IMPORTANT NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
This story will contain graphic descriptions of self-harm, which could possibly be triggering. If this could be a trigger for you, stay away. Take note that I am not at all squeamish and tend to write rather graphic descriptions of gore when I get carried away (which, unfortunately, is quite often) so if at any point it gets too graphic, leave a review or send me a message telling me so and I'll gladly edit it and tone it down for future chapters.
See end of chapter for more information. Hope you enjoy!
The first time Phoenix really realised something was wrong was when Miles Edgeworth was late to court.
Never, ever had Edgeworth been late to court before, at least in Phoenix's experience. Wright himself was usually the late one, dragging Maya or Pearl-or Mia if the day was being generous-behind him. Edgeworth had been the prosecution for most of Phoenix's cases lately, by some small miracle. Maybe he wanted to prove he could win every once in a while. Maybe it was just a weird coincidence. The fact remained; Miles Edgeworth, son of the acclaimed Gregory Edgeworth, disciple of the infamous Manfred von Karma and formerly known by the moniker 'Demon Prosecutor'-was late for the first time anyone could ever recall.
Phoenix tapped his fingers against the polished wood of the defense bench and stared absently at the empty space usually filled by the prosecutor. Beside him, Maya looked over the evidence half-heartedly, glancing up at the courtroom doors every few seconds. At the front of the room, the Judge blinked and cleared his throat.
"Mr Wright?" he asked confusedly, following the defense's gaze to the empty prosecution bench. He looked over the notes on his desk. "Do you have any idea where Edgeworth is?"
Phoenix snapped out of his daydream and shook his head. "Sorry, Your Honour," he replied. "He's never been late to court before."
The judge blinked again and sighed. "Well, if he doesn't show up soon, then I guess he forfeits the trial, and your client goes free."
The gallery was in instant uproar, the audience chattering excitedly amongst themselves in the upper tiers. Amongst the hubbub, Maya turned to him and grinned.
"Wow. I guess Edgeworth decided to give up even before the trial began!" she exclaimed. Phoenix laughed along half-heartedly with her, but something still wasn't quite right about the situation. He should have been happy; if Edgeworth didn't show soon, his client (who was very obviously not guilty anyway) would be declared not guilty. His client looked at him from the defendant's stand, her eyes boring daggers into his. The message was clear; end the trial before Edgeworth could show up and ruin everything.
He cleared his throat and spoke up. "Your Honour, it's already twenty minutes past the hour...if Edgeworth doesn't arrive in a few minutes, I'd think it best that we-"
"Save your breath, Wright," came a familiar voice from the courtroom doors. In strode Miles Edgeworth, briefcase in one hand, evidence bag in the other. His cravat, Phoenix noticed absently, was nowhere to be found.
"Edgeworth!" the judge roared. "Where have you been!? You're twenty minutes late to court!"
"There was a problem at the office that required my attention." Classic Edgeworth-blunt, abrupt, and gave away nothing. The judge waited for more explanation, but none came. The prosecutor simply stood at the bench, stony-faced. Phoenix tried catching his eye, but he didn't give him as much as a glance.
"That's it?" Maya whispered to Phoenix. "He's twenty minutes late to court, then just walks in and expects everyone to drop everything and carry on?" As the crowd got wilder and wilder, she'd had to raise her voice to be heard over the gossip. Edgeworth heard her and glared daggers at the both of them. Phoenix and Maya both winced and hurriedly turned back to the judge, who was running a hand through what was left of his hair.
"You're lucky I don't hold you in contempt of court." He pounded his gavel, punctuating his sentence. "Very well. Are both the defense and the prosecution ready to begin?"
"The defense is ready, Your Honour," Phoenix replied, still watching Edgeworth out of the corner of his eye. He was gazing down at the desk, avoiding eye contact with anyone and everyone. An arm snaked up and curled around his forearm, gripping his skin tightly. Phoenix frowned; the prosecutor's nails were practically biting into his skin. Didn't that hurt?
"The prosecution is ready, Your Honour," Edgeworth said. He was quieter than usual, and was still avoiding eye contact with anyone besides the bench. Phoenix noticed he had to stop himself from adding 'for a while' onto his sentence.
"I should hope so, after all that extra time you've had to prepare." The judge banged his gavel once more. "Now, Edgeworth. Perhaps the prosecution would like to present their opening statement before I die from old age?"
- & & -
The trial was cleared up in only a day; as expected, his client was innocent. Yet another win for Phoenix, yet another loss for Edgeworth. Pearls had greeted him and Maya each with a giant bear hug, and even his client. The woman seemed a little surprised, but quickly returned the little girl's embrace, before shaking his hand and leaving to file her paperwork. Maya had left in search of a vending machine with Pearls, leaving Phoenix alone in the empty defense lobby. He checked his watch; it was only twelve o'clock. Time to take a trip to the prosecutor's lounge.
Edgeworth was preparing to leave just as he arrived, checking his watch as he picked up his briefcase. He looked up as he heard footsteps coming toward him.
"I can't stay and chat," he said quietly, moving aside to leave.
"Woah, hold on!" Phoenix grabbed at his sleeve, trying to pull him back. Edgeworth wrenched his arm back furiously, gasping slightly.
"What the hell?! Get off!" he snarled, turning to leave.
"Wait!" Phoenix pleaded, touching his shoulder lightly. "Why were you late to court today?" He flinched when he felt the bluntness of his words. Edgeworth very obviously felt it too.
"Why does everyone want to know that?" he snapped, turning back around.
Phoenix shifted uncomfortably. "It's just...well, you've never been late before, and I just wondered if everything's okay-"
"Everything is fine." Edgeworth's eyes didn't meet his own. Lie.
"Really?" Phoenix challenged quietly.
Edgeworth finally made eye contact. "Everything is the same as it was before," he said softly. "Really. Just...just leave me alone." He shook free of Nick's hand.
"Edgeworth..." Phoenix let his hand drop dully to his side. "You know...we're friends, right?" Same, after all, did not mean fine.
Edgeworth shrugged. "You tell me, Wright. Are we?"
"We're friends," Phoenix repeated firmly. "And friends can tell each other anything, even if it's-"
"Just stop it!" Edgeworth snapped. "Look, I get that you're worried, but...I can't be perfect all the time."
Edgeworth was perfect to Phoenix anyway. He swallowed and pressed on. "I...I'm sorry. I was just worried."
Edgeworth nodded stiffly. "You don't have to be. There's nothing wrong." They both knew it was a lie.
Phoenix's throat felt like sandpaper. "Okay...Just remember, you can call me."
Edgeworth raised his eyebrows. "What?"
Oh, jeez. "No-uh, not like that!" Phoenix said desperately. "I was just-"
"Save it, Wright," he replied coolly. "I know what you mean."
"Then you'll-"
"Only if I feel the need. Which, I assure you, won't."
"Uhh...okay." This was turning awkward dangerously rapidly.
Edgeworth gave him a small wave. "I'll be seeing you at my next trial, no doubt."
And then he was gone, leaving Phoenix alone in yet another empty lobby.
It should have been his wake-up call.
- & & -
Weeks passed. Phoenix didn't see much of Edgeworth after their conversation, except for when they had a trial together. Even so, it seemed Edgeworth wasn't taking on even half as many cases as he was before, instead preferring to retreat to the silence of his office, or even the safety of his own house. After some time Phoenix realised that he wasn't the only one worrying about Edgeworth; he'd seen the looks that Gumshoe gave the prosecutor. Looks of worry, concern...even fear. The other prosecutors in the district seemed to notice something was wrong as well, though they never said anything allowed. Even Maya was concerned, offering him her collection of Steel Samurai DVDs-only to borrow, of course. Edgeworth would simply laugh weakly and say that it was fine, he was fine, he'd just been feeling under the weather those past few weeks.
Phoenix didn't believe a word of it.
He supposed that Edgeworth really could be sick; he'd heard rumours of a bug going around the prosecutor's office, but that had been a few months ago, and Edgeworth had been perfectly fine then. But he'd seen the way the prosecutor averted his eyes whenever anyone asked him what was wrong, the way he instinctively clutched at his arms when he was startled or upset, the way his eyes had seemed to lost all of their sharpness and had become dull and unfocused. He'd noticed how thin Edgeworth was getting, the dark circles under his eyes, the sharp, jutting cheekbones, the pale, almost ghostly complexion.
He couldn't afford to wait another day.
Gumshoe seemed to take forever to pick up his phone, and Phoenix sighed in relief when he heard the familiar gravelly tone of the detective's voice.
"Detective Gumshoe, how can I help ya, pal?"
"Gumshoe," Phoenix said, stumbling over his words slightly. "I have a question for you."
"Wait…as in Phoenix Wright? The defense attorney?" Gumshoe sounded confused. "I'm lost, pal."
"Don't be. Listen, is Edgeworth still at the office?"
"…It's seven o'clock in the evening." Gumshoe sounded more than a little incredulous.
"So…"
"So of course he is, pal! You know Mr Edgeworth never leaves his office before nine."
Figures.
"Do you think he'll mind if I come over?" he asked, crossing his finger behind his back.
"Why?"
Crap. "I need to….drop some case files over to him," he offered lamely. "Urgently. Now."
"Well, pal, I don't know if I can just let you in, there are rules and regulations and official protocol, and I can't afford to get my paycheck cut again-"
"An innocent man's life could be at stake, Gumshoe!" Phoenix mustered up all the sincerity he could. "Do you really want that on your conscience?" Yep, he thought, I'm going to hell.
"…I'm not buying it, pal. You tell me why you wanna visit, and well, I'll see what I can do then."
"Don't tell me you haven't noticed something's up with him."
There was a pause on the other end of the line. Gumshoe's voice sounded hushed when he did speak up again. "Listen, pal, I can't really talk about this right now, Mr Edgeworth's been really paranoid these days and listening in on every call near his office and….you know what? You're right, pal. You're right." Phoenix heard a heavy sigh from the other end of the phone. "Look, I've tried asking him a million times over. No dice. He just gives me this sad smile, or a scowl if he's in a bad mood, and I just shut up and ask him some other time."
"Do…do you know what's going on with him?" Phoenix bit his lip and hoped that Gumshoe had managed to get something, anything out of the prosecutor. His heart sunk when Gumshoe answered.
"No clue, pal. He's been this way for a while, you know."
"Yeah…I know." Phoenix's voice hardened. "Listen, I'm gonna call in at Edgeworth's office tomorrow, say, twelve?"
"Uhhh…" Phoenix heard the sound of papers being shuffled around on the other end of the line. "I think he can do twelve…Maybe."
"It'll be fine," Phoenix dismissed. "And listen, Gumshoe…if you learn anything before I come over tomorrow, don't hesitate to tell me, even if it's one in the morning. Please."
"You can count on me, pal!"
Phoenix let out a bitter chuckle. "Why do we always seem to drop everything whenever Edgeworth's in trouble?"
"I dunno, pal. I guess that's just what he does to us. All that he's been through…I mean, it could have been worse for him, but nobody deserves what happened to him as a kid."
Phoenix nodded in agreement. "It must have been hard," he mused, then realised his massive understatement with an embarrassed flush. "I mean, obviously it's hard for anyone to lose their father like that, but it must have been even harder on Edgeworth…he adored his father as a kid."
"And then he moves in with that bastard von Karma. Must have been tough. I'm glad he's dead, pal."
Phoenix did a double-take. "von Karma…..dead? Where was I when this happened?"
"You didn't know, pal?" Gumshoe exclaimed. "He was executed about two months ago. I hear Edgeworth bailed on it and his sister got mad. Well, his adopted sister. Franziska," he clarified, just in case Phoenix hadn't known that either.
He blinked; this put a new…spin on things. "Was it in the news?"
"Oh yeah, pal," the detective replied idly. "I dunno how you missed it. Wait, let me see….he was executed on the 21st of May this year."
"Uh…" The attorney took a quick look at his calendar. "Oh, that explains it-I had a case. When I'm investigating I basically live under a rock. " He shook his head slowly in disbelief. "Still, it must have been huge. How could I have missed it?"
"Well, bringing it up with Mr Edgeworth won't do any good, pal," Gumshoe retorted. "He practically flinches whenever anyone even mentions von Karma's name now. Best to avoid the subject entirely, dont'cha think?"
"Maybe not talking about it is what's doing the damage," the attorney replied slowly, deep in thought. "Maybe he's been bottling up his feelings for so long and that's what's making him act like this."
"Well if he won't let anyone in, then I don't see how we can help, pal," the detective replied sadly. "Listen, I gotta hand in some files and if I don't finish them in in an hour then the Chief will go ballistic…..and I'll get another pay cut." He sighed. "I'll keep you updated, okay? Come on tomorrow, like we planned. Maybe he'll talk to you more than he will to me."
Phoenix nodded, though inside he doubted that Edgeworth would be any more willing to talk to him any more than he was likely to open up to Gumshoe. "Okay, Gumshoe. See you tomorrow." There was an awkward pause before the detective hung up, leaving Phoenix with only the steady beep of the dial tone. He sighed heavily, tossing his phone onto the soft bedspread behind him.
Tomorrow, he promised himself. Tomorrow, I'll stop pretending nothing is wrong. Everything will be fine in the end.
He didn't know who he was trying fool anymore.
Wow, I haven't written one of these in a long time. And I keep changing pen names, too. Hopefully I can stick to this one instead of forgetting both my password and email and having to create a new account. Lordy.
Anyway, the way I'm gonna update this is….best described as erratic. I'm going to post a chapter of this, then post a oneshot. Then post a chapter of this, then a oneshot, then a chapter, then a oneshot…Basically I'm alternating between the two. From past experience I find that if I treat each chapter of this like a oneshot in a series rather than a new chapter I can get it done a lot quicker, but it needs to feel like a oneshot.
Yeah, I know, I'm crazy.
Also, I forgot how to do line breaks. Is this it...?
Anyway, I'd love feedback, seeing as I haven't written anything in so long I had to practically brush off all the cobwebs from the fanfiction folder on my laptop. Between school exams, dancing and huge Criminal Minds marathons, I haven't had a lot of time this year. (Actually, I don't study for exams or practice my dancing. Criminal Minds was my entire undoing.)
Also, what's the difference between practice and practise, and which one would have been appropriate for that context? I've been dying to know all year.
I'll be posting a oneshot shortly then, I guess. No idea how long it'll take me. That's the beauty of it though, isn't it? Watch this space!