Disclaimer: these characters don't belong to me, I'm simply taking them for a ride. I'll have them dry-cleaned before I return them, I swear.
------------
It was the ending of yet another day at the district court, and four people were idly chatting while walking towards the elevators.
"You really surprised me today," said the judge. "Who would have guessed that the real culprit was the main witness?"
"Not me, certainly," answered Phoenix, sarcasm barely audible in his voice.
"You know, Nick," said Maya. "You and mister Edgeworth are an excellent team. He brings witnesses to the stand, and then you both find contradictions in their testimony and get them to admit their guilt." She paused, and then giggled and added: "Maybe next time I should bring a banner with 'Go team Edgewright!' written on it."
Her last comment earned her a glare from both Phoenix and Edgeworth.
The foursome reached the elevators, and the judge leaned forward and pressed the 'down' button.
"Say, your honor," said Maya, glancing at her watch. It was almost nine in the evening. "What do you say we take you and prosecutor Edgeworth out to dinner? Our treat."
"Yes," hastily added Phoenix. "Why not, Maya and I know a great burger joint just a few blocks away.
With a barely audible ding the elevator doors slid open, and everybody walked in. Edgeworth pushed the button marked 'ground floor', and the car began its descent.
"Nick!" hissed Maya, casually stepping on Phoenix's foot. "you don't take a judge and a prosecutor to a burger joint!"
"I'm not made of money, you know," rebutted Phoenix. "Burgers are the fanciest thing I can afford."
"Either way, I'm afraid I must decline the offer," said the judge. "I'm having dinner at my brother's tonight. My, his wife makes the tastiest lasagna I've ever-" he cut off abruptly. He wasn't sure, but he thought he felt the elevator shake suddenly. He glanced around the car, opening his mouth to ask the others if they had felt that jolt too, but their puzzled faces were enough of an answer.
After a couple of seconds, Phoenix looked around at the other three. "What do you think that was?" he asked.
Before anybody could answer, a faint, barely audible rumble started, sounding much like a far-off avalanche. The sound gradually grew louder, and the whole building started shaking.
"Earthquake!" shouted Maya, struggling to keep her footing on the shifting floor. It was a losing battle: after a couple of seconds everybody was thrown on the ground, which mercilessly continued shaking.
After what seemed like an eternity the rumbling noise subsided, and the elevator car stopped shaking.
Then the world went dark.
------------
Blue emergency lights flickered to life near the ceiling. Looking around the eerie, ghostlike scenery, Phoenix could see his three friends lying on the floor. He carefully rose to his knees, checking for any broken bones as he did so. "Is everybody all right?" he asked, glancing about the elevator car. He could see that Edgeworth had risen from the floor too, and was now slumped against one of the walls, hugging his knees. Maya was still lying face down, but she lifted up her head and gave a small, frightened nod. Phoenix breathed a sigh of relief. "What about you, your honor?"
No answer.
"Your honor?"
Still no answer.
Phoenix crawled over the floor, reaching the judge; he was lying face-up, his head slumped against one of the walls.
Phoenix shook him. "Your honor, are you all right?" he asked.
The judge was silent. In the faint light, Phoenix could see that he had passed out. It took him a couple of seconds to notice the stain on the wall.
Phoenix blinked, then swore inwardly. He reached with his hands behind the judge's head, and felt moisture. He looked at his right hand. The liquid on it was black in the blue emergency light, but there was no mistaking it: it was blood.
"Damn!"
"What is it?" asked Maya, looking up from the floor.
"The judge is hurt," answered Phoenix. "He must have hit his head in the fall." He quickly rushed to the elevator doors. Looking between them he could barely make out a hallway, lit only by emergency lighting.
"We're lucky, we didn't stop between floors," said Phoenix. "Now to get this thing open..."
He rose to his feet, and forced his fingers into the crack between the doors. He pulled with all his strength, but the doors didn't budge.
"Ahhh. OK," he said, flexing his fingers. "Let's try again."
He pulled again, but the doors stubbornly refused to open.
"Damn it," he said. I'm not strong enough to open these on my own, he thought. I need some help.
"Edgeworth! Get over here!" Phoenix called. When he realized the prosecutor wasn't moving, he turned around. "Miles, did you hear me? I said..." he drifted off. On the other side of the elevator, Edgeworth was still hugging his knees, but now was rocking back and forth and mumbling to himself.
Phoenix walked over to him. Now that he was closer, he could make out the prosecutor's words.
"...earthquake elevator air air the air's gone going to die death father death death no air all going to die..."
Phoenix stared at Edgeworth.
"...no light no light death hell all gone..."
Phoenix knelt down, and took the prosecutor by his shoulders. "Edgeworth! Get a grip! I need your help!" he said.
Miles looked up at him, eyes wide in fear. He stopped mumbling, and stared straight at Phoenix. Then he opened his mouth and screamed.
The scream was unlike anything Phoenix had ever heard. He was used to Edgeworth shouting in court, and banging his hand on the table. This time the prosecutor's voice came from the deepest recesses of his soul, from the area marked 'primal fear'.
Phoenix let go of Edgeworth's shoulders, and pressed his hands on his ears to block out the noise. As soon as he let go, Miles stopped screaming, slumped his head forward and started mumbling again.
Phoenix rose to his feet again. It was useless to try and talk some sense into Edgeworth right now; after all, who could blame him? Being trapped in an elevator after an earthquake was sure to bring all sorts of painful and frightening memories back to the prosecutor's mind.
"Maya," said Phoenix, and gestured to the elevator doors. "Help me over here."
Maya picked herself up from the floor, and walked over to Phoenix. "Don't you think it's better if we wait for somebody to find us?" she asked.
The attorney shook his head. "We were the only people left in the building, usually nobody works this late. It will be morning before anybody realizes we're missing and looks for us. The judge won't last that long. We have to get out on our own."
Maya nodded, and moved to the doors. She and Phoenix pushed their fingers inside the crack separating the two metal slabs.
"Ready?" asked Phoenix. As Maya nodded, he continued: "All right then. On three. One, two, three... pull!"
Their muscles bulged as they pulled on the doors. Despite their best efforts, however, the doors didn't open.
They tried again, and again, and again. Still nothing. They both collapsed, panting, against the elevator's walls.
Tears began to form in Maya's eyes. Damn it, she thought. I'm not strong enough. We need help. Help! Please! Somebody, anybody! Help! HELP!
As the first tears dropped to the floor she felt a foreign influence enter her, and her consciousness was pushed aside to make place for something else.
------------
Miles Edgeworth was sitting with his back against the wall, hugging his knees and mumbling to himself. He had dreaded this situation for the last fifteen years, since his father was killed. He mentally berated himself for being unable to help his friends. He willed his body to move, fighting his primal fear, but his muscles wouldn't obey; he couldn't even lift a finger, let alone move from his fetal position.
Tears of frustration found their way down his cheeks. Damn it, he thought. Damn it all to hell! I can't stay here crying to myself! I've GOT to do something.
Once again he tried to get up, to defeat the terror that gripped his heart, but all his efforts were futile.
"I'm really ashamed of you, son," an unknown voice came floating to him, gently penetrating the shell of fear that encased his mind.
Edgeworth's heart skipped a beat. That voice... it sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite place where he'd heard it last. Surprise cleared his mind long enough for him to say "...what?" in a small voice.
"Why do I have to repeat myself? I said I'm ashamed of you!" the voice shouted.
Startled at the harsh tone, Edgeworth raised his head, and leveled his gaze at the speaker. He stared at the other person for a couple of seconds, and then whispered: "Father?"
Gregory Edgeworth looked down at his son. "I'm ashamed of you," he repeated. "And you should be ashamed of yourself. I didn't think you would grow up to be a coward, Miles."
Miles flinched, as if he'd just been slapped. Tears continued to stream from his eyes.
"Look at you," Gregory continued. "Hugging your knees and crying to yourself! COWARD!" he bellowed.
Miles shrank away from his father, but the primal fear that gripped his heart was vanishing, replaced by other emotions: anger, and pride. He opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. "I... I'm not... a coward," he managed to stammer after a few tries.
"What did you say?" asked Gregory. "I can't hear you!"
"I'm not a coward," repeated Miles. His voice was clearer now, but it was still shaking.
"LOUDER, SON!" bellowed Gregory.
"I AM NOT A COWARD!" shouted Miles.
"Then prove it, boy!" answered Gregory. "Conquer your fear! Get up from the floor and help your friends!"
Gregory extended an open hand towards his son, who hesitantly took it, and helped him to his feet. Miles was startled to feel that the hand wasn't large and rough, as he remembered his father's hands to be, but was instead small, soft and slender. He blinked away the tears from his eyes, and looked carefully at his 'father'.
"Maya?" he asked, puzzled.
Gregory/Maya smiled. "No, not right now, Miles."
It was weird watching him... her... them. They looked almost like one of those optical illusions where you see two overlapped images, and can't quite distinguish one from the other. Their voice was a strange mixture of Maya's and Gregory's, too.
"But... how?"
"I'll tell you later," answered Gregory/Maya. "Now we have to get Udgey to the hospital."
Miles was unsure at first, but then he met his father's stern gaze and nodded. The two moved to the elevator doors, joining Phoenix, who had been watching the family reunion. They pushed their fingers between the two slabs of cold metal.
"Are you ready?" asked Phoenix. Both Edgeworth and his father nodded.
"Come on. One, two, three... pull!"
The three pushed their muscles to the limit, struggling against the stubborn doors. The doors at first resisted, then creaked a bit, and finally parted with a grinding noise. The threesome rested for a bit, and then with a final pull opened the door completely.
"We did it!" cheered Phoenix. "Now, let's get the judge to safety. Miles, I'll take him by the arms, you take his legs."
Miles nodded. They lifted the judge's inert body from the floor and moved out of the elevator, towards the emergency stairs.
------------
The air was chilly in that dark hour, just past midnight. They had to carry the judge all the way to the hospital, since the streets were deserted when they'd exited the courtroom: fortunately it wasn't too far away, and by the way things looked, the judge would get well soon enough.
Phoenix glanced at Edgeworth and his father, sitting on a bench outside the ER room, quietly talking. At first Miles had been suspicious - he hadn't witnessed Maya's powers before - but gradually he grew relaxed, and finally started smiling.
"I'm sorry you had to come all the way down here just for my sake," said Miles, with a sheepish grin.
"Don't mention it," replied Gregory. "I really don't mind the break, I don't really like it that much up there. Clouds, clouds, clouds. Hymns, hallelujahs. Wind, lightning. Clouds, clouds, clouds. It gets really dull after a while."
Miles snickered, then said: "No, really, I'm sorry. You have every reason to be ashamed of-"
"Miles," his father cut him off. "I only said that to help you get past your fear. I'm not, and I never was, ashamed of you. Instead, looking at how things are, you've made me quite proud."
Miles' eyebrows arched in surprise. "Proud? ...how?"
"When I last saw you, fifteen years ago, you had been all but destroyed by my death," explained Gregory. "You had left school, abandoned all your friends... but you recovered from all that. Now you have new friends: Wright, Maya, that Gumshoe guy, Franziska, even little Pearl, they all think of you as a friend, and I'm sure you think of them that way too, even if you don't admit it."
They were silent for a while, then Miles slowly nodded. "...yes, you're right, father. Most of my life I was alone, but now..."
"...now you have people you can count on, friends who are ready to help you in any way they can. That is why I'm proud of you," said Gregory, and leaned over to hug his son.
They embraced for a while, then Gregory looked at his - Maya's - watch. "My, look at the time. I'm afraid I have to go," he said. He smiled at Miles. "It was good to see you, Miles."
Miles hesitated, then replied: "You too, father. Drop by and say hello from time to time."
"You can count on it," grinned Gregory. Then his image began to fade away, much like dust swept away by wind; before long Maya was sitting where Edgeworth's father had been.
"Huh? What happened?" she asked, puzzled, looking around. Hadn't they been in an elevator just a few seconds ago?
"Thank you, Maya," said Miles. A single tear of happiness rolled down his cheek, and he whispered again, "Thank you."
"...you're welcome?" replied Maya. "Now, what are you thanking me for?"
Edgeworth hesitated, looked at her, then at Phoenix. "Why don't I tell you while we stuff our face with burgers?" he offered. "My treat. You're invited too, Wright."
"Yay!" cheered Maya. He grabbed Edgeworth by his arm, pulled him to his feet, got hold of Phoenix's arm with her free hand and dragged them both towards the exit.
Miles couldn't help but smile; after this night he probably would have to start saving money for his vacations again - especially if Wright's tales about Maya's legendary appetite were true - but it was worth it. After all, what's a little money compared to such good friends?
------------
Author's notes: Well, this is it. I started writing this story back in August, and it was originally intended as a Maya/Edgeworth pairing. As I was writing it, however, I realized that to make the story work I needed somebody other than Maya and Edgeworth to be in the elevator, and if I had somebody else in there the story wouldn't work as Maya/Edgeworth, so I regretfully scrapped the romantic sub-plot and turned it into a genfic. It has been sitting in my hard drive for the last two months, complete except for the last part. Finally today I found the time to get back to the story and finish it. Hope you enjoyed reading!