"Daddy!" She rushed towards her father after catching a glimpse of him in the hospital's entry doors. As soon as she felt his suit against her face, she began to cry all over again. "Klavier told me about the text, is it really that bad?"

"I waited to go back with the doctor until you arrived." His voice was raspy, very soft for an attorney, and filled with anguish. "Which ended up being a good thing: someone else is on their way it seems." He hugged her tightly and looked up at her escorts. "Thank you, Gavin, Skye. I'm sorry to have kept you from work."

Klavier's face was still marked with that almost emoji-like expression. "It's no issue, Herr Weight. The Prosecutor's Office and precinct are doing the exact thing we are: the whole world's eyes are on courtroom number four now. This trip will count as work-related if we can get information on their conditions. All part of the incident report."

Ema pulled at the collar of her coat. "Blackquill was called. That's the most interesting thing we've discovered so far."

"Prosecutor Blackquill was called? Why?"

She whipped a giant bag of Snackoos out, shoving a few in. "Dunno. All we know is his name was on Athena's emergency contact list."

Trucy tipped her hat back and her eyes felt more sensitive to the light in the room. "The convict prosecutor is Thena's emergency contact?"

"Yeah. They're currently looking into it. Usually one's emergency contact is a parent, an aunt or a sibling. Not a death row convict for sure."

Klavier scoffed a little in response. "I got a report that Herr Jailbird made a call after he was contacted. No idea who. They can't release a contact's name unless there is breaking of the law in process. But since the call was related to the bombing, they sent the report."

"Where is she?!"

The party, and the rest of the waiting room, jumped and whipped their heads towards the doors. A woman, late thirties, with violet hair pricked up into two horns stood there with clenched fists.

Phoenix decided to take a chance. "Are you who we're waiting on? For Apollo and Athena?"

She scoffed. "You must be her boss. Very swell, having your employees put in life-threatening situations. Simon told me about you."

"Simon? As in Simon Blackquill?"

"The one and only. Who else would I have gotten the information from so soon?"

"You were his contact." Klavier approached her cautiously. "You look familiar, who are you?"

"I see five years is enough to take a young mind and turn it dull, Prosecutor Gavin."

A slight gasp slipped his lips. "It's you. Miss Blackquill."

Trucy stumbled back. "Prosecutor Blackquill was married?"

"Ew, no! I'm his sister." She twirled around a holstered ray gun and pressed it against the side of her face innocently. "It was the first time my brother has reached out to me in years. My name is Aura Blackquill."

"Remind me of your relationship to poor Ms. Cykes."

"Miss? I was under the impression from Simon she'd graduated from Doctoral Studies. High honors and double degreed."

"Athena prefers not to be called Doctor Cykes. She prefers to be called a specialist in psychology, rather than a doctor." Phoenix reached out to invite her closer.

"Ah, because of mom."

"Pardon?"

"She didn't tell you? Her dearly departed mom was a doctor. A doctor of psychology."

Everyone startled back as if they'd been dealt a devastating blow in court. "What?!"

"It is no matter to you. You wouldn't even hear the story, if she'd tell you." Aura then banged on the reception desk. "Now I want to know about her!"

A nurse, who'd stepped away from Phoenix for a moment to sign paperwork, approached Aura. "I assume you're with the party waiting on the bombing victims?"

"I care not about the man. That's more of interest to my brother. I care only about the condition of my niece. I'm a very busy woman, dealing with the mess yesterday made of HAT-2."

"Y-you work at GYAXA?" Trucy asked, much more professional than her father sputtering "N-niece?!"

"You were who called us and said you were coming?"

"Yes."

"Then everyone is here. Come with me."

"We'll start with the condition of Mr. Justice." She clicked a few buttons on her computer, and the board behind her lit up with an outline of a male body, certain parts omitted for public presentation. "First responders found his body only about seven or eight feet from where the bomb was actually placed. His location suggests he was one of the last to begin escaping." She clicked on the computer again, and most of the body covered in red, black marks also scratching across the torso and arms. "These are his injuries at the exact time he entered the emergency room. The red represents visible burns, the black marks are lacerations of greater than an inch in length, or greater than a centimeter deep. He received stitches instantly, taking the anesthesia well. His body has not had a reaction to the stitching so far, which is good considering his trauma. As far as the official designations of his burns, he was not so lucky." One more click changed the colors of the burns: most purple, some blue while just a few on his legs, neck and lower back remained red. Even a few on his arms and upper back were black. "The purple represents third degree burning. This is what makes up the most of his wounds. The black marks are fourth degree or higher burns. At his current condition, treating the burns comes first. We will classify these burns further after it seems they've stopped progressing. His most severe burns are on places like his shoulders, where the bone is close to the skin. His least severe burns are places like his thighs and calves, where a large amount of muscle mass protects the bone. His burns range, in summary, from first degree, red, to second degree, blue, third degree, purple, and fourth and higher, black. At this time, we do not believe he suffered seventh degree burning, which involves burning of the complete bone itself. It is our hope he is not burned to a point requiring amputation."

Wails seeped from Trucy, trembling and clutching onto her father. "Poor Polly…"

Phoenix was too stunned at the diagrams to respond. Klavier had been taking notes, but stopped after seeing that Apollo sustained burns higher than third degree, and his pen slipped at the word 'amputation'. His head now sat in shaking hands. Ema scanned photos of all the diagrams as soon as they appeared, saving them together in a document. Her lip was now bitten.

Even Aura, who was supposedly Athena's aunt, was looking down in despair. Phoenix could just barely make out the repeating phrase on her lips "Oh, Metis, please no. Metis… Metis, I'm sorry… I'm so sorry… Metis, please no…"

"Let us continue. Doctor Cykes, is that correct, Miss Blackquill?"

"I've been told she prefers a more commonplace title, but yes. That is her legal name."

Every time Phoenix heard Athena referred to as a doctor, it weirded him out. She was just so young…

"Doctor Cykes is still in surgery. Her condition is largely unknown, aside from a few initial brain scans, and her report filed as she went into Op." She clicked again, Apollo's diagrams instantly disappeared, a haunting feeling, before three slightly different documents popped up. Three brain scans. One said CT, one MRI and the last said PET.

There were marks on the first two. Holes, white patches, in the middle of the left side of Athena's brain and a large white patch at the back.

The last scan made Phoenix's stomach drop through the floor. Where the holes and patches were on Athena's left side, it was black. All dark. The back of her brain lit up severely more than the rest, but he couldn't focus on anything but the blackness.

"No, no! No!" Aura slammed the table, continuing to howl. Klavier was frozen, limbs unnaturally lax. Ema's scanner hit the ground.

Trucy didn't understand how the scans worked, but was afraid of everyone's reactions.

"As you can see…" The nurse's voice was barely able to be heard, even in the silent room. "Doctor Cykes is partially brain dead."

Dead? As in, buried in the ground, funeral dead? No!

"They submitted a findings report shortly after surgery began, and backlogged records were returned. Where Doctor Cykes is brain dead, she mostly has been for seven years. The death has advanced somewhat, which is cause for observation and possible suspension from her job. Advancement of brain conditions is quite common. Seven years ago, she was admitted to this hospital as a child with a head wound resembling a stabbing. Miss Blackquill, do you know a Simon Blackquill?"

"My brother, yes. He brought her here. He found her, her and mom." Aura sniffled, voice choking. "Mom was gone… but Athena was still there…still hanging on… but just barely. He had someone call an ambulance, brought her out to them…" She curled up and started sobbing, Klavier reached a shaking hand out and pulled her close. "I stayed… while they tried, tried for over an hour… to bring her mother back; Simon jumped in the back of that ambulance and yelled until they drove off. It was the first time I'd seen him yell with such passion."

"It seems that whatever caused that injury caused the brain death in her left side. She wasn't expected to recover, I actually have a death certificate on file for her, with a scan showing complete brain death…"

"But Thena's here now!" Trucy's voice dropped away as soon as she caught up. "…Isn't she?"

The nurse pulled out a small communicator. "Heartbeat check, heartbeat check. Op. Station Two, I need a heartbeat check."

Op. Station Two. Patient name?

"Need an Athena Cykes, age eighteen."

Seconds stretched for minutes, minutes to hours, the Wrights held onto each other, Ema slowly reached for her fallen scanner and snapped Athena's brain scans, Klavier hugged Aura.

Heartbeat check, patient Cykes. Unstable between forty-five and seventy BPM. They're struggling with keeping her under. She's not responding to anesthesia.

"Thank you, Station Two." She let go of the communicator's button before sighing. "Ouch…"

Trucy leaned over the table. "She's okay?!"

"Oh no, she's not okay. She won't respond to anesthesia. She's open on that operating table, awake."

"Oww." Klavier cringed. "I wouldn't want that wished on my worst enemy. Psychopath brother included. Brain surgery is not the place I want to be awake."

"So, Miss Cykes has an official death certificate, despite being very much alive?" Ema twirled her scanner and tipped her badge. "May I see? Detective on case."

"Of course, Detective. I wasn't aware you were assigned specifically to get information on their statuses, otherwise I'd have copies of everything for you." She passed the death certificate to Detective Skye.

"'Legal Name of Deceased - Athena Venus Cykes'… Heh, I know what I'm calling her from now on, 'Yo, Venus!' 'Manner of Death - Brain death related to traumatic injury', kayyy, 'Age at Death - Eleven', that matches up… 'Date of Death - October 13th, 2020', huh."

"That was the day of Simon's murder trial. She gave testimony, then was removed to discuss her testimony. They believed she was insane. Had a seizure and they couldn't bring her back. Had her scanned and… lights were out." She pointed to the other document the nurse had pulled out, where a little mind was completely dark. It was chilling; a literal picture of death.

"October 13th, 2020? Interesting. For reference, what was the trial for?"

"Not in public." Aura glared at Phoenix before reaching over and tracing something on the back of Ema's coat; her eyes widened. "Oh, oh…" She leaned over and whispered in Klavier's ear.

"I'll make a note," he muttered, "done. Edgeworth will like to know."

"May I keep this, or do you need this returned?"

"You keep that, Detective. She's not dead, as we all know, and I can get another."

Instantly, Ema noted something. "I know she's in surgery, but can we see Mr. Justice?"

"Of course. Miss Blackquill, do you need to leave?"

"No. I will stay until I can see my niece. I promised my jailbird brother."

Once again, Phoenix saw another phrase on her lips. "I promised myself."

Perhaps this Aura wasn't as dark as she seemed.

AUTHOR'S NOTE ADDED 09/12/2022 AT 7:00PM

No, Athena's condition is not 100% realistic. Neither is the fact Apollo went to work in next morning covered in stitches and burns in the official game. Neither is basically anything that happens to Phoenix.

But there is a purpose behind it, some reasoning. It's not poorly constructed shock value.

That's the fun of Ace Attorney.