Yep, starting with the best girl herself! I thought hard about it and she seemed to be the most natural choice to start things off, since some of the ideas I'm most attached to I want to save for later.

Maya Fey was standing in the middle of the elevator with a smile on her face.

"Good morning, Mr. Edgeworth!" she chirped. "Pick a floor, any floor." She reached out and hovered her index finger in front of the buttons.

"Er... good morning, Ms. Fey. Floor 12, thank you." Miles said, trying his best to keep his voice from shaking.

"Congratulations, you win! You've correctly guessed my floor. Which is pretty impressive, actually, aren't there 23 floors in this building? That's like a... umm I think it'd be something like 4% chance? I was never the best at math."

Maya pressed the button and the doors shut. No turning back now. Miles grabbed his upper arm in what he hoped was a natural gesture, but the almost pitying smile on Maya's face told him he wasn't fooling her. He hated that she could read him like that. Or that she could remember the details about that awful incident and make an educated guess. He wasn't sure; she was Wright's best friend, not his.

"Well?"

Her insistent tone snapped him back to the present. "Well what?"

"Aren't you going to ask what your prize is?"

He blinked. "Prize?"

"I said you win!"

For the first time since the elevator had begun to ascend, Miles felt something other than anxiety: a twinge of annoyance. Good, he was still capable of that.

He crossed his arms and tapped his finger impatiently. He was actually starting to feel like himself again. "Did you have something in mind or were you stretching this metaphor past the breaking point?"

"Actually, I d-"

There was a horrible noise and the elevator shuddered. For a moment, Miles thought he had blacked out but then noticed a dim red glow that barely did anything to illuminate the small space. His knees hit the floor rather hard and he barely had registered the pain when the elevator came to a full stop. All was quiet except the sounds of Maya's quick breathing.

"I... I think the power went out," she said, stating the obvious.

Miles didn't respond. He wasn't sure he could form words right now. His breath came in weak gasps that barely took in enough oxygen to keep him conscious. He wasn't sure if he could form a coherent thought. The sounds of his nightmares were echoing in his ears and he almost hoped he would black out just so he wouldn't have to experience this hell. He couldn't hear anything except the pounding in his ears, its pace quickening with every passing second.

Trapped. They were trapped. It was dark. So dark. For a moment, he was nine years old again, his father was arguing with that bailiff, Maya Fey was crawling over to him...

Wait. How had Maya Fey gotten there?

"Mr. Edgeworth?" Her voice was shaky but enough to bring him into the present. He felt her hand make contact with his face. "Oh! Oh, sorry, I didn't see you!"

He couldn't breathe deeply enough to muster a response, so he shook his head.

"A-are you okay?" Maya asked, her hand lowering to rest on his left shoulder. "No, stupid question. I'm sorry, that... I umm... what do you need? Is there anything I can do?"

There was absolutely no way he would be able to answer her question. His lungs were constricting and he could feel sweat dripping down his face. He vaguely registered that he was on his hands and knees. The faint outlines of his fingers were barely visible in the glow of the red emergency light. He could hear Maya's breathing just over his head and see her arm out of the corner of his eye.

"Can you sit up? Can y-you do that? Maybe you can breathe b-better that way." Maya's hand tightened on his shoulder. "Do you need help?"

With a herculean effort, he managed to nod. Maya somehow managed to smack his face with her other hand as she attempted to grab his right shoulder. Any other time, Miles would have been annoyed by this, but it was all he could do to keep himself from passing out.

"Okay, up you go!"

Maya suddenly thrust herself forward, forcing him to sit up and causing him to hit his head on the pole behind him. His small yelp of pain seemed to momentarily lift the constraints on his lungs, and he lifted a shaky hand to rub the back of his head.

"Sorry!" Maya crawled next to him and sat down.

Of course she was too short to hit her head on the pole. But the pain seemed to knock some sense back into him. He managed to take a deeper breath, focusing on the rhythmic throbbing. He was certain there would be a bruise there.

"You," he managed to say in barely over a whisper, "need to pay attention to your surroundings."

"Y-yeah, Nick must tell me that twenty times a day." Maya shifted herself so that their shoulders were touching. "But i-is it helping?"

"A bit," he mustered. "Not sure if it's because I'm sitting up or because you assaulted me."

"I didn't assault you!" Maya stiffened beside him and her voice sounded suddenly indignant. "If anything, the stupid pole assaulted you!"

"Which you shoved me into, I might add," he grumbled.

There was a moment of silence as they both took in their surroundings. Miles's vision was clearing somewhat and his eyes adjusted to the dim light. He could still hear his heart pounding in his ears, but having someone there to keep him from going crazy was helping him keep calm. Well, as calm as possible, in any case.

"Hey, umm…" Maya's voice was much softer now. "Are you okay? Like d-do you… do you want to talk about it? Because I'm h-here; I've been told I'm a pretty good listener. It's just that we might be here a w-while and… and…" her voice trailed off as she apparently couldn't figure out how to end that sentence.

It took Miles a moment to form the words he needed. "I hardly think talking about my pathetic state of mind right now will help."

Maya nudged his shoulder with hers. "It's not pathetic. Lots of people are scared of things. You know what I'm s-scared of? Raccoons. They're creepy. Like little t-trash goblins."

Miles knew that she was trying to be helpful, but there was a big difference between finding an animal creepy and experiencing a traumatic event. Even so, he became suddenly aware of the fact that she was shaking slightly. Not as much as him, of course, but he wasn't imagining it.

"Are you all right?" He wasn't sure what made him ask this, but it was out of his mouth before he could think.

"M-me? Fine. N-no, I'm good, I'm just concerned about y-you."

He didn't know how he hadn't noticed it before. Her voice had been trembling since the blackout. Perhaps she didn't like the dark. That was understandable. He looked up at the red emergency light, the only illumination in the dark elevator.

Red light as the only illumination…

He suddenly knew why she was scared, and it had nothing to do with raccoons. In fact, it was strikingly similar to the reason he had panicked, and was still panicking, the moment the lights had gone out.

And he'd been so focused on himself that he hadn't… that it hadn't even occurred to him.

"The light," he said, deciding to voice this connection he had just made. "It's not unlike the mask Godot wears."

Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw Maya turning to look at him. He could tell he was right. Her trembling increased ever so slightly.

"No," she said. "Don't make this about m-me."

He shook his head. He felt ridiculous, sitting here next to someone he didn't know that well and trying to psychoanalyze her just to avoid thinking about his own fears. But even so, it was helping in an odd kind of way.

It took a moment for him to figure out how to make his argument. "You asked what you could do for me a few minutes ago," he said, frustrated at himself for still sounding so weak. "You could…" He faltered for a moment, trying to choose his words carefully. "You could understand how it feels to… to be reminded of something you don't want to remember."

He'd said quite a lot and needed to take several shaky breaths to counter the lightheadedness creeping up on him. He would not pass out.

Maya didn't say anything. After about a minute, Miles glanced at her and noticed tears glistening in tracks down her face.

"That's…" she finally said, sniffing and wiping her face with the back of her hand, "that's not something anyone sh-should have to understand."

His hand moved, almost of its own accord, and found Maya's. He gently clasped it in his. "It's not, is it?"

Maya tightened her grip on his hand a bit and they stopped talking. They didn't need to say anything. It was enough to just sit there in the dim light and wait for help to arrive.

Miles felt his heart steady a little more. He deeply hated the situation, was furious at himself for falling to pieces when it first happened, but there was something oddly comforting about this. Was this the draw Phoenix Wright had to this woman? Miles had always wondered why he became so irrational at the mere suggestion of her in any kind of danger. More irrational than usual, at least.

But to endure something like this with another person, that had to be better than enduring this alone. And of all the people he could have been stuck with, Maya Fey was not the worst option.

In all honesty, they had probably only been stuck there for about half an hour before the elevator lit up once again and continued its ascent. Miles and Maya, breathing sighs of relief, stood up and, just before the doors opened, let go of each other's hands.

"Well that wasn't so bad, was it?"

Maya's smile was genuine as she exited the elevator just ahead of him. Miles managed a small smile of his own.

"I guess this is where we part." Miles said, giving her a small, courteous bow.

"Wait a second, mister! Where do you think you're going?" Maya's cheeks puffed out as she indignantly shouted after him.

"What on earth-"

"You haven't even collected your prize yet!" Maya hurried over to him. "I did say you'd get a prize for winning."

"Are you still going on about that?" Miles forced himself not to roll his eyes at her, but his eyebrows quirked upward when she pulled an envelope out of her pocket. "You actually had something for me?"

"Well it wouldn't be a very good game if there was no prize." She handed him the envelope. "Gumshoe gave this to me to give to you. I was on my way to your office, but you've saved me a trip."

"Ah yes, twenty paces from the elevator to my office. Quite a trip I've saved you."

Maya huffed. "You are the absolute worst. I came all the way here to give you the updated autopsy report, and all you have to say is-"

"Ms. Fey." Miles interrupted her swiftly and she seemed to deflate in front of him. "Thank you. For the report and… for everything else." He paused, contemplating whether or not he should add the last thing that came to mind, but decided to continue. "And if you ever need anything else pertaining to our earlier discussion, my door is always open."

Maya's expression softened. "That's very kind of you. But I think I'll be all right." She waved, sticking out like a sore thumb in the throng of people milling about. "See you around, Mr. Edgeworth."

And with that, she was off. Miles watched her go, this time to the staircase, and fought the crazy urge to call her back. No, he had work to do. He had to read the updated autopsy report and prepare his case for tomorrow. This was no time to chat about past traumas and Steel Samurai trivia.

Promising himself that he would use the staircase to return home, he turned to the break room, hoping there would be an ice pack or bag of frozen vegetables to hold to the back of his head. Soothing as she had been in the end, his head still hurt quite a bit.

I think it came out pretty well. I'm definitely eager to write more of these, but Maya's entry felt like a good starter piece. Not too dramatic, not too goofy, just a little of both. I have plans for some more serious and more ridiculous entries, don't you worry!

Leave a review if you liked it! I'm really hoping the fandom is still active.

~Katie