Yes, it's been done before. But I haven't seen very much at all from the point of view of Gregory Edgeworth, so I decided to put my own ideas down.
Basically, the events of AA if the earthquake that indirectly caused DL-6 had never happened, and how the Edgeworth family lives would have been different, as well as everyone else's. Ambitious prospect, yes.
This chapter is basically the context for when DL-6 happened, minus the earthquake, and therefore there are spoilers for GK2, as that game has at least half of a case dedicated to what got Gregory killed. So spoilers ahoy!
See the first 'chapter' of authors notes for things on GK2.
Disclaimer: I own nada. Ace Attorney and all of its wacky characters belong to Capcom.
Gregory Edgeworth sighed underneath his breath as he left the courtroom. The magnificent foyer welcomed him, but he hardly noticed it. After all, he'd emerged from the same courtroom into the same foyer under pretty much the same circumstances every few months for almost a year now. Another loss, another delay, another appeal. This case was going to be the death of him.
And he was the one who refused to let it go. Work colleagues, like Grossberg or Hammond, would tell him to drop it, that IS-7 was a lost cause.
Gregory knew it wasn't. He knew Issei Tenkai was innocent of the murder of the sculptor, and he knew that Manfred von Karma knew that. All Gregory had to do was find some way of proving it!
He stretched a moment, massaged his stiff neck. A small, grim smile came to his lips. Well, maybe today's circumstances were not so similar to all the others, after all. Today, Gregory had spotted the chink in von Karma's armour. He'd been disbelieving at first – it was so obvious – but then he realised it was genuine, and this was his big break.
Although it had not been brought up in court, the body of Isaku Hyodo, the victim, was missing, and the police had found absolutely no trace of it. Manfred von Karma had produced an autopsy report. Therefore, that report could not possibly be real, and was most definitely, absolutely, and in all ways certainly was forged.
And so he had called out in a clear voice and proved that the body had never been found, then pointed out the huge contradiction the autopsy then created. And all hell broke loose.
Von Karma's face had been a picture. As had the Head Prosecutor's – the man had looked almost disappointed in the 'god of prosecutors'. Gregory couldn't remember all of the man's words, but he heard him say something along the lines of;
"Von Karma, it's not like you to make this kind of error...and I never would have thought that Edgeworth would be the one to catch you."
A penalty, the first in von Karma's career, had been plastered over the German prosecutor's clean record. Gregory had allowed a small feeling of triumph – surely the first hurdle had been cleared now, and it was merely a matter of time.
Then, disaster. Issei Tenkai, weary of the year-long battle, had cracked and confessed on the stand, pushing what little advantage Gregory had firmly back onto the prosecution's side. The verdict had been innocent on the murder charge, but Tenkai was still being charged as being an accomplice to the murder. Gregory frowned to himself as he remembered. Now he would have to work even harder to prove the man's innocence.
For yes, he was still going to appeal, no matter what his colleagues said. He was going to get Issei Tenkai aquitted if it was the last thing he ever did.
With that grim thought in mind, he stepped out into the lobby where the elevators waited. And his serious expression melted away as a silver-haired boy looked up from his heavy book then leapt out of his seat in excitement.
"Father!"
Gregory allowed himself to smile down at his son as little Miles ran up to him, the heavy book swinging dangerously from one arm, stopping just short of colliding with the man's legs. Miles, being so much shorter than his father, had to tilt his head right back to look up into Gregory's face.
"You're finished, today, then? I'm glad. I've almost finished reading Garner's Dictionary, and I was worried I would be sitting around doing nothing before you got out."
Gregory smiled, putting a hand on his son's shoulder.
"Yes, son, I'm all done for the day. For the year, in fact. Shall we head on home, make sure everything's ready for the New Year?"
Miles nodded eagerly – then, seeming to realise he was doing so, he stopped and tried a more dignified nod instead. Gregory suppressed the urge to giggle suddenly. Miles just looked so sweet when he was trying to be serious, like him.
"Yes, Father. Let's do that."
Gregory smiled and looked up just as an elevator arrived – almost simultaneously, the bailiff for today's case arrived beside them. Gregory nodded to him.
"Going down, Yanni?"
The young man nodded.
"Yes, sir, Mr Edgeworth, sir."
The two men and young boy stepped into the elevator together, letting the silver doors slide shut. Yanni Yogi looked across at the defence attorney and smiled shyly.
"Um, good work in court today, Mr Edgeworth, sir. I've never seen anything like it."
Gregory couldn't help the dry chuckle.
"I still lost, Yanni."
He heard Miles' sigh of disappointment – he knew it wasn't directed at him, but at the lack of evidence to acquit the defendant. Gregory shook his head softly. It was flattering that Miles wanted to be a defence attorney so badly, but should he be worried that a nine-year-old was acting like a studied man of law?
The bailiff also laughed, but it was more light and cheerful.
"Well, we're all expecting you to just appeal again. Besides, today you actually caught Mr von Karma out! You got him the only penalty he's ever had!"
Miles gasped, then made a noise like a delighted squeal.
"He did?"
Gregory hid his smile, and lightly scolded his son.
"Miles, you're not supposed to sound so happy about it..."
Miles stopped smiling immediately and nodded, now looking much like a cemetery owl. Gregory sighed inwardly. Both he and his son needed to relax a while. Miles' seriousness was starting to scare him a little.
The elevator journey was uneventful, but Gregory kept spotting Miles' reflection in the polished metal. The young boy kept suddenly breaking into a smile, then realising and hurriedly trying to make his expression more sober and refined. He wasn't succeeding.
After a soft thud, the elevator chimed as the doors slid open. Yanni slid out first, bidding a quick goodbye to the others. He paused just long enough to doff his cap to both in turn.
"Messrs Edgeworth."
This made Miles smile again, and Gregory felt a similar expression appear on his own face. He put his hand on Miles' shoulder.
"Come on, son, maybe we can finish off those cakes that Mrs Wright baked us for Christmas, hmm?"
The small boy grinned widely.
"Yeah! I-er, I mean, yes, Father."
The man smiled harder, and together, father and son stepped out into the snow-covered parking lot, with the pink-grey sky already turning dark with the fall of another curtain of snowflakes.
Tried to make it sound as if it's really in California, so I used terms like 'parking lot' which are totally foreign to me, hehe. There are British spellings dotted around in there, just a warning. Also, Miles is reading Garner's Dictionary of Legal Use, a real book that I obviously don't own, which I guess has something to do with law. Whoo I know so much about this subject :P
I totally reckon that Miles still would be Mr Serious even if he hadn't had all his emotion zapped away by von Karma - I mean, suit and bowtie to school. Cute, but not exactly the usual attire. Miles just wants to be his dad so badly. And I think Greg is a fairly serious guy, but a good dad who's a little worried about his son. He needs to take the kid on a beach holiday and wear Hawaiian shirts, like a normal dad XD
(If it's unclear, 'Messrs' is a term used when one doesn't want to say 'Mr this and Mr that', or if you've got a lot of misters you're talking to. It basically means 'Mr Edgeworth and Mr Edgeworth' here, but Messrs is easier to say. Fun Fact: One usage of it you've probably come across is in Harry Potter, when he reads the Marauder's Map for the first time. 'Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs are proud to present the Marauder's Map' :P)