Disclaimer: The "Ace Attorney" series does not belong to me. I make no profit from this. Phoenix Wright originally created by Shu Takumi.
Author's Note: Hiya, pal! This is the second dark "Ace Attorney" fic I've written. Help.
Never again. He would never enter another courtroom. For Wright, it had been a fate worse than death. Not only losing his badge, but for a crime he didn't commit.
Kristoph cursed him for his ingratitude.
Look what the law had become. A home for Romantic fools who enjoyed feel-good films and endeavored to make life just as sweet. A place for overly-sensitive pansies to come in and tell lawyers and prosecutors if they were wrong or right and the judge that he was no longer needed. The Jurist System was a joke. No, the justice system was a joke. Where was the justice in a group of uneducated airheads deciding if a man should live or die? Where was the justice in his idealistic former protégé accusing him of murder and joining Wright of all people? And where was the justice in his hooligan of a brother talking to him in such a manner? Kristoph doesn't need Klavier's pity, or his brotherly love.
Before, Kristoph had the comfort of a well-furnished room, classic literature, and perfectly-prepared food. Now? It was gone. He'd been reduced to sharing a dingy, grimy cell with a talkative serial killer and futilely bribing the guards to give him their lunches. Where was the justice in that? Now? They expected him to wait his turn like everybody else on death row. They expected him to sit around in sorrow, with his chatty roommate and their hideously awful prison food, until the day they executed him. They expected him to be nothing but a common LOWLIFE.
Well, too bad.
He wasn't the man in cell 77 with serial number blah-blah-dash-blah. He was Kristoph Gavin, the man who would've been a god among defense attorneys if not for that spiky-haired, holier-than-thou, sham of an lawyer. He should have killed him! He should have poisoned him, stabbed him, tortured him, punished him and his little lapdog Apollo. He should have wrung his neck and punched him and mutilated him and-
"Kristoph, you got a visitor. Get up!"
Oh, how he hated prison guards.
"Who is it?" Kristoph asked.
"It's your brother. Now, let's get a move on!" The guard replied.
Normally, he would have said no. Kristoph did not want to talk to his brother. Kristoph did not like talking to his brother. He didn't like talking to anyone but himself, because he was the only one who saw reason where the masses could not, who understood refinement and natural order and opera. Klavier only understood rock and bands and outlandish necklaces.
But he was feeling particularly bold today and decided it would be good to remind someone of their inferiority.
"Fine." Kristoph said.
A few minutes later, Kristoph sat in front of his younger brother. They stared for a moment, Klavier wondering why he was bothering to relay his mother's message and Kristoph just waiting, growing impatient.
"Did you come here to talk, or to look in disgust at your murderer of a brother?" Kristoph said.
Klavier was silent.
"Let me guess? You're here to apologize? The question is, for what? For being a disgrace? For being my classless little brother? For disappointing Mama?" He rambled.
"Stop it, Kristoph."
"Oh, wait, I know. Sorry for being a bad judge of character. Me, you were stuck with. You chose Daryan."
"Don't talk about Daryan."
"Give me a break, Klavier. You knew how he was. What, did you think you could change him? Did you think you could help him? Sit down the little troublemaker and tell him the sob story of poor misguided Kristoph? Tell him how you should've been a better brother?"
"Achtung! I am only here because Mama made me come!" Klavier shouted.
"Playing the dutiful son?" Kristoph snorted.
"She is too sick to come, Kristoph." Klavier said.
"She's always been sick." Kristoph said coldly.
Neither of them said anything for a moment.
"She wants to tell you goodbye." Klavier said.
"A solemn farewell before my death? How sweet." Kristoph condescended.
"It has nothing to do with you or your execution." Klavier replied.
"...I see." Kristoph uttered.
"I'm not coming back." Klavier stated.
"I wouldn't expect you to. You quit easily." Kristoph replied.
"I'm not quitting. I'm moving on." Klavier said.
"I thought you'd already done that long ago." Kristoph said.
They stared again, just as they had when they first sat down. Then, Kristoph stood, turning towards the guard.
"We're done here." He said.
The guard took Kristoph by the shoulder and led him back towards his cell.
Klavier stood as well and left the detention center. Later, he would visit his mother and lie to her about how Kristoph cried and cried and apologized for hurting her. He would tell her that her oldest son was remorseful and had realized his errors too late. Because, unlike Klavier, Mrs. Gavin couldn't let go of Kristoph. She never wanted to see him for what he was.
And she never did.
Author's Note: At some point, I'll write a companion piece to this, one that focuses more on Klavier. In the meantime, I'll be posting more (hopefully) humorous and lighthearted one-shots.