This is the first story I've written in a while, and it's very short, seeing as it took me roughly under an hour to get it done. Whew!
I started replaying Ace Attorney (the first game) on my phone after finishing the Japanese version of "Professor Layton vs Ace Attorney" (which was...wow. Although I hope they'll find better casting for Phoenix and Maya's voice actors in the English version in 2014) and am on an Ace Attorney spree while saving up money to buy the Japanese Dual Destinies.
So this is the last case of the first game, when Miles is convicted of murder, and it's Phoenix up against Manfred von Karma. The Judge had just served a "Guilty" verdict to Miles on a silver platter, but is immediately stopped by Larry barging into the courtroom, claiming he is a new witness. The Judge withdraws the verdict, much to von Karma's chagrine, and orders him to prepare this new witness to testify and for cross examination.
At this point my AA fangirl brain (and, to my immense surprise, not my yaoi fangirl brain) whirled into life, and asked me, "Hey, if the prosecution is the one who prepares the witness" (I know nothing of law) "that means the two of them are going to be in the same room, right?"
To which I answered, "Hmm, that's right, and Larry's being pretty brave up there. I mean, declaring that finding Edgey guilty is "wrong"? And he's the only one in this court that hasn't broken under von Karma's tactics yet!"
Which brings us here.
The Judge's voice boomed loud in the large courtroom. "Mr von Karma! I order you to call this new witness to testify. Now!"
"Whaaat!"
The audience murmured among themselves restlessly, as the Judge gave forth further instructions, ignoring the prosecution's outburst. "This court will adjourn for a five minute recess. After that, we will hear this new witness."
The sound of the gravel resounded over the confused chattering of the crowd. On the defence side, Phoenix was slumped with nervous relief etched all over his face. Edgeworth sat still as a block of wood in the defendant's chair, expression as pinched as ever.
"Court is adjourned!"
– X – X – X –
The Prosecutor's lobby, much to Larry's surprise, wasn't so much different as the Defendant's. For some reason he expected it to be grander, or maybe just a mite larger, but apart from a different oil painting hung on the wall, the interior and general shape of the room was almost identical to the one where Larry had once mourned over his girlfriend and clung to Phoenix for support.
Another difference, he noted as he sat on the sofa, legs planted wide as he clasped his hands between them, was that the man pacing before him was much older, had a face harder and colder than stone, and wore more extravagant and frillier clothes than Phoenix could ever dream to purchase from his wages.
"– utterly inconceivable," the man was muttering to himself, long legs striding from one side of the room to the other with surprising speed for his age, "But it changes nothing, no, it does not matter if the three minutes did not go as planned – or fifteen – I will make that boy pay for uprooting my plans, a guilty verdict will not cut this ..."
Butz watched him curiously for a while, before speaking up. "Hey, uh, are you –"
"SILENCE!" The old man whipped around mid-pace, icy eyes blazing. "You, fool, have stirred enough trouble in my perfectly thought out flow of this trial. You will stay silent unless addressed to from now on!"
Wow, this guy has issues, Larry thought. Of course he had had his suspicions from when the man had started screaming in court when his precious "time limit" was used up, but now that he was here in person, he couldn't help but feel sorry for Phoenix having to go right up against the crazy dude.
Out loud, he said, "Well, okay but, you know, the recess the judge set for us is almost done. Don't you have to ask me questions and shi– stuff?"
The prosecutor glowered at him. Larry tried to recall his name he had heard back in the audience stalls – von...something. It had a hard sound, that he could remember, and something to do with...getting what's coming to you...
"Very well," the man said stiffly. "You should think yourself lucky to have even earned a chance to testify, let alone get a verdict overturned for your sake. Your testimony will be short, direct, and above all relevant. Is this clear?"
Yeah, I know the drill. Been there, done that, thought Larry, as he nodded obediently. He couldn't decide which was less pleasant – the last time, when it was the matters around the death of his dear Cindy in question and his own innocence on the line, or this, when a long-lost best friend was facing the same fate as he had.
And his other best friend was fighting for his sake. Larry still didn't know what had happened between the other two of their gang, but Phoenix was doing his best with all he had, so he knew Miles must be innocent. And the witness...the testimony he had heard from the stalls was definitely off from what he remembered of the night. If there was anything he could do to avoid Edgey being labelled a "murderer", he would give it his all.
The prosecutor was speaking to him again in his rough, gravelly voice. "Describe to me the details of what you witnessed."
Ohhh, he knew this one. Larry wasn't the brightest man out there, but he'd bitten the bitter part of the cookie before and he wasn't going to fall for it again. The prosecutors had taken his words and twisted them to their advantage. Too bad, sucker, he thought as he stared defiantly up into the man's cold eyes. I'm on Phoenix's side on this one.
Then again, there wasn't much he could say, apart from the one little thing he thought differed from the last testimony and his own accounts, so he kept it plain and simple. "I was in the park that night, searching for something in the lake," he replied easily, "Then I heard a gunshot, but I didn't see anything, so I went home. That's it."
The man towered over him menacingly. "And what time –"
Larry didn't give him the chance to finish. "Why are you trying to get Edgey found guilty so bad?"
The man blinked, before snapping back to his ferocious expression in less than a second. "You dare interrupt this Manfred von Karma –"
Ah, that was it. Von Karma. "From what I've seen, you weren't even giving Nick a chance to ask proper questions. Why do you even want to win that way?"
The lines on von Karma's forehead deepened. "I am asking the questions here. But if you must know," he growled, "There is nothing, nothing that is more important than perfection. And I will attain a perfect win, and keep my perfect record."
Larry stared up at him. "That's it?"
"Why, of course." The prosecutor shrugged. "What else would there be?"
Larry wasn't a patient man. He wasn't even a good-tempered one. He overreacted, acted on his emotions, and it wasn't really his fault when he yelled at the top of his voice – most of the time, he didn't realise he was. But Edgey's life was on the line, as was Phoenix's case. He knew when he was walking a tightrope, and he'd seen how dangerous von Karma could be. So Larry kept his voice level, and bold, and let the rising anger simmer in his chest, and hoped it showed in his eyes.
"You're trying to get Miles guilty. For your shiny record."
Von Karma looked at him once, and his expression changed. What had been dismissive, irritated acknowledgement morphed into a wide, twisted sneer. Ah, Larry thought savagely, he did notice.
Good.
"You may think it trivial," von Karma hissed, smirk boring down scornfully upon Larry. "But in the end, Edgeworth is nothing more than another criminal to the court. It matters not where the truth lies, and it is all part of my plan. Does it upset you? That despite that foolish lawyer's attempts, he will never win against me? Me, Manfred von Karma, who has never lost a case in his life!"
Larry didn't move from his seat, and instead said calmly, "Phoenix hasn't ever lost a case, either, you know."
Von Karma scoffed, but Larry continued, "And he's going to win this one. It doesn't matter what you do, or whatever you're planning. 'Cos Miles is innocent."
The prosecutor's eyes flashed. "That is of no worth –"
"Yes it is. 'Cos it's the truth." The anger was steadily building up, and Larry couldn't stop himself from outright glaring at the other man. "And Phoenix always gets to the truth."
There was a brief silence. Larry watched with satisfaction as von Karma's bottom lip trembled in barely contained fury, and thought to himself, Bet that's gotten you scared.
You leave them ALONE.
"Miles isn't a murderer," he said lowly. "He could never be. No matter how much he's changed over the years – and Nick'll prove that."
Back when they were kids – he remembered, three young boys so different from each other, spending the short time they had together doing what kids did. Miles was the serious one that he and Nick teased, the one who read books in the shadow of the trees they climbed and dutifully did his homework, talking with ill-concealed pride about his father's work, how he helped innocent, weak people who needed him –
And he remembered the days after Miles had disappeared, how Phoenix sent him letter after hopeful letter, waiting in anticipation for a reply as the despair crept in as another day passed, and how the other boy had tried hard not to show it. How he'd tried to distract Phoenix with ever stupider antics, tried to make him forget even as he cried angrily at home for being such a helpless, oblivious kid who couldn't do anything. He remembered, back when he was searching for a job and Phoenix had gone on to study art in college, when they'd got together for a drink one night and Nick had told him he was going to be a lawyer, and had changed his major to law ––
And until the day before, in the park when Maya had told him that Miles had become a prosecuting attorney, the significance of it had not clicked in Larry's mind.
Phoenix was trying to save Miles. Phoenix had always been trying to save Miles.
And Miles had finally accepted Phoenix's help, and had put his fate in his friend's hands.
And he, Larry, was going to help them.
His attention snapped back to von Karma as the man gave a sharp bark of a laugh, deep and cruel in the quiet lobby. "You are a fool," he hissed as he stepped back from the sofa. "The court of law does not work that way. And your foolish testimony is insignificant – it will not change what is already decided."
Larry laughed, too, a small chuckle in his throat. "You're in for a shock, then. Phoenix will find a way."
Von Karma looked at him disdainfully, the smirk still in place but not reaching his hard eyes. "You truly believe that fool boy can do such an impossible thing with words from the likes of you?"
"I reckon he can," Larry said, easily, as the door to the courtroom cracked open and a bailiff slid in to announce their entrance.
Larry stood, brushing the sweat peppering his hands off onto his trousers. Before him, von Karma strode towards the door, muttering "We shall see about that."
"Yeah," he said. "We will."
And he shook himself, let the shit-eating grin take up its familiar residence on his lips, and entered the courtroom where his two best friends waited with his head held high.
I have a thing for iron-friendship stories. Although it's heavily implied that Edgeworth was more or less adopted by von Karma, and Phoenix has been mentioned to have tried to get into contact with Miles over the years, we never find out what Larry was doing all that time. My guess is that he tried to forget and move on (although unlikely, seeing as he kept in close touch with Phoenix over the years). I guess this being the first time all three of them would be in the same room - and a trial nonetheless - is kind of symbolic in a way. Or, well, I tried to make it out to be.
Although Maya and Larry don't appear in Dual Destinies, I take this as a good sign! It means that there's a larger chance for an all star Ace Attorney game even after the fifth! I'm sure there's news for a sixth game somewhere already. The best thing about Ace Attorney is that, aside from the characters, you can never go wrong with the story plotlines. I trust the game creators to be excellent enough to make as many games as is financially possible and make them ALL interesting. This is one franchise I wish will never die out.