-Chapter 2: The Fool and the Attorney-
Maya played with the whip for a moment, admiring the way it uncoiled and whirled in the air. A cool, nippy autumn wind had risen, ruffling her blue hair and lifting the dead leaves from the ground.
She approached an old tree and, waving her arms around, tore off a few twigs with her new weapon. Ultimately, she ended up hitting herself across the shoulder.
Wincing in pain, she drew the dangerous toy to her and clumsily rolled it up into a shapeless ball. That had felt too much like a reminder of the stinging of Franziska von Karma's wrath to her taste and she was glad that the prosecutor wasn't here to see how she dealt with her favorite possession.
She let out a sigh and throwing a last look at Fey Manor, she set out for the nearby parking lot, wobbling on her high heels like a drunken woman.
The car was beautiful. Classy, shiny, pricy… Several words came to mind when describing Franziska's luxury Volkswagen but the one that stuck out the most in Maya's mind was simplistic- 'Wow'.
Unfortunately, no matter how eager she was to seat in the driver's leather seat, there remained a definite, immutable fact. And it was that Maya couldn't drive.
Kurain Village was a frozen, timeless place and though a few cars could be spotted in the streets, they all belonged to the men who worked outside the village. It wouldn't have crossed Morgan's mind- when she was still the Master- to pay for Maya's driving lessons, and the same went for Nick, of course.
Her only experience of driving came down to having observed Mr. Edgeworth on the few occasions when he had given her and Phoenix a ride. She had watched his doings with interest, for he looked so cool behind the wheel that he seemed like a different person. Now, all she could remember was a few random gestures. Nervously, she sat in the car and buckled her seat-belt.
First, switch on the ignition. The engine hummed to life, awaiting direction. She eyed the gearbox nervously. There could be read different letters whose meaning she wasn't sure of. There was D, of course, probably like driving and R could only mean reverse, but what about P or N? The more she looked at the control panel, the less confident in her abilities she felt.
How she succeeded in driving off was a total mystery, even to herself. She pressed a button, pushed down a pedal, and the car sprang forward... completely out of her control. She managed to avoid the few trees that stood on her way by a hair's-breadth but couldn't turn in time. She screamed when the car left the road. The tires spun and dug holes into the soft earth as it slid down the embankment, before ending its unbridled race at the bottom of the small ditch. The bumper hit the muddy edge and the car came to a stop.
Maya's heart was pounding wildly and, though she was totally unharmed, she needed a few minutes to calm down and catch her breath. She was still trembling a little from the shock. That had been scary.
As soon as she came back to her senses, she cut the engine. There was no kidding herself. Even if she had been an experienced driver, the hope to get the car out of here on her own would have been nothing but a ludicrous fantasy.
What could she do now? The daylight was declining quickly and the sky had darkened to an ominous and foreboding black.
One look at the car's clock informed her that the last train had left half an hour ago. Furthermore, she couldn't afford to abandon the car like that anyway- Franziska would strangle her. Not that she would spare her life for all that, thought Maya an instant later, not after what she had done… She was doomed, plain and simple.
Teary-eyed, she resigned herself to leave the scene of the accident. Spending the night at Fey Manor seemed like the only viable option- She was officially a client, therefore a guest, and the channeling school always took its duty of hospitality very seriously.
For a moment, she considered taking the opportunity of telling everything to her young cousin, but Pearl's dislike for von Karma was no secret to her. Maya might persuade her to listen to her story but she knew better than to think that the little spirit medium would believe such a tale, directly out of the mouth of her enemy.
'Get real, Maya Fey. We might as well go and sign ourselves into the nearest psychiatric facility…'
The first drops of rain hit the windshield as Maya left the car. In the distance, lightening cracked and thunder rumbled. She hurried toward the Manor.
She slept badly that night - Her nightmares were filled with car crashes and hurricanes, and both Pearl and Franziska- who looked surprisingly like Mia- wanted to shove Maya into the trunk of Miles Edgeworth's convertible.
The next morning, she called for a tow-truck to help free the black cabriolet and tow it to the nearest garage.
The damages were troublesome but thankfully not too serious - a rearview mirror was broken and a front tire needed to be replaced. She hesitated between sighing in relief or in annoyance.
Meanwhile, the owner of the garage had got it into his head to strike up a conversation with her, and was presently boring her with endless chatter.
"Ah, yeah, let me tell you. You're not the only one that got problems last night, lady, believe me. Blame the bloody weather. Ask the people in Eggrock. The storm made a hell of a mess there! Got' mudslides everywhere. There's been a landslip on the railroad track. Not a train 'till next week. Damn rain, huh!"
Maya's attention was brutally drawn back to the man in front of her.
"What do you mean there is no train? But I need to go to Los Angeles!"
"Take your car, then!" He scoffed, then nonetheless let out a sympathetic sigh, straight afterward. "I'm sorry for you, ma'am, I truly am, but there's nothing I can do. You'll have to take a cab or wait for the car to be repaired."
Unfortunately for Maya, after she had paid for the tow-truck and the garage's allegedly reasonable bill, she had not enough cash to afford a cab. She could gather enough money for a train ticket, and that was the end of it.
Of course, she had all of Franziska's things in her possession, including her credit card, but the prosecutor hadn't told her the code, and Maya hadn't thought about asking her. The mass confusion of the day before had occulted all notions of practical wisdom in the two girls, and now she would have to pay the price for their silliness.
Maya was alone. She had no one to turn to. She knew none of Franziska's friends or even if the austere woman had any at all. The girl let out a little moan of distress. It had been less than a day since the body exchange and she was already discouraged by the loneliness of her new life.
She was precisely at this stage of thought when she realized that she had completely overlooked an important someone. There was indeed one person who cared very deeply about the young prosecutor, and that person Maya knew as well.
She dug into Franziska's purse and pulled out a blue cell phone.
"What I can't help but wonder is what induced you to drive here in the first place…" Miles Edgeworth commented. "The station is a ten-minute walk from Fey Manor. And the train is much faster, not to mention safer."
Maya agreed with him on this particular matter. Still, she also felt like pointing out that no matter how many problems the car had caused, it was indeed due to the train- or rather the lack of running trains- that she had been trapped in Kurain Village.
However he was less than pleased with having to drive all the way to Medium Valley and that was understandable. She ought to be grateful and put up with his grouching docilely.
Despite Edgeworth's somehow patronizing remarks about how incredibly forgetful it was of her to have both had an accident and forgotten her credit card in the same trip, the journey back to LA was rather enjoyable.
They arrived in town around sunset. Maya had dozed off, her head resting against the window when Miles's voice roused her from her dreamy state.
"Shall I offer you dinner to help you recover from your emotions?"
She looked at him and he smiled, one of his rare genuine smiles.
"There's an excellent French restaurant down the street. And there's also takeout service…"
"I dare hope that this restaurant of yours isn't called Très Bien though?"
The food was delicious and refined and very different of anything she had ever tasted before. It was a strange experience to associate with Mr. Edgeworth and even more so to have dinner with him.
She discovered a new facet to the prosecutor, which she had only caught brief glimpses of previously and she found it all very interesting.
She had never thought about what Edgeworth and Franziska's relationship could be like before and what she was finding out was surprisingly pleasant.
To tell that the two of them were close would have been exaggerated. She could always feel a polite distance in the man's attitude. But behind this impeccable façade of courtesy, a certain warmth was concealed. Edgeworth and Franziska loved each other. It was a tough, 'I-know-you're-better-than-that' sort of love, but it was there.
She had a nice evening. Admittedly, the atmosphere in the room was far from the perpetual buoyancy that characterized the time she spent with Nick, but there was friendliness, sometimes tinged with awkwardness on Edgeworth's part.
In the end, time flew past her and she was almost surprised when he stood up.
"It's getting late and I know too well how you loathe going to bed past midnight, without a work-related reason."
She could detect a hint of amused sarcasm in his voice. She frowned. What a bore! Franziska was such a granny.
He took his coat off the hook and handed her Franziska's.
"Ok, so, where are we going?"
"Excuse me?"
"At which hotel are you staying, Franziska?"
Her mouth opened imperceptibly. Actually, she hadn't the slightest idea of where the German prosecutor, and, therefore herself, was supposed to live.
"Hmm…I…"
He looked at her inquiringly.
"It's the…uh…" She said the first thing that came to her mind. "The Gatewater Imperial hotel!"
Edgeworth raised a quizzical eyebrow.
"Really? You mean that hotel?"
She understood her mistake a second later. She could have said just any name. Why had she picked up this one? But it was too late to back up presently.
"Yes. As a matter of fact I do, Miles Edgeworth. Is that a problem with you?" She replied curtly. Now, that sounded like Franziska von Karma, she praised herself.
He was unperturbed.
"Naturally not. But I thought that after all that happened there… Well, I know for a fact that this would be the last place I would choose for myself to stay."
Truly. It was. She bit her lip.
"Past is past."
She could have said just any name, right… But the real problem was altogether different. Indeed, she had no reservation anywhere and she couldn't have afforded a simple motel room at the moment.
He opened the door and waited for her to step out into the cool night. She made as if to go out then changed her mind.
"Actually…Wouldn't it be better if I just stayed with you?"
Edgeworth's eyes reflected nothing but perplexity.
"You want to sleep here?"
"Yes, just for tonight. Can I stay and sleep with you?"
She was looking at him expectantly when she suddenly noticed something disturbing- Edgeworth was blushing.
The realization fell upon her like a rock from the open sky, at the same time as a deep feeling of discomfort.
"No, no, no! It's not what you think. I swear. At all." She stammered. "I'm talking about t-the couch… Y-Your sofa!" She gestured toward the piece of furniture to emphasize her statement.
For an embarrassing moment, none of them could look at the other. It felt like a century to poor Maya, then Edgeworth broke the silence.
"You can sleep in the bedroom. I'll sleep on the couch."
They were both beet-red. Edgeworth was standing rooted to the spot, so she beat a hasty retreat into the corridor leading to the bedroom.
"Goodnight, M-Miles."
She left early the next morning so as not to have to face Miles Edgeworth. She needed to see Franziska urgently.
She had consulted the prosecutor's cell phone when she had woken up earlier and had found several calls in absence from a number she had instantly recognized as her own, as well as an angry message on the voicemail that ordered her to call back immediately. What a weird sensation it was to be lectured over the phone by your own self, she pondered as she walked toward the Wright & Co law offices.
She was a bit scared of what would happen when von Karma confronted her. Maya would have to tell her about what had become of her car, among other equally unfortunate things. She shuddered.
