AN: So I have been a fan of this pairing for a long time but only today have I beaten the game(Lazy gamer, I know~) and man did I love the emotions between the two! During the final trial I thought of this idea and decided to try make it into a good story. Without much else to say, Enjoy my first Justicykes story. Justicykes forever!
Memories
A month had passed since that trial. Not much had happened during that time, save for the funeral of Clay Terran. A few had said words about the deceased but one had made a good impact on just what kind of man had died. Clay's oldest and best friend defended him even past the time needed and said nothing but the honest truth of the man he loved like a brother.
Now he had found himself looking through old stuff he and Clay shared, Clay's father had given Apollo a few things that were important to the two and had thanked Apollo for being such a good friend to Clay, even after he had passed on.
"Now where did that box go" Apollo said to himself, looking in his closet for the box that kept all his things from their junior years. He didn't know why he looked for that in particular but felt that it would help keep his memories of Clay fresh.
"Found ya!" He shouted, though not as loud as usual. Pulling out the old box he opened it and carefully took out the old items from his past. A jacket with the Space Center's logo on the back, a book on space, photo's of Apollo, Clay, and Mr. Starbuck. It was obvious how much time he had spent at the Space Center.
As he picked things out of the box, he caught sight of something he couldn't remember having in the box. It seemed like an old scrapbook. Picking it up he noticed the front had paper taped to it in big bold letters, shocking him at what he had seen.
"Thena's and Polly's Treasure?..." He said as he read the front. He of course knew who it was talking about but for the life of him couldn't remember how this happened.
Looking into the book he saw it filled with drawings, some having his signature while others had "Thena's" while others had both names. As he looked into it he didn't realize how he had sat back against a wall, not seeing just how long he was looking at it. Only trying to remember, racking his brain until the answer came.
"I'M THENA AND I'M FINE!"
The words rang out in his head as the memories came in like a flood.
(Flashback Start)
It was another simple day for Apollo, meeting Clay at the Space Center after finishing his studies. He turned the corner leading towards the Center only to hear the crying of a young girl. Looking around he saw a little girl, around the age of 10-11, crying her eyes out. Without much hesitation he walked towards her and bent down to be able to look her in the eyes. "You okay?" He had said.
The girl was startled out of her thoughts at hearing the boy talk to her. She had just wanted to leave, to see what was beyond the doors, to be outside but after only a short while she became lost. The headphones on her ears hurt even more as she ran and despair enveloped her being as she feared she would never find home, never find her mother. She look at the boy who spoke to her, tears in her eyes, and hiccuped out an "I wanna go home!".
"Well do you know where your home is?"
"N..No!" She cried out some more.
"Hey, come on. You gotta stop crying if you wanna find your way home."
"I...I can't..."
"Sure you can, here let me give you a trick I use." He said getting up to his full height. She looked up at him with a curious, tear-filled glance. Breathing in air he shouted as loud as he can "I'M APOLLO JUSTICE AND I AM FINE!" He said causing her to flinch. "Now you try, as loud as you can."
"B..but"
"No buts, come on." He said giving her a small smile.
She breathed in and before she could start crying again shouted "I'M THENA AND I'M FINE!". She blinked in surprise, she was still scared but she felt better. She felt the boy grab her hand and started walking.
"Now lets go find your home." He had said getting a sound of confirmation from the kid.
They had found her home to be his original destination, the Space Center. After dropping her off with her mother he had left with Clay but on his next visit he had played with Thena while Clay was busy with work, getting the young kid to let out cries of happiness at being able to play with someone.
It had continued like that for around a year, Apollo and Thena playing and drawing whenever Clay had work. Apollo had even met Metis on a few occasions and had been the one to give him the scrap book. Then one day the Space Center was closed for a month and afterwords Metis and her daughter Thena were gone. As time went on, Apollo soon forgot about the lonely girl who he had befriended...
(Flashback End)
He just stayed sitting afterwords, absentmindedly looking through the book as he thought about what he had just remembered. He could feel numerous emotions inside clashing with each other; Guilt at forgetting Athena and Metis, Sadness at how he could do nothing for them, Shock that he had known them, Anger returning at himself for accusing Athena for Metis's death, and even slight happiness at knowing that the two were friends before knowing each other now.
The problem soon presented itself though; should he tell her or not. No matter what she said, he felt that she didn't fully forgive him for what he did, not that he could blame her. Would this cause her to hate him more? He honestly couldn't take that, not after discovering just how he felt towards her.
On the other hand this could help them become better friends, rekindling the bond they had as children.
As he waged a small war in himself he noticed two things in the scrapbook. Two small things that cleared up all hesitation inside him. Knowing what needed to be done he started to plan. Couldn't bluff his way out of this after all.
Next Day
Wright Anything Agency
It had been another uneventful day for the group. Phoenix had been the most busy and that was due to preparing for Aura's trial. Trucy got her enjoyment at teasing her father by saying he was going this far for Aura cause he liked her, ignoring how the woman had taken her hostage a month ago. Apollo and Athena on the other hand had nothing to do other than work on paperwork. It didn't matter much to Apollo, in fact it helped since he needed to wait only a bit longer for the plan to take effect.
"Apollo, Athena. We're heading out for lunch. Coming?" Phoenix asked his employee's.
As Athena began to say yes, Apollo cut her off "Actually you guys can go on ahead, we have work to go over."
Phoenix would have said more but he could see the begging look Apollo gave him and understood something was going on. Giving Apollo a nod he waved them goodbye and left with Trucy.
"What the hell, Apollo! Why can't we just ignore the work for now, I'm hungry" Athena said as she gave a pout, though her eyes gained a confused look at his flinch.
"Listen...just take what I give you and look at it carefully." Apollo said, the pout reminded him of a look the younger Athena gave him in the past. He took out an old scrapbook from his bag and handed it to Athena. She gave it a lazy glance before looking back at Apollo only to blink at surprise at what she had seen on the front. "Just look." he said as he placed his head on the table.
Hours seemed to pass when it was only minutes but he could hear the water works already and sighed, feeling as if it was a bad idea.
"No!" She shouted across from him, tears in her eyes. He looked up at her and she explained herself "I can feel the emotion coming off you. This...this is not a bad thing. I'm just so happy I can't help but cry." She said as she got to a specific page, page that had solved Apollo's inner dilemma. The first thing she saw was a simple picture of her mother, herself, Ponco, Aura, Simon, and Apollo. The signatures on the page really brought tears to her eyes. Thena and Polly were constants it seemed but the last name showed that Metis truly did care for her. The picture below it was actually a photo of a younger Apollo, herself, and her mother.
She remembered it now, that day had been about a month before the murder. She and Apollo had been drawing for awhile until her mother surprised her when she started drawing with the two. She even had Ponco take a picture of the three.
"Apollo..." She said with tears in her eyes as she got up. He barely had time to get up before she launched herself at her friend, embracing him and hugging tightly. "Thank you!" She cried.
The two sat on the ground, one crying, while the other held her tightly. It wasn't long til she stopped but after the tears came the talk.
"Honestly Apollo, I don't blame you at all. It was a traumatic time for me and you hadn't known me for long. You didn't know probably cause the employee's didn't want to cause anymore sadness or bring out their own sadness." She said as the two sat on the couch, Athena leaning on Apollo as they looked through the scrapbook.
"Fine it, I'll agree to that but on one condition." Apollo said after thinking all that time while she had been crying.
"What kind of condition?"
"The scrapbook is still only around half-filled. So I was thinking, why not fill it up."
She thought about it for a few moments before smiling softly "Finish what we started, that what you mean?"
"Yeah. And it doesn't have to be just us. Mr. Wright, Trucy, Blackquill, Juniper, and the others. We can fill it with all our memories."
She let out a small laugh "Yeah, I like it. Okay then to start off..." she hopped off the couch and got an item from her own bag. Before he could question her she jumped back on the couch and said "...Lets start this next batch of memories with a fresh one." She said and with a small blush he pecked him on the cheek and took a picture of the two, getting both of their blushing faces; hers in happiness and his in surprise.
They would make many memories but this one would be the start of two things. Their growing feelings was an important one but most important was...
"Daddy! Athena just kissed Polly!"
….Trucy's start of teasing the two.
END
AN: So there you have it, a small Justicykes story. Not sure if I'll come back to this pairing but if I ever make more Ace Attorney stories, this pairing will be on high priority for the stories.
Well that's all for now so...
I'M ZERO THE CHANCE AND I'M OUT!
