Of course, I made Polly and Truce more emo to fit the AU thingy. You can scream OOC fest, but ever since AA5 exists, I guess emo Polly is possible.

Finally, the end of the trial, with a twist!

Disclaimer: I do not own Ace Attorney and its characters. I also do not own the in-game scripts that can be found in this chapter. Capcom owns them.

Chapter 11: A Dark Savior

Date: April 20th 2026, 1:45 PM
Place: District Court, Courtroom No. 2

When Mr. Wright finished his testimony, the audience was out of words. A new detail was brought about the fact that Mr. Gavin had indeed been at the Borscht Bowl Club the night of the murder. The fact was nothing new to Apollo and anyone who were acquaintances to the man since he was a "regular" to the place, but no one else was aware about it in the audience, including the judge and the prosecution.

Now, the defense attorney tried to concentrate his thoughts to the current testimony. However, he was fighting to wonder if the truth was really all that counted for him, like Mr. Gavin and even his little brother Klavier had always taught him, or rather the safety of his mentor.

That mentor who had saved him and his sister when they needed a savior.

Even Mr. Gavin appeared to stray away from his own convictions, now that he was left cornered in this room. "Justice," the man called. The name was direct and harsh, filled with authority.

"S-Sir!" the young lawyer straightened up his voice and posture at the name, nearly in a soldier way.

"He's lying, and you're going to expose him."

A pause struck Apollo before he answered. "Understood, sir."

Trucy saw it too, the distress of her brother even though he did his best to hide it. After all, he had never been really good to hide his tensions and lies. How ironic since he was the best at finding tensions and lies from others, no matter how hard they tried. The odd thought nearly gave her a small, pleasant time for giggles, but now, everything in front of her was darkness and despair. In a way, she was glad to see the whole thing from the gallery, unlike her brother who had to endure the complete ordeal and had to make the show go on. The thing must have been much harder for him….

…Especially when he was sitting right beside the man, the one who agreed to help him for his first trial, the one who was trying to hide the truth.

She tried to find more comfort by hanging onto Clay who simply covered the girl with his arms, attempting to give her the warmth she needed at the moment. "Don't worry," the young man gently whispered to her. "Everything will be fine! Apollo will be fine; Mr. Gavin will be fine too!"

But even Apollo's signature comforting words weren't working right now.

Another new fact came to everyone during Mr. Wright's cross-examination: he had tempted with one object in the crime scene, which was putting the victim's hat on his head.

"He wore it through our entire poker game," Mr. Wright indicated. "After calling the police, when I returned to the scene, his head was in full view. Shining bright… Just like in this photograph. I picked up his hat up of the floor and put it on his head."

Mr. Payne was surprised by the action of the defendant. As an ex-attorney, the man should have known it was technically illegal to temper with a crime scene before the arrival of the force. "Wh-Wh-Why'd you do a thing like that?" the old prosecutor spurted out.

"All I can say is… I'm sorry," Mr. Wright sighed. "But that's the only thing I touched at the crime scene."

Apollo didn't really like where this was going, but he went back to his high composure for the sake of the trial. "So… Ms. Orly didn't see it?" the young attorney added. "'It' being the victim's… er, his head."

"I'd think not" Mr. Wright answered. "She was out cold. I believe I was the only one who witnessed his head."

In the end, the cross-examination didn't get anywhere, and Mr. Gavin was starting to lose his patience, especially with all the talks about the bald head of the victim and the missing planted card.

"I believe that's enough of that."

All attention was turned to Mr. Gavin who just pronounced these words. "Mr. Gavin?" Apollo called him, but for once, the man ignored his protégé.

"This witness's 'testimony' is more like a 'travesty'. It's riddled with lies. I'm beginning to see how you came to lose your attorney's badge seven years ago…"

Apollo felt like he had to intervene. "Mr. Wright!" he cried to his client. "If you intend to ever tell the truth about this case… It's now or never!"

The defendant laughed. "Don't be misled. I haven't told a single lie here. When I noticed the 'trap'… I put the card in the bottle to dispose of it. And when I put the hat on the victim's head… Let's just say I had a reason for doing that as well."

He took out his cellphone. "That reason… is right here."

And soon enough, all ears were drawn to the recorded conversation on the cellphone: a quite, revealing one.

Phoenix
Kristoph. I seem to be in a bit of trouble.

Kristoph
What's this? Game not going well?

Phoenix
Something like that.

Kristoph
That gentleman who challenged you… He turned out to be good?

Phoenix
He turned out to be dead. Someone hit him. Hard.

Kristoph
You mean someone cracked that flawless bone china pate? It… wasn't you, was it?

Phoenix
Me? Please. The cops should be here any minute.

...

The recording ended, leading the entire court in silence. It was when Apollo sensed like he was giving in to the truth, the gloomy one. "W-When… did he see this 'bone china pate'?" he questioned, strains audible in his voice.

"Perhaps you would like to explain this to the court?" Mr. Wright drew the attention to his defense lawyer's mentor. "Exactly how did you come by your privileged knowledge of the victim's head?"

However, Mr. Gavin refused to end the thing in defeat. "So, this is your 'reason'," the mentor began coldly. "The reason why you put the victim's hat back on. It's come down to this, has it… Phoenix Wright."

This little verbal fight had led people in the gallery to start gossiping among all, drowning the voices of the people on the stage. To this, the judge was left with no choice but to implement another recess, the final one, to prepare both Mr. Gavin and Mr. Wright for what may come as soon as the trial will be back in session.

In the court, however, two individuals didn't want the trial to continue, for their own sanity.

They were going to lose their savior, for sure.


Date: April 20th 2026, 2:32 PM
Place: District Court, Lobby No. 3

Apollo's eyes widened when he found Trucy siting alone on the couch in the lobby. Her eyes appeared to have swollen from few tears that were still shining on her pupils. The older brother couldn't help but wrap his arms around her, each other rubbing their back for coziness.

"Polly…" the teen girl softly murmured to her brother. "Do you really think… Mr. Gavin did it?"

The young man almost refused to answer the question, but… what mattered was the truth, right? "That's what… the evidences are telling us…"

Both of them released each other, though Trucy now decided to stay leaned against her brother's side. Apollo put an arm around her shoulders, gently stroking her upper arm. "I… need to tell you this…" the sister revealed, her voice still hoarse from the crying. "I saw something on him today."

Apollo raised an eyebrow at her. "W-What do you mean?" he asked, his chords trembling.

"A twitch on his right hand, I saw a demon's face while he was addressing me during the last recess, as if… he had something to hide. He was holding some meds bottle in his hand…"

No, how was that possible? Everything seemed to fall against their savior, their angel, and now this. The medications comment appeared a little random, but he had never seen Mr. Gavin with any medication before. Were these related to his tension?

"I… don't want to lose him, Polly!" her tone was now getting frustrated. "He gave us everything! A home, food, friends, and even a family! He… can't be a murderer!"

However, her rant was greeted by silence. Apollo didn't know how to respond to that. He didn't want this to happen either, but if Mr. Gavin really did something bad, then… he had no choice but to find the truth.

When the recess was about to end, a curiosity went by their door: a sealed envelope was sleeping under the lobby entrance, and Trucy went to open it carefully. Something was inside it.

An ace card. A bloody ace card.

Was this the missing fifth ace?

"We should get back to our seats, Truce," Apollo remarked while adjusting his tie and clothes. "The recess is going to end soon."


Date: April 20th 2026, 2:45 PM
Place: District Court, Courtroom No. 2

That was not part of the truth he was aiming for.

Mr. Gavin was now alone, proudly standing on the witness stand, directing his eyes on everyone in the audience, but particularly toward a certain young girl whom he got to know through all these past years.

Even Trucy was unable to cheer things up, but Mr. Gavin didn't mind.

He just gave her a reassured smile until his attention went back to his student's direction. Somehow, Mr. Wright, now being pretty much out of the guilty way, was now standing close to Apollo, all confident, almost all happy.

This angered him.

In order to make the trial continue, Apollo had no choice but to go along with the flow, as far as to mention that the only way to know about the bald head of the victim was to be present at the crime scene. And for once, Mr. Wright actually complimented Apollo on the thought, which, for an instant, flattered the young attorney.

In his testimony, Mr. Gavin finally admitted he had gone to the Hydeout because he apparently "felt", inside the man, the rage that was going to be used through the cheating method against his pianist friend. This was how he saw the bald head on the now dead man. He added he saw his friend with the murder weapon, probably after he was done with the deed.

It was now Apollo's turn to question the man, but he really had no idea how to deal with his own mentor. "Mr. Justice, are you prepared?" the judge asked him, seeing the obvious discomfort emanating from the defense attorney.

"Yes, Your Honor…" Apollo half-lied, his fists still glued on his desk as if he didn't really want to move from there.

The process of the questioning didn't seem to get anywhere until the fact about the swapping card color came back. This time, confident as ever, Mr. Gavin asked his student what reason the "real killer" had to swap the cards in the victim's hand.

Suddenly, Apollo remembered.

In the lobby, when he was speaking with Trucy… the envelope, with the ace card and blood on it.

Could that be… the evidence he needed?

Well, there was nothing to lose now that they had gone so far in the trial, so he might as well show that bloodied ace card.

However, unbeknownst to him, that card was going to be the evidence that will mark Mr. Gavin's end. As soon as his mentor saw the card, he panicked, twitching and tensing all around, clutching against his own body.

"In-Inconceivable!" Mr. Gavin loudly mumbled from the shock, now drawing his concern to his clueless protégé. "How could you… What are you doing with that card!?"

It was not every day Apollo saw his mentor acting that way, and this led him to become speechless. Mr. Wright came to his rescue by answering for his attorney. "Oh, that card? It's mine," the defendant answered. "That is, I picked it up at the Borscht Bowl Club that night after the murder had occurred."

"N… No! Impossible! Unacceptable!" Mr. Gavin added, loss of words. "The court can't accept this evidence! It's a fraud!"

"A fraud?" Mr. Wright commented, his smirk wider now. "How can you be so sure? I would think the only person who could claim it was a fraud would be the one who took the real card from the crime scene… The real killer!"

Suddenly, the world had fallen upon the young defense attorney when his mentor and his client were arguing about what really happened in the crime scene. He had a hard time keeping up his attention on them because he realized that everything was surely lost now.

Why the hell did he present that card? For the truth, again?

Mr. Wright pretended that the card must have been taken away by the murderer since that one drop of blood would have been decisive evidence. Shortly enough, they managed to prove with that single card that there was a secret passage behind the cupboard that stood straight behind the position where the victim was sitting, rendering the position of the "second witness" useless. Thanks to the new fact, the new cupboard position completely hid the window where Mr. Gavin pretended to stand while witnessing the crime.

Everything pointed at him again.

When the judge finally cleared Mr. Wright from all suspicion, Mr. Gavin let out another loud objection with an obscure giggle.

"The defendant is 'cleared of all suspicion'?" the defense mentor commented, nearly indignantly. "This is hardly the time for jokes, Your Honor. Mr. Wright hasn't proven anyone's guilt or innocence here. What he has done is to use illegal evidence to put the blame on someone else!"

"I-Illegal evidence?" the judge gasped at the man's observation, but he was being interrupted by the defendant's objection.

"Let me ask you, Mr. Gavin," Mr. Wright started with protest. "Is there still any reason, at the present, to suspect me of wrongdoing?"

A barely noticeable pause stood before Mr. Gavin replied. "...Of course. This bottle, for instance. How do you intend to explain away your fingerprints on the murder weapon? The court, and this case, demand an explanation. I can think of only one reason why one would hold a bottle upside-down, and that is to hit someone with the bottom of the bottle. Well, Your Honor?"

A sudden gleam shined in Apollo's eyes at his mentor's objection. Maybe… maybe there was still a little hope that Mr. Gavin was not in the guilty party… A tiny fragment of hope was all he wished for. At this point, he had no care to see his defendant innocent or guilty, as long as Mr. Gavin will run free, once again…

However, when the attention was returned to him, asking for an explanation for Mr. Wright's fingerprints on the murder weapon, while he was skimming through all the evidences, he found his answer. A quite, simple answer.

In one of the photos of the club, a box of few bottles were placed near the pianist's feet. Naturally, if he were to pick up one of these bottles, he'd had to pick them upside-down.

And after examining the other bottles in that box, the famous cheated card added by Ms. Orly was found in one of them, proving the bottles were swapped. Only one person could have done it.

Kristoph Gavin.

The man was cornered.

Stuck between the four walls of this very courtroom, no criminal were able to leak out from them, where everyone were a witness to the baddies.

Immediately, the bailiffs ran to the mad man, quickly handcuffing him on the back. Mr. Gavin surrendered easily with no resistance, smiling at everyone in the audience, but especially to his "friend", Phoenix Wright.

When the judge pronounced his "not guilty" verdict, the audience applauded, but two people in this very courtroom couldn't think straight anymore.

Apollo Justice and Trucy Enigmar.

Their world crumbled in front of them as their dark savior was taken away from them.

It was the end.


"Objection!"

That objection from the man of truth, Phoenix Wright, echoed like a bullet in their heart along with a soft but slight diabolical laugh.

Wait, what else was needed to be added? Mr. Gavin was already destroyed, his castle was smashed, his fame had been crushed to dust. He was going to rot in a cell for he didn't know how long. Please, be merciful to the man Mr. Wright, the young attorney thought.

"Your Honor, please, I haven't finished," the newly freed defendant added while Mr. Gavin, attached by a pair of solid handcuffs, was taken away by the bailiffs.

"Mr. Wright," the judge started. "The trial cannot continue. I already passed my verdict."

The ex-attorney merely laughed again at the comment. "I know, Your Honor. However, this isn't about the trial. Please, hear me out. We need to get at the bottom of this."

"Five minutes. No more. I promise… Your Honor."

Apollo jolted. He remembered these words very well. Klavier begged with these very same words seven years ago before the fall of the ace attorney. In spite of the vengeful tone, Phoenix Wright had used them again today, this time with a shadowy mocking voice.

The old man gave the defendant a glare, deep in thought as he rubbed his beard. "Well, you certainly make it look rather important, Mr. Wright. I guess I can grant you these five minutes."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Gavin turned over, glaring at his old friend with an icy frown, but he still had his angelic smile somehow. How could his mentor keep his cool like that?

"Thank you," Mr. Wright commented. "Now, all of you seem to forget about the other victim of the regretful ordeal. I'm sure Your Honor knows what I'm talking about."

However, the judge lowered his eyes with a slight disgrace. "I'm sorry, Mr. Wright, I might have really forgotten. I'm working in a lot of cases…"

"Well then," Mr. Wright said, now turning his attention to the lone defense attorney whose state was still in shock. "Let's ask our young 'ace' attorney, shall we?"

Apollo glared at his client in utter confusion, his eyes still widened by the worries, his low eyebrows indicating a mix of worries and sadness, his fists firmly laying on the desk with anger, his teeth gritting in resentment. He took a heavy breath, digging in his thoughts to find out what his client was actually talking about.

And when he realized it, he froze in terror.

He really hoped that wasn't the case. After all these years…

"Y-You mean… the case about the… death of the restaurant cook, Mr. Bell Crook?" Apollo asked, his voice trembling.

"You remember well, Apollo," Mr. Wright complimented with a sneer.

"B-But the victim had been devoured by a v-vampire and he sh-shot himself since he was becoming one, which is why this has never been brought in this trial!"

"Really. Do you really think he killed himself?"

There was a silence.

"Then who killed him?" Apollo questioned straight to the main point, his voice getting more and more aggressive.

The answer surprised everyone. "I did," the defendant admitted, though he remained unfazed.

In a fury, the defense attorney hit the desk with his fists once again. "Mr. Wright, why did you do this?" he yelled out, almost begging him to go directly to the reason for this barbaric act.

"Bell actually asked for this," Mr. Wright simply answered. "He was changing into a vampire after all. After I called Mr. Gavin, I went back to the crime scene via the hidden corridor, which, as you might remember, happened to be linked to the kitchen. That was when I found Bell, clutching against the wall, bleeding and panicking, the poor man. He didn't have enough time to clearly see the one who bit him and left him for dead, but he remembered hearing someone coming out from the hidden passage."

"He reached for his gun, but he couldn't do it himself. As a hunter myself, I had easier time to kill vampires. Though killing one while he was becoming one of them had been a little harder for me, I admit, even if it is perfectly legal to kill a human changing into a vampire."

"As you might know, the little smiley badge on my cute beanie has a recording device on it. I've decided to record the entire thing, just in case… Shall I play this now?"

Mr. Wright pressed a button on his macaroon, and to everyone's surprise, a sound recording played itself.

Bell
*coughs* Phoenix…

Phoenix
Bell! Are you… Oh no…

Bell
I-I've been b-b-bitten… He left me for dead, but… I-I'm not… I'm going to… to… be one…

Phoenix
No… Where's the vampire? Where has he gone?

Bell
I-I don't know… I fainted… But I saw him coming out from the Hydeout… I remember… Bright blond hair… That's all I-I r-r-remember…

Phoenix
You can't mean…

Bell
P-Please, Phoenix… I c-c-can't do it… Take this… g-gun…

...

The recording was cut here.

No one said a thing until few sobs resonated through the grand room.

They came from the defense attorney.

Coming out from the Hydeout. Bright blond hair. Those words echoed through his mind while he tried to shoo them away. His eyes were wandering around aimlessly until they locked themselves to his mentor's. The man was still giving him a smile despite all, a serene one, but Apollo could feel it, the bracelet tightening forcefully around his wrist when his attention was still drawn onto the man.

Mr. Gavin was feeling extremely tense and he was scared.

"You've no proof, Wright." Mr. Gavin bluntly commented.

Mr. Wright laughed at the man. "No, but Kristoph, since when do we need a proof or even a crime to punish a vampire?"

A… vampire…?

So, that was the truth, the whole truth? Apollo aimed for the truth just like he had been taught by his mentor, his friends, his sister, everyone. But… that wasn't the truth he was aiming for.

"Mr… Gavin…" the young man finally managed to mutter, addressing to his savior, his wide eyes were now bathing in barely visible tears. "I-If… you're not… one of them… then… you have no objection to prove yourself as… one of… us?"

However, to this, Mr. Gavin let out a soft chuckle. "Even if I have, I cannot hide anything from you anymore, can't I, Apollo Justice, now that the truth had been drawn out?"

And this time, Mr. Gavin widely smiled, letting out a gentle, hardly audible primal snarl, with visible sharp teeth under his upper lips.

The world had fallen upon the siblings.

"However, can I have… few last words?" Mr. Gavin giggled, and his concern was brought to his two protégés, to everyone's surprise. He could clearly see it, in the gallery, the sad eyes of his student's little sister, held by the two men who accompanied her. However, despite all, the girl managed to free herself from them and run through the audience, shoving anyone on her way, not even considering running around them with precaution. When she reached her destination, she aimlessly gripped onto her brother who welcomed her in his arms.

"Justice, Trucy. I'm surprised you haven't found out about my… true nature earlier, considering so many hints pointed to me as one of these so called 'dark' spawns. Your faith in me was… rather strong, almost blind, if I can say, so much even your little… sixth sense couldn't find me out. Have you ever wondered of the reason why I stopped my career as an attorney eleven years ago? The reason is simple: it was the year I was… reborn, a month before I found both of you."

"Of course, I couldn't live under the sun anymore, I couldn't even do my job properly, so I had no choice but to change my way of life. Oh! How hard it was to keep my sanity intact after I was reborn, but… there is a way, a way for us to keep our… humanity."

"I'm pretty sure you're thinking: 'But how can this be possible? How Mr. Gavin can possibly be a vampire? He was a hunter himself, for god's sake!'. Heh heh heh… such ignorance in humans gives me laughs."

"If I were to use the same fact on humans, suddenly, everything makes sense. How can a vampire kill another vampire? The same way a human can kill another human, simple as that."

"I admit, the reason I'm a hunter is… because I loved being a human being. With my newly acquired senses, I knew I could put them to use by hunting vampires and earning my life in the process. After all, we live in a country where material goods are part of the pleasures of life, and money is needed for this. I have no sympathy for… my own kinds."

"Yes, I have killed Smith because he was a rotten, cheating man. I also have killed many others for my own survival. I have also brought few in the darkness with me when we were short on hunted primes, but rest assured that I only changed the foul ones."

"Yes, I am the one who devoured that accursed lawyer Davon Malone, ten years ago, for stealing and ruining the life of two innocent children. How tasteless his blood was! So bitter, so cold. I still remember its disgusting taste to this day!"

"Justice, I admit, when I found you and your sister, clutching against each other under that cold raining night in the Vitamin Square, with your bracelet that shined despite the darkness of that day, the first thing that came to my mind was how I will be able to make use of your… Gramarye power. And how useful your sixth sense was to me! Humans and vampires smell the same and it is even hard for a spawn like myself to distinguish ones from others! But you… you could perceive them, discern them…"

"Every day, I told myself that as soon as you and your sister will discover my dark side, I'd… change you both…"

"…because I could never bring myself to kill you. Your power made my job more lucrative than ever!"

The two siblings were at loss of words. So, that was… their savior's plan all along. He didn't save them out of compassion, but for profit.

They refused to believe it.

"I'm a rotten man. I did all of this, because I'm an evil being devoid of love and empathy. Isn't that enough?"

A dark and loud laugh uncontrollably escaped the vampire's lips.

"Objection!"

The protest came from the low-spirited attorney, his voice sounded like he was begging, begging for pity from the authority of his court. "Mr. Gavin… I… object… Y-You can't be… one of them… You… can rationally think like us… You came to this trial under a sunny weather outside and yet, your skin d-didn't burn… A-And y-"

"Justice," Mr. Gavin interrupted. "You think too much. There's no need to stress yourself over this. After all, I am… one of your hunted preys. Think of me as one of them, because that's what I am."

"However, if you must know the answer to your wonders, I'll give you a hint. To my knowledge, one human, a genius psychologist and pharmacologist who worked in the famed Cosmos Space Center, was the only one on this entire little Earth could truly understand us, filthy vampires. Unfortunately, she is long gone from this world."

"Dr. Cykes, that is all."

"Bailiffs," he returned his attention to the ones escorting him, smiling at them, ignoring the strong reaction that came upon the two sobbing siblings. "Don't let them see my execution, for their sanity, at least."

These were his last words until the bailiffs escorted him to the backroom. Soon enough, few seconds after the door shut firmly, a gunshot resounded through the courtroom, nearly sounding forever through the siblings' ears. A swift and painless end was the sweetest thing Mr. Gavin could have asked for.

In the courtroom, the only one who was still smiling was Phoenix Wright.