Striving For Perfection

Chapter 1:

Perfect Record

Author's note: Okay…you know the drill. I don't own Phoenix Wright games or characters…and if I did, I'd be swimming in my own pool of money (which would be shaped like a dollar bill!) However! I DO own Marty Cruss, Guido and Herr Volker. No touchie! Another A.N.: Hello!!! Remember me!? I recieved such encouraging reviews for my last story, that I decided to do another one! You'll have to bear with me, though, as final exams are coming up and I may not be quick to post chapters all the time...but I'll never abandon my story! Promise! For all of you just joining in on this story...you might want to go read Limits of Perfection first...it might get confusing.

AND NOW...ON TO THE STORY!!

Like her father, Franziska von Karma had never taken vacation until one serious, life-changing event. Like her father, this event somehow involved Miles Edgeworth and a bullet to the shoulder. So it didn't really come as a surprise to everyone when she barged into her boss' office and demanded leave. What surprised her co-workers was the reason for leaving for such an extended amount of time. After all, people had come to figure in the time she worked with them, Franziska was not the kind of person to care about other people so much. So when the door slammed behind her as she entered her boss' office, no one would have guessed that she was actually demanding a leave of absence...so she could take care of Miles Edgeworth. It was determined by her co-workers that she had to be the noisiest woman alive when she was angry...she was rather vocal today, as the conversation could be heard throughout the entire building.

"Ah! Franziska! What can-"

"I'm taking a leave of absence!"

"Franziska, don't be silly, you're already assigned to prosecute a case."

"I'm on vacation as of now!"

"Now, hold on there, Franziska. I'm sure we-"

"I utterly refuse to stick around here when your other top prosecutor is suffering from a mortal wound in his chest and I have the responsibility of taking care of him!"

"Who? Miles?"

"No, my sister's dog. OF COURSE I MEAN MILES!"

"I thought you said he was on the quick road to recovery!"

"...I'll be taking my leave now. I will inform you the week I plan to return to the office. In the meantime, I expect that there will be someone assigned to my case immediately. Good day."

"Franziska!"

"...It's Ms. von Karma."

"...Fine! Ms. von Karma...just tell me one thing. Does this have anything to do with the Cruss case?"

"..."

"Fra...Ms. von Karma?"

"..."

"Look, I know you have a personal vendetta against this guy, but it wasn't as if we meant-"

"Meant to what? Let him go? Let WRIGHT set him free? For God's sake, you let a murderer and a kidnapper get away! For what reason? Because YOU, sir, put a rookie prosecutor on the case! And now the man who shot me and kidnapped me is out there somewhere...walking around with a foolish smile on his face because some FOOL didn't let at least one of out better prosecutors take care of it! He was pronounced NOT GUILTY! Do you know what that means, sir?! That means that we can never try him for those charges again! Double jeopardy! If we wanted to get him on something else, then he would have to commit another crime, and I for one am not going to wait around to get shot again! Being shot almost damaged the Engarde case the first time, it gave me amnesia the second time...I don't want to wait around and find out what will happen to me if I get shot a third time!"

Franziska brushed back a stray strand of hair, having finally emptied out her thoughts. She took a long breath during the silence and then looked towards her boss.

"Now sir, THAT was about the Cruss case...my leave of absence has nothing to do with it." She stated calmly, before turning on her heel and walking out of the cramped office. She was telling the absolute truth...sort of.

"FRANZISKA! Hey! Franziska!"

She had her key in her car door, and was just about to unlock the car when she noticed a figure running towards her. As the figure got closer, she realized that it was Phoenix Wright. Angered by recent events, Franziska attempted to unlock her car, but found that she had somehow jammed the key into the lock. "Great...just great..." she muttered, before turning to look directly into Phoenix's eyes. She yanked her keys out of her car and moved away from the defense attorney.

"Look, Franziska...can't we talk?" Phoenix asked with a defeated tone of voice.

"What about?" Franziska asked bitterly.

"...Don't pretend like you don't know. You haven't spoken to any of us recently...okay, so it's not like you do that anyway, but you at least come up and have some sort of snide or arrogent remark to say...but lately you've just given a death glare to anyone connected to the case."

"I wonder why...?" Franziska replied sarcastically, one hand reaching for her whip.

"Hey, it's not as if I REALLY knew the guy was guilty...okay? He seemed honest and sincere enough!" Phoenix protested nervously at the sight of the whip.

"Funny...I recall you saying the same thing about Matt Engarde, too. Only in that instant, you were able to put him in jail all because Maya Fey was released from captivity. Tell me, does it take the possible risk of losing a special person's life, for you to admit that you're wrong about someone!?" Franziska shot back.

Her stinging words were enough to make Phoenix drop his hands to his side in defeat. He sighed and looked straight at the ground. "I know...I know...this case meant a lot to you...and I really let you down. I feel horrible about it! I...I really do…I'm sorry."

Franziska shook her head, her lips curled in a look of disgust at Phoenix's words. She was NOT going to forgive this man, even though some would argue that he really had just been doing his job. "You fool. You disgust me. You were there for Miles when he was panicking over my situation...you were there to tell him that everything would be all right...and now what do you do? You turn around and get Marty Cruss a NOT GUILTY verdict! You're a backstabber...that's what you are. It didn't matter whether there was a rookie prosecutor out there or not... Phoenix Wright...you knew deep down, that man was guilty! And you've now robbed me of my life because of your selfish actions. You complain and tell me that I am the only one around the courtroom who thinks solely of themselves...but maybe it's YOU. I can no longer go out without having to constantly look over my shoulder to make sure Cruss isn't there. Miles is injured because of Cruss...I was injured and kidnapped because of Cruss...you tell me, Phoenix Wright...were your foolish actions enough to satisfy your own demand for perfection? ...I will NEVER forgive you." Franziska stated in a deadly threatening tone of voice. She walked back to her car and placed the key in the lock before turning it, which opened the door. Moments later, she was speeding away from where Phoenix stood, and racing to get back to Miles' apartment, where she knew he was probably getting restless like he normally was about this time.

A.N.: Well, here's the first chapter of the sequel! While writing this, I started to wonder if I might have tweaked Franziska's character just slightly...hopefully I'm the only one who thinks this, because I really do want to keep this as in character as possible. Well, please read and review and the next chapter will be along shortly! Muahahah! Flamers, beware...I don't care what you have to say, and if you don't like it, don't continue reading it! Other than that, comments and criticism (constructive) is always welcome!