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.

The lawyer ended up having to basically carry poor Apollo to Tehm'pul Temple.

How he even managed to muster the strength to accomplish such a feat was beyond even him. All he knew was that he had bent down to kneel down, somehow managed to insist that Apollo grab hold of his shoulders and hold on tightly so he could support the young man properly, tying both arms behind himself so he could hold the younger man up. Apollo was heavier then he appeared, it turned out. Phoenix basically gave him a piggy-back-ride all the way there and, whilst Apollo was more than likely humiliated by this, the ace attorney in blue was too afraid to let his ex-protégé walk on his own out of fear that he would either bump into something or trip and hurt himself in the process.

Apollo was far too ashamed and deflated already that he didn't even have the energy to complain.

Plus, it served as punishment for hiding such a serious condition.

Phoenix, still hefting Apollo on his back, began to stagger beneath the weight. His knees started to hurt, threatening to buckle right out from beneath him, and his spine started to feel as though it was twisting into a pretzel knot. He groaned and hissed his breaths through clenched teeth as he continued to carry Apollo.

It was difficult.

"Huff...huff, huff...agggh..."

(This...must be a sign...of how old...I'm getting...!) He thought painfully, suddenly becoming depressed.

Apollo limply hung from Phoenix's back, trying to hide his face to avoid other people looking at him. He still couldn't see very well but he could feel the eyes gluing themselves on him and he felt his face becoming red with embarrassment —he was one of the people who had helped free Khura'in and now he was being given a piggy-back ride just because he was able to see much of anything.

He felt like a 3-year-old, for some reason.

Apollo tried hiding his face all while Phoenix carried him, struggling all the way whilst huffing and puffing like a train blowing smoke, and it felt like an eternity until they had managed to traverse through the bazaar (people gawking at his passenger all the way) and he finally reached Tehm'pul Temple.

The lawyer in blue marched up the steps while trying to straighten out his twisted spinal cord.

He was quickly met by a few familiar faces.

Nahyuta, Ahlbi Ur'gaid and Rayfa were stunned when they had heard what was happening.

Datz would have been there too but he was off on a small trip to the mountains in the prison up there to advocate for the unfairly-prisoned inmates.

Phoenix had to explain the nature of Apollo's ability for them to understand and they were understandably concerned and worried beyond all measure. It was difficult to explain everything but when they heard that Apollo was in serious danger of going blind, they (justifiably) felt helpless and guilty that they didn't take action sooner.

Ahlbi was frowning with concern as he observed silently.

Apollo signalled to his old boss that he wanted to be put down and Phoenix, albeit rather reluctantly, obliged by lowering himself to his knees and untangling his arms from behind his back. Admittedly it was a bit of a relief because his spine was seriously starting to knot in response to having to carry someone like that and he was clearly getting too old to carry anyone anymore.

It was a sad, sad truth...

Nahyuta, eyes threatening to flow with tears, reached forwards and grabbed both of Apollo's hands in his own.

Phoenix couldn't help but notice that Nahyuta was acting the kindest he had ever seen him, perhaps it was because of Apollo's fragile condition that he was acting so kind or maybe his protective brotherly urges from when they were younger had resurfaced?

Either way, the ace attorney found his heart melting from the sight.

"Why in the name of the Holy mother must you torture yourself so...?"

Apollo didn't answer the monk and just turned away, probably to hide the look of intense sadness on his face...but not even he could hide that. He didn't say anything and just grit his teeth as he shut his red-rimmed, poor-sighted, brown eyes; nobody could really see it but no one was ignoring his hide-in-a-shell-like-a-tortoise attitude either.

Apollo glanced away bitterly.

"Y-You've had enough on your plate with being this country's regent and, besides, you didn't spare a thought to me while I've been gone...why do ya suddenly care now?"

Nahuyta frowned sternly.

"Apollo, you're my little brother. It is my job to care about you. I am well aware that I hadn't been the greatest of brothers for a long time and while you were going through loss-after-loss where was I? All the way over here. I know I was being entangled in the web of lies weaved by some spider of a monarch tyrant but that's no excuse. I want to -no- I NEED to make it up to you."

Apollo felt his eyes swell with tears of emotion.

"I...I'm sorry, Nahyuta, I just didn't want you or anybody to be burdened by me-!"

WHACK!

Nobody saw it coming as Rayfa, in a fit of rage, raised her priestess staff and proceeded to whack Apollo over the top of the head. Her eyes were narrowed furiously and her face was twisting and had reddened so much that her complexion was liken to a ripe tomato. The princesses' eyes were also shedding small droplets of unshed tears as she stood there, trembling with rage.

She started to berate the younger lawyer.

"DO NOT DARE SAY SUCH NONSENSE, HORN HEAD!" Rayfa shrieked, "DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND HOW CONCERNED WE WERE FOR A TWIT SUCH AS YOU!?"

Apollo flinched out of shock and pain as he swiftly raised a hand to rub at the place where Rayfa had whacked him with her staff. He stared and squinted hard at her blurred form with a look of aghast whilst he was also overcome with disbelief.

"R-Rayfa..."

WHACK!

TWONK!

"ADRESS ME AS "YOUR BENEVOLENCE" WHEN I AM BERATING YOU, MISTER JUSTICE!" Rayfa shrieked after giving Apollo an additional two whacks on the head with her staff.

A loud jangly sound erupted from the staff each time she delivered a blow to the top of Apollo's head and each smack resulted with both a small bump appearing on the top of his head and his famous horns of hair faltering a bit with a blend of embarrassment and displeasure of being whacked.

"Okay, okay, okay! Stop hitting me, please! I already have bad eyesight, I don't need a concussion too!"

Rayfa was about to hit Apollo once again but a swift halting gesture of Nahyuta's arm prevented her from doing so.

That was when the former-queen, Amara Sigatar Khura'in, had come running.

"Alright, I have summoned the royal physician to look Apollo over. He will be in the best of care."

Everyone felt a little better after hearing that, and were even really relieved to hear that Apollo would be receiving the best care in the whole kingdom but there was still that persistent yet stubborn bit of worry clinging to their minds and hearts.

Amara then turned to face Apollo and gently took his hand in hers, giving it a quick squeeze of reassurance.

She wanted the young man whom she considered as her own son to have at least a semblance of feeling comforted, she wished to try and be a bit of a mother to the boy her late husband took in as his own son and raised alongside Nahuyta and to help him as much as she could. He was the young man who had freed her son and daughter, after all, so she felt as though she owed it to him.

Apollo softened his eyes softly at her.

Amara led him away and into a nearby room to get looked over by the royal physician —the same one that helped Rayfa be born and one of the few people who knew of her true heritage, he even knew a few of the other secrets of the royal family but was always pushed aside so he just kept his lips zipped shut.

The huge doors to the royal chamber closed behind them.

Mostly everything was silent as everyone awaited for some news about Apollo's prognosis.

Phoenix sat on a bench just outside the large room, waiting for Apollo to emerge from within to see if anything could be done about his sight; he couldn't keep from being worried about his former student and he just leaned back in his seat, rubbing his painfully sore back. He wracked his brain, how could he have prevented this? How couldn't he have spared a thought for his loyal student...the one who had studied under him when he (Phoenix) was in one of his darkest places?

He felt so bad about it...

He jerked up abruptly when his phone started ringing.

He grabbed his phone out of his pocket and held it to his ear, answering it.

"B-Boss! Mr. Wright!" A familiar young girl's voice cried out, panicked, "Is Apollo okay!?"

Phoenix felt his heart stop in his chest.

"A-Athena!? Why are you calling!?"

"Trucy told me. She had a feeling something was up with Apollo, especially since you were acting really strange...plus I could hear your heart screech with concern and guess this had something to do with Apollo,"

Phoenix fought the urge to roll his eyes and then pinch the bridge of his nose, why hadn't he expected that his own behaviour would draw unwanted attention? He hadn't meant to make Trucy so worried that she would become worried. But he also hadn't meant for his daughter to catch on but he supposed he was being painfully obvious with his behaviour that something was up...and she always had been knife-sharp when it came to these sorts of things. And he should have also guessed that she'd let Athena in on it.

He honestly wasn't sure whether to be impressed or annoyed.

"Okay, fine, I'll explain a bit. But don't tell Trucy about this, okay? I intend to talk to her about this myself."

Phoenix started to explain what was going on for the second time in as much as 10 minutes and when he'd had finished his explanation, he could hear Athena start shrieking over the phone. It was so loud that, with backwards jerk with his hand, he held it away from his face whilst wincing painfully with his eardrum now ringing.

"Apollo! That stubborn, pig-headed, moron!" She thundered.

Phoenix could just envision the ginger young woman in yellow screeching with her little digital friend necklace, Widget, glowing a bright and intense red with the most fury he had ever seen on a cute little device. He was even sure he could hear the phone in her ever-tightening grip start snapping a bit on the other end. She just went on a tangent on how furious she was that Apollo refused to get help sooner, but he knew that she was simply acting out of worry and concern.

The phone was still held a short distance from his ear, but it wasn't far enough so he couldn't hear her angry rambling.

Phoenix sighed exasperatedly. He guessed that he'd need to explain to Trucy and Athena about Apollo's new...problem when he got back. Keeping them in the dark now was pretty pointless now. He had to hang up in the midst of Athena's rambling when he heard the door start opening and he jolted to attention, whirling around to await the outcome of Apollo's visit to the doctor.

Apollo finally stepped out of the room and turned to face his old mentor, walking a bit more confidently then he was before, revealing that he was now wearing a pair of glasses that had bronze frames and thick lenses that would hopefully make it easier for him to see his surroundings.

Phoenix smiled with relief.

If all Apollo needed were a pair of glasses then perhaps his vision could be saved.

"So?" The ace attorney asked expectantly, "How are they?"

Apollo smiled the first genuine smile his boss had seen him wear since when he had arrived, raising a hand to adjust his new glasses on the bridge of his nose a little bit. He felt a bit like a nerd but he was so happy that his new spectacles were improving his vision that he decided to try and not complain too much about it. He had a bit of a headache but that was simply what came with his new glasses. He felt as though he was stepping into a new course of his life and, for the first time in a while, felt as though he could take on the entire world.

"I can actually see you so I guess they're doing what they're supposed to."

Phoenix stood up and took his student's hand in his own and shook it vigorously.

He said happily, "Good to have you back, Apollo,"

When Phoenix looked into Apollo's eyes, they still looked a bit irritated but (now with the glasses on) his pupils looked more normal-sized and the redness around his irises appeared to be receding a bit. The whites of his eyes were becoming less pink and bloodshot. They looked more normal and calmed.

Nahuyta smiled warmly, "Those glasses really suit you, Apollo."

Rayfa eyed Apollo with a crude (and rather smug) brow.

"You look a bit more intelligent than normal, horn head."

Ahlbi commented, bowing, "They look cool, Mr. Justice!"

It was good that Rayfa had calmed down since earlier and had stopped whacking Apollo with her staff. She had seemed more relaxed and her face was no longer tense and bright red, she just exhumed a deep breath. She turned to converse with Nahyuta and Ahlbi and they had a talk about how they would assist more with the country affairs and such.

In the meantime, Phoenix looked Apollo with a look of shame and guilt etched upon his own face.

"I owe you an apology, Apollo."

Apollo blinked in bewilderment and perplexity. He wondered what his ex-mentor and idol was apologising for? As far as he knew, he hadn't done anything wrong.

Phoenix took the silence as his cue to continue.

"While you were over here, struggling, I was over in Japanifornia just getting on with my own life. I should have been checking up on you more. I'm so sorry..."

Apollo reached a hand up to tweak his new glasses and offered his old mentor a gentle smirk.

"Don't be. I get it."

Phoenix shook his head stubbornly. He wasn't going to let Apollo think that he didn't care, he was steadfast in apologising to him and he still fretted about Trucy getting the same thing as him. He also promised to take care of both Trucy and Apollo for Thalassa so he felt as though he had failed them both by neglecting Apollo like that.

He closed his eyes and hung his head in shame.

"This still doesn't excuse me not calling or writing or anything..."

Phoenix could have sworn that the lens of Apollo's new glasses were glinting just as brightly as his sense of justice at that moment as the latter's eyes hardened with determinedly. Because he could see again, he would work harder but he would also try and take a bit more care of himself. He may of been busy but he couldn't keep worrying those around him, not if he intended to return to Japanifornia someday and stand side-by-side with Phoenix Wright once again.

Just like they had when they solved everything in the grand court...

He was going to prove to Phoenix that he was stronger then he'd ever been.

"It's okay, Mr. Wright. I'm fine now."

A/N: Heres the end of the final chapter, I hope you guys enjoyed this story.

As you guys have probably guessed, Apollo is my fave character in Ace attorney and I love the father/son bond between him and Phoenix. Sorry about the short chapters but, well, I couldn't think of anything to make them longer. I also wondered what would happen if Apollo used his perceive ability too much and I thought about it, especially since he would be really busy in Khura'in.

This was the result.

Again, I hope you all enjoyed this.

Don't forget to fave.

-Chloemcg