Edgeworth sat back on the chair in his office, putting down the phone. He put two fingers to the bridge of his nose and began rubbing it. The call from Detective Gumshoe was not just harrowing. It was draining. The Prosecutor's Office had a double charge of murder and assault, and the circumstances made them like none other he had conceived of.
At approximately midnight the night before, a woman named Misty Fey had been found murdered. She had been stabbed once through the heart when she left the room her daughter, Mia Fey, was being kept. Apparently, she, as well as several other family members, had attended a spontaneous gathering to celebrate Mia's recovery.
Not twenty feet from Mia's room, Phoenix Wright had been found in troubling condition. He had been struck once on the head, and slumped against the wall. A fire extinguisher had been next to him. The detective had theorized that the defense lawyer had "been given a good whacking", as he put it, so as to prevent him from interfering in the murder. And of course, the fire extinguisher had been wiped down. No fingerprints.
Moreover, the culprit arrested was none other than the Daffodil Killer herself, the slayer of so many of the city's public figures, including Redd White and Robert Hammond. She had not been found at the hospital, true, but the police had successfully caught her in a suburbian safehouse a few hours after the attack on the hospital. Meanwhile, the other three Feys; Morgan, Maya, and Pearl; had been taken into protective custody and for questioning.
Edgeworth stifled his newfound feelings of anxiety towards Phoenix and tried to think logically, as any prosecutor should. Things were looking good so far. The crime was surveyed. There was evidence to collect, and witnesses. Most of all, one of the most notorious criminals in recent history was in chains. No defense lawyer he knew of would risk their name or reputation for a client like that.
And yet…
Edgeworth's brow furrowed. And yet something was not right. It seemed so surreal to see the Daffodil Killer go down so suddenly after so many hits, and after….such a seemingly amateurish one in particular. He felt the bile, but he tried to think like he was an assassin. He would have surprised Phoenix with a lethal weapon, and finished him off. He would not have left anything to chance, least of all a passerby that could report him. And while he knew the Daffodil Killer limited herself to her targets, it struck him as somehow out of character for her to leave the other Feys as potential witnesses.
There was a knock at the door.
Edgeworth's voice was curt and firm. "Come in."
The door opened, and a tall man dressed in a plain tan suit walked in. The man was vaguely familiar, but Edgeworth could not place his name. The stranger smiled, "Hello, Mr. Edgeworth. I have been assigned to handle the hospital attack."
Edgeworth was a little taken aback. "Is...that so?"
The man shrugged. "I apologize for how sudden this is. The Chief Prosecutor would like this to be resolved as quickly as possible. He asked me to go over information with, and receive files, from you, seeing as how you know the detective on this case and how you were a previous victim of...the Daffodil Killer."
Edgeworth nodded. "I...understand." He paused. "I am sorry. I don't believe I caught your name."
The man tightened his ascot, and for the first time, Edgeworth noticed the Ivy University logo on it.
"I'm Robert Gray. Pleased to make your formal acquaintance."
Phoenix Wright blinked. He was not quite sure of what was going on or what was happening. He sat on the wooden chair, having declined to lay down. The nurse who had given him the icepack was standing at the door.
He had not been allowed to investigate thoroughly, but the hallway was filled with voices and a kind of manic energy that seemed to go straight through the walls and down his spine. It was disconcerting, to say the least.
He shifted a little in his seat, pushing the icepack even closer to his head. Every now and then, he had removed it to test the lump at the back of his head. It was palm-sized, and always tender.
He suddenly became aware that he had not left his spot for hours. He got up unsteadily and began to stretch out his legs and his free arm. His joints felt weak and he grunted with the effort, but that could not be helped. He continued with the emotions, and he felt his body become a little more flexible. Then something snapped him out of his temporary reverie.
The door swung open, and someone came rushing through. He barely registered the nurse raising a hand behind the intruder, and then pulling it back.
The visitor was a young woman with short hair and what looked like a combination waistcoat-and-skirt. But those were not her most striking features. Her delicate, beautiful face was contorted by emotion. Her eyes were red and teary, her skin tone was pale, and her mouth was twisted into an open-mouthed grimace.
When the young woman saw he was there, she rushed to him. Too stunned to react, Phoenix let her lock her arms around his waist and bury her face in his chest. After a moment of silence, he felt tremors throughout her body. She was crying into him.
Slowly, not knowing what else to do or say, he put his own arms around her, wrapping around her lowered shoulders. Ever so slowly, he felt her body ease up. Finally, she pulled back and looked up at him. He struck once again by her face. The tears were flowing freely down her face, and she kept sniffling. Overcome by her, he sought a way to make the situation better.
"Are you okay? Is there any way I can help?"
She froze up suddenly, suddenly feeling like cardboard in his arms. He bit his lip. He might have been insensitive by mistake. He would have to break the ice. He bit his lip, the lump on his head starting to act up again.
"Have we met before?"
-A multi-chapter story; Chapter 31; story idea by CRed1988 and writing by Jerviss.