The next day, the sound of the Steel Samurai's theme tune rang throughout the Wright Anything Agency. Phoenix was getting a call from Ema Skye. Phoenix looked down at his phone. He was unsure why Ema would be calling him, but he was worried it was something to do with Apollo. He knew they would never find him while he was staying at the agency, but he knew he couldn't keep Apollo hidden forever, he was going to have to talk about it with the police eventually, just not when Apollo's mental state isn't anywhere near good.
He answered the phone to hear what Ema had to say. Fortunately, she was just calling to see how Phoenix and Trucy have been holding up. Phoenix said that everything was fine and that she didn't need to worry so much.
"Things must be tough for you though," the police detective said. "We don't even have a clue where Apollo is".
Phoenix could hear the sound of nervous eating coming from the other end of the phone. "I'm sure you'll find him soon and we'll find out why he did it," Phoenix played along.
"Hey, mind if I come over?" Ema asked. "It would be nice to talk face to face rather than over the phone, I'm nearby anyway, so I can be there in 10 minutes."
"Maybe you shouldn't... today's not a good day," Phoenix tried to think of a good excuse to stop Ema from coming over. He didn't want her finding out about Apollo just yet. "I-I think I'm coming down with a cold; wouldn't want to pass it on."
"That's a weak bluff, Mr Wright" Ema had seen right through him. "I don't know why you don't want me over, but that just makes me want to get there quicker. I'll be there soon."
Ema hung up. "Shit!" Phoenix shouted.
"What's wrong, Daddy?" Trucy asked.
"Ema's coming over in 10 minutes," Phoenix signed.
"Oh, we haven't seen Ema for a while. I hope she's doing well," Trucy said cheerfully.
"I think you're missing the point... Apollo's here and the police are still looking for him," Phoenix explained.
"Oh... well... can't we just tell her?" Trucy asked nervously. "Apollo's not dangerous and it's not like he killed you. There shouldn't be any reason to arrest him."
"It was attempted murder, he may not have killed me, but he tried to." Phoenix said with sadness in his voice.
"I'm sorry, Daddy..." Trucy sounded as sad as Phoenix.
"For what?" Phoenix wasn't sure what Trucy was apologising for; he couldn't recall her doing something wrong.
"For telling Ema that it was Apollo who stabbed you. If I hadn't told her, we could just carry on as if it never happened," Trucy pouted, feeling bad about herself.
"Hey, it's not your fault. They wanted an answer from me anyway, so if you hadn't told them, I probably would have eventually," Phoenix comforted his daughter. "We can't change the past, but what are we going to do right now. We should wait for Apollo to feel better before the police get more involved."
Trucy ran up to Apollo who was sitting on the sofa, fiddling with his bracelet. He was getting used to wearing it again. "You have to hide," the teenage magician said in a panicked tone.
"Why? What happened?" Apollo was shocked and confused.
"Ema's coming over! If she finds you, the police will take you away because you stabbed Daddy," Trucy was now pulling at Apollo's arm, trying to get him to move.
Apollo couldn't understand how Trucy could calmly mention that he had stabbed Phoenix and was also trying to help him hide from the police. 'Surely I deserve to be arrested; I did stab a man after all'. Apollo didn't budge from that spot.
"What are you doing, get up!" Trucy pulled harder in an attempt to get the stubborn man to his feet, but to no avail. "It's like you want to get arrested."
Trucy let go of Apollo's arm, realising his intentions. "Polly, I'm not letting you get arrested. Daddy has already forgiven you, so it's not right for you to go to jail."
"No, I don't deserve freedom, I should be locked up, then I can't hurt anyone again," Apollo covered his face with his hands.
"That's what you're worried about? Polly, you're one of the kindest people I know. You're not going to hurt Daddy again, you just have to get over your depression and keep happy, then everything will be fine," Trucy flashed a smile to calm Apollo's nerves. "It would hurt us more if you were arrested".
Apollo could understand what Trucy was telling him and knew that he'd have to hide. They can always explain everything to the police at a time that suits them. Phoenix suggested hiding in a wardrobe, but Apollo thought it would be too cramped. They were running out of time fast. Ema was at the door and nobody wanted to answer it to let her in.
"Just answer it," Apollo whispered as he crept into the large box Trucy uses for magic tricks sometimes.
Phoenix opened the door. "Ah, Ema, great to see you," he said as he scratched the back of his head.
"It's nice to see you too," Ema smiled. "But you did seem to not want me here earlier."
"Ah, never mind that..." Phoenix welcomed her in. "Um, have a seat."
Ema sat down on the sofa and started munching on her snackoos. Phoenix was becoming very nervous as Ema sat extremely close to the box Apollo was hiding inside. One sound or movement from Apollo and they'd be found out.
"Trucy, how have you been?" Ema asked between bites.
"I've been alright, worrying about Daddy a lot though," Trucy knew she had act like everything was fine, but not let on that they have had any sort of contact with Apollo. The obvious way to do this was to just not talk about Apollo, or the incident, at all.
"Well, that's understandable, but he appears to be doing just fine," Ema turned to look at Phoenix who was just awkwardly standing there.
"Come and sit with us, Daddy," Trucy said to try and make the atmosphere less awkward.
"Um... I'll just leave you to your girl talk and stuff," Phoenix left the room. 'Damn, Apollo should have just hidden in my room; Ema would have never looked there. She'll probably just stay on the sofa the whole time she's here'. Phoenix sighed.
"You seem to be in a really good today, did something good happen?" Trucy asked her unusually chipper friend.
"I can finally eat snackoos again," Ema said as she continued to stuff her face.
"Couldn't you eat them before?" Trucy enquired with a confused look on her face.
"I was banned for eating them for a month," Ema explained. "Apparently they were distracting me from my work, contaminating the crime scene, and making hungry people even hungrier just by watching me eat them."
The idle chat continued for a while. Trucy soon got up and said she needed to use the loo. During the time Trucy was out of the room, Ema had been left alone. Looking around the room, she realised just how many magic props Trucy has, but it was the large box that caught her attention most.
She stood up from where she was sitting, still stuffing her face with snackoos, and walk over to the box. "I wonder what she uses this box for," Ema spoke to herself and gently knocked on the box. "It's big enough to fit a person inside."
Apollo was startled by the knock on the box; it almost made him jump. Putting his hands to his mouth, he tried to breathe as slowly and quietly as possible.
Ema was just about to open the box to see if there was anything inside when Trucy reappeared.
"Ema!" Trucy shouted, getting Ema's attention.
Ema turned to face Trucy, "Yes?" she replied, confused as to why Trucy was shouting at her.
"Ah, nothing, just, please don't mess around with my props, you're getting crumbs on them," Trucy said, nervously trying to think of a reason to get Ema away from the box.
"Sorry," Ema apologised, not believing she really did anything wrong. She thought Trucy was acting kind of strange. "If I put away the snackoos, can I look at the props in the box?"
"No! They're... um... secret, you can't look until I've perfected the magic trick," Trucy said hoping that it was a believable excuse.
"Just a peak?" Ema asked, slightly opening the box.
The gap in the box let in some sunlight that shone through the window directly onto Apollo's face. His nose began to scrunch up. Trying to hold in the sneeze was impossible. "AAACCHHHHOOOOO!"
The sneeze startled both of the girls. Ema opened the box completely, and was shocked to see Apollo hiding in there. Apollo looked as if he was disappointed in himself. 'I can't do anything right, not even hide,' he thought to himself as he tried to avoid eye contact with the police detective.
"Apollo?! What the heck are you doing here?" Ema began to rant on with many questions, which Trucy knew she and he Daddy would have to answer. "How long have you been staying here? Trucy, were you hiding him here? What is going on? Apollo had gone missing, don't tell he me as here the whole time and you didn't tell me. Why didn't you tell me? The police have still got their eyes out for him. You could get in trouble top for harbouring a criminal."
Trucy looked nervously at Apollo, who was glanced at her before his eyes trailed towards the floor.
Phoenix could hear the commotion. "Shit," he said as he stood up knowing that he'd have to explain everything to Ema. All eyes fell on him as soon as he entered the room. Ema was hoping for an explanation, and Trucy and Apollo were hoping that Phoenix would be the one to do the explaining.
"I'm going to need an explanation," Ema said sternly. The snackoos were nowhere to be seen, Phoenix could tell how seriously she was taking this.
"I'm sorry we didn't tell you, but Apollo has been staying here for a while," Phoenix's face looked equally as serious as Ema's. "But if you're planning on arresting him, I won't allow it."
"He stabbed you," Ema reminded him. "Why are you helping him? You're the victim in this case, so why?" She knew she must sound so horrible to Apollo, but she just didn't understand how one week Phoenix is being stabbed, and the next he's helping his attacker.
"I know it must seem strange, but Apollo and I have talked it through, it's fine now," Phoenix knew he had to think of some way to persuade Ema to let Apollo off the hook. "Apollo's not dangerous, I never said that I wanted him arrested, and yet you're acting as if he's killed someone."
"He could have killed you," Ema stated firmly.
"But he didn't," Phoenix calmly replied. "And it's not going to happen again, so just let it go."
Ema had a feeling that Phoenix was hiding something from her. "It seems like there's something else bothering you," Ema enquired.
"Apollo's suffering from depression," Phoenix stated. "Do you really think sending him to prison is going to help that at all?"
This took Ema by surprise. "He's depressed? Is that why he stabbed you?"
"Ema let's just drop it," Phoenix didn't feel comfortable doing all the talking. He could see each sentence making Apollo look more and more scared and upset. "I just want to be able to help Apollo in any way I can, and I don't see that happening with him behind bars."
Ema understood. She didn't want to have to arrest Apollo; she'd just be doing her job. She knew that Apollo wasn't dangerous, but the police force seemed to get the idea that he was after what he did to Phoenix. "After what he did to you, I doubt we can just forget about it, the police see him as a dangerous criminal."
"Then tell them he's not," Phoenix sounded desperate. "Please, just try to convince them."
"I'll see what I can do," Ema promised.
Phoenix thanked her as she left. Once she was gone, Apollo fell into a crouching position, leaning against the wall, and began to cry.
"Apollo," Phoenix rushed towards and crouched beside the crying man. "It's okay now. If Ema can see that you're not dangerous, then everyone else will see it too."
Apollo began to cry harder, Phoenix gently placed his hand on Apollo's shoulder and pulled him closer to him. Trucy sat on the floor, beside them. She didn't know what to say, but she wanted Apollo to know she's there for him.
"I should have been arrested," Apollo stated when his crying had begun to stop.
"But you weren't," Phoenix gently rubbed Apollo's arm.
"I should have been... I mean, I don't deserve this freedom," Apollo was about to start crying again.
"Apollo, you can't think straight right now, but once you get better, you'll understand that you're better off here, not in prison," Phoenix tried to comfort him.
Apollo nodded in agreement because he had lost any energy he could have used to argue back.
A few hours later, Phoenix received a call from Ema. Phoenix spoke first. "I assume that because I've not had the police over, demanding that I hand over Apollo, things went in my favour?"
"Well, yes and no," Ema replied. "Bad news is that Apollo is to be stripped of his attorney badge. Good news is that they won't arrest him if you're not pressing charges."
Phoenix didn't know how he'd break the news to Apollo about losing his attorney badge, but at least he wasn't going to be in prison.
"Thanks, Ema. I really appreciate you sorting things out for us," Phoenix said, hoping that Ema realised just how much he does appreciate it.
"You're welcome," Ema replied. "But quit hiding things from me,"
"Sorry, I guess I should have told you sooner, rather than try to hide Apollo from you," Phoenix rubbed the back of his head. 'I wonder would have happened if she never found out, would things have gone better or worse?' Phoenix wondered. He thanked Ema once more and hung up the phone.
Apollo was now sleeping in Phoenix's bed. Apollo had refused to sleep every other night, but Phoenix didn't think it would be good for him to be sleeping on the sofa any longer, so Phoenix carried him to his bed once he had fallen asleep.
Before getting some sleep himself, Phoenix went to say goodnight to Trucy.
"Goodnight, Trucy," he said as he peered around the door.
"Oh, Daddy, wait," Trucy commanded before Phoenix could leave. Phoenix fully entered the room. "Daddy, I've got a surprise for Apollo that will definitely turn his frown up-side down."
A/N: This story is almost over... the next chapter should be the last. Sorry I've not been updating as often as I had hoped, but I've just been busy with other things, so I've not had much time for this story, hopefully this slightly longer chapter makes up for it.