This chapter... this chapter... this chapter... Oh my god. The ending of this chapter for once felt just right. Like it finally started moving at a pace that I enjoyed. The ending itself however is extremely cliched so try not to gag at it. I also hope I don't anger too many Phoenix Wright fans in the process of writing this chapter. It brings out a side in Phoenix that has never been tested with before. I just hope that it works and makes sense for you all. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE write more reviews, I LOVE reading them. The more personal the better, even if you hate my writing or feel that there's a problem or don't like reading it. Please write it! It will only make my writing better!


Apollo, Trucy, and Phoenix hopped off the bus at the DeLiteful Opera House. As they entered the lobby Phoenix rubbed his eyes from all the gold trim inside. There were giant lavish purple and green curtains with gold ropes and gold statues everywhere. Phoenix stood at the entrance in awe while Apollo ran over to the will call window. 'My god, this place is fancier than the courthouse! I wonder what the judge would think of this place.' Apollo came back from will call with another guy following behind him dressed up in a black tuxedo.

"Alright guys, this is our butler for the evening. He's a good friend of Klavier's and will be leading us to the balcony as well as getting any refreshments we may need for the evening."

"Hello, my name is Sir Vincent Hue. But you can call me Sir V. Please follow me to the elevators so we may head to your balcony now."

"Wait, elevators? Um, by any chance what floor is this balcony on?" Phoenix questioned nervously. As he stepped inside with everyone else.

"Well obviously it's on the top floor there Daddy! The directors need to be able to see everything!"

"And the top floor being…"

"Approximately 5 stories up sir."

"Fu-fu-fuh-fuh… five?" All the color drained from Phoenix's face and he had to grab the railing of the elevators to keep his balance.

"Is everything ok there Mr. Wright?"

Phoenix just stood there trying to regain balance, and his breath. 'Just do it for Apollo, he doesn't have to know about your acrophobia. It's just a couple hours and then back down to the ground.'

"Daddy?"

"Yea, I'm fine, I just, you know thought we would be a little closer to the stage. Are you sure we will see well?"

"It's a very big stage sir and there is much to see in the show. Closer to the stage may actually obscure your view and you might miss some important parts." Sir V lead the trio out into the hallway and over to the doorway to their private balcony.

'Well at least I can't tell that we are so high up out here.' Sir V opened the door and the three walked into a small balcony area, there was purple carpet on the ground with a gold railing in front of them. A green curtain was pulled to allow privacy for the balcony so no one could see out at the time. In front of them there were three chairs set up.

"It will just be the three of you tonight so I will be able to assist you as much as needed."

'Well that's a sigh of relief.' Phoenix thought.

"Oh my God 'Polly! This is so amazing! How could you afford to do something like this?!"

"I actually didn't pay for any of it. I'm not even paying for Sir V here. I called up Klavier the other day and asked him if there was any chance to see the new show of his. He said we absolutely had to see it and he would get us tickets. There were none available so he offered his balcony. Sir V is here because the balcony and him are like a package deal!"

"So shall I get you all anything to drink?"

"Can I have a Fruit Punch?" Trucy asked with a giant grin.

"And for the gentleman in purple?"

"Just a seltzer water for me."

"And the man clinging to the doors?" No one had noticed that Phoenix had barely taken a step onto the balcony yet, his back was fully up against the door and he still had that pale look to him.

"Um, just a grape juice please."

"I'm sorry sir but we do not serve any grape juice here."

"Oh, well anything like it would be fine."

"Very good sir, I will be right back with those drinks for you all."

Apollo stood there and looked at Phoenix. 'Is something wrong with him? Is he not feeling well? Maybe taking him here tonight was a bad idea. I shouldn't have pushed him to relive his experience with Jean.' "Phoenix we don't have to stay you know."

"No no, I want to see this opera too, I just, I'm really winded by the, you know climb up here…"

"We took the elevator Daddy."

"Oh yea, well, it was a long bus ride and elevator ride and all that standing I'm just… yea."

Apollo still looked confused at Phoenix. "Well then why don't you sit down?"

"Heh, right." Phoenix slowly moved towards the chairs set up and clutched onto them with a death grip. Meanwhile Apollo turned around to grab a gold rope hanging on the side of the balcony. Upon pulling the rope the curtains drew open to reveal the stage down below. They were pretty high up and the stage was in plain view. Phoenix though didn't see any of it. His eyes were closed. 'If I don't open my eyes I'll never know how high up I am and I won't freak out.' Apollo soon sat down in the center seat and Trucy sat down to his right.

"This place is amazing isn't it 'Polly? I would love to perform a magic show on a stage like this. Of course I think it needs a little more blue and less green and purple."

"Ha, I think it needs more red myself. Personally I would love for the courthouse to be styled like this though. It certainly would make the proceedings less drab and boring."

While Apollo and Trucy were talking, Sir V returned with the drinks. He handed the seltzer water and fruit punch to Apollo and Trucy. As he came around to give Phoenix his drink Phoenix put his hand out and said, "Just put the drink in my hand." As Sir V did it, Phoenix just gulped the entire thing down in one go without looking at what it was. "Ick! That was super bitter what was that?"

"Well it was a merlot sir. I'm sorry do you prefer white grapes to red ones?"

"I prefer sweet ones to bitter ones."

"I'm sorry about that sir I misunderstood I will be back with another drink."

"No don't bother, I'll just, I'll just go get something myself." Phoenix stood up and headed out the door. Apollo chased after him.

"Phoenix, is everything ok? You're acting really strange.

"Stranger than you the other day?"

"Touché, and I really am sorry about that. Am I going to have to wait another 3 days for you to give me an explanation of what's going on tonight?"

"No, I'm fine, I just needed to go to the bathroom and didn't want to say anything. I just hope those toilets are clean." With that Phoenix turned around and headed towards the elevators.

'I guess I will have to wait a few days before he tells me.' Apollo went to the door and was about to re-enter the balcony area but he shouted to Phoenix first, "Hey just make sure to make it up here within the next 20 minutes, they'll flash the lights 5 minutes to show so make sure you are on your way up here by then!" With that Apollo went onto the balcony.

Phoenix entered the elevator and pressed the button for the ground floor. 'Anything to be on the ground floor again.' Phoenix shifted his weight back and forth nervously as the elevator descended. As the doors opened Phoenix stepped outside into the lobby again. 'Well now what.' He looked around and eventually noticed a bar off in the corner and decided to head towards it. 'I guess I'll see what they do have to drink, hopefully a sweeter grape drink than that last one I had.' Phoenix walked up to the bartender. And sat down on a stool in front of the bar.

"Whatcha havin' there boss?"

"Well what do you have for grape drinks?"

"We have a lot from red grapes to white grapes. What would you like?"

"Non-bitter grapes."

"How about a chardonnay?"

"Is it sweet?"

"One of the sweetest."

"Ok, I'll have that."

The bartender pulled out a wine bottle and poured Phoenix a glass and handed to him. Phoenix just grabbed the glass and gulped it down in one go like the first one.

"Wow, that was sweet, can I have another?" The bartender just looked at Phoenix stunned before grabbing the glass again.

"Uh, sure…" He poured Phoenix another glass and handed it back to him. Phoenix again gulped it down in one go and handed it back to the bartender.

"One more, I'm a really thirsty person."

"Are you alright sir?"

"Yea fine."

"… Ok…" The bartender poured him another glass and Phoenix took it back in one go again. As he did this a person tapped him on his shoulder from behind.

"That's not how you drink wine you know Phoenix."

Phoenix jumped and turned around to see a very interesting dressed individual. He was wearing plaid pants and a polka dot suit jacket with a striped tie on.

"Larry, who dressed you? And what are you doing here?"

Larry sat down next to Phoenix and grabbed the wine glass. "Wow, you didn't even leave a drop. I didn't know you drank alcohol."

"Wait, I just drank alcohol?! Oh man, please don't tell Trucy… wait a minute. Back to my questions!"

"Oh, well I just grabbed this stuff from the clearance racks, I needed a suit to come here, and the reason why I am here is because my girlfriend is one of the dancers in the show and I always come to support her! So why are you here?"

"Oh, well I'm friends with one of the directors and Apollo is treating me."

"Well where is the little guy?"

Phoenix looks up, as he does his head starts to feel a little bit lighter than it did before and it almost caused him to fall backwards off the stool. "He's about 5 floors up."

"Oh… Oh! No wonder why you are down here!"

"Yea… that's why." Phoenix slumped down, he crossed his arms on the bar and rested his head on his arms.

"Anyways, have you seen this yet? I have seen all four shows. It's amazing, and my girlfriend. Well she's amazing too! She dances mostly in the first act but then she comes out in the second act and does the stabbing and, it's just amazing and-" Larry looked over and saw Phoenix staring at his empty glass and not moving. "… did you want another drink there Phoenix? Bartender! Another one for my good friend here!" The bartender came over and just slammed the bottle of wine on the counter and left. "Wow, that was rude! Best not give him a good tip."

"I don't need to worry about that… my drinks are free tonight… he probably just found that out."

"Free? Hey, you think you can get me a free drink?"

"Help yourself to the bottle…" Phoenix put his forehead on his arms so he was looking down. He started to feel really light headed and dizzy.

"Nah, I don't drink alcohol. And to be honest I'm surprised you do. Anyways, my girlfriend, she's amazing. She has the most gorgeous long blonde hair all braided up for the show and the prettiest emerald eyes. She really is amazing, her laugh is just so cute too-" Phoenix stopped listening and just grabbed the bottle and took back about half of what was left of the bottle. Halfway through talking about his girlfriend, Larry noticed and stopped. "Phoenix, what's going on with you? I don't think I ever saw you like this before."

"Issh nuffin Larry." Phoenix sat up and held his head in his hands. "I jush want to be lef'alone."

"Hey buddy, I'm here to help if you need me to."

'Oh god… Larry is trying to help me… Larry. Have I really sunken that low?' Phoenix just sat there and started crying. It wasn't too loud, but it was audible enough to startle Larry.

"Phoenix, what's going on man?"

"Nuffin!" Phoenix put his head back down and started crying into his sleeve.

"HOLD IT!" Larry shouted and slammed his hands on the countertop. Phoenix still had tears falling down from his eyes but he brought his head up.

"*sniff* Whu?"

Larry sat there and looked at Phoenix for a few minutes. "I… got nothing. I just remember you said that all the time and slammed your fists and normally you would get more information from a person."

"You has to ask a queshun firsh." With that Phoenix put his head back into his sleeves. The lights of the lobby started flashing and Larry looked up at them.

"Hey man, the opera is about to start do you want to head back to your seat?" Phoenix sat there and didn't respond. Larry wasn't sure if he was still crying or not. "I can stay here with you if you want." Still no response from Phoenix. "Just, tell me what you want dude."

Phoenix slowly brought his head up, he brought his gaze to the wine bottle and looked at Larry through the reflection of the bottle and weakly responded with, "Apollo."