DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the installments of Ace Attorney or any of the characters.
A/N: This was another very loooong overdue prompt from Yankeegal13. I know it's been a long wait, so I hope this is worth it :)
ACE ATTORNEY SCRAPBOOK
Chapter 46: A Sight to Behold
Case Tag: Pre-Spirit of Justice
Quote: User Suggested Prompt!
February 6, 2028, 11:17am
Highway
Phoenix Wright watched the scenery pass by the passenger's side window in a blur of green. He was headed to a crime scene across town and, after a quick chat (with a pouty lip and puppy dog eyes) with Edgeworth, the Chief Prosecutor agreed (with an eye roll and a shake of the head) to take Nick along with him to the crime scene. Edgeworth was going there anyway to supervise one of his prosecutors, so Nick figured it wouldn't hurt to tag along. It beat walking or riding his bike there in any case. Nick shivered at the thought of having to travel across town in the freezing weather that had gripped the city in an icy fist. Instead, he was in Edgeworth's fancy-schmancy sports car that was equipped not only with regular dashboard heaters, but seat heaters. A toasty front, a toasty back and a toasty butt; life was good.
"Thanks again for driving me to the crime scene, Edgeworth," Nick said, turning from the passenger's window to look at the cranberry-clad prosecutor.
Edgeworth was focused on the road. The corner of his mouth drew up into a smirk ever so slightly, something that could have easily been missed unless one was well acquainted with the Chief Prosecutor like Nick was.
"You know, it still amazes me, Wright," Edgeworth began to say. "You've managed to get your attorney's badge twice, however, you still have yet to get your driver's license."
Nick laughed.
"Guess I never got around to it," he said with a shrug.
"Sure, but if your adopted daughter gets one before you, that would be a bit embarrassing, wouldn't you say?" Edgeworth replied.
"Actually, I'd say more terrifying that embarrassing. I mean, you know Trucy and how…enthusiastic…she can get with her magic tricks. Can you imagine her behind the wheel of a car? We'd all be in danger, not just her magical guinea pigs, Athena and Apollo."
"I cannot argue with that thought process."
"So the prosecution rests, eh?"
"I can easily pull over on the side of the road and let you walk the rest of the way," Edgeworth said in jest.
"But I'm like your co-pilot, Edgeworth!" Nick said. "I'm helping you navigate to a place all the way across town that neither one of us has been to before!"
"Oh really? And, pray tell, where are the directions I printed out before we left, Wright?"
"Oh, those?" Nick rubbed the back of his neck and let out an embarrassed chuckle. "Those I may have accidentally left on the couch back at the office."
"Well, I guess that makes navigator and pianist as two jobs that should not be a fall back for you if you lose your attorney's badge yet again."
"Ouch, Edgeworth, ouch."
The defense attorney watched as Edgeworth leaned forward against the steering wheel and squinted. Nick's eyebrows furrowed.
"You okay there, Edgeworth?" he asked.
The prosecutor quickly readjusted himself and returned to driving normally.
"Fine," he said. "I'm just trying to ensure we take the right exit off the highway since we do not have our directions to refer to."
"Are you sure? Because I'm pretty sure you just missed it."
Edgeworth's face remained passive, but his grip tightened on the steering wheel.
"Are you certain that was the exit?" he asked, his voice eerily calm.
Nick shifted in his seat, scooting toward the window to get away from the blast zone from a possible Edgeworth-fury-explosion.
"Um, yes? Exit 35-B, right?"
"That was Exit 35-B?!"
"Yeah! What did you think it said?"
"I don't know!"
"What do you mean, you don't know? Can't you read?!"
"Of course I can read!" Edgeworth gritted his teeth as he slammed the gas pedal down and floored it across the various lanes of traffic to make a U-turn at the next available intersection a few miles down the highway.
Nick braced himself against the dashboard and winced at the symphony of car horns blaring at them.
"I guess now wouldn't be a good time to point out that you just broke a ton of traffic laws," he murmured as he watched various drivers swerve or slam on their brakes to avoid Edgeworth's U-turn.
"You would be correct," Edgeworth grumbled.
Nothing else was said while Edgeworth navigated his way through the lanes of traffic to get to the correct exit again and get off the highway. Nick relaxed and Edgeworth's death grip on the wheel loosened as they safely made it to the exit and departed from the main road. The spikey haired attorney eyed his prosecutorial counterpart out of the corner of his eye and found that Edgeworth had calmed down to a reasonable enough level.
"So, uh, Edgeworth," Nick began to say.
Do I really want to ask Edgeworth about this possible...problem? I mean, now that I've seen it, I can't exactly unsee it. I'm just a glutton for punishment, I guess.
"Wright?" Edgeworth acknowledged after the defense attorney remained silent for an extended period of time.
Nick shook his head to rein in his thoughts. I'm sure it'd be better to hear it from me than from someone else.
"So, uh, Edgeworth," Nick continued. "Did you ever consider the fact that you, you know, may need glasses?"
"Glasses?" Edgeworth repeated with a huff of laughter. "Surely, you cannot be serious, Wright."
"I am serious," Nick said, grinning. "And don't call me 'Shirley'."
The frilled prosecutor let out a sigh as he reached a stop sign.
"I appreciate your concern, Wright," he said. "But I do not need glasses."
"If you say so," Nick replied with a shrug. "I mean, I know I don't have a driver's license or anything, but even I would be able to drive better at this rate because I can, you know, see the road."
"I can see just fine, Wright, thank you very much," Edgeworth said, driving forward from the stop sign once he was certain there was no oncoming traffic.
"Want to make a bet on it?"
"A bet? No. Why would I care to wager against you on something like that?"
"I see, no pun intended. You won't take the bet because you're scared you'll lose against me outside of court."
Edgeworth slammed on the brakes of the car, Nick flying forward, nearly hitting his head against the dashboard.
"Fine. What shall you wager if-no, when-I win?" the prosecutor asked.
"I won't bug you about your non-existent eyesight if you win, no matter how close to death it puts me or other drivers out on the road" Nick replied.
"And, should hell freeze over and you win our bet?"
"Then…" Nick scratched at his chin as he thought over an appropriate reward. "Apollo, Athena, Trucy and I get to take you glasses shopping!"
"I suppose that's fair enough. But how do you propose to carry out this bet? How shall you test my vision while we are processing a crime scene, Wright? I will not interfere with the integrity of a crime scene just so you can poke fun at-"
"I'll be careful at the scene, I promise," Nick interjected before Edgeworth could finish his statement.
"That's all I can ask, I suppose," Edgeworth said with a sigh.
He released the brake and the car continued forward to the crime scene.
February 10, 2028, 2:41pm
Optometrist's Office
Edgeworth sighed and fidgeted in his chair, smoothing out his cranberry suit jacket for the umpteenth time. Of course the victim from the crime scene that he and Wright had been travelling to just had to be an optometrist. Of course they just had to visit the victim's optometry office to investigate. Of course, Wright just had to get one of the other eye doctors at the practice to test Edgeworth's vision under of the guise of "it's necessary...for justice!". And, of course it turned out that Edgeworth did, in fact, need glasses. Now, a man of his word, Edgeworth was at an optometry office to go "glasses shopping" with Wright, Athena Cykes, Apollo Justice and Trucy. This is why I don't gamble. Especially when Wright is on the receiving end of said gamble.
"So, what kind of glasses were you thinking of getting, Mr. Edgeworth?" Apollo asked.
"I'm not sure," Edgeworth replied, eyes roving over the endless sea of glasses of various shapes, sizes, colors and designs on the walls behind the young attorney.
"I know!" Trucy bounced on the balls of her feet in excitement. "Mr. Edgeworth should get those cool glasses that change colors when you go outside or come inside! They're like magic!"
"Those sound so cool, Trucy!" Athena said, popping up from her chair. "Maybe Mr. Edgeworth should go with something with thick, dark frames to look intimidating; let those defense attorneys know who's boss!"
"Um, Athena, we would be those defense attorneys," Apollo stated.
The canary-clad attorney waved him off.
"I didn't mean us, Apollo! We're Mr. Edgeworth's friends!" she said. "I meant other defense attorneys. Mr. Edgeworth could be all cool strutting into court with these super nifty, heavy duty glasses!"
Athena whirled around and scanned the shelves for a pair of glasses similar to what she was envisioning. She snagged the display pair and put them on. Athena then put on as intimidating of a face as she could muster and strutted across the waiting room.
"Beware, oh worthless defense attorneys!" she growled. "For I am Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth and I rule these courts!"
Trucy burst into a fit of giggles and Apollo did his best to fight the smile breaking out on his face (and failing). Nick watched the spectacle with amusement. Edgeworth turned to his friend, who shrugged at his protege's antics.
"Uh, well, thank you for your input, Miss Cykes," Edgeworth said. "But there are two things wrong with those glasses and, subsequently, your argument."
"Aww," Athena pouted and removed the glasses. "Why don't you like these?"
"Because first of all, I don't 'strut,' as you so put it, anywhere or at anytime, and especially not in court," Edgeworth replied, earning some sniggers from Wright who, in turn, earned a glare from the Chief Prosecutor. "And secondly, the scenario your presented makes me sound so sinister...like the Evil Magistrate."
The laughter Wright had been holding back after Edgeworth's glare broke through and spilled out in a rush of uncontrollable chuckles.
"That's right, Athena," Wright managed to say through his laughter. "Don't you know our Steel Samurai super-fan, here, would hate to look like the villain on his favorite show?"
Edgeworth's face turned red, nearly matching the color of Apollo's trademark suit.
"Sss-super fan?" he repeated, sounding appalled at the words tumbling out of his mouth. "Surely that is just an overstatement."
The three defense attorneys and one aspiring magician all turned to the prosecutor, their expressions deadly serious.
"No it's not," they said in unison.
"We all know how much you fan-boy over the Steel Samurai," Wright said with a grin. "In fact, I'd say that's an understatement."
Edgeworth flushed further. He never thought he'd ever be thrilled to be called into the doctor's office, but he was certainly relieved when the mousy little doctor with fuzzy gray hair shuffled into the room and called him in.
"Miles? I'm Dr. Seewell," he said. "I'll be helping you select your new frames based on your prescription. Are you ready?"
"Yeah!" Trucy and Athena rushed past the doctor toward the back office.
Edgeworth sighed and pushed himself up and out of his chair. Dr. Seewell gave a small chuckle before leading the prosecutor, followed by Wright and Apollo, to the back office where Trucy and Athena were already "hard at work" picking out some new glasses for him. While the doctor prepped his work station, Wright nudged Edgeworth to get his attention. He pointed at a single pair of glasses with a slender black metallic frame sitting on the wall behind them.
"Those look like your dad's, don't they?" Wright said as more of a statement rather than a question.
Ignoring the kerfuffle Trucy, Athena and Apollo (who had been unwillingly roped in to the girls' mischief, as per the usual) were causing and the doctor trying (and failing) to keep things under control, Edgeworth locked eyes on the frames that Wright had pointed out. He's right, he mused, taking a couple steps forward to examine them more closely. They do look like the ones my father wore. The edges of his lips curled up in a small, hardly discernible smile.
"I see the wheels in your head turning," Wright said, coming to stand next to him.
Edgeworth ran a finger along the rim of the glasses.
"It's funny," he said. "I had forgotten about something until you mentioned that these are similar to the glasses that my father wore. I remembered something from my childhood...something good."
"That's great, Edgeworth," Wright said with sincerity. "I'd love to hear it, if you'd like to share."
The prosecutor was silent for a few moments.
"I remember being very young, perhaps not even old enough to attend school yet, and sneaking in to my father's office at home while he was working. He had taken his glasses off and put them on the desk next to his tie that he'd removed earlier while he stepped out to the kitchen to grab some coffee. I remember putting on his glasses and tie and sitting at his desk with a pen, pretending to be a defense attorney, pretending to be like...him," Edgeworth said. "When he came back into the room with his coffee, he smiled and asked me what I was doing. I told him that I was being a defense attorney like him. The look of pride and happiness he gave me was…"
His sentence trailed off. Wright placed a hand on the prosecutor's shoulder.
"I think we found the winning pair," he said.
"Yes," Edgeworth took the display pair off of the shelf and turned to face his friend. "As much of a thorn in the side you can be at times, Wright, especially where my eyesight is concerned, I'm...glad you, Athena, Apollo and Trucy came along. That memory has certainly made this experience so much easier and I have you to thank for that."
"Well, put 'em on, Edgeworth! Let's see!"
Edgeworth did as requested and put on the glasses. Wright smiled at his friend.
"Miles Edgeworth in glasses, now that's a sight to see!"
The prosecutor turned away from the defense attorney to look at himself in the mirror. Not bad at all, he considered. I suppose it is a sight to behold indeed.