AN: I've gotten suggestions to do chapters about how Phoenix felt during the fourth case of JFA, his emotional ups and downs when he's forced to choose between the girls, ect, ect... I realized, however, I had no idea how to make each one work on its own, so I shoved them all together and threw in a little something of my own. Then I realized what I came up with was bloody depressing (like a folk ballad!) so I chucked it all out and rewrote the chapter with only that little something of my own! Thanks for the suggestions though.
Utterly Clichéd
It wasn't until after the fact, after he and Edgeworth (and their SWAT team escort) forced their way into Matt Engarde's home, that Phoenix realized the enormity of what had happened. Not until after they kicked down the doors and liberated Maya from that dingy wine cellar de Killer had been keeping her in did it connect just how much he failed her, everyone in fact, over the last few days. In the rush of adrenaline that accompanied Shoe's tell-tale meow there hadn't been room for any thoughts other than "I know where Maya is. I know and nothing is going to stop me from getting her back!" Once she was safe, however, the harsh facts of reality had plenty of time to slap his conscience around.
Poor Maya. She was just a little girl, and because of his reputation and legal skill she had become a target. Kidnapped, imprisoned, starved, and even threatened with death more than a few times as she told it... She'd gone through a genuine living hell and it was all his fault. It was so sick, so inhuman of de Killer; Phoenix couldn't stand it.
That day when he went to feed Shoe at Engarde's house... Phoenix could have saved Maya then, could have broken de Killer's hold over him and ended the whole fiasco in an instant, if only he had been quick enough to put together the clues. Maya had been literally just two rooms away. They had been so close and he just walked out...
But, above all else, the thing that preyed on Phoenix's mind the most was that all this suffering, all this effort to find out whodunit was absolutely useless. Who committed the murder? The answer, in this case, was so obvious it was a common cliché! If Phoenix had only been thinking when he met that creepy de Killer at Engarde's house he could have left, alerted the police, then come back with the SWAT team then to make the arrest and save Maya. All the trauma of the last few days in court could have been avoided because this time the cliché was true.
This time, the butler really did do it!
AN: In closing, I can't have been the only one to think of this.