Author's notes: Hooray for more horri-bad names...I've had this in my Doc Manager since forever now. Inspired by "Bridge Over Troubled Waters". Please R&R.
"Gee! You weren't lying when you said this place was cold, boss!" Athena commented as she rubbed her arms, which were covered by her fluffy bright-yellow winter jacket.
"Daddy never lies, Athena!" Trucy simply replied cheerfully, acting as if the cold didn't bother her one bit. Her turquoise winter jacket had little rabbits and bears splattered all over it, suiting her personality and profession somewhat - a wild but talented magician at the young age of sixteen.
"He does. He lies all the time." Apollo mumbled under his breath. He was staring ahead at the building in front of them. Describing it as ancient was an understatement - the temple before them looked like it had been standing there for at least a thousand years. He was shivering, his cheeks the same colour as his signature striking-red vest. His coat wasn't exactly made for keeping the cold out, but he had insisted upon wearing it. He tugged the navy-blue clothing closer to his body.
"Ouch, that was harsh, Apollo. I don't lie all the time." Phoenix chuckled. He, too, was staring at the temple. He had already donned his ultramarine winter jacket when he told the Wright Anything Agency that he wanted to spend this year's Christmas here, claiming he has a few friends who stay here. Everybody else, of course, decided to follow along.
"It's just like a whole big family now!" Were Trucy's words. Athena had nodded in agreement, along with an enthusiastic "Yeah!". Phoenix simply laughed. Apollo had trouble wrapping his mind around that one word. Family. They had themselves a family. Including himself. Apollo had a family to spend his Christmas with this year.
"Nick!"
Apollo was pulled out of his thoughts when, out of the blue, a blur of purple practically flew out of the temple and flung its arms around Phoenix's neck. Phoenix nearly fell over from the force of it, but he miraculously managed to stay on his feet.
"Careful, Maya! I don't want to go tumbling back down the hill!" Phoenix joked as he wrapped his arms around the woman.
"Aunt Maya!" Trucy smiled, seeming to find the scene before her amusing.
She was a young woman who couldn't be more than thirty. Her clothes were a royal purple and seemed formal...At least, as formal as weird clothes like those could get. She had robes on. It looked like a kimono, but it wasn't exactly a kimono. It was hard to explain.
"But it's Christmas! I can't wait to see what you got for me, Nick!" The woman said with a laughed as she pulled away from Phoenix.
"Oh, yeah. Maya, meet Apollo Justice and Athena Cykes. Athena and Apollo, Maya Fey." Phoenix introduced.
"Heya, Maya!" Athena greeted cheerily.
"Nice to meet you, Miss Fey." Apollo greeted much more formally.
"Aw, c'mon! No need for formalities, Apollo! Call me Maya." She smiled. Apollo nodded in response.
"Why don't you all come inside? It's pretty cold out there, isn't it?" Maya urged the three of them into the temple, while practically shoving Phoenix inside.
Maya Fey...Maya Fey...Apollo was almost sure he heard that name somewhere before. Maya...Apollo drew nothing but a blank. He knew that name had popped up somewhere before, but he couldn't recall it at all no matter how hard he tried. Maybe a case? Maya Fey...M-
"Hey! Apollo! What're you still doing out there?! Get your behind in here!" Apollo snapped back into reality instantly when Athena yelled at him. Shaking his head slightly, he quickly jogged into the temple behind Phoenix, Athena, Trucy and Maya.
Apollo joined them in the side room to see the group talking to another different person.
"It really has been a while, hasn't-Oh? And who's this young man here?"The lady turned to him. She was short and plump, wearing bright purple robes and having a white hood drawn over her head, hiding her hair.
"He's the Apollo I was talking about. Apollo, meet Sister Bikini." Phoenix replied coolly. Apollo blinked, twice. Did he hear that right?
"Ah...Hi." Apollo muttered.
"You certainly do look unusual, with your spiky hair, red suit..." Sister Bikini was rambling on an entire list of the things wrong with Apollo. He zoned out after the first two - he was an expert at zoning out whenever he wanted to.
"...And goodness, young man! You're shivering your arms off! That jacket is as thin as paper! Why aren't you wearing proper winter clothes?" The mention of the jacket made him pay attention again. However, he decided to remain silent.
"Oh, that jacket belongs to his friend." Trucy filled her in, "He doesn't really like to talk about it." Sister Bikini's mouth formed into an 'o'.
"It's fine, you didn't know." Apollo replied. He had a feeling she was going to start apologizing anyway.
"Anyway, where's Sister Iris?" Phoenix quickly asked, changing the subject before things could get more awkward.
"Who's Sister Iris?" Athena asked, puzzled.
"Aunt Iris is Daddy's-"
"Friend! She's a friend of mine!" Phoenix cut Trucy off as quickly as Simon took to draw his blade. He was blushing furiously, his face a bright red. Trucy giggled at the sight.
"Boss, I think you wouldn't be so happy to see her if she was just a friend, y'know? Are you sure?" Athena teased. Phoenix was too flustered to speak at this point. He was just flailing his arms in the air, opening and closing his mouth like a fish.
"An interesting bunch, huh?" Maya materialized beside Apollo out of nowhere, causing him to jump before he turned to her.
"That's the Wright Anything Agency for you." He replied with smirk. Maya laughed.
"I've realized. I used to work with him too, you know? His first three years as a lawyer, I was usually his assistant." Maya's expression softened, as if experiencing those times all over again.
"Huh, I never knew." Apollo said before he thought. But he soon came to realize - it was true. He had no idea Maya worked with him. But Apollo would've known something like that, wouldn't he? He's watched all of Phoenix's old cases at least three times over!
"She'll be back tomorrow. Meanwhile, want to eat dinner?" Sister Bikini asked. Everybody nodded, Maya looking especially happy.
"I helped Sister Bikini with dinner! It'll be great!" Maya grinned, pulling Apollo ("Why did I have to be standing beside her...?") by one arm, and Phoenix by the other as she dragged him to the dining room. A giggling Athena Cykes and Trucy Wright followed behind them.
"That tasted great!" Athena sighed, satisfied with the meal. Apollo had to admit that it tasted pretty great, too.
"I told you!" Maya laughed.
"Anyway, it's getting late. It's time we all went to bed, don't you think?" Sister Bikini stood up. Everybody headed to one of the rooms in the temple, where they lay down on mattresses. Apollo got the space right beside the wall and nearest to the window. Just great - he was going to freeze to death overnight.
"G'night, Polly." Trucy, who was lying down beside him, muttered sleepily.
"Good night, Trucy." Apollo replied, ruffling her hair a bit. Trucy smiled as she poked his nose. Apollo turned back to face the wall.
Some time passed, everybody had already fallen asleep, everybody besides Apollo. Phoenix was snoring loudly. Athena had somehow turned around in such a way that her feet were where her pillow where her head was supposed to be. Trucy was breathing quietly beside Apollo. He could feel her cold breath on his back.
A Christmas without Clay would certainly be different and never the same, but a family sounds nice, too.
Apollo's eyelids drooped, and he allowed himself to drift to sleep, huddled up in his blanket and jacket.
It was dark. Everything was black. He couldn't see anything, except for himself. He could see his own two hands in front of his face just fine, but everything other than that was black. There was no sky, no floor, no walls. He walked carefully, but he wasn't falling. It felt like he was walking on flat, solid ground, but he was just walking on blackness.
Suddenly, a figure materialized into view. It was a young woman in her twenties or thirties. She had long, flowing crimson-red hair that had two braids. She wore a pale pink dress that had a floral design, matching her umbrella. There were delicate, beautiful pure white butterflies fluttering around her.
Apollo had a feeling he had seen her somewhere before, but he had no idea where. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't the least bit attracted to the female in the distance. He found himself walking towards her. When she was within arms' reach, she finally turned to look at him.
She did nothing but smile. She smelt of roses and honey. He was no longer in control of his body as his arm reached out to hers. She took it.
The next things Apollo saw were white, followed closely by red, and a horrifying laugh.
Apollo shot up, spluttering and gasping for air. He felt as if he had been drowning forever, though he was still on his mattress, tangled in his blanket and jacket.
"Hey Apollo, good morning." Apollo turned swiftly, only to see his mentor beside him, already fully dressed. Phoenix raised an eyebrow, "What's wrong? You look like you've just seen a ghost...And are you sweating? In the middle of winter?"
Apollo wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. Yes, he was indeed sweating. In the middle of winter.
"Guess I am." He shrugged as he wiped the back of his hand on the blanket he had used the night before.
"Anyway, the girls and Pearl are outside making snowmen. Maybe you'd like to join them." Phoenix offered, though it didn't seem much like a question. Apollo nodded, wrapping his jacket around himself a bit more tightly before he exited the room.
"Oh hey there Apollo!" Athena waved to him as he stepped out of the temple. Apollo walked over to them.
"Hey Polly!" Trucy grinned at him, bounding over to him.
"Hello Mr. Polly!" Pearl greeted, placing both hands together before doing a little bow. Gee, I wonder who taught her that nickname. Apollo thought.
"Come on and join us! We made a snowman already, we're gonna make more!" Trucy grabbed his arm and pulled him over to join the other girls. True to her word, there was already a completed snowman. It had two pebbles for eyes, twigs for a mouth and...Was that hair? Numerous twigs were placed on its head, forming a weird hairstyle. It also had a single pebble a little high up on its body. Apollo couldn't guess what it was, it was probably too high and a tad too far to the left to be a button.
"Help us to push a snowball! We'll collect some twigs!" Athena slapped Apollo in the back and ran off with Trucy for their twig hunt. Pearl looked at them, before laughing lightly and rolling a snowball, which Apollo proceeded to do as well.
"It's done!" Athena said proudly, looking at their masterpieces.
Four completed snowmen stood proudly side-by-side, all ranging in various heights, though they all had similar faces. The snowman beside the first one wasn't as tall. It had two twigs sticking out of its forehead and another pebble stuck onto its body, a similar position as the first.
The third snowman was slightly shorter, though it was hardly noticeable. A twig was sticking out from the side of its head, and there was yet another pebble on its body.
The last snowman, the forth, was the shortest of them all. It had no peddle on its body or twigs sticking out of its head. Instead, Trucy had placed her magicians hat on its head.
"So, who are these supposed to be?" Apollo asked.
"You really are as thick as your forehead, Polly!" Trucy pouted. "You don't get who these are supposed to be?"
"Oh, I know who they are. Snowmen." Apollo replied, adding a fine hint of sarcasm to his voice.
"Snowmen aren't people, Mr. Polly." Pearl answered seriously, not noticing the fine hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"No, Polly!" Trucy yelled before Apollo had the chance to reply to Pearl, "It's Daddy, Athena, me and you! Can't you tell?"
"Yeah! It's meant to be the Wright Anything Family!" Athena chimed in.
"'Wright Anything Family'?" Apollo sweat-dropped, "since when was it called that? And I thought 'Wright Anything Agency' was bad..."
"What was that, Apollo? I think I heard happiness in your voice when you said 'family'!" Athena said in a teasing tone. Apollo felt his face grow slightly hot as he 'hmph'ed and looked away from her. Truth be told, though, he was certainly happy that they were thought of as a family. And he was included into that family.
"Kids! Lunch is ready!" Sister Bikini called from the temple. Almost instantly, the girls rushed towards the doors, leaving Apollo to breathe in their dust. He chuckled a bit to himself before heading inside as well.
"Christmas's tomorrow! You guys excited?!" Maya was practically bouncing up and down as she yelled, looking like a hyperactive kid waiting for Santa to come.
"Whoa, calm down, Maya. I think you're even more excited than Pearl and Trucy combined!" Phoenix laughed, patting her head.
"What! No way! No one's ever more excited than us when it comes to Christmas!" Trucy yelled, grinning and pointing a thumb at herself. Pearl nodded, smiling brightly. Everybody laughed merrily. At that moment, a new person entered the room.
The laughter stopped. Phoenix stared at the newcomer for a heartbeat before standing up. Everybody turned to them. Apollo's stomach almost rose as high as the moon.
It looked like an exact copy of the girl he had seen in his sleep, except this one had coal-black hair instead of red.
"Iris." Phoenix greeted. Iris smiled back at him.
"So this is Sister Iris?" Athena raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, it is. Iris, meet Athena, Trucy and Apollo. You guys, Iris." Phoenix quickly introduced. Apollo blinked. Could this 'Iris' be the one I saw in my dream? But then...Why was her hair red? He wondered to himself.
"It's nice to meet all of you." Iris smiled, tilting her head slightly as she greeted the group politely. Apollo felt himself swallow. The person he saw in his dream or not, he didn't feel comfortable being around her. Something about her was painfully familiar, as well as the girl in his dream. He knew he had seen them somewhere, but he had no idea where. It was the same as Maya.
"Polly, are you okay?" Trucy raised an eyebrow at him, "you've gone really quiet all of a sudden."
"Huh? Oh, no, I'm fine." Apollo shook his head. "Just...Kinda tired, that's all." He swept his gaze over everyone. Phoenix, Athena and Trucy were all frowning at him. He didn't need any of their powers (Well, he had Trucy's, but that doesn't count) to tell that that they all knew he was lying.
"Well," Iris was the first to change the subject, sensing the awkwardness throughout the room, "who wants to go ride the snow mobile?"
"Aww! But it's still eaaarly! I wanna ride it again!" Trucy whined in protest as everybody walked back to the temple.
"Early? It's eight at night! And please, never again..." Apollo shivered at the thought of riding the snow mobile again. He was pretty sure he'd lost a few years of his life already. Iris was a crazy-fast driver.
"Aw, c'mon, Apollo! Don't be such a chicken!" Athena grinned at him. Apollo grunted, shoving his hands into his pockets and looking away from her.
"Come on girls, leave Apollo alone." Phoenix chuckled upon seeing Apollo's reaction. That earned him a muffled "thank you" from the younger lawyer.
"Whatever, then!" Athena gave one of her peace signs again, "I'm hungry! Chow time!"
"You're always hungry, Athena."
"Thanks a lot, Apollo."
Everybody was already in bed and fast asleep. They'd all fallen asleep pretty much the moment their heads hit their pillows. It must've been the snow mobile, Apollo figured.
He got up and exited the room as quietly as possible.
He walked around the temple and to the back, where there was a huge bridge.
Apollo sat down on the snow first, then lay down on his back, staring at the stars above. The stars seemed much easier to see there than in the city.
"Nice stars, huh?" Apollo muttered to himself, sighing.
Tomorrow was Christmas, hopefully he was looking forward to it.
He drifted off to sleep in the snow-covered field without himself even knowing.
Everything was nothing but darkness and black again, just like the last time.
He walked forward, unsure of where any of this would bring him. Why was he having this dream again? Did it mean something?
An unseen force stopped him. He would've stopped on his own anyway.
Standing in front of him was that redhead again.
"Hi there, Polly." Her voice was sweet and kind like sugar. Her smile almost made Apollo's heart flutter. She acted as if she had been his friends since forever. Apollo wanted to return greetings, but he found that his voice wasn't working.
"Choose wisely, Polly." She reached out a hand to brush his cheek. Her fingers were much warmer compared to Apollo's face, to his surprise. "Both ways will lead to heartbreak, but either ways, I'll get my revenge on Feenie..." Her voice started to be more distorted by the second. "Feenie...Phoenix Wright...Phoenix Wright...PHOENIX WRIGHT...!"
She laughed, but this laugh wasn't the sweet, sugary laugh he expected. This one was demonic, distorted, chaotic and mad. Only another person's laugh was similar to this:
Kristoph Gavin.
The laugh resounded and echoed throughout the entire place, ringing in Apollo's ears painfully. He instinctively placed both of his hands to his ears in an attempt to block out the noise, but it only seemed to have grown louder. He was about to take a few steps back, but a force of sorts suddenly shoved him away. He fell down, hitting his back against a hard, cold surface, before it was gone.
He was falling. He couldn't see himself falling, but he could feel and he knew he definitely was falling. He felt the air being knocked out of his lungs as his eyes widened. A horrifying scream like he had never heard before pierced through the air like a knife.
His body was wrecked with pain for a heartbeat, then everything was black.
"Apollo! APO-"
"GAAAH!"
Apollo shot up, clutching his chest, breathing heavily. He blinked for a few moments before staring at his hands. They were still intact. So were his feet. He wasn't falling anymore, he noted.
"Apollo! Are you okay?!" That was when he finally noted that somebody was calling his name. Feeling himself shiver, he looked up, meeting the eyes of Phoenix, Athena and Trucy.
"Fine...I'm fine." He sucked in a deep breath, closing his eyes. It's just a dream, Apollo. Relax. It's just a dream.
"Why were you even sleeping out here? You could've gotten frostbite!" Athena's Widget was a bright, firey red. Anger was written all over her face. [STUPID APOLLO!] Widget added, though it was no where near necessary.
"I just came out here for a breath of fresh air. Before I knew it, I was fast asleep." Apollo reasoned. It's wasn't a lie, just not the entire truth.
"If you say so, Apollo." Phoenix still sounded unsure, but didn't press it.
"So, what're we doing today?" Apollo asked, changing the subject as he brushed the snow off his pants.
"We're going to the training hall on the other side of the bridge!" Trucy chirped happily, "Come on!"
The moment Trucy began walking over to the bridge, Apollo knew something was horribly wrong.
Staring at the other side, he saw an old temple. There wasn't anything interesting to see there, but Apollo saw it. In front of the bridge.
A pure-white butterfly.
"NO!"
Apollo jumped up to his feet at the speed of light, or at least pretty dang close, not taking into notice Phoenix's and Athena's shocked expressions. He charged towards the bridge.
Trucy stood, rooted to the ground with one foot on the bridge, having no idea what was happening.
The moment Trucy was within arm's reach, Apollo grabbed her hand and shoved her away from the bridge with all his strength.
The force was so much that Apollo fell on his back onto the bridge.
It snapped.
The bridge had snapped and broken, sending Apollo falling down to the icy water below.
He felt the air in his lungs being knocked out, his eyes widening to microscopic dots, as he felt the wind whiz past his body.
He heard a loud scream which he couldn't recognize for a few moments, until he realized it was him. He was the one screaming.
Suddenly everything else came rushing back to him.
His life didn't quite flash before his eyes, but some memories important and dear to him did.
His times with the people he worked with - No, his family.
As well as memories, answers came back to him.
Hazakura temple, this was where Phoenix's second-last case involved. Maya Fey, she was Phoenix Wright's assistant before he had gotten disbarred. Sister Iris, she was Phoenix's ex-girlfriend.
And that girl he saw in his dream.
Her name was Dahlia Hawthorne.
The moment that thought had registered, his body fell into the waters below. His body slammed onto countless rocks far too sharp for his liking. For a moment, all he saw was red. His body was wrecked with pain.
Then he was engulfed by darkness and cold.