CHAPTER 7


Stateside...


It was 12 o'clock that night; the night Lester Wimhodge had received word of Franziska's depature to America sometime in the near future.

He hadn't been able to sleep that night; he wasn't one for staying up late and prowling with the night owls, per se, but he had been lying in bed wide awake for around an hour and a half when the Steel Samurai's theme began blaring from his phone that lay charging on his nightstand.

He sleepily reached over to his opposite side to pick it up. He had only been able to locate it due to the sounds eminating from the phone itself; it was pitch black in his room at that time of night, as it usually was.

He focused his eyes in on the caller ID, and once he saw the name and the accompanying picture, he answered without a second thought on his mind; if she had been calling this late (or, technically, early; on both sides of the line, time zones taken into consideration, of course.) it either had to be an emergency or something else, pertaining to the usual arrangement between them.

And logic had led Miles Edgeworth to the conclusion that it was the latter of the two.

"Yes? Miles Edgeworth speaking."

"Miles Edgeworth. I am to be coming to America today for business matters; I expect our usual arrangement to be in place."

He quickly responded, masking the drowsiness in his voice. "Of course, Franziska; what time will you be arriving?"

"...I am to be departing at noon; 3 a.m., Pacific time. I shall be arriving between 2 and 4 p.m., Pacific time, if the flight goes accordingly."

Great, I bet you made sure to arrive at the airport's busiest hour, didn't you? he thought to himself, one of his sly teases that he had only ever allowed to surface within his thoughts; she was not the kind of woman to take kindly to such juvenile styles of flirting. "Until then, Franziska; I must be going to bed now, though."

"Hmph."

With that, they simultaneously hung up their phones.


In Germany...


Franziska looked at her phone screen for a moment after she had hung up. They had always had that small arrangement, being the one to greet the other at the airport upon their arrival.

The butler had finished packing all of Franziska's belongings.

"Frau von Karma...? Ich glaube, dass Sie bereit sind."

She turned her attention to the man with a cold glare in her eyes, causing him to tremble in intimidation.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..." CRACK!

"Ach!"

Franziska grabbed her suitcase by the handle and began rolling it down the hallway of von Karma manor, ignoring the butler who had so painstakingly packed her belongings in a way she would be pleased with to go to the car running outside that was waiting to take her to the airport.

It had been a while since she had spoken to Miles; they'd usually exchange letters every now and again, but it had been a long time since she had received anything, although she was certain it had been her not to write back.

She just hadn't known what to say.

Her mind remained clouded throughout the ride to the airport, a fact she was greatly aware of, but wouldn't admit for all the money and fame in the world. She could've tried regaining a sense of rationality and thought over the consequences her exceedingly impulsive actions could possibly create, and how they were certainly more than unbecoming of a von Karma such as herself, a name that suffered nothing from fools, to which her behavior was certainly befitting of. She could've thought about all these things; about what would be right, about what would be rational, and about what a von Karma should do...

...but she just enjoyed the German countryside passing by her window instead.


3 p.m., Pacific Standard Time.


Miles Edgeworth slowly walked over to a seat in the airport waiting lounge; the airport itself was rather hectic at the time, and he was having a bit of trouble forcing his way through to find a place to sit.

Once he finally forced his way through the crowd and took his spot in a chair, he put an end to the external conflict by adjusting his cravat, as it had fallen out of place as he was pushing his way through the fat, sweaty businessmen that seemed to be spawning from within the airport at this time.

However, once he figuratively hammered the final nail into the coffin of what was happening around him, a new conflict arose from within him; one that was far greater than fighting through a crowd of a bunch of fat, sweaty suits yammering away on their cell phones.

A war inside his head was raging; he had been doing this woman he cared about deeply so, so wrong over the past few days, and had accomplished little out of it other than just idle conversation for things he had already known.

Oh..! But she personally recommended me to Lester Wimhodge for further counsel!

...but logic is guiding me to believe that she most likely wouldn't do so again if she found out Lester Wimhodge's true identity...

His train of thought shattered when the piercing sounds of an iFly Jet landing seared through the airport lounge, followed by Franziska von Karma walking through the airport gates, whip and suitcase in tow.

He stood up as she made his way towards him, and everything around the two of them seemed to freeze in place. He softly smirked and placed a hand in his pocket, and the war raging and the cogs turning inside of his almost machine-like mind took a break, if only temporarily.

Once she had become within conversational distance, her voice rang through his ears like a song; albeit, it was somewhat of a bittersweet melody.

"Greetings, Miles Edgeworth. I trust you have made the proper arrangements and our ride is awaiting outside the airport?"

He smiled at this, but it was so that only the ends of his mouth slightly curved, invisible to the naked eye; "Per usual, Franziska."

When possible, they always served as a bit of an escort to each other at the airport. In this case, he'd meet her at the airport and arrange a ride for the two of them to her hotel, at which point he'd walk her up to her room and go about his business for the day. It did happen the other way around as well, and if they saw each other past that point was almost never planned.

She crossed her arms, and a man appeared to take suitcase. "Hmph. Make haste, Miles Edgeworth."

With that, she turned and walked off towards the car he had prepared.

He stood and watched her push her way through the crowd, which almost seemed to clear out from around her as she walked.

He smirked; "Hmph...by the way of iFly Airlines..."

And with that, followed after her.


TRANSLATIONS:

Ms. von Karma, I believe you are ready.


A/N: Sorry I haven't been able to update in a few days. School started, I've been so busy, blah blah blah...

Anyway, I will be updating less frequently now that school started; probably once a week. However, dudes, I will be able to update probably twice a week when things start slowing down, which would be after my high school football team's season, which will end soon enough, believe me. Our varsity has the talent of a middle school team, but since I'm in Texas, people freak out about football, whether your team has lost 17 straight games or not. We're more of a girl-powered school, anyway :P (No joke.) Plus, school'd be in a groove by then and people wouldn't be rushing around to figure everything out.

You know, I've been rather strapped for material as well, so next chapter, I'm going to incorporate something that just happened last night with my, as Pearl would say, 'Special Someone', into the next chapter. I mean, her reaction to it was very Franziska-esque, so all I'd really have to do was move a few things around, and boom. Just thought I'd share that.

You should know the drill by now, dudes.

-ghostfacekiller39