DISCLAIMER: Phoenix Wright belongs to Capcom.

~ The Last Kiss ~

When Miles Edgeworth first entered the von Karma household, Franziska von Karma was only two years old. The boy was quiet and gloomy, but the girl was happy to have another child as a playmate for once. They quickly became close.

When Franziska was five years old, she stole young Edgeworth's first kiss. It was the last kiss that would ever pass between the two of them. Soon after it happened, Franziska's prosecutor training began and Master von Karma set to work breaking down the bond that had formed between the children.

"Someone dripped water on the sink in the bathroom. Which one of you was it?" Manfred questioned the two young children in a menacing tone.

Edgeworth spoke up hesitantly. "It… must have been me, sir."

But Manfred had seen the way the boy glanced at the girl before he answered.

"Franziska! Go clean it up," Master von Karma ordered.

"Yes, Papa." The girl knew better than to argue.

He would teach them not to protect each other.

Well, it seems that they're both fast learners. Look what a difference there is now, and in just a few months. And, to test his theory…

"Who broke the vase in the library?" Manfred asked in a tone of barely-restrained anger. He happened to know for a fact that the one who broke it was actually his daughter.

Edgeworth was quick to sell her out. "It was Franziska," he said boldly, looking Manfred straight in the eye. Young Edgeworth had developed quite the poker face, an utterly unreadable expression. Manfred knew the boy was telling the truth only because he already knew what the truth was.

But the guilty party was also quick to accuse the innocent. "I didn't! It was Miles," the little girl whined, looking at her father with a pleading expression.

This was exactly what Manfred wanted, the two of them quick to turn on each other but both completely loyal to him. Master von Karma rewarded Franziska for her bad behavior by picking her up and cuddling her in his arms while he ordered young Edgeworth to clean up the mess in the library.

Edgeworth soon learned that Manfred would often take Franziska's side no matter who was telling the truth because she was still a little girl and needed some measure of affection from her father. The boy hated to admit it, but part of the reason he was so eager to turn against the girl was that he was jealous of that fatherly affection.

In just a few short months, Master von Karma had destroyed any feelings of friendship the children may have had for each other. They had become rivals.

But now Manfred was gone, sentenced to death after being convicted for the DL-6 incident.

Franziska was in the hospital after being shot on the morning of the first day of the Engarde trial.

And Edgeworth was beginning to realize that he didn't want that first kiss from so long ago to be their last.

~end~

A/N: Reviews are love.