I haven't been in the fan fiction world since years, but after drawing that little friendship comic in Tumblr, I decided to write it in more details.

This fic was written in French first since French is my main language, then I went for an English version, trying my best. :(

No romance in this story, by the way.

Disclaimer: I do not own Ace Attorney and its characters. Capcom own them.

Chapter 1: Nostalgia

On this cold but almost warm night of January, a misty moon appeared like a ghost through the sky fog. The light amount of snow that survived the last storm wonderfully shined under the bright celestial body as if it was giving life on the tiny planet. A lone young man was standing outside on his balcony as he was contemplating the beautiful full moon. He could feel the gentle breeze on his chins, and like a dream, he felt like smiling to it, the feeling of nostalgia and ecstasy spreading thorough. He was starting to imagine the unknown that was beyond this world, across these fluffy, majestic clouds, that atmosphere that kept all living beings prisoner on Earth but also gave them the life they all needed, ironically.

After a long, exhausting day cleaning the bathroom in the office where he was being employed by the famous attorney Phoenix Wright, Apollo threw out a long and quiet sigh, leaving out a trail of warm puff from his lips. Though he was cherishing this lonely and precious moment in his charming little apartment, he was suddenly thinking about life, death, his friends, his old clients; all the lives he could have saved simply by using his own logic and intelligence, by defending people from crimes they did not commit. How amusing to realize that when people think about saving lives, they think of epic heroes, like policemen and firemen, but Apollo was none of them. He was a "simple" defense attorney. Even though saving lives at the Wright Anything Agency was a meager pay to his wallet, he did not mind that little fact.

After all, as his best friend used to say, the surname of Justice fitted him perfectly.

However, the justice power was all but unlimited, and it couldn't save the whole world on such little Earth, but his way of justice was still a great start nevertheless. Pondering about it, he was starting to take a slow, heavy breath.

Soon, trying to forget about this mixture of negative and positive thoughts, he decided to return inside home. After all, he did deserve that day off that was coming tomorrow. Like a hefty ball coming from above, he lazily let himself fall on his old couch, he reached for his cellphone and began to browse through all of his applications, trying to find a good movie or a new series to follow. A good, entertaining media wouldn't hurt right now. But time passed as he started to feel rejected by the idea of the great Internet not offering enough pleasant choices for his liking. Seeing the slight despair that began to appear on him, a small ball of fur jumped on his lap and started to rub his head against the young man's chest, leaving a soft purr in the process. Letting out a forced but gentle laugh, Apollo replied back by giving his feline friend a soft stroke.

"Hey there, Kitty!" the boy called. "Did you miss me? I sure missed you! You're hungry?"

Alas, as he had to get up from his comfy place so he could feed his cat, there was a sudden tingling feeling on his leg. Surprised, he noticed the cellphone he placed on his lower member. Another loud quivering could be heard and this time, his furry companion got startled by it, fleeing straight to a corner, visibly agitated by the little machine. Curiously, Apollo took his cellphone again and went through his notifications. "Hey, that's from Trucy," he mentioned, a little stunned, noticing the one who sent him a text message. "I thought she'd be asleep at this time of the night…" He stopped as soon as he started to think more thoughtfully to what he just said. "Wait, what am I talking about? She's 16, there's no way her father would implement such a hasty curfew at this time… Especially with that attitude of his… I wonder why she sends me a text that late…"

Polly! How r u? Maybe your sleeping rite now, but Athena is goin to do a lil party at the office next saturday! If everthings good, their will b me, daddy, her, you, Junie and big sis Pearl! Even if xmas was last monht, were going to do a gift xchange, nd if u come, we drew u Athena so ur gonna have to buy a gift for her! Since we did the drawing alread u gonna have to come! Text me back or call me if u coming!

There were few details that made Trucy's message so cringe worthy, and the most noticeable one was all those typing mistakes. Secondly, Juniper. There was something off about her that he couldn't really get his hands on, and whenever she was present around him and she'd open her mouth, his mysterious bracelet would tighten most of the time, which was somewhat fishy. Thirdly, there were so many contradictions in the text that he was kind of forced to come to that party anyway, no matter his decision to the invitation. And finally, the gift for Athena. What could a young, tomboy eighteen years old girl be wanting? What kind of gift should he get her?

Wait, what was he thinking about? There was no way to know that he was indeed going to that little party for sure, but at the same time, it's been about a month he was thoughtful about the case of the young woman.

Of course, the last month wasn't his best lived time. Almost lost in his thoughts, he felt like drifting through his memories, once again, reminded by those past events that still taunted him to this day. That was supposed to be one of his greatest events of his young age: the launch of a dream, the HAT-2 mission which would have sent two remarkable astronauts to space. Even if the 21th century did not depict a rocket launch as an epic adventure as in the last century before theirs, an era that he, unfortunately, never got to witness, that launch day was going to be one of the best days of his life.

That was the day where one of his favorite idols would fly away in space beyond the vast unknown, and this time with his own best friend.

Clay Terran.

There was such an amicable envy as he reminded himself of the joyous grin the young astronaut was showing when he learned he had been chosen as the second member to accompany the great Solomon Starbuck in space, and at the tender age of 22 (well at least at the time). Full of energy and hope, Clay was going to live his dreams, just like Apollo did, although his own law debut ended in quite a disaster. They were practically both enjoying their reveries: Apollo Justice became a prosperous defense attorney, having the chance to save lives under the guidance of his idol Phoenix Wright, and Clay Terran became an adventurous astronaut, one who would be doing what most of mortals on this Earth had never accomplished by going into space under the guidance of his idol Solomon Starbuck.

At least that was what it was supposed to be.

Despite their legendary successes, fate had never been so unfair.

Today, Clay was no more. All of his existence, his goal, his dream, all disappeared like a crumbling house of cards, and a life ended to solely to preserve the identity of a certain man who could not, in the end, preserve it. A vain, useless death.

Suddenly, as he closed all of his fingers firmly in a firm sound, there was some anger consuming the young man. He started to shake his fists, his teeth gritting. Why did it have to happen? Why was this world full of cursed, coldblooded individuals, wandering freely on Earth? Why did those people enjoy taking lives so much while only thinking about their own persona? Those evil ones, worse than animals, they… did not deserve to live!

Like a soft slap on his being, his furry friend ran to him, waking him from his deep, nightmarish thoughts. Little Kitty was requesting even more attention now as if the cat could feel his human companion's pressure. Apollo let out an easygoing giggle and softly patted his friend. It looked like the feline being was demanding forgiveness for putting animals on the same level as those heartless criminals. No, on the contrary, those evil human beings were simply being… humans. While animals kill for the sake of surviving, the reasons for humans to kill would enrage even the strongest of the predators.

Then enter Athena Cykes, his collegue but also his good friend. It was not like if he knew her for that very long, only he had met her less than a year ago during that weird, monstrous case, but her sociable and cheerful demeanor gave him more confidence in his work. In fact, her presence as the newbie at the Wright Anything Agency forced him to act like a mentor to her, and even she saw him as her senior who was so dedicated to his lawyer job. It was a matter of fact that she was also the only member of the agency who fully respected him, Apollo never getting that much esteem from others even after his implication into clearing Wright's name from the forgers and testing the new successful jurists system that was still not officially implemented in the court but will eventually be. That special case even made it in the news.

But even with all the praise and admiration he got from his co-worker, he still dared to accuse her of the murder of his best friend Clay.

Apollo cursed himself. Even since he discovered his genetic talent for perceiving lies and nervous tics from people, with the additional help of the bracelet that was apparently given by his vanished mother, he thought he'd be able to take full advantage of his powers to help himself in his eternal quest of convicting all the criminals for their crimes.

Unfortunately, like in all stories and legends, the lust for power will always fall against their holders, and Apollo was no exception to this rule. While his bracelet and his eyes were pointing all hints toward his dear friend as the murderer of his friend, deep in his mind, he was being denial of his own power. He refused to believe that Athena was the one, but the devil that was his skill told him otherwise. To make things worse, it did not help him, and her, when more physical evidences pointed her as the culprit for not only Clay's murder, but her mom's murder from a past crime as well.

Exhausted, Apollo moved his hands through his hair that had lost, since a while, all of its stiffness that apparently gave him the look of a demon (at least according to Trucy's friend, Jinxie). Thanks to Mr. Wright talent, passion, trust and deduction (and a bit of bluffs), Athena was finally found innocent of both crimes and the real criminal was convicted for good. All was well that ended well!

Truthfully, almost well, since this still won't bring Clay back in this world. Another feeling of nostalgia took over him.

But there was no need to live in the past now. He knew his actions threw his friend Athena off her joyful live she tried so hard to keep up with, and he knew she forgave him completely; so, as of now, he only needed to think about the thing he could offer her for the gift exchange. Let's go back to the original question: what does a young 18 years old tomboy girl would like to get forgiven even further? After few eternal minutes, he was so desperate for an answer he was going to ask his cat for one. There was a face palm at the thought of it: since when do we ask a cat such silly questions?

"Okay, Apollo, she's 18, soon to be 19. She came from Europe on spring last year. She loves the color of yellow and she lives alone in her empty apartment. Her salary is as thin as mine and she probably doesn't have many things at home."

While his situation was not so different from hers, he had been lucky as he was awarded with scholarships and pension from being an orphan; additionally, Clay would help him with smaller expenses thanks to his father. Also, unlike most of the typical youth of his generation, Apollo was not a big spender on money and he managed to keep some parts of the slightly better salary he gained as an employee at the Gavin Law Offices.

An idea unexpectedly hit him. Wait a minute, since she was alone and that it has not been a long time since she settled in this country, why not some useful house objects? A kit for kitchen, for dishes, for utensils, for bedro… Shit, maybe that wasn't a good idea. How many weird stories did he hear from other men on how they only get slapped for giving such gifts (thus resulting of bringing these gifts back to the stores!)? He was wondering why the heck women would not like such useful gifts. He himself might be in need of such everyday objects in his little apartment.

There were more seconds, then minutes that passed, and his brain was still drawing a blank at the quest of finding an answer to his question. In a desperate move, he grabbed his cellphone again and started browsing in his internet application for the kinds of gifts girls wanted in these days. Disappointment only hit his spirits as the answers he found were oddly unsatisfactory: why would a girl need a makeup kit of $100, a perfume of $200, a purse of $500 and a fine lingerie at the same price? That was definitely not Athena's type (fortunately!). His mind was doubting if all those stereotypes about the needs of women of his generation were actually true.

A sudden, cold shiver traveled through his whole body at the same time something lightened in his mind. But of course! What was better than a gift certificate? Not only would that save him from a tremendous amount of hours of shopping (an ultimate suffering for men like him), but he would not have to think about the kind of gift to get anymore! Everything was going to be so easy: he'd get a gift certificate in a cute envelope, and Athena would be happy! Well, at least he would be happy to get one! At last, his answer came like an extreme revelation.

That night, he could have his peaceful sleep.