FATHER'S DAY
A Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney FanFiction by PowerZone

Author's Note: I would like to apologize profusely for a very long hiatus from FanFiction - and with good reason. The laptop in which I usually work on broke down after seven years of service and it took me a while to buy a new one. Anyway, troubles aside, this fanfic is for all the fathers, soon-to-be fathers, and the father-like ones out there in commemoration of the most important man in our life: our father. I will use Trucy and Phoenix as the subject of my fanfic. In advance, I would highly recommend the fanfic "Remembering Gregory Edgeworth" written by Midnight Wrighter if you want a glimpse in Miles's flashbacks.

The third Saturday of June ended with another trial in Court when Phoenix watched his coworkers secure another acquittal in which their defendant was accused of murdering his only son. When the "Not Guilty" verdict rang in the courtroom, the defendant wailed in joy and grief knowing that his son finally had justice yet he would never get to see his son anymore. In one way, it saddened Athena and Apollo that this predicament - the unfair kind of life for a father to live on without his only joy - would fall upon their client who even wished on numerous occasions to be given the death penalty.

"Your son would be deeply disappointed if you would throw away your life just like that," the Judge told the defendant, off the record and after he adjourned Court. "You would never do well to abandon him - because the only time he is truly dead is when he is forgotten."

The Judge's words brought an internal shock upon Phoenix as he was about to leave the Courtroom. He was supposed to return to the office to prepare a celebratory feast for another success. However, the itinerary for the day was about to change.

His steps led him to another side of town, to an old bar almost deserted ever since he was called out from the underground to return to the throngs of the law. He walked to this dismal place because this was the place where the turnabout of a new responsibility happened to him.

The barman's eyes widened in shock when Phoenix walked into the Borscht Bowl Club.

"M-M-Mr. Wright!" he stammered, nearly dropping the fine wine glass he was polishing.

"Barman," Phoenix said softly and smiled. The barman did have a name, but he did not mind being called by his profession. "How long has it been?"

The barman chuckled. "Years maybe, I've lost count ever since the poker pros stopped dropping by."

The two men shook hands like old friends meeting after a long time.

"So what brings you back to the Borscht?" asked the barman. "Another fine bowl of cold borscht for old times' sake?"

Phoenix chuckled. "A bowl of borscht would be fine as long as I'm not called up to do the piano."

The barman turned to the piano at the other side of the restaurant. The piano had withered, covered in webs and fine layers of dust: no one seemed to touch the piano ever since Phoenix played his final, awful piece.

"I'm here for a sentimental reason," said Phoenix, showing no misgiving. "You know very well the occasion tomorrow."

The barman nodded slowly as he picked up another wine glass to polish. "You mean that time of year where the fathers get dressed up to celebrate their day, huh?"

Phoenix knew the barman's history. The barman was a father of a soldier who was dispatched in the Middle East to help in the fight against terrorism. The soldier fought bravely for years until the barman received ill news of his only child's death at the hands of the terrorists. That was almost ten years ago, but the barman always kept the picture of himself with his son before the latter left for the airbase.

"What's a father to you when you don't have a child to expect coming home?" asked the barman gloomily.

Phoenix sat down on one of the chairs. "Do you still consider yourself one after all these years?"

The barman put down the wine glass he was polishing and set aside the cleaning rag. He sighed. "I've seen my son play with his toys and grow up... coming home with bruises from fights at school... reading as if there would be no tomorrow. Then all of a sudden, he becomes this rebellious kid who would threaten to leave home with his momma. You know, Wright, being a father is not about being the head of the family. While many think that he deserves the respect, the father has to be patient to respect his family. And for most of the time when my son was growing up... I was never one like that.

"Yet the only decision I respected was his decision to join the military," the barman continued. "But only he said that he did not want to stay in the same house where I lived. Kinda insulting, if you were in my shoes... yet, I paid no mind." The photo of the barman and his son together was a forced photograph from the barman's wife, now gone from his world because of a divorce. "But when I think about it through it all, through all my life and all that crap I've been through, I couldn't have asked for a better son. After all, what's got a father to do to accomplish a purpose to see his child move forward with their lives... with their future?"

Phoenix listened to his story intently akin to a lawyer listening to his client's version of events. "You know, this was the place where the murder happened, right?"

The barman shrugged. "Looking back that day, he did have a child to take care for, right? That's why he came back. I know... you told me." He returned to his polishing agenda.

Little did he know that when the grape juice bottle would smack the fine china pate, Phoenix would be hurled in a responsibility he never dreamed of.

"So how's the kid?" asked the barman, having said enough of his history.

"She's doing well, now attending university."

"Still into her magic?"

Phoenix chuckled. "She won't give up on that, saying that it's a legacy."

The barman nodded. "Your kid's one on that, through and through."

Trucy had been the adopted daughter for almost ten years. Phoenix was reluctant - even scared - to raise a child, only because he was the other person around who was there when Trucy lost her father. It took a while for the process to go through and when the process was complete, Phoenix was in for his wildest passive seven years.

"Would it be different if you raised a biological daughter?"

Phoenix stood up and approached the piano. "It wouldn't matter anymore for me," he answered. "Trucy is my child and my daughter... and as a father, I will do everything I can to mold her into a productive member of society."

The barman whistled. "You really are a fine lawyer, through and through."

Phoenix's hand rested on the piano keys. The dust had settled there for years and probably invaded the sounds as well. Why didn't the restaurant throw the piano away, Phoenix couldn't help but wonder about it yet he decided to let it slide.

"This piano," he muttered... is the most fitting representation of a father. His thoughts traced, a metaphor formed out from the corner of his mind. "No matter how dusty the piano gets - how aged the father becomes, it'll always be here - he'll always be there." For the first time in a long time, Phoenix admired the barman.

"You were just like a father, Wright, when you played the piano," muttered the barman. "The piano entertained you for the seven years you lost your badge. Although I'll miss the horrible tune, it's always been here as if it's waiting for you to come back to play its keys for one more time."

The defense attorney rested his hands on the keys and moved into a position as he was about to play a nostalgic piece. And when his fingers pressed down on the keys, the piano made a melodious sound - almost as if time never intervened in the years where the tune was lost from the restaurant.

Phoenix only managed two signatures before the piano's sound gave way and the sound was forever lost.

He pressed the other piano keys but no sound ever came out. The piano finally died.

And he realized it... how important he was as a father.

He realized that his future wasn't all about being a lawyer. When he enlisted Trucy under his care, Phoenix knew that his fatherhood responsibility would stay even when his badge would be taken from him again. They could take away his badge but never his daughter.

The barman knew about the symbolism of the dying piano as well because he pat his friend on the back. "Be a good father," he told Phoenix.

Phoenix returned to the agency during the early evening where Apollo and Athena surprisingly arranged a feast of their own. For a few seconds, Apollo, Athena, Trucy, and Pearl were dancing around merrily to some dance beat as the boss digested the environment. What caught Phoenix's eye was not the excitement around the agency but the plain chocolate cake with the words "Happy Father's Day." Phoenix was aghast at first when he realized that the party was not about the courtroom victory.

Though the music continued beating, Trucy saw her father join in the floor and rushed up to him. "Where have you been, daddy? I've been trying to call you for ten times but you wouldn't pick up your phone!"

Phoenix flinched. He scrambled through his pocket and pulled out his cellphone. It was true: there were ten missed calls. For a moment, Phoenix wondered how he could have missed the calls until he saw the words "silent" on the upper part of the screen.

"Sorry," Phoenix apologized as he pat his daughter on the head. "I didn't realize that my phone was still on silent mode."

Trucy laughed on top of the rave.

"Anyway, I had some other business to attend to," Phoenix said to her rather quickly, hoping that Apollo wasn't watching and using his perceive ability. "It was a personal matter, but it's already settled."

On the other side of the room, Apollo and Athena were looking out the office window, talking to each other and savoring the taste of their flavored beer. Phoenix noticed that his two subordinates were rather physically close.

Trucy folded her arms. "Anyway, you're still in time for the party."

Phoenix wanted to satisfy his curiosity. "What kind of party was put up here?"

"Oh... um... Let's see..." Trucy narrated the version of events that transpired after the Court session. Apollo and Athena decided to hold a surprise father's day party (of course, there would be no work on Sundays, so the office would be closed). They went out and bought the foodstuff, including a bottle of champagne and a simple chocolate cake engraved with the words "Happy Father's Day." When asked whose father, Trucy replied, "Oh, that's a surprise until they talk to you."

The music's volume dropped and Athena approached Phoenix and Trucy. "Um, Mr. Wright?"

"What is it, Athena?"

"You know, what the Judge said earlier in Court moved me," said Athena. Phoenix remembered that Athena and Apollo grew up without their fathers. Could it be...?

"Daddy," spoke Trucy. "You've been my dad for almost ten years yet I have never forgotten him..."

Phoenix closed his eyes for a moment. In that fleeting time, the flashbacks formed into pictures of a grape bottle, a hand of cards, and a stamp of three world-renowned magicians. These pictures were just objects of the past that put Phoenix in his place as a lawyer. The memories would surface to haunt the past that would somehow be his professional downfall. Yet, Trucy's presence in that bleak and dismal moment lightened and shone Phoenix's day through the seven arduous years seeking justice.

"He may be gone from this world, but he will always be alive in your heart," Phoenix told Trucy.

"We're celebrating father's day for a dedicated father to his child," said Apollo, sitting down on the sofa. "And although it's not one for us to point it, it's also - in one way or another - father's day for a boss who treated us like one."

Those last words caught and gripped Phoenix's heart. He had never considered being a fatherly figure to his two subordinates.

"Apollo... Athena..."

The two lawyers joined their boss for a group hug. And as Phoenix looked over their shoulders, he felt very touched when he saw his daughter streaming tears down her face.

"Happy father's day," Trucy said softly as she clasped her arms around her stepfather.

Trucy would never be his biologicial daughter, Phoenix thought. But it didn't matter anymore for him. He was always and would be always a proud father Trucy would want to have.

This would be the best father's day celebration for Phoenix.

Happy father's day to all the fathers out there!

PowerZone