"She did what?"
Maya felt like tugging her hair out as she paced around the couch, flapping her hands about as if doing so would fix all her problems. After her super abrupt phone call with Pearl, she'd practically ran to Phoenix to relay what happened. Long story short, it hadn't gone well.
"I don't know, Nick! I just started telling her and then she ran off crying!"
Phoenix looked just as puzzled as she felt.
"Did you tell her gently?" He suggested, but by his accusatory tone of voice Maya was pretty sure he already knew the answer.
"I was excited, okay?!"
"Fine, fine…" Phoenix sighed, leaning back. "I get that."
After a few seconds, Maya slumped onto the couch next to him. "No, you're right," she admitted, uncharacteristically quiet, "I should've been more sensitive."
Phoenix opened his mouth to argue, but Maya cut him off.
"I should've realized it would be different for her."
She honestly felt like she should have known, but she'd been so tied up in her own self-justified excitement that she'd failed to even think about what it would mean for Pearl, and for everyone else in general.
"Wait," said Phoenix, interrupting her thoughts, "why would it be different for her? She's met Edgeworth before and she was fine with him. I know he can be a bit… intimidating, but still, I wouldn't run away screaming."
"Yeah, you wouldn't." Maya couldn't help but laugh.
Phoenix gave her an extremely pointed what's-that-supposed-to-mean look.
"No, it's just that…" Maya began awkwardly, before letting out a small sigh. It wasn't a nice subject to talk about, but it had to be done. "Look, I've told you about how the village doesn't have the best history with men, right?"
Phoenix nodded gravely.
"Well," she continued, trying to find the right words, "when we were young, Aunt Morgan liked to drill it into our heads that 'all men tied to the Fey clan are evil'. If she ever caught us talking about them we'd get told off." She paused, lost in the memories. It made sense why her aunt would think that, now that she knew about Dahlia and Iris. "Now I never really took any of her lectures to heart, but Pearly…"
"...she would cling onto those words for life." Phoenix finished. "Yeah, I can see that."
"I just don't get it though!" Maya whined. "Like you said, she knows Edgeworth, it shouldn't be such a big deal."
Phoenix scratched his chin in thought. "Remember, she doesn't know him as well as we do though, she's still intimidated by him."
"Yeah, who wouldn't be." She replied instinctively, before slowly turning her head to look Phoenix directly in the eyes. He gave her That Look again.
"Why not just take him over to Kurain so they can talk it out?" He suggested, after a few uncomfortable seconds. "He can get to see her properly, and Pearls can see that he's a pretty cool dude. Kill two birds with one stone."
"Nah, that won't work." Maya replied. "Aunt Morgan's not the only one who has a thing against men, and suddenly bringing in Edgeworth and telling everyone he's the master's brother probably won't end well."
Maya noticed Phoenix's wince but didn't mention it. She'd paraded into Kurain Village with him by her side many times, and it's true that some of the women had been… less than polite toward him.
"Well you can't just leave it at that." He said. "Miles is gonna want to speak to her eventually, and you don't want her screaming as soon as she sees him."
"Yeah, I know, but I just don't know how!" Maya huffed.
"I could talk to her?" He offered.
"No way! If you do, she'll think I sent you, and when she's angry she will go to surprising lengths to avoid people." Pearls had once climbed an entire mountain to avoid having a bath. It was not something to be taken lightly.
"So what you're saying is, we have to fix this from far away. Great." Phoenix groaned.
"Actually," Maya jumped suddenly, her eyes lighting up, "that's exactly what we need to do! And I have a plan of how we're gonna do it."
Phoenix cringed at Maya's newfound determination. Maya's plans tended to be quite dramatic, to say the least. They also happened to be really hard to talk her out of doing them.
"What are we going to do?" He asked unenthusiastically.
"If we want to get them to talk it out properly, we're gonna need a secret weapon!"
"Secret weapon?" Phoenix asked, fear creeping into his voice.
Maya pushed him to one side, sprung up from the couch, darted across the room, and grabbed a notepad and pen.
"Yeah! Trust me Nick, with this, Pearly and Edgeworth will be best friends by the end of the week!"
"Hey pal! Over here!"
Detective Gumshoe waved frantically from the station platform at his target who was peeking at him behind the phone booth.
"M-Mr Detective!" Called Pearl Fey as she slowly made her way toward him, tugging at her robes.
Gumshoe noted that the poor girl's eyes were puffy and swollen, and he guessed it was probably from rubbing them too much. Poor kid. At first he'd thought that Maya had been exaggerating about her being upset, but apparently not.
It only made him more determined to complete his mission.
"Hey, sweetheart! A little birdie told me that you were feeling down, so you're old pal Dick Gumshoe's here to cheer you up!"
Pearl looked hesitant, and Gumshoe thought that he maybe shouldn't have shouted so loud. He didn't want to frighten her, after all.
"Are you the surprise Mystic Soma told me about?" She asked.
Gumshoe nodded with enthusiasm. "Uh huh! And I've planned a whole day of fun! Just you wait little missy, we're gonna turn that frown upside down!" He demonstrated this using his own face and some strange noises to accompany them.
People had always told him he was good with kids, but he'd always replied by saying he was just doing his job as a friendly citizen. But as he watched Pearl's nervous face crack open into a fit of giggles, before getting covered with her hands when she was overcome with embarrassment, he half-believed them.
After that, it wasn't that hard to convince her to come with him, but they'd gone to double check with her guardians first. He already had permission but he needed an excuse to use up the time before the next train. He also managed to get a free cup of tea with it.
He was slightly concerned, when the train finally arrived, that Pearl was so confident in navigating it herself that she ran off inside without him. He was on a mission dammit, he couldn't fail at the very start!
Truth is, when Maya and Phoenix first enlisted him for this task the day before, he hadn't had much time to prepare and think things through. Luckily for him though, they already seemed to have things all planned out. He hadn't hesitated in agreeing to it of course (especially once Maya so kindly offered that Phoenix could pay for the train tickets) but that didn't mean he wasn't nervous. There was a lot on the line.
All he could do was hope that it all worked out.
The train ride itself wasn't anything special. He made sure to regularly ask Pearl a random question so she wouldn't get bored, but toward the end they'd ended up bouncing up and down in their seats, singing the songs he'd taught her on the journey. The small handful of other passengers had sent them plenty of annoyed glares, but he was used to it and she didn't seem to notice. They had fun and that was all that mattered. The fun didn't stop there, though.
Once they arrived, Gumshoe let Pearl sit in the passenger seat as he drove around the city. He wasn't sure how much she'd already seen but thought a tour couldn't hurt.
He also didn't have enough money to take her inside anywhere special, so a tour would have to do.
Pearl spent most of the time gazing out of the open window in awe. She was familiar with the streets around the courthouse, and the pair stopped for a moment outside to see if they could hear any heated arguments from inside. They obviously couldn't, but it was fun nonetheless.
He purposely avoided driving past Wright & Co Law Offices because he was supposed to be providing a distraction.
Time passed surprisingly quickly, and it was a good few hours before he noticed Pearl start to fidget and wiggle around in her seat. Sighing, Gumshoe checked the time. 4:26pm. Almost time.
"Hey kid, wanna go to the park?"
Pearl looked up at him, brows furrowed in confusion. "What's a park?"
It took every bit of effort in his bones to not slam down the break right then and there. Alas, this did mean that he couldn't hide the look of abject horror on his face.
"You've never been to a park?" He asked incredulously.
"I don't think so?" Pearl replied, shuffling in her seat. "Maybe I have, but I don't know what it is. I'm sorry."
"Right, that's it." Gumshoe grit his teeth together and thrust his foot onto the gas. "We're going to the park this second and you're gonna get to play there if it's the last thing I do."
He might've been speeding, probably was in hindsight, but whilst caught up in his determination he didn't notice. Anyways, it was more important to let this little girl experience a park as soon as humanly possible.
And oh, the look on Pearl's face when they went inside the park. Her eyes shone with wonder, she jumped up to touch the leaves whenever they walked under a tree, and as soon as the play area came into view she tugged at his trenchcoat and pointed shyly.
"Can I go play there?"
"Knock yourself out!" He said instinctively, before hastily adding "I mean go play as much as you want, I'll be over here. That's just a way of speaking." after Pearl's jaw dropped in shock.
She really was a sheltered kid, huh.
He sat on the bench and watched her play for another hour. She was surprisingly agile, and she was scrambling across the jungle gyms meant for kids double her age. He almost had a heart attack when she bolted to the monkey bars and began to swing across them as good as any monkey, speeding past the other children leaving them gaping at her in amazement. Or maybe fear. He couldn't speak for them, but he was definitely terrified of this nine-year-old.
When she eventually tired herself out, she joined him on the bench. Gumshoe thinks that in the few hours they've spent together, he's just made a friend for life.
"Hey," He leaned in close to her ear, and whispered: "wanna get some ice cream?"
"Yes please!" Pearl squealed, clapping her hands together happily; a stark contrast to the sad little girl he'd met at the station.
He bought her a vanilla cone covered top to bottom with rainbow sprinkles, and she asked him multiple times if it was actually edible and if she was the one meant to eat it.
What he didn't tell her was that he wasn't going to have dinner that night, but one little girl's happiness was well worth the price of one little meal. He was starting to get sick of instant noodles anyways.
While she was busy eating (her face scrunched up whenever she licked it because of the cold, and he found it absolutely adorable) Gumshoe kept on anxiously checking his watch. The face was cracked slightly, but he could still tell the time so it was all good. It was about 5:50pm, which meant that his target would appear any time now. He wasn't sure where exactly, but he kept his eyes peeled.
After a heated debate with Pearl about how ice cream was made, he spotted him. He was sitting with his back to them on a bench on the other side of the playing field. He looked like any other stranger wearing a black coat from that distance, but Gumshoe's eyes were trained to seek him out at all times. And there he was, right on schedule.
"Hey Pearl, wanna piggyback?" He asked once she'd finished her treat.
"Yeah!"
"Hop on!"
He stood up and bent down in front of the bench, which Pearl used as a boost to stand on before leaping onto his back. She was light, and even Gumshoe's own nieces weighed twice as much as she did. He grinned.
"Ready? Here we GO!"
They ploughed through the playing field, whooping, and Pearl bounced up and down with each stride. When Gumshoe noticed their target standing up to leave, he forced himself to go even faster.
"MR EDGEWORTH SIR!"
Edgeworth's head snapped in their direction and he dropped his briefcase in surprise. The man was positively shocked to see them, and Gumshoe felt a twinge of guilt for maybe/probably ruining his 'much needed alone time'.
"D-Detective?!"
"Um, Mr Gummy?" Pearl tugged at the collar of his coat. "Where are we going?"
She'd stopped cheering and now her voice sounded frightened. Gumshoe felt lucky that he couldn't see her face right then, or he might've ended up abandoning the mission altogether.
"Just gonna go talk to a friend." He replied, as cheerfully as he could. "He's super cool, he's the best guy I know!"
He felt the back of his collar get tugged again. "I d-don't want to…"
Seeing as they were almost there, Gumshoe gradually slowed his pace to get his breath back.
"Don't worry," he huffed, "it'll only be for a minute."
"Detective, what are you doing here?" Edgeworth asked once they were close enough to not shout to be heard. Then his eyes settled on the young girl trying to hide behind Gumshoe's scruffy mass of hair.
"Pearls!" He said, eyes wide. Then, to Gumshoe in a stage whisper that sounded a lot more like a hiss of a snake: "Does she know?"
Gumshoe nodded happily. "'Course she does! You know who Mr Edgeworth is, don't you Pearly?" He felt her climb higher onto his back and guessed she was nodding.
Edgeworth's eyes were unblinking and his lips were parted slightly as he stared at the girl on his back. Gumshoe had done his job, now he just had to wait and see if the mission was successful.
"Hello Pearls," Edgeworth said hesitantly, extending every syllable. "How er-, how are you?"
Without warning, Gumshoe felt Pearl slide off his back in an instant and didn't have time to process what was happening before she was charging toward Edgeworth, fist raised. She struck him in the stomach causing him to double over in pain.
"You abandoned Mystic Maya!" She shrieked, throwing another punch onto the already-winded Edgeworth.
"Watch out sir!" Gumshoe cried ten seconds too late.
"You left Mystic Maya all alone and she cried about her family and you didn't help her!" Pearl shouted, still throwing punches. "And she trusted you!"
"I-I didn't know- OOF" Edgeworth wheezed, before letting out a groan as his thigh was slapped particularly hard. Gumshoe desperately wanted to pull her off him, but wasn't facing problems the best way to solve them? So he held back until she aimed for a nasty spot to punch, because then he hastily grabbed her and pulled her back.
Pearl was crying now. "You sh-should have been there for her!" She wailed.
"I'm sorry," said Edgeworth while he regained his breath, "I am really sorry Pearl, but I honestly didn't know. If I'd known then-"
He cut himself off and looked down in… shame? Gumshoe watched him in concern. He didn't seem interested in finishing his point though and instead crouched down to her level.
"I didn't know." He repeated, gracefully pressing a hand against his heart. "But I promise that I'll try to make it up to her. Will you allow me to do that?"
Pearl sniffed and rubbed her eyes. "Y-You really didn't know?"
Edgeworth nodded slowly.
She brushed her tears away, all cried out, and grabbed onto Gumshoe's coat. "Did your dad know?"
At first, Edgeworth huffed in disbelief, before his face softened. "Yes, I think he did. But he loved Maya, Mia and their mother very much and didn't have a choice to leave them. He passed away when they were young, and didn't get the chance to tell me."
As far as Gumshoe knew, Edgeworth had no way of knowing any of what he'd just said. It also then occurred to him that he was a very good liar. Had he been lied to before without realizing it?
They stood there in tense silence for a few moments, waiting for Pearl to react.
"You're not lying?" She asked quietly.
"No."
Lie or not, it seemed to work, and all of a sudden she let go of her grip on his coat and darted towards Edgeworth, wrapping him tightly in a cuddle that looked like it was squeezing the life out of him.
"I-I'm sorry!" She wailed again from within his chest. "I thought you left on purpose! Mom said everyone leaves to hurt us and I thought you did as well and I'm sorry-"
As she rambled into his torso, Edgeworth was as stiff as a statue. His hands were frozen a few inches away from Pearl's back. They were shaking, as if unsure whether to touch her or not. His eyes were pointed at Gumshoe, desperately begging for help, pleading for him to intervene and just say something, anything, but he didn't. So he was just left to squat there awkwardly as a little girl cried into him.
Gumshoe watched on from the side, feeling a wave of pride wash over him.
"Um, Pearl?" Said Edgeworth, once Pearl had finished her long apology. "Would you like to go and see Maya?"
Pearl shuffled away and turned to Gumshoe, who nodded gleefully. She looked back at Edgeworth and nodded.
"Right then." He said, standing up and brushing himself off. "We'll go to Wright's office."
"Mr Eh-ji-worth?"
"Yes, Pearls?"
"Please can I go with Mr Gummy in his car?"
Gumshoe smiled. Mission accomplished.