Prompt: Trucy teaching Edgeworth to fold paper cranes. For a reason of Anon's choosing, they need 1,000.
The title, 千羽鶴, is literally translated as "1,000 cranes" and refers to the myth that someone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted one wish by the gods. Often, it might be just good fortune instead, such as victory in a competition, a long life, or recovery from an illness or injury. It's become a Japanese tradition to make them for someone who is seriously ill/injured because of this myth.
Set not long into the seven years, when Trucy is 10.
On the first day, Miles managed to create exactly zero paper cranes, while Trucy finished at least twenty in only three hours. A pretty decent number, considering that she'd never made origami of any sort before, and her only coherent instruction had been in the form of a youtube video.
She looked over at Miles, slumped over the little card table piled high with his crumpled failures, and thought that right now, he didn't look anything like the dignified prosecutor she'd heard so much about. He'd always sounded so cultured and composed on the phone. Today was the first time she had ever met him in person and at first he had felt like a complete stranger.
"Hello, Trucy," he'd said from just inside the doorway, voice awkward, arms stiff at his sides. He looked at her only briefly before averting his gaze. "I'm going to be taking care of you until your father is well."
After that, he'd just fallen silent, eyes drawn back to the bed and its silent occupant. Worry creased his brows, and it really was a terrible proper first meeting, because Miles was rumpled, clearly exhausted - no wonder since he was fresh off an eight-hour flight - and just as clearly scared for Phoenix, the way he couldn't look away for more than a few seconds at a time. Trucy had been hoping Uncle Miles' arrival would make her feel better. Instead, she just felt even more dread churning in her gut, and she started to cry.
They were quiet tears; it took a minute before Miles even noticed them, but when he did, something in his face twisted awfully. He took two quick steps to kneel down in front of her and, said, "Trucy, I'm sorry. Don't - it'll be okay. He'll be fine soon. I - I'm here."
His hands were hovering just over her shoulders, and his eyes were intent on her, and suddenly the stiff, scared man in the room became Uncle Miles again, who never knew quite how to talk to a kid but listened seriously to her stories and always remembered to ask her to continue next time - she threw her arms around him and stuffed her face in his shoulder as she sobbed.
"He won't wake up," she whispered, shivering, and slowly, the hands that were so hesitant behind her came up to return the hug, rubbing warmly up and down her back. "He won't move and he won't wake up and I'm... scared but there's n-nothing I can do-"
"Shh," Miles said softly, rubbing at her back as she cried all over his cravat, "shh."
He told her about the paper cranes later, after her crying jag had ended. Told her it was just a myth, but if she wanted to do something... Tried to tell her how to make one when she proved enthusiastic about the idea, tried to demonstrate on a piece of lined notebook paper, then a new piece, then another new one, and another, then flung the latest ball of paper to the floor with a frustrated growl and pulled up youtube on his phone.
For the next three hours, they folded together (or tried to fold, at least), until Trucy looked up to find Miles slumped face-first on his latest attempt. His hair was in his face, his face was in a pile of paper, and he was snoring slightly. Trucy thought Daddy would love a picture of this, and then had to bite her lip to keep from crying again.
She crawled into the hospital bed next to him, curling up as close as all the tubes would let her. She put her hand flat over his heart and felt it thumping steadily under her palm.
Miles' snores were slower, but followed almost the same rhythm. Trucy closed her eyes and let them lull her to sleep.