Prologue
Edgeworth, slowly placing his cup of tea down to the side table, wrinkled his nose at the large, bold letters atop the newspaper heading. "Ex-Star Found Dead; Authorities Recover de Killer Card," was printed in bright red letters across the front page with a picture of a familiar, scarred man in a fancy racing jacket below to the lower left. Edgeworth fidgeted a bit as he adjusted himself on his couch. He stroked Pesu's fur, who was resting peacefully next to him on the couch, as Edgeworth skimmed the article.
Apparently, the death was ruled a suicide at first, the police having found large amounts of poison in the beer the victim had ingested. However, when the body was being moved, a small card with a shell design had slipped out of the victim's pocket. Police also recovered bits of what seemed like film tape strewn about the victim's mansion.
"So the truth finally makes itself known," Edgeworth mumbled quietly as he took a small sip from his tea. "I suppose de Killer wasn't too pleased with Mr. Engarde when he finally found out about the tape."
The paper went on to summarize the events that led up to his assassination... "After a certain trial, Engarde was found innocent of the murder of Mr. Juan Corrida, a rival actor who was also assassinated by de Killer..."
"..." Edgeworth began to clutch the paper a little more tightly as he continued to read.
"...Ms. Adrian Andrews, the manager of Engarde, was the one who was instead found to be the real person who ordered the hit on Corrida..."
"Thank goodness Franziska and I were able to lower the sentence from execution to a lifetime sentence for that sad woman," Edgeworth thought to himself as he turned the page.
"...However, despite his innocence, Engarde was fired from his job for his atrocious personality during the trial (as well as lasting suspicion after the fact), and had struggled to find work ever since. As his money began to whittle down over time, those close to him, or at least kept some sort of contact with him, reported an increase in violent tendencies and a general distrust of people. He soon found himself holed up inside his mansion, where he lived out the remainder of his life before his assassination with little known activity. Some fellow actors had tried for months to regain contact, but all they eventually found was his body (one reported spotting an open window, which he thought strange since he had always kept them locked shut)..."
"Hmph, the greedy monster must have tried to blackmail de Killer with the tape for some extra money...," Edgeworth mumbled in disgust.
After some more yammerings about how many die-hard fans were upset at his murder, whom Edgeworth considered nothing more than mere fools for the media, Edgeworth came across one last paragraph. Specifically, this last small paragraph dealt with a certain incident that happened immediately after the defendant of the murder trial for Juan Corrida was found innocent. Edgeworth tensed up a bit, hesitating as to whether he should even bother reading it, what with all the false leads and lies articles like this have given him before. Before he could pull himself away from the paper, however, he found himself already beginning to read the first sentence.
"Stranger still was the reaction of Defense Attorney Phoenix Wright to his client's acquittal. He was apparently overcome by the proceedings and left the courtroom immediately after the verdict was announced, disappearing into the streets of Los Angeles. While nobody has seen him since, nor does anyone know of his whereabouts, a man by the name of Furio Tigre briefly impersonated the famed attorney in a trial…"
"Another disappointing dead end, that one was…," Edgeworth thought.
"…However, his identity was later exposed, and he was subsequently put on trial for impersonation as well as his selling of the dangerous virus MC Bomber on the black market. The attorney for the prosecution, Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth, also tried to implicate Furio Tigre on a murder charge that he, as a phony Phoenix Wright, had tried to acquit Tres Bien waitress Maggey Byrde of. While Byrde was successfully cleared of all charges thanks to Defense Attorney Marvin Grossberg appealing her case, Furio Tigre was not convicted of said murder (nor was he found to have any connection to the missing attorney), leaving the true murderer at large…"
"And right under their oblivious noses," Edgeworth noted bitterly to himself.
"…While the fake defense attorney knew nothing of the whereabouts of the real Wright, the very fact that he chose him, of all attorneys, to impersonate, still shows the impact of him, as well as the last case that he was involved in, amongst law enforcement of all sides. Of course, the obvious question still remains: Where is he now?"
With that, Edgeworth hastily folded the paper lopsidedly and set it to the side of him, taking one double-take at it as he saw the headline, "MaskDeMasque Escapes Prison, Swears Revenge on Atmey". He rubbed his face sleepily with both hands, elbows slumped on his knees, as he leaned over the floor. He took in a deep breath.
"Why do I even bother to read that rubbish anymore?" He took one last sip of his tea as began to stand up. "I probably would have better luck with my letters than simply paying 50 cents to read what I already know." He knew a lead was still very unlikely to be right-or accurate for that matter, but after more than a year or so of trying to get in contact with him, he would take anything he could muster. At this point, he just hoped that they were delivered before he moved again.
As he began to take his tea set to the kitchen, he heard a rapping at the door. He sighed deeply. "Of all the weeks my butler decided to take his vacation on…" He quickly placed his tea set back into the kitchen as he went back to the front door, straightening himself as he did. Another round of knocks was about to begin as Edgeworth slowly opened the door. A young, stringy mailman was there to greet him, carrying a small envelope in his left hand.
"Yes?" Edgeworth asked.
"Just need you to sign for this, sir." The mailman held out a clipboard and pen. Pesu was at the door now, eagerly wanting to get at the mailman's enticing mail bag. Edgeworth, keeping the excited dog behind him took the pen and clipboard.
"I hope this isn't another desperate letter of request for my services," Edgeworth remarked jokingly as he scribbled down his signature and held the pen and clipboard out to the mailman again.
"I keep telling 'em down at the office, sir," the mailman responded with a smile as he took the pen and clipboard back. "Y'know, that you aren't really taking cases right now…" He held the yellow, slightly lumpy envelope out to Edgeworth.
"Thank you," Edgeworth said rather blankly as he began to study the envelope. He closed the door as the mailman started back to his truck, Pesu happily running underfoot of his master. Edgeworth continued to examine the envelope very closely as he headed to his study, leaving his tea set in the kitchen for the moment.
As he sat down in his desk chair, Pesu immediately coming up to sit right next to him, Edgeworth noticed something strange about the envelope. "Hm? No return address?" He turned the envelope around a bit. "And completely covered in coffee stains," he remarked slowly. Taking a little mental note to wash his hands as soon as he was done with it, he lazily opened the envelope and pulled out quite the surprising letter. "Wh-wha?" He muttered to himself as he read the letter:
"Wright-
Snap yourself out of this spell you've put yourself under. This was one trial. One trial! A true defense attorney does not resign himself to wallow in self-pity after a single loss. Are you about to let this one trial change your entire life? Because it did not turn out the way you wanted? Or because you thought yourself unfit to carry on in your current profession just because of a small mistake? Either way, you are still wrong, Wright. Yes, the stakes were great, but choosing not to pursue this culprit-as well as countless others that are wreaking havoc on innocent civilians' lives-means you do no better to find the truth than the common criminals you once fought so hard to detain. Just because a miracle never occurred at that trial back then does not mean one never will again. Miracles do indeed exist-you just need to make them happen, and remember never to give up until you've achieved your ultimate goal! Whether you consider my words or not, the least you could do for a friend is to acknowledge me somehow.
Sincerely,
Miles Edgeworth
"Th-This is my letter!" Edgeworth exclaimed in bewilderment. "Who-?" Suddenly, a small, smooth object plopped out of the envelope when Edgeworth made the mistake of picking it up upside-down, landing noisily on the fine wood table. Edgeworth stared down at the odd object. "What in the world...is this?" Before Edgeworth could study the object further, the letter caught his eye. Edgeworth noticed some pencil markings underlining his second-to-last sentence, ending at the bottom of the page and turning into an arrow. 'Back Side,' was written in a messy scrawl above the arrow line. Edgeworth turned the stained paper over, taking in a small gasp as he found two large words etched in dark pencil sketchings. " ...'Prove it,'..." Edgeworth read aloud.
There was a pause, with Pesu looking up affectionately at Edgeworth as he continued to stare at the back of his letter. He repeated the challenge over and over again. "So, you'd like me to, 'Prove it,' Wright? Is that the condition of your challenge?" He smirked as he held the oddly shaped object in his hand. "Alright then," He began as he closed his eyes, shutting his fist tightly around the item. He opened his eyes again. "Consider your challenge accepted."
Artist's Comments
I just love Phoenix Wright-which is why I was very mad when I found out what the people at Capcom did to him in Apollo Justice. Just when he succeeds Mia, stupid Kristoph had to get all upset that Gramarye picked Feenie over him. So, me not wanting my second favorite character (1st is Edgeworth of course) to end up a hobo (I don't care if he says he might retake the BAR exam or not), I decided to explore ways that Phoenix could avoid the case that would ultimately end his career. Then, I came upon the bad ending for Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Justice For All's last case, Farewell, My Turnabout. Then, I started to think, if Phoenix up and disappears, he wouldn't be there for Kristoph and Klavier to ruin him! Plus, it was a neat thing to explore. I'm going to show exactly how things snowballed with Phoenix's leaving with each character (even ones from Apollo Justice, such as Kristoph, Klavier, and even the Gramaryes), plus the obvious plot of finding Phoenix. So, in case you couldn't tell at the end, Phoenix is challenging Edgeworth to prove to him that miracles exist, which, in this case, means locating Phoenix and ultimately presenting his evidence. Thus, it would be two miracles: one with actually finding him, and one with proving it to Phoenix. Of course, when you tell Edgeworth, to 'prove it,' you know he will refuse to stop until he does, haha. So, yeah, all your favorite characters will be back. Franzy, Maya, Pearls, Gumshoe...They'll all be back! And no, this isn't PxM. Sorry if anyone's out of character! I tried my best (I know, boring prologue is boring)! I will get better! This will take A LOT LONGER to develop than other stories-just because the Phoenix Wright stories are so deep, so I want to match that deepness-at least as best as I can! No critique, please. Feel free to comment. Hope you all like! More to come soon!