Author's Note: Gah! Sorry it took so long! I wanted to have it up Saturday, but I couldn't get on the computer. Yesterday I was up all night (thanks to a mild case of insomnia and a candy bar at eleven P.M.) writing most of this, but I lost the ending because fanfiction logged me out after a while and I didn't get the chance to save. Sorry again.
I don't own squat.
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Maya sighed and shook her head as Diego chugged the rest of his coffee.
"It'll be a long trial, Diego. Don't drink it all at once," She warned him. He shrugged indifferently.
"I can get more during the trial." He stated simply. Maya sighed, remembering how mugs of coffee would fly out to him during the trials, their origin a mystery. Was that even legal, to have coffee appear out of nowhere in a trail, anyway? And where the hell did they come from?
"..." Maya shook her head, ridding herself of the other stupid questions she would think about because of his damn coffee. "We have more important issues than coffee at the moment-"
"-Very few things are more important than my morning coffee-" Diego cut Maya off, only for her to cut him off, too.
"-And being accused of my cousin's murder is one of them!" She said forcefully, glaring at him as if to say 'I dare you.' Diego dutifully shut up about coffee. For the moment, at least. "Now look, I know officially you are your own attorney here, but I intend to help as much as possible. I just passed law school, and I'm going to take the Bar Exam soon and if I can think of anything you can't, don't think I'm not making sure the judge doesn't know and- Why the hell are you grinning like that?" Maya frowned and crossed her arms over her chest as Diego smirked.
"You sound just like my Kitten right now," He said, ruffling her bangs. Maya growled.
"Do that again and I have no problem harming you," She threatened.
"Um... Did I come at a bad time?" A third voice asked from behind Maya. She whipped her head around to see one Marilyn Fey, her second or third cousin. She wore the average acolyte clothing, and had no specific traits that set her apart from the rest of the Feys. She was an okay channeler, she was quiet, had a plain face and long black hair, and was a little taller than Maya. She was also a push-over. Maya smiled friendly. She didn't know Marilyn too well, but she was grateful she'd show up to watch this... Despite the bleak circumstances.
"Marilyn! How nice of you to come!" Maya hugged the other black haired woman. "What are you doing here?" She asked, pulling away. Maya failed to notice how tense Marilyn suddenly became, as Diego stood by silently watching.
"I... I wanted to see the results, Maya. Morgan said I aught to come- She said it'd be quite the show..."
"Morgan told you that?" Diego asked, his voice emotionless. Marilyn nodded, not sure she liked where this was going. She couldn't see him scrutinizing her under the mask. Suddenly, the bailiff started yelling about the trial starting soon.
"I have to go get a seat," Marilyn told Maya. Nodding to each other, Marilyn walked into the courtroom. Diego stared into the bottom of his mug, looking for a single drop of coffee left before he moved on to the next mug.
"Morgan's involved," He said, giving up on the mug as they walked into the court. Maya looked straight ahead of them as she replied.
"We already knew that. She's the A-hole prosecutor's so called 'Star Witness.' I haven't met him yet, but I can already tell I'm gonna hate him," She said, before sitting next the Diego at the Defense's table. She studied it quickly and quietly before staring at the empty Prosecutor's table. It all seemed so foreign now... The courtroom, the table, had they switched it all out during the last four years?
"You know what I mean by 'involved,' Kitten," Diego said, choosing to ignore the part about the prosecutor for the moment. Maya sighed and looked at him.
"Yeah, I know what you mean by 'involved'... I just don't want to believe it..." She trailed off, looking down at the table. She wished Nick was there. She couldn't tell him Iris died. She just couldn't. Maya thought out the whole conversation, and even called him up. She didn't plan on beating around the bush- The first four words she would say on the phone were 'Nick, Iris was murdered.' She'd then go into detail and try to assure him every thing would be okay. However, when she called, she could only say the first two words before her voice trailed off. He asked what happened, and she lied. Maya lied. To Nick. She said Iris was fine, and then he launched into some story about how weird she acted the day before when he and Trucy visited. He said Iris hated him. Maya sighed, trying to push Nick's distressed voice from the phone out of her head. There was no way she could tell him the truth now... She had to protect him.
"Kitten?" Diego asked, waving his free hand in front of her face. He long since found a new, full mug of coffee. Maya snapped back into reality. "Kitten, are you alright?"
"Stop calling me Kitten," She demanded suddenly. Diego frowned in surprise. "I'm not Mia."
"I know you're not," He drank from his coffee.
"Then why do you call me-"
"Because I miss her," He cut her off again. "And you remind me of her..." Maya frowned.
"But I'm not Mia!" She insisted. "And you know it!" Diego drained his mug of coffee and sighed.
"I know, Maya. I know..." She noticed how quiet he suddenly became, and how grave the visible part of his face looked. He was probably remembering Mia.
"Do you still have the seventeen cup limit?" Maya asked jokingly, trying to cheer him up.
"Dropped that. I'm not a prosecutor anymore. Now my limit is ninety-nine as a defendant."
"Your caffeine intake scares me."
"Says the girl who runs a school teaching people how to talk to ghosts."
"Touché, Diego," Maya chuckled. "Touché."
--
"Where the hell is that damn pretty-boy dirty prosecutor?" Maya asked crossly. "The Judge'll be here soon!" Diego sighed.
"You haven't even met him yet, have you?" He asked. Maya shook her head. "Then how do you know he's a 'damn pretty-boy dirty prosecutor'?"
"Because, Diego," Maya started, holding up one finger. "This is the guy who got Nick disbarred. Nick would never ever everin a million years ever falsify evidence, so that only leaves the damn pretty-boy. I've seen pictures of this guy, and at first I thought he was just a really flat-chested girl with his hair, jewelry, purple clothing, and singing career-"
"Singing career?"
"Yes. He's apparently some big hit with the teenyboppers and horny teenage girls," Maya said dryly, rolling her eyes. "And Gumshoe says he randomly bursts into long air guitar sessions during court, so I hope you brought a book or something." Diego laughed.
"You have a grudge against this guy for getting your boyfriend fired, don't you?" He teased. Maya's cheeks flared a bright red color, but he couldn't see it that well.
"Nick is not my boyfriend!" She said, a little bit too defensively.
"You know, I think that was the first time you denied it," Diego commented, drinking from his coffee.
"Because he's usually the one to deny it!"
"What, you take turns denying it?"
"It's not denying when you're telling the truth!"
"But you just said he denied it for you-"
"Diego, would you kindly shut up?" Maya cut him off. He just smirked and drank some more coffee. She rolled her eyes, and then looked towards the doors as they opened. "Here comes the Judge," She warned him. They both stopped bickering as the Judge took a seat. However, it wasn't the usual judge. This man had blond hair and no mustache, unlike the bald-headed, grey beard-and-mustached judge Maya knew. Well, at least this judge also had a beard.
"Will the prosecution please give its opening statement?" He asked. All eyes fell on the empty prosecution table. "Ay, no prosecution? I don't like that. Is the jury ready to reach a verdict-"
"OBJECTION!" A European voice yelled. All eyes fell on the handsome, purple-clad man slowly strutting down the courtroom. "I am here, Herr Judge, the party may start."
--
Author's Note: As I have stated before, I am not particularly fond of Klavier. But that's not the reason I make Maya hate him. I'm positive she would hate him in the games, despite her love of famous people. She's blame him for Phoenix loosing his job. And this is before everyone knew Kristoph did it, so she'd have no reason to think other wise.
