(Nothing really actiony or suspenseful in this chapter, but it is important. You get to see a bit more of the human side of my OCs. But don't worry, Miles is here... halfway at least. You'll see what I mean. Enjoy!)
Chapter 10
Phoenix Wright stood just in front of the door that bore the numbers he had been looking for. He was hesitant, unsure if he wanted to go in or not. However, the thought of what was at stake kept floating to the front of his mind, so in the end, he pushed the small rectangular button beside the door and heard the resounding 'ding-dong' from inside the apartment.
Immediately, he heard a loud meowing from inside that seemed to get closer to the door. He blinked, having thought that only dogs ran to the door whenever someone called. The frantic meowing continued until he heard a female voice from inside.
"Okay, okay, I heard it!" The door was pulled open and Wright was faced with the nineteen-year-old redheaded girl that shared the same first name with him. "Oh, Mr. Wright. Come on in."
She stepped back to allow him entry, but he was looking down at the black and white cat darting around his ankles. "Um… Are you sure it's okay?"
Tilea looked down and laughed. "Heh, that's Oreo. She thinks she's a dog." She bent down and picked up the creature, moving off to lead Wright inside. They walked to the living room where Ares and Franziska sat, Ares with a game controller in-hand. The television screen showed a fight from the point-of-view of someone holding a large sword, who was battling some odd-looking creature which also carried a blade. Franziska was watching this with an unreadable expression on her face.
"Elder Scrolls," Tilea said, moving to take a seat beside Ares, the small cat curling up on her lap and purring in content. "So, how many more temples do you need to visit before you can lift Seramore's curse from Alganon?"
"Five," Ares replied without taking his eyes off the screen. He was now busy trying to escape some giant troll-looking thing on horseback.
Wright watched them, frowning slightly. "Um… I don't mean to sound rude but… aren't we supposed to be talking about finding Edgeworth or something?"
"Detective Gumshoe is late," came a small voice from Wright's left, and he looked to see Franziska. She still appeared to be watching the television screen, but she didn't look enthralled as Ares did. In fact, she looked exhausted and highly depressed, though Phoenix couldn't blame her one bit. He knew that she had been doing nothing but worrying for the past several weeks.
"O-oh…" He finally responded simply. "I guess he would be some help too…"
Needless to say, Wright was feeling very awkward. This scene seemed so… wrong. None of these people were familiar to him really. Ares completely absorbed in a video game, Tilea sitting next to him watching with a cat curled up on her lap, and Franziska sitting quietly to the side looking as if she could start bawling at any moment. Some part of him understood: he knew why the prosecutor was feeling that way and he realized that—though Tilea and Ares were tough and professional on the job—they were still young adults and had to have some sort of life outside of work.
Carefully, Wright walked over and took a seat next to Franziska, whom—to his relief—seemed not to mind his presence so close to her. He tried to reframe from watching her, not wishing to make her feel insecure. "So…" He paused, trying to think of a casual topic to discuss while they waited and hoping this space of time wouldn't be too drawn out. "…Do you both… live here?"
Tilea nodded. "It's not a very big place," she said, "but there are only two of us and we really don't spend enough time here to need anything bigger."
At this point, Wright became aware that Franziska was looking over at him. He glanced at her in turn and they shared a look of curiosity.
"No, we're not," Ares said, causing the two attorneys to jump a little. They hadn't even realized he could hear them. "I know what you're thinking."
Tilea made an odd face. "What Ares would have said had he not been playing a game is that we're basically roommates. We've been close friends for years, but neither of us has ever been interested in any kind of romance."
Just then, a loud banging reached their ears. "That'll be the detective," Wright said automatically without even having to consider the noise. At the same time, the little cat's ears had perked up and she flew from her owner's lap out of the room, and as Tilea stood up to go answer the door, they heard that frantic meowing from the entrance way. Tilea gave them an odd smile as she strode from the room, returning moments later carrying Oreo and leading a rather puzzled Gumshoe.
The detective looked around for a moment, and then seemed to light up a bit at the sight of Wright and von Karma. "Hey, pal!" he greeted Phoenix. "They're trying to recruit you too, huh?"
Wright felt Franziska shift a bit on the cushions beside him, but she didn't say anything. "Well…" he said, speaking cautiously. "This is important. I mean… Edgeworth is in a lot of danger right-"
"Mr. Edgeworth!" Gumshoe looked as if he had just been hit in the face with the large game consul that Ares was now turning off from the controller. "I didn't know this was about him! I just thought we were going to look for her crazy dad!"
"Uh, Detective…" Wright glanced over at Franziska nervously. "Could you be a bit less… you?"
"Oh, sorry, pal."
"So, now that everyone is here and Agent Taylor has returned from battle, I think we can get down to business." Tilea had taken up her original place on the couch beside Ares, who now looked much more like the man Wright was familiar with.
"I'll do whatever it takes to help Mr. Edgeworth!" Gumshoe announced with a fierce determination. His hands were balled into fists and he appeared to be ready to charge into a fight, even though they were nowhere near their target.
"That makes four of us," Ares stated, and then Wright became aware that all eyes were on him.
"Uh, I…" He was now more uncomfortable than he had been in a very long time. "Look, I really do want to help Edgeworth! I just… It's not all that easy for me to just up and leave the country. I mean… Maya will insist on coming along, and I really don't know if leaving her here alone is the best of ideas."
"Let's get one thing straight, Mr. Wright," Ares began firmly. "We can not allow Ms. Fey to come as well. She is too naïve to understand what is taking place here and what kind of danger she would be in. There must be a place where she can reside if you decide to come with us."
"Uh…."
"What about the mountains?" Franziska had spoken without meaning to, and looked down at the floor when everyone's gaze fell on her. "I mean… Isn't she… from that village up there or something?"
Wright blinked. Of course! Maya and Pearls could stay in Kurain village if he were to leave, so that only left the task of convincing them not to want to tag along.
"So, are you coming, pal?" Gumshoe asked, that all-too-familiar puppy-dog look appearing on his visage as he looked at the defense lawyer. "You're friends with Mr. Edgeworth; you can't just leave him for dead!"
Wright sighed. He was nervous; the last time he had worked on something so dangerous, he had been lucky to avoid being killed. However, it had all worked out in the end obviously, for Franziska von Karma was sitting right next to him on the couch very much alive, so he supposed he owed these two agents some amount of trust. Only Franziska and Edgeworth had really gotten to know them; therefore it wasn't strange to see that Franziska didn't seem to have been uncertain about anything that had taken place here while Wright and Gumshoe found this entire scene very odd. So, if she trusted them, he felt that it must be all right to do so; she knew better than he did.
"…All right," he finally agreed. "Just… give me a bit to sort things out."
"That's great, pal!" Gumshoe jumped a little with excitement, a huge grin on his face. It looked ridiculous for a man his size, but no one found the sight unfamiliar.
"Thank you, Phoenix Wright," came Franziska's near whisper. Had she been anyone else in any other situation, she might have smiled at him, but it seemed impossible for her to look at all happy as of late.
"We're leaving tomorrow," Tilea informed them. "We can't afford to wait any longer; we've already been delayed much too long."
"H-hold on a second though." A major question had been lingering on Wright's mind for quite a while now, and he had to voice it. "How… can you be sure that…" He hesitated, knowing this was a very touchy subject. "…that we're not… already too late…" He mentally kicked himself as he saw Franziska flinch a bit out of the corner of his eye.
"He's alive," Tilea said casually, stretching a bit and coaxing the cat off of her lap so that she could stand up.
Wright just stared at her. "But… how can you be sure of that?"
Tilea stood up and began to walk across the room toward the hallway, stopping once more for only a moment when she was near the exit.
"It's a spirit medium thing." She vanished from the room without wasting another moment.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Miles woke from the semi-conscious state he had come to know as sleep at the sound of the door at the top of the stairs being opened. His body began to tremble, an automatic response to the sound after the immeasurable amount of time he had spent down here. He had come to associate that sound with pain, for his near catatonic state-of-mind didn't allow for much sequential reasoning to connect the events in any logical way.
He didn't move as footsteps drew nearer to him, and nor did he react when something was set on the floor near his head. However, the next sound he heard did trigger a response.
"Eat."
Like an animal trained to follow simple commands, Miles raised his head and struggled to push himself up onto his elbows. In front of him sat a metal bowl containing an assortment of what must have been old table scraps, such as hardened bread, rotting fruits and vegetables, and pieces of uncooked meat. Despite the revolting sight, the young man gave no complaint as he began to slowly eat each individual piece of garbage one-by-one.
The man who had brought the bowl down to him stood still with his arms folded impatiently. He was tired of having to do this every other day; there was a reason he had never kept pets. Herr von Karma had ordered him to bring these bowls of shit down and to stay until their prisoner had finished eating. Then, he was to fill another bowl that always stayed in here with water and take the food dish back upstairs. He hated this job! The smell down here was awful and he had always loathed dogs.
After a few minutes, Miles moved back a bit away from the bowl, which was now empty. The man standing over him picked it up and then went to dump the large cup of water he held into another bowl nearby. Then, he strode away, heading back up the stairs and locking the door behind him.
As he left, Miles was slowly dragging himself over toward the bowl of water, his limbs barely of any use to him now. He finally reached it and lowered his head to lap at the filthy liquid with his tongue, this being the only way he could drink now. This is what months of constant physical and emotional torture had reduced him to, an old and sick dog barely clinging to a meaningless existence.
He didn't plead with his tormentor anymore; only desperate cries and pained whimpers escaped him during their time together. He only spoke as a programmed response now, just like anything else he did. Conscious thought was not something he normally experienced; he just followed simple commands and routine, whether these responses be an action or a spoken phrase. He couldn't even remember his Master's name.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
"All right, everyone! Let's get going!" Phoenix Tilea was shouting over the roaring engine of the jet she had chartered to fly them all to Germany. All of their luggage had already been loaded, and now it was time to depart.
"Oh, Nick!" Maya threw her arms around her best friend and squeezed him so tightly that he cringed. "Please be careful! If you don't come back I'll… I'll…"
"Come on, Maya," Phoenix Wright said, hugging her back a little. "Don't start crying on me. I'll be fine!" He smiled at her as she let go of him and wiped her face with the back of her hand.
"Y-you'd b-better be," she stated, trying to sound stern. "I-If you're not, I'll come find you, dig you up, and kill you again!"
Wright cringed again at the thought of Maya's wrath. "Th-that won't be necessary," he said quickly.
"You have to come back for Mystic Maya!" Pearl said, looking so incredibly fierce that Wright nearly backed away. "You can't leave the one you love to go on without you!"
Both Phoenix and Maya opened their mouths to say something, but they simultaneously decided against it and smiled instead. "I've gotta' go," Wright said, now hugging Pearl. "You two take care of yourselves. I'll make sure to call if I get the chance."
"Bye!" Maya and Pearl said together, waving at him as he quickly climbed aboard the jet where the others were waiting for him. The doors were closed behind him and soon the craft began to move, taking to the air after speeding a short distance along a small runway. Maya and Pearl continued to wave as it disappeared from sight, not wanting to walk away until they could no longer see it.
On the jet, Wright had taken a seat beside Gunshoe, and it didn't take him long to notice that Tilea had something black and white curled up in her lap where she sat between Ares and Franziska. "What the…?"
Tilea looked back at him questioningly. "What is it, Mr. Wright?"
"You're… bringing your cat?" As he said this, Oreo's head popped up and she looked over at him, as if knowing she was the topic of this conversation.
"Of course," Tilea replied. "Oreo is an investigator too, you know." She then looked down at the cat and started stroking its head. "Aren't you, sweetie?"
"Mew!"
"O….kay…." Wright slowly drew his attention away from this and looked at Franziska. "Are you all right?" he asked, noting how out-of-it she looked.
The German woman jumped a little at being addressed. "Oh… Yes, of course," she lied, failing miserable to retain her usual cold stare. She just couldn't stop looking depressed and troubled; even when she tried to smile, nothing really changed.
She sighed after a moment and lowered her head, knowing there was no hiding it. She felt so sick with worry that she could barely sleep at night, and when she did so, her dreams tormented her with gruesome possibilities of what could be happening to the man she loved. The terror she felt grew day by day, and now she was preparing to just waltz right back up to the man she never wanted to face again. She felt so much hate for her father now, but the remaining fear almost masked it entirely. She didn't know how she would react the moment she saw him again, and this prospect scared her even more. She was willing to fight to save Miles, but would that fire leave her upon hearing her father's voice or seeing his face? Would her sub-conscience take control of her, cause her to revert back to the way things were the last time she had seen him? Would she be able to fight against him now when she could have never done so as a child?
These questions and more occupied her thoughts for the rest of their journey, causing no words to issue from her mouth to join in the conversations buzzing around her.