Extra Scene :: The Lies

All Apollo wanted was to go home and forget about his indentured servitude to Trucy.

The field trip might not have been so bad if her class hadn't visited the Nine-Tails Vale, but then she and Jinxie were determined to get a great match between the Nine-Tails Fox and Tenma Taro and, of course, the rest of the kids thought that Jinxie's dad was Tenma Taro. Somehow Apollo had ended up in the Nine-Tails' costume, fighting for dear life. There was no way that it looked like a fair fight to the kids, but Trucy kept assuring him that he did great.

Now he was dropping her off at the agency and determined to make a break for it before Athena showed up and forced him to stick around for the party that he wanted no part of.

"Help me carry the souvenirs up, Polly!" Trucy insisted as soon as he parked his car by the building.

"I didn't think you bought much," he said lightly, hoping that he could avoid the task.

"I didn't," she said outright. "But Jinxie and Mr. Tenma insisted that I bring home some presents!"

How she had managed to stuff the trunk of his car with so many bags without him noticing was far beyond his comprehension, but there was no way that she could get everything up in just one trip on her own. Multiple trips would just delay his escape even further. "Alright! Let's do this!" Without thinking, he hoisted up all the bags and ran inside.

"Wait, Polly! I can carry some!" Trucy offered.

Apollo reached the elevator and shouted, "I AM FINE! No need to worry!"

"But the elevator hasn't been working all week!"

Apollo took a deep breath and started to sprint up the stairs. The apartment complex had seven floors and the Anything Agency was, unfortunately, on the sixth. The bags, however, weighted more than Apollo had anticipated and, by the time he reached the sixth floor, he was thoroughly spent.

"I. . . Am. . . Fine. . ."

Trucy opened the door for him and he collapsed inside.

"Wow! You really run your employees ragged, don't you Nick?"

That particular voice made Apollo feel infinitely more exhausted.

"Uncle Larry! Does that mean that Daddy's home too?"

Phoenix walked into the common room. "If you call him that he might get the wrong idea, Trucy. Uncles are responsible. Larry is. . . Just don't call him that."

"Niiiiick! Don't tell your daughter that!"

Apollo had met Larry shortly after the trial where Phoenix had reinstated the juror system. As an official employee of the Anything Agency, he figured that he had seen it all, but then he met the Butz. Surely there was nothing more irritating than that man. How Phoenix had dealt with him for so long was the greatest mystery Apollo had ever faced.

"I, uh, just came to drop off Trucy and her things," Apollo said between breaths as he stood up.

"Wait, aren't you going to stick around for the party?" Larry wondered.

Phoenix caught Apollo by the shoulders and said in a grave voice, "If you run now, I'll understand."

"Daddy! Maya and Thena are at the door! You should go greet them!"

And that was that. There would be no sneaking away at that point for Apollo. Athena would surely catch him and, whether or not she used force, he knew that he couldn't refuse her. Part of him still felt a little guilty for accusing her of murdering his best friend. "It's okay, Mr. Wright. I have to face this like a man. I AM FINE!"

Phoenix smiled and mumbled, "Say it enough and maybe one day I'll believe it," before heading out to let the girls in.

His mentor's words caught Apollo off guard. He really was fine. Why wouldn't he be?

"So what's the spread for tonight, Tiny?" Larry asked, snapping Apollo out of his state of reverie.

Trucy's face suddenly went blank. "Oh no. I forgot about snacks! I can't serve you guys instant noodles and TV dinners! I've got to tell Daddy!" She hurried out after Phoenix, leaving Apollo with the last man that he ever wanted to deal with.

"Trucy really has you wrapped around her little finger, huh?" Larry noted as he elbowed Apollo in the side. "Wouldn't it be weird if you were to, say, start calling Nick 'Dad' instead of 'Boss'?"

Apollo rolled his eyes and explained to Larry for what had to be the hundredth time: "That'd be like dating my own sister. Plus she's much younger than me. That's not right."

"Age is no issue!" Larry argued.

"Larry, I'm a lawyer, remember? Age is a serious issue. And if I ever catch you with a minor I might just have to quit defending and start prosecuting."

"Awww, Pollyyyy! You know I'd never do anything that stupid!" Larry stuck out his tongue and rubbed the back of his head, making the bracelet tighten on Apollo's wrist. Apollo made a mental note to keep an eye on the moron.

Athena was the first one through the door and she looked right at Apollo as she stepped in with numerous bags hanging off her arms. "Oh good, you're already here!"

Apollo smiled half-heartedly. "Yeah. I'm here."

Things quickly got out of hand as Maya decided that burgers were a necessary addition to the party and Athena got anxious to watch One Missed Call (which seemed like a bad idea no matter how Apollo looked at it).

It had taken even longer for Apollo to actually meet Maya than it did for him to meet Larry. Pearl had come to visit the agency one day and he couldn't help but wonder why such a young girl was so obsessed with Mr. Wright. When Trucy explained that she was the cousin to Phoenix's "special someone," he was amazed. Not once had Phoenix mentioned Maya to him. It was the strangest thing. When Apollo finally confronted the old attorney about it, he saw something in the man that he had thought long dead. His eyes were clear and he stood up straight as he said, "She was my treasured assistant."

The way that he had said that made Apollo think that something had happened to her. Then one day, out of nowhere, a strange girl claiming to be a spirit medium showed up at the agency, demanding that Phoenix take her out for burgers. It was like his whole demeanor changed in her presence. He went from freakishly cool and collected, to off-guard and genuine. It was the strangest thing, but since seeing her again Phoenix had even gained the motivation to try the bar again and get his badge back. It was like she had brought the defense attorney back.

It took a while for Apollo to make enough burgers to satisfy the hungry spirit medium—especially after the others thoroughly screwed up so many—but after a while they ran out of patties. It was then that Athena insisted on putting in One Missed Call.

Having finished his burger, Phoenix stood up. "Do whatever you want, just don't disturb the neighbors."

"What? You're going to sleep already?" Trucy whined. "But Daddy!"

He put a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "Sorry, Trucy. I just feel the need to look into an old case. I'll party with everyone next time."

"But Niiiick!" Larry and Maya were surprisingly in sync with each other.

Apollo looked at his mentor and saw a slight crack in the old man's armor. It was unusual. It wasn't like Phoenix had dropped his guard the way that he did around Maya, and he wasn't acting like he did during his hobo-phase, but something was definitely off. It was almost like he wasn't there with them at all. Like maybe something from the past was pulling him in.

"Mr. Wright," Apollo got his attention before he could sneak off and shot him a thumbs up. "We are fine!"

Phoenix gave him a tired smile before retiring to his room.

Athena had the movie in in no time and decided that she wanted to sit in the reclining chair that Apollo was already in. "Tell you what, I'll fight you for it!"

"What? No! I already had to wrestle Tenmataro today! My body can't take anymore!" he objected. "How about a chords of steel battle?"

"Start yelling and I'll throw you all out!" Phoenix called out from his room.

Athena fumed a bit before Maya suggested, "How about a staring contest? That's quiet and intense!"

They agreed and it began before anyone could say otherwise. As the previews played, they continued to stare at each other with wide and watery eyes. But then a preview for another horror film flashed onto the screen behind Athena's head and the image of a young man on the ground with a knife in his chest made Apollo jump and blink.

"Ha! Victory! The chair is mine!"

"Sure. Whatever." Apollo stood up quickly and settled in next to the chair, with his back against the wall. He hugged his knees to his chest and tried to shake the feeling of sadness. "It's just a commercial," he whispered. "I am fine." The image of his best friend's dead body flashed through his head and he fought back the urge to cry.

Trucy sat by him when he wasn't paying attention and asked, "What's wrong, Polly?"

"Huh? N-nothing. I'm fine." He let his knees fall and took a deep breath to calm his nerves. "It's just been a while since I watched a scary movie, I guess."

"Polly's a fraidy-cat!" Larry teased loudly.

"Fraidy-cat! Fraidy-cat!" Maya chanted with him.

"Guys, we can't be so loud!" Trucy reminded them only to pause. "Wait, why isn't Daddy yelling at us?"

Apollo felt the same pang of concern, "I'll go check on—"

All of a sudden, he felt inexplicably dizzy and the world seemed to warp around him. He thought that he could hear Trucy screaming, but the sounds were all jumbled and indistinct. He tried to get a hold of himself, but there was no escape and he quickly lost consciousness.


Apollo woke up feeling dazed. He tried to regain his bearings, mumbling, "How long was I out?" He hadn't exactly been expecting a response, but the silence was a little concerning. He finally looked around and realized that no one was there. In fact, "there" wasn't even the agency!

In spite of the lingering dizziness, Apollo stood up quickly and looked around. The room he was in was considerably smaller than the common room at the agency and had a particularly old-fashioned feel to it. The dim lighting also served to make the setting incredibly eerie. There was a light, though, and it was coming from a single candle that stood in front of a small memorial shrine. At the shrine was a framed photo with the picture of a woman inside. The woman seemed vaguely familiar, but the strange bead on her necklace definitely reminded him of Maya's, Pearl's, and Phoenix's beads.

Apollo could just barely recall learning about the trial concerning the murder of Phoenix's mentor in law school. "Mia," he breathed. Thinking that it might be a sensitive subject, he never brought her up to Phoenix, but when he had first met Maya, he learned that she was that very woman's younger sister. "But who would have a shrine for Mia Fey?" he wondered out loud.

Without warning, Jinxie popped out of the shrine and slapped a talisman onto his forehead. "What the heck?" He looked around for her but she was nowhere to be seen. "Where did she even come from?"

"BEWARE YOUR DEMONS, DEMON LAWYER!" A timid voice warned. "MY TALISMAN CAN ONLY PROTECT YOU FROM SO MUCH!"

Apollo rolled his eyes and ripped the paper off his forehead. "Quit messing around, Jinxie. Is this a joke you and Trucy decided to play on me?"

No reply.

"Jinxie?" He went over to what he thought was a sliding closet door and forced it open only to see his old friend, Clay Terran, standing on the other side. The knife was still sticking out of his chest. Apollo screamed and fell backwards in a state of panic, accidentally putting out the candle at the shrine and making the room even darker. Clay drifted towards Apollo and looked down at him with black holes where his eyes should have been.

"APOLLOOOOOOO. . ." When Clay said his name, Apollo's heart stopped. "WHY DID I. . . DIE? APOLLO. . . PLEASE. . . YOU HAVE TO HELP ME. . ."

"I—I—I did!" Apollo assured him fearfully. "Fulbright's behind bars! I f—found your killer!"

Clay looked sad and started to back away. "NO. . . YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND. . . NO. . . MY FAULT. . ." He faded away, leaving Apollo alone in his state of terror.

"Is this a dream?" He got back onto his feet and noticed that the door he opened didn't lead to a closet, but a whole different room. He found that the other room wasn't lit either, so he looked back at the shrine and found a box of matches next to the candle. He struck one and used it to light the candle again. He tucked the matches away in his pocket in case the candle went out. Then he picked up the candle, apologized to Mia, and went into the next room. "Dream or not, I've got to figure out what he meant," he decided. "I AM FINE!"

Having said that, he felt just a bit more confident. There were two more sets of sliding doors in the room over. One led to an actual closet, stocked with spare blankets and futons. The others led to a small hallway. He stepped out into the hallway and found that it went one way and led either to a dead end or a narrow staircase. He heard a strange sound coming from the stairs, so he approached them cautiously and looked down them. It was so dark that he couldn't see very far, but from what he could tell, they seemed to end in nothing more than a black abyss.

Too nervous to actually head down, Apollo turned back only to find himself face to face with the fraud he had come to know as "Detective Bobby Fulbright." The man grinned evilly, his eyes hidden by his sunglasses, and gave Apollo a stiff shove that sent him tumbling down the stairs.

Apollo ended up on his back with his head at the bottom of the steps and his feet a few steps up. "That actually hurt," he grumbled. He lifted his head up slightly, just in time to see the tanuki man from the vale, Phineas Filch, come squishing down the stairs on his stomach in a weird and unnatural way. "Gah!"

Before Apollo could even think to get away, the animal-like man snatched the shoes off his feet and disappeared into the shadows. "Well, that's just great." He let his head fall back and was shocked to find that it didn't land on the hard floor, but something soft instead. He glanced upwards and saw a rather angelic young woman with braids that started from her forehead and went back. She looked at him with such a gentle face that he couldn't help but feel comforted. "Who are you?" he asked.

The girl smiled for him and he could have sworn that he heard angels singing. "I'm an old friend of Feenie. And you must be Mister Justice."

Apollo righted himself and cleared his throat. "Apollo's fine, actually," he told her, eliciting another sweet smile. "Do you know where we are?"

The smile faded as the girl told Apollo, "This apartment used to belong to my cousin and her fiance. Did you know Mia?"

Apollo shook his head and explained, "She was killed back when I was still in school. Mr. Wright doesn't really talk about her much."

The pretty girl stood up gracefully and sighed. "I suppose he wouldn't. It was his fault that she died, after all."

"What? No. No, that was some Redd White guy!" Apollo defended. "He proved that."

The girl giggled. "Of course Feenie didn't kill her. But why wasn't he there to protect her? If he had been there, she would still be alive. At least, that's what her fiance always believed."

"Well, I don't know about any fiance," Apollo confessed. "He wasn't mentioned in the records of that case."

The girl handed Apollo a letter and told him, "Poor Mister Armando was in a coma for five years only to wake up shortly after she died. This is what he wrote."


Kitten,

I'm so sorry. I should have been there. I should have never left you for so long. Oh God, why did you leave me, Mia? Why were you taken? You deserved so much better in life. And that man who claimed to be your student; he should be ashamed. He's a man. He was always by your side, but when you needed him most he was nowhere to be found. He forsook you. I've been studying him. He's so bad at his job without you there to guide him. Half of the time he's just stabbing at air! But somehow your little sister looks up to him and stands by his side. I will test him. For your sake, I'll turn away from death to see that he tastes it. To do that, I'll have to cast away my very name. Wait for me, Kitten.

All my love,

Godot


"But. . . It wasn't his fault," Apollo muttered, though his confidence in his mentor was shaken. "There was nothing he could have done."

The girl turned away from him sadly. "You really have quite a bit of faith in Feenie. I did too, once. But he let me down, just like he let Mia down."

Apollo shook the sinking feeling off. "What is this place? Why am I here?"

The girl's smile returned as she said in a voice like honey, "Because I wanted you to see the truth, Mister Justice." She disappeared right before his very eyes and left him in confusion.

"This can't be happening," he muttered. "I am f—f—fiine." He looked at the handwritten letter one last time before crumpling it up and casting it aside. "No. It's not Phoenix's fault. And none of this is real. Clay is dead, after all." Though he was trying to calm himself down, he felt painfully depressed. "I have to figure out what he meant. I just have to."

He looked down the short and narrow hallway where the beautiful girl had left him. On his right was a small table with an old fashioned rotary phone next to a rather eerie white lily. Further along the wall was a couple of western-style doors and on the left was a large, Japanese-style, sliding door. He figured that there was as good a place as any to start looking for answers.

The door was stuck in its frame, but with enough force it flew open and Apollo gasped at what he saw.

Inside the room were two people who looked like pale after-images. The man didn't seem familiar, but the woman he was with was definitely Mia Fey. They looked happy as they laid out a futon together. After it was set up, Mia took a wooden box with a magnificent painting of a black cat against a dark city background and opened it. Inside were scattered papers and things that she rifled through.

The man took the opportunity to get down on one knee and open a small ring box so that, when Mia finally turned around, she was presented with what had to be an engagement ring. Mia stared at him in shock for only a moment before saying something that Apollo couldn't hear. The man slipped the ring onto her finger as he stood up, then she threw her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss. They looked so happy together, just standing there in each others arms. It was a truly touching scene.

The couple faded, leaving the cat box and futon behind, and Apollo couldn't help but wonder about the man. He had to be the fiance that the mysterious girl had mentioned. Apollo made a mental note to ask Maya about him later.

Suddenly, before Apollo could even gather his thoughts, Mia reappeared. She was sitting on the futon with tears in her eyes. Though he couldn't hear anything that they had said to each other before, Apollo could hear her sobbing rather distinctly. She lifted her face from her hands only to open the box and take out a pen and paper. She began writing through her tears for a while, and when she was done she put the stationary away, closed the box, and took a square off of it before rearranging the cat image like a slide puzzle. She pulled on the lid, confirming that it was locked, and then vanished yet again, leaving the box on the futon.

Why wasn't the other man there anymore? What had happened to him? Did it have to do with why Mia was crying? There were too many things that Apollo was uncertain about.

This time, someone else appeared over the futon. This particular person was a man who resembled the man who had given Mia the ring, but there were very obvious discrepancies between them. This man's hair, for example, was completely white while the other man's was darker. And this man wore a strange, electronic mask over his eyes that made his face completely unreadable. He seemed to be looking down at the box while clenching something tightly in his left hand. He knelt down and rearranged the pieces of the picture until it looked right again, then he placed the square that he had been holding into the image and opened it. Upon looking inside, he dropped the lid and the odd piece popped out and landed on the futon. He covered his mouth with his hand and Apollo could have sworn that he saw tears escape from beneath the mask.

The man vanished as well, leaving the box wide open. No one else showed up for a while, so Apollo finally stepped into the room and knelt on the futon. Inside of the box was quite the collection of papers, but sitting right on top was the ring box with the engagement ring still inside. That had to be what had elicited such a strong reaction from the man. Apollo removed it carefully and took a look at what turned out to be letters written by Mia, newspaper articles, and a couple of certificates. They seemed to be in order of dates, and the oldest was, for whatever reason, sitting at the top, so he started from there.

The very first document was the renters' contract for the apartment. It was signed by Mia Fey and Diego Armando. The pretty girl had called her cousin's fiance "Armando," so Apollo was able to confirm that the man who had been in the visions and had given her the ring had to be him, but that didn't explain the man who looked similar to him.

Just above that document was an article about Mia's first case. It apparently ended in tragedy when the defendant poisoned himself while at the stand. "What a rough place to start," Apollo mumbled. He couldn't help but think of his own first case. Phoenix had been the defendant, but his own mentor, Kristoph, was the killer.

Past that article was another with the headline: "Defense Attorney Poisoned Before Trial," and a generic picture of Diego was just beneath it. The article described how Mia had been appointed to the defense of Phoenix Wright in place of her mentor.

"Just how many times did he get accused of murder?"

The next thing was another article. This one announced the results of that particular trial. A miss Dahlia Hawthorne had been declared guilty of murder and poisoning an attorney. Right after that was the first of Mia's letters.


Dear Diego,

I got her. It took more effort than it should have, thanks to a certain evidence-swallowing idiot, but Dahlia is finally behind bars. She's going to pay for what she did to you.

I've got to say though, that Phoenix Wright kid that you were supposed to defend was so difficult to deal with. He was so adamant about the fact that he didn't kill the guy, but at the same time he seemed ready to take the fall for Dahlia's crime. Talk about useless. And after the trial was over he had the nerve to ask me how I knew what Dahlia was really like.

I mean, duh!

I told that moron off good, saying that some snot-nosed art student couldn't take his head out of the clouds long enough to even see the truths that were right in front of him. Hopefully that'll give him a wake up call.

Sorry. It's been a long day. I hope that you wake up soon.

Love, Mia


Apollo couldn't help but smile to himself as he read the letter. Phoenix had mentioned something about being an art major in the past, but he didn't really go into much detail, and the green-nosed defendant that Mia described in her letter sounded amusing. "I'll definitely have to ask about this case."

Another letter followed that one.


Dear Diego,

It's hard to believe that you've been in a coma for three years now. I wonder if you can even sense me by your side when I visit you at the hospital. You're still alive, but I feel so lonely sometimes.

Oh, but do you remember that Phoenix guy? Guess who sent me a formal application for employment? That dope's in his last year of law school now and he wants to be my intern! Like I want to deal with a pain in the ass like him!

But he did get me thinking. Maybe it's time for me to spread my wings and start my own firm? Grossberg's been great, but lately I feel like he's less of a help and more of a hindrance. How about, "Fey and Company Law Offices"? Of course, when you wake up, we can change the name to "Fey, Armando, and Company Law Offices." That would be nice.

I'm still here waiting for you.

Love, Mia


The way that Mia talked about Phoenix wasn't really amusing anymore. She really seemed to hate the guy. Thinking back on it, Phoenix only had nice things to say about her too. Could it have really been like this between them?

Fey and Co. was the original name of the Anything Agency, though, so the letter seemed believable. In fact, before Apollo had gotten there, the office had been renamed "Wright and Co." due to her untimely demise. It was sad to read about how excited she was to have her own firm knowing that she wouldn't get to run it for long. Nonetheless, the next article was the official announcement of the Fey and Co. Law Offices.

The letter that followed was, yet again, about Phoenix.


Dear Diego,

Well, against my better judgement, I interviewed Phoenix. My biggest question was: why did he want to work under me? That idiot actually told me that he'd thought about becoming a lawyer years ago, but lost his motivation when a certain incident made him lose confidence in the power of the law. But when I stepped up to take your place at the stand, it gave him hope again. My work ever since only drove him to work harder.

Can you believe it? Me. Inspiring! Honestly, his faith in me seems totally unfounded. But I shudder at the thought of this kid going into practice without proper guidance, so I think I might actually take him on. I must be out of my mind for even considering that. . .

I guess we'll just have to see how things go.

Come back to me soon, please.

Love, Mia


Apollo's image of his boss was destroyed with every new letter. He did have a habit of bluffing that didn't seem all that reliable, but it always managed to get him through in the end. Maybe he really didn't deserve that much respect?

The next letter must have come about a year or so after she took on Phoenix as an intern.


Dear Diego,

Phoenix took the bar exams a little while back and he gets his results back today. This is it. Today we find out what separates the men from the lawyers. I have my doubts, but for his sake, I'll pretend to be optimistic. He said that he'd come over to my apartment as soon as he got the results.

Which made me realize that I haven't brought you up around him. He knew you, of course, since you were originally appointed to his defense, but he doesn't know about us. Frankly, I'm reluctant to tell him. I'm afraid that, if I told him about you, he'd try to live up to you. No one could live up to you, especially not this guy. Besides, I don't want to share you with him. Is that selfish? I guess it would take quite a bit of trust, though, to really open up about what happened to you, and Phoenix is too useless to trust with a pet rock.

Seriously, I need you to wake up. I miss you. I'm so desperate that I'm considering this guy as a business partner. I need you to point out how stupid this decision is.

Please come back to me.

Love, Mia.


Even Apollo could recall the dread that he felt when he waited for his results on the bar exam. He had practically held his breath throughout the entire wait, but Kristoph had been there to reassure him that he'd be fine.

But Kristoph turned out to be a killer.

And if Mia thought this way about her underling, one could only imagine what Kristoph thought of Apollo. The thought was enough to shake his confidence.

The next letter took a grave turn surprisingly quickly.


Dear Diego,

I can't believe it. I started looking into the case that my mother consulted on when she disappeared and I found something out that I really didn't want to know. The person who sold my mother out in the DL-6 incident was Mr. Grossberg! I just don't get it. After all those years that I spent working under him, to think that he could keep something like that from me. I just had to confront him about it, and he told me that he sold the information to Redd White, the CEO of Blue Company.

I'm going to look into the case. It's the least that I can do for my mother. This case, however, is deeply personal, so I'm not going to get Phoenix involved in it. He'd probably be completely unhelpful anyways.

Which reminds me, I never did say the results of his bar exams! Well, Fey and Co. actually has two defense attorneys on the team now! His first trial is in a week! I'll be there to walk him through it, of course. I don't really have high hopes for him, but hopefully he won't use me as a crutch too much.

I'll make sure to keep writing about my findings on Redd White and his Blue Company. Maybe I'll finally find out what happened to my mother.

I wish you were here to help me out with this, but for now I'll just have to go at it on my own until you wake up.

Love, Mia


Redd White and Blue company. Apollo sighed and shook his head slowly. Redd White was the man who eventually killed her. Apollo could understand why Diego might have been upset. Mia's decision not to tell Phoenix about things was pretty upsetting. It might not have been Phoenix's fault for not knowing what was going on, but it was his fault that she had so little faith in him! How could he be so stupid? She couldn't rely on him at all! Apollo couldn't help but feel irritated with his mentor for proving himself to be nothing more than a chore for Mia.

The next letter was the last from Mia.


Dear Diego,

Phoenix's first trial was today. He had me worried throughout, and I ended up having to save him most of the time, but somehow he managed to pull off a not guilty verdict! I'm relieved, but the day when he doesn't need me is far away.

I stopped by the hospital right after just to see you. I really want you to wake up. I need you. I can't shake this feeling of dread lately. The more that I delve into Redd White and Bluecorp, the more terrified I feel. I hope that I'm just being paranoid. That I'll be able to shake this off and laugh about it with you someday.

I can't believe that it's been almost five years since you slipped into this coma. I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't losing hope. I'm so afraid that I'll never see your smiling face again. Please return to me. I need you with me. I miss you more than anything.

Please, please just wake up.

Love, Mia


To Apollo's astonishment, the next letter was the very same one that he had tossed in the hallway. Down the the last word, it was Diego's regret letter. He had even chosen to change his name at the very bottom of it. But, worse than that was the letter that followed.


It'll be so nice to see Apollo today. It feels like it's been forever. And to think that he'll be bringing a girl with him! That dog! I hope he knows how lucky he is. Of course, I'm the lucky one that'll finally get to see the stars with our old buddy, Starbuck. I guess we both reached our dreams, huh?

WHY? WHY DID I DIE?


Apollo shook fearfully as he clutched at the letter. Why was it there? The last line was written in what looked like blood. How could it be there? Clay couldn't have possibly written it before he died, but Apollo could recognize his friend's sloppy handwriting anywhere. "Clay. . ." He looked up slowly and saw his old friend standing over him. The knife was still sticking out of his chest.

"WHY, APOLLO? I WAS SO CLOSE. . . BUT YOU. . . YOU WEREN'T THERE. . ."

"How could I have known?" Apollo cried. "Don't you think I'd have done anything to save you if I had been there? I'm sorry! I'm sorry, damn it!"

"NO. . . NOT AT FAULT. . . YOU WEREN'T THERE, APOLLO. . . WHY DON'T YOU. . . UNDERSTAND?"

"What's there to understand?"

"Apollo?"

The young attorney turned quickly to find Phoenix Wright standing in the open doorway. He didn't look like the other people Apollo had encountered at the apartment, since he was in full color. "Oh god, you're here too?" the weathered defense attorney said, astonishment plain on his face.

Apollo was relieved to finally see a familiar face that wasn't acting out of character or a part of some strange memory sequence. "Boss, I—" He stopped himself. Mia's letters came to mind and filled him with a sense of distrust towards his mentor. "Where are we?" he asked. Phoenix seemed to have a clue, so it was only fair that he explained things. "What's going on here?" He had so many questions and his heart was still racing from the recent encounter with Clay, who had vanished as soon as Phoenix entered the room.

Phoenix put his hands up to calm Apollo and explain, "This is my boss' old apartment. You've heard of Mia, right? But the weird thing is, we're not actually here."

"Not here? What are you talking about? We're both right here!" Apollo didn't mean to snap at his mentor, but his frustration and Mia's observations clouded his better judgement. "I don't understand! Why weren't you there for her?"

"What? For who?"

"For Mia!" Apollo stood up and yelled angrily. Nothing was making sense. "Why weren't you reliable enough for her to trust you? Why? You should have been better!"

Phoenix tensed at Apollo's accusations, but he still managed to speak in an even tone. "Apollo, there was nothing that I could have done for her. I blamed myself for her death in the past, but that didn't make anything better. I've got to keep living and doing what she taught me to do. That's how I can honor her memory."

"No! No, I can't! I should have been there. I should have been there to help him!" It finally dawned on Apollo. He was just like Phoenix. He should have been there when his friend died, and now Clay's death was eating away at him. "It's my fault. It's all my fault!"

Phoenix grabbed Apollo by the shoulders and shook him hard. "Apollo! Hey! You've got to stop this! This isn't you! It's Dahlia! She's making you act like this!"

The name "Dahlia" meant nothing to Apollo. He just pulled away from Phoenix and ran out to the hall. He ended up hiding in the bathroom, locking the door behind himself. He then sat down on the floor by the tub and hugged his knees. "I am fine. . ." he muttered, fighting back the tears. "I am fine, I am fine, I am fine!"

"That's right. You're just fine." The voice as soft as silk returned and he felt a gentle hand touching his back. He looked up to find the angelic woman had returned and greeted him with a sympathetic smile. "It's okay. Feenie just doesn't understand."

Apollo rubbed his eyes to hide his tears. "Why would he? He's just as useless as I am."

The girl smiled down at him and continued to rub his back comfortingly. "So you saw Mia's letters, huh?" Apollo furrowed his brow. Something about that statement had made his bracelet tighten around his wrist. It was good to know that his ability to observe the world around him hadn't been hindered by his emotional state, but it made him nervous to know that the kind girl was lying to him.

"What did you say?" he asked, trying to confirm just what was bothering him.

"I was just wondering if you saw the letters that Mia wrote." There it was. Whenever she brought up Mia's letters, her nails dug into the handle of her parasol and scratched along it.

"She didn't write those letters," Apollo breathed. The pieces started to come together in his head now that he knew the slander about Phoenix wasn't even written by his mentor. "Mister Wright said that someone named Dahlia was making me act like this. . . Dahlia. . . She was also mentioned in the forged letters. . . She's the one who put Diego Armando in a coma. She's the one who nearly got Wright charged with murder. Could it be that you are. . . Dahlia?"

He had figured out, but it was too late.

Dahlia's face became sinister as her hand gripped his neck with inhuman strength. She lifted him up and floated just above the floor. Apollo grabbed at her hand fearfully, desperately trying to free himself and get air into his lungs, but she held tight. "Nice sleuthing. Unfortunately, you're useless to me like this."

She dropped him over the bathtub and his body hit the water hard. He immediately tried to pull himself out to get air, but countless hands took hold of him and held him under.

Apollo struggled violently as his lungs began to take on water.

The burning sensation in his chest was overwhelming, but if he could just get above the water.

If he could just get some air.

Apollo reached his hand out of the water as he saw Dahlia's warped face, distorted by the ripples, staring down at him. He heard muffled sounds. Someone pounding on the door. They were calling out to him.

Phoenix.

He had to get out. Had to get back to the Agency. He still had work to do. He still had to give Athena a proper apology. Still had to do ridiculous tasks for Trucy's sake.

He opened his mouth to call out for help, and more water flowed into him. He couldn't take it anymore. It felt like something inside of him finally exploded from all of the water, and a brief pain spread throughout his entire body.

Then he felt nothing.

His eyes rolled up into his skull as his body gave out.


Phoenix finally burst through the door to the bathroom where Apollo had run off to, but he found it empty. The floor was soaked from the flooded bath, and the surface of the water was still disturbed, but there was nobody in there.

"Apollo? Kid, where did you go?" He looked for a phone, hopeful that Apollo had just figured out the transporting trick and left, but there wasn't any trace of one in that small bathroom. "People don't just disappear," he assured himself. "Even here, there's always a trick to it." He looked at the tub again and felt his stomach flip. The water was opaque, so he couldn't see into it. Like all other bathrooms he had encountered in the abyss, this one was filthy so he had no desire to fish around in the disgusting tub, but there was nowhere else to check.

Phoenix rolled up his sleeve as much as he could and stuck his hand into the water.

He wasn't sure what he had expected, but what he found was too much. His hand brushed against a soaked vest.

"No."

As if in response to his denial, a hand grabbed his submerged wrist. Phoenix pulled back quickly and a transparent version of Apollo emerged from the water, still clinging to his arm. Anticipating an attack (especially after Athena tried to kill him earlier), he fought Apollo's spirit off and backed into the corner of the room. Apollo just lingered over the tub looking miserable. Water dripped from his hair. Unlike many of the other ghosts Phoenix had encountered, though, the poor defense attorney didn't seem to have any malicious intent.

"You should have been there for her," he said sadly. "I should have been there for him. I should have never blamed her. It's my fault. All my fault."

Phoenix fought back hot tears. "It wasn't your fault! Damn it, Apollo. If you would have just listened to me. . ."

Apollo looked at him with dull eyes. "Listen to Wright. . . Listen to Wright. . ." Apollo sank into the tub and emerged with his signature red vest in his ghostly hands. "Clean the bathroom. . . Listen to Wright. . ." The tortured soul drifted over to the toilet and started to scrub it with his own vest.

Phoenix watched the horrible process and stumbled out of the bathroom. "Oh god. . ." This was more than he could take. The other ghosts had been ghosts to start, but Athena and Apollo had been alive. He'd seen them. They were just like him. And now. . .

"Don't worry." Apollo paused for a moment and his head twisted back to look at his boss. He gave an empty smile and assured the man, "I am fine," before turning back to his work.

"I almost feel bad." Phoenix didn't even flinch when Dahlia appeared next to him. "I just couldn't let him get in my way, though. He was so full of regrets too. If only he had known that his greatest misfortune was simply being associated with you and that stupid little cousin of mine."

"You killed them," Phoenix muttered, barely grasping the situation.

"Now, now. The girl killed herself," she corrected, bringing Athena's death back to his mind. "Mister Justice might have done the same, but somehow he figured out that I forged those letters." She ran her hand through her hair and let it fall onto her shoulder. "Such a pity. If he had still doubted you when he drowned, he would have been much more violent as a ghost. Oh well."

"You're a monster."

Dahlia brought her face close to Phoenix's and gave him an evil grin. "I am whatever I have to be to get my revenge, Feenie. Now, I'd better check on Maya. I'll see you soon."

She faded away, leaving Phoenix alone in his misery.


The passage of time no longer had any meaning to Apollo. He couldn't understand what had happened or why he felt so cold, but all he knew was that he needed to keep busy. Keep his mind off of things. And cleaning the toilet for Phoenix seemed like a good distraction, so he kept at it.

Eventually, Maya reached the apartment. He could hear her as she faced other ghosts with crueler intentions, but he couldn't even bring himself to help her. He just kept on scrubbing the toilet with whatever strength he still had, all the while reminding himself that he was fine.

When she found him, he tried to explain what had happened. He tried to warn her about Dahlia and the things that she might see around the old apartment, but the more he spoke, the more depressed he felt. He didn't want to think about all that. He just wanted to clean the toilet in peace. She seemed to recognize that and she left him alone.

He could tell when she left. The apartment became quiet again. It was like the other spirits were only stirring when there was someone living there to torment.

Living.

It finally hit Apollo that he wasn't living anymore. The thought was so overwhelming that he felt like it was suffocating him, snuffing out his very existence. "I am fine," he tried to assure himself as he scrubbed harder. "I am fine. . ."

"Apollo. . ."

The voice was painfully familiar to Apollo. Even in death, the voice of his dead friend brought back painful memories. He couldn't even bring himself to face Clay. "I . . . I am. . ." All he had to do was say that one four letter word and believe it like he always did. But he just couldn't. It wasn't true and he knew it.

"I'm. . . sorry."

Apollo knew that he was only a ghost, but he still trembled. The chill that he felt constantly gripped him with a new intensity as he came to terms with the truth. "I am so, so sorry. I should have been there. I should have saved you."

"No, Apollo. That's what I've been trying to tell you." He could feel Clay getting closer and it just made him go still. "You're not at fault, Apollo. How could you have known to be there? I've been trying to get you to understand that. Nobody blames you."

"But. . . I even accused my friend of being your killer. . . I put Athena through so much. . ."

"Athena doesn't blame you either. You were upset. It was only natural that you would try so hard to bring my killer to justice. And you did. Thank you."

Apollo finally set down his vest and closed his eyes. "How can I ask her to forgive me? How can I accept your death? I had seen you just before. . ."

Clay finally touched Apollo's shoulders and he could feel warmth at the touch. "Just ask," his old friend said kindly. "And you can't be fine all the time. It's okay. I won't blame you."

Apollo smiled slightly and brought up, "It's too late now. I'm dead. . . Dahlia killed me. . ."

"It's okay," Clay reassured him. "This time they figured it out. Just listen. . . Listen and open your eyes. . ."

"Listen? Listen for what?"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"


The sudden cry seemed to shake every fiber of Apollo's being, and he jumped like he had been awaken from a bad dream. It took him a second to recognize his surroundings, but he definitely wasn't in the bathroom of an old apartment anymore. In face, he seemed to be back at the Anything Agency.

"AAAAIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE!"

This cry was significantly closer to him, and it made him cringe. He looked up slightly at the chair that he was sitting next to to see Athena face to face with Simon Blackquill. After a moment of confusion, she practically tackled the poor man.

It wasn't until Athena mentioned a nightmare that he recalled his strange experience. "Some nightmare."

"Polly!" Before he could figure out what was going on, Trucy had her arms draped around his neck. "You're awake! You're finally awake!"

Apollo peeled her off carefully. "Actually, a part of me was kind of scared that I wouldn't wake up. That Dahlia girl killed me, but I was still trapped in that awful place."

Athena let go of Blackquill only to look back at Apollo and exclaim, "She got to me too. It was so awful. She. . ." Athena trailed off and looked pretty shaken up. Apollo could only imagine what Dahlia had done to her.

As things progressed, they discovered that there were quite a few shocking similarities between their nightmares, Larry woke up to claim he had similar problems, Phoenix and Edgeworth tried to explain what had actually happened to them, and they all realized that Maya was missing. After a strange scene with the Anything Agency's neighboring inspector (where Edgeworth acted stranger than anyone had ever seen him as he tried to communicate with a dog), they determined that Maya had to be downstairs and set off running.

Apparently that was the wrong choice, but Phoenix managed to save her from the last of Dahlia's wrath and things turned out okay in the end.

Not even all that shaken up by her experience, Maya quickly decided that she needed more hamburgers. It was nice to see her in high spirits, but he couldn't forget the things he had experienced in Dahlia's world.

"Come on, Apollo! Let's go get some burgers!" Athena started dragging him out by the arm before he could process everything, and as soon as they made it out of the apartment he stopped her. "Huh? What's up, slowpoke? We should hurry! You're one of the few people here with a car, you know."

"I . . . Can we step out on the roof for a minute?"

Noticing his urgency, Athena nodded and they both made their way up instead of down. Due to recent events they stayed very close to the door and far from the edge to talk. "What's on your mind?"

Apollo took a deep breath and dropped his head in a low bow. "I would like to ask for your forgiveness!"

Athena looked at him in shock and wondered, "For what?"

He kept his head down as he told her, "I should have never placed you on the stand for killing Clay. That was a terrible mistake that put you through quite a bit of stress. I'm so sorry for ever doubting you!"

"You can't be serious," Athena mumbled as she poked at his head.

"I am more than serious! Please, as long as you accept my apology—"

"No. I don't accept it and I won't forgive you." Apollo flinched at her harsh words, but kept his head down. "Your actions put Trucy in danger and made me relive some awful stuff in my past.

Apollo sighed and raised his head slowly. "Of course. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have expected anything more than this." Right as he opened his eyes, however, he felt a strong flick to his forehead. "Ow! What the heck?"

"I will, however, thank you for what you did," she said with a smile. "It's thanks to you and Aura that I was able to save Simon. So I won't accept your apology or forgive you because I'm grateful for what you did, you dolt. And how could I be upset? You only did what you thought you had to to find justice for your friend." She put her hand on her hip and cocked her head. "You may want to apologize to Trucy, though. I mean, she was stuck with Aura through that whole thing."

Apollo was surprised to find that Athena didn't blame him for anything. The guilt that had been wracking him was all in his head. It was like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

And then thrown back on when Athena draped her arm over him. "Now, come on! We've got to go get burgers!"

Apollo laughed walked out with her feeling like a new man.

He knew that he couldn't always, but for now, he was feeling just fine.


A/N ::

Shikola Krasno ::

Mein Gott, you would NOT believe how much trouble this story gave me. I was dumb enough to write it out loooong before we finished the Fatal Turnabout. In fact, the issue lied with the fact that I wrote it before the finalized version of Mia's letter to Godot was published. It was thanks to that letter that a significant portion of this story had to be entirely redone, which was upsetting because I was pretty attached to the whole thing. But I think I successfully kept the best parts and the changes helped to make the story better as a whole. So I guess everything worked out. Honestly, this was written WAY before Athena's story even came to mind. I only apologize that it took so long for me to fix.

So yeah! Poor Polly, am I right? Melody and I knew that he was going to drown. His appearance in Fatal Turnabout was based on a girl's head in the bathtub in Calling. She was one of the creepier ones to see; she just watched you from the water as her face slowly sank, all the while accompanied by an eerie ringing sound. But we saw bathroom and somehow thought of Apollo cleaning the bathroom at the Agency (the job that Phoenix seemed to pass on to anyone that he could). I'm only sorry that his death was so painful. We tried to come up with a reason behind the fact that, unlike Larry and Athena, he didn't attack the person who visited him. Melody figured that it would have to do with how they died. Larry was scared and frantic. Athena was violent and broken. So I figured that, in order to keep Polly from attacking, I'd have to kill him when his judgement wasn't clouded. Aaaand that still didn't save him from what might be the most brutal death scene yet.

But his story was still nice, right? Like how Athena resolved some feelings about Simon, Apollo finally got some closure for Clay. I hope you guys enjoyed it. And I made sure to put in a few easter eggs here and there (though it may never be brought up in the games again, I'd certainly like to point out that Polly and Trucy are siblings. . .).

I will try to write one more serious bit for this accompanying piece, and that will be Phoenix's story post Apollo's death. While it'd be nice to see what he was up to the entire time, that could go on way too long and too many things would be difficult to figure out. I'll try to clear up just hwat he was up to, though, as much as I am able. After that, though, anything that I write for this will likely be more on the comical side (or should I say, the Missile side?). Thanks for putting up with my angst!

Melody Canta ::

I'll be posting stuff soon! Actually, enjoy how sane this is, because the next stuff is weird and fun all at the same time. Anyways, not much to note here, but poor Polly. Everyone now knows that I'm too fond of this kid, but I feel bad, mostly because it was kind of my fault he ended up drowning and getting this written about him anyways.