Chapter Four :: The Remnants
For once in his life, discussing Larry actually managed to put Edgeworth in a better mood. Maya's encounter with the putz only helped to reaffirm that the moron was just as useless as always. Though he didn't often find humor in Larry's incompetence, for some reason he found it comforting now.
"Luckily, even on a good day, Larry's not much help," he brought up, undeniably amused by the thought. Then it hit him. Larry really was useless. So useless, in fact, that it was a miracle that the man had survived as long as he had in the abyss. A grave fear swept over him as he considered just how much danger they were all in. "We'll have to figure things out on our own in order to help him."
He went on to tell Maya all that he had learned about their situation from the notes that Phoenix had left behind, taking great care not to leave out any important details. Apparently she hadn't been anywhere but the school at that point, so he made sure to warn her about transporting with the phone. She wondered if calling her own number would get her home—just as he had assumed at the hotel—so he also got to explain how futile that was.
In the end, they exchanged their current phone numbers just before Phoenix appeared right behind Maya.
"Wright." The name barely escaped his lips when the ghostly attorney turned to leave the room. Maya looked over her shoulder and Edgeworth stood up quickly. She looked back at him, but he knew that he couldn't ask her to follow Phoenix. Not when he suspected that their old friend was. . . "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!" And with that said, he ran out of the room after Phoenix.
Phoenix didn't disappear this time. He just continued down the hall as Edgeworth sprinted to catch up to him. Whenever Edgeworth got close enough to reach out to him, Phoenix would vanish and reappear way ahead. "Damn it, Wright. Where are you taking me?"
The silent lawyer led him all the way to another stairwell at the opposite side of the school from the one that he was used to and went down to the first floor. Edgeworth went after him, but once he reached the first floor, Phoenix was gone yet again.
"Seriously? Why can't we just talk about this like civilized people?" Unsure of where to go or what to do, Edgeworth wandered around the first floor in search of any sort of clue his friend may have left behind this time.
"HELLO!"
Edgeworth jumped and spun on his feet only to be relieved to find that the owner of the voice was none other than Missile. "Where did you disappear to? I've been through quite a bit and a little guard dog would have been nice to have around."
Missile whimpered. "Those three are mean. I wanted to help you, but I can't stop them."
Edgeworth rolled his eyes and crouched down to scratch his little companion's ears. "That's okay. I just sort of missed your company." Why he felt compelled to comfort the dog after all that its absence had put him through was beyond him, but he just couldn't stay mad.
"I missed you too, Mister Ruffles!"
"My name—"
"Is Miles! Right! Got it!"Edgeworth sighed. He wasn't sure why he insisted on correcting Missile; what could he expect from a dog anyways? "I waited for you down here though! I sniffed out more of your pocket paper!"
Edgeworth stood up straight and said, "Well then, lead the way, Missile."
The dog dashed off ahead of him again only to stop rather suddenly at the first door he came to to sniff around. "There's something in here," he noted curiously.
Edgeworth glanced up at the sign and read it aloud. "Library?" He looked down at Missile and asked, "Could you be any more specific? Is it a person in there, or one of my notes?"
"Ummm, neither I think," was all Missile had to offer. "But it seems interesting! Let's go check!" And he ran through the door, leaving Edgeworth with little choice but to tag along.
As soon as he was in the room, Edgeworth heard a familiar static sound. He pulled out the cell phone and found its recording function. "I need you to be quiet for a minute."
Missile's ears perked up and his tail whipped back and forth so fast that it looked almost like he had many separate tails instead of just the one, but he still managed to keep quiet until Edgeworth's phone beeped. "Your ears must be really good to hear something that I couldn't, Ruffles!"
Edgeworth considered telling the dog about how something similar had happened before—at the hotel where he had dealt with the effeminate man—but the more he thought about it, the more difficult it became to explain. "Let's just listen for a second," he decided as he played back the recording. The static had once again taken on a new voice.
"If you really want to be our friend then you have to go through a little initiation first," a boy's voice said.
"W-w-what kind of initiation?" The second voice was staccato, scratchy, and definitely belonged to a girl.
"You have to buy us L-U-N-C-H!" It was difficult to tell the gender of the third voice; it sounded like a boy talking, but the style of speaking was undeniably effeminate.
"No. Stop thinking about food for one second!" the boy snapped.
"BUT I'M HUNGRY MAAAAAAAAAN!" Definitely another boy, Edgeworth determined.
"Shut up. Her initiation will be to go a whole day without wearing that ridiculous box. . . and to call me a genius."
"And to buy me lunch, O-K-A-Y?"
"Um, but . . . I don't have any money."
"Whaaaat? That's not C-O-O-L! AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH!" Seriously, was this person a boy or a girl?
CRASH!
"Hey! Watch where you throw those! Hit her, not me!"
"What? Don't hit me!"
And that was where the recording ended. "That must have been the students and the box creature," Edgeworth mumbled to himself. "I wonder if Wright knew them— knows them!" he quickly corrected himself. "Just because people seem dead here doesn't mean that they really are! Wright and the students are just like the hotel man-lady-thing and Mr. Manella—who obviously couldn't be dead since his new series, the Golden Samurai, starts next month!"
"Mister Ruffles?" Edgeworth glanced down at Missile to find that the little dog was staring up at him with big, sad eyes. "Do you think that I'm dead?"
Though he wasn't one for sugar-coating the truth, the little dog's face tugged at his heart. "No! Of course not! I mean, you might be dead here but where I'm from, I'm sure you're livelier than any other dog and living happily with a family that you love and protect."
Missile tilted his head in the quaint way that Edgeworth had come to recognize as an action the little guy would make whenever he didn't understand something. "Where are you from?"
"The real world, of course," Edgeworth replied without a second thought. "That is, the world outside of this dream."
"So, am I just a dream?"
Edgeworth wasn't sure how to answer that. He figured that Missile had to be a part of his inexplicable nightmare, but at some point he had started to believe that the world was something more than a dream. If he thought about it, though, while Phoenix's notes had suggested that he knew the people Edgeworth didn't recognize, where was the proof? Perhaps Edgeworth had just been running into strange people created by his own overactive imagination, and then gave them a mutual connection in order to make them seem more realistic.
But then what about Larry? Why would he dream about so many people in a deceased state, and keep that putz alive? And Maya! When he spoke to her, she had told him things that even he hadn't seen within the abyss and he took her at her word without questioning then. When did he start believing that the abyss was a reality of its own?
Fortunately, as a dog, Missile didn't dwell on the thought for very long. "Mr. Ruffles, there's some pocket paper just a little ways further. Shouldn't we go get it?"
Pulled back into the moment, Edgeworth nodded. "Of course. Lead on, Missile."
The little guy barked happily and hurried back out to the hall. He stopped just a few doors down and barked again to alert Edgeworth to his location. Upon reaching his trusty companion, Edgeworth checked the sign. It was the principal's office. Missile went in ahead as usual while Edgeworth was left with the grueling task of opening the door.
Inside was a typical office room with shelves full of books, diplomas, and files. Against the wall by the door was a large wooden desk. He went around it and found a notepad sitting out in the open. He picked it up and flipped through it quickly.
This particular note explained the school itself. Phoenix wrote about how the school closely resembled Themis Legal Academy; a large high school that focused on training its students to be judges, defense attorneys, or prosecutors. He wrote about documents he had found in the nurse's office that focused on three students that he was familiar with; Hugh O'Conner, Robin Newman, and Miriam Scuttlebutt. He wasn't able to explain why they were in the abyss, but he theorized that their presence brought the theme of the courtroom to mind. In the end he questioned whether or not this whole world might revolve around a matter of justice or possibly even some previous case.
Themis Legal Academy. Edgeworth had heard quite a bit about the school. Having studied law in Europe, he never did have the chance to visit the school himself. In fact, Franzisca often called it a fool's foolish school for foolishly fooled fools, but Edgeworth knew that Phoenix's newest apprentice had taken on the defense of a student suspected of murdering her teacher there.
During that case, there were a few friends of the accused that Phoenix had told him about. If this dream was singularly his—as Edgeworth knew all dreams that he experienced should be—why was he encountering people that only Phoenix knew? Could some other dark force be at work? How could that even be possible?
"We should get moving," Edgeworth mumbled as he continued to stare at the notepad. "This mentions stuff at the nurse's office so we should—Ah!" He jumped when he found that the sunflower hat girl from the hotel had been hiding right out of his line of sight. Almost as suddenly as he had noticed her, she fell through the floor without causing him anymore trouble. "Damn it, Missile! A little warning would have been nice!" He swept his flashlight around the room, but the dog was nowhere to be seen. "Missile?" Recalling what he had found the last time the little dog had abandoned him, he felt a chill. He carefully tucked the notepad away and turned slowly to find that he was face-to-face with the tall, boy student who wore glasses. "GAH!"
Edgeworth fell backwards over the desk and watched in horror as the other student and the box creature joined him. Stuck on his back, he was able to get a good look at them which made each of them that much more frightening. The box was covered in strange graffiti and had human legs sticking out the bottom. The shorter student had an apron on with unidentifiable splotches all over it and a strange brace that must have been used to restrain something.
Finally, there was the tall boy. The reflection in his glasses hid his eyes (which was odd since the only light in the entire room was Edgeworth's flashlight) and blood was dripping from his hands.
"What kind of insane school is this?" Edgeworth practically screamed as he scrambled to get back onto his feet. Once up, he sprinted towards the door and made it back out to the hallway, where he proceeded to slam the door shut behind him. "This can't be happening! It's just a figment of my imagination. . . somehow. . . Just a really elaborate nightmare." He kept his back pressed against the door as he panted, but after a few moments he realized that nothing was happening.
Was it possible that the students had elected to leave him alone? Could he be so lucky?
He took one step away from the door and the tall student emerged, upside down from the ceiling, and took hold of his head.
"WHAT THE HECK WAS WRONG WITH THAT SCRIPT?" the student asked angrily.
"I don't know! Leave me alone!" Edgeworth tried desperately to free himself from the student's grasp while running down the hall. He managed to break free and kept on running. "I've got to get out of here!" He tried to remember where the stairwell was. He didn't think he had gotten very far on the first floor, but it seemed to take forever to get back. Once there, he took a moment to catch his breath. Almost immediately, the tall student dropped down from the ceiling again and caught him under his arms, lifting him right off the floor.
"I DID IT, I SAY! I'M THE MASTERMIND! DIDN'T YOU SEE MY BODY DOUBLE?"
"Put me down!" Edgeworth thrashed about until he was dropped back onto the floor. He landed awkwardly and immediately ran up the stairs. He made it up to the second floor and prayed that the students would leave him alone, but something caught his foot just as he reached the next flight. He looked down and saw the bloody hand pinning his shoe down. The boy emerged from the floor and laughed creepily.
"YOU HAVE TO REALIZE THAT ONLY MY GENIUS MIND COULD PULL OFF SUCH A FEAT!"
"Leave me alone!" Edgeworth tried to get away but tripped and slammed into the stairs. His chin hit a step, causing him to bite his lip pretty hard. In a state of sheer panic, he kicked his assailant off and crawled up to the third floor. Up there, he laid flat on his back and gasped for air. His heart had been racing so fast that he was afraid it would beat right out of his chest. He touched his hand to where he had bitten his lip and was horrified to find that it was bleeding. He could taste the salty, metallic substance, and it was scarier than anything he had faced thus far.
He sat up and looked around for somewhere that he might be able to seek refuge, then decided on a random classroom to shut himself up in. After a few minutes of silence, he figured that the students must have finally given up. "This is too real," he breathed. He recalled Maya and hastily drew out the phone and note with her number on it. After dialing, he held it up to his ear and felt his heart thudding in his chest as it rang a few times.
"Hello?"
"Hey! Thank goodness you're still okay."
"Edgeworth? Are you alright?" She sounded really concerned, which brought him to his senses. Making her worry was pointless. She had enough to deal with without knowing about his problems.
"I'm. . ." Terrified. Bleeding. Fearing the worst. He couldn't tell her what was really going through his head. "Yes. . ." It was the best that he could muster. As mentally scolded himself for troubling her, he tried to come up with something that she might want to know. "But this place is really dangerous."
"I'm realizing that." Her statement didn't reassure him in the slightest. "Have you been running?"
"In a manner of speaking." He really needed to get his little chase off his mind. "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."
"Um, about that. . . Larry sort of. . . transported without me already."
"That useless little-"
"What about you? Shouldn't you go somewhere else too?"
Edgeworth sighed and covered his eyes with his hand. "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?"
Edgeworth thought about it for a while. He could always give her a number, but the only ones he remembered were Franziska's and Larry's and neither place seemed all that great for her. "Try to find a number here, I suppose." It was a half-assed answer—and he knew it—but he really had nothing else to offer. "Listen, after you teleport, I won't be able to contact you, so. . . be careful."
He hung up before she could get another word in and checked his lip. The cut stung. He couldn't deny the pain. Was it possible that the stakes in this dream were real? If he was to get killed, would he ever get back to the other world? He came to realize that his only hope was Phoenix Wright. Whether or not the defense attorney knew how to escape, Edgeworth really had no other choice.
Confident that the hall was evil student free, he crept back out only to see Phoenix's face close up again. "GAH! Wright!" The pale lawyer reappeared right in front of a door with a glowing window before walking right through it. "He's like Missile," Edgeworth noted. He thought of the Pomeranian and felt a pang of sadness. "They have to be alive." He went into the room and heard the static sound again. Out of habit now, he recorded it on his phone and played it back. The voice that came through was extremely familiar.
"I can't believe she's here." Phoenix. "She has to be behind all of this. She must have brought us here with that black magatama. That at least means that most of them are safe. . . But what about the gang at the agency? Oh god. What have I done?"
And it cut out there.
"Who is she?" Edgeworth asked out of frustration. "If the others are safe, what's happening to us?"
The sound of a clicking keyboard caught his attention. The source of the blue glow in the windows was a single computer in the room. He rushed over to it and saw, once again, the chat posted up. At the bottom, however, right after the number he had called to reach the school, was a little message: "I need to tell Edgeworth."
"Tell me what, Wright?" he yelled, fear and anger rising to the surface. He went to type something in response but noticed a business card left behind on the keyboard. It belonged to Phoenix. "Do you want me to call your number?" He couldn't make sense of that. Calling his own number didn't do anything and he didn't have his own cell phone on him so why would Phoenix have his? He seriously considered calling it but felt that he needed to retrieve the other notes first in case there was some sort of clue that he had missed. The only place that he could think to start was, sadly, the nurse's office back on the first floor. "Guess I'll see you soon, Wright." He left the computer room and was greeted by a familiar face at the door.
"HELLO!"
"Do you have any idea what I just went through?" Edgeworth snapped at the dog.
Missile whimpered and covered his nose with his paws. "I'm sorry, Ruffles! They just scare me so much!"
Edgeworth felt like a bully, blaming his problems on a small, defenseless animal. "Never mind. I just wish I knew where you ran off to sometimes."
"I keep busy, I swear! In fact, I found another bit of pocket paper!" Missile assured him.
Edgeworth pet the dog a bit to calm himself down and Missile whimpered. "You're bleeding," the little guy noted. He hopped up and licked at the head prosecutor's lip, knocking him off his feet.
"Ow, ow, hey! I'm fine! Cut it out!" The dog yipped happily and his tail wagged faster than ever as he let Edgeworth get back up. "Alright then, you little mutt," he said, voice devoid of malice, "where to?"
Back down on the second floor, Missile homed in classroom 1-6. Instead of going ahead this time, he waited for Edgeworth to open the door. This, at least, made him feel a bit more at ease. They stepped inside together and found another notepad sitting on a dirty desk. The note talked about Phoenix's theories on the black magatama. It explained how just touching it was enough for him to notice something evil about it. The spiritual essence surrounding it reminded him vaguely of . . . "Dahlia Hawthorne." Once Edgeworth said her name the whole thing became more than he could handle. Dahlia, the girl who had tried so hard to ruin everyone's lives. She nearly killed Maya. Worse, she nearly made little Pearl kill Maya. Hawthorne was the root of many problems in the past. She was an absolute menace.
And she sought her revenge long after her death.
"This abyss is her doing?" The danger was more imminent than he had ever imagined. "We have to find those notes," he decided. The severity of the situation finally dawned on him. "Hopefully Maya has already transported away from here, so calling her phone will only slow us down. We have to hope that she's safe."
"Maya? She smells like hamburgers!"
Edgeworth was a bit relieved to know that his furry guardian had helped Maya earlier as well. "Okay, Missile. There's one other place I have to go, but all of the offices are back on the first floor. Can you promise me one thing?"
"OF COURSE!"
"Will you bark before you disappear?"
"YES!"
With that issue resolved, they went back down to the first floor without incident and all the way to the nurse's office door before Missile started growling. "I think it's nothing. I just feel like something bad is in there."
"Well last time you thought something was in a room it turned out to be nothing more than white noise," he reminded Missile. "But in case there is something, I'll know it's there because you'll bark before disappearing, right?"
"RIGHT!"
Edgeworth took a couple steps into the nurse's office and wasn't even greeted by the strange static sound. "See, Missile? There's nothing in here to worry about."
"YIP YIP YIP YIP YIP YIP!"
Edgeworth tensed up and looked around, but there was still nothing out of place. "Honestly, what are you barking at?" All of the sudden something hard and heavy slammed into the back of his head, dropping him like a rock. He watched the phone as it slipped out of his pocket and was sent flying across the floor, but more stuff fell on top of him so he had no choice but to curl up and try to cover his head. When the onslaught finally ended, he opened his eyes and looked towards the phone only to see the tall student picking it up and disappearing with it.
Now, phone-less, Missile-less, and missing most of Phoenix's notes, Edgeworth felt trapped. He sat up and realized that all the contents from the top of the bookshelf in the room were what had assaulted him. He rubbed the spot on his head where he was certain a bruise would form and grumbled, "Was that really necessary?" Then he noticed the three files that had been scattered on the floor around him. He gathered them up and sat down comfortably to read over them. On each one was one of the names that belonged to the students that Phoenix had mentioned.
MIRIAM SCUTTLEBUTT: Judge Program.
Suffers from serious anti-social disorder. Symptoms include hiding beneath a box while at school. Her position as the journalism club president only seems to encourage her anti-social behavior. Interacting with Woods, Newman, and O'Conner might help to get her out of her shell.
ROBIN NEWMAN: Prosecution Program.
Only recently allowed the health center to release her actual gender for her school records. Over-usage of her brace and pressure from her father have built up a lot of stress that gets turned into violent outbursts quite often. More work in the art department will help to keep her mind busy, but she needs to stop breaking the ceramic pots all over the place. Her renewed friendship with Woods and O'Conner has also proven to lighten her mood.
HUGH O'CONNER: Defense Program.
Finally taking his studies seriously after learning that his genius was nothing more than what his parents had bought for him. Between studies and part-time jobs, however, he has often brought himself to the point of total exhaustion. Thankfully the cut in his hand has recovered enough for him to return to the archery club. It would seem that the thought of showing off for the girls has boosted his confidence.
"Defense program, huh? No wonder I don't like him," Edgeworth scoffed. "So these are the students." It was nice to know that they weren't evil all the time. "An overly-enthusiastic prosecutor and a less-than-genius defense attorney." He slapped his forehead and mumbled, "That certainly does sound familiar."
Figuring that the files would be too troublesome to carry around, he chose to leave them behind. Still sitting on the floor, he took a moment to breathe and noticed something. He put his head to the floor and saw a scrap of paper on the far side of the sickbed. He got up and went around the bed to retrieve it. All that was written on it was another number and the name Eldoon. "The noodle guy? Really?" It seemed like an odd person to call, but the other option he had was a little creepy. Either way, he no longer had a phone and thus had no means of transporting anyways.
"Missile? Are you still around here somewhere?" There was no response, so Edgeworth gathered his thoughts to leave. He didn't remember closing the door, but it was shut when he got back to it. "Missile?" He opened it and peeked out to see the tall student, Hugh, walking slowly down the hallway.
Edgeworth swallowed hard and took a cautious step out. The student didn't look back so he quietly followed behind in hopes of retrieving the phone somehow. Hugh went for the stairs and Edgeworth lost him around the bend. Right when he reached the second floor, the tall student dropped down from the ceiling and attacked yet again. His attack didn't have the same enthusiasm that they had before, however, and it wasn't too difficult for Edgeworth to shake him off. Once he had torn free, Hugh continued to pace along slowly ahead of him.
"Is that how we're going to play this?" He continued to follow behind the wannabe defense attorney all the way up to the fourth floor. Occasionally, if he got too close, Hugh would attack him again, but he was never hard to shake off.
Finally, Edgeworth reached the fourth floor and the door to the stairwell slammed shut as soon as he was out of the way. "Guess I'll just stay up here then," he mumbled as he looked around for his fiendish guide. Hugh was further down the hall to the left of the stairs. He turned abruptly and walked right though the door to the classroom labeled 3-2. Edgeworth waited a bit to see if he would return before going to check the room.
He cringed upon seeing the door. The glass was broken in a small corner of the window and the lower part was splintered—almost as if someone had clawed at the door. He reached for the handle and discovered that it was thoroughly stuck on the track. Determined to get inside, he put a foot against the door frame and pulled with all his might. Like a latch somewhere had released, it flew open and he saw the box-girl inside. She squeaked, surprised by his sudden appearance, and faded away leaving all of his notes behind for him on the floor.
"Finally." He went right to them and organized them, but as he started to put them away in his pocket he heard the door slam shut behind him. He finished tucking them away slowly and stood up. He pointed back at the door with his flashlight, but there was nothing there. He approached it cautiously and the feeling of terror only got worse, though there was still nothing there that he could see. So he peeked out of the little hole in the glass and saw what was waiting for him.
The old woman in red was standing across the hall. He felt bound to where he was; all of his body's normal functions shut down. It was like staring into the face of death itself.
And she stared back.
Blood rushed to his head as he head as he held his breath, but the silence only allowed him to better hear her raspy breathing. She sucked in air like an old windbag and exhaled so loudly that, if he wasn't looking right at her, he would have sworn that she was much closer. Her horrible, squinted eyes sized him up hungrily and he could see her cracked lips twitch slightly into a bone-chilling smile.
"EEEEEEEDDDGGGGYYYYYYYY. . . POOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Her growling voice made every hair on his body stand up on end, but just when he was afraid that she couldn't get any more frightening, she vanished.
With her presence completely gone, it felt like he had been spared—but only for now. "I have got to get out of here."
He went back out to the hallway only after he was certain that she wouldn't show up again, and had half a mind to call for Missile. But something caught his attention.
Someone was playing a piano nearby.
Edgeworth expected any music in that abyss to be completely awful, but the song was rather upbeat and whimsical. He followed the sound down the hall until he came upon a classroom marked "music room". He slid the door open as quietly as he could and peered in to see the box-girl and Hugh standing by the piano as the third one, Robin, played the song. Sitting on the piano was the cell phone that had been stolen. The whole scene was eerily peaceful.
The music stopped abruptly and Edgeworth pulled his head out and hid against the wall of the hallway, praying that they hadn't seen him. It didn't take long for the music to resume and he gave a sigh of relief.
The way he saw it, he had two options at this point: he could go on playing cat and mouse with the students at the school, or he could get the phone and get the hell out of there.
He steeled his nerves and shut off his flashlight in preparation. Then he made a mad dash into the room, scrambled around desks and instruments, and finally reached the piano where he retrieved the phone. Only after he had it in his hand did the music stop. He swallowed hard and looked at Robin only to see her giving him an angry glare.
Edgeworth gasped and sprinted back towards the door knowing full well that the students were behind him and extremely upset with him. He managed to make it out to the hallway without incident, but he didn't dare stop running. He flipped open the phone while fleeing and a chill ran down his spine. There was a new message from RED and it opened automatically to a picture of a scribbled message that said repeatedly, "I WANT TO BE WITH YOU, EDGEYPOO. I WANT TO BE WITH YOU, EDGEYPOO. I WANT TO BE WITH YOU, EDGEYPOO." He deleted the message quickly and pulled out the card with the noodle man's number. It hardly took any time to punch in the numbers, and he disappeared while still running.
Never before had the looming darkness that accompanied transporting felt like such a slap in the face. It was like running into a wall, knocking himself out, and waking up someplace entirely new. He found himself on the dusty floor of what felt like an attic. He got onto his knees, raised his flashlight, and turned it on just in time to see hundreds of little doll faces held back by nothing more than a cracked open screen door. The most frightening part was the fact that they were rattling and giggling at him.
The doors slid shut and the evil ruckus ended as soon as they were closed. "Can this abyss possibly be any more awful?" he wondered out loud as he stood up. He checked around his new surroundings and saw many cast away doll heads and heaps of discarded noodles. The most interesting thing in the room was a plump doll made of congealed noodles that closely resembled the jolly old nun, Bikini. "Sorry I asked," he mumbled.
Ready to get on with things, Edgeworth decided to search for whatever cell phone he had called to get there. First he figured that it might be on the other side of the sliding doors, but the moment that he touched them a hand caught his shoulder and forced him to turn around and face a ghastly version of the noisy noodle peddler.
"DON'T GO IN THERE. . ." the specter warned before fading away. He was, without a doubt, the gentlest ghost Edgeworth had encountered thus far. Where he had been standing, a phone had been left behind.
"Message received," Edgeworth muttered as he retrieved the phone. He put it in his pocket and proceeded to the only other door in the room. Oddly enough, this particular door had been left wide open. It had a small, rickety staircase that led to a narrow hallway right outside—suggesting that the room he was in had, in fact, been an attic—and the hallway only had one turn that led to two other doors.
Edgeworth found himself hoping that the noodle man didn't actually live in such a small place surrounded by piles of soggy noodles, but it didn't really surprise him. He had always found Phoenix's favorite noodle shop's owner to be a little off kilter, but it was still disconcerting to thing that anyone could live like that.
When he came upon the first door he was shocked and disgusted to find that it was held shut by many thin noodles. He tried to pry it open but the noodles were unnaturally firm. As he turned to check the next door at the end of the hall he heard a familiar whimpering. He pressed his ear to the door to confirm it and heard: "Hello? . . . Did it hurt when you fell from. . ."
"Yep. Definitely Larry."
Figuring that the moron could hold on long enough for him to find another way in, he checked the other door and discovered another grimy bathroom. "Not again." He was just about to close the door when he noticed a scrap of paper on the window ledge. He retrieved it carefully and read its contents to himself.
As long as the call goes through, it seems possible to transport anywhere and each location is created by my ideas about people. Clearly I need to be less imaginative. This place is weird. But there are some numbers she absolutely won't let me call. Almost killed me last time I tried one.
"Okay. Got to be careful about this whole delicate situation," Edgeworth decided.
"AAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!"
The painful scream made Edgeworth let go of the scrap of paper and it fluttered slowly into the toilet bowl, forever lost since there was no way that he was going to fish it out.
"Larry?" He ran back to the noodle-sealed door and pounded his fist against it as hard as he could. "Larry! Can you hear me?"
There was no mistaking that cry. It was the one that Larry made randomly back at the agency; the cry that freaked out poor Trucy and snapped him out of a more peaceful state of sleep.
"LARRY!"
A resounding thud came from the other side of the door, but no other response followed it. He felt obligated to help the idiot somehow, so he pulled out the phone and, recalling the lone pair of scissors at the salon, called Franziska's number.
In no time, he found himself back on the floor of the salon's lounge. Oddly enough, the lights were off again. He pulled himself up, using the table, and plucked the phone from it before clicking on his flashlight and heading for the light switch. Unlike last time, it didn't seem to work. Feeling a bit nervous, he pointed his flashlight down at the salon heads and saw that they were still sitting upright and looking at the mini fridge, though it looked like one was missing. Trying hard not to dwell on the head's absence, he left the lounge and hurried over to the salon floor. He checked the tray where the scissors had been before and discovered that they were gone. "Well now what?"
"FOOL!"
Edgeworth flinched. The sound certainly wasn't coming from his cell phone this time. He turned slowly towards the mirror on the wall and watched in horror as Franziska crawled out of it. When she was about halfway out she looked up at him and disappeared, only to reappear inches away from him. He stumbled back just far enough to watch her swipe at him with the scissors that he'd been looking for.
"Franziska! Can't we just talk about this?" he cried. But it didn't seem to get through to her at all as she went about laughing maniacally and threatening him with the scissors. She inched her way towards him, forcing him to retreat with his hands up. "Please, it's me! You don't really want to kill me, right?" But she went on cackling and swiped at him again.
The corner of the counter jabbed into his back and he gasped. She lunged at him and he just barely managed to roll out of her way. He watched in horror as the scissors jammed into the counter top with so much force that they got stuck in the wood. While she tried to pull them out, he ran for the lounge and slammed the door shut behind him. Then he recalled Missile and the students, and realized that Franziska could likely go through doors as well (hell, she had come out of a mirror already). He decided that his best chance for survival would be to hide in a locker before she had a chance to come in and see him. Whether or not she could sense him was something he'd have to worry about later. So he ran over to the middle locker—where he had first retrieved the flashlight—and threw it open.
Inside sat the missing salon head—the one with the messy blond hair and glasses—and he slammed it shut. "Nope!" he yelped as he backed away from the locker fearfully. Then he heard something slam into the door and he looked back only to find that Franziska hadn't come through it.
THUMP!
The whole thing shook like someone much bigger than the young von Karma was pounding on it.
THUMP!
While he was relieved that she hadn't come through the door to impale him on the scissors, he couldn't help but wonder why she wasn't just phasing through it.
THUMP!
Still, Franziska was horrifyingly persistent and all he could do was wait in that room hoping that she would go away and leave the scissors behind. He considered calling another number to escape her wrath, but, well, Larry's cry probably meant that Edgeworth didn't have much time to help the poor man.
A couple minutes passed with no further activity at the door. When he finally felt the courage to emerge, he went back out to the salon floor and found that there wasn't a trace of Franziska or the scissors anywhere. "Damn." He wasn't sure how to get into the room with Larry without them. Then he noticed that the salon door wasn't open all the way. He returned to it and closed it slowly only to discover that the scissors had been wedged deeply in the wood. Though the nagging thought crossed his mind, he didn't dare say it out loud.
That could have been me. . .
He ripped the scissors free and dug the note with the noodle man's number out of his pocket. He dialed it quickly.
Back on the floor of the hallway of the noodle house, he routinely retrieved the cellphone, tucked it away, and stood up. The scissors were still in his hand so he took his flashlight out and cut the noodles just enough to get the door open.
Without any hesitation, Edgeworth burst into the room expecting to find Larry. But nothing more than a quiet room awaited him inside. "Larry?" No reply. The silence was deafening. "Damn it. Did he transport again?"
Thankfully his trip wasn't without its rewards, since a notepad was sitting on the bed. This note explained that the ghosts couldn't travel anywhere that they wanted. Phoenix had noticed that some were bound to different locations, some to specific rooms, and a chosen few could go between locations. He speculated whether or not that had to do with how they became a part of the world or why they were there at all. He even wondered if they were supposed to play specific roles in the abyss. Was it possible that Dahlia was doing this to them?
The thought sent shivers down Edgeworth's spine, but he got over it quickly when a small card fell out of the notepad and landed on the edge of the bed. He picked it up and stared at it long and hard, but the font was too small and his glasses were too filthy to make out what was on it.
He tucked the note and card away for the time being and took off his glasses to clean them on the bottom of his shirt. When he brought the lenses down to the end of his clothes, he realized that he was still wearing the pajamas that he had on when he went to visit Trucy at the agency. "How humiliating. . ." He hoped that, in spite of all the things that suggested otherwise, Maya was nothing more than a dream and she hadn't seen him in anything less than his finest suit.
The thought distracted him enough that he managed to knock his glasses out of his own hands and they bounced off his shoe, skidding under the bed. "Perfect." He got down on his hands and knees and pointed the flashlight under the bed only to see Larry holding onto his spectacles. But it wasn't the Larry that he'd seen back at the school. This Larry was as pale and horrible as Franziska was. He crawled alarmingly fast, out from under the bed, and wasted no time before attacking his old friend, throwing himself at the prosecutor and reaching towards his face.
"EDGYYYYYYY! HELP MEEEEEEE!"
"I tried!" Edgeworth protested sadly. "I came as soon as I could!" He managed to throw Larry off of him and his old friend whimpered before disappearing. "Damn it all. I tried, Larry."
He sat on the floor by the bed for a moment to go over the facts and compose himself. Franziska and the others weren't a part of this world. They weren't anywhere near the black magatama. But then there was Phoenix, Maya, and Larry.
Were Phoenix and Larry. . . dead?
Edgeworth couldn't believe that. He had to believe that there was still some way to save them.
He found his glasses on the floor, cleaned them off quickly, and checked the card again. It was a hospital business card with a phone number on it. He dialed the number thoughtfully and sighed. "Hang in there, Maya. I'll figure this out."
And he made the call.
A/N ::
Shikola Krasno ::
The nice thing about fan fiction is that the characters are typically pre-developed. That's also what makes it so hard, though, because it gives you the task of staying consistent with that character's predetermined characteristics. So making Miles Edgeworth, the man who didn't believe in spiritual things (even after using the magatama), believe that he wasn't in a dream was tricky. Of course that makes him slipping that much more dramatic, which was nice, but also makes the tragedies seem that much sadder. I can honestly say it never occurred to me that Larry's death would have any impact on Edgeworth until I wrote out the reactions. Idiot or not, Larry was close to Edgeworth (in a way) and Edgy has no way of knowing whether or not the guy is dead at this point (not to mention that I pronounced all of them dead in the epilogue thing). It's been fun sending everyone's favorite prosecutor through an emotional roller coaster, but know that it's a real pain at times too because I want him to be believable, but believably Edgeworth.
As for the actual contents of the chapter and not just my issues with Edgy's personality, what did you think of Franziska's encounter? It may seem weird to have her playing the part of the "hairstylist" from Calling, but that's got a great back-story. You see, Melody and I had to take extensive notes on the game because there is no online script and there's a ton of stuff in the game that's not covered well (if at all) in what few guides are available for it online. So, in order to take notes, we binged the game over the course of 2 days. We had played it before, but Melody had never tried out the encounter with the hair stylist. She's tough because she forces you to move backwards and one touch results in an instant death—something that doesn't happen often in this game. Well, when we plotted out a tentative character list for this whole thing I thought it would be funny to have a scene were Franziska threatened Edgeworth with scissors like a homicidal maniac. Then, when we reached the actual part in the game, Melody got stuck and the stylist caught Makoto. We still didn't get why it resulted in instant death until we watched in horror as she jabbed the scissors into Makoto's stomach, left him on the ground, and walked over him laughing. Having already established the evilest girl in the Ace Attorney series in our story, it just made sense to go with the meanest and, while we couldn't justify Edgeworth seeking a whip to open a door, she still seemed pretty cruel with scissors. It seemed like a real match made in hell.
Sorry for rambling, but one more thing! I hope everybody's still enjoying our story. Edgeworth's trials are still in the early stages, though, and he's got plenty more trouble yet to come, but not for a little while (sorry die-hard Edgeworth fans). There are two more repeated chapters that will come first; one with Maya, and then Godot's again. I promise to try and make Godot's chapter as fresh as possible, but his marks the turning point where things really get revealed.
To respond to some of our reader reviews: kightofdestiny, thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying my work! Sorry for the waiting. That's becoming mostly my fault at this point. But Melody's about ready to light a fire under my butt, so things should go faster soon. 4cherryblossoms: Godot will be my next chapter, but it will be a repeat chapter like some of Melody's have been. HOWEVER, Godot's repeat chapter will have many changes and it will explain more on why this is happening twice. Plus, who doesn't love Godot, right? And Ringmaster118, the house that we have claimed as Eldoon's is full of dolls and doll pieces in Calling. Originally our pun was that they were noo-dolls (don't hurt me) and so, to put an Ace Attorney edge on things, we covered the house with noodles. Yep. Strange. The scream I'm assuming was Larry (he doesn't get a very manly cry) and the woman who called Larry was Mia, but the one who killed him was Dahlia. Hope that clears the air.
Edgy will be back soon, so for now let him catch his breath and mourn the loss of Larry. See you soon!
Melody Canta ::
Oh, Franziska! The hairstylist is my favorite ghost in the game (especially since if you open the door when she's still pounding on it, she grabs the handle from you IMMEDIATELY and stabs you again. Funniest thing I've played in a while), so this one is definitely one of my favorite chapters.
Poor Edgeworth. As Shikola mentioned, we've been attempting to stay in character for this, which is difficult in some respects and not so much in others. Rin (Maya's character) doesn't have a ton of personality, so putting Maya in there has really been just an exercise in strong character and making her interact with others. Shin (Larry's character) on the other hand is semi-similar? Just writing Larry in character is an exercise in restraint, so I hope we've been doing okay. This fanfic has been nice because it's allowed us to really delve into some of the relationships that aren't talked about (Maya and Larry, Edgeworth and Larry, Edgeworth and Maya) and start to understand these characters a little better (I love some of the Edgeworth and Maya conversations. They're a close second after Maya and Pearl interactions).
Anyways, next is me again. Time to remind you all what happens to Maya after this (and a special guest appears? Maybe our favorite woman in red?)
