"The Snuffed Out Light"
Chapter 1
"The day life lost all its meaning."
He woke with a loud gasp.
His lungs burning, gulping in air like a parched man does water.
He… he could finally breathe...
"Mr. Edgeworth!" A voice suddenly called out from somewhere to his right. "You're awake!"
'Edgeworth?' He shook his head and the fog cleared. 'Ah, yes… That is my name, after all. Ace Attorney, Gregory Edgeworth.'
He blinked, his vision blurry from both natural causes and the lack of oxygen in his brain, trying to make out the person besides him.
"R-Reymond?"
The blurry figure nodded his curly head, vigorously.
'Ah...' Gregory thought. 'So it is him.'
"I'm so glad you're ok, sir!" The teenager cried, actual tears streaming down his young face. "I was so worried about you!"
"Thank you for your concern, Reymond." Gregory smiled kindly at his apprentice. "But I'm not the one you should be concerned about."
"Hm?" The boy tilted his head. "What do you mean, sir?"
"The man we're defending… Yanni Yogi, I believe his name was, he was quite distressed when we were stuck in the elevator."
'Distressed enough to threaten to shoot me for 'breathing in his air', if memory serves.' He thought a bit bitterly.
"Ah, him!" Reymond picked up. "He's fine, sir. We managed to pull him out shortly after you."
"Oh..." He blinked. "That's good."
That should have put him at ease...
But it didn't.
Something was still... missing.
'There is something… someone I'm forgetting.'
*Flashback*
"Calm yourself, Yogi!"
"No… No! You're breathing in my air! I… I can't let you suck in my air!"
"S-Stop it! Put that gun down!"
"No! Stop breathing in my air!"
*End Flashback*
'That's not... quite it yet. Maybe… if concentrate a bit… harder.'
*Further Flashback*
"I'll… I'll shoot you, I swear! I-I! I don't want to die!"
"S-Stop! "
...
...
...
"Don't hurt my father!"
*End Flashback*
Gregory gasped and sat up.
'T-That's it!'
"Miles..." He breathed out.
"Hm?" Raymond asked. "Did you say something, sir?"
"My son... He… I...I need to see Miles." Gregory looked to his trusty assistant. "Raymond. Where is my son?!"
"I-I don't know, sir." The boy's voice quivered. "Isn't he at school?"
"The school had a pipe burst today, so lessons were cancelled." After finally locating his glasses he slid them on his nose. "Not wanting to leave him alone at home, I decided to take him with me to work."
"Oh, uh… can you give me a description, sir?" Shield asked softly. "You know… since I never met him before."
"You… want a description?" Gregory huffed. "How many children, besides my own, have you seen here lately?!"
"I...I… please just cooperate with me, sir." The boy seemed to be... trying to hide something from him.
Or postpone the inevitable...
Deciding to play along for now, the defense attorney huffed and rolled his eyes.
"My son, Miles Edgeworth, is a ten-year-old boy with short dark gray hair. On the day of the... incident he was wearing a red t-shirt and white shorts."
He then looked at the youth expectedly, hoping to get the answer he seeked.
But Reymond grew deathly pale and refused to say anything.
"..." The defense attorney narrowed his eyes at his apprentice. "Reymond?"
"..."
"Did..." He swallowed. "Did something happen?"
"..."
Getting rather impatient, Gregory hit the desk.
"Reymond I have the right to know!"
"..." At first it looked like the boy was going to continue this sudden silent treatment but, after a few seconds. "I'm not sure you're ready for this, sir but… come with me."
Edgeworth blinked, disoriented.
"What?"
"I… I can't just tell you, sir." The boy explained himself. "I'm sorry."
Gregory gave his pupil a very long and very hard stare, as he would prefer to simply be told, but eventually rose from his hospital bed.
Raymond led him out of the building and towards the Court, staying suspiciously silent throughout the whole journey.
The moment they left the hospital, the elder Edgeworth was torn between relief and massive concern.
Relief- because Miles could have simply woken up before him, and is now being questioned by Detective Badd.
Concern- because the whole situation still felt wrong.
Why didn't Reymond just tell him what happened? It isn't like the teenager to be so quiet.
With all this Gregory came to one conclusion:
Something terrible has happened to his son.
But, before he could inquire, they were in front of the elevator.
The defense attorney blinked then turned to Shields.
"Raymond what is the meaning of this?"
The teen avoided his gaze at all costs.
"Y-You wanted to see your son, sir." The boy swallowed. "He… he's inside the elevator."
"I… I don't understand." This didn't make sense. "Why would Miles still be inside that thing?"
There was no answer, and it was clear that the seventeen-year-old wasn't going to say anything else.
Deciding it was futile to pressure him into talking, Gregory just moved past him and entered the elevator.
The first thing he noticed while inside, was Detective Badd's broad back blocking his view of one of the corners.
"What are you doing here, Mr. Edgeworth?" Gregory was startled for a second, wondering how the older man knew he was behind him, before he noticed the black eyes glaring up at him in a small red pocket mirror.
"I was told that I would find my son here." He answered, looking back at the form of his own student back at the entrance before meeting Tyrell Badd's eyes again.
The older man looked shocked, more so than the attorney thought he was able to be.
"Y-Your son?" He repeated dumbly, worry entering his black eyes. "H-He was with you?"
"Indeed." Gregory just nodded, the fear in his stomach growing ever bigger. "Are you done questioning him about the blackout?"
When the detective actually looked away, the knot forming around Edgeworth's neck tightened considerably.
"In… a manner of speaking." Badd responded, ever the silent type.
"May I see him now?"
'Please...' he begged the man in his mind. 'Just let me confirm my boy is safe and sound.'
Badd sighed, then got up.
"...I'm sorry, Edgeworth." He suddenly said.
"What do you-"
Gregory was about to ask...
When the good detective stepped out of his way.
Revealing what he possibly considers his greatest fear come to life.
In that corner… lay a boy.
He had dark gray hair, a red t-shirt with a black bowtie and white shorts.
The child had his eyes closed as if asleep, but Gregory knew that wasn't the case.
His boy wasn't breathing, and had a bullet hole right over his heart.
Once those deductions really sunk in with their meaning, Gregory fell onto his knees before his son's body.
Someone… Murdered… His son...
"Miles..." His normally strong voice cracked.
"Oh my God... Miles..." He reached out to touch his son, to feel his skin against his fingers one last time.
But another hand grabbed his forearm.
"Don't… touch the crime scene." Badd. It was Badd's hand, though it wasn't as strong and firm he expected it to be.
Edgeworth's body moved before his brain could comprehend what was happening, his fist smashing against the elder man's nose.
"My son is not a crime scene!"
Badd was so surprised by the outburst that he didn't even block the enraged father's fist.
"I... didn't mean anything by that."
Gregory didn't respond and just glared at the detective, chest heaving with angry huffs.
After a few seconds worth of a stare down, Edgeworth turned around and dropped to his knees in front of his son's corpse.
Bearly holding back his screams of anguish, he picked up the lifeless body and hugged it. Pressing little Miles as close to himself as he could.
'Please...' He pleaded with whatever god was listening. 'Let this all be a hellish nightmare.'
"Miles..." He shook the small body, tears falling freely. "Miles son, wake up." Gregory buried his face in the boy's silver hair. "Please wake up."
But the body in his arms didn't warm up.
The still heart didn't begin to beat...
Miles Edgeworth, wasn't going to wake up.
Not now...
Not ever again.