I don't know why Maggey was next for me. I was thinking about characters and she just felt like the best choice to write next. Still, I had a lot of fun writing this!
Maggey Byrd bounced on the balls of her feet, smiling widely when they made eye contact.
"As if things weren't already bad enough," Miles thought.
Still, after all the mental effort it had taken to get him on the elevator, Miles wasn't about to give up on account of Maggey Byrde, of all people. If someone like her could brave the elevator while he bolted to the stairs, he really would be the most pathetic person alive.
"I'm going to floor 12." Maggey pressed the button. "You?"
"The same, thank you." Miles said, trying his very best to keep his composure.
"Wow, small world! Oh, right, your office is on that floor, isn't it? I should've known that, especially after that whole situation with the master key, huh?"
Maggey continued her incessant bouncing as the doors closed. Miles wished she would stop; it was making his anxiety skyrocket. How she could be so chipper in a situation like this was beyond him. Actually, how she could be so chipper at all confused him too. Perhaps ignorance really was bliss.
All of a sudden, and with no warning whatsoever, she blurted out, "Mr. Edgeworth, you're friends with Dick Gumshoe, right?"
Miles jumped, partially because she had spoken so unnecessarily loud without warning but mostly because he was already so tense he had to physically stop himself from gritting his teeth, if only to avoid yet another lecture from his dentist. It took him a moment to regain his composure before he could even think about her question.
"In a manner of speaking," he said, choosing his words carefully.
"Good! Then maybe you can clear something up."
He really should have taken the stairs.
In response to his silence, Maggey continued to talk. "Do you think he could be trying to murder me?"
Whatever Miles had been expecting, it had not been that. Struck speechless for a moment, he stared dumbfounded at her. He was almost too shocked to be anxious about their location.
"Where on earth did you come to such an insane conclusion?"
"It's not so insane!" Maggey protested, holding her fists out in front of her face as if she were about to punch him in the gut. "Just yesterday, he invited me out on a boat ride. A boat ride, Miles Edgeworth! With my luck?"
Were he not in court with Phoenix Wright yesterday, Miles would have considered this the most needlessly dramatic conclusion to draw from such a seemingly innocuous detail he had heard in the last 24 hours.
He opened his mouth to reply when there was a horrible noise and the entire elevator shuddered. The lights flickered and then went out. He vaguely registered Maggey's cry of surprise before hitting the floor. His head throbbed and his muscles felt like jelly. This could not be happening again.
A dim red light came on, barely illuminating the small elevator. It wasn't enough to see very well, but Miles couldn't have focused on anything even if he tried. For a second, he became acutely aware that he was gritting his teeth again, but he didn't care. The blurred figures of his father and the bailiff swam before his eyes.
No!
He tried to force his brain back into the present. Maggey Byrde. She was here. She was here right now. It wasn't an earthquake, it was just a blackout.
Just a blackout.
A bright light shined in his face, momentarily blinding him. Instinctively, he moved his hand in front of his eyes.
"Whoa…" Maggey breathed, holding up her phone. She was on her knees next to him now. "You look really green. Are you gonna throw up?"
It was hard to understand a word she said in this state, but Miles wasn't going to exert the mental energy necessary to comprehend them. He was focused on not passing out in front of her because that would be something he would never live down. Not that she would mock him for it, but his own ego wouldn't be able to handle it.
There was movement in front of his face now. Feet. She was pacing. At least, that's what he thought she was doing. He would have to sit up soon, but he wasn't sure he could. Thankfully, she had put her phone away, so the elevator was dim again.
"Because that would be just my luck, wouldn't it?" Maggey rambled above him. "I bet we'll be stuck in here forever and you'll hurl and then it'll be hard to breathe in here. Ever since I was 6 months old—"
Her words were becoming clearer, and the fact that it was a distinctly female voice kept the memories at bay even more. There hadn't been a woman at all in that elevator all those years ago. It kept him present, if only just.
"—and then I'm accused of murder again and this time I get a lousy lawyer pretending to be my real one and—"
Miles felt his senses slowly return. The initial terror he had felt was dissipating, not least because he dearly wanted his voice back to stop this assault on his ears.
"—and on top of all that, I kinda have to pee right now, so if we do get stuck in here for hours, it's just going to get worse and if you throw up it's going to smell so bad in here and then I might throw up too so—"
She just wouldn't stop. On and on and on. And had she not noticed his panicked state at all? To be honest, that was probably for the best. If it were Phoenix or Franziska in here, he might get a little too much attention and, worse, pity.
"Easy now," he thought, slowly rolling over and sitting up against the wall without the pole.
Sitting upright seemed to free his lungs from whatever was squeezing them. Contrary to Maggey's assertions, he didn't feel nauseous at all, which he supposed was a streak of luck, although the situation itself could hardly be called lucky.
"—and all I was trying to do was figure out if Dick Gumshoe was secretly some kind of shady character, even though he looks all nice and gets me flowers sometimes, ohhh with my luck it's probably just some long game he's playing to—"
"Please," Miles wished he were capable of a more assertive tone, but he'd managed to speak loudly enough to get her attention, "will you shut up for just a minute?"
Maggey was nothing if not courteous, he'd give her that. She immediately stopped and, for the first time, seemed to notice that he was still in a weakened state. He hated this. He felt like a child cowering in the elevator, still shaking with terror in the presence of someone who clearly had no idea what had triggered him. And he wasn't going to tell her anything about that day, absolutely not. The logical side of his brain, whatever was left of it, assured him that the power would likely come back on soon. This did nothing to calm him.
Meanwhile, Maggey hadn't stopped her pacing. Back and forth, with frequent glances at him. He couldn't see her expression, but he had a feeling there was concern. Unless she was actually too stupid to put the pieces together, but he doubted that. He only knew one person that dumb, and it wasn't her.
After a few minutes, in which Maggey's pacing had slowly come into clearer view, she spoke. "Are you claustrophobic?"
At least that theory had some evidence. Miles shook his head. "No, I… I hit my head."
This was technically true, as he had hit his head on the floor when he'd collapsed, but his shoulder had taken the brunt of his weight. He could tell it would leave a rather sizeable bruise.
"Do you want me to look at it? You know, I get injured so much that I'm practically a nurse. One time I made my own splint when I broke my leg at summer camp, I had to hobble all the way to the—"
"I think it's fine," Miles cut her off. "Just a little bump. When we get out, I'll put some ice on it."
"Oh, okay." Maggey got on her knees and sat across from him, staring at him so intensely, he almost wished the light would go off. "So what were you saying before all this happened? About Gumshoe, I mean."
Miles fought the urge to roll his eyes. He could not believe she was asking him, of all people, about this.
"I don't think he's capable of murder. Or even, as you say, playing the long game to take someone off guard." He sighed in exasperation. "I don't know how you got that silly idea into your head."
"But a boat? I've almost drowned four times! And one time I had to get CPR. That was embarrassing because the guy got a little too handsy." She put up her fists in that odd gesture again. "If anyone seems like he wouldn't be a killer who would drown me, it's him. But one little push and everyone would just believe my luck killed me in the end."
"Oh for heaven's sake!" Miles was surprised at the volume of his own voice; where had that come from? "He's got a crush on you, not a secret homicidal urge! Anyone can see it."
This took Maggey aback and she was, to Miles's relief, struck speechless for just long enough to allow him several deep breaths. It was strange how effective this was at distracting him from the flashbacks, but he would rather be annoyed than terrified.
"But that's even worse!" Maggey burst out, making him jump once again. "Now he's gonna get killed!"
This woman didn't jump to conclusions, she put herself in a slingshot and flung herself to them. He could not even comprehend the logic that went into her outburst, which was very unusual for him.
"Listen, Ms. Byrde," Miles ran his hands down his face, "don't take this the wrong way but Gumshoe and I are not the kinds of friends who tell each other our little secrets, so you're going to have to take this to him."
The lights flickered on and the elevator shuddered to life again. Miles felt a wave of relief wash over him. This nightmare would end after all. Maggey jumped to her feet and extended an arm to help him up, but he didn't want her to know just how sweaty his hands were so he shakily got to his feet.
"That was the shortest time I've ever gotten stuck in an elevator. Last time was about three hours. Oooh yeah, I really have to pee now, that would have been bad."
Miles didn't respond. He didn't know how to respond to that. After what felt like hours, the doors finally opened.
"Okay, nice talking to you!" Maggey saluted to him, turned, and power walked to the bathroom across the wall.
As triggers went, Miles supposed this hadn't been the worst experience he'd had. Even so, he had a feeling he'd be hearing it from Gumshoe soon enough for spilling the beans on his crush. He could handle that. It wouldn't be the first time Gumshoe had been upset with him.
He took a few seconds in the hallway to regain his composure and make sure his legs weren't too wobbly before finally making his way to his office, hoping to never dwell on this unpleasant experience again.