Guys, I think I love Luke Atmey. He's freaking hilarious. Seriously, he's amazing.
Anyway, we're going to get more brotherly bonding in the chapter and Apollo's going to be dragged along because Klavier likes to drag him along with him.
Chapter 6 – Lost Memories
"I don't get it. Why am I the one carrying the heavy box when it's full of your junk?" Apollo huffed as he carried the large cardboard box after Klavier as they left the prosecutor's office.
"I told you, Forehead, I'm driving, so I need someone to carry it for me," Klavier explained, casting a grin over his shoulder.
"Ok, first of all, you did not tell me that. You just called me, while I was working, mind you, and said, 'Hey Forehead! I have a really important job for you! Drop everything you're doing and come to the prosecutor's office right away!'" Apollo complained, "Secondly, there is no reason you can't carry this yourself. It sounds to me like you're just being lazy."
Klavier waved a dismissive hand at him. "Details, details. You're always so caught up on details, Herr Forehead. Besides, you could probably use the upper arm training anyway."
Apollo decided not to dignify that with a response. "We're not going to try ride your motorcycle with this box, are we?" he asked instead. Klavier let out a hearty laugh.
"Of course not, silly!" he replied, "That would be extrem gefährlich! We're taking my car!" He gestured to his plum colored sports car with the silver "G" of the Gavinners logo plastered on the side. It was parked right next to Edgeworth's bright red car.
"Well pardon me for asking," Apollo muttered, "You seem to be practically in love with your motorcycle." Also, of course your car would be as flashy and obnoxious as it, he thought to himself.
They reached the car and Klavier opened the backseat so Apollo could push the box into it, then he went around and opened the passenger side door for him. "For you, schatzi," Klavier said with a grin. Apollo sighed but got in without complaint.
"By the way, you never told me where we were going or even what that box is," Apollo realized as Klavier turned the car on and started pulling out of the parking garage.
"Oh, we're going to the prison," Klavier explained nonchalantly, "That box is full of stuff from Kristoph and my childhood that somehow made it into my apartment. I was cleaning out my closet, trying to get rid of old junk, but I didn't know what to get rid of and what to keep. So, I thought I might ask mein bruder for his opinion."
"Is that why there was another box inside the box?" Apollo asked.
"Yup," his companion said happily, "Gotta separate it into stuff to keep and stuff to toss."
Apollo sighed again. "All right. But next time could you give me some warning that we're going to visit your brother?" he requested, "There's still some, you know, tension there, I need to be able to prepare myself for it."
"You didn't mind so much last time," Klavier pointed out, "It was just a few days ago."
"Yes, but last time you thought there was something wrong with him and I was simply going as your emotional support," Apollo countered, "You didn't even give me a choice this time."
"Ah, that's fair, I suppose," Klavier agreed, "Don't worry, I won't trick you into seeing my brother next time. You don't even have to come with me. These visits are supposed to be personal, after all."
Apollo decided to let them leave it at that. He didn't really want to discuss his weird feelings towards his former mentor and boss with Klavier right now. After all, how was he supposed to express that even though he felt extremely hurt and betrayed by Kristoph's actions, he still felt some level of loyalty and caring towards him? Before Klavier had revealed that he visited his brother, Apollo often thought about visiting him himself. He had kept wondering how he was doing, whether he was keeping healthy or not, if ever thought about Apollo. He was one of the people who was silently glad when they got rid of the death penalty as Kristoph had previously been on death row.
It was hard for Apollo to see Kristoph as just a heartless murderer. He spent over two years at his firm and gotten to see what kind of man he really was. And he refused to believe that all of it was fake. Those people accusing Mr. Gavin of being an evil monster just didn't know him like Apollo did…
There was a sudden jolt that tore Apollo from his thoughts. It took him several moments to realize the car had stopped and they were outside the prison. He looked over at Klavier to see him smiling gently at him.
"Did I catch you in a daze, Herr Forehead?" he asked. Apollo blinked.
"Uh, yeah," he replied slowly, "I was just lost in my thoughts."
"Well wake up already and grab the box," Klavier ordered. Apollo grumbled to himself as he went to the backseat and got the heavy cardboard container from it. He glared at Klavier as he followed him, but the prosecutor didn't pay him any mind.
They were allowed to use the special visiting room again which meant that Apollo could drop the box on the table then lean on it himself with exhaustion. Klavier smirked at him.
"Oh come on, Herr Forehead, it's not that heavy," he said.
"Then you should've carried it!" Apollo growled at him.
"I already did," Klavier pointed out, "I had to carry it from my apartment to my car to the prosecutor's office before you got there." Apollo curled his lip at him but said nothing.
A minute later the other door opened and Andy Howe roughly shoved Kristoph into the room ahead of him. Both Gavin brothers glared at the man as he undid the shackles.
"No funny business, Gavin," Howe hissed in his ear, "I'm right on the other side of this door. And I have a taser. So watch it."
Kristoph waited until Howe slammed the door shut behind him before muttering, "Good for you." Then he turned to Klavier and Apollo. "Hello Klavier. It's good to see you. I've had a rather… stressful few days since I saw you last."
Klavier frowned. "Aw, I'm sorry bro. What happened?" he wondered. Kristoph clenched his jaw and gnashed his teeth.
"I would prefer not to talk to talk about it," he hissed, "Let's just say people around here don't know the meaning of the words 'leave me alone.'" He sighed as he pushed up his glasses. "Did you bring a new notebook for me?"
"Ja. Got it right here," Klavier replied with a grin. He handed his brother a light blue composition notebook which he took. He then handed Klavier a slightly rough black notebook.
"Thank you. You can have this one. It's full. I don't care what you do with it," Kristoph noted indifferently.
"Oh! Mein bruder! You shouldn't say that!" Klavier said in a fake despairing voice, "You know I'm just going to read it and then I'm going to have to show it to everyone at Forehead's office!" Kristoph shrugged.
"Eh, it's not like I wrote anything too deeply personal in there that I don't want anyone to know." At least, I think I didn't. "Anyway, it's yours to do with what you want. Mr. Justice."
Apollo, who had been drifting off a little, started at being suddenly addressed. "GAH! Uh, y-yes?" he stuttered.
"How did your trial go?" Kristoph wondered.
Apollo blinked stupidly at him for a moment trying to figure out what he was talking about. Then he remembered. The trial that he and Athena had worked together. The one with the stubborn witness.
"Oh yeah! That!" Apollo exclaimed, slightly embarrassed, "Um, yeah, we cracked her as soon as we brought up her glasses. She admitted she didn't see anything clearly. We managed to get our client acquitted."
Kristoph nodded in satisfaction. "Good. I would expect no less from you," he said in rare praise, causing Apollo to blush slightly. He then turned to his brother. "Why the box?"
"Oh, I was cleaning out my closet, because you know, I'm a procrastinator when it comes to cleaning my apartment and I've accumulated a lot of junk," Klavier explained.
"Of course," Kristoph agreed.
"Well, while I was cleaning it out I found a bunch of our old stuff from the house we lived in as kids," Klavier told him. Apollo was surprised when Kristoph tensed up slightly. "I wanted your opinion on what to keep and what to get rid of."
Kristoph sighed. "Very well," he said.
Klavier grinned and separated the two boxes. Apollo watched as he dug around, looking for something to show his brother. "Oh! Before I forget! I found your old viola as well," Klavier said. Kristoph looked up and Apollo's eyes widened.
"I didn't know you played the viola," he told his former boss. Kristoph nodded.
"Yes, I played purely for my own amusement," he replied, "And because our parents thought that it would be beneficial for Klavier and I to learn an instrument when we were young. They wanted Klavier to take up the piano, but he hated it and went with the guitar instead."
"Ja, they never expected me to start playing rock guitar either!" Klavier laughed, "And to be fair it's not like that piano never got any use. You eventually started playing it."
"Only so they would stop nagging you," Kristoph pointed out.
"Wait, you can play the piano, too, Mr. Gavin?" Apollo asked with surprise. Though he could see it. Kristoph was very sophisticated, after all.
"Kind of. I was ok at it," he answered, "Better than Wright is at least. Sometimes Wright would try to conspire a way to get me to play the piano at the Borsht Bowl and make it look like it was actually him playing." He sighed shook his head. "Anyway, I'm much better at the viola."
"Remember the awesome duets you and I used to play all the time on our viola and guitar?" Klavier prodded with a grin, "Mixing rock with classical? Ja, I wouldn't mind getting you out of prison so I could record a song with you!"
Kristoph smirked and looked away slightly. "While I do have fond memories of playing with you, Klavier, it's been quite a while since I've touched the instrument," he said, "I don't even know if I can play anymore."
"Eh, I bet it would come back to you if you picked it up again," Klavier dismissed with a wave of his hand, "Anyway, let's see what's in this box, ja?" He dug his hand into the box, blindly looking for something to pull out. "Ach! What is this?"
He pulled out a small jar filled with sand, tiny seashells, and other ocean objects. He held it up for Apollo and Kristoph to see.
"What is that?" Apollo wondered.
"I remember that," Kristoph said, "Isn't that the cheap little souvenir father bought for us when we took that family vacation to the beach that one year?"
"Ja, it is indeed," Klavier agreed with a nod, "He bought it not really for us but so we could put it on the mantle at home and he and unsere Mutter could try to fool people into thinking we were a normal, happy family."
Apollo felt a sense of annoyance coming from the two Gavin brothers. Had their home life really been that bad? In the time that he worked for Kristoph and all the time he had known Klavier, neither of them ever spoke about their childhoods. He didn't know anything about their family at all. Whenever he spoke to Klavier, he could never get anything out him about his past or family that wasn't about Kristoph and how much he looked up to him.
"Welp, this has absolutely no sentimental value to me," Klavier said, breaking Apollo from his thoughts, "So, toss it!" With that, he dropped it into the empty box he designated as the box of things to toss.
The next thing Klavier took out of the box was a picture frame with a black-and-white photo. Apollo leaned over to get a better look at it. The photo appeared to be a family portrait of what he assumed to be the Gavin family. He recognized a young Kristoph, who looked to be about thirteen or fourteen years old. Standing next to him was a seven-year old Klavier. Surrounding them was their parents and other family members.
"Is that… what I think it is?" Apollo asked.
"Ja," Klavier replied, "This is a picture of our extended family. All of our aunts, uncles, and cousins. And our parents there behind us of course."
There was a sound of resentment from Kristoph. "Humph. The relatives. What a bunch of fakers," he hissed, "They all liked to pretend they were high-end and perfect, but that was far from the truth."
Apollo looked at him in shock. "What do you mean by that?" he wondered.
With a small sigh, Kristoph got up and walked to the other side of the table and took a seat next to his brother. "You see these people behind our parents?" he asked, pointing to them, "Every single one of them was a defense attorney or a prosecutor. Our cousins went on to become either one of those as well. No one ever aspired to be anything different. They always expected a certain air of sophistication and never accepted anything less."
Apollo thought about this for a moment. "Wait, then what about Klavier?" he questioned. Beside him, Klavier chuckled.
"Ah yes, the fateful query," he said, "'What about Klavier?' Well, Forehead, I was seiben when my parents forced me to pick an instrument to learn, and while they would have preferred I had learned the piano, I picked up the guitar. It was when I was acht when I decided I loved rock music, which my parents and the rest of meine familie did not approve of at all."
There was a strange, twisting feeling rising Apollo's stomach and he tried to fight it down. "So, what happened with them?" he asked, "None of them would ever… hurt you, would they? I mean, they are, were, your family."
Both Gavin brothers seemed to tense up at his words. Then Kristoph sighed softly.
"Remember when I said that they pretended to be perfect but they really weren't?" he recalled, "That was especially true of this man right here." He pointed to a rather portly man standing next to the brothers. "He was Uncle Saufer, our father's brother. He was a defense lawyer with his own successful firm, but that didn't stop him from getting drunk all the time."
"Ja, Uncle Saufer was probably the most critical member of the family," Klavier added, "But he would get wasted whenever we had family gatherings. And then he would rant and rave about everyone and everything."
"That sounds awful," Apollo muttered.
"It was," Kristoph agreed, "His favorite target to complain about was Klavier, because he was 'different.' And I was the only one whoever stood up for my brother. Because Heaven forbid our parents defend their youngest child."
Apollo had a feeling he was learning why Klavier looked up to his older brother so much and still cared about him, despite the horrible things he did.
"There was a time when we were younger, we had a family reunion and Uncle Saufer was drinking heavily," Kristoph explained, "No one ever stopped him, because that would be admitting that someone in the family wasn't perfect. Anyway, he started complaining about this or that until he spotted Klavier."
"I remember that reunion," Klavier muttered, "Uncle Saufer came up and started yelling at me, saying I was disappointment to the family. As if the fact that I liked rock music was such a horrible thing."
"The fact that you kept saying you didn't want to be a lawyer at the time probably didn't help," Kristoph pointed out.
"I was eight! I wanted to be rebellious! Give me a break!" Klavier exclaimed with exasperation, "Anyway, when Uncle Saufer gets drunk he not only complains, he also tends to get violent. And that family reunion, he was especially violent."
Apollo felt himself turning pale. Did this uncle of theirs try to attack Klavier? He watched as a shudder ran through his rival.
"I remember that awful day," Klavier continued in a low voice, "He was waving a wine bottle around at me, threatening me, calling me names. Our parents just stood by and watched, not helping me or defending me at all. Then Uncle Saufer got really violent and shouted at me, saying that I should pay for disgracing the family name. He… raised the bottle high, intending to smash it over my head. I would have been seriously injured if it weren't for…" He paused, unable to go on.
"If it weren't for what?" Apollo asked.
"Me," Kristoph answered, making Apollo jump slightly, "At the last moment I managed to get in between our uncle and my brother and protect him. Glass shards and wine went everywhere. Of course, that's when our parents finally got mad. Uncle Saufer was never allowed back at our house after that incident."
Apollo stared in shock at him. "Your uncle hit you in the head with a wine bottle?" he exclaimed. Kristoph shook his head.
"No, I managed to get my arm up to deflect his blow," he replied, "Though I did suffer from some injuries. A lot of cuts on my arm and hand." Apollo noticed him gently rubbing the back of his right hand and suddenly he knew where Kristoph had gotten his scar.
"Ja, it was such a terrible day," Klavier murmured, staring sadly down at the picture in his hands. There was a moment of silence. "So, toss it?"
"Toss it."
With a small shrug, Klavier reached over his brother and unceremoniously dropped the frame into the discard box. Then he dug into the other box and pulled out a leather-bound book wrapped with thick string to keep it closed. Klavier gave it a confused look and turned it over in his hands.
"What is this?" he wondered.
"Oh God!" Kristoph exclaimed next to him. He knocked the book out of Klavier's hands and slammed it on the table. Apollo gave him a baffled look. He had never seen his former mentor look so embarrassed.
"What is this, sir?" he asked, unable to shake the formalities he had around him, "You seem to recognize this book."
"I-It's nothing," Kristoph stammered, "Just a worthless hunk of leather. Just toss it and move on!" Klavier grinned wickedly at him.
"Oh? It is nothing?" he asked, "Then you won't mind if I take a peek at it."
"No! Don't! Damn it, Klavier!" Kristoph growled. He sighed, annoyed. "Fine! It's the journal I wrote in when I was younger. Happy?"
"Immensely," Klavier replied with a smile, "So, I'm saving that." He put the journal back in the box as his brother glared at him. Apollo was pretty sure nothing Kristoph could say would stop Klavier from reading it later.
After that, though, Kristoph's mood lightened considerably. He actually seemed to enjoy going through the box of memories with his younger brother as they argued over what to keep and what to throw out. Apparently Klavier had kept all sorts of random things from their childhood, including the tickets to his first ever concert which Kristoph had taken him to. And that had reminded Apollo of the time Kristoph had taken him to a concert he had wanted to see while he was still working for him.
There was also a locket in there that apparently Kristoph's only long term girlfriend had given him, ("Throw it away," he growled, "I don't want to think about that cheating bitch.") which Apollo had noticed Klavier put in the toss box with a guilty look on his face. He made a mental note to ask him about that later.
They had just managed to get through the whole box when Andy Howe came back into the room. "Time's up," he announced, "Back to your cell, Gavin."
Kristoph glared at him but said nothing. He stood after a brief farewell to Klavier and Apollo and walked over to Howe. Apollo felt Klavier tense as Howe yanked on Kristoph's arm and slapped the shackles on him. He growled as the guard forcefully dragged his brother from the room.
"Dieser verdammte gefängniswärter," Klavier hissed as he and Apollo walked back towards the car carrying the two boxes, "Who does he think he is, treating my brother that way? I have half a mind to report him!"
"Calm down, Klavier," Apollo urged as they got in the car, "I'm sure Mr. Gavin will be ok. He's strong like that."
Klavier sighed deeply. "Ja, you're right Forehead," he said, "I just can't stand seeing my brother pushed around like that, you know? He always stood up for me when we were younger and to him get abused…"
They were quiet for a few minutes as Klavier drove them back to the prosecutor's office. "So, um, what was up with Mr. Gavin's girlfriend?" Apollo asked eventually, "I noticed you got pretty nervous when he brought her up."
Klavier tensed. "Oh that?" he said, "Um, well, I may have accidentally, um, stolen his girlfriend when I was fifteen. Accidentally."
Apollo gave him a surprised look. "How do you accidentally steal your own brother's girlfriend?" he exclaimed. Klavier shushed him as if Kristoph could somehow be listening in on them even now.
"I didn't know she was his girlfriend!" he explained, "I met her while I was on spring break from school in Germany. I came back home and met her while my band was playing a gig and she didn't mention she already had a boyfriend! If anything, she's in the wrong!"
"You want to try telling Mr. Gavin that and see if he sees it that way?" Apollo wondered with a smirk.
"Oh hell no!" Klavier gasped, "Kristoph can never find out about this! That girl was the only girl he dated for longer than a week! He would be furious if he found out I was the reason she broke up with him!"
"All right, I won't tell him" Apollo resigned with a chuckle, "But you know I'm going to blackmail you with this, right?"
Klavier sighed heavily. "Ja, I know," he muttered.
Wow, this chapter was super long. But I wanted to get some friendly interaction between the three of them before bad things start happening. I especially wanted to show my version of what Klavier and Kristoph's childhood was like and how Kristoph got the scar on his hand. I also want to show more of Apollo and Kristoph's relationship while they were working together. I think it'll help the story later. Anyway, please leave a comment and the antics of the inmates will be back next chapter.
