Authors Note: Hey guys SnivyLord here! This is gonna be a bit of a shorter chapter as it shines a little light of what happened the day before the trial. It's a bit emotional between Adrien and Louis for their father son moment, so I hope you enjoy! I also wrote down a bit of the present day into the trial, but it's kind of a light hearted beginning for laughs, so enjoy that while it lasts because in the next few chapters, it's gonna get pretty dark and heavy. Also, I realized I completed this on April Fool's day and this is a published chapter I swear, but it might also be a joke because I think you guys were expecting the actual nitty gritty trial chapter. So sorry! But with the world a disaster right now and me having a lot of free time, I will try to get those chapters out soon, so please hang on for the ride! Stay safe! Stay home and enjoy yourself by catching up on this story and read any previous chapters if you want in quarantine!
Chapter 26 : A Phoenix Rises (Crossover Chapter! Ace Attorney X ML)
The day before the trial, Phoenix and the gang had been looking over the court record for the trial and the list of the evidence that they got that was going to be used for the trial. They all met in the Bourgeois Hotel in one of the suites and they got down to business.
"This seems like quite the long list of evidence right boss?" Athena thought aloud when she glanced over Phoenix's shoulder.
"Right... it seems almost too long," Phoenix murmured to himself as he read through the paper several more times. There were video recordings, certain papers, the autopsy report, the surveillance cameras in Marinette's home, witness testimonies from people Phoenix didn't know, several objects that the prosecution has not named, and other things listed, but some of the items seemed like circumstantial evidence.
"I think the prosecution is planning to use these specific pieces of evidence to trap Marinette when they question her, using these circumstantial evidence to implicate her," Maya surmised, resting her head on her hand. Phoenix nodded slowly before his mind made up another theory.
"Maybe... perhaps this evidence isn't just meant for Marinette...but perhaps, there also meant for trapping somebody else," Phoenix murmured to himself but everyone heard what he said.
"But that's... awful..." Pearl sighed, almost on the verge of crying, but not quite.
"Too bad we can't investigate ourselves, since this is a case from 8 years ago and there's no trail or left over evidence," Maya sighed, resting her tired head on her palm. Phoenix nodded in agreement as he leaned back in his chair and stared outside the balcony.
"What did we get ourselves into? This trial seems like such a deeply rooted personal issue between Gabriel Agreste and Miss Dupain Cheng," Phoenix sighed, suddenly hearing a scoff come from his partner.
"You were the one that wanted to get into this," Maya laughed, an understanding but slightly mocking nuance graced her tone, "you've been in very tragic and personal cases before, and each one is unique. But you're gonna have to see this through to the end, even when the truth rears its ugly head," Maya explained and after a moment, Phoenix nodded in understanding.
"Yeah... I know, it's just that... I can never get used to this. These stories that seem to tear families apart," Phoenix sighed, with the other two nodding in agreement. They know what he means, each story always seems to surprise them even when the truth makes itself known to everybody
"I do feel bad though... the poor lady, her family must be going through so much, seeing their mom behind bars," Pearl sniffled as she wiped a tear away from her eyes. Maya nodded and rubbed Pearl's shoulders comfortingly in an attempt to massage them. Phoenix has seen his fair share of cases throughout the years that left scars on people and to be honest, sometimes Phoenix doesn't know if finding out the whole truth is even worth it. However, looking at this divided family, Phoenix knew that he had to something and he would do what he always did: find out the truth. Phoenix sighed as he set the list down again and looked outside the window and into the night, pondering what was to come.
Meanwhile, the night went on and neither Phoenix nor Louis could find any comfort in sleep. Louis laid awake in his bed, constantly tossing and turning in bed because he couldn't help but wonder how his mom was. He turned again so he could face his window and the beautiful moon that illuminated his room. He made note of every shadow that the moon made, taking in the sight and immortalizing it in his memory. He's had a lot of these reflective moments, thinking about everything that's happened in the past year: He finally met his dad, He got mad at his dad for the first time, he met Gabriel again for the first time in years, he bonded with his dad, he played piano for his dad, he played piano WITH his dad, and he almost died... twice. It was almost as if he was accomplishing all of the firsts he should have had with his dad in childhood... well except for the almost dying part. Even though it felt like that, he couldn't help but be reminded that it wasn't the same and that killed him inside. Staring outside the window at the moon again, he wondered if his mom could see the same thing, the moon watching over her in her time of need. As Louis continued continued to stare outside the window thinking about his mom, tears pricked at the edges of his eyes as he got emotional once again.
"Goddamn it... Mom... please tell me you're alright..." Louis whispered. It almost sounded like he was begging as he let the tears run down the width of his head to the pillow, "do you see it? The moon?" Louis asked silently into the darkness, he wasn't really expecting an answer back because Marinette was in police custody, but he felt like he could talk to his mom over any distance, "Mom... please say something... anything..." Louis pleaded into the room, but no one answered him. Suddenly, he heard the doorknob turn and the door open. Quickly wiping away his tears, he turned his head back to find Adrien checking in on him, a concerned, warm smile on his face.
"Hey buddy, you alright?" Adrien whispered as he approached the bed and sat gently on it as if he was gonna break it. Louis turned his body around and held himself up on one arm so he could properly look at his dad.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Louis answered contently, resting his head on his hand, "what are you doing here?" Adrien let out a sigh for a moment before answering. It goes without saying that he had been staying over at Marinette's house to stay with his kids and frankly, everyone was happy he did.
"I was checking up on your siblings, your sister had a nightmare and I was helping her get back to sleep," Adrien explained as Louis sighed a breath of relief and the two shared a moment of silence before Adrien spoke up again, "So... are you really fine?" Louis scrunched his nose slightly at the question and looked up into his dad's questioning eyes. His eyes were a beautiful bright emerald that you couldn't help get lost into and confess your feelings to.
"Jeez... no wonder Mom had such a hard time with him..." Louis scoffed to himself, tearing his eyes away for a moment to not let his thoughts be known, but Adrien could surely read it in his face, "Yeah, Dad, I'm fine, I've just been reflecting on things."
Adrien raised an eyebrow questioningly at his response as he scrutinized his son's expression a little further, "Reflecting? Come on Louis, I can see the tear streaks on your cheeks and your voice is hardly what I call convincing," Adrien remarked as a joke but Louis could tell he was serious. He looked into his father's eyes again with a hesitant shade of cloudiness in his eyes.
"Am I really that transparent?" Louis asked finally as he gave Adrien a small smirk and hauled himself up so he could lean the upper half of his body against the headboard.
"Your mom always said you were highly emotional so you're almost practically an open book," Adrien scooted in a little further with Louis giving him the room so he could sit back against the headboard in the same position.
"I guess so..." Louis sighed as he continued, "I've been thinking about how much me and my siblings have gone through this past year and I can't help but feel sad..." Louis' voice broke a little as he let out a shaky breath, "because I met you... finally... but it's too late..." Louis choked back a sob as he could feel Adrien's intense gaze on him, but he didn't dare turn his head, "you... never got to experience my childhood or any of my firsts that were supposed to be ours and I feel so bitter that my mom has to go through this alone. Not just being in custody right now but raising me and my siblings by herself." Louis sniffled as he knew his dad was just listening to him without saying anything, not that he expected him to say anything, "I'm about to be 15 soon... and I just realized that you never got to hold any of us in your arms as you weren't there in the beginning... and we all grew up..." Louis stopped talking for a moment to moisten his throat and lips because they were starting to get dry. Finally, he looked over at his dad to see the softest and most affectionate eyes he had ever come across. He could see they were brimming with tears as he knew that there had to be something that was bothering his dad as well.
"How could you stand it?" Louis asked tearfully, closing his eyes hard and letting the tears fall out. He then took a sharp intake of breath and opened his eyes again to his dad's hand tenderly rubbing his shoulder.
"Come here..." Adrien asked softly as he used his other arm to wrap around Louis' shoulders and bring him in to hug his son. Louis relished in the warmth of his dad until he heard a few sniffles and small sobs that escaped his dad's lips, "I could never forgive myself... for missing all of your firsts.." Adrien spoke shakily but Louis understood and continued to nuzzle himself into his dad's shoulder, "your first word... your first steps... your first time in school... meeting your siblings for the first time... those will always be the biggest regrets of my life but the fact I've managed to meet my son now," Adrien emphasized the last part as he hugged Louis a little tighter at those words, "who's a remarkable young man in his own right, who fights for the light that he shares with the people he loves, how could I feel anything but gratitude?" Adrien pulled away to look into his son's eyes that were shining bright with the words he took to heart.
"Dad..." Louis started to say but he couldn't think of anything to add, but Adrien could.
"So don't be sad that I'm late, because all I think about when it comes to you three is that I'm the luckiest father in the world that I have three beautiful, great kids who make the world better around them every day, and I have your mom to thank for that," Adrien reassured Louis as he wiped his tears away and almost tackled Adrien into a hug again, his doubts completely gone knowing that his dad was right beside him and his dream had finally come true. They haven't known each other for very long, but the things they have gone through together makes their bond as strong as it would have been if Adrien had been there from the beginning. Now the family was complete and ready to take on the final obstacle with everyone rising to the occasion.
A few hours later...
"Oh... God no..." Adrien stared helplessly at his son who was down at the witness stand. The crowd was murmuring with an excitement that he could hardly call appropriate, but the trial was just beginning and the pressure was already palpable between Gabriel and Marinette and Louis.
"Son, please make your way to the witness stand," The judge graciously asked as Louis shakily walked towards the stand. As he walked his way up, he eyed the prosecutor that constantly looked at him with that condescending look.
"We're going to ask you to testify about what you did 8 years ago," Mr. Payne explained in such a haughty accent that repulsed Louis.
"Isn't there like a law or right that I can't be asked to be a witness against myself?" Louis asked coldly, secretly desperate to find a way out of testifying as he was pretty sure what he said was a perfectly reasonable inquiry.
"Sorry boy, you're thinking of America that protects you with the 5th Amendment, this is France and more importantly a trial with Phoenix Wright in it, so your odds are pretty much stacked against you," Mr. Payne explained as a matter of factly that made the gang in the stands completely flabbergasted at his explanation, including Marinette.
"That doesn't make any sense!" Louis retorted in disbelief as this kind of logic didn't even make any sense at all, but since when did any of this make sense.
"Isn't there a law that actually does protect what Louis is talking about?" Alya asked dumbfounded with the rest of the group in shock as well. Nino nodded and leaned over so he could tell the rest of the group.
"There is, America isn't the only country that protects your rights to not self-incriminate, in fact many countries do, but I guess this trial seems designed to screw over Mari and Louis," Nino explained as the rest of them looked on at the trial in disbelief.
"So? What? So is this trial gonna be run like a Japanese style court of law then?" Louis asked, clearly annoyed and the testimony hasn't even begun yet.
"Yep pretty much," The judge and Phoenix nodded with Louis' question, much to the latter's intense chagrin.
"That also doesn't make any sense! That's completely stupid!" Louis sighed exasperatedly as Marinette looked on at his son with worry. She was afraid that he was gonna get so heated that he might say something he's gonna regret, "is that why you have an orchestra in here?" Louis pointed to the orchestra that was waiting to get the "oh so fun" party started.
"Oh no, that's just for the dramatic ambience to make things even more intense and make trials a high pressure system," Maya explained for Louis, calling out from the far end of the defense's bench. Louis groaned and looked up at the judge in some sort of annoyed plea.
"Like for what? Is this trial recorded or some-" Louis started but his sentence died when he noticed the amount of camera people recording in the gallery, each aiming at a different part of the trial: the defense, the prosecution, the judge, the witness or accused, and an overview of the whole trial and gallery. He immediately rolled his eyes at Phoenix, who smiled sheepishly.
"Sorry kid, you kinda have to get used to it," Phoenix explained as he noticed Mr. Payne sneering at him.
"Well, Phoenix Wright! Prepare to have your trial record burned to ashes! I, the prodigy of the Paynes, will obliterate you!" Mr. Payne laughed maniacally that just creeped everyone on the base floor out, including Gabriel who Louis noticed looked turned off slightly.
"Well... Mr. Payne, then I hope you know this saying," Phoenix closed his eyes for a moment before opening them with a fire that burned for the loyalty for his clients and the truth, "From the ashes of every finished case, always comes a phoenix to shine light on the truth of the next. So... I hope you know it means that I will rise to the occasion to protect this family with everything I've got, taking yet another Payne in my ass down a peg. So I hope you're ready..." Phoenix explained solemnly as the two stared at each other with an intensity that spoke volumes. Adrien looked on as the trial was about to begin, praying for the safety of his family for the upcoming uphill struggle that was his father. Hopefully, they will rise to protect themselves and finally free themselves as the past of 15 years will be reopened.
