How Phoenix Wright was going to pay the rent that month was anybody's guess.
It was strange how so many things had changed for him over the past year, but that one thing remained the same. It seemed he was still living from paycheck to paycheck, but fortunately, he never had to go without a meal...even if it was something better suited to the salary of a certain detective he once knew. Working at the Borscht Bowl Club was a steady source of income, but not quite enough to keep the agency, so he was forced to rely on the talents of Trucy, the young magician he had adopted earlier in the year. She performed her magic acts at the Wonder Bar, raking in cash from the crowds night after night. Phoenix still wasn't used to calling her his daughter, even though the adoption papers stated it was who she was. Of course, he had no complaints regarding that fact. To him, she was an inspiration...likely more of an inspiration than he would ever be to her.
At the age of nine, she was already following in the footsteps of her blood-kin, the extraordinarily talented magic Troupe Gramarye. She constantly looked forward to each new day, and when she wasn't in school, she was inventing some new trick or perfecting her technique. Phoenix was proud of her, indeed, but sometimes felt ashamed of his tendency to look backwards while she was doing just the opposite. It wasn't that he meant to do it; some days he just couldn't help it. He was Phoenix Wright, after all, the keeper of all memories precious...but before he had quietly given himself the title, he was a lawyer of rising fame in Los Angeles, until earlier in the year, when a scandal cost him his badge and reputation. He still looked back on the incident with disbelief, knowing he was set up, yet having no way of proving it. Someone had forged evidence, and then made it so that Phoenix would end up presenting it in court, even going as far as using Trucy to deliver the evidence to him. He hadn't see it coming; so many things were going through his mind, especially since the case itself had been thrown into his lap only the night before.
Since then, he had been stripped of his badge, handed only regrets and mysteries in return. Fortunately, Trucy was there, someone he had thought of a shining light in his darkest hour. And because of this, he was able to pick up the pieces of his life to some extent. Barred from practicing law, he found a job at the Borscht Bowl Club. If official titles were to be assigned to the job, one could call him a musician and professional gambler, though neither title would be totally accurate. He was horrible as a pianist, and while he made money by playing poker, it was not from the hands themselves. He was simply paid to play and win.
He still missed the old days, but he had to admit his current life was less eventful. That is, he didn't have to worry about taking on a dangerous client, encountering a life-threatening moment during an investigation, or just fearing for the lives of the ones he cared about. While he missed the company of his ex-assistant, Maya Fey, he certainly didn't miss all the times she seemed to get herself into trouble. Since the day they met over three years ago, he'd had to save her life a total of four times--five, if one were to count the time he attempted to cross a burnt-out bridge in order to confirm her safety. But...perhaps those times were worth the grey hairs...it made the good times all the more precious.
Currently, Maya Fey was the master of the Kurain channeling school, since her mother, Misty, had been murdered earlier in the year. A young woman hard at work, she often spoke of visiting Phoenix in her free time. But when arguing with Phoenix over his lack of a need for a lawyer's assistant failed to produce a convenient visiting time, she would send her cousin Pearl to check up on him. Not that Phoenix minded in the least; sometimes seeing an old face was all it took to brighten his day...
--
Five thin silver hoops gleamed for a moment in the afternoon sunlight, easily capturing the attention of the audience of one. Small gloved hands interweaved the items until they all appeared as one. The girl holding the hoops was dressed in common magician's attire, a silk blue top hat and a matching blue cape. "Now it's time for the magic words," she declared as a mischievous smirk appeared on her lips. "Allakazaam!"
The audience--rather, a second girl who sported an acolyte's uniform--gasped as the first girl separated her hands, the silver hoops forming a straight, secure chain. "How did you do that, Trucy? That was simply amazing!" She clapped with enthusiasm while Trucy grinned and took a bow.
"A magician never reveals her secrets," she replied, then stepped back to set aside the hoops. "Now, for my next trick, the amazing Mr. Hat!" No sooner than she announced it, the simple wooden puppet emerged, taking Trucy's hat and topping its own head. It seemed to turn its gaze toward its audience. "'And how do you do, Miss Pearl Fey?'" Mr. Hat greeted the awestruck girl. "'I don't have any jewels or oysters, but how about this? A rose for a Pearl!'" The puppet reached off to the side, plucking a single rose from a table holding magic props, and handed it to the girl.
Pearl took the rose with a merry laugh, setting it down across her lap, and clapped again. "Simply amazing! Are you going to pull a rabbit out of your hat next?"
Trucy tucked away Mr. Hat, mulling over the girl's suggestion. "A rabbit...out of my hat? Hmm...I thought about it, but everyone else has already done it. I was thinking...I should put a new spin on it, but I dunno what yet."
Across the room, which in actuality was an old law office cluttered with magic props, Phoenix Wright was sitting comfortably on a couch. He appeared to be immersed in the newspaper he was holding, but he would glance at the two girls from time to time. It wasn't that he was keeping a watchful eye on them, like some overly concerned parent. Being mostly responsible and self-sufficient, Trucy and Pearl could take care of themselves with little help from a parental unit. It was just that seeing the two of them somehow gave him a sense of peace, as though all of the bad luck he had had over the past year didn't matter, and that maybe, for the first time in months, he could actually live in the moment, instead of looking backward. Life goes on, after all, he told himself. Regardless of what happened, Pearls still comes to visit me. It's almost like the old days...almost...
"Anyway," Trucy was saying, "that's it for now. I've got more tricks that I'm saving for the show tonight. You're gonna see it, right?"
"I certainly am!" Pearl exclaimed. "If it's anything like the tricks you just showed me, I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun!"
"You bet it will! In fact, I was thinking I'd mix it up a little, call someone from the audience and let them do their own magic trick! Hmm. Hey, Pearl, do you know any magic tricks?"
"Umm..." Pearl thought for a moment. "Well, one time I saw a magician who could fly, but Mystic Maya told me he used ropes and wires."
Trucy chuckled. "No, silly. I mean is there something you can do? Pearl's special trick? A grand illusion...presto! Now you see it, now you don't!" She demonstrated the last part by again summoning and tucking away Mr. Hat.
The other girl shook her head. "No...I don't really know any magic tricks I can do."
"But, but...don't you call up the dead or something? Daddy said you used to call a ghost a lot? His mentor's ghost?"
"Mystic Mia? Yes, I did, but...that's not really a magic trick."
"Well..." Trucy seemed to shrug. "That's okay. The audience doesn't have to know it isn't." Her eyes were practically sparkling. "Just imagine it...I ask an audience member what dead person in history they want to meet the most...and then...allakazaam! You call the ghost and come out."
Pearl's smile returned. "Oh, I get it! Yes, that would be exciting, only..." The smile faded, replaced by a look of great uncertainty. "...that's not really what the spirit channeling is used for. You have to be careful, or you could end up channeling somebody dangerous."
"Hm, I didn't think about that. Wait...I know! We can tell the audience member to only name somebody who isn't dangerous, and then you call them! But...you know...I've never actually seen it done before. Just so I know what it is, why don't you channel a ghost now?"
"I don't know if I should. I never did it unless Mr. Nick or Mystic Maya needed my help." When she saw the disappointed look on Trucy's face, she added, "...but maybe this is good for my training too, being able to summon a spirit regardless of circumstances. Hm...who should I call...?"
"How about Daddy's mentor?"
Phoenix's heart rate spiked then, a feeling of dread coming over him. Tossing aside the newspaper, he quickly got up from the couch.
"All right. Here goes..."
"Wait, Pearls," Phoenix said urgently.
Pearl stopped and turned around, looking up as the man approached. "Huh? What is it, Mr. Nick?"
"Don't...I-I mean..." He couldn't say it. The words seemed to stick in his throat.
Mia, he thought with great regret. So many thoughts were swirling in his head, her lessons, his memories of their time together, her passing the torch to him. My mentor, Mia Fey. Oh, Pearls. Not now. I don't think I could bear to face her, not right this moment. She was...she was so confident in my skills that she set me free of her tutelage...and I paid her back by losing my badge in one careless moment. Phoenix hated thinking about it. He didn't want to think about it. He had held off on dealing with the full repercussions of his misfortunes earlier in the year, which included facing the mentor he had failed.
He must have looked at least a fraction as miserable as he felt, because Pearl gave him a look of sympathy. "Um...Mr. Nick, you know that neither Mystic Mia nor Mystic Maya would think any less of you, no matter what happens...right?"
Phoenix didn't show it, but he was stunned, not so much by the question, but by the intensity of the girl's stare. Pearl had always been a child wise beyond her years, but these comforting words born of an unspoken observation truly caught him off-guard. He quickly recovered, only forcing a smile. "The Wonder Bar is going to open in about half an hour," he said. "You girls will be late."
Trucy let out a gasp. "Aaahh! I wasn't watching the clock." She frantically went around the room, gathering all of her magical props and stuffing them into a medium-sized leather case.
"Oh, let me help you, Trucy," Pearl offered, picking up a few items and holding them out to the other girl. She seemed to have forgotten about Phoenix's reservations. Trucy handpicked some of the items handed to her but motioned to Pearl to leave the rest.
When the two girls finished packing, they said their goodbyes to Phoenix. "Don't work too hard now, Daddy," Trucy said. "Remember, you can't play any big games when I'm away."
After the girls left, Phoenix returned to the couch, the smile turning bittersweet. He was about to pick up the paper when his cell phone rang. At least, he thought it was his phone. It had been a couple of months since he changed the ringtone, but with so few calls, he had never quite gotten used to the sound. But he couldn't keep the "Steel Samurai" melody...there were too many memories attached to it, too many faces...too many reminders of what he had gone and lost...
"Yes...hello?" said a woman's voice, timid at first. "Is this the offices of Wright and Company?"
"Not exactly," Phoenix replied. "You've reached the number of Phoenix Wright. If you wanted the number of the Wright Talent Agency, it's temporarily out of service until I can afford the landline again. However, if you're looking to be managed, I can take down your information and pass it along to my daughter. She checks the messages every night, so you'll be sure to get a response by tomorrow."
"Err..." The woman sounded confused, but Phoenix couldn't decide whether it was over his office's new purpose, or the fact that he had a daughter now...especially one old enough to manage phone messages and new talent. Most people were surprised by either. "N...no, I'm not looking to be managed. Mr. Wright...thank goodness. Thank goodness I reached you. It's been a long time, but...I fear I might need your help."
"My help? I'm not a lawyer anymore, ma'am. You might want to try Grossberg law offices."
"No, no, not that kind of help. I'm...I'm trying to reach someone. I need to know if this person is okay. I just want to know if you've been in touch with this person lately, and if you have...oh, I'm sorry. I'm going out of my mind with worry. Where are my manners? It's me, Adrian Andrews. You and your friends were very helpful to me in the past."
"Adrian..." It all came flooding back to him. The Nickel Samurai case. Maya getting kidnapped. Being forced to defend a wolf-in-sheep's-clothing. Breaking the cool Ms. Andrews on the stand. Meeting Ms. Andrews again at a treasure exhibit. Maya and Pearl's delight at Adrian putting the Fey name back in a good light. "Ms...Ms. Andrews. How...how are you? It's been a long time."
"I'm fine," Adrian replied. "But...I'm not so sure about other people."
"What do you mean?"
"Mr. Wright...you remember Franziska von Karma, correct?"
Almost at the sound of the name, Phoenix felt a familiar twinge of pain, preceded only by the faint sound of a leathery snap in his head. "Y...yeah," he said when he recovered. "She...uh...I saw her earlier this year, when she came to visit."
"Well, she moved back a few months ago, and every Wednesday, on my 1:00 lunch break, we dine at Lordly Tailor. But this week...she never showed. I called her to see if she wasn't feeling well, but...so far, no response."
"Hmm..." It wouldn't have been the first time the German-born prosecutor had suddenly disappeared, but something about the nature of her disappearance this time troubled Phoenix. "That is a bit odd. Maybe she was feeling sick after all and decided to take a week off?"
"No," Adrian insisted. "I know Franziska. She would have said something. Besides, the last time we spoke was on the phone Tuesday night, and she was just fine. She said she would be there Wednesday, as usual. Mr. Wright, I'm...I'm really getting worried. This isn't like her at all. And nobody else seems to know where she's gone."
Someone might, thought Phoenix. But he wasn't sure he wanted to go through the trouble of asking that someone. "I'm really sorry, Ms. Andrews. I haven't seen her, either...not since a few months ago. But...I'll look into it. I have to go to work in a bit, but I promise I'll keep an eye out, ask around, watch the news, anything."
A sigh of relief came from the other line. "Thank you...thank you, Mr. Wright. I knew I could count on you."
"No problem. I'll be sure to keep you posted. Talk to you later."
After he hung up, Phoenix stopped, processing the last few lines of his conversation with Adrian. He wasn't sure what compelled him to 'take the case,' so to speak. He wasn't even sure if he had been sincere while making those promises. The more he thought about it, though, the more the reasons became obvious. I have to do it. She...means a lot to...well, several people. It was true he didn't always get along with Franziska von Karma, but if she disappeared, that meant that someone was going to lose her friend. The world of law would lose a great prosecutor. And someone is going to lose his sister. Phoenix couldn't let that happen.
But I'm not a lawyer anymore. My connections were all but nonexistent to begin with; who the heck am I going to ask? Detective Gumshoe has been scarce since I lost my attorney's badge. Everyone else is either in jail or executed, or they just don't have the means to solve this kind of mystery. No, the only one with that kind of connection...
He couldn't ask that person directly, however. He couldn't risk being in the forefront of this investigation. Still, 'that person' deserved to be informed somehow...
Perhaps there was a way...