Trucy wasn't having the best day.

It started off with not being able to greet Apollo and Athena in the morning. She was so excited to be able to finally get to know the new member of her family, and even though she didn't know Athena well yet, she adored Apollo's company. He and his awkward mother henning always kept her out of trouble, and she couldn't be more grateful for it. So it was even more annoying when she boarded the bus at seven in the morning, the sun just barely waking up itself, and she had to watch as Apollo and Athena entered the building while she had to drive off in the opposite direction.

When she had finally gotten to school, her teachers one after another had begun to ride her case about her absences and her hoards of missing work. She had been ignored when she tried to explain that she was helping her father and his new recruits with work.

"They're newbies, they need someone to be there for them. It wouldn't be right to leave them hanging."

None of them believed her, and some of them had even gone so far as to accuse her of lying.

Then, her final period teacher had given her a progress report. She was told that she needed to bring it home and have her father sign it with his phone number and a good date for a meeting. When she had tried to explain that her father was a very busy person, having just re earned his attorney's badge, they told her that she had better find a way to get him to make time, or she had better bring in another guardian. Then they threatened to have her repeat the grade if she doesn't bring back the report the next day.

So here she was now, pacing in front of the couches, thinking of different ways to solve her problem.

Possibility One. She could come out and tell the truth to her father. He would indefinitely be angry, the stickler for grades that he is. Not her biggest eyes nor her sweetest Daddy~ would save her from her long, straight column of red F's. Especially since it's happened twice in a row. He would ground her for a year -no two!- and take away all of her magic supplies. It wasn't like her magic shows were needed anymore, they had enough cases coming in to give them enough money and a little extra, so she couldn't tell him that her magic was needed.

Possibility Two. She could hide the report. She could skip school for a while and just go through her next high school career with ease, maybe even use her father's forgetful nature to convince him that her late graduation is actually what it is meant to be. But that idea wouldn't work either. Her father was forgetful, but he was observant. She also knew that if her father noticed her lack of homework, then Apollo would notice too. Then she would have her father and Apollo on her case. She knew she couldn't lie to either of them. Her father with his magatama and skillful questions beside Apollo with his all seeing eyes and stare of pure steel would break her.

Possibility Three. She could forge her father's signature. Thinking about it, though, made her realize that her father's signature, while very pretty, was also very complicated and swirly. She was no master forger, and for her to try and copy it would take days of heavy concentration. It would've been easier for her to make up a signature before she could get one letter of his.

That was her Possibility Four. She could make up a cute little signature and hand it in with them being none the wiser. But they wanted a meeting, and a phone number. She couldn't make up either of those, no matter how powerful a magician she was. They'd also be expecting to meet an adult, she couldn't show up on her own. They'd be expecting someone like her father, or her brother…

Her mom.

Trucy blinked a few times, her mouth splitting into a wide grin. She could get Thalassa to do it! She reached for her bag quickly, pulling out her cellphone. Suddenly, she paused. Sure, Thalassa was her mother, but she was also Apollo's mother. Surely Thalassa would mention to Apollo, and Apollo would mention it innocently to her father. And even if he didn't mention it, her father would figure out something was up and use his magatama on Apollo or herself, or even on Thalassa, pressuring them to tell him what was going on. She knew that she would get in trouble if that were to happen. In a snit, she threw her phone onto the couch with a dull bounce and thud.

"Something wrong, Truce?"

Trucy jumped at the sound of Apollo's voice. She turned quickly and was met with the sight of her half brother holding a cardboard tray of four coffees; two iced, two hot. She rushed over to him, squealing in delight at both his presence and the coffee, and wrapped her arms around his waist. He smiled in return, laying his arm over her shoulders as he pulled an iced cup from the tray sitting atop his desk. When she pulled back he handed it to her, taking one of the hot cups before sipping at it.

"You wanna answer my question or…"

"Such a one track mind, Polly!" She smiled and giggled, trying to steer him away from the path leading to her progress report. "What makes you think that anything's wrong?"

Before she had even finished her statement, she knew she had said the wrong thing. She cursed herself as he narrowed his eyes at her, and crossed his arms over his chest, his coffee cup safely sitting atop his desk.

"Trucy, what did you do?" His voice was stern and she knew that if she were to lie now, Apollo's bracelet would pick it up immediately.

She dropped her head and dragged her feet over to the couch, reaching into her bag. She pulled the green sheet of paper out of it's folder and held it out to him dejectedly. He took it and scanned it over, raising an eyebrow and glancing back up at her. She dropped her head even further in shame.

"I'm sorry Polly." She pulled her hands behind her back.

"You said you had your school work under control, Trucy! What happened?"

"Well…" She glanced up and met eyes with Apollo. "I was so caught up in helping you guys that I may have… skipped a few days of school to sort through your files and do my own investigating."

"Trucy!" She watched him lift the paper up once again. "You can't be serious."

"A-And then I helped you in court!" She added quickly, trying to remind him of all the good she's done. "But then Athena showed up took my place as your helper, and I had reconnected with Jinxie, so I spent some time with her. I even visited Maya and Pearl for a few weeks before Daddy told me to go back to school. That's when…"

"That's when we started asking about school work."

"Yeah! But when I finally did return, I had a lot stacked up, so I pushed it aside. Time got away from me and I-"

"Didn't do it."

"Yeah! That's why my teacher gave me this progress report. They said that I had to have Daddy sign it or-"

"You'd have to repeat the grade."

"Yeah! Wow, Polly. You're really good at this."

He sighed and slightly shook his head, folding the sheet of paper and placing it within his breast pocket. She panicked, pulling at his sleeve. "Polly, please don't tell Daddy!"

"He has to know, Trucy, and I know you don't plan on showing him yourself." He replied softly. "As your older brother it's my responsibility."

"But he's gonna take away my magic!" She felt herself tear up and she couldn't keep herself from sniffling. She didn't want to cry, not over something like this. Last time she cried, it was for Apollo while he was in the hospital, and that was months ago. This shouldn't be worth it.

"Oh, Trucy…" Apollo whimpered, placing a soothing hand on her head. "Stop it."

Trucy suddenly felt worse, knowing that Apollo couldn't handle situations like this outside of court. She tried to choke back sobs as he wiped at her cheeks.

"I'm sure Mr. Wright won't be that drastic, he's a bit of a pushover."

"With you! But he's anal about school, Polly, and with these grades, everything's gonna be taken away! I'm gonna be grounded for years!" She threw her arms around Apollo's waist and buried her face into his chest. Apollo blanched and gently pushed her off, using his thumbs to dry her cheeks. She sniffled and hiccuped, trying to stop herself from sobbing once again. She watched through blurry eyes as he pulled a pen from a mug on his desk and unfolded the report, signing a signature across the dotted line.

"Polly?" She blinked her watery eyes as he held the sheet out to her.

"This is just a progress report, right?" He threw the pen back into it's mug. "I won't tell Mr. Wright."

Her breath caught in her throat. "Really?"

"Yeah, I won't tell him." She let out a breathy giggle. "But, you have to show him the report card. Whatever the grades are, whether they be A's or F's, are at the mercy of Mr. Wright. I'll go to the meetings as your older brother, too."

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She smiled, throwing a sloppy kiss onto his cheek before rushing off toward her bedroom, making sure to lift her bag with her. She managed to slip into her room just as her father had entered the office. She slid the report back into her bag and and released a breathe of relief, but it seemed that no matter what, she couldn't stop her sniffling.

Apollo had kept his side of the deal, arriving at the office just before Trucy could board the bus. Together they walked, Trucy actually enjoying the quietness of the city during the early morning. She enjoyed it even more when they arrived at the school and one by one Apollo met his teachers and smoothed his way through each interaction.

"You're her older brother? I can see the similarity."

"Why couldn't her father be here?"

"How old are you? Maybe we could… meet up sometime?"

She could only be filled with awe as he easily snuffed them off of her trail. Usually her brother was so awkward, stuttering and blushing and just being fun to mess with. So now, watching him so calmly ease his teachers was something that confused her, but it was something that she wouldn't question. Once he had seen her last teacher they parted ways.

"I'll come pick you up and we can walk back to the office together. Cool?"

"Mhm, see ya later, Polly!"

When they finally made it back, she couldn't help but feel giddy a she threw herself down on one of the two red leather couches. She turned to Apollo who had taken a seat beside her and pulled on her brightest, most genuine smile.

"Thank you for helping me today, Polly. I'm am truly grateful for what you did for me."

"No problem, Truce. You had me with the tears, I can't handle crying, let alone my sister crying."

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and leaned against him and hummed at his hand patting her back.

"D'awww~!" Both of them looked up at the intruder; Athena and her widget glowing bright green as she gushed. Behind her was Trucy's father, pulling at his tie. "Such sibling love! You're so lucky, Trucy! I've always wanted a sibling."

Trucy tittered as her father slumped across from her and Apollo.

"Hey Apollo, Trucy. How've your days been?"

"I would say mine has been pretty good." Apollo responded. Trucy nodded in agreement.

"What'd you guys do today?"

Trucy felt chills run up her spine. This was it, there was no way she could say anything without the Psyche Locks reacting. Her father would drill questions until he figured out what happened.

"I walked Trucy to school and then I spent the day with Klavier." Trucy stared hard and confused at Apollo's smug smile. Would he actually make it through this?

"Spending time with the hubby, huh?" Phoenix teased, quirking his eyebrows.

"He's not my 'hubby', Mr. Wright." Apollo blushed, crossing his arms over his chest.

Huh?

"Good, hopefully he never will be."

Wha-?

As her father turned to grab a book from the box used as shelf, she stared wide eyed at Apollo who only winked at her. She bubbled into light nervous laughter just as her father returned to his normal position, flipping through the pages of his law textbook.

"Oh, come on, Polly! You guys are already engaged, and Klavier's so excited for the wedding." Trucy cooed.

For the rest of that day, she spent time with her little rag-tag family, helping Athena break into the atmosphere and encouraging the redhead to tease her brother before excusing herself as she hugged her bookbag to her chest. When she glanced back at Apollo, she caught his nod and smile and returned the action, slipping into her bedroom. She sat atop her mattress and stared down at her bag in her lap, thinking about Apollo's actions and her father's lack of reaction. She then pulled her folder out of her bag and laid down, prepared to do homework before going to sleep.

"I've got to get Polly to teach me how to do that."

Author's Note: I'm glad I could finally get back to this. It's been a long time. I hope you guys enjoyed the rewrite, please be sure to review, and again do not hesitate to give some constructive criticism. I'd prefer that someone tell me my writing is a little janked than to keep going as if nothing's wrong.

Ja matane!

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction from the Ace Attorney series. I do not claim ownership over the characters or the world used. The story I tell here about Ace Attorney is my own invention and it is not purported or believed to be part of the Ace Attorney story canon. This story is for entertainment only and is not apart of the official story line. I am grateful to the Ace Attorney series, for if it did not exist I would not have been able to write this story.