Chapter Eleven :: Turnabout Revival

"Everyone have a drink?" Phoenix looked around the office, counting shot glasses full of tequila (or in Trucy and Pearl's cases, apple juice) and people in the room. "The new year only comes once a year."

"Well, obviously. Otherwise it would not be the new year," Franziska said, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Come on! We can't break tradition, right, Nick? A kiss from a beautiful lady and a shot of tequila to usher in the new year!" Larry was ridiculously excited, in Phoenix's opinion, seeing as this certainly wasn't the first year they'd celebrated this, although it was the first time he'd celebrated it with the prosecutors present. Edgeworth, Franziska, and Nathan were all seated on the couch in the Wright Talent Agency, the last of which was sprawled out looking sated after the meal they'd just had. They'd gone to the Gatewater Hotel's buffet line, and Nathan had thought it was a great idea to challenge Maya to an eating contest. Despite the fact that Phoenix had never seen Maya lose to anyone, the young prosecutor had put up a good fight and when the hotel had requested they leave, citing mass food loss, the two had called it a tie.

"We didn't celebrate last year," Phoenix reminded him.

Larry shrugged. "Which means we have to do it extra this time! It's for the good luck!"

Maya snorted. "Is that why we had so many problems this year? No New Year's shot?"

"Obviously."

"Can I drink my apple juice yet, Daddy?"

Phoenix checked his watch. "Not for another few minutes, Truce."

"What are we waiting for, Mr. Nick?"

"According to Larry's mother, you have to drink it just after midnight on the new year."

"Ah, so that's what this is about." Edgeworth sighed and sat back in his chair. "I didn't relish informing my father that your mother introduced me to tequila at the age of ten."

Phoenix chuckled. Even when they had been children, Larry's mother had insisted on everyone participating fully in the tradition, which had gotten both him and Edgeworth into a bit of trouble that night with their parents. He opened his mouth to respond, but a knock on the door interrupted him. "Read the door! We're closed!" he shouted.

There was another knock, more persistent this time.

"We're closed!"

There was a chuckle from the other side of the door, followed by a feminine sounding, "Honestly, Phoenix, is that any way to treat your employees?"

Maya shrieked and threw herself at the door. Phoenix followed as soon as he could, although by the time he got there, he could see two suitcases, wavy dark hair, and two arms clutching his girlfriend. "Maya, you've got to let her up."

"No. I missed her."

The figure under Maya coughed. "I missed you too, Maya, but I think you might have cracked one of my ribs."

"Auntie Kiria!"

There was a small flurry of activity as Kiria got to her feet, aided by everyone that had squeezed through the doorway or could reach around someone else. Maya blew her hair back from her face as she stood, smoothing down her robes. "I thought you weren't coming back for another month!"

Kiria smiled. "I got out early on good behavior. Or more, my chance of relapsing was so low that they deemed me able to leave rehab early. So, I grabbed the first flight back and hoped to surprise you all for the new year. So, um, Happy New Year!"

"Is it already?" Phoenix checked his watch. "Not quite. Come on, everyone." He ushered everyone back to their places, Kiria perching on the couch arm next to Nathan, and everyone picked up their shot glasses. Larry watched his watch, and Phoenix offered his colleague his shot glass before taking the bottle of tequila.

"Three . . ."

He swept a glance around the room. Most of his dearest friends were here in this room with him, ushering in the New Year in traditional fashion. He looked at the three prosecutors on the couch, his formerly-fellow defense attorney returned from fighting her demons, the two young girls sitting on the floor, one of which he considered his daughter and the other who might as well be, his best friend, and the woman sitting next to him who had done her very best to fix every problem they had ever come up against together. Each one of them had fought during the last year to be sitting here in the office now, and he counted himself lucky to be among them.

"Two . . ."

He raised the bottle in a toast.

"One . . ."

The others raised their glasses.

"Happy New Year, all." He took a long drag from the bottle as the others knocked back their shots (or more, Maya, Pearl, and Trucy attempted. It was obvious from the smooth movements of the others that they had done it before).

Larry jumped up from the chair, holding his arms out to Franziska. "Now come on, Franzy! Time to make out with the most ruggedly handsome guy in the room!" He winked in what Phoenix supposed was supposed to be a rogue-ish manner, but it didn't seem to to impress the woman he was attempting to charm. Instead, everyone winced as Franziska stood, whip in her palm already. Most of them looked away as the prosecutor made it very clear what she thought of his proposition. Only Nathan watched, a mild look of pleasure at watching Franziska take out her anger on someone who wasn't him.

Phoenix pressed his lips to Maya's briefly. "Happy New Year."

"What are we single people supposed to do?" Kiria hissed to Nathan and Edgeworth. The latter merely smirked, while the former grabbed the bottle of tequila.

"Drink more," he said, splashing more in her glass and offering some to his mentor before draining the dregs. "Happy New Year."

"Hopefully this year goes a bit more smoothly than the last," Kiria said with a sigh.

Edgeworth nodded. "It was a trying year."

Nathan grinned. "Of course it'll be better. That was our first year being licensed attorneys. The second year goes better. It'll be old hat soon."

Kiria raised her filled glass. "I'll drink to that."

Life settled down easily enough for the Japanese attorney upon her return. Yoshiya had been paying rent for her apartment, so the unit was still technically hers. Despite the fact that five months had encouraged more dust to settle than she had initially expected, cleaning and unpacking took only a few days, and being reinstated for the bar was quick with proof of completion of her rehabilitation program.

"I'll start on Monday," she told Phoenix the Friday after the New Year.

He leaned on her desk, his lips pursed. "Are you sure you're ready? You can take as much time as you'd like."

"I've been doing nothing for the last five months. I'll drive myself crazy if I don't go back to work soon."

"It's been slow around here; don't expect a case soon."

She nodded. "Thanks." She replaced her pen in the drawer, and having placed all of her photos and personal effects on her desk, straightened and walked to the door. "You want to grab a drink?"

"It's only three in the afternoon. I'm still on the clock."

Kiria grinned. "Come on, live a little. Maya and Trucy are still here, and it's not like anyone's going to be coming around for the worst piano player I've ever heard."

Phoenix shrugged and followed her out. They ended up in a bar two blocks away from the office. He waited as she ordered a strawberry daiquiri and had a gin and tonic for himself. "So, what's this about?"

"Hm?"

"Don't play dumb. As much as I'd love to imagine all my employees just love to spend their afternoons drinking with me, I know otherwise. Are you in any trouble?"

She hesitated, and he could see a flash of doubt dart across her face before it was tamped down. "No, not trouble. I'm just wondering what I can do to protect myself as an attorney."

"What do you mean?"

The bartender came back with their drinks, and she fiddled with the stem of her glass before answering. "Despite what Nate seems to think, I'm not delusional enough to think that Kronos won't come after me again. I talked with Natalya the other day, and she said they haven't made any new arrests since I left, which means there are still members out there."

"I'm guessing you're still at the top of their list, if you're on it at all. Hermia Laytonne might be higher, but that's not saying much. Either way, the only thing you can do is not take requests that have to do with them. Extract yourself from the turf, and I'm guessing you'll drop in importance."

"But then another attorney . . ."

"You can't help that. But if you're serious about your safety, get yourself out. We have enough enemies right now, with my disbarring and all." He took a drink, trying to act disaffected, but he had a feeling that with the target she had already painted on herself, his was only going to make that bigger. "I'll bring it up to Edgeworth too."

She cocked an eyebrow.

"Ah, I forgot, you haven't heard. He's being promoted to Chief Prosecutor next week, which means he'll be able to control who goes against you in those cases. As much as he can't show favoritism, he might want to be involved."

She nodded, tracing the rim of her glass and licking the salt from her finger. "But there's nothing else I can do legally?"

"What could you? I think they made it very clear that they're happy to circumvent the law should it benefit them."

"Okay. Then I'm out." She raised her hands in surrender. "Any cases that I know are Kronos cases, I'll opt out."

"Good choice." He patted her shoulder. "If your safety wasn't in jeopardy, I might say something different, but seeing as they poisoned you last time and you just happened to make a miraculous recovery, I think this is a good idea."

She smiled. "Thanks again. And if you want to grab a drink at three in the afternoon again, just ask. I won't object."

He chuckled. "Good to know, Kir. Good to know."

He watched as she made her way through the theme park, yellow skirt twirling as she spun. The children around her giggled and danced, four dwarves acting as protection. For now.

Snow White grabbed one of the children's hands, and together, they raced to the exit. "It's almost closing time!" she said, her crimson smile as authentic as anyone else's in the park. "You have to hurry! Otherwise the evil witch will find you!"

"What will they do?" a child asked, eyes wide.

"She'll wait until you're alone and then offer you an apple. And, well, you know what happens then, right?"

The children gasped and recoiled.

"So you have to go! Hurry!" She ushered the children through the iron gates, waving as they made their way to their respective parents. "Have a good night!" she shouted, continuing to wave until the final child disappeared from her view. She sighed then, her whole body sagging in fatigue as she finally dropped the character.

"Tired?" he asked, stepping out from the bathroom.

She turned, but relaxed again as she saw him. "What's up with the bowl of apples?"

"Proof of the evil witch's spell." He winked and held it out to her. "Apple?"

"Thanks." She took the top one and bit into it, wrinkling her nose.

"What's wrong?"

"It's got a weird taste. Sorry, but I'm gonna get rid of it."

"Want to throw the rest of these out then too? I got them all from the farm down the road, and I thought mine tasted weird earlier too, so it must be the entire batch."

She looked at him a bit suspiciously, but took the bowl from him, placing her apple on top. "No problem." She blinked as something wet hit her nose. "Is it . . . snowing?"

They both looked up at the sky, dark and stormy. "Maybe. I'm gonna get going; are you okay here?"

"Oh, yeah. I'll just change out of my costume before I leave. Drive safe, okay?"

He nodded. "You too."

He turned and exited the park, checking his watch. Fifteen minutes.

For the second time in her career as an attorney, Kiria found herself roused in the early morning by her ring tone. She groaned, lifting her head from the arm of her couch. She vaguely remembered watching an old rerun of some television show, and then resting her eyes for just a second, but in no way did she recall falling asleep. She groped around in the darkness for her phone, finally finding it on the floor next to the couch and lifted it to her ear. "Nomura."

"Kiria."

She fought back a strong feeling of deja vu. "Nate? God, what time is it?"

"Four thirty." She expected the sentence to end with some quip, but it was absent, making her realize just how serious he was.

"What's wrong?"

"Carrie's dead."

She racked her brain, sitting up. "We know a Carrie?"

"Carrie Schneider? Care Bear? USC?"

Recognition hit hard and fast, waking her fully. "Carrie's dead?"

"Yeah. I just got the call from Kim. The police wouldn't tell her anything. I'm on my way to the scene now, but I don't know that I'll get any more information anyways. I just thought you should know."

"Where was she killed?"

"According to our pal Gumshoe, the only CSI unit out is in Fairy Tale Park."

"The theme park?"

"The one and only."

"I'm on my way too."

He paused. "Is everything okay?"

"No, you just called me to tell me that an old college friend is dead."

"Besides that. You don't need to come down here."

"I'm coming. I want to see what happened to her for myself."

There was another pause and then a sigh. "Okay. I'll swing by and pick you up."

She ended the call and placed a hand over her heart, feeling it race as quickly as her thoughts seemed to be. Had this been her fault? Had Carrie Schneider been sentenced to death because five months ago she had taken on someone she shouldn't have?

She threw on a pair of jeans and a suit jacket before rustling through her closet for the trademark stilettos. She had a feeling that she might need the confidence that had traditionally gone with them.

Unfortunately, most of that confidence seemed to be gone.

A/N :: The next chapter is FINALLY up! This one was easy to write . . . after the reunion scene. Seriously, that reunion scene was a nightmare to write. Originally, it was almost four thousand words and meandered into everything from Kiria's new hairstyle to her time in Japan, but all of that will be addressed in later chapters. To tell the truth, I was just ready for another Kiria case again. So, we're diving straight into Once Upon a Turnabout!

I've been trying to rush this chapter because tomorrow, I finally leave to go on an actual vacation! I'm off to the Caribbean for a week and a half and that entire time is dedicated to getting rid of my stress. So, hopefully, when I get back, I'll be nice and rested. Unfortunately, one of our big cons here on the west coast is right after I get back, so that's probably going to stress me out again. Why can I never finish cosplays on time?!

Before I move on to the comments, I'd like to revise something I said last time so that I'm not saying it to every person. I think some of you interpreted my discussion of Kay and Trucy being like new Mayas of their own games as a bad thing. Let it be known that I like both of them, and that the only reason why I prefer Trucy at all is because I felt like she had a reason to be in the game in the first place, and she characterizes Phoenix better than his own dialogue does. Kay, on the other hand, while I do like her, seemed unnecessary from her first appearance, and I think that had they gone a different direction than the Yatagarasu, Gumshoe could have filled the role. I like Gumshoe. I wanted more Gumshoe. D:

Oh, and to move on to new news, WE FINALLY HAVE CONFIRMATION OF THE CROSSOVER GAME! Forgive the abuse of caps lock, but Phoenix Wright vs. Professor Layton has finally been announced for the US (something that many of you know I've been excited for). The demo for Dual Destinies is also up to play, but do be warned: it takes a while to load, and it's only on the Japanese site for now, which means it's all in Japanese and not exactly suited to someone who doesn't have much experience in the language.

...and I wish they'd kept Athena's name as Kokone in the English version. But, I digress. There's fantastic stuff going on in the world of Ace Attorney, so if you haven't checked it out, do it!

Comments ::

Sakana-chan63 :: As a stickler for complete endings, I did get all of the endings in 999, and I recently finished Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward and finished all 24 endings there too. The sequel is as horrifying as the original, but still fantastic. Chunsoft really has outdone themselves with the games, and I can't wait for the third to come out.

FeytedintheTARDIS :: Yes, there was a Professor Layton reference in the final case of The First Strike! Both Hermia Laytonne and Lysander Triton are tiny puns on Hershel Layton and Luke Triton. But I'm glad that you liked the last chapter. From what I played of Dual Destinies when I played the demo, I think we'll see a bit more of Apollo in character than we did in his own game. He seems to have come into his own in the gap.

KnightofDestiny :: That's kind of the big question this whole series is going to be what happened to Kiria. I may shift the focus just a tiny bit, but from where I'm going, that's the big question to answer. As for Dual Destinies, I'm starting to have a bit more faith in it now that I've played a bit. The demo only allows you to play as Phoenix, but you do have Apollo in the back of your mind the whole time, or at least I did. As for Kay's character, no, I haven't played GK2, and I probably won't (it's a bit of a nightmare for a writer anyways, because the whole thing is mostly unmotivated, which I think got me more than Kay randomly shows up in a warehouse and saves Edgeworth, and then becomes a major player in the game), but you do have to remember that Trucy has only had one game as well. In my very humble opinion (which doesn't mean much), Trucy's character was established better in Apollo Justice than Kay's was in GK1. It's really the only reason for my preference. I still like Maya best. c:

OddWriter12 :: I can't help it, I have a bit of a soft spot for Apollo, which means he's going to get it worse than everyone else. D: As for the new game, so far my only problem (other than the localization of some of the names; I got used to the Japanese ones now!) has been the sprites. I miss the 2D ones. As for the game itself, I think we're just going to have to wait and see. If it makes you feel any better, I'm making myself wait with most of my readers until it comes out in North America, partly because I don't know how consistent characterization stays during the localization process. With a lot of games, it changes, and I want to keep as consistent as possible for you guys!

Jack Falconer :: Haha, don't I know that one? I always mean to get these chapters up a lot faster than they get done. You asked a lot of questions, and in the interest of keeping the answers secret, I won't answer them. Sorry. c: But your questions do make me realize what needs to be addressed quickly and what should just get out of the way, so keep asking them! And thank you for the praise! I'm trying to keep it firmly based in canon, because in my very humble opinion, that's what an OC-centric fanfiction should be. But, again, personal preference coming through. As for Spark Brushel, well, I suppose stranger things have happened. Still, I think it might be frowned upon even in that crazy universe to sniff people in court.

LordSlogra :: Welcome! And thank you so much (and apologize to your parents for me; addicted to fanfiction!). I hope this was fast enough for you.

Read and review!