"Mreow!" Mikeko loudly professed and readied himself for a big jump onto the mass that was underneath the sheets of Apollo's bed. Once it was on there, the feline began to purr contently and knead its paws and get comfortable atop it with a content look on its face.
"Ugh… Mikeko, not now…" Apollo's voice would come through from underneath, but not before the disgruntled groan he offered once Mikeko landed. He wasn't a kitten anymore, and he certainly wasn't light.
There the two laid for a few minutes, the sound of chirping birds and city bustle filling Apollo's room whilst the morning sun's rays breached in basked his cocoon self and the cat atop him in their warmth.
"… Huh!?" Suddenly Apollo shot straight up from the bed, tightly having grasped his sheets and with a cold sweat running down the side of his head.
Mikeko, in no surprise to this reaction, jumped off with a slightly disgruntled meow and proceeded to make his way onto the water bowl across the room, tail idly dancing behind him.
"T-This… this is… I-I'm home… " Eyes wide and in disbelief, the red lawyer just took a moment to take it all in an ease his breathing and calm his heart. Moving a hand up and over his mouth in disbelief, he'd shudder once and close his eyes.
"I-It was dream… Just a nightmare… Just another dream…" He repeated to himself before letting his hand drop and letting out a soft chuckle that gradually turned into heartfelt laughter.
"It was just a nightmare, it wasn't real! I-I'm not dead, I'm still here!" Grinning madly, he would run his hands through his hair, the laughter dying down to a chuckle again.
"I'm Apollo Justice and I'm fine!" The attorney proudly professed at the top of his lungs, naturally using those Chords of Steel of his, whilst hands tightly curled themselves onto two fists and shot upwards in a victorious manner.
With a sigh of pure and utter relief, Apollo let his head drop back and his body fall onto the bed. He hadn't felt this happy or at ease for some time, even at work as of late. Yet once the thought crossed his mind, Apollo's eyes widened in an instant, head turning to look at the alarm clock by the bed. It was nearly noon.
The attorney felt all life drain away from his body as he stared at the truth in front of him. How on earth did he manage to sleep through all of his alarms? Pulling the sheets away, Apollo raised himself in a rush which is when he noticed something. After taking a few steps, he froze and looked down at his body, his lids pulling back in the shock of it.
Having lead healthy life-style in terms of eating properly and exercising, the young attorney was always at the very least fit, or could qualify as it. But now that wasn't the case now. Somehow overnight Apollo's body had undergone a transformation, not only becoming taller and leaner, but also more toned.
Slowly his hand reached over to touch the well-defined abs on his stomach, only to pull back in surprise that they were there at all. His heart starting to race, the young man took a deep breath and slowly began to walk towards the bathroom, only for his heart to start beating faster with each passing second and his step picking up along with it.
In moments he found himself before the bathroom door, pushing it open with a force that made the handle bend. Planting both hands onto the sink and clutching onto it, Apollo sat himself in front of the mirror and watched in horror. The person whom stared back wasn't him, yet it also in an odd way. His hair was always messy in the mornings, but now it was more than that, it was wild like an animal's and slightly longer. Moving his hand up to feel his now new and defined jawline, the change that startled him the most was to his eyes. Underneath the sharp, yet angry, looking eyebrows were and even sharper pair of eyes that didn't look nearly as soft as Apollo's usual ones. Around them was now an unnatural outline that accentuated them and oddly added a menacing touch.
The red lawyer was frozen, watching in sheer horror the sight in the mirror with the inability to utter, even a single word. All of a sudden Apollo felt a piercing headache overtake him and bring him to lean forward against the bathroom sink. Clutching onto his head with one hand, he would raise eyes and look into the mirror, only for images of a familiar scene to flash before his eyes.
It was the alley from last night's nightmare, covered in a sea of red that basked under the full moon's light. The image in Apollo's head didn't linger though as violent scene after violent scene began to flood his mind. In each of them it was him, or rather this new version of himself, savagely massacring the monsters that hunted him. With each new "frame" of the memory that surfaced, the young man was becoming more like the monsters he was ripping to shreds with his bare hands, both in mannerism and appearance. Slowly he was transforming into one of them that much was clear, but just before the memory could finish Apollo had returned to reality, covered in a cold sweat and breathing heavily.
Pushing himself back up from the sink, the man's eyes remained on himself with brows furrowed in an unhappy fashion. His palm raised itself and rested over his heart, where it clutched itself into a fist.
"… I'm still me, I'm not one of them… I'm not… I'm human, I am…" He began to chant to himself, a glint of determination shining brightly in his eyes.
" I'm not one of them, I'm human! And I'm not gonna let them kill anyone else ever again! I'm still Apollo Justice and I'm fine!" The young man cried and pounded his fists together, smirking confidently in the mirror.
Once done in the bathroom, Apollo returned to preparing himself for work as fast as he could, he had wasted a good amount of time already after all. After feeding Mikeko and changing his water, the attorney returned to the bathroom where he freshened himself up before starting to apply the usual hair gel to his hair, to get those iconic pair of "horns". Unfortunately however he soon found himself having difficulty with even that due to the fact his new hair was rather resistant to the substance, aside from the fact it had more volume to it.
"Aha! There we are! Good as new!" Rather proudly, the attorney folded his arms and grinned wide enough to show off those sharp canines he now had.
Albeit the end result not being nearly as collected as it was in the past, it was satisfactory and made Apollo look enough like his old self for others to recognize him. Moving onto his closet however was when the next issue occurred for him, namely his clothing. Albeit he could fit himself into his usual work shirt and pants still, the difficulty came with the stylish red vest upon which hung his lawyer's badge. It had become now too much of a tight fit for him, thus he decided to skip out on it for today and instead roll with just the simple white shirt and dark cyan tie, in a perhaps more loose fashion than usual.
"Alright, I'm off to work Mikeko! Don't make a mess while I'm gone!" With his bag slung over his shoulder, Apollo scratched his cat under the chin and raised himself to walk out the door.
After making it down the stairs and out of the apartment building, Apollo took out his phone to look at the time. His expression sank at the sight of how late he actually was now. What would only go to make that worse now was the realization he'd left the keys to his bicycle chain in his vest, and going back up to get them would only slow him down more.
"I don't think I've enough money for a cab or any change for the subway… looks like I'm going for a jog…" Begrudgingly Apollo thought to himself and turned to begin with the jog.
It was at that moment he noticed another new sensation, namely how light his legs felt right now. Unlike Athena, he wasn't all too inclined to indulge in activities like running all that often, or competitively, so this feeling was indeed jarring. Stopping for a moment, Apollo looked to his legs and smirked with a thought coming to mind if his expression was anything to go by. Cracking his neck, Apollo lowered himself into a sprinting position like athletes do on TV.
"One… two… three!" He counted to himself and broke off into a sprint unlike any other before.
He was keeping himself close to the ground, arms pulling and stretching in grabbing motions one after the other whilst his legs effortlessly moved back and forth. It was like he was a predator in chase, running after his prey in sight. Although it was doubtful even the likes of a cheetah could keep up with him now. Even though it was clear to him that he wasn't human anymore, that didn't scare him but in fact excited him, evident by the grin on his face.
In terms of physical capabilities to other predators on the planet, humans have never been on the top. What had always set them apart was their intellect which allowed them to create tools to make up for their inabilities, such as vehicles or guns. But not for Apollo, he was now a human whom possessed both intellect and power, or rather… a devil with a man's heart.