June 9, 8:27 AM

High Prosecutor's Office

The sunlight hit a sleeping brunette's face, causing her to wake up. She realised that she had falling asleep in Miles Edgeworth's office. Ace checked her watch to see that it was almost eight-thirty in the morning. She also took notice of the blanket that she was firmly wrapped in.

"Uh..." Ace couldn't help but feel a sense of embarrassment. She remembered being so tired last night that she probably collapsed on the spot when she blacked out, and Edgeworth had to take care of her.

The prosecutor, on cue, returned to see the brunette detective awake. He came, holding with a single hand, a tray that held two cups of tea. Edgeworth decided to take things slow with the brunette; that scene she made the previous night was still on his mind.

Slowly, he set the tray down as he asked the brunette, "Did you have a nice slumber?"

"Yes, thanks. Um, what's for breakfast, Mr. Edgeworth?" The brunette asked as she unwrapped the blanket from herself.

The prosecutor slowly turned to the detective as he looked with his slightly blank stare, "Well, I wanted to know what you wanted first, before giving you your breakfast. What is your preference?" Throughout saying that, he had trouble looking her in the eye. He still hasn't gotten over how uncannily she resembled someone he once knew.

The brunette gave the prosecutor a sunny look as she replied with, "Anything will do, Mr. Edgeworth."

The prosecutor was really struggling to maintain eye contact. He's still miffed about her uncanny resemblance to that woman he fought in a case those years ago, as well as respected. "Very well. H-How does French toast sound?"

Her stomach apparently growled loudly, enough for the prosecutor to hear. "French toasts..." She replied with a hint of being hypnotised.

Edgeworth kept his lips closed but on the inside, he grit his teeth, "Please wait a moment while I fetch it." With haste, he leaves the office.

About ten minutes later, he returned with a place of French toast that still had some steam coming from it. "Here is your breakfast, Ms. Thompson."

Slowly, he handed her the plate. Ace promptly took the plate off the prosecutor's hands, then proceeded to ravenously devour the toast.

Seeing the detective act so silly reminded Edgeworth to ask something, "Oh yes." His face turned stern as he asked, "If you don't mind me asking, what was that all about last night, Ms. Thompson?!"

"What are you talking about?" The brunette detective asked the prosecutor with an unsure facial expression.

"Please don't play dumb with me, Ms. Thompson. As soon as I mentioned the man named Wright, you...put on a schoolchild's show." Edgeworth had a bit of trouble getting that last part out.

Just like that, the fire returned into the brunette's eyes, "Ah! The porcupine delinquent!"

Phoenix wasn't really that bad of a person, was he, Edgeworth wondered. "I will say he's rather unsophisticated, but even I wouldn't go that far. Do you have a history of animosity with him?"

Ace gave off a nervous chuckle before answering, "Well, I actually don't know him, but I did see a porcupine head in court once, and I knew it's not Phoenix Wright."

That made no sense to Edgeworth. She flipped out as soon as he mentioned Wright, but now she's saying she knows that the porcupine head she saw the other time was not Wright? "So let me get this straight. You're saying you discriminate against..." He cleared his throat. "Porcupine-haired people?"

"Nope. What I do hate is stupid people like that certain ugly-looking porcupine head!" Ace said with that sickly grin on her face. "I never met Wright in my life, but I do not want to cross paths with THAT guy." She shuddered upon recalling him.

"I am sure you won't." Edgeworth said as he crossed his arms. "Besides, Wright is rather submissive, if that helps things."

An innocent smile appeared on her face. "So I can beat him to a pulp, no problem?"

And again, he's taken aback by her. How many times she's done that to him, he could not keep count, "I sincerely hope you meant that metaphorically, but yes. He is not one to outright talk back when someone talks him down." The only reason he knew that, though, is from seeing Wright being patient with Maya's antics.

"Okay! He'll not get in our side as prosecutor's, Mr. Edgeworth! You can count on it!" She said with a thumbs-up.

"Poor Wright. I know for a fact he'll eventually encounter her soon, if not today." He thought.

"So, Mr. Edgeworth. What's our first move?" Ace asked, finally steering the topic into what they were in business for.

Edgeworth cleared his throat before reciting the plan. "I will manage things down in the Criminal Affairs Department. That is usually what I do while Detective Gumshoe, who is now on leave currently, investigates the premises of where the crime took place. In this case, this is what you will do."

The brunette nodded. "Alright. I think it will be best if we communicated as I conduct my investigations. I don't want to carry unnecessary items nor miss out a vital clue."

Edgeworth agreed to that thinking. "Excellent thinking. Here is a two-way communicator." He handed it to Ace.

The brunette thanked the prosecutor for giving her this tool. "Thank you. I'll call you occasionally to confirm if I should keep the clue or not."

Edgeworth cleared his throat, once more. "Do not forget. If you think people could have an important testimony for the trial, you are to bring them to the Criminal Affairs Department for further interrogation."

Ace nodded at him, "Affirmative. Any more advice?"

The prosecutor shook his head, "Afraid not. It seems like there's nothing more to discuss. If you are prepared, you may conduct your investigation."

Ace stood up from the couch. "I'll take my leave, Mr. Edgeworth. You may not notice, but I'm fully prepared. I'll update you as soon as possible." With that said, she took off from the prosecutor's office.

Edgeworth let out a sigh of both relief and exhaustion. He got worn out just from talking with this woman. "I really hope she is as good as she says. Talk is cheap, after all..."

August 8, 12:14 PM

Neighbourhood Streets

It slightly startled the detective to have come down all the way from the other side of the city to come to this neighbourhood. It was a lot bigger than expected, seeing the burnt up building in person. "Wow... This house doesn't look like it can hold for long."

"Hey, you!" A man's voice boomed at her.

She turned around to see a sturdy, muscular looking man with green hair, wearing a red T-shirt that looked rather...tight on him. He was also wearing green pants.

"What are you two doing over there? It's dangerous! This isn't a playground!"

"Two?" The brunette looked both sides quickly, but it didn't seem like anybody was beside her. "Uh, excuse me, but I'm afraid your vision is turning bad."

"What are you talking about? Isn't that your brother over there?" The man points in a direction behind her.

The brunette didn't bother to look again. "I do not have a companion! Wear some glasses or something! And did you just say I had a brother?!" She had no time to be messing with someone who was misleading her.

"Then what was he doing walking behind you a few minutes ago? HEY YOU!" He calls out to the person behind her.

She begrudgingly turned around again in the direction where he was calling, thinking he was fibbing with her. However, she indeed saw a man who donned a royal-blue suit with pants of the same colour, as well as a red tie.

"M-Me?" The other guy called out.

"Yeah, you! Tell your sister that she really shouldn't be here!"

The sight of that pointy hair got her on edge. "You... What are you doing here, snooping on me on your discretion?"

The man in the suit gasped at her. "Ch-Chief?!"

"Chief?" She widens her eyes. Ace clearly didn't remember being a superior to someone. Now something was definitely off here.

To this man, it almost was unreal. To think that SHE was alive again, "This can't be Mia! This just can't be!" He was staring wide-eyed at her, stuttering like crazy, with his brain running at a million miles an hour.

"Waah!" She was getting freaked out by him. Are men with porcupine hairstyles really this crazy, she wondered.

"Mia. I-It's me. Phoenix Wright, your...student. Remember?"

Wright? So this was Wright. "It's you! Mr. Edgeworth was referring to!" She pointed at him, about ready to engage in combat if she has to.

"Mia! It's me! Don't you recognise me?" The man named Phoenix Wright said in disbelief.

Ace heard that name again, and paused. "Mia? I-I think you mistook me as someone else..."

Through the eyes of Phoenix, the image of his late mentor faded away, and Ace's figure slowly started to appear in her place. "No way. I thought that... It looks like her...but she's way too similar." "I-uh...sorry, I thought. From behind you looked just like...her."

Just then, Ace remembered something. Edgeworth also gave a similar reaction to her upon taking his first glances of her. From the way this man reacted so similarly, she concluded that Edgeworth must have also mistaken her for this Mia woman. "So this is what Mr. Edgeworth was feeling on our first meeting? Darn it!" With a rush of adrenaline, Ace quickly tied her hair up in a ponytail to get people to stop mistaking her for the woman named Mia. Who is Mia anyway, she asked in her mind. She wondered if she was some kind of celebrity in the past.

"What's going on here?!" A woman's voice called.

The three people present turned to their right at the same time to see a woman walking towards them that was wearing a yellow skirt and a red-buttoned shirt.

"Um..." Ace could only say with a blank stare.

The woman asked as she leered at the man with a red T-shirt, "I'm sorry, did my boyfriend bother you?"

"Me?! They were the ones arguing, not me!" He answered rather defensively.

The woman glared at him. "Well, it probably got started when you tried to get them to get away from there, didn't it?"

With that, the man fell silent.

Ace started, "Uh, yeah. He told me that he's on guard of this area. My name's Ace Thompson, I'm a Detective under Mr. Miles Edgeworth. He told me to investigate this place."

"Edgeworth sent her?" Phoenix wondered. "I'm Phoenix Wright, a defence attorney at law."

"I'm Melody. My boyfriend here, you can ignore him. He's like a vigilante that takes it upon himself to keep others safe. He means well, but he often comes out in the wrong ways. If only he could talk clearer." As she said that last statement, she leered at him.

"Melody! You don't have to say it like that. I'm Boyd. She's my girlfriend. Kids here tend to be mischievous so that's why I took it upon myself to stand guard here." Boyd answered.

"I'm actually not a kid myself. I'm actually in my late thirties, although I still look young." She flashed a grin with that.

The other three exclaimed, "TH-THIRTIES!?"

Phoenix said in his mind, "Although, if Mia were alive, she'd also be at least thirty by now...oh wait…I think it's forty. No wait-"

Ace puts her right index finger on her right cheek. "What? I am 38 years old. You can check my status on the police record."

Phoenix sweated bullets of bewilderment. "Y-You got to be kidding me. She behaves like a teenager."

"Anyway," The woman melody said, trying to move the conversation forward, "You two are investigating here? We'll be happy to help as we can. You can ask us anything you'd like."

"Thanks. Uh..." Drat, she thought. This was always her weak point. As good as she was in what she does, Ace struggled within the areas of interrogation and questioning, at least when it came to starting it.

Phoenix saw Ace at a loss for words, "Something the matter, Ace?"

The brunette detective faked a smile. "No! I'm good!" "Since he knows Mr. Edgeworth... Maybe he can do the interrogation? We are searching for the truth, after all." She looks all around with her eyes as she placed her left hand on her chin. Ace whispered to Phoenix, "Hey, do the talking for me. Ask them about the incident."

Phoenix's eyes popped. "Wh-What?! Why can't you do it?"

Ace dodged the question by telling the couple aloud, "Um... Mr. Blue-suited-porcupine-head will do the asking! Ehehe!" She scratched her temple.

The attorney sighed. All the responsibility seems to always be pinned on him. "What do you want to know first, Ace?" He begrudgingly asked.

Ace took out her notepad and pen as she replied, "Well, about those two lovebirds, of course."

"L-Lovebirds?" Boyd asked with a burning face. That somehow earned him a smack on the head by his lady-friend.

"Boyd! You ARE my boyfriend, are you not?!" She asked intensely at him.

"Th-That's not the point, Melody."

The attorney cleared his throat, wanting to avoid a pointless lover's quarrel, "You two are rather odd. Why don't you tell me more about yourselves?"

"If Mr. Edgeworth was here, he is going to feel uncomfortable." Ace thought with a small giggle to herself.

Melody started, "We only recently moved in last week. We moved here because the both of us found jobs in the city nearby."

Boyd nodded, "Yeah, and also, it's where we want to...err..." Again, he ended up getting smacked upside in the head.

Melody growled at Boyd. "Again, you don't have to be ashamed. It's where we want to get married."

"Ah... That's nice to hear. It really is cute. I hope you two will get married one day." Ace Thompson was also a sucker for romances.

Melody smiled at Ace. "Thank you for your kind wishes!"

The attorney gulped, "I hope if I'm married, it won't be to a scary woman like her..." "So what else can you tell me? Tell us what you know about the Woodwork Family. "

Melody volunteered to answer for them both. "Well, we can't really say. We only recently moved in last week, like I said before. The other neighbors say that he was a very great engineer and that knowledge extended to even outside the neighborhood! They also say that their family was one to take up after. Mr. and Mrs. Woodwork were known to have gotten along so well that younger couples try to take up after them and even ask them for relationship advice!"

Just then, Ace remembered something. "That's right. I even met Mr. Woodwork myself. He was so kind, he gave me some tips on how to build a proper and comfortable home!"

Phoenix felt baffled with Ace. She BUILT her home? "D-Do you even know HOW to build?"

"I do! I built my own home with my lovely, cute little husband!" Ace's eyes turned dreamy as she sighed at the thought of her apparently-handsome husband.

Phoenix didn't really have a taste for romances. "Hookaaaaay..." "Definitely dubious..." "Anyway, I did know about Greil, too, but I never met him in person. And I never will be able to now."

"Yeah. I was planning to ask Mrs. Woodwork some advice." Melody asked.

Boyd never remembered his girlfriend about wanting advice. "What would you need that advice for?"

"How to make my boyfriend less of a grouch whenever it comes to me." Melody sternly replied while leering at her boyfriend.

"WAIT-WHAT?!" Boyd exclaimed.

"Don't drag me into this…" Phoenix looked away from the begging eyes of Boyd.

The other woman, Ace, agreed with Melody as she nodded, "Yeah, try to relax for a second. You're too stiff." Then, she crossed her arms at Boyd.

"L-Ladies, come on! I'm standing right here!" Boyd raised his arms in the air, in a "I surrender!" manner.

Phoenix scratched his chin at the topic of conversation. "I noticed that this conversation headed in a different direction. Ah. I know what to present to steer it back on course." "I'd like you two to look at something."

"What could it be? A vital piece of clue?" Ace was hoping Phoenix would show something that she must not haven't seen yet.

Phoenix, from his pocket, took out a folded newspaper, and unfolded it. "Take a look at this article that was from this morning about the incident."

Melody looked at it closely, "What about it?"

Phoenix tapped the paper a few times, "The news said that an eyewitness spotted Elena Woodwork going back to her home and then feeling the house towards the back. Do any of you know who that could be?"

Boyd looked to his left and right before answering, "Uh...if you really want us to be honest...that was me."

Ace's eyes lit up. So Boyd's the eyewitness. What luck to be talking to possibly the best source of information. "What did you notice?"

Boyd pointed at the crime scene as he explained, "I saw her going back to the house and then fleeing as I saw smoke! Besides, as much as I know that Elena's a nice woman, she was the only one I could see during the night."

"Hm. By the looks of it, it is suspicious alright. But why flee on the back of the house? Isn't that a sketchy way to escape?" Ace wondered.

Phoenix looked up at the burnt house, "Maybe we can get a clue or two from the house?"

Boyd flinched from hearing Phoenix, "Whoa! Hey! I thought I told you two to stay away!"

"We're...sorry, sir, but this is an important job that we're doing. It's dangerous, but someone has to do it," Phoenix said with unwavering determination.

"As much as I'm inclined to agree, Boyd is right. It really doesn't look sturdy," Melody said with a hint of fear in her voice.

Ace was with the porcupine attorney, "We have to risk it. Sorry, but I have to keep my words to Mr. Edgeworth. I have to investigate the place."

Melody's head had a light-bulb moment, "Edgeworth? I know that name. Wait a minute. Did you say that your name is Phoenix Wright?"

"Yeah, I am," He casually replied.

Melody's eyes sparkled, "Wow! I heard a lot about you! You're like a defence legend! In fact, more children are aspiring to become defence attorneys and prosecutors because of you two!"

"R-Really?" Phoenix scratched the back of his head. "Ah, well, just doing my job, you know?" He gave a nervous grin.

"You don't have to be so modest. You're my favourite defence attorney! Edgeworth is my favourite prosecutor." Melody grinned.

Ace scooted away from the woman who just revealed herself to be a fangirl. "Mr. Edgeworth is right... Whenever his name pops up, there's a parasite that'll come along and steal his spotlight."

Phoenix gave out a nervous chuckle, "Okay. Well, is there anything else you can tell us that might have something to do with the night of the fire indirectly, before we go inside?"

"Well...I don't know if this'll help, but at around 11:15 PM last night, there was a blackout," Boyd told the two investigators.

This caught Ace's attention as she whipped her head back at Boyd, "A blackout? What for?"

Melody explained, "There were strong winds during the day, and there were strong winds during the night, too. Maybe one of the power lines got blown off."

Boyd continued, "It was totally dark but I still had good night vision of the scene. I totally knew Mrs. Woodwork's figure, so I'm sure I saw her."

Melody's eye twitched, "K-Knew her f-figure...?"

Phoenix blinked a few times at Boyd. "How could you be sure it was her?"

"Because I saw her scarf. She's always seen wearing that scarf around her neck at any time of the year, including summer! At least, that's what our neighbours tell us. I don't even know how she could wear it during summer with all this heat out."

"Did you see her holding a gasoline can?" Ace asked Boyd.

"The wind was really distracting, but I did manage to get a look of when she was fleeing, so I don't know if she was or wasn't." Boyd explained. "I don't have much of anything else. Well, better investigate that place, before it's too late." He was feeling a bit fearful of seeing the house collapse.

June 9, 1:01 PM

Former Woodwork Residence

Living Room

Now that the attorney was alone with this brunette woman, he can take his time to talk to her in private. Phoenix simply could not shake off the uncanny resemblance that she has with Mia Fey, his late mentor. First, he had to question Ace about her relationship with Edgeworth. "Uh...I heard you say Edgeworth's name a few times. Did you...know him?"

"I work under him, as a replacement for Mr. Dick." Ace said as she looked around the crime scene. "Eugh. This smells bad." Out of her bag, she takes out a little gas mask, and cover her face with it, "Ah, much better."

The attorney really is having trouble figuring this woman out. She's about more quirky as a person than Mia was, or at least how he remembered her. "Wh-Where did you get that?"

Ace's expression turned serious, "It's classified, Mr. Wright. You're a defence attorney, so I can't share information unless I'm allowed by Mr. Edgeworth."

Phoenix sighed. How many times he was denied access to information because he was a defence attorney? "I'm used to that, by now... About Edgeworth, there's something that got my attention you said. It was about you saying that Edgeworth felt the same way? And then after that, you tied your hair in a ponytail. Did he...he wouldn't happen to have made a similar mistake to mine, would he?"

"I'm assuming he has the same thoughts as you, since you two are friends, and he gave off a similar reaction as you when he first looked at me. Who is this Mia anyway?" Ace wanted to know just who this Mia woman was that she seemingly reminded them both of.

"I kept a picture of her as a memento. Here. Look." Phoenix took out from his wallet, out of the picture holder, a photograph of Mia Fey, his late mentor.

Ace quickly took a look at it. One scan down through the entire picture, and her pupils shrank. Now she knows what Edgeworth and Phoenix felt when they first saw her. "It's impossible that she's my ancestor, and it's even more impossible that she's my cousin or even my twin sister." "Er, um, what's her full name?

Phoenix answered her right away, "Mia. Mia Fey. She was my teacher of being a defence attorney. According to Edgeworth, she and him fought fiercely in a case once, but he respected her abilities as a defence attorney. She used to be well-known around here."

"Ah... Both of you know her. I never heard of her before, but... She must be that rare stroke of luck that looks like me." Ace nervously grinned at Phoenix when saying that.

Phoenix shook his head. "But that's just it. Not only do you look like her, but you even have her personality quirks, except you're much more eccentric."

Ace's eyes widened. "What?" She thought she couldn't be that similar to Mia Fey, could she?

"I met her when I was twenty-one years old. I was...a accused of a crime, and she took my case." Phoenix told her with a hint of somberness. It was slightly painful to recall that time again, even for a moment.

"Where is she now?" Ace is feeling uncomfortable, but curiosity was starting to ignite in her mind. She can sense the hunger for information about this Mia person. It's clear that she was close with both Edgeworth and Phoenix once. She thought that maybe this is a side quest she can pursue while she was here.

"Before I get into that, Mia...she..." Phoenix looked down with a sad facial expression. "She was eccentric, just like you. Here's another photo. This was taken of us that day on a security camera. She gave it to me as a gift."

Phoenix handed her the other photo he was describing to her.

Immediately, Ace was eyeing Mia in this picture. The picture showed Mia in the centre, looking angry, dragging Phoenix Wright, who was on the left. Meanwhile there was an old person on the right side of the photo, looking like he was just minding his own business. She could imagine...

Mia's voice echoed, "Phoenix Wright! We need to talk... In PRIVATE!"

Phoenix's voice echoed, "M-Ms. Mia! Please b-be gentle with my shirt! And I...I didn't say that you're ugly!"

Fat guy's voice echoed, "Oh boy... I'm so glad she never lashed out on me. I was the one who called her ugly."

Ace thought, "She's an interesting woman. With Ms. Fey dragging Mr. Wright on that manner, she might be one jealous and obsessed woman... Ooh, creepy." She asked out loud, "Did you do something to make her jealous?"

Phoenix's face turned red. "...Well...uh... She was trying to convince the court of something of how a former girlfriend of mine was a temptress manipulator, and how my former girlfriend tried to use me to hide her crime."

She took another look at the photo, "Hmm... She was clearly upset in here. Like... She's jealous. She might want you to break the bond with your ex-girlfriend and start anew with her." The brunette gave him a playful wink.

Phoenix became flustered with that remark. "Wh-what?! Well...you did ask me a question before of where she is now..."

"I did. Where is she now? It would be sad if you didn't gave her a chance."

"Didn't gave her a chance?! What is she talking about?" Phoenix frantically thought to himself about what Ace could be alluding to, "...Let's just say...an incident forced her into 'early retirement'."

It took her a moment to register what Phoenix meant, but it soon dawned upon her that he meant that Mia was dead due to an incident. "So she's gone now, huh. Did you take her out on a date, at least?"

Phoenix paused for a moment about the word "date" but remembered Mia taking him out to one. Or at least planning to take him out on one. "...On the night after my first case that I won... She took me out for drinks and dinner in celebration. To tell you the truth, if she didn't help me, I wouldn't have won that case, but she said that it was me who fought my own battles. I made a promise. I told her that I would tell her about why I wanted to become a defence attorney. ...And now, she'll never know. When I went to her office to rendezvous with her... She was slumped over by her office window...dead. I felt her shoulder. I could feel a faint sense of warmth from her, but as soon as I could feel it, her shoulder became cold as ice..."

Ace blinked a few times. She could tell that those two had a strong bond while they were together that extended beyond teacher and student. "That…sucks. Sorry to hear that, Mr. Wright. It would be best if we focused on the investigation. I doubt we can stay longer than planned."

Phoenix mentally scolded himself for straying off-topic in a place that's not for casual conversation. However, inside, Phoenix felt a sense of relief from letting out what he feels about Mia to Ace. Could it be because she looks like her and acts a lot like her, especially when she was younger? He couldn't let himself be distracted now. Phoenix took a look around the premises of the house. Everywhere, it was burnt to a crisp, and traces of burned remains were everywhere. "This is somewhat creepy. I've never been inside a burned building before. Hey, do you have another one of those gas masks? I didn't realise how bad the air is in here."

Luckily for the attorney, Ace did have a spare, "You're not bad for a porcupine head." She said while not making eye-contact with him.

Phoenix put on his gas mask around his mouth. "Anyway, they said that they saw smoke at some point as well as see the lights go out. These could be connected to the fire somehow but we have no idea why. There has to be some clues in here..."

Ace said, "According to Mr. Edgeworth, the fire was ruled arson. The whole ground floor was covered in gasoline. But it was an enigma as to who did such act."

Something caught Wright's attention,"What's on the floor here?" He picked up the object that appeared to be a framed picture that's somewhat burned, "It looks like this is a photo of the family here."

Ace looked at it closer. "A family photo... It seems to have no particular use… At least to me."

Phoenix pointed at the girl that's in the family photo. "This must be their daughter. Look at her. She's holding a flute."

Ace shrugged. What use could a family photo have? "It could be useful for the identity of their daughter. Why don't you keep it? You're good at interrogations."

Phoenix chuckled nervously as he stowed it away in his record. "Ah. Just doing my job. Hmm? What's this?" He found on another part of the floor something else. It looked somewhat of a metal block but shaped almost like an oval but also a square. Phoenix picked tried to pick it up with this hand but felt an intense weight. "Whoa! This is heavy! Huh? What's this? It looks like a wooden end of this was broken off. It looks burnt up but it's still there."

"Somehow, it looks like a sledgehammer for me... We should find the other part if we can."

With his set of quick eyes, he spotted something that looks like a stick near Ace's feet, "Ace. I think I spotted something that look like a stick near your feet."

Ace looked down, and saw the object. She picked it up, "Do you think the two will connect?"

Phoenix silently nodded as he relinquished his metal piece to Ace. She proceeded to connect the two broken ends together, but surprisingly with no struggle, she was able to successfully connect the two.

Phoenix was now able to fully identify the object as a hammer, "A hammer? What would a hammer be doing in the living room? Shouldn't those be in your garage or something?"

"I guess it was used as a weapon. But for offence or defence?" She wondered.

Phoenix scratched his chin with his left hand, "...I think somebody must have broken in and set the place on fire and that one of them probably tried to get them away by hitting them with the hammer?"

"There's a lot of possibilities, we should discuss them later. Right now, we should search more clues."

Ace sees the outline of where Greil's body used to be. However, a tiny glimmer of light around the area catches her attention. Upon further inspection, she found out that it was a... "Hey, Mr. Wright. I got a lighter. It's likely the cause of the fire..."

Phoenix looked closely at the lighter. "Anyone could have used it. But Mrs. Woodwork said she ran out of the house for a time before returning. If she didn't do it, then the time of the fire had to have been around the time while she was out. She couldn't have been the one to do it if she really was out of the house."

Ace started to feel a bit tense. "I'm worried about our limited time. Is there anything else we should investigate?"

"Let's go check upstairs." Phoenix suggested, "I think there could be something more up there."

They slowly walked up the stairs. Once they went upstairs, they saw a corridor that led to three different rooms. One of them he quickly discovered was the bathroom. He thought they'd never find anything there. They quickly discovered two rooms whose doorways were parallel to each other. Phoenix looked inside one. It looked like your typical master's bedroom. Ace looked into the other, and it looked a bit more fitting for a child.

"This must be the daughter's room," Phoenix said, "The daughter was likely here, and thus, could be an important witness."

Slowly, she opened the door to her room. She found out that the room was also completely covered in burnt markings everywhere. She found that Nana's bedroom had a dresser that's to the right wall, close to the window and a bed to the far left that was relatively small. It was an appropriate size, though, seeing how Nana's a small child.

Ace shook her head after scanning the room a few times, "I don't think there's anything significant here..."

He had to agree with her here. It didn't look like anything looked significant, "It was worth a look. Let's try the Master's Bedroom."

Once there, Phoenix could only hope that there would be something he could use. He saw that there was a queen-sized bed with a TV a few feet from where the bed was. There was even a dresser to the side of the TV that's also to the northeast from where the bed was.

"There should be a vital clue in here..." Ace thought to herself.

Ace found the dresser an intriguing spot to start looking through for evidence. She found typical things you'd see in a dresser. She found a hairbrush, a comb, and even a case of lipstick. But none of these would help the case. She closed the drawer. However, on top of the dresser laid a steel box. The box looked relatively unscathed with the exception of some marks made by the fire.

Phoenix gently reached up and took the box from the top of the dresser. Strangely, the cover was still loose, not locked. He looked inside to see the imprint of a handgun but no actual gun. This was strange to Phoenix, to say the least.

Phoenix called out to her, "Ace? Look in this steel box. It looks like a case for a gun. Why is there no gun in here? Where is the gun?""

"It's plausible that it was used before everything became Hell."

Phoenix shuddered in fear, "Talk about almost literally. Hmm? What's this?" Phoenix then noticed something that was on the imprint of the gun; a receipt of some kind.

Ace said, "A receipt... So it was bought from a gun store?"

"We should take it out of here, first. But the gun is missing. It could be a murder weapon in this case."

Ace took the gun from Phoenix, "It'll be useful if I keep it. I'll ask to run a fingerprint test if we can identify who. Meanwhile, you need to see who bought the gun."

He and Ace only found a photo, a lighter, two pieces that equaled a hammer, and a steel box that turned out to be a case for a gun. It didn't look like they were making as much progress they were hoping for, to Phoenix.

Suddenly, a loud creaking sound came from the floor.

"Oh no...!" Ace's eyes popped.

Suddenly, through his eyes, he saw the image of Mia again in Ace's place, "M-Mia... Get to the stairs, NOW."

"Don't order me around if you're not going to move!" Ace grabbed one of Wright's wrists as she makes a dash for the stairs.

At the base of the upper stairs, they felt a rumble, a rumble that makes them lose their balance on their feet.

"Waah! Musn't...!" Ace screamed. From beneath her, the floor is breaking open. "W-what the-?! She tried to place her hand inside her jacket in an attempt to regain her balance. What she didn't realise was that she ended up letting go of Phoenix's wrist.

Phoenix gasped aloud. He saw gaps rapidly opening up on the floor beneath Ace. He had to do something.

"MIA!"

Author's Note: Both pictures of Mia can be seen in my profile.