The small droplets of water were falling down on the country in heavy masses. People were carrying colorful umbrellas – maybe they hoped that small dots of whole specter will bring back few rays of sunshine and overcome grayness that this weather brought down on Earth.
Well. Their plan was probably lacking something pretty much important since rain wasn't stopping for few days now – if you had some smaller boat, you could use it instead of car without any further problem.
I frowned and looked down on my feet. My pants were soaked – no, actually, my whole suit and coat too were soaked wet, newspapers from today's morning I held above my head being the only protection from rain. It was absolutely amazing idea to forget bike at courtroom with all of the evidence for tomorrow's trial.

'Great, Phoenix. You did it totally right, congratulations!'

I sighed. But well, constant reminder of the fact that if I had evidence with me I could use it - … Uh, well, I couldn't at all (maybe as a paper boat but as a lawyer I highly doubt that was an original purpose) – made me feel slightly better.
I looked around again. About 30 more minutes to the building of court and then hour and more back home since I'll probably take some free swimming lessons during the ride. To be honest, sometimes I felt so old fashioned in this ultra-modern era, using my yellow two wheeled friend instead of shiny car after all these years.
I blinked as a small droplet of water fell to my eye. People started to turn at me and give me some looks full of pity. I realized, I was still just standing there, holding newspapers above my head even though rain already found its way through it. I chuckled.

'I must look hopeless…'

"Wright, what are you doing here like this?" Soft, yet strict voice of man interrupted my thoughts. I turned my head, just to see Miles Edgeworth critically judging me from behind glasses. His bright red umbrella was a great contrast to dark sky. I grinned at him, trying to look representative and fine, what was quite a challenge, trust me because – who am I lying to – I was tired, my suit could be used as a rug and also, there was a great possibility that I just caught flu thanks to this little walk. But yes, of course, meet Phoenix Wright in his best condition.
"Hey, Edgeworth. What a nice afternoon we have, right?"
"Let me guess. You forgot your bicycle at offices or at court, you are completely broke before the start of a new month –and that's why you can't even afford a taxi."

'….Damn you.'

I sighed and smiled at him nervously, earning shake of head and another critical glance.
"Wright, you are grown up man, father on the top of everything – and you still haven't changed at all. And they call YOU a legendary attorney." He scolded me but I saw a glimpse of smile in his grey eyes behind glasses. Rain stopped falling into my face. I looked at him surprised. Edgeworth was frowning, his hand stretched to me so he could hold his umbrella above my head too.
"I'll give you a ride. You can't afford to be ill, since you have important trial tomorrow." He shook his head and looked around. "Come. I have my car parked near."
I nodded and followed him, putting newspapers down.
"Worried about me?" I grinned.
"More about your client if you catch cold and won't come to trial tomorrow. It doesn't look so good for her – there are many things that stands against her in fact – but you managed to turn around even more difficult cases, now and… back then too."
"… So it means you are keeping in track with my newest cases?" I gave him surprised look.
"Don't be so full of yourself, Wright! I'm keeping in track with current law system, which is my responsibility as a head of prosecutors' offices and-"
I smiled at him softly as he continued talking, looking away and as always, when he was nervous or something made him uncertain or embarrassed, he raised one of his hands, squeezing the other arm in which he was holding umbrella.
This was Miles Edgeworth for you. Always trying to be professional and collected adult. But even 'the Demon Prosecutor', which was feared around the country and even behind the borders of it was just a human in the end. With feelings – good and bad - same as any other.
We continued to his car in silence. Finally, some dry place. I leaned against seat with content sigh, looking out from the window. Edgeworth seemed like he wanted to make some remark about his polished seats and my wet coat, but in the end he just fixed his glasses.
"Court Building then?"
"Yeah…" I fixed my hair slightly. He glanced at me and back at road and after a while smirked. I looked at him curiously.
"When we were younger I couldn't believe you weren't bathing in hair gel every morning. It's just surreal for hair to stand like… That."
"Really? Look at your fringe." I grinned and shook my head. "Why are always my hair topic of discussions? It's not a crime, to have spiky hair."
"My fringe is perfectly fine. And some witnesses would say otherwise."
"Trust me, I stopped counting by number of 50. Witnesses, judge, bailiffs…" I laughed and shook my head. "And I'm not counting people from my childhood that predicted I'll be delinquent thanks to them."
"I clearly remember our teacher was one of them. They had to be disappointed by your career choice then."
"Oh at first no. When I went to Art school I could hear 'See, you are already going a wrong path, buddy' all around me." I said in light tune. "Just after I changed my degree to become a lawyer they stopped with those ridiculous jokes."
Edgeworth sighed and shook his head. "It's been so long, huh? Childhood… "
An awkward silence fell down on a car. I noticed small wrinkles on prosecutors' forehead. I sighed. Even after all this time, I wasn't sure if this whole 'bring up the past' topic was good idea. And once again, everything thanks to my stupid hair. I swear to God, I'm shaving. This time for real. Maybe I could change it and bring up something lighter so we can keep a conversation and-
"You know, I tried to forget it. The fact that I was a kid. It sounds ridiculous but it looked to me as the best solution after I moved to von Karma's mansion."
I looked at him surprised. His eyes were firmly fixed on the road, hands tightening the grip on driving wheel but he continued.
"I… aimed for perfection. In every way possible I headed for becoming another von Karma. His mirror reflection. Child plays couldn't be allowed nor the unimportant memories. Block them. Erase them. Focus on the task. Everyone is guilty of something, no one is innocent. They are lying." His voice turned bitter. "Believing the fact I killed my own father, I did as he told me – yes, I've already said that I saw a redemption for me in prosecuting criminals. I thought it was going to stay like that forever. As Gant said later, we…. I would probably become same person as my mentor and him."
"Edgeworth."
"And then you came to my way, with confident grin, so full of hopes about the world and people, putting great belief into them. 'What a fool,' I thought. 'The real world will crush you down.' But here you stood. And still stand. Still putting trust to your clients. No matter if it's human or orca." He chuckled slightly amused. "Even after world tried to make you its victim. It's good to see your badge is back."
"You forgot parrot."
"You are unbelievable, Wright." He smirked and shook his head. "Do you know why I didn't want to wear glasses? I thought that I don't deserve to remind my father in any way. But as I said it's been a long time and now I'm aware of the fact that no matter what I try, I won't rewrite past. But… I've been wondering about you, to be honest. You see that girl – Trucy is her name, right? - every day. You even adopted her, raised her after what happened to her… "
"What do you mean?"
"Isn't she constant reminder for you of a time you would like to forget? It's been just few years and you practically didn't have time to-"
"Trucy was my light in those days. We only had each other. If she wouldn't be there, I-…" I interrupted him but smiled and shook my head. "It's just like you've said a moment ago. You can't erase great parts of your life just like that – with wave of hand. Memories of every kind –good, bad - are going to stay with us for the rest of our lives. And it's up to us, to deal with them and live on. Same as you are wearing those glasses now, I live with my daughter. Who knows? Even memories that aren't pleasant can help us in the end somehow – maybe even to find some things to hold on – to remember that it can turn to better times one day. It's just like with rain. " I gently tapped my fingers on car window. "We are complaining, it makes everything sadder, gray… You hold on a hope that soon there will be at least some small ray of sunshine. But once it's over you realize that yes, even those annoying water masses falling down on your head weren't for nothing. Land needed it. It's same with people and bad experience. And if we talked about era, it was same with The Dark Age of Law also. In the end, we turned it around and learned a lot. Something ended and something started. How is it going to be? It's in our hands now. " I looked at him with firm eyes. He nodded and then started to laugh silently.
"… That was pretty deep word for someone like you."
"Ha ha, really funny! I'm trying to confess my heart out to you and be serious and what do I get for that? Great prosecutor laughing at me!" I rolled my eyes but started to laugh too. "But I guess you are right. I'm getting older, oh god."
"You know, maybe I really am closet fan of yours." He added after a while, smiling. But this time it wasn't just a cold grin he showed to some of defendants during the trial. This one warmed his grey eyes and whole face. He looked … happy.
"And also, we are here." He stopped the car next to the pavement. A smile disappeared as quickly as it appeared. I sighed. I almost regret that the ride was over. Who knows when we will be able to talk like this again? He got out of car, raising umbrella above his head again and opened my doors. What a gentleman. I guess he was just terrified I would destroy his car further more judging by his eyes fixed on seat. I grinned and scratched back of my head.
"Sorry for that…. But it's just water. It will dry, right?"
"…. I'll send you a bill…"
"Ahaha, thanks for the ride, Edgeworth." I quickly waved and wanted to run away sooner than he will prosecute me under the ground just with his eyes. I took few steps towards the building.
"Thank you… Phoenix."
I stopped walking and turned around, looking at him shocked. He was smiling again.
"You should go. Evidence won't check itself until morning. Also, you can't disappoint your client. And your fans." He bid me.
I nodded still baffled. He laughed silently and shook his head, getting back to his car. I blinked few times.
"H-hey! Miles!" He opened the window, looking at me curiously.
"Since tomorrow the trial will be over probably. Would you… What about coming over? I can cook something…. Or order. We can talk. If you still want to."
He stayed silent for a while but then nodded.

"Anytime."

I knew I was smiling as I watched his car leave. But this time – after this conversation – I knew it wasn't goodbye. Not at all.

'So I guess this is really the new beginning, huh?'

Fin.

...

A/N:

It's been a while since I wrote down something for Ace Attorney. And since the anime came out I had great urge. So... Here we go.
To be honest, I'm not completely satisfied, since some small voice in the back of my head keeps telling me it's OOC as hell and nothing that much happens here. Also this is first part of series called 'Seasons'.
But anyway. Thank you very much guys, for reading my fanfiction! I hope you liked this little piece at least a bit.
I'm sorry for all the mistakes you can find here, unfortunately I don't have BETA reader and I'm not native speaker. If you see mistake, don't hesitate to correct me - it would help me a lot. Thank you once again! :))
This work was also crossposted on my AO3!