DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything in the Ace Attorney universe. I only own this storyline and the places and people I made up.

WARNING: I forgot to mention it, but there will be the tiniest, barely even mentioned bit of romance that some people may not like for their own reasons. It's nothing big, but crucial to the plot (so I can't really give it away now).

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I try not to have these, but there is one thing. If any of you out there would be interested in being a beta for this story, let me know because it certainly needs one. Thanks!

Also, I'm leaving for California today. I won't be back until next Saturday, so I wanted to get this chapter up. It's certainly not as long as I wanted it to be, but it'll have to do until I get back.

June 13, 2:32 PM

Dove Theatre

Lobby

The lobby looked pretty much the same as when Apollo and Trucy had first walked in. There was a small group of people huddled in one of the back corners, although he didn't recognize any of them. Suddenly Trucy squeaked slightly and Apollo turned around to see her running towards Calvin, who had been leaning against the wall where one of the maps was.

He followed the magician, stopping in front of Calvin. "You're back already," Calvin stated, not even bothering to make it a question. "How is she?"

She? Oh, he means Alice. "She's fine. I mean, she was crying pretty hard, but other than that…" Trucy shot Apollo a look that clearly said 'That's not very assuring,' but he ignored it.

"Mm, I see." Calvin crossed his arms, staring at them blankly. "So? What do you want?"

After a moment of searching Apollo pulled out the square of paper and held it out to Calvin. "Alice told us to give this to you."

Calvin blinked warily before taking the paper and unfolding it carefully as if it might explode. He lowered his eyes to read the note that must have been written on it, his eyes widening as he read more. After a moment he blinked a few times in rapid succession and folded the paper back up, slipping it into his pocket. "I-I see. I'll…visit her later to talk to her." He coughed, staring at his feet.

Trucy and Apollo exchanged a glance before she cleared her throat, causing Calvin to glance back up at them. "Um…what'd it say?" Trucy ventured, looking at him curiously.



He coughed again and his shoulders hunched up slightly. "J-Just something about what she had been talking to me about before Sean got k-killed." Calvin's brow furrowed slightly before he blinked and glanced back up at them. "Sorry. Did you need anything else?"

"Yeah, actually, do you know anyone who could give us clearance to go backstage? We want to look at the scene of the crime."

Calvin thought for a second before a thought came to him. It must have been a particularly unsettling one, for a brief flash of something like annoyance came over his features before they settled back into their normal neutral expression. "You might want to find the director of the show. He'd be able to give you permission to go back there."

Trucy lit up. "The director? Who is it?"

Calvin grimaced. "His name's Kevin. He should be somewhere around the theatre, so just find him and tell him you're Alice's lawyer. He'll give you clearance." And with that he waved Apollo and Trucy off and walked away before opening the door and leaving the theatre.

Apollo frowned. "Somewhere around the theatre…"

Trucy tilted her hat slightly and shot him a bright smile. "I bet he's in the audience section with all the policemen!" She actually waited for Apollo's shrug before setting back off toward the doors. On her way, however, Apollo watched her suddenly trip over something on the floor and fall on her face.

"OWWW!" she squealed, sitting up and clutching at her foot. She glanced up at the lawyer, eyes watering. "Polly! My ankle hurts!"

Apollo rolled his eyes. And she's how old again? He walked over a tad slower than she had and knelt down to pick up the object Trucy had tripped over. Turning it over in his hands his eyebrows slowly raised. "A flashlight?" It was one of those pocket-sized ones, a metallic silver color. It was no big surprise Trucy had tripped over it, he realized. It was completely round on all sides and even on the end, the opposite one from the light itself.

Trucy peeled herself off of the floor as he stood up as well, still inspecting the flashlight. There were two little scratch marks on the end, somewhat resembling letters. He had no idea what letters they were, however. "Well, might as well keep this," Apollo muttered to himself, before he walked back over to the doors, Trucy limping behind him and whining loudly.

June 13, 2:57 PM

Dove Theatre

Audience



When Apollo and Trucy entered the theatre again he pulled her over to the farthest corner away from where Detective Skye stood. I would rather she not see us right now, he thought wryly. They both scanned the room for anyone who appeared to be of the director status, not that either of them knew what to look for.

"I don't care that it's important evidence, my props will not leave this theatre!"

"But Mr. Avid-"

"Don't you 'Mr. Avid' me!"

"Either way, we have authority to take anything we believe relates to the case-"

"Authority? Shouldn't I have the authority to not allow my property to be taken from me?!"

"Mr. Avid…"

Apollo glanced at Trucy but she was already marching over to where the policeman and the man were standing. "Mr. Avid!" He heard her say as he rushed over behind her. "Excuse me!"

He turned to look at her and Apollo's steps instantly slowed down. I-I'm not really in a rush to get to this guy. He had hair that was somewhere in between blonde and orange and a suspicious expression on his face. There was the tattoo of a rose on his lower arm, and his upper arms were covered by the baggy sleeves of a plain, dark pink shirt with the words 'THE DAZE OF LOVE' scrawled on them in purple. Over-all he looked like a kind of dramatic person, and Apollo turned out to be right.

"Yes," he said with mock suffering, shooing away the policeman who had tried to continue their conversation, "What do you two kids need?"

Kids? I'm 23! Shouldn't that count for something? "Well, we over-heard you talking and we wanted to ask if you were the director of the show…?"

"Director?" He sniffed and stuck out a hand for Apollo to shake. "More like I gave birth to this show. Kevin Avid, at your service." After shaking the attorney's hand Kevin dipped down into a deep bow before straightening, eyebrows raised. "And you are?"

"Apollo Justice. I'm Alice Goodman's lawyer."

"I'm Trucy Wright, Ace Magician!" Apollo glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. Her 'title' keeps getting longer and longer.

"Alice's lawyer?" Kevin perked up and stared at them more interestedly now. He was also twirling what appeared to be a pair of darkly shaded sunglasses. "Good, she got herself one. She didn't do it, right?"

Apollo felt his palms begin to sweat. "That's what we're trying to find out, Mr. Avid-"



"Please," he interrupted, flapping a hand at them, "call me Kevin. I'm only 29, calling me Mr. Avid makes me sound so old, don't you think?"

"…Sure."

"Exactly." Kevin slid the sunglasses on, looking satisfied. Apollo just swallowed before remembering what he had found him for in the first place.

"Er, Kevin? We were wondering if…well, you see, we want to go look at the crime scene. We need your permission to do that. Could you maybe just write something down that says you're giving us clearance to go backstage?"

Kevin blinked before a determined expression set in on his face and he clenched a fist. "Of course, anything for the people who are going to get Goodman out of jail!" And with that he pulled out a pad of flower-shaped sticky-notes and began to scrawl deliberately on one of them. There was a moment of silence before he made a small sound of triumph and pulled the note off of the others in the pile, presenting it to Apollo. "There!"

Apollo eyed the flower like it was going to bite him and picked it up with the tips of two of his fingers before handing it over to Trucy, who was slightly more enthusiastic about it. "Right, thanks. I guess that all then-"

Trucy violently elbowed him in the side. "Polly! Aren't there some things you want to ask him?"

His eyebrows rose slightly and he turned back to Kevin, rubbing his side. "That's right. Uh, could you tell us about the boy who was killed? Sean Vineer?" Since Ema refused to tell us.

"Sean? Oh…" Kevin trailed off in thought, before shaking his head slightly and coming out of the fog. "Right, well, I assume you already know that he was the star in my show. Real talented, that kid. And nice, I don't know why anyone would want to kill him. Small family, his dad, and a sister. Step sister, really, but they were so close you would think they were blood related."

Apollo blinked. "What about Alice? They were really good friends, right?"

"Yeah, practically glued to each other, those two were." Kevin shook his head and twirled his sunglasses again. "Most of the time, that is."

Trucy perked up. "Most of the time? What about the rest of the time?"

Kevin winced and shook his hands in front of himself. "Ah, nothing, nothing, forget I said it." He let out a nervous laugh. "Ha, best friends, Alice and Sean were. Yeah…" He lapsed into an uncomfortable silence.

"But Ms. Skye said that they had a motive for Alice killing Sean," she said, raising a finger as she made that point.



"W-Well, you two are smart kids," There he goes with that 'kid' thing again, "So I'm sure you can find out everything else you need to know yourself. Now, just go and give that to the good Detective," Kevin sputtered, waving them off before turning to begin snapping at the policeman again.

Apollo sighed. We aren't going to get anything else out of him for now. But what got him so freaked out? They both walked through the aisles of seats to find Ema again. She was standing in about the same place they had left her, munching distractedly.

"Ms. Skye!" Trucy called, waving one hand as they neared her. Ema looked up, annoyed, and swallowed.

"What is it?"

"We've got permission to go backstage," the magician said in a sing-song voice, pulling out the sticky note to hold it out proudly. Ema's eyebrows rose and she peeled the note off of Trucy's fingers, quickly skimming it.

She let out a huff of irritation and cast a glare at where Kevin stood. "Oh, the director. Figures, I knew he had a soft spot for Ms. Goodman." Ema rolled her eyes and gestured to the doorway backstage. "Well, knock yourself out. Just don't touch anything," she hissed dangerously, stuffing the note into her bag.

Trucy held up her hands innocently. "Us? Of course not!" She turned back to glance at Apollo over her shoulder. "Come on, Polly! We have a crime scene to inspect!"

June 13, 3:32 PM

Dove Theatre

Backstage Hallway

When Apollo and Trucy slipped through the doorway the first thing they saw was a giant cardboard figure of a star. Next to it on the ground were several cans of pain, along with brushes sticking out of a few of them. They were in a dimly lit hallway with gray carpeting, doors dotting both sides. There were pieces of paper on each door stating whose dressing room they each were.

Even more policemen, if that was possible, were crowded around in there. They wormed their way around them until they found an empty pocket of space towards the end of the hallway.

"Excuse me, Ms. Gany-"

"I'm sorry, I need to go home."

"We need to bring you into the precinct-"

"Please, officer, she's obviously traumatized. Her own brother was killed right in front of her, she needs to rest."

Apollo's eyes widened. Uh oh…that voice is really familiar…