Hello, dear friend

It was a rainy day outside these 4 walls. I looked up and sighed. This was going to be a pretty long day.
Phoenix invited me over – invited? Well, he was literally begging me to stop by and help him with cleaning since he was losing important things in his mess. I was thinking that maybe he is overreacting (as always), but... It was great mistake to think that. Phoenix Wright's office was worse than a room of 5 years old child.
Since now we found like: three pair of boots, his attorney badge (Are you an idiot or what, Wright?! If you can't look after it properly, put it into your pockets! Or rather no... I have that strong feeling that your pockets might have one or two extra holes. My my...) and some kind of plant. I couldn't understand how this man could turn out to be a talented defense attorney if he couldn't even watch after his things. I sighed and stood on the chair that i left next to shelves. He had some great amount of documents there (Of course, absolutely no order. I'm not even surprised anymore.). I took them out and was about to put them on table, when suddenly a leg of the chair I was standing on snapped in two and I ended up on a floor in really grotesque position. Just great.I'm really tempted to sue him for putting my life into danger. Oh and now even your great abilities wouldn't help you, believe me, Wright – and I would happily enjoy that trial!
I groaned and somehow managed to sit down properly. I sighed. The documents were scattered all around me. There was pile of envelops next to me – they seemed like the usual ones you can get almost at every post. Nothing unusual just... I reached for them and frowned. Yes, so I was right, my sight wasn't lying at all.
There, on these envelops, a very familiar name was written. To be more specific – my name.
What the hell was the meaning of this? I turned it around. Address…. Huh? None? Just my name on it… Now this seemed really strange. I quickly glanced around. Phoenix still wasn't back in room since he went out to throw out some bigger things (I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up stuck in that garbage thanks to his skills with legs up in the air). Maybe… It was my chance to see what this meant? I sighed. My morals said me otherwise but if this was the scene of crime – this would be a crucial evidence so…
I quickly tore the envelope and a letter and photo gently fell down to my lap. Three kids were smiling at me. One with crazy orange hairdo, second one with dark hair and the last one? Grey eyes were watching me. My younger silver haired self was looking at me with big happy smile. I blinked. This photo…
Oh yeah, I remembered it. We took it like... a month? Before all of those things about DL-6 happened and I transferred to another school.
The world seemed perfect for kids like us. We were always together after that class trial. Me, Phoenix and Butz. I smiled softly and placed this photo next to me, taking a letter to my hands.
I started to read.

Dear Miles!
How are you? We haven't heard from you for a while. It's been five months since we saw you for the last time. And heard from you too. Teacher said that you moved to Germany and you are attending a school there. Is that true? How does that country look like? I bet everything is cool there, isn't it? Of course and there must be many of chances to become a great defense attorney like you've wanted! When you return, you must tell us everything, understood?!

A defense attorney? Yeah. It was my childhood dream. But after I believed that I killed my father, I … I wanted to punish myself somehow. And becoming prosecutor not only offered great chance to put criminals behind bars, when they belonged to but also the way to somehow remind me that I was guilty too. I was living with this feeling for almost 15 years until Phoenix found out the truth about the killer of my father. It wasn't me – my mentor, Manfred von Karma did it, killed my father because of the forged and fabricated evidences…
But still the feeling of guilt somehow remained. Guilt but also thankfulness toward the person that believed into me to the point he was trying to protect me and prove that I'm innocent even when I was sure I was a murderer. This wasn't about lunches anymore. I shook my head and continued reading.

Larry almost stopped to believe that you would return. He is ridiculous with this, isn't he? He always had strange ideas. He says that you forgot us. But you didn't, I know it! You just don't have a time. Learning new language and all. But you were always really smart. For everything beside origami! But languages aren't origami, so you'll be fine, I'm sure.

I feel something to squeeze my heart. 'Larry almost stopped to believe that you would return.' It sounded… sad. Maybe even a bit hopeless. Even though there were all those happy and cheerful words after that, it felt like if that little kid Phoenix was … was lying to himself. Somehow like he was trying to hold on something in memory and also something he created in his head. Little harmless lie.
And he was only a child…
And origami? It was easy task. When I was younger I was always considered to be a really smart child, like Phoenix wrote in this letter. Winning competitions, talented child… Always in spotlight. I hated it. All the people expected me to be best and… when I failed… I felt like if I betrayed the trust of the people around me. Like I was the worst thing in entire universe. And after I spent my time in von Karma's mansion it only got worse and worse.
And there wasn't a person like Phoenix to say me that he will believe in me. To be honest… I kind of felt like if I was only normal average boy near him. Average – but happy. Yes.

Anyway, teacher said us that she can't give us your new address. That's a pity, you know. But I'm certain that she just doesn't know it yet. So I will put this letter aside and when she gives it to us, I'm going to send it to you, okay?
I hope I will hear from you soon! Take care of yourself! You can do everything, right!
Phoenix W.

"'P.S.: One day, we are going to meet each other at court, I decided! I will be defense attorney! Same as you.' Oh, I wanted to tell you back then before you just disappeared, I remember!"
I jerked and quickly turned around. Phoenix was standing above me, reading the last line of letter aloud with soft smile. I frowned deeply and felt my cheeks to turn red. Oh just great.
"Haven't you learned that it's rude to stand behind someone?!"
"And you that things of others can be borrowed only after you ask them?"
Damn-! That brat…is right, ugh.
I glared at him and tried to stand up. My leg hurt from the fall, but it was nothing that serious. Phoenix was still looking at me and smiling.
I sighed and looked at letter.
"You never sent this."
"Same as you've never become a defense attorney. I've never got that address. And after some time, when no messages of you were coming I was about to start believe that Larry was right all the time. That you just forgot about us. That we weren't important to you." He said silently and reached for a paper in my hands. I frowned and clutched my hand.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Go ahead."
"How many letters are you hiding?"
"Hiding? I'm not hiding them, Edgeworth! I have them in my documents, that's not hiding!"
"Can you just answer me?"
"That pile. All of them."
"I see. For how long?"
"Until the day I started to study as a lawyer. Until I finally admitted that you won't return because of us. For some time – it was rather long time to be honest - I thought that you were maybe ….dead? Until you appeared in news as a "prodigy prosecutor". I was shocked. Prosecutor? Edgeworth? Why? 'How could he abandon his dream to be like his father?!' I thought. "
I looked down and bit my lower lip. When he put it like this it sounded even worse.
"Now you know the truth."
"Yes. I do. And I was right about the one thing."
I was still looking down on my shoes. So…even Phoenix doubted me in the end…? I felt something in my eyes.

Oh great prosecutor Edgeworth is crying here? How weak, Miles, how weak…
'You are pathetic. Not good for anything. Just a shame….'
'You left me behind! And because of you even papa! You pathetic… fool!'
Yes, it was always my fault, Karma was right, even Franziska, my mistakes, all of them and-

"I was right that it wasn't your fault. Anything of it."
I looked up, completely shocked. Well, for another time that day. Phoenix smiled at me and handed me something. They were… those letters.
"Well…. Heh. They are yours. I wrote them for my dear friend, right? And um, that's you. And always was."
I touched them with trembling hand and took them from him, looking at envelopes. Some of them were white, some of them blue…. And on some of them were tea stains. I sighed and let them fall down onto ground. Phoenix cocked his head to side with curious eyes. I shook my head.
"You are … horrible. Bringing back feelings like this! And then trying to fix everything that happened!" I said silently and kept looking at him.
He looked at me surprised but then smiled and his eyes brightened.
"So you finally understood that past is past and you won't change it? That you just …. need it to accept it?"
He looked like a puppy. An idiotical but somehow cute puppy. Oh god.
"Just - Shut up!" I snapped and turned around, blushing. I heard chuckled and then suddenly, I felt him… hugging me?!
"What the-?!"
"Calm down. I'm not doing anything, Miles. Just…for a while. It will be fine. Okay?"
He leaned his head against my shoulder as I nodded slightly in the end. We stayed like that for a while, looking out from a window. Rain drops were still gently falling on the foggy glass. It was calming. And really, it helped me to calm down. I sighed and leaned against him.
Somehow I had the feeling that it was okay. To trust him. He could put me down so many times – to laugh, to abandon me, to let me feel that whole world was against me.
He never did.
He was always there to grab my hand and bring me back. And believe into me. We were completely different – and even during trials now on the opposite sides – but still somehow, we were together.

From the very first start, when I stood up to defend that little boy in front of me.

"You know…. I wrote letters… too."

The End.

Notes:

Hello everyone! This is my first fan fiction post to "Ace Attorney" fandom (since I fell in love with this game and movie, lol.)
. I hope you liked this story, even only a bit. Thank you for your time and for reading this.
Considering timeline - this story takes place... probably some time after "Turnabout Goodbyes" or let's say (and it would probably fit better) after the movie. It didn't turn out that well as I wanted it, but well, I hope that it's at least readable somehow and not very confusing/not making sense at all or OOC (and I absolutely don't like that ending. It's horrible. Just... Nah. xD)
But - also, I was thinking about writing little multi-chaptered fan fiction about little Edgeworth and his time in Germany (since I kind of ended this story with that line about letters, hm).
What do you think? I would be very happy if you leave some feedback to know what you are thinking. Thank you!
Please, also, excuse me for mistakes in the text and my grammar - the author here doesn't have BETA and is not a native speaker. Thank you very much again, for understanding.
P.S.: This story was crossposted on AO3! n.n