Athena remembered that day very well. Considering how important it was to her, she'd be disappointed in herself if she ever forgot it.

She was seventeen, younger than nearly all of the other students around her. Her perfectly average day involved spending most of her time in the university library, and this day fit the mold as well as any other, up until shortly after three in the afternoon.

"Excuse me, miss?"

It had taken her a moment to realize that the voice was directed at her. She'd been hunched over her usual variety of textbooks, some for law and some for psychology. It was no secret to her that she had a somewhat unusual reputation around the campus. Most saw her as being very social as long as she wasn't approached while studying, but almost entirely closed off when doing so. As such, people going out of their way to speak with her personally during her study periods had come to be unexpected.

"Miss?" the voice asked again.

"Hmm-?" She looked up to see a black-haired man standing on the other side of her table, watching her. He wore a rather expensive looking blue suit. Was he one of the school's professors? "Yes?" she asked politely, sitting upright in her chair.

"Are you Athena Cykes?" the man asked, pulling out a chair to sit down.

"That's me." Athena replied. She felt a sudden compulsion to straighten her hair a bit for appearance's sake.

The man gave a gentle smile as he sat down. "Well, Ms. Cykes, my name is Phoenix Wright."

"Oh-!"

Athena glanced aside, feeling her face reddening a bit at her involuntary outburst. "I-I'm sorry," she said, "I just wouldn't have expected to-…"

"To see the great Forgin' Attorney here?" Phoenix responded indulgently. "I guess you've at least heard of me, then."

"You shouldn't let people keep calling you that." Athena said. "Now that your name's been cleared."

She'd read all about the case. Back in her old home of L.A., Phoenix Wright had been one of the biggest names in the legal world in recent years, for a variety of reasons. She'd never known anything about his early career when she was a little girl, living as sheltered as she had, but since beginning her studies in her teenage years, she'd come across the name countless times.

Truthfully, she never knew what to think of him, just going by the news articles and arguments she'd come across. Some people believed that Phoenix Wright was just a con of an attorney who'd finally been caught in his own corruption after a few years in the business, while others insisted that he was an upstanding professional whose reputation had been unjustly ruined. Both camps had quieted down in recent times, once new stars in prosecution and defence had a chance to make the news for themselves.

Just a short while ago, his name had exploded into prominence in American news once again in the aftermath of a very well-publicized trial. From what the news reports said, he'd been cleared of the forgery accusations that ended his career seven years earlier.

Athena had read about all of this, but she'd never given it enough thought to think she might eventually meet the man for herself.

"Maybe not." he agreed. "But some habits can be hard to break."

As anyone in her position would have, Athena wondered why he was interested in speaking with her, though it was only one of the numerous questions building up in her mind.

"There's a bit of a story behind it." he answered when she asked. "I've been on a trip with a friend for about the past two weeks, - studying various legal systems internationally and the like - and I met with a judge yesterday. She had a lot to say about what she calls the 'new generation' of law students, and suggested that I drop by the university to speak with some of the professors."

By now Athena was leaning across the table, listening eagerly.

Phoenix continued, "Now, when I spoke with the professors for the defence courses, I asked whether they might have any students interested in having a chat with me about their interest in law." He smiled as Athena involuntarily perked up, realizing where he was going with this. "You made the top of the list."

That was one of the most important days of Athena's life. Everything she'd accomplished since then was set into her path by that one meeting with Mr. Wright. She'd quickly taken to his teaching methods. He was much more interesting to listen to than any of her law professors, with his countless stories about his early career. All the close calls and successes he'd described to her - and that she'd later done research of her own on - played a big part in helping her build up the initiative she needed to push for success of her own in her studies.

They'd kept in contact after he returned to America as well. Emails were traded back and forth as Athena kept him up to date on her progress in the university until she'd graduated from her courses with top marks, certified in both law and psychology. And when he'd offered her a job at his law firm, she'd wasted no time. She had more personal reasons to get back to America as soon as she could, after all.

Bits and pieces of all the speeches and lectures he'd given to her back then were drifting through Athena's mind now in a hectic scramble.

When Phoenix told her that he was losing his drive to become an attorney, she'd reacted rather poorly, to describe the moment lightly.

That was a relative perspective, anyway. To someone in her extreme position, grabbing Phoenix by the shoulder and physically dragging him back to his apartment building seemed quite reasonable, but it was very easy to imagine how and why he might not have the same opinion.

"OK." she said firmly once the building's front door snapped shut behind them.

"Andrea," Phoenix tried to begin, only for Athena to immediately gesture for his silence.

"Nick, there's-… I need to-…" She didn't want to let Phoenix be the one to start this conversation, but even as she claimed the opening place, she found that she didn't know where to begin. "Just… talk to me, OK? You said that you don't want to be an attorney after everything that's happened the last few days, so walk me through it. I-… I'm sure you'd make a great lawyer, and I want to know what you're thinking."

"… OK." Phoenix said. He didn't sound happy. "Uhh…" He sighed. "One sec here, I need to straighten it out for myself."

"Fine." Athena said gently. She was getting used to treading carefully around anything that might alter history in any major way, and from where she stood, this felt like the single most important event she'd yet encountered.

Phoenix was silent for a few moments more. Athena traced her fingertips over Widget's casing, anxious for him to begin.

"Maybe you can relate, I don't know…" Phoenix began, "... Well, remember the first day we met back at Mia's office? You told me about how you got into law because of a promise you made to a friend. I… kind of did the same thing. There's someone I used to know. I… I wanted to find that person."

This clicked in Athena's head. He was talking about the Chief Prosecutor from her own time. She didn't really know the entire story, but some of the key points were known around the office.

"I spent a long time planning to study law once I grew up." Phoenix continued. "I told myself that it was the best way, but over time… I guess over time my interest started to fade. I didn't really think about it as it happened. It just sort of hit me one day, and I didn't really know what to do then."

"You said you studied art, right?" Athena interjected.

"Yeah. I'd spent so much time with that plan to go into law that when I realized I was losing interest, I panicked. I didn't want to find myself stuck in one place, not advancing in my life, so I made the decision to go into art. For a while things were just fine - I was enjoying my studies, I felt like they were going well, and then…"

When Phoenix trailed off into a sigh, Athena took the moment to think over how his words sounded. It was obvious that he felt a lot of conflicting emotions about the choices he'd made for his life in the recent past.

He continued. "… And then we got to my trial four months ago."

"When your, er-… ex-girlfriend was indicted?"

"… Right. Like I keep saying, Mia was an incredible inspiration - makes me wish you could've seen her in that trial, actually. It took me a little while to really work it all out in my head, but that trial flipped my outlook around completely. For the first time in years, I felt like I really knew what I wanted to do with myself. … God, it's strange to think of how little time has actually passed. Honestly, Andrea… I don't know what I'm really feeling about all this. I guess that isn't really helpful to a psychologist, is it?"

"Actually," Athena replied, meeting Phoenix's eye, "It's very helpful."

The Phoenix Wright that Athena knew from her own time period was different from the one standing before her in quite a lot of ways, she was continually coming to realize. If she were speaking to this young man's older counterpart, she'd expect a mix of somewhat cryptic advice born of experience, and a generous dose of friendly small-talk that took great care to avoid ever getting very personal on Phoenix's side. He was an excellent listener, but rarely spoke in a way that betrayed much about his own emotions. Most of what Athena knew about him on a more personal level came from Trucy, who it was apparent he had either more difficulty keeping such information from, or less inclination to. It didn't seem to be out of any distrust toward Athena, however. She recognized it was none of her business, though that didn't always stop her wondering what her employer's reasons were.

Maybe it made her sound arrogant, but she always felt a mildly smug sense of accomplishment when she felt that she had a given person figured out. That was something she hadn't yet been able to say for Phoenix Wright in this time period or her own.

"Well, Nick, you were right about one thing for sure." she said. "I can relate to that. Maybe I wowed you with my stories of studying psychology and law at the same time, but that was never easy. I spent more nights than I can remember lying awake and wondering… Well, just all-around doubting myself. I asked myself whether this was the right thing to do at all, whether I'd really be able to do it, whether I even understood why I was so hell-bent on it… But in the end, I forced myself to realize that there wasn't any good reason to spend my time doing that. I'd decided years before that I knew my plan, and letting myself doubt it or my ability to fulfill it would only ever get in the way. When you said before that you didn't want to get the wrong idea; let me guess, you were worried that I'd think Mr. Eisley's trial had scared you out of your dream to be a lawyer, and that I'd feel like you were trying to get around saying that you blamed me?"

"That's…" Phoenix sighed. "That's kind of it."

Athena smiled at him. "I'll bet I sound like a textbook kids' show special telling you this, but the first step toward that kind of goal is always believing for yourself that you can do it. You can, after all. There'll always be things that'll get in your way, even if you had no way of knowing that they were coming up, but all you have to do is avoid letting them trip you up. Always focus on that one end goal, and you'll find ways to bridge the gap."

"After-school special, one hundred percent!"

"... Quiet, you…" Athena grumbled through the encouraging smile she'd been wearing. Phoenix just laughed at Widget's outburst.

"And here I was terrified over how I'd explain all this." he said. "Am I really that transparent?"

"I've just had a lot of practice. I promise." Athena replied.

"Yeah. … Thanks, Andrea. I mean it. I… This was exactly the kind of thing I needed to hear."

"Any time." Athena said.

"But I… I just don't know." Phoenix continued, instantly reviving the feeling of worry that Athena had been experiencing earlier in this conversation. "Maybe I should talk to Mia, too, or just… just sleep on it. I think I still need more time to decide on this."

(But I used excerpts from at least four different motivational speeches! Statistically, you should be four hundred percent convinced by now!)

"You're right." Athena replied, forcing down her renewed nervousness. "… But keep me posted, alright? I… I wouldn't want to have to tell Mia that she only gets one fantastic new young lawyer in her office."

Athena had excused herself again after that, this time leaving the dingy apartment building alone. She felt a certain obligation to apologize to Aura for taking so long, even though she'd never actually offered a timeframe for her return to the space centre.

It was strange to think that all she'd promised to tell Aura when she did get back was how she felt about the movie she'd gone out to see. Something so mundane felt quite out of place amidst her worries about jeopardizing the timestream, or the still-uncertain meaning behind her temporal headaches of both the figurative and literal sorts.

The trip was pleasantly uneventful. Athena opted to catch a bus this time, arriving at the stop down the block from the space centre parking lot entry in about as calm a frame of mind as her situation had ever allowed.

It was unfortunate, then, that unbeknownst to her, she had yet another problem waiting anxiously for her arrival in the robotics lab.

"Hmm…?"

The door to Aura's lab was locked. Athena remembered from childhood that while Aura was rarely happy to have someone barge into her lab unannounced, she only rarely locked the door, recognizing the need for colleagues to be allowed in when necessary.

"Aura?" she called, knocking on the door. Even the circular window on the door was covered.

Nonetheless, the familiar clicking of Aura's heels could be heard approaching the door a moment later.

The door was only open for a split second before Aura's voice uttered a firm, "In, now."

Athena gave the older woman a curious glance as she entered, Aura closing the door behind her. "Something wrong? … Aura?"

The roboticist wasn't saying anything. Athena felt a bit put off by the silence.

"Uhh... So, the movie was great…"

"Athena."

She snapped to attention immediately. Aura's voice was thick with some clear note of tension.

"What's up?"

"Of course she doesn't know, idiot…"

Athena blanched. "What…?" Something had sounded off, but she hadn't expected anything like Aura's sudden self-directed outburst.

Further compounding her confusion, Aura just whirled around to take a few steps away toward her desk, continuing, "And of course she heard that, you complete idiot…"

"Aura, what are you-…"

There was a painful-sounding thud as Aura slammed a fist down against the surface of her desk, scattering the pencils and small components covering its surface. "It had to be you, didn't it, Athena?"

"'Had to'… Aura, what are you talking about…?"

Aura had turned back to face her properly for the first time since her arrival. Athena barely concealed a little gasp at the sight of her face. Aura's eyes were reddened and the makeup around them was twisted into a smudged mess, like she'd been forcefully wiping away tearstreaks. It was a far cry from the confident expressions she was used to.

"If there was going to be anyone-… anyone who was going to suddenly walk into my life and fuck everything up, it would always have to be you. The first time I ever met Metis, there you were: her sheltered little princess. And there I was, starting to feel the kinds of things I'd convinced myself not to bother with, even when I knew that you were the perfect proof that it would never work…"

"Aura, slow down, please." Athena said firmly. Aura was rambling like she'd been boiling over these thoughts for hours at least, - which, in all probability, she had been - and if their conversation was to go anywhere, Athena would need to establish a starting point to work from.

Another loud thud as Aura turned away once more to drive a foot into the side of her desk. "Damn it…" she snapped, likely in response to the pain as well as her clear frustrations. "I told myself not to do this. I just-…"

"Deep breath." Athena instructed her, already reaching for Widget's chain practically out of reflex.

Aura took in a steadying breath as instructed. "… I shouldn't have snapped. I know. Athena, tell me something."

"Anything." Athena said. Aura's voice was pleading now.

"When I borrowed Widget from you… There was something I saw."

"… Oh no." Athena mumbled as the pieces fell together in her head.

"Metis." Aura went on, confirming Athena's new theory.

"Aura, I'm so sorry-…"

"No. No, this isn't where you apologize. Just tell me about Metis."