Chapter 1
Franziska von Karma sat at her desk, meticulously working on the paperwork she had to complete from her last trial, thankfully a victory that was in her favor. Although by no means did she enjoy doing paperwork related to trials, there was something about the fact that she won the case which made her feel just a little less irritated about it. When she had almost completed all of it, she heard a soft knock on her office door. Not one to take kindly to visitors that came when she was busy, she tried to ignore it, but since the person seemed annoyingly insistent, she stopped working long enough to answer.
Abruptly, she stood up with her whip in her hand, intending to teach whoever dared disturb her a lesson as she threw open her door, but she was surprised to see that her visitor was none other than Maya Fey.
"What is it, Maya Fey?" Franziska asked harshly, but she stepped aside from her door to allow Maya inside the office.
Even if it seemed to any onlooker that Franziska absolutely did not want Maya Fey in her office space, this was surprisingly not true. Over the years, since the time that they met, their relationship had metamorphosed from one of ambivalence to one that was undeniably a strange form of friendship.
Franziska quickly took her place in her seat behind her desk, while Maya stood awkwardly in front of her, looking very uncomfortable, and even vaguely upset.
"Is there something troubling you, Maya Fey?" Franziska asked in a deathly serious voice, her eyebrow raised in a way that looked very threatening.
"Oh." Maya quickly broke eye contact with Franziska, not because of the look she was getting from her (due to the silent understanding between them), but because what she had to say was very difficult for her to get out, "I…well, if you're busy, maybe I should come back later — "
Franziska abruptly cut her off by snapping her whip on the ground and saying, "Don't be a fool! Sit!"
Her words sounded much more like a threat rather than a friendly invitation for a chat, but Maya complied, knowing that this was just Franziska's way of interacting with people.
"Out with it! Now!" Franziska barked at Maya, the grip on her whip still very tight.
"Well…it's about Larry…" Maya said reluctantly, still unable to re-establish eye contact with Franziska.
"What has that idiot done now?" Franziska said, punctuating each word harshly.
"Umm…" Maya said in hesitation, now a little afraid of how Franziska would react to the news, but sadness still tinged her tone, "Well…he…uhh…kinda broke up with me…"
"Why?" Franziska asked simply, but her tone was still dangerous.
At this question, Maya sounded a bit pained as she spoke, "I told him that I wanted a more steady relationship, and he just told me that he wasn't ready for something like that."
Fraziska just stared at Maya with an intense but unreadable expression on her face. Then she startled Maya by standing up suddenly and began to stalk toward the door.
When she got over her shock enough to speak, Maya said, "Wait! Where are you going!?"
Stopping by the door of the office, she turned swiftly on her heel and with a snap of her whip on the floor, she said, "I am going to whip that moron into the ground, of course!"
A look of panic flashed across Maya's face and said, "No! Don't do that, please!"
Maya stood up from where she was sitting, walked over to Franziska, and gently pulled her back toward the desk.
With a sigh, Maya continued, eventually giving Franziska a sad smile as she spoke, "As fun as that might be, you can't whip him into wanting something that he doesn't. In fact, it just might make him want it less."
Franziska was silent for a moment, and then in a determined tone she said, "But I can see no other satisfactory solution to this problem."
The sad smile stayed on Maya's face when she said, "I know…I just felt like telling someone, that's all. I…didn't really feel like telling Nick since he seems to have so many problems in his case to deal with right now, and I don't want him to worry about me when he has to get his client off the hook."
Franziska raised an eyebrow at Maya and said, "Hmph. Well, you made the right decision. Phoenix Wright is an absolute fool."
Both of them were silent for a moment when Maya finally spoke again, sounding a bit melancholy as she did.
"You know, you're really lucky to have Detective Gumshoe."
Franziska made what sounded like an annoyed sound in her throat, but her tone softened noticeably as she spoke, "What, Scruffy? He's a foolish fool."
But she left it at that, her face having a strangely contemplative look on it, and if someone looked very closely, her lips just slightly curved up in a smile. Franziska finally looked back at Maya, and found her looking just a little more sad when she mentioned Gumshoe to her. This made her feel a little helpless, since she wasn't sure what she should say to make Maya feel better, but she tried her best to sound sympathetic as she could.
"Anyway, Butz is a pathetic excuse for a man, and you, out of all people, should not have had to deal with his foolish, immature stupidity."
To this, Maya gave Franziska a little smile and softly said, "Thanks."
After sitting in silence for a moment, Maya did feel significantly better than when she came in, so she figured that she should just get going and let Franziska finish whatever she was working on before she came.
"Hey, thanks for listening to me, Franziska. Really, you should get back to work now. Maybe all of us can hang out soon, since my birthday is coming up!" Maya said, flashing Franziska a genuine smile as she mentioned her birthday, "I can't wait, I'll finally be twenty one!"
Franziska made a sound, seemingly out of amusement, and replied, "I believe you want to foolishly become intoxicated now that you have the chance."
Maya laughed and said, "Well, there's nothing wrong with wanting to have a little fun on my birthday!"
With this, Maya made her way to the door of Franziska's office, giving her a little wave and saying, "I'll see you later!"
"Good bye." Franziska said, giving Maya one last look as the spirit medium walked out of the door.