A/N: I do not own Phoenix Wright, Miles Edgeworth, Detective Gumshoe, Maya Fey or Ema Skye; they belong to CAPCOM. However, Dr. Benson, Umbrae, Kaine and the plot are mine. :)

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The time has come to reveal the truth and the body lying at the base of the crucifix in Mount Carmel Cemetery holds the key to resolving the mystery of just who it is that's lying there. Is Miles and company too late or is it only the beginning of another mystery?

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Whew! At last, chapter 11! Quite a conundrum, isn't it? Things are coming to a head and, while one mystery will be solved, another one will raise its head and muddy further the dark waters...

I can see Miles wanting to protect both of the girls from seeing the crime scene, a pretty horrific sight, all told, and do not think it would be out of character for him to do so. While both of them have been at crime scenes before, they haven't come across something as gruesome as this so I can see why he'd want to spare them that... even if they don't agree with him or his reasoning. [Which they don't but they do as he says, with reluctance and much muttered grumbling, since Miles is the one in charge.] I can't blame him, really; I'd do the same thing if I were in Miles' shoes.

Nursery rhymes can sure be creepy, can't they? *Toothy smile* There is a reason why I included this particular rhyme; can you figure out why and whom this particular rhyme is referring to as the "King" and the "King's Men"? :^)

My apologies for taking so long with this chapter; busyness rl, writer's block, damned colds and other things all ganged up on me at once! I haven't written PxE for awhile that I've actually finished; I have starts and stops of various fics, including my PxE fics, so I am happy that I've managed to get this chapter done!

"Laddie" is a Scottish word for "lad." "UNSUB" means "Unknown Subject," a tip of the hat to the TV program Criminal Minds.

Thank you to all my readers: those who have commented, read, reviewed, favourited/story alerted my stories and thanks also to those who have author alerted/favourite authored, as well! I appreciate it very much! I am glad that you are enjoying my stories and I hope that you will continue to enjoy them in the future! :) Also, thank you all for your continued patience! I really appreciate it!

Thank you to Midnight-hunter for betaing the first three pages of this fic. Much appreciated! :)

Special thanks to my beloved husband, DezoPenguin, for all his encouragement, love, concern and for reigniting the fire within me to write! Love you, honey, and thanks!

As always, reviews, comments and suggestions are welcomed and appreciated! I aim to improve my writing and comments do help me to do just that: by letting me know what you like, what you don't and what needs improvement. :)

Rated Teen, PxE, male/male relationships, Suspense/Romance

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October 29th
Time: Unknown
Location: Unknown

I woke up with a heavy head, and an even heavier heart, to another day-or would that be week?-in my dark prison, my stomach queasy and my head spinning. For some reason, I felt very sick and I could move only with great difficulty as if my body were residing in a thick, heavy syrup. I couldn't understand why I was feeling so weird; normally, when Dr. Benson gave me my injections, I felt better but now for some inexplicable reason, I didn't feel good at all.

Maybe he's changed the dosage, I thought, trying to keep the contents of my stomach inside while it churned and rolled, or it could be that he's run out of the usual sedative he gave me and needed to substitute it with something else that he had handy until he could get some more of the sedative he's been using. Maybe he didn't want to worry me which is why he didn't mention it. That would explain why I feel so sick...

I rolled over onto my side, drawing my knees close to my chest, curling into a tight ball, squeezing my eyes shut. When will he be coming again? I uncurled a little when I felt like my insides were going to explode via my spleen; once I had, I felt the pressure vanish and I lay still on the cold, hard ground. It's been awhile since my last injection and, the way I'm feeling now, I really could use another.

I swallowed, wanting my spinning head to stop and wishing that I could see Dr. Benson again. I missed his visits and his jovial and outgoing personality, a welcome relief in this place of never ending darkness and mused as to the reason, or reasons, for his absence.

I wonder what could be keeping him? I mused fretfully, the manacles on my wrists clinking as I lifted my arm up to my face, scrubbing at my eyes with impatient fingers, trying to clear them but only succeeding in poking myself in the eye, cursing loudly as I did so. He's never been gone this long before, not that I can remember, anyway. My memory's still a bit fuzzy on that... I sighed, lying down on the ground once more, my head pillowed on my crossed arms. It's certainly a depressing thought, isn't it? He's my only friend here in the dark and he's been absent for a few days-or what feels like a few days, anyway-and I'm worried about him. I worry that he's gotten on the wrong side of them and they've either hurt him badly or worse...

I shuddered and quickly turned my mind away from that unsettling, and frightening, thought. I didn't even want to consider that possibility but yet it nagged at me in the back of my head like a headache that just wouldn't go away, forcing me to confront the awful truth of that statement whether I wanted to or not.

And I most certainly didn't, at this point; Dr. Benson was the only hope I had of getting through this with my life, and sanity, intact and I didn't want to consider the possibility of his coming to some harm at the hands of Kaine and Umbrae. They certainly were capable of unspeakable acts of violence toward another human being and, of that, I was left in no doubt; I still hurt from the savage beating they'd given me awhile ago.

Look at what they did to you, I thought, my hands trembling so badly that the chain attached to the manacles rattled which further depressed my already flagging spirits, casting me deep into the pit of despair. If they did that to you, who knows what they could do to him! I clapped my hands to both sides of my head, moaning in pain as the rattling of the chains drove me further into near-madness with that awful cacophony. He challenged them and you know quite well that they won't let that pass without retribution...!

I couldn't help the direction that my thoughts were heading in, I was filled with so much anger and despair. You stupid, stupid fool! I found myself railing against him in my mind and I pulled up with a great deal of shock, intermingled with shame, when I realized in which direction that my thoughts had taken. Why did you have to challenge them? Why? I clenched my hand into a fist and pounded the rough floor beneath me as hard as I could, wailing my pain, fear and frustration to the uncaring darkness that surrounded me. Damn it, you're my only hope in getting out of here alive!

To my horror and shame, I felt my eyes begin to well up, tears coursing down my face in a steady stream. I tried to stop them but I found that I couldn't and realized soon after, with shaking hands and a queasy stomach, that I had reached the limit of my endurance, that I couldn't take anymore.

My entire world came crashing down on me in that instant as a few unsavory facts became perfectly clear: Dr. Benson had been my one hope of leaving this Stygian underworld alive and now he was missing. He. Was. Missing. The horror, and the reality, of my situation became ominously clear in those few moments with those three words as did my feeling of helplessness when I realized that I was trapped and that I couldn't fight back against my jailers.

I was stuck inside a place god only knew where, imprisoned deep within the bowels of the earth, being kept constantly, day after day and night after night-not that I could tell the two apart anymore and I really had no idea of how much time had passed-perpetually in the dark.

My one hope, my only hope to be free of this awful place, was missing. I had an awful feeling about the fate of Dr. Benson in the pit of my stomach that I truly hoped was wrong; even the grey eyes that had been my source of comfort, besides the good doctor, came less and less these days and I really couldn't figure out why.

A lot of the haze in my memory that had been plaguing me for some time had been burned away and I was beginning to remember more things about myself: where I came from, what my name was, what I did for a living, my assistant-and her cousin's-names and what relationship they had with me and that I had a lover with grey eyes out there somewhere who was probably looking for me although his name still remained beyond my reach. What still eluded me, and frustratingly so, was why I'd been put here in the first place, who I was exactly-all I had were just hazy bits and pieces of fragmented memory-and my lover's name, although I couldn't help but wonder if my lover, as both Kaine and Umbrae kept insisting, was the purported and perpetually shadowy "Mr. Edgeworth."

Try as I might, I still couldn't come up with a solid face that matched the name although bits and pieces of one still floated around in my memory and I frantically tried to grab those pieces but they vanished like smoke on the wind, remaining out of reach to my great despair. Everything was slipping through my trembling fingers and, the more desperately, and tightly, that I tried to hold onto them, the more frequently they disappeared, leaving an empty, hollow space behind.

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October 29th
Mount Carmel Cemetery
Near the crucifix
11:30 P.M.

The closer we came to the crucifix in front of that high and crumbling brick wall, the heavier my feet became. I couldn't help envisioning Phoenix lying dead underneath it until it got to the point where I wanted to turn and run away but I couldn't. I had to know! No matter what the outcome might turn out to be, I had to know if an unimaginably cruel twist of fate had deprived me of my beloved forever.

God spare us that!

The storm had picked up in intensity and I winced slightly as I felt fat drops slapping against my skin, leaving a palpable sting in their wake. Ms. Skye, Ms. Fey and Detective Gumshoe were lagging slightly behind me, each step echoing the dread that we all felt.

We had no idea, at this point, at what, or who, we would find beneath the crucifix but as we slowly came closer I could see, through the shroud-like fog, the beginning of an outline of ...something ... crumpled at the base of the crucifix itself although, at this distance, I couldn't see what was there clearly. I didn't know if it was a body or something else; I swallowed hard but forced myself to continue moving forward, one agonizing step at a time.

Step after step, we came ever closer to solving the mystery of what awaited us at the foot of the crucifix; we could see that the outline was definitely that of a body and it was lying in a crumpled heap, arms and legs akimbo in odd and unnatural positions.

I could feel Ms. Skye wince and even Detective Gumshoe drew in his breath sharply as we walked on, Ms. Fey remaining remarkably silent though I could hear her whispering something under her breath. I wondered if it were a prayer.

Fifty steps to go.

The most painful fifty steps I'd ever taken in my life. All of what I had endured in the past seemed like a cakewalk in comparison but I forced myself to go forward, my feet feeling like they were immersed in a sticky glue.

Forty.

Keep going; keep going. No matter how hard it will prove to be, I need to know. I squeezed my eyes shut momentarily and waited until I could feel the swimming behind them cease before I opened them again to the funereal gloom. We all do...

Thirty.

We can't turn back now. We have to press on...

Twenty.

I don't want to do this!

Ten.

It's too late to turn back now... I have to know the truth, for his sake...and mine. I forced my feet to move forward.

Five.

Five more steps, Miles... only five more steps and then... we'll know the truth.

Zero.

I stopped in front of the crucifix, taking another deep breath, blinked my eyes a few times to clear my vision and willing my racing heart to calm, forcing my chaotic thoughts to still. If there was ever a time that I needed to have my head clear and focused, this was it.

Time to find out the truth. Whatever it will prove to be.

Swallowing hard past the lump in my throat, I forced myself forward, bending slightly at the waist, my eyes widening as I looked down at the dimly lit wreckage of what was once a human body with a sharp intake breath.

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Time: Unknown

I squeezed my eyes tightly shut, mewling sounds pouring from between tightly compressed lips. I... can't... do this anymore... I just... can't! I pounded my fist against the hard ground again, ignoring the razor sharp pain I felt coursing through my hand and arm. I'm still not even sure, really sure, exactly who I am or exactly why I was put in here! Nothing makes any sense!

I pounded the uncaring ground until I no longer had the strength to do so, sprawling in a messy heap in front of the wall, loud, hiccuping sobs being torn from deep within me. All of my rage, my confusion and frustration, and my hopelessness and helplessness all came out in a rushing tide and, while in one respect I did feel a bit better after all was said and done, in another I felt worse than I had before.

As much as I would have preferred not to, I now had to face the truth and a bitter one it was: I was alone in this horrible place and I'd reached the end of my rope; there was no other place to go but down, into that dizzying abyss; only there would I find a way out of this and only there could I ever hope to find some measure of peace.

I give up, I thought to myself tonelessly, closing my eyes once again as I lay there sprawled on the ground. I'm never going to get out of here; they'll never let me go. Dr. Benson is gone and even the grey eyes have abandoned me. I sighed brokenly, my arm slowly rising in the air to cover my eyes. I might as well just give up; it will be much easier that way...

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October 30th
Mount Carmel Cemetery
Midnight

"Oh... my god..." I whispered, Detective Gumshoe, Ms. Skye and Ms. Fey's startled acclamations coming from behind me as I straightened up and stepped quickly forward into the pale moonlight, my face as white as the marble stand that the crucifix stood on. In a momentary spasm of panic, I leaned in close to the remains and was simultaneously startled, and then relieved, as I got a good look at the body and realized that, whoever this was, it wasn't Phoenix!

Wait a minute! This... isn't... Phoenix... I'm sure of it! It's too stocky to be him! Who is this?

I could dimly see Ms. Fey's frightened and white face looking past my shoulder, her hands trembling as she crumpled the handkerchief she held in her hand with such violence that I was surprised that she didn't tear it to bits in her agitation.

"Get back!" I barked and Ms. Fey jumped, her eyes widening in surprise, an undignified squeak of protest rising to her lips that was quickly silenced when she got a good look at my face. "All of you—GET BACK!"

"But, Mr. Edgeworth..." Ms. Skye began but I waved my hand impatiently, ruthlessly cutting her off and shaking my head.

"That means you too, Ms. Skye!" I snarled and she obeyed, white to the lips. "Get back and STAY BACK!" I could hear her grumbling underneath her breath but with a note of hysteria; clearly, my swift change upon discovering the body had frightened both Ms. Skye and Ms. Fey but I was determined to at least shield them from the gruesome, sickening scene that was unfolding on the ground in front of me.

I took another deep breath and swiveled slightly, fixing Detective Gumshoe with a gimlet eye that clearly got across the fact that I meant business and said grimly, in a tone that brooked no argument, "I want you to keep them away from here and make sure they stay away. This is no place for them!"

Detective Gumshoe swallowed and looked, for a moment, to be about to say something but wisely closed his mouth and nodded grimly as he gently started herding the girls to a tree somewhere beyond the dim light.

The moon hung low in the dark night sky, peeking out from behind the wall of fog, showering pale, watery rays of moonlight that gently illuminated the crucifix and surrounding pedestal. The vivid splashes of blood on the pedestal and the Saviour's marble feet seemed to take on a life of their own in the dim light with a sickening clarity.

I could feel my gorge rise but I forced myself to move even closer to the pitiful remains, going down on one knee directly in front of it, ignoring the fact that the ground was soaking wet, peering down on the remains with pity and revulsion in equal measures racing across my face.

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Time: Unknown

Another sob burbled up to my lips before I had a chance to stop it, although I no longer really cared. Everything I'd known, everything and everyone I'd loved, even the life I had led before all this happened had been taken away from me and I was never going to get them back; even my traitorous memory was still fuzzy, bits and pieces of images, thoughts and memories all congealed in a cloud of unknowing, a tattered maze that led nowhere.

Dr. Benson, I thought desperately once my sojourn in the land of self-pity had been completed and I'd wrestled hard in coming back, I really need you! I'm so tired... all I want to do is give up... Help me...! I can't do this anymore!

A few heartbeats went by, the silence deafening as my heartfelt plea remained unanswered, swallowed up in the shroud-like darkness that forever encircled me... and would probably end up being my grave.

Useless... all of it... useless. I clenched my teeth, impotent rage flowing through me as I struck out with my free hand, hearing those damned manacles clanking as I did so. I'm going to die here... I'm going to die here all alone and no one will ever find me...

A few heartbeats more and then...

Well, laddie, a bright, cheerful voice with a thick Scottish burr said near my left ear, my arm flying off of my eyes-and I nearly ended up hitting my cheek with the chain from the manacle that encircled my wrist-with a startled shout that I was sure could be heard above ground, we'll just have to make sure that that doesn't happen now, won't we?

"Dr. Benson... you're... here!" I cried out, a sweet, seraphic smile spreading across his face as he knelt on the ground beside me, setting his black doctor's bag close by. "Where have you been? What kept you? How-"

I couldn't contain the surge of joy that raced through me as I saw him standing there, a dim light emanating from him; in my newfound happiness and surge of hope, I didn't think much of it at the time-other than to note that it was rather odd that he had light coming from within him-but tacked it up to my fevered imagination. What mattered most was that he was here!

He smiled gently at me as he turned away slightly, the crisp snap of the clips of his doctor's bag being opened seemed to echo throughout my silent underground prison and I could hear him rummaging around inside.

I had so many questions racing around in my mind that I felt dizzy but, whenever I opened my mouth to ask, all he did was smile, put his fingers to his lips and bade me to be silent while he continued his search. After being rebuffed in this manner a few more times, I fell silent, resolving to ask him about his absence when this was all over.

"Time for your shot," Dr. Benson said cheerfully, chuckling as he added mischievously, "This won't hurt a bit." I couldn't help to chuckle along with him as I felt him gently pick up my limp arm, wiping it quickly with an alcohol-soaked cotton ball and I sighed with heart-felt relief as I felt the sharp prick of the needle penetrating my skin followed by the blessed rush of the medicine into my body.

Dr. Benson knelt there for some time, watching over me as the sedative began to slowly take effect, his face a mask of tender affection and concern. He reached down, took my hand and squeezed it before putting it down again beside me, my swimming eyes having trouble focusing. The last I remembered before I sank into a deep sleep was his face, and that peculiar expression that seemed to speak volumes.

"Rest now, laddie," he said quietly shortly before I was gently carried off into the darkness, "I'll be back in a few days to see you again. Be safe and don't tell them about me... It's far safer for you if you don't..."

"What-?" That single word was all I was able to get out before my eyelids fluttered shut, sinking deep into the darkness once more...

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October 30th
Mount Carmel Cemetery
12:10 A.M.

The remains lay sprawled at the Divine Crucified's feet in a grotesquely twisted heap and I could feel my heart leap into my throat when I forced myself even closer to get a good look at it. Upon closer examination, I could see the blood-drenched clothing the UNSUB wore, the weird, dark shadowy space that remained, for the moment, at least, hidden from view directly underneath the Crucified's feet.

Peering closer, I could see one bloody hand clutching something long and white with smudged, squiggly black marks which turned out to be a small piece of crumpled paper with something printed on it. My eyebrow rose in puzzlement while I took the time to digest this information.

What on earth is a piece of crumpled up paper doing in the UNSUB's hand? I thought to myself, my eyes narrowing while I looked at the corpse, barely acknowledging the three pairs of eyes who were watching me uneasily. There must be a reason otherwise why would it even be on the body in the first place?

The sickeningly sweet stench of blood with its heavy, coppery overtones, hung thickly in the air around the UNSUB and I found it to be very difficult to breathe, the oppressive stench having an inverse affect on my stomach which began to heave violently, stars swimming before my eyes as I fought the urge to pass out.

I was determined to see this through and I forced myself to calm down, breathing rapidly through my mouth; after some moments had passed, my stomach settled down and I was able to continue with my grim task in silence.

"Is... is... it...?" I heard Ms. Fey's strained voice ask and I shook my head.

"No, it's not Phoenix, thank God!" I replied, my voice heavy with relief tinged with apprehension over the identity of the UNSUB that was sprawled out in front of me. I could also hear three other relieved sighs emenating from the darkness.

Silence reigned for some time before Ms. Skye broke it.

"Who... do we know who it is?" Ms. Skye piped up, her voice tight with strain and unhappiness.

"No. I've never seen the UNSUB before, that much I am sure of." I squeezed my eyes tightly shut for a moment before opening them again. "I'm sure I would have recognized this person if I had seen them but it's a complete mystery to me who this is... or exactly what happened to the UNSUB."

I looked away for a moment, swallowing hard. "What I can say at this juncture is that the UNSUB died a very horrible death; judging by the amount of blood on both the UNSUB, the pedestal and the marble statue's feet, he or she was probably tortured before being killed with his or her death being protracted by whoever it was that killed the UNSUB."

My eyes traveled over the corpse before they swiveled to the tall, crumbling wall that was to the right of the crucifix, taking in the blood spatter that was sprinkled down the wall intermittently all the way down to ground level. "Shortly after the UNSUB was killed," I went on as if in a dream, "he was brought up to the top of this wall and either thrown, or pushed, off the top although just how those who killed the UNSUB managed to do this at this point is unknown." I sighed, rubbing my eyes with tired fingers. "We'll know more when I put the call into the police department to request for a C.S.I team and police backup." I looked up at the sky, my eyelashes fluttering on my cheeks as rain drops splattered intermittently against my chilled skin. "I don't know who this poor soul is but we'll make every effort to discover the UNSUB's identity. It can't be coincidence that a body would show up here since we were directed to come here by person or persons unknown..."

I swiveled back toward the corpse, taking another deep breath while I reached out for the hand that clutched that crumpled piece of paper. With a grimace of distaste, I gently pried the fingers back and, after some time, had succeeded in gradually pulling the paper free; I stood up, brushing the blood on the sodden grass, and holding the paper up to the moonlight.

I squinted, turning the paper this way and that as I tried to make sense of the printed words; that they had survived at all was a miracle and I put more effort into deciphering the enigmatic message. Time seemed to stand still in the cemetery while I worked hard to decipher the words that appeared to be no more than a sodden, matted mess of squiggly black marks.

My eyes widened and my hands began to shake as the message on the crumpled, sodden and blood-stained piece of parchment became sickeningly, and unmistakably, clear and I let out an involuntary moan.

Oh, my God... It... can't... be!

I swallowed hard as I looked once more down upon the blood-stained paper, my heart hammering in my chest so loud I was surprised that Ms. Fey, Ms. Skye and Detective Gumshoe couldn't hear it as they stood silently, though agitatedly, somewhere in the darkness.

"Mr. Edgeworth?" I heard Ms. Skye ask, her voice thick with tension and I could hear some rustling in the trees where they stood. "Mr. Edgeworth, what are you reading? What do you have?"

"The crumpled piece of paper that the UNSUB was holding in his hand," I replied tersely, swallowing a few times to clear my throat, my voice rough with dread and apprehension. "I... think I know what it says."

I looked down at the paper, reading these words:

Humpty Dumpty Sat On A Wall
Humpty Dumpty Had A Great Fall
All The King's Horses
And All The King's Men
Couldn't Put Humpty Dumpty Back Together Again.

"What does it say?" she persisted but I remained silent, refusing to answer her. She tried to pry more information out of me but I clamped my mouth tightly shut; if what I was reading was any indication, neither Ms. Skye or Ms. Fey would want to see what I was forced to contend with.

Whether Ms. Skye or Ms. Fey liked it or not, I was determined to protect them from this hideous scene and mere protestations from the girls were not enough to move me from this position; while they may have seen crime scenes before-and I was certain that Ms. Fey certainly had, having investigated cases with Phoenix-but I doubted that they had been exposed to such a hideous scene as this and I didn't want to expose them to it.

I read, and re-read the paper again a few more times to make sure that what I was seeing, with sickening clarity, was exactly what was there. I now knew who was responsible and that the UNSUB, whose pitiful, wracked body was sprawled out beneath the crucifix, had somehow fallen foul of Kaine and Umbrae. This UNSUB, whoever he or she may have been in life, was who the caller had referred to in that cryptic minute or two long call that prompted us to come out here to investigate.

I looked down again at the printed words, a nursery rhyme of my childhood used to such hideous effect, effectively ignoring Ms. Skye's repeated questions:

Humpty Dumpty Sat On A Wall
Humpty Dumpty Had A Great Fall
All The King's Horses
And All The King's Men
Couldn't Put Humpty Dumpty Back Together Again.

My hand curled into a fist, my eyes narrowing as I thought of the poor unidentified soul that lay crumpled at my feet. While I didn't know at this point in time just who this person was, he or she certainly didn't deserve to die in such a horrific manner. It made me more determined than ever to bring those two to justice.

I'll beat you yet if it's the last thing I do, Kaine. You have my word on that.

I stood up, my face a grim mask as I reached into my pocket for my cell phone, brought it out, flipped it open and dialed a number with quick, efficient fingers. I had a call to make.