Maya took a deep breath to calm herself, trying yet again not to talk herself out of doing this. It would be for his own good. He wouldn't listen to her, but she knew who he would listen to. Her sister. If there was anyone who could talk some sense into him, it would be Mia. He'd probably be mad at her afterwards, but again, it would be for his own good.
She had already written her note explaining the situation to Mia and set it on the table in front of her, so she closed her eyes and began to channel.
When Mia opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was the piece of paper on the table in front of her. She looked around. She was in the spare bedroom at what she recognized as her old apartment. Now it was Phoenix's.
She picked up the note and began to read.
Hey, Sis! Don't worry, for once I'm not channeling you because of an emergency! Well, not really. It's about Nick, actually. I need you to talk some sense into him. You see… something happened. Something that's made him really depressed, and he keeps refusing to get help. He won't help himself and he won't let me help him either. He just sits around all day, doing nothing. (And I think he may be drinking, but if he is, he's good at hiding it.)
He's in a real slump and he won't listen to me. I figured you of all people might have better luck.
He's probably downstairs right now, moping around. Please, go talk to him.
Mia set the note down. Strange. Maya said it wasn't an emergency, but something had happened to Phoenix that was bad enough to make him depressed. She got up, pulling Maya's robes around herself.
She left the room quietly and stepped out into the darkened hallway. She could hear the TV downstairs, so she headed to the stairs.
Before she even rounded the corner she could hear Phoenix heave a sigh. "Maya, I already told you I don't want to talk about this anymore, so if you're coming back in here you better not start talking about what happened again."
Mia turned the corner, her eyebrows raised. "What did happen, Phoenix?"
He sat up quickly in surprise. "Mia!"
She flicked on the light—he was sitting in the dark for some reason—and took in his appearance. No suit or tie anymore. It was sweats and a zipped up hoodie. There were bags under his eyes as well, and it looked like he hadn't shaved for at least a few days.
She crossed her arms over her chest. "Maya tells me you're depressed and won't listen to her about getting help."
He sat back and rolled his eyes. "Jeez. She didn't need to go tattle-tale on me like you're my mother or something."
She softened her stare. "Can I sit down?"
He nodded absently, picking up the TV remove to mute it.
She settled into the couch beside him, flattening Maya's skirt under her. "Phoenix, I'm not sure what's going on, but don't get mad at my sister for being worried. I can tell something is bothering you just by your appearance. No offense, but you look pretty terrible. I don't blame her, especially if you're being as stubborn as she says. Want to talk about it?"
He shook his head defeatedly. "I might as well just say it, even though it's hard to say, especially to you."
"What?"
"I lost my badge, Mia. I was disbarred."
Her eyes widened. "What? Why?"
"I forged evidence."
She studied his face. He couldn't look her in the eyes, keeping them downcast. "No you didn't, Phoenix," she stated. "What really happened?"
"According to the courts, that is what happened."
"What really happened?" she repeated.
He finally looked up at her. "I was just stupid, Mia. I was given a piece of evidence right before my last trial and I didn't check the credibility of it. I used it in court, and it was proven by the prosecution to be fake. Of course they thought I was the one who forged it."
"Who gave it to you?"
"A little girl. The daughter of the man I was defending. I don't know who she got it from." He shook his head. "It was so, so stupid of me to use it without checking it first."
"I won't deny that it wasn't your smartest decision ever, but you shouldn't beat yourself up over it too much. As defense attorneys, our jobs are harder. We sometimes have to blindly trust our sources. So, what are you going to do?"
He furrowed his eyebrows. "Nothing. There's nothing to do, Mia. I lost my job. I mean yeah, eventually I'll have to find another job if I don't want to end up homeless or mooching off Maya and Edgeworth all the time, but lawyering? I'm done with that."
"I'm disappointed in that answer, Phoenix," Mia said. "I thought you would have wanted to investigate this. Figure out who put you in this position and prove yourself innocent, like you did for so many of your clients."
"Look, Mia. I respect you, and I'm thankful for everything you did for me as a rookie. I'm sorry I ended up so disappointing, but this is just how it is. I was stupid. I don't even deserve my badge back if I fell for something so obvious."
"I didn't say I was disappointed in you, I said I was disappointed in—"
"But I am a disappointment!" he yelled. "How can you even be here and look me in the face right now, Mia?! I don't deserve your help, or Maya's, or anyone's! Why don't you all just go away and leave me alone?!"
Slap.
Phoenix's head snapped to the side as the palm of Mia's hand came into contact with his cheek. Her hand stung, and if the red mark across his cheekbone was any indication, so did his face.
He was quiet, and she could see his chest rising and falling heavily with his breath. She hoped she hadn't gone too far. She felt bad, but she wasn't about to apologize for it. Listening to him be so self-deprecating… She couldn't take it. He needed some sense knocked into him.
She took a deep breath. "Listen, Phoenix. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. If you need to go see a doctor about how you feel, or a therapist or something, then do it. But don't just sit around here moping and expect no one to care. Maya cares about you a great deal, enough so to channel me just to talk to you for her, because you won't listen to her or accept the help she so badly wants to give you. Think about how she feels having to see you like this every day. You're not this person, Phoenix."
He bit his lip, hard, and she watched as the tears began to fall. She reached for him, but he waved her away. "No, it's… it's fine. I'm sorry."
She sat quietly by his side, letting him cry silently beside her. He managed to stop himself after a few minutes, and this time when she reached over to pat him on the back, he didn't stop her.
"I'm sorry, Mia. You're right. Of course you're right, like always."
She smiled. "I'm sorry for slapping you. I shouldn't have done that."
"No, I needed it." He turned to her. "Thank you for coming to talk to me. I will work on figuring out who did this to me. Really, I want nothing more than to be a lawyer again, but I've just felt so crappy lately. I didn't want to talk about it, or think about it, I just wanted it to go away. But… I can't let whoever it is get away with it. I can't let them ruin anymore lives like this."
She smiled. "I'm glad to hear that. The world is better off with you in it, you know, protecting and helping people the way you do. I've always been proud of you, Phoenix. I hope you know that."
He nodded. "Yeah. I do. Thank you."
"And it's fine to feel crappy, you know. Just don't take it too far. Get help if you need it, and let your friends help you however they can, and you'll do fine."
"Yeah, I know. Thank you." He looked at her, smiling. "I don't mean to rush you or anything, I'm glad I got to see you again but… do you think you could bring Maya back now? I really want to apologize to her. We kind of had an argument before she went upstairs earlier. I might have yelled at her…"
Mia nodded. "Of course." She reached out to poke him in the chest. "Treat my little sister properly, Phoenix, or I'll come back to haunt you."
"I will."
She grinned. "Good. Then I'll be going. Good luck with everything."
"Thanks. Goodbye, Mia."
When Maya opened her eyes, she found herself seated on the couch in the office, with Phoenix beside her. She smiled at him sheepishly. "So… You talked to her, then?"
"Yeah, I did."
"I'm sorry, Nick… I just needed someone to try getting through to you."
"It's okay, Maya. I'm the one who needs to be apologizing. I know you've been trying to help me these past few weeks and I've been brushing you off. I'm really sorry for worrying you so much. And I'm sorry for getting mad at you earlier."
"It's alright, Nick. I know it must be hard for you right now."
"Yeah. It is hard. But that's no excuse to treat you badly when you're only trying to help me."
She looked more closely at him. She could see a red mark across his cheek, and his eyes were a little puffy and red too. "Nick, what happened with Mia?"
He seemed to know why she was asking. "Ah… She slapped some sense into me. Literally."
"Oh no! I'm sorry. I didn't want her to hurt you!"
"Nah, it's fine. It worked."
Maya shifted closer to wrap her arms around him. It felt good to be able to hug him again without him telling her to stop pitying him. She never pitied him. All she wanted was to comfort him. She smiled when he hugged her back.
"I'm going to start investigating the forged evidence," he told her. "I need to find out who it was from, and why they wanted me disbarred."
She nodded against his chest. "And I'm going to help you."
"Yeah," he said, pulling back to look down at her. "You up for being my assistant again?"
She grinned. "You know I am, Nick."