A/N: Okay, actually, THIS is the shortest chapter.

September 24, 2:00 PM, Detention Center

"I am so sorry this happened, Hester," Nick was babbling, "but I'm gonna get you out of here…. Edgeworth is so uninvited to the re-do ceremony…"

"It's fine, Phoenix," Hester said, "he was just doing his, his job."

"No, he's abusing his position as prosecutor because he hates you. Anyone with eyes can see you didn't do it!" Nick insisted.

"Yeah," Maya said brightly, "there's, like, evidence and stuff."

"Yes, there's… there's…" Nick trailed off, "well, we're going to go find it!"

"I thought you'd never ask," Maya said, jumping up, "Ema and Pearly are already at the crime scene! C'mon, Nick!"

"I believe in you," Hester said softly as they left the room.

September 24, 2:45 PM, Long Beach Wedding Hall

"Mystic Maya, why is Mr. Nick so mad?" Pearly said.

Maya shrugged. "He's just upset that his almost-wife got arrested."

"He doesn't get mad when you get arrested," Pearly said sadly.

"Nah, that's just because he knows he can get me totally off the hook," Maya said, "no need to worry!"

"I can get Hester off the hook!" Nick shouted from the room - where the murder had taken place - he was investigating with Ema in. Maya and Pearly were standing out in the hall.

Maya shrugged. "Alright, Pearly, he's just mad that Edgeworth accused her. You know how it is between them right now."

"I'd forgive him if Hester was actually suspicious!" Nick yelled.

"Do you think she's suspicious, Mystic Maya?" Pearly said.

"Well, you've got to admit that Apollo's testimony was pretty-"

"Maya!"

"Nah, she's not all that suspicious," Maya said brightly. "I'm sure Nick'll find a way to wriggle out of this one."

"I'd like to see him try."

Maya turned around. Edgeworth was standing there. "Hello," Pearly said at the same time Maya said, "Sup?"

"I'm already all prepared for court tomorrow," Edgeworth said haughtily, "although I'd like to talk to Wright first."

"Sure, he's right in there," Maya said, jerking a thumb over her shoulder. Edgeworth walked in the room, and she and Pearls lingered in the doorway to watch what unfolded.

"Hi, Mr. Edgeworth!" Ema said, elbowing Nick, who was apparently deliberately ignoring Edgeworth's presence.

"Edgeworth," Nick said, somewhere between a grumble and a sigh.

"Wright," Edgeworth said crisply.

"Here to pour salt in the wound?"

"Here to tell you you should just cut your losses and turn her over to the public defender. She's guilty, Wright."

"She's my fiancée, Edgeworth."

"I know."

"And that's why you accused her," Nick snapped.

Edgeworth scoffed. "Do you really think I'm so petty that I would abuse the law just because I dislike someone?"

"I - I don't know anymore," Nick said.

"You'll thank me later, Wright."

Nick took a step closer to Edgeworth, incensed. "Thank you-? I, I-! You should never have come back, Edgeworth! You should have stayed dead and just let me move on with my life without you trying to ruin everything!"

"Oh, we're back to this, are we?" Edgeworth said with a kind of wounded sneer.

"You had my fiancée arrested! What do you want from me?!"

"I want you to see the truth," Edgeworth barked, "Wright, Ms. Ioides really isn't who she seems to be and she's been playing you for a-"

Edgeworth didn't get to finish the sentence, because Nick punched him in the face.

"Mr. Edgeworth!" Ema gasped, at the same time Maya yelled, "My gods, Nick!" and Pearly let out a small scream. Edgeworth staggered back, clutching his face. Nick stood shock-still, eyes wide, arm still half-extended.

"Oh…" he said very quietly as Edgeworth gingerly pulled his hand away from his face, looking at it intently. Blood streamed out of his nose. "E-E-Edgeworth, I… I'm…"

"Forget it, Wright," Edgeworth grunted as he pulled out a handkerchief and mopped up his nose. "I'm not giving up on you. You'll see in court tomorrow."

"N-No," Nick said, "Hester is…" Edgeworth stalked out of the room. Nick stared blankly at his fist.

"Nick, you have to go after him!" Maya said, grabbing his sleeve. "You have to go apologize!"

"Maya, I - I can't face him like this."

"You have to!" Ema said, pushing his back, "Go apologize for hitting him!"

"Yeah, Mr. Nick!" Pearly added, pulling at his other sleeve, "your friendship with him is in danger!"

Nick sighed heavily, dropping his arm. "I think our friendship was over the day I started dating Hester," he admitted.

Maya groaned. How could Nick be so blind? "Nick, the thing is, Edgeworth really-"

"I don't want to talk about him right now," Nick said, tearing himself away from Maya, Ema, and Pearly and walking over to the other side of the room. "Look, after sixteen years, I'm going to… I'm going to let him go."

September 24, 3:30 PM, Detention Center

"Ms. Ioides."

"Mr. Edgeworth," she said in her soft, timid voice.

"I can only assume you know why I'm here."

"Is this an… what's it called again - an interrogation?"

"I only want to talk."

Edgeworth and Ioides stared at each other for a while. "Okay," she said finally, with a weak smile.

"By the way," Edgeworth said, "if we're going to talk, you can drop the act."

"What act?" Ioides said hesitantly, crossing her arms closely against herself.

"The shy little ingénue act."

"Ingénue?" She tilted her head, eyes innocently wide.

"Yes," Edgeworth said coldly, "you should understand what that is, of course. It is, after all, a theatre term."

"I'm not an actress, though," Ioides said with a bland little laugh.

"I didn't say you were - although that was a lie just now anyway, wasn't it… Ms. Arianrhod?"

Ioides fell silent, eyes wide, pupils small. Her lips were trembling. "Where…" she said in an uncharacteristically harsh whisper, "where did you get that name from?"

Edgeworth half-pulled a manilla envelope out of his organizer, eyeing Ioides pointedly. "A background check is a simple thing - and even if you were never a popular actress, all I needed was one photo to compare."

Ioides bared her teeth a him ferally for half a moment, then her face smoothed out into her previous shrinking violet expression. "How much do you know, Mr. Edgeworth?"

"Everything. And I can and will prove it in court tomorrow, naturally. Your little scheme is only going to fail from here on out."

Ioides continued staring meekly at Edgeworth (or rather at Edgeworth's cravat, as her eyes were slightly lowered) for almost a full minute, but her mouth was gradually twisting up into a wicked smirk. "I think you underestimate my fiancé, Mr. Edgeworth," she said sweetly, with a deliberate trace of hostile arrogance.

"I think the one who's underestimating him here is you," Edgeworth said.

"Am I now?" She looked him in the eye, glaring sharply. With a start, Edgeworth realized that she was mimicking his body language - how often did she do that? - but he wasn't going to let that faze him.

"Wright believes in finding the truth above all else."

"Oh? Even love?"

"Even infatuation."

Ioides laughed. "Alright, fine, if you want to call it infatuation, go ahead - it doesn't change the fact that we're getting married - we should have been married already, Mr. Edgeworth, if only you had waited another ten seconds."

"I'm afraid you aren't going to be getting married to anyone," Edgeworth said icily, "you're going behind bars. And if you'll forgive my pettiness, I hope you're going to death row."

"Yeah, sure, whatever you say, Mr. Edgeworth," Ioides sneered, "but tomorrow afternoon I'll be out of here, and you'll still have ruined everything you ever had with Phoenix." Her sneer widened, showing more teeth. "Of course, even if you do somehow win, you'll still have ruined everything."

"I know," Edgeworth said emotionlessly, "but you give yourself far too much credit, Ms. Ioides. I ruined everything I'd ever had with Wright the day I left a note that said 'Miles Edgeworth chooses death.'"

Ioides laughed again. "Even less of a reason to 'save' him from me!"

"On the contrary, I can't think of a better reason." Edgeworth looked away. "Even if he hates me for the rest of his life, I…"

"Love martyr," Ioides crowed.

September 25, 9:50 AM, District Court, Defendant's Lobby No. 2

"What's wrong, Hester? Are you nervous?" Maya said.

Hester gave her a baleful look from where she was hanging off of Nick's arm. "No," she said, "I'm sure Phoenix can get me off."

Maya pressed her lips together. Too… obvious…

"Trial's starting soon," Pearly said.

"Pearls and I will be in the gallery," Ema said.

"How about a kiss for good luck, Hester?" Nick said, leaning down. (Pearls made a disgusted face in the background.)

"We're in public, Phoenix," Hester said with a quiet giggle, putting her hand over his mouth.

"Aww…"

Yay, you get to see a bit of Hester's true self! Y'know, I actually really like Hester even if I'm not overly fond of this whole fic. I like how she's pretty much an inversion of the last femme fatale character I used in an AA fic, Badriyyah Zuvan from the Prosecutor Trucy AU (that is, T-Minus Turnabout): Hester acts meek and insecure but is actually vicious and arrogant, while Badri acts vicious and arrogant but is actually meek and insecure.

BTW, an ingénue is a stock character of an "endearingly innocent and wholesome" young woman.

Tune in next time for the "thrilling" conclusion!