Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from Ace attorney, the rights to the franchise belong to Capcom and not me.
The price of perception.
Phoenix had started to arrange everything he needed to go to Khura'in.
Nahyuta's phone call was only two hours ago and the ace attorney in blue had been getting both himself and everything else organised since then.
He needed to be ridiculously prepared, after all.
He knew that Nahyuta had said that he had sorted everything about the travelling process out but he decided that it wouldn't hurt to be more thorough. He had confirmed the plane tickets belonged to him (he was dumbstruck when he discovered that Nahyuta bought him a first class ticket), he had grabbed a book that he'd borrowed from young Ahlbi Ur'gaid about the customs and specialties of Khura'in, he made sure to also reserve a spot in a Khura'inese hotel that was actually next to Apollo's new law office, and the last thing on his list was to try and mentally prepare himself for what was probably going to go down in Khura'in.
He was now shuffling about in his room whilst stuffing a few things in his cobalt blue aluminium suitcase such as an extra pair of clothes and jammies, his toothbrush and toothpaste, an extra necktie, an extra pair of shoes, some emergency batteries, etc.
After fifteen minutes or so, he finally managed to get everything he required for a three-day trip in.
He looked over his fully-packed suitcase with pride.
It had been difficult fitting everything he needed in there but he was happy that it did actually fit without making his bag burst. He liked his bag, especially because it had been through a heap load of travelling in its lifetime, he had it for ten years and he kept it almost as shiny as his precious attorney's badge —seriously, he never admitted it, but he loved his bag almost as much as he loved Charley the potted plant.
He flipped the latch, successfully locking the bag and it's contents, and smiled a triumphant smile.
But, behind that same smile, was concern...
He hadn't been able to stop worrying about Apollo since Nahyuta's phone call earlier and about a million thoughts had rushed through his mind at once, mostly concerning his former student. What could have been wrong with his ex-fledgling student? Why was he bumping into things? Why was he (apparently) avoiding the family he's got over there like the plague? Why was he insisting on going through everything all by himself?
Phoenix shook his head to himself.
Honestly why was that young man so determined to be a lone wolf...?
He was only just about to grab up his suitcase to drag towards the office entrance when he heard the door to his bedroom open up a fraction. His ear perked to the high-pitched creaking and he turned to face the person whom opened his door and his eyes widened when he saw a familiar young lady donning a blue top hat and a cape. Phoenix felt his heart stop with dread when he saw her and realised hat it was Trucy. The aspiring great magician had reached over to open the door and was beheld by the inconspicuous sight of her adopted father's bedroom, noticing all of the clothes and objects discarded and strewn across the floor, and then she saw the suitcase sat atop her adopted father's bed and frowned in confusion.
"Oh? Trucy! What's up?" The ace attorney inquired, noticing the sudden worry etched upon his 17-year-old little girl's face.
Trucy was silent for a few moments until she frowned, noticing the concern on the attorney's face.
"Daddy?" Trucy asked, looking worried, "Is everything alright?"
Phoenix panicked for a brief instant.
He didn't want to make his adopted daughter panic, especially because not only did he want to spare some grief should things with Apollo actually turning out to be in trouble but he also wanted his precious ray of light to keep being that positive, yet mischievous, influence like she always had been. She was his innocent cinnamon roll and he wanted to make her burdens as light as humanly possible.
He took a deep breath, turned around, walked over to where Trucy was standing and bent down a bit to meet her height while forcing a huge smile on his lips.
"Everything's fine, sweetheart, I just need to go out of town for a bit."
He sort of told the truth as he knew he couldn't lie to Trucy since she had a similar ability to Apollo and would catch him out immediately, yet he didn't want her, nor Athena, to fret about Apollo. He never felt comfortable lying to his adopted daughter's face but he had to do it for her sake, he couldn't have her worrying since she had a lot of things to worry about already (she never showed it, though, on account of her happy-go-Lucky attitude).
Trucy eyed her adopted father suspiciously, causing Phoenix to sweat with anxiety.
What if she caught on?
Was this going to be the day where his already-horrendous acting skills were going to fail him?
Thankfully, Trucy just smiled cheerily and said, "Okay, daddy!"
Phoenix fought back a sigh of relief.
(Phew...Bullet dodged.)
Trucy started to help pick items off of the floor, idly humming a merry tune beneath her breath, trying to help tidy the bedroom as she put herself to good use whilst weaving herself around the man with the spiky-hedgehog hair whom had raised her since she was eight. As she accumulated lots and lots of random items in her arms, she made a random comment.
"Y'know, daddy, Mother's Day is coming up soon and I was thinking about it and I was wondering if you're any closer with finding me a new mama...?"
A penny could have dropped after she had asked that.
Phoenix stared at Trucy for a very long few moments, looking at her as though she had been holding a stick of dynamite. It was almost as if he had some sort of epiphany and it was so big of a revelation that it almost literally knocked him off of his own two feet.
(...M-Mothers...day...?)
That could be it...!
He needed to talk with her.
She would know what's going on.
"U-Um, excuse me, darling, but daddy's gotta make a phone call!"
With that he frantically stumbled and staggered out of the room with his feet crashing against the floor below, speeding out of the door as though he was told that he had 5 seconds to evacuate from a fire. He left a trail of excuses as he dashed out of his bedroom as fast as his legs could carry him and, with many items still on the floor, that was a tad difficult as he almost tripped over his own two feet and the objects littering the room around him.
This left Trucy stranding awkwardly around as she stared after the lawyer, watching with wide eyes just after he had left.
"Huuuuh? What just...happened?"
She gawked awkwardly.
As soon as Phoenix left the room, he grabbed his mobile phone and dialled the number he knew too well.
Phoenix put the phone to his ear and started to talk.
"Hey, Thalassa. I gotta ask ya something."
The woman on the other end of the phone was known as Thalassa Gramarye, and she was the mother of Apollo and Trucy. It was a bit of a complicated tale but neither Trucy nor Apollo knew of their heritage nor their relation to one another and Phoenix wished to keep it that way until it was the right time for them to actually know.
He heard Thalassa's soft-spoken voice, strongly accented with a hint of Borginian, answer him.
"Yes? What is it, Mr. Wright?" She suddenly sounded concerned, "Are my children alright?"
Phoenix felt his heart quiver when he heard that tone in her voice. He knew that she feared for both Apollo and Trucy's safety each and every time he called her to speak with her about their and he understood this, it just hurt a bit that she had to stay away from her children for now and couldn't help...and it might hurt even more if his suspicions were confirmed.
"They're fine, Thalassa, don't worry...! I just need to ask ya something, though."
"Hmm? What is it?"
"Apollo has, apparently, been acting strangely when it comes to his eyes. Do you know what could be going on?"
Thalassa was silent on the other end of the phone for a good minute or so, as if taking in this information. Even though she wasn't saying anything, Phoenix could practically sense the consternation and worry rising on her end and it was making his heart pound hard in his chest to the point where he was almost legitimately afraid he was going to have a heart attack right there on the spot.
It felt like an eternity before she started to speak again.
She said, pure concern creating a shaky undertone, "Wh-What exactly has he been doing? How many times has he been using his power?"
It had been like yesterday when Phoenix explained to Thalassa that both Trucy and Apollo had inherited her special powers of perception, he could recall the pride and excitement in her voice as she rejoiced that her long lost baby boy had the power to notice the most subtle of twitches —but now she seemed afraid for him with this power...
Phoenix scratched the top of his head in deep thought. He had no idea how much he had been using his perception but, if anything Nahyuta had said was anything to go by, he would have to guess a lot —especially after his staying in Khura'in. Now just thinking of this, it made his own fear for Apollo grow even more. He felt guilty, why didn't he even notice...or care to give a thought to Apollo? Surely he couldn't have been that busy, right?
Thalassa seemed to sense the lawyer's guilt and started to explain, her voice softening.
She still sounded worried.
"Whenever our special gift is used, the eyeballs take on a large amount of strain and that strain can take its toll." She started to explain further, "You see, if someone who has the ability to perceive uses their gift too much, then it takes a heavy toll on their eyesight. When they sense a nervous habit and then try to perceive it that remains unaffected...but they have trouble seeing everything else."
Phoenix felt his heart plummet into his stomach.
(I need to talk with Trucy and make sure she doesn't use her own perceive ability too much.)
"I-I-I promise that I'm going to go to Khura'in and and help Apollo as best as I can, I swear it!"
Thalassa went silent for a moment after Phoenix's exclamation before she said, "Alright. Please help my boy, Mr. Wright, I know you can do it..."
Phoenix could vividly picture Thalassa wearing a knowing smile as she said those words to him and it fuelled his determination to go out there and assist his student who needed him the most right now. He wasn't going to ignore Apollo, not when he needed him to stick by him right now. Apollo needed to be in tip top shape to help Khura'in and its legal system to heal and, if he wasn't going to accept the help from those close to him then he needed to go and try and convince him to break down those mental walls he had put up.
As he hung up the phone, Phoenix could feel that all-too familiar fire burn in his soul.
He needed to get the bottom of this.
He was not going to let Apollo fail.
Then the ace attorney started to make plans to get to the kingdom of Khura'in post haste.
A/N: Heres the second chapter of "The price of perception" and Phoenix is going to Khura'in to see whats going on with our fave attorney in red. Lets hope his problems isn't what Thalassa said they are.
I hope you lot are enjoying this short fanfic.
Don't forget to review and fave.
-Chloemcg