November 1, 10:00 AM
District 5
Victor's Village

"I think everything's ready..."

Seated at the letter desk in her bedroom, Maya Fey pushed the stack of blank paper in front of her a little farther away and set a pen next to it. There was plenty of stationery to go around, so, no matter how long she held on to any of them, they should have been able to write to their hearts' content. The lighting was good, her robes were on, the doors were locked, the windows shut, and she had banned Larry from the building for the day.

"Oh—wait a second."

Scooting back a little, she pulled a manila envelope from one of the top drawers. She set it to the left of the paper, where she could clearly see the "Autopsy Reports" label stretched across it. She had mainly printed it out for Phoenix's sake, but some of the others would probably want to look over it, too. She also had a video recap of the Games, but... it was pretty long, and it may have been too much for some of them. So, she would play it a little safer.

She swallowed, smoothing out the pile of writing paper again.

Was she really ready to try something like this? She hadn't successfully channeled anyone until two years after her "victory," and, even then, she had still only channeled her own sister. Multiple times, yes, but that still didn't make her an expert. What if she did something wrong? Could she end up hurting their spirits somehow? Was it really worth the risk, just so she could hear—or read—a few more words from them?

But... it wasn't entirely for her sake, right? Surely they would want to know what really happened... and maybe that she was still doing all right. She wouldn't be able to talk to them while she was channeling, but... Maybe it was a good idea to write out a little introduction for them to see.

She slipped the top paper off the stack, uncapped the pen, and wrote.

Hi. This is Maya Fey writing. I can't hear you, or see you, or anything while I'm channeling your spirit, so I got some paper ready if you want to write anything. A letter to me, or your family, or another tribute (I'll do my best to channel the tribute for you after you do that. And I won't read the letter if it's not for me, honest!). There are more pens in the upper right drawer if you need them.

I also have a copy of the death records for our Games, in the envelope over there. Read through them if you want to.

I'll try to channel you as long as I can. I'm sorry if you can't finish everything before you slip back into the other world. Maybe I'll be able to do this again, if you want me to.

I—she paused, taking a deep breath—miss you guys, a lot. I'm sorry if I was annoying, or selfish, or anything around you. I love all of you guys. That's why I need to do this. I can't make you write anything to me, but I would really like to hear from you.

I've been doing all right since I became a victor. It's still hard to think about the arena, and it's a little hard to think about you guys sometimes. But I've moved in to my nice, big house—as you can see!—and I'm pretty well taken care of here.

Welcome back to this world for a little while. Spend your time here however you want to.

She paused for a minute before signing her name and setting the pen down. That should have been a good enough introduction for everyone.

So now... was the real test. Her first time channeling someone other than her sister... But Mia had faith in her. You've been doing a good enough job channeling me over the last year, she had written. I don't think you should have any problem stepping up the challenge a bit.

"Okay, Sis... You'd better be right."

With that, she let out a deep breath, shut her eyes, and focused.

Maya regained consciousness with the pen still in her hand. Rubbing her eyes—had she been squinting a lot?—she set the utensil down and took a second to get her bearings. She was still sitting at the letter desk, which was mostly untouched. The envelope hadn't been opened by the looks of it, and her letter was pushed to the side a bit so another piece of paper could sit right in front of her. The handwriting on it was small, and in curving strokes.

Dear Maya,

Um, hi. I'm kind of not sure what to write. I'm kind of not sure what's going on at all, but...

Spirit channeling, huh? That's really cool. I didn't know things like this could actually happen. And I definitely didn't know you could do it.

I feel I don't know much about you at all. You're nice, though, and I'm glad we got to be friends for a little bit... Actually, if you don't mind, I would kind of like to keep talking to you. I guess we could only exchange letters, but that's okay! If we can still stay friends, after what's happened to me, I want to do that. So, write me back, and hopefully I'll get to read it and reply!

It sounds like I'm not the only one you're planning to channel, either, huh? You're not going to channel Manfred, are you? I mean, I guess it would be all right, but if you do, be really careful, okay? If he could get up and walk around and everything... it could be bad, and he might end up hurting you somehow. Looking back at your note, I guess it doesn't sound like you're planning on doing that, but if you do...

You'll probably call on WP, right? I don't know if I want to use up a whole other page of your paper to write him, but... let him know how great he is, okay? Even if I didn't end up making it very far, and even if it broke my heart, I'm really grateful for him doing so much to protect me. He didn't have to, especially when I wasn't really any good as an ally.

And thanks to you and Phoenix for wanting to be allies with me, too. I didn't deserve to have so many people looking out for me in that kind of place. I guess it just goes to show how nice you are, too!

That's all I can think of writing right now. Send me a letter back, okay? Well, you know what I mean!

Penny Nichols

Realizing she was gripping hard enough to crinkle the paper, Maya carefully set it down.

"Penny..." She let out a breath and swallowed. She would definitely write her back later. Definitely.

Penny didn't have to thank her, though... Why wouldn't Maya have tried to help her? In the end, nothing came of it, anyway...

But she could work that out later. There were more people to channel today... If she could handle it.

She got herself a glass of water before returning to the desk. About to put away Penny's letter, she paused. "Oh!"

Going through the desk drawers, she found a highlighter and went over the lines about WP. Then she set up the desk again, leaving that letter out alongside her own, before closing her eyes.

The paper before her now was covered with a bold, childish scrawl that wasn't as easy to read, but she did her best to make all of it out.

Dear Maya,

Hey! It's good to hear from you! I guess you didn't end up getting hurt too badly, huh? That's good.

Sorry I never got to meet up with you in the arena. It's not like I meant to get hurt the way I did, but I still wish I could have been there for the rest of you guys. Looks like you didn't really need me, though, in the end. I'm not sure how it all worked out. I know the list of deaths is right over there, but... I don't really want to look at them. Not right now.

So you made it out, huh? That's great, good job! And, with this, uh, stuff you're doing, it's like all of us get to survive a little bit, huh? That's... amazing, you know? I couldn't have wished for anything better.

I guess I'm supposed to read that note from Penny. That's really sweet of her... But what does she mean, I "didn't have to"!? Of course I had to! Who would have the nerve to leave a girl like her all alone in the Hunger Games? One that watched my shows, not to mention...

Well, I guess you have other people to talk to—uh, spirits to, um, channel. I can't hog all of the time for myself, so I'll wrap things up now. Stay well, all right?

Will Powers

P.S.: Any chance you're visiting District 10 soon? I wouldn't ask, but you did comment about writing letters to our families, so I would think you could go to the other districts all right... Anyway, if you do end up over there, can you check on my acting group? I mean, you don't need to watch a lot if you don't want to, and if staying a while could get you in trouble, don't do it! Really! Just forget about all of this if it might be dangerous for you. But, if it's not, tell me how the lead is doing. I... just want to know if my replacement is doing a good enough job. If he's not, you tell the guys to replace him, stat! Maybe I can't act for them anymore, but I don't just want to leave it all behind when you've given me another chance like this, you know? I don't want a second-rate actor to ruin the kids' dreams if I can still help it.

Not that I don't trust the troupe to do a good job, but they might be having a hard time—how long has it been since I passed? Uh, anyway. If they're still doing fine, just tell them hi, I guess. If you won't get in trouble.

Quietly putting the pages of the letter back in order, Maya dropped her gaze. It had been three years... His group was probably either broken up or recovered pretty well...

There was no reason not to check, though. District 10 had a victor she could visit without stirring up trouble. Maybe he knew about the troupe. They sounded pretty popular. How good were their shows? She could probably stick around to watch a handful if she liked them. Maybe they were for kids, but she was still just a teen.

She took a deep breath. Thankfully, Will hadn't stuck around long enough to make her very tired. A little break, a little time to put away the letters, and then she would keep going.

Edgeworth didn't write a letter to his family, but he had neatly separated a few sheets of paper decorated with crisp handwriting. The longest was addressed to Phoenix. A much shorter one was intended for Gumshoe. But Maya promised not to read those. So she wouldn't read them.

She could still ask either of them what their letters said, though...

For now, she looked over the paper headed with her name.

Dear Ms. Fey:

Thank you for allowing me this time to write down a few final words. I must admit that I am not entirely sure as to how you have accomplished this, yet it is clear that you have. I will not request a second "channeling" unless you or the others deem it necessary.

I have addressed letters to both Wright—the word was crossed out—Phoenix and Gumshoe if you still intend to deliver messages among us. I trust that you will not read them yourself, as you have promised. You have given me no reason to doubt you. Perhaps I did not take much time in getting to know you, but you have nonetheless proven to be a commendable, if eccentric, young woman. I am sure you will receive plenty of support and encouragement from the others, so I shall not duplicate their assessments of you here. Do not take this to mean that I think little of you; I merely suspect that I may be less articulate in expressing such sentiments myself.

Sincerely,

Miles Edgeworth

Taking a deep breath, Maya got all three letters together and locked them in the bottom drawer with Penny's and WP's. She would come back to them later.

After ensuring that the pen still had a good amount of ink, she willed herself to reach the next spirit.

Dear Maya,

Wow! This is really cool! I never would have imagined I would run into you again, and definitely not like this. It's good to know you're doing well. I'll try to stay in the same place here so my bad luck won't spill all over your nice house. ...The chair will probably still break. I'm really sorry if your chair breaks, sir.

Anyway, I'm so glad to hear that you won! I guess it was still at a terrible cost, but you definitely deserved to get out of there. I know everyone in our little alliance wanted to see you win. Don't feel bad about it, all right? Maybe the rest of us didn't deserve to die, but, well... It was the Hunger Games, after all. We couldn't all make it if we tried. At least the victor got to be a nice person, right!?

I went ahead and looked through the death records. Poor Dustin... I still can't believe he was pushed... I wrote a letter to him on the back of this, so make sure he gets to read it, okay, sir? And if he says anything back, let me know. We... didn't really get to exchange any last words...

And Gumshoe stepped into a trap, too, huh? That must have been really hard on you, especially after my death... I'm sorry that you had to go through all of it, sir. At least it's over, though, right? And you even get to keep talking to us!

As for anything else... I think that's all I have to say. As far as I can remember, I managed to say pretty much everything to you guys that I needed to, before I died. So I guess I'll leave now, sir. Feel free to call me back anytime you want to chat!

Maggey Byrde

Maya tried not to cry much as she unlocked the letter drawer. Even after such a terrible death, Maggey was still so cheerful. Was she really so happy with Maya as the victor? Maggey... really hadn't seemed that upset on her deathbed, but...

Wait... Maggey said she read the causes of death... that Maya had killed Manfred... and then Maggey still called her nice...? The whole situation wasn't written down, though... How could Maggey have been so sure Maya was still a nice person?

Glancing over the letter again as she pulled the drawer open, Maya shook her head and let the tears flow. She was too tired not to. She'd have to throw in the towel soon... This took a lot of effort...

But not yet. If she could... just handle two more...

She still took a while to calm down before she switched Maggey's letter with one of Edgeworth's and shut the drawer. She could handle this...

The newest pages were written sloppily, but they were mostly legible. Maya still had to take a minute to rouse herself before she could start reading.

Maya,

Hey, pal! Good to see you! Kind of. What exactly is this, anyway? These are some weird clothes you've got me in. And... So, am I hungry because you're hungry, or because I'm hungry? Or is there even still a me that can get hungry? And I look like me, but it's still you, so we're both... This is making my head hurt, pal. I'm just going to move on...

So, you made it out after all, huh? Well, I'm glad I didn't die for nothing, pal. You'd better live a life worthy of my sacrifice!

Ho ho ho ho! Just joking. I'm sure you will. Or, already are. How long has it been now? You don't have a calendar up or anything, so it's a little hard to tell.

So, I guess you've already called up Mr. Edgeworth, huh? Nice letter he wrote me. Saying he only made an alliance with me because he thought he wouldn't end up wanting to be friends with me! What a joker, huh, pal? And then he said nice things about me... Jokes and compliments—I didn't know he was capable of either of those.

Well, send him my best wishes, all right? Send everybody my best wishes. Maggey too. Is she doing okay? Well... I mean... You know what I mean!

Oh, yeah, thanks for setting out the autopsy reports for me. I should probably check those out.

Looks like we figured most of them out right. Yanni... not so much, huh? Well, I guess Phoenix can't be right about everything, huh? I kind of wish he was right about that one, though... But I guess it's better to know the truth. Even if it's hard to take...

Listen, pal. I'm going to head out for now. I'm sure this won't be the last you'll hear from me, though. See you later, pal. Stay strong.

Dick Gumshoe

Maya set the letter down and lay her head on her arms for a moment.

Worthy of his sacrifice, huh? She hadn't been doing well as a mentor, and, under the Capitol's watch, there wasn't much else she could do. But... he was right. A lot of people died to get her where she was. She owed it to them to do something good... But what, exactly...?

With a shaky exhale, she reread the last part of the letter.

He had chosen to open the envelope, so she couldn't feel bad about breaking the news to him... But she could still imagine his sad, sad expression... Of course, there was nothing she could do to comfort him now that he had left. She could write something down and try to call him back, but if he didn't want to stay, she couldn't keep him here.

Especially by now. Was she really capable of channeling one more spirit? Maybe it was a better idea to wait until tomorrow... But... She had to hear from him. Surely she could manage it. Just one more... One more.

She took a deep breath, retrieved Edgeworth's other letter, and shut her eyes.

When she came back to, she could hardly open her eyes again. But more paper was filled out in front of her. Only a few pages to read... She could handle that... especially when it was from him. She picked up the letter with shaky hands.

Dear Maya,

I guess you finally got a handle on being a spirit medium, huh? It's... still a little hard to believe, but here I am. It's nice to be able to move my right hand again. I guess it's technically yours, but still. I can point at things! But I guess I have more important things to do while I'm here.

Good to know you've been taking care of yourself. Any distant relatives coming to visit? How about Larry? I bet he'd try to help you out every once in a while. But if he starts hitting on you too much—wait, this is Larry—when he starts hitting on you too much, you let me know, and I'll smack him for you. He's not a bad guy or anything, he's just a little... lovesick. All of the time. And terrible things tend to happen to his girlfriends, so I wouldn't really recommend him.

And don't apologize for being "annoying or selfish." You weren't! You're quirky, that's for sure, but that only helped lighten the mood a little, and we needed that in such a bleak place. You were never a burden, I'll tell you that. Try not to be so hard on yourself, all right?

I'll read Miles's letter next. I guess you promised not to read any of these, so I won't tell you much about it. But if you end up channeling him again, get on to him for making me cry, all right? I guess I can write him a letter back, but it's getting a little hard to stay.

Okay, the autopsy reports. Thanks a lot for getting this together. It must have been hard to look at. I'm going to go ahead and write it out here, for the sake of driving it home, but go ahead and skip to the bottom if you need to, all right?

Cindy Stone. Time of death: Day 1. Cause: Loss of blood due to blunt force trauma. Murder weapon: A workman's hammer. Defeated by: Frank Sahwit.

Jack Hammer. Time of death: Day 1. Cause: Pierced through the chest. Murder weapon: A sickle. Defeated by: Dee Vasquez.

Dustin Prince. Time of death: Day 1. Cause: Broken neck. Murder weapon: A pitfall trap. Defeated by: Richard Wellington.

Frank Sahwit. Time of death: Day 1. Cause: Loss of blood due to blunt force trauma. Murder weapon: An arena trap. Defeated by: None.

Will Powers. Time of death: Day 1. Cause: Pierced through the chest and abdomen. Murder weapon: A broadsword. Defeated by: Manfred von Karma.

Penny Nichols. Time of death: Day 2. Cause: Slashed throat. Murder weapon: A snap-off utility knife. Defeated by: Manfred von Karma.

Polly Jenkins. Time of death: Day 2. Cause: Pierced through the heart. Murder weapon: A kitchen knife. Defeated by: Polly Jenkins.

Yanni Yogi. Time of death: Day 2. Cause: Blood loss due to blunt force trauma.—the ink was darker here, probably from taking longer to write out each stroke—Murder weapon: A nightstick. Defeated by: Dick Gumshoe.

Freja Charge. Time of death: Day 3. Cause: Intracranial swelling due to blunt force trauma. Murder weapon: Brass knuckles. Defeated by: Violet White.

Winston Payne. Time of death: Day 4. Cause: Blood loss due to severed carotid arteries. Murder weapon: A hatchet. Defeated by: April May.

Sal Manella. Time of death: Day 4. Cause: Pierced through the chest. Murder weapon: A broadsword. Defeated by: Manfred von Karma.

There was a large inkblot at the start of the next letter—Miles Edgeworth. Time of death: Day 5. Cause: Poisoning aggravated by internal bleeding. Murder weapon: A tree. Defeated by: None.

Piper Plumber. Time of death: Day 6. Cause: Loss of blood due to blunt force trauma. Murder weapon: Brass knuckles. Defeated by: Violet White.

Lotta Hart. Time of death: Day 7. Cause: Loss of blood due to blunt force and penetrating trauma. Murder weapon: Muttation. Defeated by: None.

Richard Wellington. Time of death: Day 7. Cause: Strangling. Murder weapon: A scarf. Defeated by: April May.

Dee Vasquez. Time of death: Day 8. Cause: Slashed throat. Murder weapon: A throwing knife. Defeated by: Wendy Oldbag.

Maggey Byrde. Time of death: Day 9. Cause: Loss of blood due to penetrating trauma. Murder weapon: An arena trap. Defeated by: None.

April May. Time of death: Day 10. Cau—the rest was spotted with dripping water splashes and nearly impossible to make out, and the remainder of the section wasn't much better.

Di [...] shoe. Ti [...] Day 12. Cause: Electrocution. Def [...] None.

Wendy [...] Time of death: Day 13. [...] blunt force trauma. Murder [...] ckles. Defeated by: Violet White.

Manfred von Karma. Time of death: Day 15. [...] Spinal fracture due to [...] Murder weapon: A golf club. [...] Maya Fey.

Phoenix Wr [...] Day 16. Cause: [...] due to blunt force [...] Brass knuckles. Defeated by: Violet White.

Violet White. Time of [...] Cause: Drowning. Mur [...] stream. Defeated by: Ma [...]

Although the front wasn't quite filled out, Phoenix had flipped the paper over before continuing. A few teardrops from the other side had stained through, but otherwise it was clearer.

That's a lot to take in, isn't it? It's hard to see everything written up like this... It makes the deaths seem so... routine. Maybe they almost are, in the context of the Hunger Games... but we still know there's a lot more to the story than this says. A lot more to each tribute's story, too.

So I guess Yanni was murdered after all. I guess I didn't have any real proof to the contrary, I just...

And then April May, and... Okay, I shouldn't take up so much space just trying to get all of this through my head.

But—Violet! I'm the one who killed her, not you! Even if you knocked her back into the stream and she drowned, it was only because of what I did to her beforehand! You're not shouldering her death, you hear me, Maya? I won't allow it!

We can talk about it more if you want. Send me a letter anytime, about anything you need to talk about. Maybe I can't hold your hand, but that doesn't mean I'm just going to leave you to handle everything by yourself. It sounds like you've already exchanged letters with a lot of others, so I'm sure you'll be able to call me back. And if you can't... You know we all care about you, right? We didn't help you and accept your help just because it was convenient. We're glad that you're alive, and we want you to have a good life, with or without us. And I don't think you'll ever find proof to the contrary!

I already feel like I'm being pulled away, so I'll go ahead and wrap up. You must be exhausted after all of this. Get some rest, okay? And go treat yourself to some crazy-big hamburgers or something. Don't punish yourself for other people's choices. Just try to live your life, be yourself, be happy... All of that stuff. It may be hard, but I know you can do it. If you can believe in yourself with half the strength I believe in you, you've got this covered.

Phoenix Wright

Maya woke up with her arms aching. Pulling her head up, she realized that she had dozed off at the letter desk, the edge of which had dug into her forearms. She rubbed at the indentations as she sat up.

The back of Phoenix's letter was still just in front of her, one of Edgeworth's not far from it. Nothing different. She'd simply fallen asleep, and no one else had come in. Not that strange.

The edges of the window weren't letting any light in by now. She wasn't sure exactly what time it was, but probably after sunset. She had really exhausted herself, huh? But then again...

She unlocked the drawer of letters and sorted through them carefully. Those two from Edgeworth were finished, she guessed, but no reason to throw them away. Maggey still had one to give to Dustin, and maybe Penny needed to read a little of WP's...

Maya slowed to a stop while all of the letters with her name were in her hands. So much had been written for her... How did all of them... have so much to say? Even Edgeworth... Even he had called her a good person...

With a sob, she pressed the letters to her chest. Everyone...

For a moment, she thought she saw them. Smiling, surrounding her, hugging her as hard as she was hugging their letters.

But it was just her.

...Or was it, really...?

THE END