(Thirty-four, thirty-five, thir… Thirty-seven, then.)

Athena wasn't used to feeling this tense while running. She spent so much time doing so that she'd gradually developed a sort of Zen state of mental calmness which she could comfortably slip into as she ran, a condition that she found to be immensely useful short of the occasional risk of running headlong into a pole.

This was something different, however.

Maybe it was just the strange absence of Widget's metallic casing bumping gently against her chest with every step, or her resurfacing worries about what her reoccurring headaches could mean. Whatever the cause, she didn't seem to be approaching the state of relaxation she'd started this jog to achieve. As a countermeasure, she had spent the last block counting up the many rows of vehicles lining the street next to her, which were arranged in a truly miserable-looking traffic jam. She tried to ignore the countless unpleasant looks she was receiving from those unfortunate enough to be crammed into the crowded wall of tinted windows and noisy engines.

With the overbearing hum of the dozens of engines running so near to her, it took her several seconds to realize that her phone was buzzing in her pocket.

-Call from: Phoenix Wright-

"Oh, good…" Athena muttered. "Hello?"

"Hey, Andrea. It's me, again."

Athena could easily tell by the sound of his voice that Phoenix was still concerned about her outburst earlier. "Nick, hey," she said, making sure to sound as upbeat as possible.

"Sorry if I'm being kind of overbearing," Phoenix said, to which Athena mentally replied, (And you are) "But I just… Look, you're OK, right? I got really worried when you ran off earlier. Mia, too."

"Yeah. I could've handled that better," Athena admitted, "But yes, I'm OK."

Phoenix didn't reply. "I promise." Athena added.

He still waited through an usually long pause, but Phoenix finally brought it to an end by saying, "… I believe you. And, sorry, Andie, I just get…" he trailed off for a moment, during which Athena rounded a rather noisy street corner. "Are you…?"

"Running, yes." Athena said.

"O-oh. Uhh, sorry to interrupt you, should I hang up…?"

Phoenix's nervous demeanour could be a bit amusing – even cute, though Athena wasn't about to say that out loud - in how it clashed with his future self, but with the way it was affecting their conversations, Athena was starting to find it grating. She wanted to sigh out of frustration, but instead said, "Nah, it's OK. I can multitask, trust me."

"Yeah," Phoenix said with the tiniest laugh, "I've kind of gotten that impression." Athena could hear something in the background of the call that sounded like Phoenix scratching his neck nervously. "Listen, Andie?"

"Yeah?"

"This is kind of a stupid time to ask, what with the trial coming up and all, but,"

Athena spotted a nearby bus stop with a bench. Sitting seemed like the best thing to do, if her suspicions about what Phoenix was about to ask were correct. Though, she was less certain of whose benefit it would be for. Back in her studying days in Europe, there had been a few occasions on which she shot down dating requests, but those had all been random classmates that she wasn't well acquainted with. Phoenix was a bit of a different case.

"How am I gonna say this…?" she heard him quietly muttering. Athena stopped at the vacant bench and sat down. Phoenix probably thought she didn't hear his mutterings, she thought.

"So… You had a good time when we were hanging out yesterday, right?"

"I did," she said, idly fiddling with her single earring. (Please, please, please get this over with quickly, Mr. Wright…)

Phoenix sounded more confident at her response, as he went on, "So, I was wondering if you wanted to, uhh… Y'know, do that again sometime…?"

Athena blinked. (Well, that was a bit more vague than I expected.) "… You mean like a date…?" she asked pointedly.

Phoenix's bolstered confidence vanished in a second. "Y-yeah-… Oh, man… I-I mean, if you wanted to I'd-…"

Athena smiled out of sympathy. If she ever made it back to her own time period, she wasn't sure she'd ever be able to look at Mr. Wright the same way again. "Nick, you don't need to lose your head over this, it's-…"

(Wait, stop, stop.)

It must have been her instinctive urge to sympathize that made her do it, but Athena caught herself actually considering agreeing just to ease Phoenix's embarrassment.

(No, Athena. You're messing up time enough as it is, just say no and back off…!)

"S-so, do you want to, then?" Phoenix replied, audibly trying to level his voice.

"Sure, why not?"

It took a second for Athena to process the words that had just left her mouth. Whatever Phoenix said in response went unheard as her thoughts ran into overdrive.

(What. "Sure, why not"!? What the Hell are you doing!?)

She hadn't meant to agree, that was for sure, but she'd just done it. Phoenix was saying something in a far more upbeat voice than he had been using before, but Athena still wasn't really hearing it.

Her smile, which had started out as a sympathetic one and gradually cracked, now morphed into a frantic one. Athena gripped the edge of the bench tightly. (You just agreed to a date with your boss, Athena-!)

Finally, her ears properly registered something Phoenix was saying. "… after the trial tomorrow, then, if Mia lets us go?"

Still squeezing the bench with ferocity that left her knuckles white, Athena answered, " …Yeah." through gritted teeth.

"Great! I'll see you later, OK?"

"… See you."


Athena wasn't sure how long she remained on the bench. A few minutes, maybe. Or more, who could tell?

How many times had she run through Aura's advice in her head? It was all guesswork, sure, but people generally agreed that time travel was a risky sort of business. She'd kept reminding herself to keep her activities as close to normal as possible, but what she'd just agreed to hardly fit that mold.

It didn't make sense, at that; she'd never changed her mind about Phoenix's request. Right up until the moment he asked, she'd been readying herself to turn him down. So, what had happened? Her answer came out practically without thought, like she'd meant to agree all along. Sure, she'd felt a bit sorry for him, listening to his constant stuttering, but…

(Maybe you really are that shallow.)

She shoved her phone back into her pocket and buried her face in her hands. What was she going to do now?

(I'll just have to ditch him.)

That would only work if the trial ended in its first session tomorrow.

("Sorry, Nick, something just came up. I've got to go and… No, dammit, that'll sound like you still want to do it.)

Athena let out an exasperated noise into her palms, raking her fingertips through her hair.


Aura's office door was open when Athena returned to the Space Centre. She made a point to walk past the door quickly. If she were to organize a list of favourites from everything coming up in her immediate future, having to tell Aura about her date with Phoenix would rank only slightly below the date in question itself.

Her run hadn't managed to soothe her nerves, to say the least. Once she was back in her room, she made a beeline for the bathroom. Once more she shook her head at the thought of the money the space centre was no doubt sinking into the personal accommodations of the bathrooms. She wasn't about to complain, of course. A bath sounded like a good Plan B for relaxing.


Dim lighting, ambient noise from her phone, and a hot bath. Laying herself leisurely across the floor of the bath, Athena idly wondered why she hadn't thought of this earlier. It was much easier to organize her thoughts this way. By now, she'd lost count of the number of times she'd done so, but once more her thoughts turned to the immediate obstacles in her path.

The trial was still something of a mystery to her. Mia would probably have more to tell her when they met up at the detention centre, but serving as a witness was going to be a new experience for her. What were Mia's methods for cross-examinations? Probably something similar to Mr. Wright's, she reasoned. He always spoke about his old mentor with the utmost reverence whenever his earlier career came up in conversation, and even now it was clear that he already looked up to her as a teacher quite strongly. He had showed some of that same respect when talking to Athena herself during all their meet-ups during the past few days, but it was obvious that Mia had the top spot.

(So why didn't he just ask her out…?)

Try as she might to pretend it didn't happen, Athena also couldn't escape the overhanging worry of how she would handle her date with Phoenix. Even in the warmth of the bath, she shuddered a bit at her use of the word "date". Ever since their phone call, she'd been trying to work out in her head what had compelled her to abandon all reason and agree to his suggestion. There was no sugar-coating it: it was an awful idea. Not only on account of the theoretical risks of meddling with time, - though Athena didn't particularly like the possibility of inadvertently erasing herself from history – but also because there really was no way she could comfortably break it off. She inwardly cursed her overwhelmingly empathetic nature for it, but she just didn't feel that she would be able to bring herself to tell Phoenix upfront that she wasn't interested, true as it might be. One of her less effective suggestions was the idea that Aura had somehow manipulated her into agreeing. After all, Aura's brother would go on to be a prosecutor widely known for his manipulative methods, so was it really so hard to believe that his sister might share the talent? Hard to believe, no, but hard to reasonably tie into her own problems, yes.

Something else occurred to her. Assuming Aura was to somehow discover some miraculous way to return her to her own time period, would her actions here affect her future meeting with Mr. Wright? What if the little changes she'd already made just by meeting him had already thrown the timestream into disarray? What if, because of their meeting in the past, he would never meet her seventeen-year old self in Europe? Before she had Mr. Wright's guidance, she'd only been studying psychology. Mr. Wright had been the one to give her the idea to become an attorney, and it was thanks to her career path that they were able to save Simon, among countless other important things. Would she even be returning to the same life if she did get home?

(Well, this is a nice cheerful tangent…)

Maybe the smaller scope would be a less dreary train of thought. Say, hypothetically, she somehow managed to return to her own time period immediately following the trial. And say, to be generous, that her meddling with the past didn't have any life-changing effects for her personally. When Mr. Wright ventured to Europe and met her for the first time, would he make the connection between the bookish psychology major Athena Cykes and the lawyer, Andrea Simons, who he met back in his own college days?

(Nope, this is a headache, too.)

Athena sighed. She felt more relaxed, like she'd wanted, but considering the events coming up in her short-term future, her anxiety was hardly being dispelled. In a feat of near-perfect timing, the ambient white noise playing from her phone was interrupted by the buzz of an incoming call. Hastily drying her hands on a nearby towel, Athena answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Andrea. It's Mia."

"Mia, hey, you need me down at the detention centre yet?"

"That's right." Mia replied. "First thing, though, has Phoenix given you a call since this morning?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm. I expected so. He was really worried when you took off earlier."

"Sorry about that." Athena said.

"As long as you're alright, Andrea, it's no problem." Mia said. Her voice shifted in such a way that Athena was certain she was now cracking a smirk as she went on, "So, did he work up the nerve to ask you out just yet?"

"He sure did." Athena said, trying to sound happy about it.

"And your answer?" Mia inquired further, sounding keen to have something to gossip over.

"I agreed." Athena said simply.

"That's nice to hear. I'll bet you two are going to make a good team, if you decide to join the firm. The trial should be a nice training ground for both of you."

"Uh huh." Athena said. "So, anything else before I head over?"

"No, that about covers it. I'll see you both down there."

The audible click of Athena snapping her phone shut again left her alone with her thoughts once more. With a sigh, she rose to exit the comfort of her bath.


Athena kept quiet for most of the cab ride to the detention centre. She wasn't really getting anywhere with her thoughts anymore, but she didn't quite feel the desire to socialize that she often did.

Mia and Phoenix were waiting at the front doors of the building. Athena forced herself to return the grin that Phoenix offered when he spotted her. At least one of them was happy.

"The guard's already off getting Mr. Eisley." Mia said. "Let's get back inside."


Garvin Eisley's anxious face was a good motivator, Athena thought. It was the same with a lot of her clients. Something about the feeling of being the one they looked to for help just gave her a strong urge to do her best for their cause. It was a welcome change from the twisting anxiety in her own mind, for certain.

"How are you holding up?" she asked.

"I'm OK." Garvin said, sounding anything but. Athena smiled encouragingly.

"We'll get you out of there." she promised.

"That we will." Mia agreed. "Now, Mr. Eisley, I wanted to check how your memory of the murder matches up to Andrea's…"


Their individual accounts were about as similar as could be expected, it turned out. Garvin had a bit more to say about the second person present at the scene, but as he had said before, the mystery woman had been dressed to conceal her face effectively. Mia presented all the evidence she had come across at the scene to Garvin, but there was little it reminded him of.

"All right. Thanks for your help, Mr. Eisley." Mia said once their conversation reached a clear point of stagnancy. "And like we said, I promise you that we'll get you out of there.

The guard looked impatient to return Garvin to his cell. Athena was a bit disappointed by how little they had achieved here.

Oddly enough, however, Mia looked quite pleased. "I think I'm starting to see what's behind all this." she said to both of them once the guard had led Garvin away.

"What?" Athena and Phoenix asked simultaneously.

"Oh, don't worry, you two. I think you'll catch up in court tomorrow. Now, I've got to run. I'll see you both there."

Athena stared as Mia briskly left the building.

"What d'you think she means?" Phoenix asked.

"I couldn't say, Nick. Maybe-… Nngh-!"

Athena's head was suddenly pulsing with dull pain again. Not a horrible explosion of pain this time, but more in line with the first few times.

"Another headache?" Phoenix asked warily.

"Yeah," Athena said, "Not a bad one, it's OK."

Phoenix patted a hand on her shoulder. "You've got something for it?" he asked.

"Yeah," Athena said, though the pain had already ceased, "I'll-…

Her cell phone was buzzing yet again. "Sorry, Nick, I'll just take this…"

"No, it's OK. I should get going, too. I'll see you at the courthouse tomorrow, Andie." Phoenix said before making for the exit himself.

Athena waved briefly to him and examined her phone.

-Call from: Aura Blackquill-

"Aura?" she inquired.

"Athena," Aura's voice answered. She sounded uneasy. "Are you busy? I think I might have something here."

Athena raised an eyebrow. "You've got good timing. But, what does 'something' mean in this case?"

"By any chance, did you get another headache just now?" Aura sked.

"Actually, yeah, how did you-?"

"I don't want to explain over the phone. Just get back here whenever you can. I've got to keep an eye on this."

And she hung up.

"Huh." Athena shifted in place a bit. Things were suddenly happening faster than she'd expected. To keep in time, she rushed outside to hail another cab.


Aura was examining something on her desk very closely when she noticed Athena entering the room.

"Athena," she said, "It's Widget. You said you got another headache just before I called you, right?"

"Hold on," Athena said as she sat down, "What's going on with Widget?"

"I'm getting to that. Headache: yes or no?"

"Yes." Athena said.

"Then this makes sense." Aura said. She slid her chair aside to reveal what was on her desk. Widget was lying face-up, his screen projecting the same complicated log of response data from earlier. "You see this?" Aura asked, motioning to one cluster of data in particular. Athena nodded. "This was from right at that moment."

"What? But I wasn't even wearing Widget right then, how did he…?"

"I think I can answer that. This is just an educated guess, but I don't think this mess of data is from you. Same goes for the older ones. I think this represents a moment where something went wrong with Widget himself." Aura explained.

"Like a glitch?"

"Exactly. And normally, I'd look for ways to fix it, but here's the key thing: this glitch looks like it's fixing itself."

Athena rolled back in her chair. "If it's fixing itself, why did you need me to come by?"

"Don't be dense, Athena." Aura said. "All these clusters of glitched data are from the exact same moments that you got your headaches. I'm just as unclear as anyone on the specifics of time travel theory, but that can't be a coincidence."

"Hmm. That makes sense."

"You bet it does." Aura went on. "Now, you told me that your headaches were getting worse the more you had, and that seems to match up with the severity of the feedback errors Widget collected. At least, it does assuming that your most recent one was less painful than the others. Was it?"

Athena nodded. "Yeah, it felt more like the first few."

Aura's expression hardened. She turned away in her chair.

"What?" Athena asked.

Aura sighed. "I don't want you to get yourself too worried over this, but…"

"What?" Athena pressed.

Aura turned back to face her again. "If my theory on this is right, and that's being generous, but if it's right, well…" She sighed again. "I'm gonna throw out some sci-fi terminology here, because it's really all we've got. I think there's some kind of temporal distortion connected to you and everything you brought back here with you when you time travelled. For you, it's manifesting as headaches, and for Widget,"

"It's a series of emotional response glitches." Athena said.

"Right. Now, here's the thing. The distortion, if that's what it is, was mostly getting worse until just a little while ago, like the universe itself knows that you aren't supposed to be here. But now that it looks like it's lessening, I'm worried about what it could mean for you going forward."

Athena didn't like the sound of that. "Go on." she prompted.

"Look, don't take my word for it. It's the best theory I've got, but it's still only a guess," Aura repeated, "But if the distortion keeps lessening, it'll stop completely soon enough, and when that happens, I…" she broke off. She closed Widget's display and took in one more deep sigh. "I think that will mean that the distortion has completely regulated, and that could mean that you're going to be stuck here."


Where's a plot-convenient lightning storm when you need one?