Alright decided to be kind and not to leave you on that cliff hanger for too long. This story is starting to get really interesting. However I feel this chapter is a little thrown together. It made sense in my head as I typed it out but looking back on it I think I gave Trucy a little too much. Ah well, it progresses the story along.
Anyways, be prepared for really long and drawn out conversation and thought processes for these next few chapters all pertaining to some things said in this chapter. There are a LOT of pieces of information pertinent in this chapter for side thoughts that will happen down the road. Enjoy!
Apollo just stood there staring at his mentor. 'Did he just say what I think he said?' Phoenix continued looking down at him only about a foot away. Apollo finally looked up into Phoenix's eyes and realized they were extremely red and puffy. 'Has he been crying this entire time?' A tear started to fall from Phoenix's cheek again.
"I uh, I think I'll leave you two to talk about this… my uh… my girlfriend's dance solo is coming up." Larry ran off into the theater, leaving Apollo and Phoenix standing there, not moving a muscle.
'Crap, what the hell am I supposed to say to that? Was he being serious?' Phoenix finally exhaled and gave Apollo a decent whiff. 'Is that… alcohol? Was he drinking? Is he drunk or something? He certainly looks like he is. Maybe this is just a drunk joke or something and Larry put him up to it. No… if life ever taught me anything there's only two honest people in the world. 5 year olds and drunks. So was this a confession or something?'
"Well?" Phoenix finally spoke up. "Are you just going to stand there and think or are you going to say something?"
'I feel suffocated that's what I want to say.' Apollo took a step back from Phoenix giving more space between the two of them. "I just, what brought this up?"
"I don't know, these feelings just came up I guess."
"How do feelings just come up?"
"They just did, alright!" Phoenix crossed his arms and looked towards the exit door of the opera. Apollo shifted his weight and remained staring at Phoenix. "Shit, I knew this was a bad idea, Apollo I'm sorry." Phoenix started walking towards the exit door. Apollo just stood there and watched as Phoenix crossed the lobby.
Phoenix was about to open the door when Apollo shouted out, "Wait Phoenix!" Phoenix stopped in his tracks but didn't turn around. His head was down and his eyes clenched shut. His hands were in tight little fists and a tear came out of his eye. "Phoenix, it just surprised me, that's all. I just didn't know how to react, and to be honest I still don't." Apollo reached for Phoenix's shoulder and turned him around. 'God what the hell am I doing? Since when was Phoenix gay!? Why is he acting like this? Has he liked me all this time?' Apollo took a deep breath trying to collect his thoughts. "Phoenix, why did these feelings just erupt tonight? Why haven't you said anything before?"
Phoenix stood there sniffing. He finally opened his eyes to see Apollo's face looking up at him. Apollo's eyes seemed very caring and his expression looked like he was extremely concerned. "I don't know. I just saw you these past few days extremely down, and I don't like it when people I know are sad when they have so much going for them and I wanted to do something for you."
'That's it? That can't be the reason why he said those words to me.' Apollo's bracelet pinched him cause him to shake his hand out of reaction. 'Wait, Phoenix is lying? What's this about now?' Apollo reached a hand out and rested it on Phoenix's shoulder. It was slightly awkward seeing as Phoenix's shoulder was at the same level of height as Apollo was. "Phoenix, I was upset then, but I am much happier now, so clearly that has nothing to do with this confession."
Phoenix looked at Apollo. They stood like that for a few minutes before Phoenix was even able to speak up. "Just, just forget I said anything." Phoenix brushed Apollo's hand off his shoulder and turned around and opened up the door.
"Phoenix stop, wait!"
"Make sure Trucy gets home safe." Phoenix ran out and up the street.
'Should I chase after him? No, I'll never catch up to him. What is going on?' Apollo just stood there in the lobby. He soon heard doors open behind him and a lot of chatter start. 'It must be intermission. I need to go talk to Trucy, she knows Phoenix better than anyone.' Apollo headed over to the elevator and pushed the button. The doors soon opened up and Apollo stepped in. 'Did Larry put him up to this? Is this the alcohol?... Or is Phoenix really in love with me? … Look at me, acting like a little school girl because of the possibility of my childhood superhero falling in love with me. This can't happen. There's no way that this is happening. Just the other day I was thinking about this. No, there's no way I'm letting this happen.' The doors opened to the elevator and Apollo stepped out. Just at that moment Trucy stepped out of the balcony.
"Hey 'Polly! Did you find him?"
"Well, yea he um, decided to leave early."
Trucy put her hand over her open gaping mouth, "Oh my, is he ok? Should we go home too?"
Apollo grabbed and held his left arm, "No, he should be fine…" Apollo proceeded to say under his breath, "I hope."
"So what's going on?"
Apollo looked at Trucy, "Trucy, did Phoenix ever talk to you about ever being in a relationship?"
Trucy started scratching her head, "What do you mean? What does that have to do with anything?"
"Just, please answer Trucy."
Trucy started tapping her chin, "Hm, well no, the only relationship I really know about is him with Mr. Edgeworth, but that was when I was really little."
"Wait, WHAT?! Phoenix and Mr. Edgeworth were dating?!"
"Well I'm not entirely sure. I just remember that a couple weeks after Daddy adopted me Mr. Edgeworth came in and they started yelling a lot, something to do with Daddy not worth Mr. Edgeworth's time now. Daddy kept grabbing Mr. Edgeworth trying to make him not leave but eventually he did and said he was flying to Asia and to not follow him. After that moment Daddy started crying a lot. Later on that night he left, he told me he would try to be back as soon as possible. I didn't see him for like 4 days."
"Wait what?! You were left alone for 4 days?! Weren't you only like 7?!"
"Yea, but I wasn't alone, Auntie Maya came and stayed with me! We had a lot of fun."
"Maya? As in Phoenix's old assistant? When did she come?"
"A couple hours after Daddy left. She said Phoenix called her earlier and she hopped on the quickest train to get there."
Apollo stood there and started scratching his head. 'So Phoenix had a relationship other than his with Dahlia. So what does this mean about Phoenix?' Apollo looked back up at Trucy. "So where did Phoenix go for those four days?"
"Hm, he never told me."
"So what did he do?"
"Never told me that either."
"So what was he like when he came back?"
"He was really quiet. He thanked Maya and she tried to take him out for coffee, to cheer him up I presume. Daddy said no and just laid down on the couch and started watching Steel Samurai reruns. I tried to perform a magic trick for him to cheer him up. He applauded and everything but I don't think he was watching." Trucy looked at Apollo over and put her hands on her hips, "Why did you need to know about that? Did Mr. Edgeworth come back or something? Because if he did I'm going to go give him a piece of my mind making Daddy so upset like that. I can't stand it when people make my daddy cry!"
Apollo's eyes went wide. He crossed his legs and his arms and looked down at the ground.
"So what happened when you found him?"
Apollo just stood there looking down at the ground. 'Please don't ask that question again, please please please!'
"Apollo? What happened down there?"
'Shit… she had to ask. What am I going to tell her?' Apollo looked up at Trucy and tried to form words. "He uh, he found Larry and they decided to go out and catch up with each other."
"Ah! Awesome! I love Larry he was always so funny when he came to visit!" Trucy started jumping up and down.
Apollo exhaled a lot, 'Phew, hopefully with my luck her reminiscing about Larry will make her forget about the whole relationship thing.'
"So what was Larry doing here anyways?"
"Oh, he was here because his girlfriend is in the opera." Apollo's eyes went wide after realizing his mistake, 'Oh shit!'
"Oh she is? Speaking of girlfriends, what does Larry and his girlfriend have to do with Daddy and his relationship with Edgeworth?"
'What am I the witness stand or something? Crap, I need to come up with a good excuse now.' Apollo started to rub his neck and looked up at the lights in the hallway. "Well you see I was looking around for Phoenix and I couldn't find him for the longest of time and then I finally saw him with Larry. And he was smiling NOT CRYING." Apollo let out a nervous laugh. "And I went up to them and asked Phoenix why he wasn't watching and he said he wanted to hear more about Larry and his relationship, so I figured Phoenix had never been in a relationship."
Trucy put her hands back on her hips and stared at Apollo. "Uh-huh." She started tapping her foot. "So Apollo are you really in tune with your cases?"
"I uh, am, why do you ask?"
"Because you are really in tune with the lying process of your witnesses."
Apollo let out another nervous laugh. "Heh, what do you mean? I don't know Phoenix's past and figured that Phoenix was trying to take tips picking up girlfriends or something from Larry."
Trucy let out a huff. "That's your reasoning. That is why you figured you would ask about Phoenix's past relationships? Alright, here's my time to shine, please repeat that sentence again."
"Are we in court or something? Because I feel like this is a really bad dream rig-"
"'POLLY! Just repeat your sentence." Apollo jumped from the sound of Trucy. 'She sounds really mad, does she know?'
"I just figured that Phoenix was trying to take tips picking up girlfriends or something from Larry."
"Alright, time for my moment to shine… OBJECTION!" Trucy stood there in a proud stance and pointed her finger right at Apollo so it was but an inch from his nose. She immediately smiled, "Wow that is fun! I now see why you do it all the time! But back to the matter at hand. 'Polly, I just told you that Daddy is gay, why would he want to pick up a girlfriend?"
Apollo grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled it. He placed his hand in his vest pocket and started playing with the chain. "Well you see…" Apollo shut his eyes, 'Think of something Apollo!' He opened his eyes back up and responded with, "Well back when Phoenix first entered the courtroom it was because his ex-girlfriend Dahilia Hawthorne had poisoned someone."
Trucy folded her arms and sighed, "Ok, fair enough so Daddy had one girlfriend in the past and you didn't know about Edgeworth…" Apollo sighed and eased up, but just in that instant Trucy pointed her finger right back at him, "BUT! If you know anything about Phoenix's past then you should know about the Butz!"
"The… Butz?"
"Larry and his horrible reputation with girls. They came up every time in dad's cases. He was horrible at holding girlfriends and getting them in the first place. So there's no chance that Daddy was trying to get relationship tips from Larry. So Apollo, tell me. What exactly happened in the lobby?"
"Well, I… um…"
"You know what, never mind. I can figure this out myself." Trucy put her head in her hands. Meanwhile Apollo was shifting his weight extremely nervously. 'Is there like a window somewhere near that I can jump out of? Because if I don't kill myself now Trucy will by the time she figures this out. I knew I should never have taken her out with me on my investigations, she can figure out many things'
"I got it. Apollo, you have been acting strange lately and it has all stemmed from something to do with Klavier and Ema, and now you are asking about relationships, so this must have something to do with you and wanting a relationship with Daddy." There was a long pause with Trucy just staring at Apollo. The lights flickered around signaling for everyone to return to the theater. "Well, am I right?"
Apollo just stood there looking at Trucy, 'What the hell am I supposed to tell her? Well, in the court of law this is all circumstantial, so I could technically deny it and she wouldn't know…' Apollo took a deep breath to maintain his composure, "No, it really happened as I said."
Trucy just looked at Apollo. "Ok." Apollo sighed again, 'Phew, she believed it.'
"If you aren't going to tell me what happened I know who will." Trucy grabbed Apollo's arm and dragged him to the elevator. "We're going to ask Larry himself what happened." Trucy pulled out her cell phone and proceeded to dial Larry's phone number.
Over the phone Apollo heard, "Hey this is Larry."
"Hi Larry! It's Trucy, is Phoenix with you?"
"No I thought he was with Apollo."
"Oh, well Phoenix left Apollo and we figured he went with you."
"I didn't go anywhere, I'm still in the lobby of the Opera."
"Oh you are? We're coming down the elevator right now! See you soon!" Trucy hung up her phone and glared at Apollo. "If you were thinking about not having evidence or anything, never doubt a girl and her cell phone."
Apollo leaned up against the elevator wall, 'Shit.' The doors opened to the elevator and Trucy stepped out dragging Apollo behind her, she waved to Larry and he started walking over to them.
"Hi Larry! So nice to see you again!"
"You too Truce! You are looking elegant tonight." Larry looked over at Apollo who was fighting and struggling to get out of Trucy's grasp and run away. "'Polly let me teach you something, never try to pull the wool over a woman's eyes. They see through everything."
'Sure now he gives relationship advice…'
"Larry, what were you and Daddy talking about?"
Larry looked at Trucy, then at Apollo who was shaking his head no and about to get on his knees and plead. Larry just shook his head and looked back at Trucy. "Truce, your Daddy might have a crush on little 'Polly here."
Trucy's eyes went wide and she let go of Apollo who just fell backwards after fighting for so long. "I didn't expect it to be that way. Apollo I'm so sorry! I didn't know it was the other way around I thought it was you who had the crush!" Apollo stood up and started to straighten himself out.
"Don't worry it was nothing."
'At least that's out of the way.'
"So what did you tell Nick anyways?"
Apollo's eyes went wide again. 'Crap.'
"Uh, nothing."
"So where is he then?"
"'Polly… did he leave?"
Apollo started scratching his head. "Uh, yea…"
Trucy stomped her feet on the ground. "AND YOU DIDN'T CHASE AFTER HIM?!"
"He's so much taller than me and can run faster than me!"
Trucy grabbed Apollo's arm again and yanked him out of the theater. "YOU BETTER NOT HAVE MADE HIM CRY!"
Larry called after Apollo, "'Polly start praying that he's at least home! Otherwise I'll be praying for you!"
'Oh God, what have I done?'
