A/N :: This is a rewritten chapter, meaning that most of the chapter has remained the same. It is HIGHLY recommended that you read this chapter, as small things have changed that may be integral to understanding the final plot! That being said, a lot of the chapter will feel the same.
Chapter Two :: The Turnabout Awakening
Indistinct images flashed across her mind, quick and defined by nothing more than color and broad shapes. A snowy mountain. A dagger. A paper napkin.
And blood.
Maya shot up, panting heavily. Her hand clutched at the front of her robe, eventually relaxing over her heart as she realized it hadn't been real. "That dream . . ." Even though it had been seven years since Misty Fey's death, and three since she could remember last having that dream, it seemed familiar somehow. It was almost like she had been in this exact same situation before. Like deja vu.
Speaking of deja vu . . . This wasn't the Wright Anything Agency. Where was she?
This had to be some sort of school, she determined, as she seemed to be in a classroom. A music room, if the piano and drum set were any indication. She peered around in the darkness, spotting the light switch on the opposite side of the piano. She flicked it, but the lights were dead.
Unfamiliar place, no power . . . talk about creepy.
Priority number one would have to be to find a light.
Even though she'd never been here, she could tell there was nothing in the room that would help her find the light. She opened the door, pausing when music began to play down the hallway. The tune was familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. What she did know was that if music was playing, someone else had to have been playing it, which meant someone else had to be there. Maya moved towards the noise, seeing a blinking green light on the floor. "A cell phone?" she asked, picking it up and examining it. There was nothing out of the ordinary about it other than the fact that it was still ringing. She flipped it open and put it up to her ear. "Hello?"
"HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Maya held the phone away from her at the loud volume.
"YOU HAVE MY PHONE, MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN! I'm coming to get it. O-k-a-y?" Whoever it was seemed to have multiple personality disorder, because they had gone from screaming to cutesy in no time at all. Before she could answer, the other person hung up.
"Uh, sounds good," she said weakly, flipping the phone closed and looking around. It seemed she wasn't alone here, which was a bit of a relief. This school was creepy. And dark. Besides, if they got separated, it would be easy enough to find this other person. All they would have to do was shout and it was doubtful there would be anywhere she couldn't hear it from.
Of course, there was a problem in the logic the other person had presented. If they were planning on getting their phone, they needed to know where Maya was. She looked at the call log, but it was mysteriously empty. Luckily, the other person solved the problem for her. The phone rang again.
"I'm on the first floor. In the hallway. I'M COMING TO GET MY PHONE, MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!"
"Should, I come to y—" The clicking noise of the other person hanging up again made her cut off. Maybe whoever it was knew where they had left their phone originally or something.
Besides, it wasn't like she really knew where she was. Maybe all of the classrooms in this school had pianos and drum sets. She'd never know if she didn't look.
She'd only taken a few steps when the phone rang again.
"I'm at the staircase LANDIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING! On. The. Second. Floor." Once again the person hung up before Maya could say anything.
"Honestly, what's the point of calling when you don't wait for the other person to say anything back?" she asked herself rhetorically before sighing and taking a few more steps.
Yip yip yip yip yip. Yip yip.
Was there a dog somewhere? Maya entered the classroom on her left, which looked as normal as any other classroom she'd ever seen: desks, blackboards, little cubbies for belongings . . .
And a little dog.
"Yip yip yip! HELLO!"
Apparently the dog talked.
It was a cute little thing, a Pomeranian if she wasn't mistaken, with caramel colored fur and big black eyes. It ran around her in circles, finally standing on its hind legs to paw at her knees. "Well, aren't you a cutie? What's your name?" she asked, kneeling down to scratch the pup on its head.
The dog whimpered. "You don't remember me?"
Forget the talking dog. They had met before?
"No, I don't."
The dog snuffled, returning to all fours in disappointment. "Okay." Maya felt bad, but before she could salvage the situation, the dog had perked right back up. "HELLO! My name is Missile!"
"Hello, Missile." She put out her hand, giggling when he raised his paw to shake. "What are you doing in a place like this?"
"Saying hello!" Obviously. What had she been thinking?
Maya nodded and opened her mouth to say something, but the cell phone rang again before she could. "Just one second, okay?"
Missile started pawing at her leg and whining as soon as the other person started talking (presumably to say hello to them as well? Strange way to say hello), but Maya could still hear the "I'm on the staircase on the third floor! I'm coming, so don't m-o-v-e, okay?"
This time, she didn't wait to be hung up on. "Okay, Missile. Want to meet a new friend?"
He whimpered. "I want to say hello, but . . . " The little dog circled, growling in frustration before running up to her and beginning to yip. "LET'S SAY HELLO!" Maya sighed. Forget the mystery person on the other end of the line; there was no way she could lose Missile with the incessant barking. Besides, he'd come find her eventually just to say hello.
"Do you know where the staircase is?"
"Ummmmmmm . . . no!"
They could at least try to find it, if nothing else. "Okay, let's go."
Together, the spirit medium and the dog walked down the hallway. Maya noted three more classrooms and a bathroom before they saw the glowing green stair sign as the path came to a T. The stairs were just around the corner, and Maya made an attempt to go towards them, but Missile bounded down the hall and started barking at a nearby door. "Missile? Did you find something?"
The door he was barking at was beat up. White paint had been gouged by something sharp to reveal the underlying wood in places. There was a crack that widened into a hole at the bottom, but it wasn't big enough for either Maya or Missile to fit through. The frosted glass window was broken at a corner, force causing long tendrils of damage to radiate from the hole. Some sort of weird blue light emanated from inside.
"HELLO! HELLO!" Missile shouted between yips.
Someone had to be in there. Maya pulled on the handle, but the door was locked.
Her sixth sense prickled, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. Something was wrong, she could tell immediately. She put her face to the glass, lining her eye up with the hole to see through.
It was just as dark inside the room as the rest of the school, but somehow, she could still see two people clearly. They seemed to glow white with a supernatural force, defining their school uniforms. The man, tall and broad-shouldered, held something long and thin in his left arm. The girl—or at least she assumed it was a girl—had a cardboard box over half of her body, and a skirt on the other half. They were talking about something, but it was too quiet for her to hear. And then, before her eyes, they started to fade. She blinked, and it was like they had never been there at all.
She moved, changing her view of the room when—
Two white, beady eyes popped in front of her view, the white cardboard box blocking the rest of the hole. She gasped, stepping back as Missile continued to bark.
And that was when she realized there was heavy breathing behind her. The barking suddenly stopped, and she glanced over to where the small dog had been, but he was nowhere to be found. "Missile?" she asked, turning slowly.
A small but thin man was behind her, looking just as opaque as the students in the classroom. He wore a school uniform, but also a headband and apron that were stained with some sort of splattered liquid. "MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN! That's my p-h-o-n-e." He waggled his finger as he spelled out "phone," and then he tackled her.
She fell hard, her back slamming against the tile floor. The man had taken hold of her arms, using them to drag her back up.
With a move she'd learned from Athena, she punched him square in the nose. The minute he'd careened back and disappeared, she ran.
She'd made it almost back to the music room when he appeared in front of her again. He rushed at her, knocking her down. He was saying something, but the sound of blood pulsing in her ears made it impossible for her to say what. She knocked him off of her within seconds, and he vanished again.
She couldn't keep running around in circles. She was heavily panting, despite only having run a short distance, and her knees were shaking. Each time the man grabbed at her, her body seemed to rebel. She couldn't take too much more.
The stairs. She'd been looking for the stairs to begin with.
She was only feet away from the staircase when the man attacked again, but she was ready for him this time. As soon as he ran at her, she stepped to the side, sprinting the final distance. She rounded the second set of stairs, hearing his panting behind her, and . . .
He vanished from the stairway.
She breathed a sigh of relief, sinking down on the bottom step.
Ghosts. That was what she had seen and had attacked her. There were ghosts in this school.
She tried to muster up surprise, but for some reason, it felt like she had known that. It was almost like she had been here before.
Was this the land of the dead? Did she recognize it from her spirit channeling? Was there some inner part of her that knew this place like the back of her hand?
Maybe this was all a nightmare. She pinched herself. No luck. She was stuck here until she could find the exit.
There was a "3" painted on the stairwell door, so she supposed she must be on the third floor. That meant that the music room had to have been on the fourth floor. Maybe, if she could get to the first floor, the entrance would be open and she would find herself back on the streets of Los Angeles.
But what if this was one of those weird buildings where the entrance wasn't on the first floor, but on the second or third? Or, magatama forbid, the fourth?
She'd summon Mia. Mia would know what to do.
Maya closed her eyes, reaching out to the world of the dead for her sister. Nothing happened. She couldn't even persuade her soul to leave her body. For now, her channeling powers were on the fritz, something that hadn't happened since she was a teenager.
No help for her. Even Missile was gone. She was alone.
But she couldn't dwell on that! Pearly was coming tomorrow, so she had to get home for her little cousin's sake. She stood, walking into the third floor hallway. If she was going to get out of here, the first thing that she needed to do was get familiar with the territory. Besides, maybe if she looked hard enough, she might find something to scare off those ghosts.
Turning left and beginning down the corridor, it wasn't long before she came across another door glowing with a blue light. Despite the logical part of her brain reminding her about what had happened last time she'd come across a lit door, she was a spirit medium, and her sixth sense was strong. There was something absent in the air, something different, something that wasn't . . . threatening.
She pulled at the door, unsurprised to find that it was locked too. Of course this couldn't be easy. There was a sign next to the door, but even when she peered at it from millimeters away, there still wasn't enough light for her to read it.
Priority one: Unchanged. Find a light, and soon.
Priority two: Figure out what the sign said.
A familiar shout made her turn her head, and she could see a door open in the light from the stair sign. It slammed shut, the noise reverberating all the way down the hall.
The ghosts hadn't seemed to bother with doors, so she figured it had to be pretty safe. She walked to it. She could hear the muttering even from outside, and it was obvious who was inside now that she could hear his speech. "Gotta be brave. Gotta get back out there. What if my secret admirer is out there? WHAT IF I GOTTA GO SAVE HER?"
She entered the bathroom and knocked on the only closed stall. "Larry?"
He squealed. It was a very girly, high-pitched squeal, one that she'd never actually heard him make. "Why does this keep happening to meeeeeee? WHYYYYYYYYYYYY?"
"Larry, open the door!" She rattled the handle, but it only served to make him scream again as he repeated, "Whyyyyyy? Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?"
Maya sized up the door. It wasn't one of those cheap plastic ones, but an honest-to-goodness door, complete with a real handle. Talk about a fancy bathroom. Unfortunately, that meant that she didn't have a chance in hell at breaking it down and getting inside. She rattled the door again. "It's Maya! Open the door!"
"Think happy thoughts! Think happy thoughts! Think happy—AUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed again as Maya threw herself against the door.
"LARRY!" she shouted.
"Go away!" he screamed back.
"Larry, it's Maya!"
She could hear his sobs of terror clearly as he cowered backwards. "Maya? What's . . . what's going on?"
"I don't know. But we'll be fine! We'll find Nick and he'll know what's happening! And then we'll all go home."
"Home?" Of course, this was the moment that her cell phone rang again.
Larry wailed. By the time she'd managed to silence the ringing, he'd worked himself into such a frenzy that it was impossible to get him to talk intelligibly again.
"Stay here!" she said finally, slightly annoyed. "I'll be back!" She was the one who was the expert with ghosts and spiritual things. It was going to be her job to figure out what was going on here!
She exited the bathroom, wondering when she was going to find some sort of light source. The dark hallways were beginning to all look the same.
Suddenly, something gave off a loud crack. "Who's there?" she asked, backing up against a wall. Please not the apron guy, please not the apron guy.
Something clicked, and a small cylinder of light dispelled the darkness near her feet.
A flashlight. Thank Ami, it was a flashlight.
She retrieved it from where it had fallen, waving it around experimentally. On her left was the set of benches under some very dark windows. She moved towards them, pressing her face against the pane. Nothing. She couldn't see anything; not a playground, not even a road. It was like the outside didn't exist at all, and this building merely existed in some sort of nightmare world.
On her right were classrooms. The signs said 2-3 and 2-4 respectively, but both were locked.
But hey, now she could check priority one off the list; she'd found a light.
New priority one: read that sign.
She walked back down the hallway, ignoring Larry's muttering as she walked past the bathroom. The placard next to the glowing door said "Computer Lab". No wonder there was something lit up inside; a computer was probably on. Maya redirected the flashlight beam towards the paper sign on the window. "If this door is locked, see the janitor," she read aloud.
It was doubtful that she'd find the janitor (or find him alive, at least), but if she was looking for a key, it would likely be in his office. There was only one problem with that: where was the janitor's office?
She walked back down the hall for consistency's sake, making sure she hadn't missed anything important in the dark. She could imagine Mia's advice even if her sister wasn't there: be thorough and don't miss anything. Unfortunately, other than the bathroom, she only found the locked classrooms 2-1 and 2-2.
As she rounded the corner, the cell phone rang. She picked it up without thinking.
There was a girlish giggle on the other end, followed by, "I've found our friend again. It's time to play."
The line went dead. She glanced back towards the bathroom and froze. The three ghosts were walking away from her, oddly enough, but she didn't realize what they were doing until the tall one opened the door to the bathroom.
Larry was the friend.
She could hear his strangled scream from halfway down the hall.
She almost sprinted after them. The voice had said "again". What did it mean? Still, she wasn't exactly an amateur at dealing with ghosts, and she knew that without something to banish them, she wasn't going to be any help. For Larry's sake, she needed to find a way out, fast.
Time to pick up the pace.
She didn't find anything else on the third floor, so she took the first staircase she saw down to the second floor. This floor also seemed mostly empty. In Classroom 1-6, she found a magazine lying open on a desk. Hunching over the desk, clutching the flashlight, she began to read.
Death of Three Students Rocks Themis Law School
The death of three students has jeopardized the future of the esteemed Themis Law Academy. The school, known for producing legal legends such as Klavier Gavin, has been ruled as safe, but that doesn't keep scared parents from removing their children from the program.
The three students, all in their final year at the Academy, were found unconscious in the computer lab by another student. They were taken to the hospital, but none recovered consciousness and all three eventually died. The hospital reported that the cause of death was unknown, and the toxicology report showed no drugs or poisons on the victims, The school has been reopened, though enrollment has dropped by 25%. Current director of the Prosecutor program, Nathaniel Price, has commented that although what happened was a tragedy, the education of students must continue.
The names of the victims have not yet been released to the public.
It couldn't be a coincidence. Three students, three ghosts; these had to be the same.
Unfortunately, while this was interesting, it was hardly useful. She could hardly sit there and wave the newspaper at them, and the article hadn't been specific enough to tell her what had happened. She needed to move on and find something that she could help Larry with.
She turned to exit the classroom, only to realize that the door she had originally come through was now locked. She rattled it a few times, but it held. No matter. There was an extra set of doors in the back that seemed to lead out to the same hall.
No luck. They were locked too.
She needed to find something to open the door with. She scanned the room further, her light pausing over a brightly colored desk. She finally realized that the desk wasn't dyed that way or something equally crazy, but it was covered in multicolored writing.
'What a freak.'
'That newspaper of hers is so weird.'
'She stalks people and calls it her calling. I bet that newspaper is just a cover for something else.'
Maya crept forward, running a finger over the hurtful words in differing colors of ink. She wasn't sure what it was all about, but the idea that anyone would write things like that . . .
"That's not nice."
Her sixth sense prickled as soon as the unfamiliar voice said the words, but almost immediately, pain exploded at her calves as she fell to the desk. Her fingers scrabbled against the surface as she tried to regain her balance. Something was grasping her leg, and her breathing immediately ramped up, panic coloring her surroundings red. She tried to shake her leg free, successfully doing so after a few moments. She turned to run, realizing that her attacker was the girl with the box on her head. The box had fallen to the ground, revealing the girl beneath it, but Maya didn't get a good enough look at her to say much. Instead, she sprinted towards the nearest door, relieved when it opened.
She ran down the hall, the box girl chasing her. When she reached the stairs, she took them two at a time, and stopped looking back. Blood was pounding in her ears, making her heartbeat echo in her own head as she ran to the other staircase (somehow knowing that she needed to change staircases in order to get farther down; she didn't stop to contemplate that).
Something dark swept past her vision, and she screamed, her own voice almost drowning out the "Sorry, pal" that the dark thing said as it disappeared.
When would these stop?!
She didn't stop running until she'd reached the first floor, and she might have continued on if a black cat hadn't been waiting for her at the bottom. It meowed at her and took off to the left.
Black cats were superstitious, but since Missile had been friendly, she figured she didn't have anything to lose. Besides, it looked vaguely familiar, with its red bandanna.
It led her past a few rooms, but darted into a locker bay. Maya moved past the lockers and found the cat at a closed door.
"Open it," it said, and she jumped.
"You can talk too?!"
He tilted his head. "Is there another talking cat around here?"
"Not a cat, a dog. His name was Missile."
The cat purred. "Oh yeah. Good friend. Make sure you keep him company when you can. He might not be the brightest, but his heart's in the right place Anyways, open the door."
She did. Only to be met with a swirling purple vortex. At first glance, it seemed far away and nothing was between it and her. Absolute nothingness. She pointed the flashlight in all directions, but it never hit any walls. There was literally nothing in the room. "W—What is—?"
"The abyss." The cat sat up, licking its front paw with a satisfied purr. "I knew I got the right room this time."
Maya gulped and stared into the abyss. "Am I supposed to go in there?"
"Why would you do that?" the cat asked, sounding alarmed. It brushed past her feet to sit between her and the door. "Does it even look remotely safe?"
"Not exactly."
"I thought so," the cat said. "Honestly, how do you not all end up in an early grave?"
"All?" The way the cat was talking, it sounded like there were others, but . . .
"All of you. Good luck, Maya." With a swish of the tail, the door slammed shut. The cat skittered off across the tile and disappeared around the corner.
"Wait!" How had it known her name? And who else was here? Was the cat talking about Larry? She ran after it, but it was gone.
Talk about strange. Giant swirling abysses concealed behind doors, ghosts in a school, and animals that could talk.
There wasn't much more anyone could throw at her that would surprise her.
The library was the last door at the end of this hall before she reached a quite conspicuous dead end, so she looked into it first. It looked normal enough; there were rows of bookshelves and at the end of the room was a librarian's desk. She was about to exit when the newspaper caught her eye.
Mysterious Deaths Continue
The death of former cartoon genius Sal Manella has added one more to the list of mysterious deaths that have happened in the last month. Manella, 46, was found unconscious at an Internet Café. According to sources near the victim, Manella was doing research for a recent animation project, The Golden Samurai, that was slated to the the next big television show for 2029.
The mysterious deaths have included a local hairdresser, a business man, and three students from Themis Law Academy. All of the victims were found unconscious and none regained consciousness before their deaths. Police have been unable to identify a link between the six victims, and no toxins or poisons have been identified.
If you have any information, please contact your local police station.
Maya covered her mouth in shock. There was no way she could have missed this. No way at all. How could Sal Manella—the Sal Manella—have died? And how could she have missed it?
She took a short moment to mourn the death of a legend before pressing on. She had to find the Janitor's Office. Or a way out.
She exited the library, running her hands over every inch of wall she could reach at the dead end, but there seemed to be no hidden switch or a door that lead anywhere, so she backtracked towards the stairs, still reading every sign. She passed the staircase, and the first door on the right said "Janitor's Office."
"Now we're talking," Maya said to herself, stepping inside. The Janitor's Office was dark and sparsely decorated, though it did have a fridge that she contemplated taking a soda from. There was a safe next to the door with a keypad barring the entrance.
0175.
The four numbers came to mind, unbidden, and she froze, trying to figure out why it seemed familiar.
Maybe it meant something to her. She pushed the thought from her mind, entering it into the keypad.
The console blinked and beeped loudly, the red indicator turning green as the door swung open.
But . . . how had she known? She'd never attended public school, so the idea that she'd ever been here was ridiculous. There was no reason she should know the combination to a safe she'd never seen before!
Still, she could contemplate that later. For now, she needed to get out of this place.
There was a key labeled "Computer Lab" on a keyring, so she took that one and set back on a path towards the staircase. She took the stairs up to the third floor, the computer lab right in front of the stairs. The blue light was still there, which she took to be a good sign. She unlocked the door with the key she'd just obtained and entered.
Most of the computers were off, but there was one in the middle of the room that was brightly lit. Maya walked over to it, sitting in the chair so that she could scroll up and down the text page that was up.
Conversation: Group Chat (7)
Maya Fey: OMG HI GUYS
Phoenix Wright: Think you've done it this time?
Miles Edgeworth: Who is this?
Maya Fey: Really, Edgeworth? You don't remember me? You're never getting a Christmas present from me ever again. D: Especially not a Limited Edition Steel Samurai figurine.
...
She jerked back from the screen, eyes wide. How could this be on the computer? How? It had been a text message between friends, and to her knowledge, had never been uploaded onto a computer. Could that even happen?
She read through their conversation again, her eyes pausing over the anonymous messages. You will all suffer. I will take my revenge. Was it possible—
No, of course not. No one could summon ghosts to them, let alone transport people into the spirit world.
At the bottom of the page, there were two phone numbers: 997-684-771 and 997-657-281. She took out her phone, half-wondering whether she should call them.
A telltale wail cut through the silence, and suddenly, the door to the computer lab opened, slamming shut as Larry collapsed against the door. The three ghosts ran past the window, and he sighed in relief, his eyes finally falling on Maya.
"Maya?"
"You finally got out of the bathroom, huh?"
He gave a nervous chuckle that phased into a full laugh after a moment. "You can't imagine how great it is to see you! I thought I was a goner."
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
He shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno. What are you doing here?"
"I don't know either. I woke up here."
"I did too! Huh, I wonder where we are." Larry scratched the back of his head, seemingly calm now that he had an ally.
"So . . . you don't recognize this place?"
"Not a bit. Then again, I was always bad with places. But I feel like I would have remembered a place with, ah—" He cut off, unwilling to say the word.
"Ghosts?" Maya supplied.
"Yeah. Wonder what they want."
"Have you seen anyone else here?" she asked. Maybe Nick and the others were wandering around somewhere, but the hope was dashed as soon as Larry shook his head.
"Nope. You're the first one I've seen that doesn't look all white and stuff."
There went that idea. She motioned to the computer. "Do you know anything about text messages?"
He sat down at the computer. He was silent as he read through it before finally looking back at her. "This all feels familiar . . ."
She put her hands on her hips. "Obviously! Larry, we sent those messages earlier! Remember? We were at Nick's office—"
"Oh yeah! And then Athena put in the movies and . . . huh, I must have slept through them."
Maya thought back, but it was all fuzzy. "I don't remember watching them either, now that I think about it."
He stared at the numbers on the bottom of the chat. "I could swear those weren't a part of it though."
"No, I didn't think so either. I don't recognize either of the numbers, though, really, who knows phone numbers these days?" The hair on the back of Maya's neck suddenly prickled, and she tugged on Larry's sleeve. "Come on, let's get out of here."
He followed her, though admittedly, he looked confused, still looking towards the computer as she dragged him towards the door. His gasp made her pause.
"Nick?!"
Phoenix Wright was there, hunched in front of the computer. He stood suddenly, and Maya realized he was semi-opaque, color drained from his entire being. In other words, he was as ghostly as the the three students.
Larry gave a shriek, sprinting out into the corridor, but she stayed rooted to the spot. This was Nick, the guy who had always come through for her. He'd tried to cross a burning bridge for her for Ami's sake; if she couldn't trust him, who could she trust? Besides, he didn't seem to be interested in attacking her. He vanished, and she walked towards the computer. Everything was the same except for the last line of the chat.
"I need to tell Edgeworth."
"Tell Edgeworth what?" Maya asked aloud, hands on her hips. As if to respond, Phoenix suddenly appeared at the door and phased through it. "Wait!" she shouted, sprinting after him. He walked down the hallway, and she followed him dutifully down to the second floor. The room he entered said "Art Room," and despite the fact that she could have sworn that it was locked earlier, the door opened easily. Phoenix vanished again, and she decided to look around.
The Art Room was a large room featuring a sculpture of some woman with no arms and a ton of ceramic busts. There was a divider behind the sculpture, hiding most of the far half of the room. Maya stepped inside hesitantly, her sixth sense going off complete with flashing lights. Nick's sudden disappearance reminded her of Missile's when the students had attacked. She brandished the flashlight around the room, and something moved behind the divider.
"I thought that you were a ghost," he said, and her heart leapt. She'd recognize that voice anywhere. "Glad to see that you're alive."
"Edgeworth!" Of course, the joy she'd said that with was fairly inappropriate for the situation, and she tried to smother it. "What are you doing here?!"
"I'm assuming the same thing you are. Or, the same reason, I suppose." He motioned to the table. "Do you know what's going on?"
She seated herself across from him, their flashlights sending a beam of light against the armless statue. "Not really. Have you seen Larry?"
He chuckled, shaking his head. "Yeah. I take it you've seen that idiot too."
"We were just in the computer lab together. But then he got scared and ran off somewhere."
"I'm sure he's fine, Maya." The mild amusement he'd had on his face just seconds before was replaced with concern as he stared at her. "Luckily, even on a good day, Larry's not much help. We'll have to figure things out on our own in order to help him."
Right. He was right. She couldn't give up hope now!
"According to Wright, we're stuck in some . . . place. I believe he called it—" he paused to shift through a few notebook papers, eventually sighing and shaking his head. He bit his lip, holding up a finger before finally saying, "—the Mnemonic Abyss. And we can move through it by calling numbers on our cell phones." He looked up, holding up the cell phone he took from his jacket pocket. "I can confirm that one. I've moved through a few different places now, all while calling numbers I've obtained in this abyss."
"You've been to other places already?" she asked, stunned.
He nodded. "Never for very long, and all of the other places I've been have been isolated. A few rooms at the most. This school is . . . massive in comparison."
Maya whipped out her phone, staring at it for a second. "To get home . . . wouldn't we just need to dial our own numbers? Then we could get to wherever our phone is."
Edgeworth shook his head. "I tried. The call doesn't go through. Not every number seems to work here. And because we're not sure how people get here, if we call their numbers, we could be . . . " He cut off suddenly and she shuddered at what he was implying. "Let's exchange the numbers we currently have. That way we have a way to contact each other for now." She looked into the phone's information for the number she wrote down on a piece of paper and he slid her a piece with his. He opened his mouth before shock flitted across his face, his eyes no longer on hers. "Wright."
She was barely able to turn around in time to see the back of Nick's suit jacket as he fled the room. Edgworth's expression changed to a determined one, and he pushed up from the table, pocketing his phone and the piece of paper with her number on it. "Maya, I'll handle him. You just... Just stay safe. You have my number if you need anything. Don't forget what I told you!" With that last word, he left the room.
Oh no, he wasn't about to leave her alone! She ran after him, freezing when the door slammed shut right in front of her with enough force to send something across the room tumbling to the ground with a loud CRASH. She stumbled backwards, whirling around, only to come face-to-face with a woman she had never thought she would see again. "Dahlia?"
"Maya." The woman gave a giggle, tilting her head and smiling angelically. White butterflies fluttered around her, but Maya wasn't fooled by the innocent demeanor. Dahlia Hawthorne was the worst of the worst; she had been responsible for Diego Armando's poisoning, her mother's murder, and Iris's guilt for so many years. "I hadn't expected to see you so soon."
What was she talking about? "What do you want?" Maya asked, her hand closing around her magatama reflexively.
Dahlia shook her head, flipping her hair over one pale shoulder. "It's not about what I want at all. It's about what you've done."
"Huh?" That caught her off guard. "What have I done?"
"You killed her."
The words seemed to hang heavily in the air between them. Maya flinched, and then the anger started. How dare Dahlia accuse her of doing anything! She shook her head adamantly. "N—no! I didn't kill her. You did."
The siren cocked a slender brow. "I haven't killed anyone."
"My mother! You killed my mother!" Maya said, taking a step forward.
"Oh, her?" Dahlia asked, sounding uninterested. She gave a sigh, twirling her parasol absentmindedly. "You're following the same path again." She took a few steps forward, and Maya went cold, backing up against the closed door. Dahlia's free hand closed around her elbow and images flashed past Maya's vision again.
A snowy mountain.
A dagger.
Blood.
Dahlia stepped back, her charming mask back in place. "See you again soon, Maya." With another giggle, she vanished.
Maya dropped to her knees, her head spinning. What had Dahlia meant? What was going on? Those images of Hazakura Temple and the training area that she kept seeing . . . what were they? She caught her breath and then turned around and opened the door. A flash blinded her momentarily, and as her eyes readjusted, she realized that the cardboard box girl was standing in front of her. "Wait right there! I'll go get my friends, and we'll have you on the front page in no time!"
"Oh nononononononononono! You don't have to do that! No, don't do that!" Maya shouted, lunging out the door, but the girl vanished, leaving her clutching at thin air.
Meow.
Maya turned, seeing the black cat with the bandanna halfway down the hall again. She thought about following it until it brushed up against her leg, purring, and then scampered down the staircase. How could something so adorable be bad? She followed it down to the first floor.
It walked past the Janitor's Office to the hallway she'd left unexplored earlier. She passed the principal's office before the cat stopped in front of the nurse's office, mewling and scratching at the door. A terrified sob sounded from within, and Maya could guess who was inside. "Thanks, little guy," she said, petting his ears. He reveled in the attention before running off again. She opened the door.
The nurse's office was empty. Like, almost completely empty. Besides a small desk pushed up against the wall and two privacy dividers for hospital beds, the only things were little health reminders on signs pasted on the wall. "Wash your hands after touching raw poultry!" one said, and she decided that she could skip reading the rest of them. Larry was sprawled across the nearest hospital bed, his hands over his face. He seemed to be murmuring something to himself, and as she got closer, she could hear, "I just want to go home. I just want to go home."
"Larry?"
He stilled, sitting up. "Oh. Hey, Maya."
She perched on the side of the bed. "How are you holding up?" she asked, trying to impart some cheerfulness into her voice. If she could fake it for Pearly, she could fake it for Larry, right? It definitely sounded like he needed it.
He gave a high-pitched laugh. "Oh, fine. Just fine. You know, with the constant ghosts and all."
"I saw Edgeworth," she said, trying to bolster him with some confidence.
"Like, as a ghost?"
She shook her head. "No! He's alive, like us."
This seemed to cheer him up immensely. "And if I know good ol' Edgey, he's got a plan, am I right?"
"Well, um," Maya tried to figure out a way to tell him that they hadn't quite gotten around to making a plan. "I think he's just gathering information at this point. Like, that, um . . . oh! We can use our cell phones to transport places!"
Larry blinked a few times. "Ex-squeeze me?"
"Like, if you call a phone number, I guess it'll send you to the location that the other phone is in." Theoretically, at least. She hadn't tried it out yet.
Larry leaped out of the bed, a grin wide on his face. "So, I just dial a phone number, right?"
"Right."
A cell phone was in his hand instantly, and he was dialing numbers before she could even process what was happening. "W—wait, Larry!" she tried to say, but he'd hit the send button and held the phone to his ear as she tried to stop him. The cell phone clattered to the floor, and she could hear him scream, but she blinked and he was gone. Completely vanished.
Edgeworth had been right.
She glanced down at her own cell phone. There were a lot of people she could call, but now that she was thinking it through, she couldn't seem to remember a single number. Besides, it wasn't like she knew where she'd be transported to even if she had called. What if whoever she called had been in danger at the time, and she found herself in a worse situation? Or, what if they were like Nick? Could she even call his number?
Larry's cell phone was on the floor, and she picked it up and shoved it in her pocket. It might come in handy, especially if she finally transported somewhere that didn't have a cell phone.
She had just exited the nurse's office when her first cell phone rang. It could very well be the ghost . . . or it could be Edgeworth, now that he had her number. She picked up. "Hello?"
"Maya. Thank goodness you're still okay." He sounded out of breath for some reason.
"Edgeworth! Are you alright?"
"I'm—Yes." His hesitation wasn't overly faith-inspiring, but she figured it would be the best she would get from him. "But this place is very dangerous."
"I'm realizing that." She could still hear him panting. "Have you been running?"
"In a manner of speaking. Listen to me for a second. You need to get out of here. Those spirit things are violent. If you can find Larry, take him with you when you go."
Awkward. "Um, about that . . . Larry sort of . . . transported without me already."
"That useless little—"
His anger was none of her concern at the moment though. "What about you? Shouldn't you go somewhere else too?"
She could hear his sigh as his tone gentled. "I will. There's just something I need to find first. Don't forget to be careful about which numbers you call. We don't know how this will affect people outside of this place."
"Then who should I call?"
There was an awkward pause. "Try to find a number here, I suppose. Listen, after you teleport, I won't be able to contact you, so . . . be careful." He hung up, leaving her with the dial tone.
She'd no sooner put the cell phone back in the pocket of her robe when the notification noise went off. She pulled it out to see a picture of the broken door on the fourth floor in a text message. The sender was anonymous, but the message was clear. Something was in there, and she wanted to know what it was. She had a guardian angel operating somewhere. Maybe it was Mia, she tried, hoping to comfort herself. The thought did make her feel better.
Yeah, that was what she'd go with. Mia had sent her the text message. Not some weird, creepy ghost thing waiting to lure her into danger.
She headed back towards the stairwell, making a quick detour when she heard a phone ringing in the Janitor's Office. Wait, how could there be a phone ringing when the electricity was out?
She stepped inside the room, still not quite surprised when there was no one in there. She picked up the phone, holding it to her ear.
"Mother?" The voice was Pearl's. Maya had heard her call Morgan a million times, and every time, it was the same. "When are you coming back? I just, I—I'm lonely. Ever since, well . . . you know . . ." There was a quiet sob, and Maya pressed the phone more snugly against her ear, heartbroken. "I just want to see you. I'll be a good girl, and I'll train every day. Come visit me soon, please. I love you." The call ended, and Maya set the phone down, tearing up. Poor Pearly. Though, what had she been talking about? Ever since what?
What had made Pearly so lonely?
She shook it off. There wasn't much she could do until she got home, and then she'd spoil her favorite little cousin until Pearly didn't know what had hit her. Until then, Maya checked the text message again before setting back on the path to the fourth floor.
The walk up to the fourth floor was uneventful until the final set of stairs. She looked back, her sixth sense prickling, and saw a girl in a straw hat nestled into the corner of the stairwell, her head bowed. And then, once she'd gotten to the top, she glanced back at the stairwell, not sure what to expect, and saw the man with the splattered apron sitting on the top step, looking down.
She wasn't about to wait for him to look up.
The door was still locked when she got to it, and she rattled it to see if she could break it down. Nope, it stayed firm. She got on her hands and knees, peering through the crack in the door.
Two cell phones, and Edgeworth and Larry both having teleported. It was time to test it out for herself.
She checked the number on Larry's cell phone and dialed it into her own before throwing it inside of the room through the crack. She took a deep breath and then pressed the send button.
Everything faded around her, going black, and she instinctively shut her eyes. When she opened them again, she was inside of the classroom, Larry's phone next to her feet.
It had worked.
There was a glowing white light in the middle of the room, and Maya walked over to it, surprised when it didn't vanish. She could hear muted voices mumbling, but when she got closer, the voices got quieter.
The cell phone, still on the floor, vibrated. Maya walked back to it, surprised when there was a picture of the Record symbol on the screen. She brought the phone back over to where the voices were the strongest and pressed the record button. After a few seconds, it automatically began to play back.
"Did you hear about the guy at the Internet Cafe?"
"Yeah. I bet he died from playing too many video games."
"Probably. Though it says he was a cartoon person, so maybe it was watching too many cartoons online."
"Whatever. Creepy stuff. Besides, a grown man alone in a private internet room? There's not much of a question about what's going on there."
The recording cut off, and Maya wrinkled her nose. Gossip. Hardly any useful information. She put the phone back into her pocket and investigated the room further. There had been something radiating blue light, but she couldn't see anything lit here. She turned on the flashlight.
There was nothing special about this classroom. Thirty desks, all neatly in their rows. Dark windows that she couldn't see out of. There was a magazine perched on one desk, and she shone the light on it. It was an old edition of Oh! Cult! magazine advertising Hazakura Temple. In fact, it looked really familiar, though Maya had been reading the magazine for the past ten years, so that wasn't surprising. There was a picture of Sister Bikini and someone else, but their face was covered up by a giant phone number written in red.
997-494-582.
Maya didn't recognize the number, but there didn't seem to be much else in here and Edgeworth had recommended she go somewhere else. She pulled out her phone when she heard the voice behind her.
"WHERE ARE YOU GOING, MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN?"
Oh no, not him again. Please, not him.
The boy in the painter's smock was back, flanked by the woman hiding in the cardboard box and the tall boy she'd seen earlier. Except, she was pretty sure the taller boy hadn't had something on his hands before. And whatever it was, smeared all over the tall object he was carrying, it looked a lot like blood.
Box girl hopped up, and another flash emitted from her hands. This time, Maya realized it was a camera. "You haven't stayed to see your scoop published!"
"That's okay," Maya mumbled, taking a few steps back. "I, uh, I don't need to-"
"I haven't shown you my genius yet," the taller boy said, getting closer.
They were closing in on her. And then she blinked, and the painter's smock boy tackled her.
She took out four desks as she fell, trying desperately to shake him off. The punch she landed hit him in the middle of the chest, but it was hard enough to make him jerk back so that she could find her footing again. Unfortunately, she hadn't realized the cardboard box inching up behind her until it rammed her in the back of the knees, making her fall backwards. The cell phone fell from her pocket, bouncing across the tile floor.
The phone. She needed to get out of here fast, and calling the other cell phone wasn't going to help, seeing as these ghosts could go through walls. She kicked the box, grimacing a bit when the girl inside yelped, and lunged for the phone.
"Looking for this?" The tall boy had scooped it up, coming closer until he dropped it right in front of her. She reached for it, and that was when the apron guy decided to tackle her again. The box ghost scooped the phone from the floor, just inches from her fingers before tossing the box onto Maya's head. Now blinded (by a ghost box; she wasn't sure how that actually worked), she put her head down against the floor to push up with her hands.
Something pierced through the top of the box.
A split second later, something else shattered on top of the cardboard.
Maya threw the box off, on her feet and grasping for the cell phone that the now-revealed box girl had set on a nearby desk. As quickly as she could, she dialed the first number she could think of.
997-494-582
She hit send, and to her relief, everything started going black. Her gaze fell upon the box, and she realized that an arrow was stuck through it and bits of pottery were scattered around it. The box girl looked at her box forlornly. "Why is it always my box?" she asked.
Everything faded out before Maya had a chance to hear the answer.
A/N ::
Melody Canta ::
I can once again say, FINALLY! This chapter is done! Honestly, these re-written chapters aren't particularly exciting to rewrite, though it is nice to walk back through and add and subtract as I wish. Oddly enough, this chapter is longer than the original. Go figure.
Anyways, I believe the next chapter is also mine, and that one shouldn't take too much time, seeing as it's Larry's chapter rewritten. Any guesses on how that one is going to be different?
Also . . . MISSILEEEEEEEE!
Shikola Krasno ::
OK, this took a while to publish and it was kind of a team effort of procrastination; I finally reminded Melody to write it and then forgot to beta read it. Oops. Thankfully I think this chapter changed enough to still keep people interested. I certainly had fun figuring out the subtle changes in the things she chose to keep.
And yeah, next chapter's hers again (what have I done so far, 3? I swear, I've written quite a bit. . .), but don't write Edgy off yet! He'll be back with some fresh material right after Larry goes through hell again. Then it's plenty of redone chapters, I believe. My only words for upcoming Edgy: I love the Themis academy students (even though Scuttlebutt's not a part of the actual trio, she's fun too), and my only regret is that I don't get to play with them as much as Melody did because a certain student (won't say who) really causes problems for everyone's favorite prosecutor. And, of course, Old Bag will return with a vengeance! Hopefully we'll hurry up and finish this. It's summer, but we're still shockingly busy. See you at the end of the next chapter!