Summary: Phoenix realizes he's no longer needed.
Why am I so mean to poor Phoenix? xD At any rate, I had no one in mind for the character at the end. Feel free to imagine anyone!
It was an odd feeling, he realized. Extremely odd.
The dark age of the law had finally come to a close; while there were a few isolated incidents of forgery here and there, as there always would be so long as there was a rule to be broken, it no longer ran rampant. Instead, lawyers and prosecutors fought for the truth in court, as he had learned to long ago. His proteges had grown out of his wing; though they still worked for him, they had made names for themselves and, as far as he could tell, no longer needed his guidance, either as lawyers or as people. His daughter, similarly, was grown and in college, ready to take on the Gramarye name and tour the world as Trucy Wright/Gramarye, magician extrordinaire, as soon as she was done. Kurain was peaceful, with no need for further intervention.
Yes, it was an odd feeling, indeed. It was odd to no longer be needed in the world.
Phoenix was at his apartment. He was in his room, trinkets of his past, telling the story of his life surrounding him. He looked at them one by one, considering carefully the memory associated with each piece before moving on to the next, and the next. He hadn't quite made it to forty, but he knew he'd already lived a full, long life.
He looked down at his hands; they shook with the disease that had ravaged them soon after Trucy's departure. It was incurable, the doctors had told him, and he found he didn't mind so much. He was sad to be leaving, but he felt no regrets.
He kept this knowledge to himself, knowing that he would not be able to bear the looks he'd get if his secret were to get out, and he withered in relative peace. Sure, his juniors questioned him now and then, but he never dared tell them the truth of the matter. Ironic, he found it was, that he avoid the truth when that was the driving force behind his career. That and the promises he made, but that was another story. Another story that had since been told.
Yes, he thought, he could die in peace today. There was nothing left to do; perhaps he would be mourned, but life would move on without him.
Nothing left to do...
... but pass the torch...
... and slip away...
"This just in: legendary attorney Phoenix Wright passed away in his apartment this morning. According to his physician, Wright was fighting a losing battle with a so far incurable strain of..."
Glass slipped from suddenly frozen fingers. Knees hit the floor, heedless of sharp, digging shards and spilled liquid, the owner of the knees shocked in a decidedly unpleasant manner at the news.
"No... Phoenix... no. . ."