Phoenix Wright: Phantom Attorney

Prologue: One's End is a New Beginning

Thu-Thump, Thu-Thump, Thu-Thump, Thu-Thump.

It's...getting really hard to see. My chest hurts. There's a lot of blood, is that my blood? It's getting the floor all dirty...I don't think the court has enough paper towels to clean this up...yeah, they're gonna have to get a mop...

Thu-Thump, Thu-Thump, Thu-Thump, Thu-Thump.

What happened...where is she...? D-did she make it out? It's so hard to see. My chest is feeling cold. I'm losing feeling in my hands, I...I can barely grip the gun. Wait. I don't have a gun, do I? No wait, I stole it from my shooter...no...no I didn't...what am I holding?

Thu-Thump, Thu-Thump, Thu-Thump.

Oh...it's a nine. That makes so much sense now. Wait. No it doesn't. Why am I holding the number nine? Is this what I grabbed? I...don't remember owning a number nine. I can't feel my chest. I see something green. Is my blood green? No, that's stupid...

Thu-Thump, Thu-Thump, Thu-Thump.

Is she safe...? I don't care about me...I just need to know...is she safe...?

Thu-Thump, Thu-Thump.

There's so many things I wish I could say. I can't see. It's so dark.

Thu-Thump.

...Is this how I die...?

Thump.

…

And he saw nothing but darkness, darkness that was briefly punctuated by a glowing green shaped into the number nine. That light glowed so very briefly too, illuminating the dipping sun of the courtroom...even against the bright crimson of blood. Right up till the clock struck zero and soon the room was engulfed into an explosion of fire and rubble. Burying that green light into a deeper darkness into which no one could ever discover. Resting beneath a grave of brimstone and smoke.

And then the green light too, faded into darkness.

10 Years Later

BE-BEEP! BE-BEEP! BE-BEEP! BE-BEEP!

SLAM!

Phoenix groaned with deep disgruntled disgust as his probably dented alarm clock, which moments ago was screaming at him with ear shattering shrilling beeps. He looked over his bedstand and into the barely rising sun of L.A., now coming up over the horizon he wished it would kindly shrink back down and never come back up. He had stayed up late, he knew he shouldn't have but he didn't have much of a choice. Phoenix slowly pushed himself out of bed, feeling his body demand he relieve himself of everything that was built up throughout the night he used the restroom. After combing and styling his hair he slowly discarded his night clothes and began fumbling for his suit and tie, which was kept in the spot he always had it but he was so out of it he had more issues than usual. He grabbed his clothes and hopped into his blue dress pants, buttoned up his shirt and was heading to the mirror so he could tie his tie...when he realized his pants were backwards and his shirt misbuttoned. He sighed, undid the buttons, hopped back out of his pants to right them forwards and once he was properly dressed he then did his tie. Once he was dressed to his liking he stepped from his bedroom and to the main room of his one-bedroom apartment.

It was his student apartment, that he ironically got long after he stopped being a student. It was a student apartment to a college that didn't quite exist, the building was bought up and remained an apartment building...just upscale the price of living. Too much for a starving artist...but apparently just enough for a starving lawyer? He never really understood why it worked, he just kind of guessed the owner either took pity on him or needed tenants. He stepped from the narrow hallway into the small living room, on the circular table was his cell phone and a note. He turned on the lights, wincing as he did, and picked up the note on the table.

Dear Nick,

Morning you lazy fart! I knew you'd be a slow start in the morning, so I broke into your phone (seriously change the password) and put some 'wake up songs' on your phone. Just open it up and hit play! I know you'll like it, I picked songs from your era you old man.

Also, thank you for taking me out. It means a lot to me. I'll see you at the office.

Maya

Phoenix wouldn't have usually stayed up so late, but his assistant kind of made it impossible. Maya Fey, the sister of his deceased mentor Mia Fey, had returned to L.A after a month away for recovery. Having barely survived being held hostage by an assassin, she and Phoenix felt it would be best to be with people she knew and loved. So she went back to Kurain Village with her cousin Pearl. She originally said a week...well a week soon became a week and a half, which then became two weeks, and so on. Finally, after a month during their weekly phone calls she said she wanted to come back to L.A. He could recall that conversation as he stumbled into his kitchen to turn the coffee maker on, for it was in this kitchen that he heard the news of her return.

"You're coming back?" he asked her, stopping mid-putting bread into the cabinet. "Really?"

"What's with that tone? Do you not want me back?" Maya replied back with faux offense.

"Maya I'm serious." Phoenix responded, closing the cabinet doors. "I want you back I do...but I also want you to come back when you're ready. Are you ready?"

There was silence on the other end and Phoenix thought they disconnected again, he waited for a second to see if the call would drop. When the call didn't drop he hesitantly spoke into the phone.

"Maya? Did you hear me?"

Her reply was quiet, "I heard you."

Phoenix internally gulped at that, she didn't sound ready to him in fact she sounded the complete opposite of ready. He was going to open his mouth and say something, assure her she could take all the time she needed before she could come back. But before he could say a thing, it was if she read his mind, for her voice spoke back gentle yet resolute.

"I want to be back with you again."

Phoenix nearly dropped the carton of milk, the sentiment was so strong it floored him. "Y-you do?"

"You're my friend Nick. Always have been...my time with you has been the best two years of my life, of course I want to be back with you again. I love Kurain, don't get me wrong, but it's nothing but training here and when I'm with you I feel that I'm doing something real and important. I have a purpose with you."

Phoenix wanted to cry, he really did, he thought his close friend was happier in Kurain and would heal better but to hear her heart pour out to him made him value his friendship with her. He did miss her too, the office was quieter and a little more cold with her out of his life.

"...Okay, if you feel you're ready then I would love to have you back. Do you still have your apartment?"

"Yes. I already called ahead and let them know I would be coming back. Don't worry."

"When do I not?" Phoenix joked, taking the brown grocery bag and folding it neatly to set in his recycle bin.

"You keep worrying like that you will be an old man before you're thirty." Maya jabbed, letting Phoenix know that the Maya he knew was still there deep down. He laughed at that one as he sat down on his couch, grabbing the remote for the TV with a sigh.

"I'm already one Maya, you've let me know that a hundred times."

BEEEEEEP!

The beep of the coffee maker snapped Phoenix from his memory as he fumbled over to the small coffee jug and poured half a cup of black coffee in his cup. Topping it with two teaspoons of sugar and creamer he took a sip and gave a reinvigorated sigh. He looked down to his phone and with fumbled movements undid the pattern lock and the phone opened up to a music player, with the words 'NICK'S MORNING PLAYLIST' plastered right in front of him. He shook his head and pressed the play button, after a minute or so of trying to load he paused the player to let it buffer up. He took another sip of his coffee, waited a few more seconds, then pressed play.

"Morning, today's forecast calls for blue skies..."

Phoenix frowned as the voice was followed my a keyboard rhythm as Mr. Blue Sky started to play from his phone speakers. He frowned. This song came out in the late 70's...twenty or so years before Phoenix was even born. He took a long sip, trying to decide of Maya was mocking him or really had no idea when he was born. He let the song play though as he sat down and poured some cereal in a bowl, added milk and sat at the small table in the kitchen. He was never really a music with a meal kind of guy, but he felt he could make an exception for Maya's sake. He let the song play on to the end, finishing his bowl of cereal he was sitting it in the sink to clean when the music stopped and his phone rang. He looked over to it as the phone gave off the most generic of ringtones, he slid the phone over to him and saw Maya's face on it and hit the green phone button. He put the phone to his ear and sighed.

"You know that song debuted in the 70's right?"

"Huh? Oh! You listened to it? Make you feel all nostalgic?"

"No Maya, I was born long after that song was popular. But thank you for the thought, it certainly made breakfas-"

"Nevermind that! I got us a case!"

Phoenix stopped cold mid wash, the phone which was nestled inbetween his ear and shoulder slid a bit before he caught it with his wet hand. "A case? What case?"

"A murder case! Somebody was arrested for murdering the CEO of that insurance!"

"What insurance?"

"No, THAT insurance. You know, That Insurance? The one in the news that got into that health insurance scandal?"

Phoenix frowned a bit, he felt that if this company was that lazy with their name they deserved all the scandals. "O-okay, what about them?"

"Their CEO was murdered! And they're saying our guy did it!"

Phoenix spluttered at Maya's excitement, "W-wait wait, OUR guy? Maya, you didn't take the case already did you?"

The silence on the end was answer enough, he groaned loudly and dried his hand off. "Okay okay, when is the trial? Maybe we can have sometime to investigate, I'll head to the office in a bit and we can go over it."

"Well...about that..." Phoenix suddenly had a cold shiver down his spine. "Actually you should get to the office soon...and by soon I mean now...and by office I mean the courthouse."

That cold shiver? Just became an ice bucket challenge all over Phoenix's body. All he could think now was that he was hoping he was so tired he imagined what Maya said.

"Maya...when is the trial?"

"Oh let's see...it's uh...in two hours?"

Phoenix dropped his phone, he could hear Maya call out for him but it took him a second or so before he could get to his phone again. "IN TWO HOURS?!"

"I just got the call moments ago! They needed a state appointed attorney, but he wasn't answering so they called us and thought we could take it. I said we could since I didn't think you had work recently! See, I'm thinking ahead."

Phoenix had a really hard time containing the shock and anger that was coursing through him right now. "Maya...have we been appointed a Public Defenders case?"

"Yeah, they gotta pay real good right?"

Good probably wasn't the best word, but it wasn't terrible. Phoenix did need to money, L.A was expensive as all hell and he barely made ends meet. Though he was coursing with so much anger about being shoved into a case that he had no preparation for...and in two hours! Which meant in order to make it in time he had to leave...now!

"We'll talk about you taking cases for me, I'm on my way now, tell...um...our client I'm on the way!" he yelled as he rushed out of the door.

"Courtroom seven!" he heard Maya call out as he ran down to the front of the apartment, he turned his phone off and quickly undid his bicycle lock. Pulling the old bike from it's spot and pedaling as he was pedaling away from a forest fire. He pushed himself into the city that was beginning it's day, rushing to a court case he had no time to prepare for and no idea on what to expect.

...if only he knew.

To Be Continued in...

Turnabout Awakening

Chapter 1: Seven Seconds

Author's Note

Hello to all new. I hope you enjoy my little AU story, it's been a long time since I wrote something for Phoenix Wright and I'm eager to return to it. I humbly offer my little tale to spend your days with, I hope you enjoy.

Now. I need to address those who may be returning. Welcome back. What does that mean to those who are new? Well... you see. This story is a remake of the first fanfiction I ever wrote: Revenant Lawyer. I wrote that story when was 16 and like every young and first writer I had it filled with every rookie mistake possible: inconstant storytelling, an OC who was Mary Sue-ish until halfway through the story a reviewer pointed it out to me and I managed to 'save' the character before it was too late. And some really...well...weird stuff.

Really weird stuff. Revenant Lawyer readers will get it. You know what parts I'm referring to.

Like an idiot, I misunderstood the concept of 'remake' and tried to do a remake...RIGHT after I finished the original. I learned since then. So, some of you may wonder...why is this a new story and not a new chapter on that attempt of a remake? I have an answer for that...time. Time has changed my style and things I want to do, it doesn't belong in that story anymore. Which is why I deleted it. I'm starting again, to those who came back from Revenant Lawyer, forget everything you knew. This is a very different story, there are familiar faces of course, but that's where it stops. This is a new beast. Hopefully a better one.

Come with me again on another mystery, I can't promise a masterpiece but I will certainly try to give you all a fun ride from beginning to end. Mysteries, conspiracies, romance, and a little bit of mysticism here and there. Spirits and danger and of course, lots and lots of Objections.

Welcome to Phoenix Wright: Phantom Attorney, I hope you enjoy it.