AN: I don't own Ace Attorney, you know the drill.
I wrote this little thing with Athena von Karma as an experiment and sort of a very belated Christmas gift to a friend. Your mileage may vary, as they say. Regardless, I hope you enjoy!
A ray of reddish-orange light filtered through the curtains of the lone window, casting a stunning, fiery glow over the office. The sun's beauty, however, was lost on the room's sole occupant, a tall, refined-looking young man who seemed unhurried, despite the late hour and the stack of papers sitting atop his desk. Instead of packing his briefcase and donning his coat like most of his coworkers, Miles Edgeworth had chosen to stay behind and "catch up" (as he put it) on the details surrounding his next case. One hand ran through silvery fringe as the other rested on the edge of his copy of the victim's autopsy report-a Mr. E. Viktimm, shot through the heart and left in the parking lot of his own office. A simple case, really, considering the defendant had clear motive and no alibi, but his opponent (yet another blue suited fool-honestly, was that all defense attorneys wore?) seemed intent on making this particular case difficult.
"What a fool" Edgeworth had muttered to himself, cringing at the mere thought of this attorney. To Edgeworth, the case was already made; it merely called for a ruling and it would be over and done with. Letting out a light sigh, Edgeworth decided to stop drawing parallells between defense lawyers and moved on to the case itself. It didn't really seem to be much to think about, however, apart from the fact that it seemed like an incredibly open and shut case from the get-go. Not that that was anything bad, he could use a more trivial-looking case for once, to catch a breather.
'I do wonder if that's all there is to it. Maybe the trial will illuminate some new facts... Perhaps my opponent will be a formdable opponent.. Just like him...' Edgeworth let his thoughts drift again, as he started to pace around his office. There was some gnawing thoughts in the back of his mind, not letting go of the two blue-clad attorneys and the few resemblances they possibly shared. Why did he bother to show up just to make this case more trouble than it's worth?
Edgeworth sighed again and slumped back against his chair. Obviously, he was no longer capable of focusing on his murder case, as visions of sugar plums-err, that is, as thoughts of blue-suited lawyers floated through his mind. It didn't help that his last trial against Wright, bursting at the seams with high tensions and hot emotions, had been over a month ago and still refused to leave his mind. The graying prosecutor grumbled a small curse and tucked the report into his briefcase. The sun had already set and there was no way he could get work done like this. Edgeworth stood and moved to grab his remaining files, but froze as a light knock interrupted him.
Wondering who it could be at the late hour, Edgeworth kept his frozen position for a brief moment before deciding to have the knocking stop. As he slowly turned the handle on his door, he not only saw one, but -two- attorneys greeting him. And one of the two was holding a cake decorated with strawberries and whipped cream. It also had some syrup spelling the words "Happy B-day, Miles!".
"Hey, Edgeworth! What's up?" Phoenix Wright, one of the two guests, said. Phoenix was wearing a small party-hat with a star-pattern, which was decorating his rather unique spiky hair which were pointing back from his head. He was also wearing a blue suit with a red tie and similarly blue pants.
"Happy birthday! Err.. Mind if we step inside?" He said as his face showed a sheepish smile.
"Wright..." Edgeworth began, clearly being confused. "Do you mind telling me what this person is doing here?" He pointed towards the rather solemn-looking guest, which had silently been standing next to Phoenix until this point. Leering towards Edgeworth with a frown on his face, it was clear that this man was not happy with something.
"Oh, uh... Well, he said he knew you from work, so I assumed you two were friends, you know?" Phoenix said, still having a sheepish grin on his face. Edgeworth glared at Phoenix's companion, who happened to be sporting a striped party hat and carrying what appeared to be a bottle of grape juice. With a stiff nod, the prosecutor stepped aside to allow the two defense attorneys into his office.
'Remind me to never think of these two at the same time ever again.. Clearly, it calls them to wherever I may be,' he thought to himself. The last thing he wanted to do this evening was to celebrate his birthday with two of his courtroom rivals.. In fact, the only way it could be worse would be if Larry were to show up as well (and just in case, he looked out into the hallway before closing the door behind the two blue-suits). The man adjusted his cravat slightly before turning and frowning at the happier of the two visitors.
"Wright..." he repeated, a dangerously irritated tone creeping into his voice, "What made you think it would be a good idea to visit me, in my office, this late at night, to celebrate my -birthday-?" Phoenix shrugged calmly and smiled again, this time out of friendly concern.
"Well hey, you never call or anything, so what can we do about it? You deserve some breaks, don't you? Besides, you always work all day, so we can never see you until the evening. Maya and Pearls are always asleep by that time, so today, we have to settle with this guy." Phoenix stretched the party hat of his companion and let go of it, making it smack the head of its bearer. Not a muscle moved on the man's disgruntled face, though, save for a tiny twitch. Edgeworth simply sighed once again and seated himself in his office chair, where he looked at the gentlemen before him. He then poured himself a cup of Earl Grey tea and took a quick sip.
"Alright..." He said, taking another sip, before putting the tea cup in its saucer. "I do realize that Wright may hold wishes to celebrate my birthday, but you being my upcoming courtroom rival, it is quite difficult to see you caring much for what I do. Kristoph Gavin, was it?"
The blue-clad attorney sat down in a seperate office chair and adjusted his glasses. He had a fairly unique hair-style, forming a drill which made its way down his left shoulder. He also had a small bow-tie around his neck, and a very imposing look. Most people would describe his eyes as intimidating. He cleared his throat.
"Yes, well, I simply had a wish to meet my upcoming opponent to see what kind of person he is. Believe me, this atrocious party hat was your friend's doing. I was just outside your door when he forced it upon me, and now I am here." The man suddenly smiled happily as he stood up and leaned over the desk, his hand stretched out. "Pleased to meet you, Mr. Edgeworth!" He said.
Edgeworth blinked in surprise, before slowly shaking Kristoph's hand. "Ah.. Pleased to meet you as well, Mr. Gavin.." His sudden change of mood was rather unsettling, to say the least. The prosecutor picked his tea back up and leaned back in his chair before glancing at the third attorney in the room. Phoenix had apparently forgotten a knife, and was now staring at the cake, trying to figure out how to slice it for the small group to enjoy. Edgeworth sighed and shook his head, before reaching into one of his desk drawers and pulling out a small knife.
"Here, Wright," he said, walking around the desk to offer the blade to the other man. The spiky-haired lawyer glanced down, then gave a somewhat confused look to his friend. The reason behind it took a moment to register, but when it did, Miles shook his head.
"Trust me, it's not the one from -that- case. I've long since replaced it." Phoenix let out a small laugh and accepted the knife, then began to slice the cake.
Edgeworth took another sip of tea as he looked at the cake. There was some sort of reminiscing look in his eyes. The knife he had handed Phoenix cut the cake into pieces. 'SL-9 and DL-6...' Edgeworth had once more sunk into his thoughts. 'Such a strange twist of fate. Both cases ended up as tragedies, but -he- had always forced his way in as usual to offer a hand. Perhaps it is the most quintessential thing I lacked in life. Someone to rely on. After all, every flavor in life needs to have the perfect mix...'
"May I try some of that tea, Mr. Edgeworth?" A smiling Kristoph entered Edgeworth's field of vision.
"Of course. Help yourself."
The glasses-wearing man did just that, his somewhat eerie smile not leaving his face. Edgeworth almost wondered if he had some sort of personality disorder, comparing it to Kristoph's earlier disgruntled self.
"The cake's ready!" A satisfied, somewhat prideful laugh was heard from Phoenix. "Let me serve it to you, Edgewo-woah..!" It was over in an instant. The result was a magenta-burgundy-pink-cream-clad prosecutor with his face decorated according to what someone would call 'Edgey-berry-cream'. In other words, strawberry and cream combined with a glaring Edgeworth. Next to him, there was a nice serving of syrup-filled German with a topping of jam. Perhaps best said as "Kriss-jam".
Phoenix looked up from his spot on the floor to see two sugar-coated men staring furiously at him. He grinned sheepishly and sat up, scratching the back of his head.
"Err.. You can wash that, right..?" At this point the spiky-haired lawyer was fairly certain he could see flames shooting from both men's eyes.
Edgeworth was the first to choke out a sentence: "Wright... This suit.. is -Armani-. You -cannot-.. just -wash- it." Each word was spat out with an unmatched amount of fury.. Well, unmatched until Kristoph managed to speak. The first thing that came out of his mouth was a long string of German curses, which would be quite rude to repeat and have therefore been omitted from this account. Finally, the blond was able to spit out a sentence, though his voice was laced with a venom that might have been able to kill Phoenix (if the man speaking didn't do so first, that is).
"Phoenix Wright.. You -will- pay for this, mark my words.." The clean man in the room visibly sweat-dropped and slid one hand into his back pocket, feeling his already almost-empty wallet.
"Erm.. Dry-clean only, am I right..?"
Silence was kept in the room, as the now cream-stained Edgeworth slowly rose from his chair and reached for a Steel Samurai motif paper towel, at this point not caring at all about hiding any personal interests.
"Wright, just... Let me take care of this, and I'll send you the bill." He said, lightly sighing. Mumbling, he added "That's usually how we do it anyway, isn't it..?" and hid a weak smile. Kristoph, however, wasn't as willing to let things go. He kept his glare at Phoenix, relentlessly breaking down his mental barriers.
"And what about me, hm? This won't just do with a simple payment, Wright..."
Edgeworth glanced towards Kristoph, who was struggling to get rid of his syrup-cursed fate.
"Mr. Gavin." Edgeworth said, "Let me cover the costs for you. There shouldn't be a problem in that case, correct?"
Both defense attorneys looked shockingly towards Edgeworth. The fact that he was willing to do a stranger a favor like that was highly uncommon. Or perhaps there was some sort of underlying motive for this?
The pink-err, I mean, maroon-clad prosecutor stared back at the two with an impassive expression.
"What, I can't be a gentleman?" The other two simply blinked in astonishment at him. Kristoph managed to recover himself quicker than Phoenix, straightening up and pushing his glasses into place.
"I, erm.. Excuse my reaction, I simply didn't expect such a generous offer. Thank you very much, Mr. Edgeworth." The other man simply nodded and handed the German a paper towel, which was accepted with little more than a (rather incredulous) stare. Phoenix remained on the floor, silently mourning the loss of profits from his most recent case.
"Wright, up from there, you aren't attempting to collect dust, are you?" Edgeworth offered Phoenix his hand, looking rather sternly towards him. Phoenix accepted it as a gesture of good-will, rather than one of concern over the prosecutor's floor, however, and tiredly slumped back against a chair.
"Whew, I never knew partying with you could be so tiring, Edgeworth. We've barely cut the cake and I already feel faint." He said, smiling meekly.
Edgeworth raised an eyebrow and looked at the other man with surprise.
"Partying, Wright?" He glanced over to Kristoph, then back to Phoenix. "If you think this is partying, I'm afraid you have another thing coming." This statement cause the two attorneys to start and stare at the prosecutor with surprise. Edgeworth chuckled quietly and picked up his coat.
"Come along, you two. We're going out to celebrate." Silently, and with much confusion, the two blue-suited men donned their coats and followed the prosecutor out the door.
To be continued...