thought to himself.

"My apologies for troubling you, Mr. Wright, but I require your assistance with something."

Phoenix was confused. He didn't know how he could help with whatever this was but he had a strong feeling that this was somehow related to a certain loud attorney that used to study beneath him, he didn't know how he knew that but something inside him was getting the strong impression that this involved the younger spiky-fringed attorney-at-law.

"Uhhh...sure, whatever it is you need, I'll be more then happy to help."

He could practically feel the absolute relief on the other end of the phone.

Nahyuta wasted no time and started to explain.

"It first started about a month after Apollo had made his decision to stay in Khura'in to assist in making things right. At first there weren't many problems, however, he was blinking his eyes more then any other person would alas I didn't fret much about that at the time. But now Apollo would squint his eyes every once in awhile and would need to look at things really closely to read them."

Phoenix frowned and he furrowed his wiry brows with concern, listening intently as the regent of Khura'in continued.

"Things only recently got worse and he's started to bump into things and not seem to notice the most trivial things that anyone else would notice if they were looking right in front of them. I am beginning to worry because, even though Rayfa and myself had pleaded with him to get assistance, he refuses and insists he is perfectly alright."

(Hmmm...That does sound strange.)

Alas the lawyer in blue could not help but roll his eyes at that.

It sounded typical of Apollo to push people away when he was dealing with something so he wasn't even the slightest bit surprised. He fought the urge to let out an exasperated sigh and simply mulled it over for a minute, especially when he considered the fact that Nahyuta wouldn't be calling him unless this was a serious situation.

He figured that there was more to this...

Still Phoenix raised his brow in a perplexed yet dubious manner. He had to admit that he was beginning to see that Nahyuta may have had a justifiable reason to worry about his adoptive brother, especially since (from what he was hearing) Apollo's behaviour was quite suspicious and strange. He scratched the top of his head confusedly.

"Sooo...what do you need my help with?"

Nahyuta's response to that came out with a fair bit of reluctance, but he still spat it out.

"I considered the thought that if Apollo would not open up to me, then he perhaps would to you."

The ace attorney was so happy that he wasn't drinking anything right then and there because he was sure that if he was then the drink would have been violently sucked down his trachea and then he would have spat it out all over the place followed by a horrific ten minutes of coughing and hacking his lungs out.

He shrieked so loud that he was sure that he had shredded his own throat to ribbons, "Wh-Wh-Wh-WHAT!? ME!?"

He wondered if the Last rites prosecutor actually thought about what that idea would entail?

Phoenix then proceeded to go on a tirade.

"I can't leave my country right now, we may be having some downtime right now but a client could come at anytime! What if someone came and I wasn't there? I mean, I know that Athena could probably handle it but I don't feel comfortable about leaving Athena and Trucy all on their own! I mean, what if something happens!? I want to help Apollo, really I do, but what if I get a new client out of the blue!?"

Nahyuta was all but silent on the other end —the Khura'inese monk seemed to have been waiting for the Ace attorney in blue to finish, utilising his famous patience and calm-temperedness and using it to quell the older attorney-at-law's worries as he listened to every little snippet of concern so he could address each little worry and stress he had.

When the lawyer had finally stopped talking, it was Nahyuta's turn to speak.

"Worry not, Barbed one," He said calmly, "I have already made preparations for you to come to Khura'in. I have inquired about a friend of yours to come and take care of things while you are over here, I arranged your travel ticket in foresight and, whilst I understand this isn't ideal, I need your help. Apollo is my brother and the safety and well-being of my siblings means everything to me..."

Nahyuta's voice shifted from reassuring to (sort of) pleading.

"You had helped raise him while he lived in the United States and that is why I know he will open up to you. Please help him."

The ace attorney was silent for several moments as he pondered upon this. Well, he was impressed that Nahyuta had sorted everything out in foresight and he couldn't help but be even more impressed that he was willing to go so far just to make those he cares about safe and happy. The barb-headed attorney was touched that the regent of Khura'in was willing to go so far just to help Apollo, the brother that he had helped Dhurke raise...until Phoenix himself took over and helped raise the young man into someone special.

It touched him so deeply that now he knew he couldn't leave this be.

Before Phoenix could say anymore to respond to the prompt request, Nahyuta said one last thing.

"My putrid red pepper of a brother needs you to help him."

Then he hung up.

Phoenix kept standing for awhile, phone still pressed firmly to his ear. He could feel his mind buzzing with anticipation as he now had a duty to go ahead and arrange his flight to get over to the kingdom, and he had no clue as to who would be looking after the agency and the girls during his absence but he had a feeling of dread settle in his gut that this was going to be an outcome he wouldn't take to very easily.

He finally forced his legs to move, sunk down, sat down in his chair to sit at his desk and hung his head.

He clicked his tongue and buried his face in his hands.

"Apollo...what trouble have you got yourself into now?"

A/N: Heres the first chapter of "The price of perception".

Its mostly a fic about the father/son bond between Phoenix and Apollo and this takes place just after Spirit of justice. It also centres on something that I think happens with those of the Gramarye bloodline if their gift is used too frequently.

I hope you guys enjoy it.

-Chloemcg