Chapter 3

March 18, 10:20 a.m.
District Court- Courtroom #4

Pearl and Phoenix walked into the courtroom in silence. Edgeworth gave a small nod in greeting, then looked away slightly, as if ashamed for acknowledging them. The audience, which was usually quite chatty, was deathly silent, which felt odd to Pearl. It was if the silence was slowly, painlessly suffocating her, taking the air out of her lungs and not letting her get any back in return.

The two of them stood behind the defense bench when the judge finally spoke. "Mr. Wright, I expect you to be more punctual in the future. Mr. Edgeworth did tell me that you were running a little behind, but I was not expecting twenty minutes. For your excessive tardiness-oh, is Maya Fey not with you today?"

"That's right. Something happened to her and we took her to the hospital. I'm sure she'll be fine soon, though." Phoenix replied. I'm kind of worried about the judge's suddenly short attention span, but hey, it saved me from a penalty! Win some, lose some, I guess...

"Yes, I hope she will be. Now, erm, what exactly was I going to say...?" The judge asked, crinkling his brow.

"I believe, Your Honour, that you were about to give them a penalty for excessive tardiness." A young woman standing next to Edgeworth said, smirking. Her voice had a strange gravelly sound to it that made it strangely pleasing to listen to. All Phoenix could think of to describe it was liltingly melodic, with a hint of brashness. Overall, it was quite a handsome voice, but fit the certain boyish charm she had, even though she had a pretty girlish appearance. Pearl stared at her interest. Her voice sounds so familiar...

She flipped her long jet black hair, most of which was a slightly messy high ponytail, back and out of her face, and fidgeted with her brown gloves, her olive green eyes shining with mischief. The golden key in her hair moved slightly, and Pearl gasped. The girl looked over at Pearl and appeared to be taken aback.

"Ah, yes, that's right. Thank you. Mr. Wright, you do deserve a penalty, after all. Please be here on time whenever possible." The judge replied, slamming his gavel.

"You have got to be kidding me..." The girl muttered. Her sassy nature had disappeared completely, replaced with disbelief. Pearl had a similar expression on her face.

"No way..." Pearl whispered. "Keyblade?"

"Xionn?" The girl asked.

"You two know each other?" Phoenix asked. I've never seen that girl in my life, and she isn't wearing the robes from Kurain... So, how does Pearl know who she is?

"N-no, um, never seen her before, whoever she is. M-mii~..." Pearl said nervously. Keyblade, if you say anything wrong right now, you're in for a world of pain later.

"The name's Kay Faraday." Kay said, smiling. "I'm Mr. Egdeworth's assistant." Xionn, you say one thing wrong and I swear I'll hurt you.

"Well, now that introductions have been made, let's move onto the trial, shall we?" The judge asked. "Mr. Wright, I do hope you're ready."

"Yes, Your Honor." Phoenix replied.

"I'll give the opening statement, then." Edgeworth said matter-of-factly. "We're continuing the trial from yesterday, of..."

Pearl zoned out, not sure if she should pay attention or not. her mind was all over the place, from her vision to Maya, then Keyblade- Kay, she reminded herself -being in the courtroom, which she hadn't been expecting at all.

Yo, Pearl. Kay said telepathically. Is everything okay? I may not seem to be, but I'm really worried about what's been going on. Especially with you.

I'm fine, Kay. Pearl replied. I can handle this on my own.

No, you can't. Kay said. You're just a little kid. How old are you, anyway? Physically, at least.

Eight. Pearl responded. I'll be nine soon, though.

You really are just a little kid, then... Kay mused. How'd you wind up like this?

I walk a different path from everyone else. Pearl said darkly. How exactly I got like this is no concern to you, though.

Kay turned away slightly. You're quite uncooperative.

This so far has been my life. Pearl suddenly said.

Kay looked back at her. What...? What...could you mean?

Pearl scanned the courtroom. Just as she thought, there was no unfamiliar face there, besides Kay. The same days, repeating over and over again... Not a glimmer of light appears within me anymore. At this point, it might just be easier to give this all up.

Kay straightened her key, then tapped the edge of the teeth. Time stopped, and everything became shrouded in dark mist.

"Look, I don't know what the heck you're going through right now, but giving up is already out the option." Kay said.

"Nobody knows what I'm going through." Pearl replied. "But, I think it's better that way. If nobody knows how much sorrow and darkness is in my heart, then maybe...that will give me the strength I need to keep going." She nodded. "Yeah. If I can still keep up the cute and innocent act for just a little longer, then nobody will ask questions. The fewer questions asked, the more my heart stays towards the light."

"You're already slipping on that act." Kay said. "Look, why don't you tell me what's going on?" Pearl shook her head. "You don't want to, or you can't?" Pearl didn't respond. "Okay, let me guess. Does it have something to do with your friend with the Death Seed?"

"...She's my cousin, you know." Pearl said softly. "That's why our auras look so similar."

"Oh, I see." Kay replied. "You're worried about her because of everything that's been going on and such. I'm sure she'll be fine though. She seems like such a robust girl. She's going to be okay. I just know it."

"Okay, then." Pearl said absentmindedly. She turned away from Kay. "If that's what you think, then..." She looked up to the sky, then tapped her magatama. Time resumed, and Kay was left standing beside Edgeworth with a worried expression on her face.

Pearl smirked, then whispered something to Phoenix. He looked startled for a moment, then she pointed something out between two things in the court record. He nodded, then objected, uncovering something that Edgeworth hadn't thought about.

Kay glared at Pearl. There was just something strange about her, but she couldn't put her finger on it...

March 18, 3:37 p.m.
District Court- Courtroom Lobby #3

"I can't believe we got out so early, Mr. Nick." Pearl said. "Usually your trials are much longer than that."

"Well, I'm glad. Besides, we got another day for investigating." Phoenix replied, stretching. "Hey, I'm going to the bathroom, then we'll head over to the crime scene, okay?"

"Okay!" Pearl said happily. Phoenix smiled softly, patted her head, then walked off. She sat down on the sofa when the group of teenagers walked by.

"No way!" One of them said. "C'mon, dude, that's impossible."

"No, it's true." Another said. "I saw it with my own eyes! The ghost of courtroom number four. Hey, Shane, you were there. Back me up here."

A third teenager, most likely Shane, spoke up. "I told you, Dawson, it was an illusion! You were probably just seeing things."

"Yeah, in the middle of an empty courtroom? As if." Dawson said haughtily.

"Hey, Dawson, right?" Pearl asked, getting off the couch. "Tell me more about this ghost you saw."

"What the...?" Shane asked. "Hey, Dawson, you know this kid?"

"Never seen her in my life." Dawson said. "Unless, of course, she's one of Amy's million friends who I can never get straight. Hey, you know what? She's wearing the same clothes that ghost chick was wearing."

"What, so we're talking to a ghost now or something?" One of the two girls asked.

"No, the ghost was older." Dawson answered.

"Did she have long black hair?" Pearl asked. "And scratch marks on her neck?"

"Yeah, why?" Dawson said. "Do you know who she was?"

Pearl turned on her heel and walked away. "Her identity is of no importance to you. I only needed to confirm it myself."

"Man, kids these days are so freaky." The other girl with them said. "I mean, they say the weirdest things. They just don't make any sense, y'know?"

Phoenix walked out of the bathroom just as the teenagers walked around a corner, into a different courtroom.

"Well, we should probably get going right about now." Phoenix said to Pearl. "I'll call a cab." Pearl nodded, and Phoenix started to walk off again, then noticed that she wasn't following. "Pearls, aren't you coming? It shouldn't take too long, after all..."

Pearl looked startled, then nodded again. "Coming, Mr. Nick." She ran over to him, clutching his arm with both of her hands. "I'm sorry for being so spacey today, Mr. Nick. I guess I'm just thinking a little too much about Mystic Maya's doing. Do you think we could visit her again soon?"

"Sure." Phoenix said. "I don't see why not."

The two of them walked down the steps, Pearl lessening her grip on Phoenix's arm a little. If anybody had walked past, looked up at them, and didn't know Phoenix, they would've assumed that Pearl was just his nervous daughter and they had just finished seeing a trial.

Pearl looked up and saw the sky had darkened since the trial, and clouds had moved in, threatening to send down rain any minute. She shivered a little and walked a little faster, stopping when they reached the bottom of the steps.

Phoenix tracked down a nearby taxi, handed a piece of paper to the taxi driver, and got in with Pearl. They were driven through a while around the area, then were in a different area altogether. This part of town was practically deserted, with long rows of gray houses along old cobblestone streets. The sky finally opened and rain came pouring down. The driver turned on the windshield wipers, Pearl being glad for the sound in the deathly silent cab.

"This clearly isn't the way home." Pearl finally said, breaking the silence between the three of them. "So, where are we headed, Mr. Nick?"

"You'll see in a few minutes, Pearls." Phoenix replied, looking straight ahead. "And when you do, you might piece together what we're doing."

Pearl didn't respond, and looked out the window in silence at the rain fall down around them, listening to the sound of windshield wipers go back and forth eerily.

March 18, 4:03 p.m.
Kat's Cake and Coffee- front entrance

Pearl tilted her head at the old sign hanging on the awning. "Such a weird name." She said. "Why not just call it a café?"

Phoenix patted her head softly. "Well, this place is quite old, but special. We're sure not to have any ears spying on us here."

"Ears...?" Pearl asked, but she was quickly ushered into the small café, where she was met with Edgeworth and Kay. The prosecutor was sitting down at a nearby table, a small cup of green tea in his hands, and the teenager was standing against a wall, munching on a pink macaroon, a small bag of them in her hands.

Phoenix sat down across from Edgeworth, and Kay joined them, sitting in between them. Pearl looked around cautiously. Nobody else was in the café, and the owner and cashier were nowhere in sight. By the scuff marks in the floor, the peeling wallpaper, and the faded curtains hanging in the window, this place hadn't been touched for quite a while.

"So, this is what you meant by ears..." Pearl muttered softly. "What's this about...?"

Phoenix folded his hands on the table and motioned for Pearl to sit down. "Tell us everything you know, Pearl. About Maya and her future."