Morning passed lazily. After Phoenix had gotten around to showering and shaving, he and Pearl had opted to pass the time playing Chinese checkers, with a Pink Princess episode playing quietly in the background to dispel the somewhat oppressive silence. In the middle of their second game, Phoenix noticed that Pearl looked even more focused that usual, though she had yet to make a move in almost five minutes.
"Pearls? You with me?"
He was loathe to interrupt whatever strategic thought process she had in mind, but it was uncharacteristic enough to warrant the question, although, he had to admit, she did look adorable, concentrating as she was. Hopefully, she wouldn't try to blame him of sabotage for it, as Maya usually did.
Pearl started and looked up. "Mm? Ah! I'm sorry! I didn't realize I'd gotten off topic for so long."
Phoenix tilted his head in confusion.
"Off topic? What do you mean?"
"Well, I was just wondering what-" she paused mid-sentence, as if she suddenly realized that she was about to let slip some big secret. She took a moment to conspiratorially glance over each shoulder and, seemingly satisfied that no one was listening in, continued, quieter this time.
"I was just wondering what Mystic Maya and Mr. Edgeworth were talking about last night. You don't know, do you Mr. Nick?"
"What they were talking about…?" he asked, more to himself than anything, before he remembered. How could he have forgotten Maya and Edgeworth's mysterious conversation the previous evening? He had just about died of curiosity, after all. Considering that, he thought he had done a good job keeping his trap shut about it and not bothering Maya afterwards. So good, evidently, that he had almost completely forgotten about it.
"Yeah, I remember now…but I don't know what they were talking about. I couldn't hear them any better than you."
However, he recalled now that he had heard Miles' unique choice of words at one point. Obviously Miles had done or said something wrong to cause him to start swearing, and Phoenix's curiosity had only intensified because of it. The tense, itchy feeling of unanswered curiosity returned with a vengeance.
"Mr. Edgeworth said he wanted something from Mystic Maya. What could it be?" Pearl asked to no one in particular. Suddenly, she gasped. "Oh, Mr. Nick, what if…what if he," she lowered her voice to a whisper, "asked Mystic Maya to be his special someone?"
It took every ounce of willpower he had not to laugh hysterically in Pearl's face. As completely ridiculous as the idea was, her interpretation fit eerily well over the events he had witnessed between them. Picturing it only made it funnier.
Don't laugh, Phoenix. You know she's serious.
With what he thought must have been an obvious, vocal gulp, he swallowed his laughter and said, "No, Pearls, I don't think so. At all." It was all he could trust himself to say at the moment with any form of passiveness. Pearl, however, was genuinely shocked.
"Really? Oh, but I thought…" she drifted off, obviously put out by Phoenix's completely confident answer. Somewhere in the back of his mind he regretted making Pearl feel silly. Knowing her, however, he knew that he had to stop that train of thought before it got going. Her flair for the romantic sometimes bordered on the ridiculous.
"We'll just have to ask Maya when she gets up, I guess…" Pearl said.
"Yes."
"And besides, she's your special someone, Mr. Nick."
"Uh..."
"So there's no way she would say yes to Mr. Edgeworth, even if he did ask," Pearl continued, still deadly serious.
Phoenix grinned weakly at her. "Um...yeah. Sure, Pearls."
Lacking any other substantial theories with which to continue the conversation, lawyer and young medium lapsed back into the silent strategy of Chinese checkers. Their game had not progressed much further before they heard a dull thump behind the wall adjacent to the couch. For curiosity's sake, Phoenix glanced once again at the DVD player's clock. It was now 1:32. There was another, smaller dull thump, causing Phoenix to turn his attention back to the wall.
Is she running into walls in her sleep-induced stupor?
It wasn't out of the question. He could easily picture Maya bouncing off the walls in a pinball-like fashion.
His imaginings were interrupted by Maya's grandiose entrance into the living room. Her hair was down out of its customary bun and jutting out at odd angles, but she still wore the same channeling clothes from the previous day. Bleary-eyed, she wandered into the kitchen without a word to her friends on the couch. Neither of them was surprised or offended by it, however. This was simply Maya's natural process most mornings. Phoenix decided that he could follow her into the kitchen despite her semi-comatose condition. It was rare, but occasionally she thought it would be okay to handle sharp objects in her current state, and it had led to what was now a small scar on top of Phoenix's left wrist. The desire to talk to her as soon as she seemed able was enough to convince him to brave whatever danger going in there now posed. Not one to make her feel abandoned, Phoenix looked over to Pearl for silent permission to halt their game. It was given by an enthusiastic nod of the head and a smile.
As he had rounded the corner of the couch, Phoenix caught a glimpse of Maya digging through the refrigerator. He stopped at the door into the kitchen and leaned against the frame, but jerked upright again as the bruising on his back protested rather violently. Whatever strange noise of pain he made caused Maya to turn to look, a pancake from breakfast in hand. The pose wasn't very different from that of a raccoon caught looting a storehouse.
"Hey Nick. You alright?" She began idly eating the pancake in her hand.
"Yeah." He took a moment to glare at the offending doorjamb before turning back to Maya. Involuntarily, he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.
Maya smirked tiredly. "That squeal just now was a little on the girly side."
Well, she's obviously conscious enough to start throwing insults…not to mention she's eating at the same time. Awake enough for me.
Phoenix made a disgruntled noise. "Look, I…I'm just worried about you, ok?"
That sobered her mischievous pancake-filled smile. While it wasn't Phoenix's ideal method of breaching the subject, it would just have to do for now. Where had all the mysterious collectiveness and wisdom from earlier gone? There was little doubt in his mind that Edgeworth would be snickering at him now for his lack of consistency.
Why was he thinking about Miles in the first place? Frustrated, he tossed the subject aside.
"Sorry," he recovered, "I didn't want to bring it up like this, but….yeah, I'm worried about you. What I want you to know, I suppose, is that…well, whatever you need from me, please don't hesitate to say it. You don't need to suffer by yourself. I can't say I have a lot of experience in supernatural murder counseling…but I do know that I don't want you to go burying your feelings like you want to. Am I making any sense at all?"
Maya giggled softly. "Yeah, you are. And thanks, Nick…you're right. To be honest, it hasn't really kicked in yet, my reaction to all this. I guess…it's just a matter of time."
Phoenix was doubtful that was the case – her actions in the courtroom the previous day proved it – but he didn't interject. It didn't feel like the appropriate time.
"I guess you want to know what I talked about last night with Edgeworth." Maya offered suddenly.
"Well, y'know, if it's ok with him that you do, sure…"
He wasn't sure if it was his tone, or some unknown emotion written on his face, but Maya rolled her eyes and retorted, "Oh, come on! Don't even try the innocent and cool act. I can tell you're dying to know."
There was a pregnant pause as Phoenix glanced sideways anxiously before slumping forward in defeat.
"Ergh…I tried not to be too obvious…" he tried helplessly.
"Uh-huh," she replied sarcastically, "Anyway, it's ok to tell. After all, I suppose it's only fair you know, since I'll be using the apartment."
"The apartment?" Phoenix exclaimed. "What?"
You suppose?!
"Oh, calm down Nick, it's not like I'm hosting a rave here. Edgeworth wants me to do a channeling for him."
"Maya, you just enlisted my-…what?"
The realization was like a slap to Phoenix' face.
His facial expression must have been particularly stupefied, because Maya repeated disjointedly, "Edgeworth. Me. Channeling." She moved to knock him in his forehead, but he caught and lowered her arm, more out of reflex than anything else.
"Wait…we are talking about Miles Edgeworth, here?"
The look on her face would have made him feel incredibly stupid if it wasn't for his shock and surprise. It wasn't as if he had all that many guesses as to what Miles wanted to begin with, but he never would have expected this, especially after their conversation in the garden at Hazakurain.
"How….what changed his mind?" Phoenix asked.
Maya shrugged and bit into the pancake again. "I'm not sure, he just told me that he had held a grudge or something against my family's ability and that he wanted to get over it, basically."
"DL-6…" Phoenix murmured.
"Yeah."
The idea of Edgeworth holding some form of grudge towards the Feys wasn't all that earth-shattering. Recognizing and acknowledging he was wrong, less than a day after vehemently rejecting just the suggestion of the supernatural, was. Phoenix's inner self couldn't even conceive the mental hurdle, much less overcome it. The emotional turnaround was almost impossible for a normal person, much less Miles.
"So…okay. Edgeworth wants to have you channel someone for him. As difficult as it is for me to accept that, I'll go ahead and entertain the idea. Dare I ask who?"
"You really have to ask? His father."
Hidden somewhere in his thoughts was indeed the knowledge and reasoning that Gregory would be the only person Miles would want to see from beyond the grave. Such things as knowledge and reason, however, were temporarily suspended in the wake of such a surprise.
"Did he have anything to drink last night…?" he mumbled to himself.
Maya's face darkened abruptly.
"Oh, come on, Nick. That had to have been really hard for Edgeworth to bring up, and you just pass it off as him being drunk? How much of a jerk can you be?"
Phoenix flinched from the whip-like change in mood.
"Sorry, I…I was kidding, Maya," he stammered in weak protest, "I just can't wrap my mind around it. We were talking the other day, and-"
"Whatever. It's not like you would understand."
If Maya had attempted to be passive in her response, she had failed miserably. Before Phoenix could interject again, however, Maya had abandoned her half-eaten pancake in the trash and brushed past him, mumbling about taking a shower. She left Phoenix standing dumbstruck in the kitchen, briefly unable to collect himself enough to respond. After what seemed like forever, he spun around to see Maya's profile disappearing into his room. Off to the right he could also see Pearls staring at the now-closed door, looking more than a little worried. The little girl's pained expression snapped him back to attention, and he strode quickly to the door and knocked, perhaps a little too desperately,on it.
"Maya, please!" After a few excruciatingly long seconds, she returned and opened the door. Now that she was here, his mind went into overdrive, struggling to find something to say before she decided to literally and figuratively shut him out again.
"I…I want to understand. That's what I've been trying to say," Phoenix blurted out.
Her eyes welled up suddenly, but with a large breath, she managed to keep her tears at bay and nodded.
"Sorry…"
Phoenix shook his head, "No need. It was stupid," he replied adamantly, before pulling Maya in for a reassuring hug. She took it, and while she didn't completely lose it, he could hear a couple sniffs from somewhere around his left shoulder. When she finally pulled away, he kept a hand resting along her right arm.
"This…is a really good idea," he reassured her, "I'm proud of you for doing it, in spite of everything."
All she could do to respond was nod, as apparently his encouragement only made her more emotional. Assured that the worst of their tension was behind them, he patted her shoulder and stepped back.
"Go on." He nodded back towards his room. "We can talk about this whole channeling thing later."
" 'Kay."
The door closed again, much more softly this time. Phoenix turned back to Pearl, who was now looking very relieved as well.
"I…don't think I'll be able to finish that game, Pearls. Sorry."
"Mr. Nick…" She shuffled off the couch and came around towards him. Phoenix crouched and absentmindedly drapen an arm around her shoulders, becoming lost in thought. There was a lot to consider and plan for within the next few days.