Apollo and Nahyuta go to Dhurke's final resting place and wonder, what if?

Nahyuta glanced to the side when he saw Apollo shift, and his expression tighten in that way it always did when he was attempting to hide what he was thinking. For the most part it worked. Just…not for people who knew him very well.

"Are you alright?" He asked carefully.

Apollo's head snapped in Nahyuta's direction. "What? Of course I am—I'm Apollo Justice and I'm fine!"

Nahyuta tried not to wince at the volume of Apollo's voice. "So you've said. Repeatedly."

Apollo ran his hands through his hair awkwardly. "Sorry. Why do you ask?…About me being alright, I mean."

"I've been worried," Nahyuta replied easily. "I can't say that I'm exactly pleased that I've been too busy to speak with you. And…come here."

He stared blankly at Dhurke's headstone in front of him. "I've been waiting for you to come for a while."

"Mm."

"I wish you were able to talk to him after the trial. You probably had a lot to say to him."

"The same goes for you, I would think."

A heavy sigh. "We both needed to have a long talk with him, but at least I was able to be able to see him," Apollo paused. "He implied that we would be able to talk when I went to visit him in the detention center, you know."

Nahyuta looked at him. "Did he?" He asked. "That's…odd. All things considered."

"I don't think he expected things to end the way they did," he shook his head. "There's a lot of wishing and what-if's we could have, but if anything, I think I would want to know what he was going to say."

"Some things are to remain a mystery," Nahyuta closed his eyes. "We shouldn't expect answers to everything," he turned to look at Apollo, amusement flickering in his eyes. "I wouldn't be surprised if you attempted to find out regardless."

"Well considering that I normally do get all the answers I want anyway, you shouldn't be," Apollo replied ruefully. "I think I would be able to if I tried hard enough."

Nahyuta looked thoughtful. "Apollo, may I ask you something?"

"Uh…that depends on what you're going to be asking me," Apollo crossed his arms. "From your expression, and the fact that you had to ask me before asking, it doesn't look like it's going to be anything light."

"It depends on how you feel about your biological father." Your real father, a voice in his head said. He found that he didn't want to bring himself to say the words aloud. It would imply that somehow Dhurke wasn't Apollo's father. He was. In every way that really mattered. But when all was said and done, it didn't change the fact that Apollo was forcibly ripped away from his original family at the hands of the one he was adopted into. That…that couldn't be fair, and Nahyuta would not wish it upon anyone.

Apollo pressed his pointer finger to his forehead. "I don't know what to think about him. I never knew him, so I can't say I'm exactly grieved that he died. What happened was horrific in every sense of the word, but…well you get it. With all due respect to him, of course."

"I see," Nahyuta looked away. "If you had the chance to choose, would you had rather grown up with your biological parents?" He didn't know if he wanted to really hear the answer, but that never stopped him before.

He blinked at the question and struggled to find a way to respond. "You can't seriously be asking me this." Apollo finally said.

That response gave him pause. "…I don't understand."

"You're asking me if I would have chose to never have met you. Or Dhurke."

"If you want to think about it that way then…"

"You can't just ask me that. Especially you in front of Dhurke's grave." His gaze darkened.

Nahyuta winced. "I'm sorry, that was callous of me. I didn't mean offense."

There was a long silence. "Is this one of your what-if's, Nahyuta?" Apollo asked. His voice was quite noticeably softer.

"One of them," he affirmed brusquely, not wanting Apollo to suddenly shift the conversation around to him. "I did not mean it the context you put my question in," Nahyuta stated matter-of-factly. "I hadn't even considered it. All I wanted to know was if you'd have preferred it."

Apollo eyed him. "You're just trying to get away with asking your question anyway without me thinking about it too hard." He accused.

"Your powers of perception never fail to amaze me."

The tone came out bordering on sarcasm, uncharacteristic for the mild-mannered monk, but Apollo chose to ignore it. "Well in that case…" he pursed his lips. "I don't know. I know that I wouldn't have wanted my father to have been killed, and my mother to have disappeared, but… I like the family I grew up with. Growing up with you isn't something that I can just forget about, and believe me, I tried. Dhurke wasn't perfect, and he left me in America, stopped visiting me completely after five years, and never came back for me like he promised but if you overlook—"

"The parental abandonment? Yes, I suppose your childhood couldn't have been all that bad once you overlook that." Nahyuta added, "You're overthinking it, Mr. Justice."

"Your cynicism makes it sound worse than it actually was," Apollo deadpanned. "It all worked out for the better if you look at the bigger picture of things. If I stayed in Khura'in with you and Dhurke, I never would have met Mr. Wright, his daughter Trucy, Athena…" he paused. "…and Clay." He finished quietly.

"Your optimism makes the ordeal sound better than it probably was."

"Don't ruin this for me. I'm trying to be appreciative of the way things turned out. It makes me feel better about my life."

"Sorry."

"I don't even know if I would have become a lawyer without Dhurke. Mr. Wright played a really big part in it too, but Dhurke planted the seed, I guess you could say."

"You're skirting around my question. You only have to say 'yes,' or 'no'. I won't take it personally."

"No."

This is something that I've had written for a while. It, along with several other SoJ gen fics have been sitting around collecting dust. I'll post some more of them if people seem interested.

One thing that has always bugged me is how I've seen a lot of people write Apollo having sentimental feelings towards Jove in one form or another, and there is no way that would be possible. People who were adopted as young as Apollo and have never interacted with their birth parent(s) generally don't even give them a second thought. IIRC, he even says in-game that he never even thought that much about Jove because he considered Dhurke his dad, and still didn't all the way into adulthood until he saw the picture, which got him a little curious.

This is canon too-Apollo doesn't even bat an eye when he sees Jove's final moments, but has a Heroic B.S.O.D. when he learns that Dhurke is dead and even gets a new animation for it.

Anyway, criticism is always welcome, especially with my punctuation and pacing since I suck with both.