A/N: So here we have another Ace Attorney gen piece, centering around Acro and Regina Berry. This is also the shortest one-shot yet, but I didn't need many words to tell this particular story. So without further ado, it's time for gen!
The first time he was told that Regina had come to visit him, Acro refused. He didn't deserve the lay eyes on the person he tried to kill, the daughter of the Russel Berry, whom he actually killed.
But every week like clockwork, Regina came to visit him. Eventually, Acro found that he no longer had it in him to refuse her. So the next time Regina came to visit Acro asked to be wheeled into the visiting room.
"Acro!" Regina exclaimed upon seeing him, bouncing as she always did. "You've finally decided to see me!"
Faced with the overwhelming amount of cheer that Regina naturally exuded, for a split second Acro could feel the dark rage begin to rise up inside him again, but with great effort he managed to extinguish it. Dr. Bellum always told him to take Regina at face value: as an ultimately harmless girl with a good heart.
"Hello there, Regina," Acro said calmly. "How are you?"
"I'm great," Regina said. I- I've been visiting Bat so that when he wakes up, I can tell you right away."
"How is Bat?" Acro asked, feeling a pang of deep sadness at the name.
"Still sleeping," Regina answered, her smile faltering. "The doctors told me something about his... um..."
Acro could clearly see that Regina struggled to comprehend whatever it was the doctors had told her, and he was filled with pity.
"I appreciate that you continue to go see him," Acro said pleasantly. "How's everyone else at the Berry Big Circus?"
"They've been doing well!" Regina said excitedly. "Max is bringing in the crowds like he always does, but Uncle Moe and Ben and Trilo have been practicing new acts. Trilo's new round act has been a big hit, and Moe even got a few laughs last time!"
It seemed Regina still didn't quite get that Trilo was just a puppet, but that Acro felt it wasn't in his place to correct her. In the meantime Regina chatted on about the state of the circus.
When she stopped to take a breath, Acro softly asked, "What about you? You haven't said anything about what you've been up to besides visting Bat."
Regina's mood once again plummeted, and Acro wondered why that struck a nerve. Then he remembered what had been all over the news recently.
"W-well, I'd hired someone to join the animal taming division with me," Regina explained. "and he was really good at it! B-but h-he- he turned out to be a bad guy."
Regina started to tear up at this, badly shaken by this. Acro gripped his wheelchair in indignation. Even within these walls, he had heard about Simon Keyes. To think that someone could so callously manipulate so many people, especially Regina- it seemed that the poor girl encountered all the worst kinds of people, including Acro himself.
"Regina, please don't cry." Acro said. "Someone like him doesn't deserve your tears."
Not too long ago he could have never been able to say something like this. But Acro had done nothing but sit and think since he being jailed.
"What about you, Acro?" Regina asked, sniffling. "Are you really okay with me being here? You didn't see me for so long. I thought you hated me."
"I don't hate you," Acro said truthfully, mostly because he hated himself. "You are a tamer of unparalleled skill. What happened back then was just an accident."
This managed to bring Regina's smile back, much to Acro's relief. He felt that he understood Regina much better at the end of this conversation than he did in the years they spent together at the Berry Big Circus.
A guard outside shouted that visiting hours were almost over. Acro looked away guiltily, as he had purposefully only showed up when visiting hours were running out in case the meeting had gone south.
Regina, however, was back to her regular bubbly self.
"I'll come back to see you again soon," she said, smiling reassuringly. "so don't worry, Acro! I'm going to take care of the Berry Big Circus and Bat so that everyone can greet you when you get out of here!"
For the first time since being brought to prison, Acro started his physical therapy. He had a little under seventeen years left in his sentence. When the day of his release finally arrived, Acro wanted to be a new person to greet his brother and the new Berry Big Circus. Just maybe, he could even leave under his own power.
A/N: There is a criminal lack of Acro and Regina interacting with each other in fan fiction. Consider this piece my own attempt to fill the void. See you next time! Please review.