When he enters the tiny hospital room with a bouquet (a get-well-soon present from the Prosecutor's Office, this time courtesy of everyone but Klavier's flashy flowers) in one hand and a homemade remedy of Kurain tradition in the other (Pearls was the one who brought it to him in the office as soon as Trucy spilled her beans to her), Phoenix immediately feels the tension that must have been poisoning the place for at least a couple hours.

It's a weird thing to feel too, since Apollo is close to being knocked out cold and Trucy is silently fiddling with his bracelet. If he's honest, he's surprised Apollo let someone associated to his occupation play around with one of his most prized possessions. Or, at least, that's what Phoenix can gather from his assistant's personality.

"What's wrong, Truce?" He decides to ask instead of letting any sort of dragged-out anxiety linger between them.

"…I told him."

The vague phrasing and the transparency of her face instantly concern him. He doesn't need an additional explanation to put two and two together.

"Apollo?" Phoenix instead calls his subordinate, to no response.

"I think… Polly's still under shock. He just woke up."

Oh, so he passed out again at some point. It greatly pains him to admit it, but Phoenix is getting used to Apollo slipping in and out of consciousness. What he's worried about now isn't related to that.

"Polly?" Trucy turns to her brother, shaking his shoulder. "My Daddy's back."

As if reacting to her words, Apollo stirs, opening his eyes a little more. They're glassy and he still can't properly breathe, but at least, he seems to be more conscious than yesterday. It must mean his fever has lowered a little in the past few hours. Phoenix walks up to his daughter, now directly facing his employee who, sure thing, isn't really looking at him. He can tell Apollo's trying his best at this whole "focusing your eyes on the person you're talking with" thing, but he's still got some difficulties doing just that. Suffering from a high fever just does that to you – Phoenix is the first person who can tell you about that.

"Can you hear me?" He asks, getting a small nod in response. "Okay, good. How you're feeling?"

Apollo looks to the side, giving him all of the possible wrong vibes. Is he going to pull that again?

"…I'll… I'll be fine," the boy replies before loudly coughing again, prompting Trucy to fetch the bucket sitting next to the bed, offering it to her brother before he spits that reddish slime again.

"You do admit to feeling like trash at the moment, right?"

"…why do you insist… Mr Wright…?"

To be fair to Apollo, that's got to be the most honest he's seen of him these past few days. It still doesn't mean Phoenix appreciates the tone of that response: desperate and desperately trying to hide that fact.

"Because I…"

What, what are you, Phoenix? His boss? Too professional: he'll think you see him as nothing more than an employee, at best, your only co-counsel in trials – that won't work. I'm Trucy's father? He'll surely suppose you're only doing this because you adopted his sister and feels pressure into it, making the entire thing disingenuous. Concerned for him? Apollo won't believe you: as long as it's not on a professional plane of existence, he won't believe anyone can be thinking about him. And yet, even when taking that into account.

"…because there are people who care about you, Apollo. We're only two of them."

He doesn't like the smirk his colleague gives him, almost mocking in nature.

"Is that why you're here…?"

"Of course that's why!" Trucy chimes in without skipping a beat. "You're not alone, Polly!"

The smirk disappears, soon replaced by a melancholic gaze.

"Yeah, sure… until that won't be the case."

"Polly…"

Trucy clearly sounds hurt by his words. He may not have really registered yet that he was saying that to his sister's face, which is to be expected: she revealed a long-lost family link to someone with a week worth of sleep deprivation and a fever high enough to cook an egg on his forehead, of course it was fated not to work very smoothly.

Still, she must have detected that this was less meant at them than it was meant at a lot of other people, none of whom are in this hospital room at the moment, since she didn't pursue him on that train of thoughts. Instead, she exchanged glances with her father, prompting the latter to ask as plainly as possible the question that they're both wondering about.

"What do you mean by that, Apollo?"

The boy's face continues sulking even deeper.

"If you can't tell us now, it's okay," Phoenix continues, fearing for the worst. "I understand that you're sick and—"

"There's only one person who's never abandoned me in years, that's all," he replies while retaining a cough in.

As he coughs the fit out, though, the realization sinks in the room. Trucy is hit even worse by it, practically clawing her cape.

"You… You must have felt so lonely," she says, slowly, her own voice filling with tears she can barely hide. "Having only one friend, while everyone else keeps giving up on you… It's a painful thing to think about." Trucy perks up, replacing the sorrow on her face with determination and confidence. "But it isn't the case anymore, Polly! You've got Daddy and me now, and so many others we've met along the way! So, please, put your faith in us, from now on!"

"Speaking of people you can trust in, Apollo, who is this person who's stayed by your side?"

"That'd be me," a foreign voice suddenly enters the scene.

Phoenix and Trucy both bolt their heads towards the door, where a vaguely familiar face has appeared without them really noticing anything. The voice belongs to a guy in Apollo's age range, with a band-aid over his nose and black hair covered by a cap, a guy who's also wearing a blue-and-white coat matching said cap. He looks… about as upset as everyone is in this hospital room right now.

"Who are you?" Phoenix asks the unknown man.

"C… Clay…?!"

Well, Apollo seems even more surprised than anyone else involved.

The stranger closes the door behind him before walking up to them.

"My name is Clay Terran. I'm a childhood friend of Apollo."

"I-I've seen you before!" Trucy suddenly exclaims. "You're an astronaut about to go to the Moon, right? I've seen that on social media the other day!"

"That's right," he replies with a little smile to Trucy, before turning back to the two other men in the room with a frown. "Apollo, what's the meaning of this?"

"Meaning of what…?" He coughs into the bucket. "I can… ask you the same."

It'd seem like the sudden apparition has woken him up. It's probably a good sign. Probably.

"How was I supposed to know you were in the hospital, Apollo?!"

Judging by Apollo's face, it's safe to assume he wants to reply something along the lines of "you weren't supposed to know," but is trying his best not to do that.

"I've tried calling you a good dozen times yesterday, but you wouldn't pick up! Do you even know how scared I got when you still didn't reply the day after that?!"

"…you were busy with your mission," he finally replies, "I didn't want to take your mind of it."

That really doesn't help with Clay's anger, since he suddenly storms to the bed, prompting both Wrights to shove themselves out of the way.

"The hell you're saying, Apollo?! You're my best friend, you matter so much more than a mission! What's gone through your goddamn mind?!"

Said friend doesn't reply with anything whatsoever, so all Clay does in response is to sigh as he crosses his arms over his chest.

"My apologies for barging in earlier. I'm afraid I got bested by my feelings."

"It's… It's all good, we just got surprised," Phoenix replies with a little stutter. "We didn't get to introduce ourselves, right?"

"I don't think so," Clay replies as he continues to occasionally glance at his friend, who is definitely locking himself from the conversation. "As I said earlier, my name is Clay Terran and, as this girl said, I'm an astronaut in the nearby space centre. I just so happen to be Apollo's best friend, even if it'd seem like he's never told you about me."

"I see. My name is Phoenix Wright, attorney at law."

Clay freezes.

"Wait, you're the Phoenix Wright?! The one Apollo's kept talking about ever since we met?! The one who has an almost-perfect No Guilty record?!"

"Clay, don't you bring that up—"

"Y-yeah, that'd be me." Well, he sure didn't see coming that Apollo was so admirative of him at some point. He'd have never guessed in a million years. It's almost embarrassing how flattering it feels.

"And I'm Trucy, his daughter!" She adds with her biggest smile. "I'm also Polly's—" She interrupts herself before she can end her sentence.

"Apollo's what?"

"A-assistant! I'm Apollo's assistant!"

Smooth save there, Truce.

Clay nods, even if he looks a little doubtful at her claim, before glancing back at his friend (who, Phoenix can tell, is falling back asleep despite his best attempts at staying awake), then back at them.

"Can someone explain the situation to me? I'm afraid Apollo's kept me out of the loop."

"He went to work. Sick. That's most of what we've gathered so far."

"Can't say that ain't a thing he's never done before…"

Phoenix really wishes he'd feel any surprised by this remark; but he sadly isn't. Working through the cold sounds exactly like a thing Apollo would do.

"I've tried talking him out of stuff like this, but he's as stubborn as one comes. I apologize on his behalf for the worry he's caused you. I swear he doesn't mean ill. Literally."

"Say, Clay… Do you know why Polly's like this?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you know Polly comes to work sick and why he doesn't want to trust Daddy?"

Everyone goes silent for a moment, as if sinking in thought in perfect synchronicity. The weight of the unanswered questions increases by the second until, finally, someone makes the bubble pop.

"It's not really that Apollo doesn't trust you," Clay explains as he takes on a pensive stance. "As far as I know, he'd trust you guys with his life, since you've provided him with a job once Gavin got arrested and whatnot. He just distinguishes his professional life and from his personal one to a point where you'd be inclined to believe he doesn't trust anyone on the workplace."

"Why so?" Trucy continues asking, the shine in her eyes increasing with each word Clay says. She's absolutely glued to everything she can learn about her sibling.

"Truth be told, I'm not exactly sure of why he's so adamant over it. I'd say it's because he doesn't want to get attached to anyone who could easily discard him. He's told me that once before."

"I was sick when I told you that," the topic of the day retorts with a croak, right before Trucy has the reflex to hand him the bucket.

"Yes, and you're only fully honest when you're sick, Apollo. I'd have never squeezed that out of you otherwise."

Phoenix would beg to differ, but honestly, if someone here knows Apollo, it's his best friend, so he's better off staying quiet and keeping his snarky remarks to himself. That part isn't what bothers him the most anyway.

"Apollo, what makes you think we'd abandon you?" Phoenix asks instead.

Just like Trucy's question before, it sends the entire room into a spell of silence except, this time, all eyes are on the person in the bed rather than on the new occupant, not that said person is any happy about being scrutinized by three pairs of eyes starving for answers.

"I can try explaining it if you—" Clay begins to say as to break through the silence, but he gets interrupted before he can finish forming his sentence in his mind.

"It's mine to explain, Clay."

"That's true. You're sure you're in the right state to do so, though?"

"Do I look like I've ever been ready for that conversation?" A loud, hacking coughing fit ensues, leading all of them to wince at it until it finally comes to an end.

"I meant, you're still sick with… Actually, who does he have, Mr Wright?"

"Pneumonia."

"You've got to be kidding me."

"You don't even know how much I wish I was joking there."

Silence ensues again except, this time, it's Apollo who shatters it, first with a wheeze, then with words.

"Why not? It's kept happening. I've got no family, Mr Wright, and only one friend. Everyone else? Gone."

"Polly."

Trucy's tone is cold and snappy and Phoenix senses an unfamiliar anger in his daughter's voice.

"What?"

"You… You've still got family! You've got me, Polly! I'm not just your workmate!" She takes one of his hand and puts his bracelet in it, closing his fingers over the piece of jewellery. "Have you forgotten already? I'm your sister, Polly, and I've got no intention of leaving you behind like… my father did…"

The sniffle she can't quite keep in is what breaks the camel's back, prompting her brother to join her.

"Is that true, Mr Wright?" Clay asks immediately thereafter, a look of disbelief on his face. "Apollo's never told me about that."

"It's because, until this morning, he didn't know either. I've only told Trucy about this yesterday."

"Wait, then, why is she your daughter, when Apollo was…"

"They're half-siblings from their mother's side. She had a first husband with whom she had Apollo, he died, she remarried, she got Trucy, then she kind of died too."

"Kind of died?"

"…it's a weird story, really."

"I'll believe you on that one, then…"

In the meantime, both siblings are trying to keep their tears in, to no real avail, as she's holding his hands with watering eyes.

"I… I know how hard it is to trust people when you've been betrayed like that, b-but… Polly, I promise, neither Daddy nor I want to ever leave you behind like these people did! If we did, we wouldn't be here! So, please… please let us in…"

Apollo doesn't quite reply, only lowers his head as he lets a hiccup out, chuckling on a sob.

"…you've been through that too… haven't you…?"

"Polly…?"

When his head goes back up, he gives Trucy a tearful smile, before turning to his boss.

"Mr Wright, can Clay and I… have a conversation in private, please…?"

"If you feel decent enough, I guess so. Let's leave them some privacy, Truce."

"Coming…"

Before they leave the room, she waves one last time at her brother, as they decide they both need a breather out of this clinic. Today has been quite the intense day so far.

Again, should he add.