Le gasp! What's this? A new fanfic before the new chapter of The Great Speckled Attorney? Yes, due to circumstances, I am posting this new fanfic, which will hopefully hold my readers over, until I can finish TGSA chapter 4.

Characters belong to Capcom, not me. Enjoy! c:

~~I'm (Not) Fine!~~

-Chapter One-

Apollo knew it was going to be a very long day from the moment he woke up. His head and his throat both ached, and he could barely breathe through his nose at all.

"Ugh...Damn allergies..." he groaned, as he sluggishly walked to the bathroom, to see if he had any allergy medicine. Just his luck, he didn't have any! He decided to take a hot shower instead, with the steam being the next best thing. After his shower, Apollo was able to slightly breathe again. Carrying on with his morning routine, Apollo attempted his Chords of Steel workout.

"My name- *cough cough* My name is- *cough cough cough* My name is Apollo Jus- *cough hack cough* My name is Apollo Justice and I'm- *cough hack hack cough*" His attempts forced him into a coughing fit, which practically forced him to his hands and knees. It took him a minute to catch his breath again. "Okay, throat! You win!" he whispered, as to not strain himself further. Apollo conceded that he may have overdone it the day before, and went on to get dressed and ready for work, despite subconsciously wanting to go back to bed. It was already a crap morning on his own free will, he couldn't imagine the hell of a morning that awaited him at the agency.

"*bla-choo!*" Apollo sneezed into his coat sleeve. Bad enough he had to ride his bicycle to work during an oncoming cold front; when he was about halfway there, it started raining! Now his headache was worse, and he was congested all over again.

'A really long day!' he sullenly reminded himself as he stepped foot into the Wright Anything Agency. Sure enough, he was correct.

"Good morning, Polly!" came the shout of a familiar young magician, aka Trucy, who was home from school since it was a Saturday.

"Mornin'." Apollo mumbled, not realizing the scratchiness in his voice. As he removed his coat, he felt a small chill, and quickly put it back on. "So, kinda dumb to ask, but anything n-n-*na-choo!*...new today?" he asked, wiping his nose on his coat sleeve. He had to ask, as the law office hadn't had much luck with new cases, until today.

"Yeah, Daddy and Athena are both looking over a few reports right now." Trucy answered. "Also, bless you!"

'In other words, whatever is in the paper, or trending online.' he thought, and was about to say out loud, until a few coughs cut him off. As the coughing subsided, he saw Trucy looking at him in concern.

"Are...Are you doing okay?" she asked. "You sound like you have a cold."

"I'm fine." Apollo quickly answered. If she was serious about them having a new case, then he was certainly not just about to call in sick! He took his coat off, and quickly joined his two fellow lawyers in the adjacent room.

"Morning, Apollo." Phoenix and Athena said in near unison, while keeping their eyes glued on the papers in front of them.

"Morning." he mumbled again, before plopping down on to the couch in front of them, and skimmed through some papers himself. "Any luck yet?" he asked, rubbing at the sides of his head between his temples and his ears.

"No, not yet..." Phoenix mumbled, as he briefly glanced up at the other man.

"Although this aggravated assault case has my interest piqued!" Athena added, nose-deep into a case file.

Apollo coughed a few more times. "Aggravated assault?" he asked, now noticing how scratchy his voice really was.

"Yeah, you wanna s...?" she trailed off as soon as she got a good look at him. Apollo definitely wasn't himself today: His hair was half flat, probably from the rain, his face was pale aside from his cheeks and nose, which were flushed, and the right side of his nose was running, which he seemed to notice as he sniffled every so often. He also occasionally rubbed at his throat or his head. Naturally, Athena couldn't help but show concern. "Apollo, are you sick?" she asked, tempted to feel his forehead. Only when she asked this, did Phoenix look up and make the same observations as his protege.

"No, I'm fine." the sick lawyer insisted, though his actions soon betrayed his words. As his headache worsened a little, he leaned his head into his hands, and closed his eyes. Soon after, he gradually started to doze off.

"Polly..." Trucy whispered softly into his ear.

"What?" he grumbled.

"Are you sleepy?" she asked, in the same whispered tone.

"Mm." he answered. "My head hurts, actually."

"Just your head?" Athena asked, doubt ever so prominent in her voice.

"My ears and my throat, too." Apollo honestly answered, before two sneezes escaped his nose.

"Gesundheit!" Athena said to him.

At that point, Phoenix could not ignore his parental instincts. Standing over his protege, he laid one hand on Apollo's forehead, and the other hand on his own. Apollo opened his eyes, and looked up as this was going on.

"Okay, young man. No cases for you." Phoenix firmly stated as he drew his hand back. "I'm taking you home, and giving you a couple of days off to get better."

"B-but I'm fine, really..." Apollo insisted, but was quickly cut off by a harsh coughing fit. As much as his job irritated him at times, he still hated to miss out on potential turnabouts.

"No buts." Phoenix told him, as he handed the other man his coat.

"And none of that 'I'm fine' crap, either." Athena added. "Anyone could tell you're far from fine." she paused, and felt his forehead, as well. "Plus, do you really plan to take on a case with a fever?"

"Apollo, you really should go home and rest." Trucy stated, her face full of worry.

Apollo rubbed as his temples, and stood up to put his coat on. He knew his arguments would be in vain. All three of his colleagues could see right through his lies, easily.

"Alright, fine." he grunted, as he headed out the door.

And there we have it! I can't get the "e"'s in protege to do the thing, so sorry about that. I use WordPad, and I'm not sure if there is a way to change letters with it. Anyway, I'll have more chapters for this and TGSA soon! c: Honest reviews, please!