Chapter 4:

The Morning After

"Can…we leave here please?" Maya asked Miles. She was holding Phoenix close, feeling the warmth radiating from the young child. She was unsettled by the fact that the owner of this office had their life taken again, first with Mia and then with Phoenix, although Phoenix has been reborn, wasn't the same person he was when his life was stolen. Her grip on Phoenix tightened protectively around him, she felt as if she had lost her brother. She knew that Phoenix had a 'gift' for finding trouble or getting himself involved with trouble but maybe it was her who was cursed with that? Those who got close to the Fey family seemed to be a target for trouble. At those thoughts…tears formed in her eyes. Was it really her fault?

"Miss Fey, would you like to come back to my home? I believe it will do us both some good," Miles asked Maya. He had an inkling on what was going through Maya's mind from the tears rolling down her face. What would Phoenix do in this situation? Miles came over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, he watched how she tensed slightly before relaxing under his hand. "Whoever did this…they will be brought to justice."

"R-right…" She wiped her tears away and allowed herself to be guided by Miles. Phoenix shuffled in Maya's arms but otherwise remained asleep. "Should we…clean the office?" She asked Miles.

"Miss Fey, we leave everything as it. Surely Wright must have told you that?"

"He did…Hang on, then shouldn't we leave Nick here too?" She asked with a smile on her face. "Wouldn't he be considered 'evidence'?" She waited for Miles to say something before a thought came to her mind, the smile faded and instead was replaced with confusion. "Hey…Miles? You said that the magatama reacted when Nick said he wasn't a phoenix…you would have thought you'd remember you're a firebird though, wouldn't you?" Maya looked at Miles, wondering what his thoughts on that was. She loved bouncing ideas off Nick but now she could only bounce ideas off Miles.

"I'm still not comfortable with the idea that Wright is an actual phoenix…but all the evidence is there that supports that idea…We don't know how many lives he's been through, I can only assume he wanted to forget to avoid feeling pain for those in his life had passed away."

"Mia might know more…" Maya commented. "Nick did mention that Mia and a Mr Armando practically raise him." She looked down at the sleeping phoenix and smiled. Miles wasn't comfortable with spirit channelling either, so she wasn't going to channel Mia unless Miles asked specifically.

Ace Attorney – Chapter 4: The Morning After

Dear Diego,

I apologise for writing this letter but I've been feeling somewhat guilty recently, Phoenix is involved.

I've been doing a bit of searching and I've noticed this string of deaths, all posing as suicides. It struck me as odd so I've been doing research into it. I won't go into too much detail as the case is confidential but you're probably wondering why I'm feeling guilty about Phoenix.

I've been keeping him in the dark. I haven't told him about what I've been doing but it's for his own protection. I'm probably making a very dangerous enemy…He goes by the name of Redd White and he's in charge of the information-gathering company Bluecorp. You could say he's the king of blackmail.

From reading those words, you can probably guess why I'm keeping Phoenix in the dark. I don't want Redd White to notice Phoenix and go gathering information on him. I have a few theories of Phoenix too! I've put them in an envelope in our shared locker.

If you hear about my death in the news…then assume that Redd White got me but please do NOT blame Phoenix. If anything, he's probably taken up the mantle I've been teaching him and he's finished what I started. He passed the Bar exam, he's an official defence attorney! Looking forward to his first case.

I miss you…I think Phoenix does too, but I think he's been trying to be strong for me. He knows how much you mean to me and not having you in the office…isn't the same.

In my absence, please watch Phoenix…he's picked up the habit of drawing trouble to him or finding it. I trust you'll keep this magatama close. I've noticed that since Phoenix held it, it seems to not need recharging. Again, theory~

Diego, I'll always love you.

Your Kitten.

Godot took a sip from his coffee, feeling the hot liquid traveling down his throat and making its way through his body. He felt the tears forming in his eyes which were protected by his visor. The poison he unknowingly consumed had done a number on his body. His once brown hair had turned as white as milk, and the doctors had told him when he woke from his coma that the poison had damaged his nervous system, his eyes had the worst damage done to them. To protect his eyes, he now wore a visor which helped him see, the only issue now is that he couldn't see red on white.

Guilt clawed at him from the whole Dahlia incident and now waking up to hear that Mia had perished because of Redd White…the only person left from the past was Phoenix. Would he even recognise him? He'll pop down to Phoenix's office the following morning, if the tyke wasn't on a case, then he was sure he could take Phoenix out for a lunch break. That idea pushed the guilt down. What happened in the past is better off staying in the past. Phoenix was still out there and Dahlia was in prison thanks to Mia's hard work, maybe Phoenix too? He pulled himself out from the past and glanced at the clock. If he wanted to go and visit Phoenix tomorrow, getting some sleep soon will be for the best.

Ace Attorney – Chapter 4: The Morning After

Miles felt something warm by his side, pulling him out from his slumber. As he slowly opened his eyes he was greeted by a warm glow from the morning. Miles rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked at what had decided to sneak into his bedroom and into the bed. Pess was sleeping peacefully on top of the covers but there was a lump under the covers. Lifting the covers, he was met with the familiar blue of the blazer, spiky hair poking out from under the blazer. So, it appeared that Phoenix had decided to sneak into his bed to curl up by his side. So, it wasn't a dream…Miles felt mildly disappointed at that but there wasn't anything he could do. This had happened and there wasn't anything that could be done for now. Miles caught a glimpse of Phoenix's face and noticed how peaceful he looked, with no memories Miles wondered if Phoenix was having a dream, or a peaceful sleep. Before they went to bed, Maya and Miles cleaned the ash of Phoenix but the child was determined to keep the blazer around himself.

It feels like it's mine…

Those were Phoenix's words when Maya suggested she take the blazer off him. They had put Phoenix in one of Miles' Stee Samurai T-shirts (much to his displeasure) but Phoenix seemed to like it. Miles slowly left the bed, hoping to keep the sleeping child sleeping as he left the room. He was glad that he didn't have one of his nightmares. DL-6 had been put to rest, the true culprit had been found and arrested, Manfred Von Karma's reputation had been ruined and Miles had been set free…but trauma doesn't just leave because the case had been finished. Miles was still dealing with it.

Heading to the kitchen Miles poured the water into his kettle and waited for the water to boil. Why did Phoenix come to his bed? Wasn't he sleeping in the same room as Maya? He didn't have time to worry about what had happened as he had his own work to do. He was prosecuting another case but he couldn't leave Phoenix and Maya together, those two together was a recipe for disaster. Asking others for help wasn't the Von Karma way…no matter how much he distanced himself from that name now. He could just turn around and say that he'll work from home but he only had so much work to do before he needed to return to the office or go to court. He'll have to call Dick soon to ley him know what happened at Phoenix's office. Once the water was boiled be finished making his tea. His teatime was interrupted when he heard Maya running into the kitchen.

"Where's Nick?!" Maya demanded.

"I last saw Wright in my bed, fast asleep under his blazer."

"He came to your room?" Maya asked, confusion flowed out from her as she approached him. Her eyes never left him as she sat down at the table. "Was he okay?"

"Wright was okay, Pess was on the bed too which I don't normally allow."

"So, what do we do about this?"

"That, is a good question Miss Fey. One I do not know the answer to."

"Have you called Detective Gumshoe yet?"

"I plan to call him after I've finished my tea. We shall see what hap-" The Steel Samurai theme started to play. Maya reached down for her phone at the same times Miles did. The one going off was Miles' phone. "Speak of the devil," he muttered and answered the phone. "Miles Edgeworth speaking.

"Mr Edgeworth sir, sorry to disturb you this early but…have you seen Mr Wright?"

"If he isn't in his office, he's hopefully in his apartment, why?" Miles asked and winced when he caught Maya's attention.

"We got a call early this morning saying that someone witnessed something strange at Wright's office, we're investigating now but Prosecutor Godot is here…"

"Prosecutor Godot is there?" Godot? That wasn't a name he was familiar with nor with how Godot was in the courtroom. "Can you ask him why he's there?" Miles asked. What was Godot's connection to Wright? Have they met in the courtroom and knowing Phoenix's luck, had won and thus being another rival?

"Mr Edgeworth, he's requesting to see you right now."

Miles sighed, already feeling a headache growing from what's happening around him. Young Phoenix was one problem and now this prosecutor wants to see him? This day couldn't get any better. "I'll be on my way," he sighed before hanging up. He looked towards Maya before he opened his mouth. "Stay here with Wright and I'll be back as soon as I can."

"I can try and get him into Steel Samurai?"

"At the moment I don't care what you do. Just keep him in this house and keep him occupied."

Ace Attorney – Chapter 4: The Morning After

Phoenix opened his eyes and found himself alone. The bed had gotten colder so the gentleman had left the bed for a while. As he wriggled out from under the covers, he came face-to-face with a large, white furred dog. A pink tongue hanging out from its mouth and its tail wagging. The dog came over to Phoenix and started to sniff him. Recognising him from his scent, Pess started licking his face.

"H-hey! That tickles~" Phoenix giggled with excitement as he put his hands up to gently push the white furred german shepherd away. He noticed the collar around the dog's neck and examined it, a golden tag with letters he couldn't quite read and numbers too, he assumed were the owner's number if the dog ever got lost. Pess backed away from Phoenix to give him some room to move in. Sitting up in the bed, he felt for the blazer and breathed a happy sigh of relief when he found it…before noticing the ash remains on the bed. "That man isn't going to be happy…" Pess tilted her head, confused and curious on what Phoenix was up to. Pess let out a bark and it wasn't long before Maya came into the room.

"Nick! You're awake!" Maya beamed at him as she barged into the room. "I've got to feed Pess but for now it'll just be the three of us. Miles has been called out for some work."

"Maya, can I ask you a question?" Phoenix asked Maya, fidgeting with the blazer in his fingers. She frowned but came over to him to sit down on the bed. This felt like a time to be serious, her plans would have to wait until later.

"Well, you've just asked me one, but I suppose I can let you ask another one," Maya couldn't help but tease Phoenix when she could. Old Nick would have laughed and returned her tease with something else but Phoenix remained quiet, if not looking slightly embarrassed at the comment.

"Why do you feel familiar…yet strange at the same time?"

"That's because Nick, I have a special power!" She beamed with pride at that answer while Phoenix just looked unsure on that. Special power? What could she mean? "I'm a member of the Fey family. We're spirit mediums! The Fey family is known for their strong spiritual powers that allows them to channel the souls of the dead. Don't pull that face! I'm right about this!" She gently poked Phoenix in the chest and watched as the disbelief in his face shifted to interest and curiosity.

"Wow, that's a really neat special power!" Phoenix's face became illuminated with the childish innocence Pearl gets whenever experiencing something new.

"Do you want to see something else that's cool?"

"What's that?"

"Steel Samurai!" Maya beamed. "We're going to watch if after I've fed Pess and giving you some breakfast!"

Ace Attorney – Chapter 4: The Morning After

Dick Gumshoe sighed as Miles had ended the call. He turned to the white-haired prosecutor and nodded. He had not expected the call that early in the morning. The call felt like déjà vu at having been called to the Wright and Co. office building from a murder. It was called Fey and Co. though last time Gumshoe was called there. When he arrived at the office he wasn't expecting to see prosecutor Godot standing in the office, but he was the one who made the call. "Mr Edgeworth is on his way, sir."

"Good," Godot replied and turned away from the detective, staring down at the ash pile under the window.

"How do you know there's a murder without a body, pal?" Dick asked but Godot didn't bother to turn around and look at him, he didn't even bother with a response. Instead, Godot continued to stare at the ash pile as if that would give him the answer. It wasn't just the ash pile, there were handprints and footprints that moved around the office too. They could pull fingerprints and footprints that they could run through the system to see if they had a match for a criminal record. The only concerning thing was that the prints looked to be a child's. The footprints started from the ash pile and moved around the office before suddenly stopping. How the ash got there in the first place, Dick would love to know.

"You done yet?" Godot asked, startling the forensics team.

"Nearly, couple more minutes sir," Dick saluted Godot, sweating nervously under the gaze(?) of Godot. The sound of the door opening caught everyone's attention. Eyes turned to see Miles walking into the office. His calculating grey eyes scanned the office before landing on Godot.

"You must be prosecutor Godot?" Miles came over to Godot and stood in front of him. Godot turned his head towards the forensics team.

"Get out until I say come back in," Godot growled at Dick and the rest of the team. They didn't need telling twice as they dropped everything they were doing and left the room. Dick waited just that little bit longer, looking towards Miles for permission. Miles gave a small nod and with that, the office just had the pair of prosecutors now.

Miles looked at the other prosecutor and waited for the older man to speak up. Godot wanted to talk to him personally otherwise he wouldn't have requested that. He couldn't tell where the man was looking with that visor in the way. Was he looking directly at him? Behind him? Through him? He didn't know nor could he ask. This was Godot though…he hoped that this wouldn't be long as he needed to return home to try and figure out what to do with Phoenix.

Godot stared at the man in front of him, in his pocket was the last gift that Mia had given him, something he swore to protect. He expected Miles Edgeworth to have a rather strict aura, contained and cold but it wasn't. Miles had a strong wine red glow around him, slowly breaking free from its containment that Miles must have put it in when he was labelled as the 'Demon Prosecutor', the man who was said to use whatever he could to get a guilty verdict…someone Phoenix felt needed saving. Maybe Phoenix had? Godot couldn't tell without seeing the man himself. Miles' aura told Godot that he was learning how to open up to others. Baby steps but still progress none the less.

"I'm going to ask you one question. Where's Phoenix Wright?"