Certain Demolitions

Chapter 21: A Still In the Street

By the end of the winter it has become obvious that no one in town is going to hire Klavier. The news of his being labeled an Enemy Alien has made its way around town.

Edgeworth just sighed when he heard from Phoenix that Klavier had spent all winter trying to find work. It was the end of March, and they were sitting in Edgeworth's office at the courthouse after a trial had ended. "The problem with rumors is that once they start, they don't really stop. And they are impossible to track down."

Phoenix fiddles with a paperweight on the other man's desk. "Would you prosecute rumors if you could find who was spreading them?"

"No, prosecution would be going too far. Public shaming, maybe, but not prosecution." Edgeworth said, rubbing his eyes as he looked up from the papers he was trying to review. It's been a long few days for both of them with this trial and they're both tired.

Phoenix leans back in the chair and closes his eyes. His back is sore; he hadn't realized until it was over how stiffly he'd been standing at the bench. "There is one thing he's been able to do, though. He's playing his guitar at the Borscht Bowl Club on the weekends."

"Really?" Edgeworth asked.

"Yes."

Edgeworth considered it. "I wouldn't have thought of him playing there. The clientele is …"

"Rough?" There had been a lot of prosecutions of the last set of locals that used to inhabit the place, raising the bar for patrons from local small-time criminals to the lower end of the local factory workers.

"Riff-raff. And maybe it's my experience from living overseas but I am not sure what music he could play that they would like." Edgeworth finished.

"He's been learning a lot of the more popular ones, actually." Phoenix said. "He's learning them from the radio. It's kind of neat. He has to hear the song a few times to figure out the chords, but he's pretty good at doing it."

"Interesting." Edgeworth said. He pushed the papers away. "I'll review these later. Are you ready to leave, Wright?"

"Whenever you are. You're coming over for dinner tonight, right?"

"Of course."

~xXx~

"Get back here!" Ema shouted, but the dog darted into a shrub and without thinking, Ema went in after it. "Pess! This is not funny! Come here now! Pess! Pess!"

Klavier Gavin had been walking to town when he heard the shouting, and paused to see what was going on. The sun was already set, and the moon was shedding light on the planet below, filling in the gaps of darkness between the streetlights. He paused when saw someone sticking half out of a bush along the sidewalk, and based on the shouting he had just heard, he thought he knew who it was. "Fraulein Ema?"

She popped back out of the bush and stood up, looking shocked. "What…what are you doing here?" Ema asked, her breath fogging in the chilly air. She realized suddenly that there were twigs in her hair, and one in the sleeve of her coat. And of course, he looks perfect as usual. She hastily yanked the sticks out and tossed them away.

"I was walking to town." Klavier said, and Ema saw that he had his guitar with him. This time, though, he wasn't carrying it. Instead he had rigged up a harness and was carrying it on his back. She could see part of the straps for the case where they covered the buttons on his purple trench coat, and the top of the case stuck out above his head. "What are you doing?"

"I am walking Pess." She turned back to the shrub. "Or I was walking Pess. She got away."

Pess choose that moment to pop her head back through the bush to see who was standing there, and Ema lunged out and grabbed the dog. "Gotchya!" She said, grabbing the end of the leash that was still attached to the dog's frilly collar. "Bad dog."

"You never mentioned you had a dog." Klavier said.

"We don't. This is Prosecutor Edgeworth's dog Pess. Lana offered to watch her while Prosecutor Edgeworth was working on a big trial this week." Ema told him, tugging a reluctant Pess the rest of the way out of the shrubs. "Now we're going to go home."

"Alright. I will walk you there."

"I don't need to be walked there but thank you anyway." Ema said, but she knew he wasn't going to leave. "Won't you be late to wherever you're going?"

"Not at all. Besides your house is on the way to my destination."

"Oh, really? Where are you going?" Ema said, setting off down the sidewalk. Klavier followed her. Pess excitedly went in front of both of them, her nose to the ground.

"The Borscht Bowl."

"Kind of seedy. I take it you're playing music there?"

"Ja."

"Are you still teaching Trucy how to play?"

"Nein, she stopped when her fingers started to bleed. She said that having fingers that were bleeding made it harder to do her magic."

Ema made a face. "Playing guitar makes your fingers bleed?"

"Only in the beginning."

"Ema!" Another voice called, and a girl with long black hair and dressed in a pink shirt and a blue scarf and slacks appeared. She wore a key as a hairpin in a her tall ponytail. "Ema! There you are! Lana was starting to wonder where you were." She said, then she noticed Klavier. "Oh." She gave Ema a sly grin. "But I can always go and pretend I didn't find you."

"No!" Ema exclaimed, grabbing Kay by her scarf as she turned away. "Nothing is happening Kay. I was just walking Pess and she ran away."

"So, who's your friend?" Kay asked.

"Kay Faraday, Klavier Gavin. Klavier Gavin, Kay Faraday." Ema said. "Everyone know each other now?"

"Hey!" Kay said, her eyes growing wide. She pointed at Klavier. "You're the guy Ema was always talking about when she came home!"

"Kay!" Ema wailed. Then she elbowed Klavier, who was grinning at her. "And you. Wipe that smile off your face."

"Anyway, Ema." Kay said, shifting her weight. "Lana wanted me to come find you 'cause Mr. Edgeworth is over and he's wondering where his dog is and …what is Pess rolling in?"

"Pess! Bad dog!" Ema said, yanking on the leash. "She's been acting up all week, probably because she hasn't seen Prosecutor Edgeworth in so long and she doesn't like it. We were going home."

"Indeed, you have perfect timing, Fraulein Kay. I was just walking Ema home. I'll walk you both home." Klavier offered.

Kay giggled. Ema grabbed her arm. "Thank you, Klavier. But, it's a small town, and we'll be fine."

"Anyway," Kay grinned. "We need to compare notes. It was nice meeting you, Klavier." She waved goodbye as Ema dragged her away.

"Kay, I'm going to strangle you." Ema hissed, glancing behind her to make sure they were far enough away that Klavier couldn't hear. He was continuing to follow them down the sidewalk at a more leisurely pace. Ema was hurrying both Kay and Pess along to stay as far ahead of him as she could. "I was complaining about him and he doesn't need to know that."

"The first time you came back from college, you wouldn't shut up about him, and it was only half complaining." Kay protested.

"Kay!"

"Well it was." Kay said unapologetically. They arrived at the house just then, courtesy of Ema speed-walking them. Edgeworth's car was parked in front of the house. "Anyway, he's really easy on the eyes, so I don't know what you're complaining about."

"Listen, Kay, you don't need to share that with him." Ema fumed. She put a hand to the door, then paused and looked back up the street. Klavier was still strolling down the street. Ema frowned, and handed Pess's leash to Kay. "Here, take Pess in, will you?"

"You going back to talk to Klavier?" Kay asked.

"Yes," Ema admitted. "Don't laugh about it either."

"Never." Kay said. She took the leash. "Come along Pess." She opened the door and Pess raced inside, having already picked up Edgeworth's scent.

Ema turned and stomped back up the street, feeling irate with herself for what she was doing and guilty for what she had done. In her mind's eye she could see Klavier looking at the ceiling after Trucy's rejoicing when Apollo had walked through the door while they decorated the tree and announced that he would not be joining the military. She hadn't seen his face, but she thought she knew his reaction.

He has a brother left in Germany. How would I feel if Lana was one country and I was in another and there was a war going on that was keeping us apart? But she doesn't have time to think about that much longer, because she's caught up with Klavier.

"You came back, Fraulein" He said.

"I did. Listen, I'm sorry for what Kay said."

"Never mind it. It's fine." Klavier said. "She didn't bother me."

"There's something I want to ask you." Ema said. "You have family in Germany. But you haven't tried to go back. Why?"

He didn't say anything, and Ema began to think that she had offended him. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to. I wasn't trying to offend you."

"You do not offend me, Fraulein." Klavier said, but he was frowning. "Kristoph, my brother, said something to me as I was leaving."

"And…that's what made you decide to stay?"

"Ja."

They arrived at Ema's house just then. "I'd better go in. But, Klavier, what did he say to you?"

"Someday I might tell you, Ema. But not tonight. Gute Nacht." He said, then moved past her and went on his way.

Ema watched him go, then went into the house.

Kay was sitting in the easy chair, rocking back and forth absently. Edgeworth and Lana were sitting on the couch. Pess was lying on the floor, pressed against Edgeworth's legs and looking up at him adoringly. Ema took a seat on the footstool near Kay's chair and held her chin in her hands. Then she decided to ask Edgeworth a question.

"Hey Mr. Edgeworth, do you think Klavier's going to get sent to war since he's been declared an Enemy Alien?"

"I doubt it. He's got a lot of movement restrictions on him. Plus he hasn't registered for the draft." Edgeworth said, sipping his cup of tea. "Why do you ask?"

"I was just curious." Ema said.

"Is he going to join the Army?" Kay asked curiously. She only knew a little bit of the story from her visits with Ema, as she lived out of town.

"He could if he wanted, I suppose. I would prefer it if he would just keep a low profile for the time being. I don't know who started the rumors about him, but Blaise Debeste is always up for a bad idea. He doesn't need any more of them." Edgeworth replied. "Why?"

"Just curious." Ema repeated, looking out the window at the darkness outside, and wondering what it was like for Klavier at the Borscht Bowl. Playing in a small town like this was nothing like playing in a big city, she was certain.

But the lonely moon outside the window looked back at her, unfeeling.

[A/N:] While I presume that Klavier can read music, learning a song by hearing it...I know lots of people who play instruments based on having heard the song and then sitting down and figuring out the notes on their instrument. It was actually how I learned to play on the recorder, and how I corrected my ocarina music when I played it through and discovered that the music didn't actually have all the notes in the song on it.

I changed Kay's appearance just a little, mostly because I don't see her as the kind of person who would have the patience to sit and paint her stockings on. She gets slacks for now. And she keeps her hairpin, because I think it's a super cool hairpin.

And Pess is here too because I like the idea of Edgeworth having a dog. The song title comes from the song Crossfire again.

Any questions, please let me know.

Reviews are appreciated.