Let's get one thing straight - I love Ace Attorney. I've only played the original trilogy so far, but it was almost impossible not to get sucked in, especially with the wide variety of rich, interesting characters. One of them being my favorite, Adrian Andrews. Her relationship with Phoenix - or lack thereof, despite being in two cases in two separate games - is one of my favorites just because of the potential. So naturally, I felt that I had to write this.
This takes place at the end of Farewell, My Turnabout and it includes the ending I chose, where Phoenix loses his winning streak to send Matt Engarde to prison. This ending personally felt more validated to me, though I'm sure the game ends well either way.
As always, I own nothing.
Phoenix could barely pause to catch his breath in the defendant's lobby before Maya and her cousin, Pearl, were dragging him along. Maya was chattering about how great it would be to finally have their fancy dinner, and as glad as he was to see her, he just couldn't focus on what she was saying. The case and everything they had gone through during it was embedded in his mind. The stress, pain, and guilt of what he had done to save Maya Fey's life would haunt his dreams for a long time, despite the fact that he would do it again in a heartbeat.
His winning streak didn't matter. At this point, it was the last thing on his mind. The thing that bothered him was the people affected by his mad frenzy to find Maya: little Pearls, Gumshoe, Edgeworth, Franziska, Lotta, Mia, even Oldbag… But especially Adrian.
Adrian Andrews, who, yes, had been guilty of tampering with evidence, but had suffered so much more. Her secrets were exposed to the world along with the truth about Celeste's suicide. In desperation Phoenix had divulged her secrets, her fears, her entire being to the court and to the world. He had done it to buy time, but that didn't make it okay. In reality, it made it worse. Phoenix had ruined her life in order to prove a killer innocent. Even though Matt Engarde got what he deserved in the end, Phoenix would never forgive himself for what he did to Adrian. Which is why he was surprised that she approached him.
"Mr. Wright?" she asked, standing with her hands behind her back as though they were handcuffed as Phoenix, Maya, and Pearls turned to face her.
"Yes?" Phoenix replied.
"I…. I'd like to apologize," Adrian said.
"Apologize? For what? Nick, who is this?" Maya asked. Oh, Maya. There was so much about the case that she didn't yet know, and while he intended to fill her in eventually, this was not the time.
Adrian looked at Maya. "I'm afraid we haven't been introduced. My name is Adrian Andrews. I am….er, was Matt Engarde's manager."
"I'm…. I'm Maya Fey. Spirit medium." They shook hands.
"I realize now that Mr. Wright had something worth fighting for, even when the rest of the court thought he was just defending Matt." Adrian wouldn't meet Phoenix's eye. "Had I known what was truly at stake…"
"But you didn't know," Phoenix said.
"I should have known. It's my job to know Matt," Adrian replied, turning to leave. Gumshoe was waiting nearby, probably to take her back to the detention center to bide her time. She would be serving six months for tampering with evidence, although Edgeworth had tried to get her sentence reduced due to her role in helping solve Juan Corrida's murder.
"Mr. Nick! We can't just let her leave!" Pearl said as Adrian walked away.
"Yeah! She looks so sad!" Maya chimed in. Well, she wasn't wrong there.
"There's nothing we can do. She has to serve her time." Even as he said it Phoenix knew he wanted to change it, but there was nothing he could do… Or was there…?
"Ms. Andrews!" Phoenix said, chasing after her before he had really thought about what he was doing. Pearls and Maya had followed him to where Adrian and Gumshoe stood waiting by the door. This time it was Adrian's turn to look surprised.
"Yes?"
Phoenix tried to summon up the fake confidence that he typically had in court, which wasn't necessarily easy with Gumshoe looking like his job depended on bringing Adrian in, but Phoenix was determined. "We were about to head to dinner at the Gatewater hotel, and I thought you might like to join us."
Adrian seemed touched by the offer. "I would love to, but…. I don't think that will be possible unless I somehow get parole." She looked at Gumshoe uncertainly.
"Actually," Gumshoe said, "I was going to meet them at the hotel after I dropped you off, pal. But I think as long as you're in police custody, we can manage to let you off the hook for one night. I'll have to talk to Mr. Edgeworth about it first, though."
Adrian managed a shaky smile. "Th-that would be lovely! Thank you, Detective." Phoenix let out a quiet breath of relief as Gumshoe went to find Edgeworth. He had honestly had no idea how to react if things hadn't gone well.
As nice as the dinner was, Phoenix could barely keep his head up. He was exhausted and would really have liked to gone home to sleep for at least a day. Everyone, even Lotta, who had shown up uninvited as usual, seemed to get along well with Adrian, so Phoenix didn't pay much attention to the conversation until he heard money being brought up. More importantly, his money.
"What do you mean, I have to pay for all this?!" he asked, his eyes nearly glazing over as he read over the check.
"Well, we kinda put dinner on your tab, pal," Gumshoe said, grinning obliviously.
"And my new camera," Lotta added proudly.
"Guys!" Phoenix protested. Before he could remind them that he wasn't their personal bank, Adrian stood from her seat and addressed them.
"Everyone," she said, "buy what you want. It's on me."
Maya cheered and the others toasted Adrian. Phoenix turned to her. "Miss Andrews, you don't have to do that."
"Mr. Wright, please, call me Adrian. And I don't mind, truly. All the money I spend tonight is money that I earned working for Matt - it's blood money. I'm more than happy to celebrate his demise by spending it on those newfound friends that brought him down." Pearls caught their attention by raising her glass of juice.
"To Mr. Nick!" she said to start off the toast. Maya raised her soda bottle and the others raised glasses of wine.
"To Phoenix!"