A/N: Here's another chapter! By the way, forgot to mention in the first chapter. SoJ never happened (as my regular readers should know). Apollo is engaged to Ema Skye, who is now a forensic detective, knows Trucy is his sister and Thalassa is his mother, and Zeus Justice is Apollo's father. And alive (see Turnabout Escape for that one). The house where Apollo and Ema live was left to Apollo by Chron Justice, his grandfather. Chron had been a very successful Prosecutor in his day before he was forced to resign after being diagnosed with stage three brain cancer. The house is further away from the city, which means Apollo finally went and got his driver's license (see Moving Forward for this one). Oh, and the house is a beach house. Because Apollo deserves one after all of the collective crap both me and Capcom has put him through in this universe.

Oh, fair warning… this story gets… kind of dark in later chapters. I'll post warnings for each chapter it happens in, but I figured I'd warn everyone now before you got too invested in the story. Speaking of which, I gotta go change the rating to M…

Alright, I'm done. ONWARDS!

…

Chapter Two: Anniversary

Apollo Justice did not sleep well that night. Despite the cozy bed and the comfort of his fiancé cuddled up to him, there was a feeling of dread in his stomach that would just not go away.

Because of his trouble sleeping, he was awake to shut off the alarm clock when it went off. Ema Skye yawned and rolled away from him, stretching. Apollo smiled slightly at that, sitting up in bed.

"Morning," he said.

"Morning," Ema replied with a smile, looking over at him as she sat up. Her eyebrows drew together in worry. "You didn't sleep well last night, did you?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" Apollo asked. Ema moved across the bed and sat right behind him, rubbing his shoulders.

"You're pale, with bags under your eyes," she said.

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right," Apollo sighed. Ema shook her head at that before standing, taking his hand and pulling him up.

"I understand why. Come on, let's get ready for the day," she said, pulling him into the bathroom.

…

The school bus slowly moved through the city traffic, filled with high school students. In the back of the bus, a large group of students started singing inappropriate songs, loudly. A woman, in her early thirties with long, brown, wavy hair, sighed, standing up from one of the front seats and storming into the back, yelling at them. They immediately quieted down, and she returned to the front, sitting back in her own seat. She then glanced across the aisle at the seat across from her.

Sitting there was a man, about her age. His black, messy hair looked messier than normal, and his shoulders were shaking slightly as her stared out the window.

"Kao?" she called. No answer. "Kaolin?" she reached over, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"No!" he suddenly cried, thrashing away and falling out of his seat. The entire bus went silent as they watched one of their teachers hit the ground. The woman quickly pulled him back up and into her own seat.

"Whoa, Kao. You okay?" she demanded. The man quickly looked over at her, and for the first time, she noticed his right eye was bandaged.

"Y-yeah. Just… headaches and such," he muttered. The woman studied him closer, before gently touching the bandage.

"What happened here?" she asked. Kaolin smiled weakly, catching her hand.

"Nothing, Chelsea. I uh… just splashed some hot sauce in my eye last night. It'll be okay," he said. Chelsea didn't look convinced, but she didn't press the matter about his eye.

"You really don't seem okay, though," Chelsea mused. Kaolin shrugged.

"I just feel under the weather. I tried to call out, remember?" he said.

"Yeah, but me, or any substitute, knows astrology quite like you do," Chelsea said with a grin. It was true. When she had arrived at the school that morning, the office told her about Kaolin's attempt. She had personally called him and begged him to come in. After a little bit, he finally broke down and said that he'd be there before the bus left for the field trip.

Finally, the bus reached its location: the Cosmos Space Center. The state of the art building was surrounded by trees, and the GYAXA logo stood proudly on the building's silver exterior.

The bus pulled to the front and stopped. Kaolin took a deep breath before standing, stepping off the bus. Chelsea moved to the front and counted heads as each student stepped off the bus, while Kaolin wrangled them all together, keeping them from wondering off. As the last student stepped off the bus, a red robot with a blue, happy face rolled over to them.

"Hello! Welcome!" it said in a chipper voice. "Welcome to the Cosmos Space Station! You must be the group from Prime Airy High School. My name's Ponco!" Ponco said in an excited voice. Chelsea stepped forward.

"Hello, Ponco," she said warmly. I'm Chelsea Ruth, one of the teachers and chaperones. Are you going to be showing us around the station?" she asked.

"Yes!" Ponco said excitedly, spinning around with her arms in the air excitedly. She then stopped. "I just need to know how many are in the school group and get facial recognition of each student and teacher before we can begin." With that, she scanned Chelsea's face. She then rolled to each student, asking their name. One of the boys smirked as she rolled over to him.

"Name, please!" she said brightly.

"Dumb Ass," he said with a grin, trying to be clever.

"N-" Chelsea started, but was stopped by Kaolin putting a hand on her shoulder. "What?"

"He doesn't realize what he's doing. Let him keep it," Kao said with a grin.

"Okay, Dumb Ass. Now I'll scan your face," Ponco said brightly. The boy's jaw dropped, while the rest of the students snickered.

"W-wait! I want to change that!" he said.

"Nope. You made your bed, now lay in it," Kaolin said with a smirk.

"Oh! I nearly forgot one!" Ponco said, rolling up to the man. "Name please!"

"Kaolin Loam," he said. His voice trembled slightly as he looked down at the robot.

"Okay, Mr. Loam. Let me scan your face!" It took everything in Kaolin not to turn his face away before the little robot finished. She finally did, though.

"All set! Now, let's—Mr. Justice! Miss. Skye!" the little robot cut off, rolling over to two people who had just walked up. Apollo turned at the sound of his name and smiled at the little robot.

"Hello, Ponco. How are you?" he asked.

"Great! I have a tour for Prime Airy High School today. We will be visiting your favorite room, too," she said. Apollo winced at those last words. "If Ms. Ruth and Mr. Loam don't mind, perhaps you can join us?"

Apollo and Ema looked up at the two teachers who had just walked over with their students. Mr. Loam, Apollo could see, was very tense. In fact, it was making his bracelet squeeze his wrist slightly. Ms. Ruth, on the other hand, smiled warmly.

"Of course! The more the merrier, right Kao?" she asked, looking over at the other teacher. He smiled, though it seemed more like a grimace.

"Sure," he said.

"Great! Mr. Justice used to visit all the time, and knows most everyone who works here. I bet he can tell you just as much as I could!" Ponco said, leading the group into the Space Center. As they walked forward, two men joined their group. The first had already been in the lobby, studying a holographic globe. He had light brown, almost dirty blond spiky hair, and was wearing a pair of odd sunglasses that formed an x over his forehead.

The other jogged to catch up with them, having been outside. His black hair was gelled back, and his suit was wrinkle free. Both men noticed each other right away, but the rest of the group was oblivious to their presence.

…

A/N: And the plot thickens…