DISCLAIMER: AS OF THIS DATE...STILL DON'T OWN CAPCOM OR PHOENIX WRIGHT! DANG IT!
"Who…?" The Judge muttered blankly, his gavel still.
"Who said that?" Franziska tightened her whip in frustration. "Who called an objection?"
"It wasn't me," Gumshoe nervously fidgeted at the witness stand. Phoenix searched the entire courtroom.
"Did you see who said that? Maya? Pearls?" Both Maya and Pearl shook their heads.
"I dunno, Mr. Nick."
"I said it," a voice entered the courtroom with grandiose confidence. The sound of measured, calculated steps dotted the restless silence. Phoenix couldn't believe it.
"Demarco…"
Under his baseball cap, a wide grin emerged from the former assistant. "Your Honor, the defense requests a recess to review the evidence that was given during Detective Gumshoe's testimony," he shrugged his shoulders with a satisfied smirk. "It wouldn't be a fair trial if we didn't have a chance to examine all the pieces of the puzzle."
An incredulous silence.
"I..uh…guess that makes sense…" the Judge slurred in a daze. The snap of a whip brought him back to reality.
"YOUR HONOR!" Franziska desperately screamed, a warm wetness behind her eyes. It was happening. Her case collapsing right in front of her. "The prosecution objects to this…I…"
"On what grounds, Ms. von Karma?" the Judge elucidated an uncharacteristic calmness.
"On grounds that…I…I…will defeat Phoenix Wright!" the usually icy prosecutor lost her composure and began furiously whipping the defense attorney. "I will leave this country...these losses behind me!"
"Mr. Nick!" Pearl screamed and then turned toward Franziska. "You're such a…a…meanie head!"
"Nick!" Maya yelled out toward Phoenix, who was enduring excruciating pain. The spirit medium valiantly tried to block some of the assaults, but the whip was too fast and erratic for her to catch its movements. The screams radiated in her ears.
And then they stopped.
Phoenix collapsed on the defense stand, conscious but breathing heavily. Maya stood over him and tried to measure his condition. "Thank you, Mr. Demarco." Pearl said innocently.
The defendant held his back toward the little girl. Clutching Franziska's whip tightly, his muscles tensed with subtle agitation. "Do not thank me, younger Spirit Medium Fey. I have not done this for anyone but myself." He then directed a stone cold glare toward the prosecution. "Prosecutor von Karma. Compose yourself. You have already had your perfect victory against Defense Attorney Wright. As you see, the Judge was in the midst of declaring a guilty verdict. But now it is my turn," Demarco dropped the whip and turned toward the recovering Phoenix. "It's my turn to engage Defense Attorney Wright in battle. I wish to crush his idealist incompetence with reality. I want him to suffer like you and I have, Prosecutor von Karma."
Choking back tears, Franziska felt scared and also…relieved. Relieved that someone had finally called out the pain that was pressuring her to force her cruel hand. She never wanted to be known as the cold hearted shrew she'd become, but she needed to. As von Karma, she was compelled to follow the path of perfection. That day at the airport…it changed something, definitely, it did. But there were remnants. Remnants within her that hungered for perfection and completion. They savored victory and Phoenix Wright, as usual, denied them sustenance. She wanted one final chance at grasping her identity, regaining herself. Was it destined to elude her forever?
"Defense Attorney Wright," Demarco's voice came back into focus for Franziska, "I understand you haven't used the full extent of your defense yet, correct?"
Phoenix struggled to lift his head off of the defense stand, still crippled from the beating. He grunted. That's right. I haven't even begun to use it yet! Von Karma wouldn't give me the chance, but maybe…
"After this recess, please," Demarco grin shrunk, "please don't hold back."
...
"It's a good thing I knew how von Karma gets with her whip, huh Nick?" Maya said as she tenderly massaged the attorney's wounds with a strong smelling oil from Kurain.
"Yeah..ow, ow, ow…a little more gentle, Maya?" Phoenix pleaded, secretly hoping no one would intrude on the awkward scene in the Defendant's lobby. Arching over the spirit medium, he reached into the Court Records and removed Demarco's written and recorded confessions. I wonder… "von Karma had me beat." He said, addressing no one in particular. "I had no evidence to expose contradictions, and nothing in Gumshoe's testimony could support my argument."
Maya gasped and then slapped Phoenix on a tender area between his shoulder blades, squeezing a yelp from the attorney. "Nick! You're not giving up!"
"No, Maya. I'm not. I'm just trying to figure things out." Phoenix half-heartedly glanced through the swamp of tightly worded font that made up Demarco's confession. His eyes widened when he got to Demarco's signature. This is what I need! After taking a quick look at his watch, Phoenix lifted Maya off of him. "We need to find a VCR now!"
I'm going to save you, Demarco…
…From yourself!
...
In the dimly lit, tense cave of the Prosecution's Lobby Demarco aloofly posted against a wall. Von Karma sat, hunched over a barren wooden desk. Her heels lightly scratched the dirty tiles as her mind thrashed about in confusion and anger.
Lifting his cap purposefully above his forehead, Demarco broke the silence. "I wished to be called as your next witness, Prosecutor von Karma."
"SHUT UP!" Franziska tearfully screamed, banging the desk in rage. "SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"
While Franziska heaved and sobbed in frustration, Demarco sympathetically waited for her to calm. After a few minutes filled of chaos and sorrow, the prosecutor finally found the composure to question.
"Why did you stop me? Mr. Demarco Jurney, why did you stand in my way?"
Demarco looked at Franziska for what could've been years. She looked up toward him, her light blue eyes wavering and wondering. Her lips trembled, unsure of words for the first time in years. The dominating figure had shrunk into something almost unrecognizable.
"Answer me…" Franziska pleaded. "Please…I wanted to win. I wanted one more shot at perfection."
"Is that what the law is to you, Prosecutor von Karma?"
"The law…" Franziska gulped back tears, "is an arena. Where I am meant to fight and win! Or that's what I once believed."
"Until you met Defense Attorney Wright." Demarco finished, staring sternly into space.
Franziska closed her eyes in the painful realization that Demarco was right. Hot tears raced down her cheeks. Winning was her life. Was she now incomplete because she lost? Was she made by fate to forever to be inferior to Phoenix Wright? What was left of her? What was left for her?
Noting Von Karma's grimace and her gradual relapse into crying, Demarco tried to comfort her with his reality. "The law is just a weapon that many use for personal gain and profit. You yourself had used it as a crutch to shoulder your incessant need of perfection. There is no such thing as justice, Prosecutor von Karma. Happiness is something that will always be pursued, but never caught. Liberty is non-existent. Life…" he paused and bowed his head.
Franziska wiped her tears quickly and stood, approaching Demarco. "Mr. Demarco Jurney…just what do you want from all of this?"
Staring the prosecutor in her softened eyes, the former defense attorney sighed. "I want to run from this world, whether I go to Heaven or Hell is of no concern to me. But before I go…" his tight frown shifted into a maniacal grin "I want Defense Attorney Wright to realize the truth about the law."
"To run…" Franziska absent mindedly repeated. So much weighed on her right now, the stress of broken standards, the pressure of an uncertain future…To be away from it all would feel so good…Suddenly, she threw her arms around Demarco and embraced him, pushing her head into his chest. "Fighting is hard, Mr. Demarco Jurney."
"Losing is hard, Prosecutor von Karma." Demarco's thoughts faded back toward that fateful moment…
