November 17 (2057), 12:00 AM, Ossenfelder Condominiums, Room no. 88

It was dark. It was a crime scene. That much was obvious. The older Jana handed her younger self a small flashlight, and she looked around the room - her stomach dropped unpleasantly at the picture framed on the wall. It was a large portrait of a family… her family, although they were plainly several years older. Her parents looked very much the same, she herself looked exactly like the future version of herself standing next to her, and Alois' features had sharpened as he left adolescence, and he had cut his hair and pierced his ears and was dressed a little more low-key, but other than that… well, he still looked like Alois, blue-gray hair, tanned skin, mole under his right eye, everything.

Next to that picture was another, smaller one of Alois standing arm-in-arm with Miguel. Judging by the office background and the fact that Alois was holding his prosecutor's badge out towards the camera with an almost uncharacteristically wide smile, it must have been taken just after his debut.

This must be future-Alois' home, Jana realized, looking again at the rope outline of a body just inside the door. There was blood everywhere.

"Someone was killed in Alois' residence," Jana stated.

"That someone was Alois," the older Jana said gravely. Jana jerked her head towards her, eyes wide.

"…what?"

Future Jana shook her head. "Just yesterday, or rather two days ago by now, Miguel discovered Alois' body. He had been stabbed over thirty times. Miguel has been arrested for the crime, and I am not allowed to participate in the investigation of this case. Mama and papa will not allow it."

"Oh," Jana said, mouth dry. She supposed she understood why her parents would ban her from getting involved in her brother's murder. They probably thought they were sparing her. "W-Why was Miguel arrested?"

"Statistics. He was the discoverer of the body, and additionally he and Alois were dating."

"He - what?"

"Well," future Jana said with a frown, "actually, Alois told me not too long ago that he still considered himself straight. He and Miguel were not boyfriends, although Alois did often go on dates with him - to make him happy, in his own words. However, everyone knows that in the past few weeks their relationship has been-" she paused, "had been very strained. Apparently Miguel was losing interest in Alois."

"So," Jana said, "he discovered the body, potentially had a motive, and I assume no alibi."

"The time of death was estimated as about fifteen to forty-five minutes before Miguel was supposed to arrive at Alois' condo to watch a movie with him. He insists he overslept and was late, but has no way of proving that." She glanced at where the body was found. "There was another reason he was arrested, though." She pulled out her own small flashlight, and shone it on the floor near the edge of the largest bloodstain. "A dying message." Jana crouched down to look at it.

MF-A ご んりしいるくざ

"…what does it mean?" Jana said at length.

"No one has figured out what the Japanese means yet," Jana said, "evidently it is just nonsense. I assume the theory is that he included it just in case his assailant returned, so that they would see it and not know what he had written… hence why he did not just directly write the name of his killer. The 'MF-A' however, obviously refers to Miguel."

Jana nodded absently. MF-A, Miguel Fey-Armando, that fit. "Maria also has the same initials, though."

"She has a solid alibi."

"And… everyone is sure that Alois was the one who wrote the message?"

Future Jana clicked off her flashlight. "He had the opportunity," she said, her voice tightly clipped, "his death was far from immediate. He may have held on for as long as thirty minutes, but with so many wounds, and his pre-existing hemophobia… simply writing a message must have taken all of his physical and mental strength." She turned around, looking at the family portrait on the wall. "I am not in the loop in the investigation. But I do hear things. The message was provably written by his hand."

"But…" Jana said, "I do not believe that Miguel would kill him. I do not believe that anyone could believe that Miguel would kill him." Did things just change that much by the time they reached this future? "Why did you bring me here?"

"Because I need your help. I need your help deciphering Alois' dying message, and I need your help preventing his death."

"…if you think you can prevent his death… do you know who the killer is?"

Future Jana was silent for a long time before she turned back around and faced her younger self. Her jaw was set. "I believe," she said, "that this is the final act of that tragedy seven years ago."


April 27 (2054), 11:35 PM, Los Angeles Central Hospital, Parking lot

"Alright, what are we doing," Ares said, resigned, as he followed Watson out of the building.

"Finding blackmail," she said.

"…for Miguel?"

"Of course for Miguel," she snapped, "he's the one I promised to spill his dirty little secret, isn't he?"

"He isn't the only one," Ares muttered, rolling his eyes, somewhat grateful Watson had given him back his sunglasses - although why she had them in the first place was unknown.

"Still, he's a clear threat and I haven't been able to dig anything up on him here," Watson said, "so-"

"Oh come on," Ares said, "Wat, Miguel's probably the most upstanding person you know. And he's not embarrassed by anything, either. He doesn't have any dirty little secrets, not even inane ones."

Watson gave him a sharp look. "If that's the case, then why did it take him two weeks to tell me he wasn't afraid of me? And why did he feel the need to tell me he wasn't afraid of me, instead of saying he had nothing to fear?"

"He probably thinks you have something incriminating that you picked up in an alternate timeline."

"I don't think so," Watson scoffed, "maybe that'd be the excuse he'd give, but he's not stupid. I know him. If I released something an alternate version of him did, he'd find some way to prove that it wasn't him. I need something from his past in this timeline, and he knows it."

Ares frowned. "You really think he's already done something you can hold over his head?"

They were interrupted by a harsh "You," from the shadow of a van they were passing.

Watson jumped slightly, then narrowed her eyes at Misty Edgeworth-Wright, Ares's bodyguard from the alpha lambda timeline, who strode out in front of them, fists clenched.

"I knew you were going to do this, Mrs. Justice," she snarled.

"You didn't stop me," Watson said mildly. She no longer bothered to question why she called her 'Mrs.', even if she did refuse to believe the other older Misty's previous offhand comment that Watson, in the future, was married to a woman.

"It's fine, E," Ares said at the same time.

Misty E gave Watson a very nasty look, but fell into step beside Ares. She always deferred to her precious Mr. Ares, except when he asked for details about lambda-Ares' death.

She never said a word about that.

"Why do you need me in particular, Wat?" Ares said, continuing their conversation.

Watson grudgingly handed him the sleek time-travel device she'd stolen from him in February. "I can't figure out how to work this," she grumbled, "it looks like there're security protocols in place, but I'm a physicist, not a hacker."

"…I don't know how to work this either," Ares said, staring down at it. "When I got it on Valentine's day, it had a preset destination."

Before Watson could get angry and snatch it away from him, Misty E grabbed it out of his hand. "I know how to use this, sir," she said brightly. "it's a very similar model to the one I use." She tapped the touchscreen, then furrowed her brow at it. "Looks like Huitzilopotchli set it to only work for your fingerprints, sir."

"That explains it," Watson sighed, "but how does Huitzilopotchli even have Ares' fingerprints in the first place…? Nevermind, Ares, for now I've got to prove to that thorn in my side that it's only through my good graces that he still has a job. Let's start with…"


April 28, 2:30 PM, Prosecutor's Building, Miguel's office

"Come in," Miguel said to the knock on his door.

"Guten tag, Miguel. How's the Soergei case going?"

Miguel glanced up. "That computer forensics friend of Detective Skye's is still crunching data. It'll probably take another week to take this to court. How's the Jane Doe case going?"

The corner of Alois' mouth twitched. "Über das…"

Miguel leaned back in his chair, taking a swig from his ever-at-hand mug of coffee. "I've seen those please-identify posters all over downtown. I knew you were going to come to me about it at some point…"

Alois shrugged, and he closed the door behind him. "We can both agree that that's an older, possibly alternate version of Jana who came here for some reason and got killed, ja?" he said.

Miguel nodded, somewhat hesitantly. "It looks like that… although if that were the case, something should have turned up when they tried to identify her by fingerprints."

"Nein, actually," Alois said, shaking his head, "it's true that most defense attorneys have their fingerprints on-file just in case they accidentally contaminate a piece of evidence, but Jana always wears gloves. It's never been an issue, so her prints aren't in the system."

Miguel raised his eyebrows. "Are you sure?"

"I asked Frau Detektivin Skye about it. She checked for me. She thought I was just curious," he added, in response to Miguel's skeptical look.

Miguel grunted into his coffee cup. "I can only imagine what would happen if they did manage to positively identify her as someone living."

"It probably would be nicht gut."

"You can say that again. But… what exactly do you need to talk to me about? I know you didn't come in here just to tell me that the Jane Doe is actually a time-traveller, because that was obvious."

"Nun…" Alois said, looking away from Miguel and instead skimming the bookshelf of old case files, "I was wondering if I should tell Jana about this."

"Won't she notice the posters even if you don't?"

Alois rolled his eyes. "Jana's not that observant."

"Is there a reason why you think you shouldn't let her know about this?"

"I…" Alois paused for a fairly long time. "I don't want to stress her. She was acting oddly this morning, du weißt, Miguel. And anyway I don't think I want her to get… involved. Besides, how would you feel if you knew there was a dead version of yourself in the local morgue?"

"If that's what you think, kitten, then why are you asking me?" Miguel looked at him expectantly.

Alois hesitated again before answer. "I'm not sure it's the right thing to do."

"…why am I the moral arbiter here?"

Alois turned back around with a weak smile. "Morality never was my strong suit."

Miguel stared at him for a long time before turning back to the paperwork on his desk and saying, "It probably would be best to keep this secret from her. It'd be a terrible burden to know about your own death, not to mention we don't know what she'd do if she found out."

"Ja."

"But keep me informed, will you, kitten? Especially if the time-travel aspect starts… complicating things." He took a sip of coffee.

"Aber ja."


November 17 (2057), 12:15 AM, Ossenfelder Condominiums, Room no. 88

"We will belay the investigation here for now," the older Jana said, "and send you back to your own time."

"What?" Jana said, "you have a time travel device. I can go back at any time I wish."

The older Jana shook her head. "Doing everything all at once is not conducive to clear thinking. I will meet you again 48 hours in your future. In the meantime, I will find out what I can about the details of this crime."

"And L. A. Holmes?" Jana said, frowning severely, "you did not tell me why you believe this is related. I thought that was over."

"It is not over. The culprit was never caught."

"But they never acted again."

"Not in your time, no," future Jana said, glancing away. "But the MO… it is too similar. The timing is too convenient. And of course, Miguel would never kill Alois, no matter how frustrated they were with each other. I am certain of this, and I am certain that, even if the kidnapper known now as L. A. Holmes was not the one to murder my- our brother, it is related."

"Then our plan is to…?"

"Prevent the murder by preventing the hostage massacre." Future Jana pulled out the time travel device and began punching in numbers. "And in order to do that, we will have to figure out who 'Los Angeles version of H. H. Holmes' truly is, so that we can stop them before they commit any crime."

"I see," Jana said, as future Jana grabbed her wrist and led her into the time door she couldn't see.

Jana stumbled into her room, alone, and immediately grabbed her phone off her bedside table and checked the time and date. It was April 27th again, a Monday, and 11:35, only a minute after she had left. The lamp was still on.

She rushed to her desk and pulled out a pencil and the notebook she usually used for her court record, and wrote down future Alois' dying message near as she could remember it. MF-A ご んりしいるくざ… that was about right, she was sure.

Now, she thought, staring down at the page, what to do with this?


July 8 (2050), 1:00 PM, Lee Boulevard

Jana, eleven, and Alois, thirteen, were both studying very hard to become prosecutors just like their parents. Alois, in fact, was getting better and better scores on his practice bar exams all the time, and it was looking like he'd be debuting in court within the next year. So he was studying hard, and Jana, not about to be shown up by him, was determined to debut at an even younger age… even if it was a matter of months, it didn't matter to her, as long as she beat him out.

To this end, they had both accompanied their mother to a crime scene.

"And what can we tell from these transfer patterns?" quizzed Detective Skye - sometimes still called Detective Justice by her colleagues and superiors, including Franziska - who was working on the case as well.

"The killer tried to drag the body into that alley over there," Jana said, gesturing, "possibly to dispose of it."

"But since the body is still in the middle of the street," Alois said, "we can conclude that they were interrupted. Und if that's the case, there's a good chance that someone probably saw the killer dragging the body."

"Very good," Detective Skye said approvingly, "so, you see how much you can learn about a crime from forensic observation-"

"Detective," Franziska said from the other side of the crime scene, "if you think there is an eye-witness out there, then by all means, go find them."

"Y-Yes ma'am!" Detective Skye said, before stalking off.

Franziska walked over to her children. "We have seen all there is to see at the crime scene for now. The investigation will continue when Detective Skye finds whether or not there was an eyewitness, or when the coroner calls back with an identification, whereupon we can look into the victim's contacts. Whichever comes first."

"So what now?" Jana said.

"I'm hungry," Alois said.

Franziska checked her watch. "It is past lunchtime," she said, half to herself, then pulled out a twenty-dollar bill from her wallet and handed it to Alois. "There is a fast food restaurant on the other side of that building over there. You two go buy yourself some lunch, then come back here."

"Ja," Alois chirped, running off to the alley to take a shortcut onto Hiza Street.

"What kind of fast food restaurant is it, Mama?" Jana asked, lingering behind.

"Some burger place… I don't remember, but I am sure you will like it," Franziska said, "go catch up with your brother. I do not want either of you wandering around by yourself downtown."

Jana nodded, and walked to the entrance of the alleyway where Alois had just gone through. Except she didn't see Alois in the alley-

Or rather, she did see Alois, but what she saw was Alois being pulled into a car that was parked on Hiza Street, a black-gloved hand over his mouth preventing him from yelling. Jana couldn't find the breath to call out, and instead tried to run towards the car, but tripped over her own feet and fell hard to the ground. The engine roared, and she looked up again only to see her brother's kicking legs disappear into the dark depths of the gray sedan, and then the door slammed and the engined roared and the car was gone.

Jana screamed.


April 28 (2054), 3:30 PM, Prosecutor's Building, Miguel's office

"Come in," Miguel said again to someone knocking on his door for the second time today. He was surprised to see that it was Jana this time. "Filly? What are you doing here?"

"I got a ride with Uncle Wright," Jana said.

Miguel nodded. Jana's boss visiting Miguel's boss was something to be expected, after all, since the two of them were married, and the former was still living up to his reputation of shaking down any and all prosecutors for information. "But what are you doing here?"

She awkwardly stood in front of his desk. "I… had a visitor last night."

Miguel put down his coffee mug, serious-faced. "It wasn't Wat again, was it?"

"No, it was… myself."

Miguel blinked.

"Last night, I was visited by myself from three years in the future," Jana explained, staring determinedly at Miguel's desk, "who needed my help because the Alois in her time had been murdered."

"I… see," Miguel said, "and you're wondering if you should tell him about this or not."

She looked up at him. "How did you know?"

"…lucky guess."

"My older self said that she was sure it was related to the L. A. Holmes massacre."

Miguel grimaced. "Then of course you can't tell him about it." Even if he did think Alois would handle news of his own death more gracefully than Jana would, there was a reason why everyone kept Alois' involvement in that incident quiet. He didn't remember a thing about it, and for his own sanity, it was supposed to stay that way. "But you had to tell someone, right?"

Jana nodded.

"I understand, filly," Miguel said with a sigh, "well, keep me updated, and please be careful. I'll let you know if Wat or someone comes asking about it, if they find out somehow."

"Thank you, Miguel."

"Anytime."

As she exited his office, Miguel reflected on the fact that he hadn't thought the von Karma-Gavin siblings would get into any time-travel-related messes without the direct involvement of Watson Justice. If Wat had been involved, then there might have been a chance that Miguel could have taken the fight to her and gotten them out of the whole situation, but - she wasn't. There was nothing for Miguel to protect them from, and nothing he could do besides provide emotional support. They were on their own here. Maybe fate was just cruel like that.

Maria said there was no such thing as fate. He wished she were right.


April 28, 4:00 PM, Wright Anything Agency

"Jourbon, y'all!" came an exuberant voice from the entrance to the office.

"Oh," said Maya Valerie Wright from where she was sitting at the entrance desk, filing papers because her father had never re-hired another secretary, "you must be that detective Jana was complaining about last month."

Detective Anna Grantaire's face went from a bright, spacey smile to a confused, hurt smile. "Jana complained about me? Ça fait ièche, how chanmé of her."

"If you're here to see my Daddy," Maya Valerie said sweetly, "he isn't here right now. He went to go talk to Daddy at the prosecutor's office."

"Daddy…?" Detective Grantaire said, blinking. "Ooh là là, your father is married to the chief prosecutor, j'ai oublié. But non, I'm not here to see him. Chuis ici on a case!"

"And what case would that be?" Maya Valerie said. "Do you need someone to defend someone?"

"Non, non," Detective Grantaire said, doggedly shaking her head, "I need to see some old case files y'all should still have lying around this office, s'il te plaît."

"Hmm," Maya Valerie said as a butterfly floated around her head, "well… follow me into the back. You can ask Mr. Justice about it."

"An old case file?" Apollo Justice said when Maya Valerie brought Detective Grantaire into the back office and explained her request, "what do you need an old case file for?"

"Well, you see, m'sieur, QLF has decided recently to re-open the une enquête privée of a case from four years ago. The defense at the time was handled by your firm, M'sieur l'avocat bruyant."

Apollo crossed his arms, frowning, for a second before shrugging and saying, "well, if it's from four years ago, I don't see why you can't look at the old court record for it. I'll grab it for you. Who headed up the defense?"

"A m'sieur Diego Armando," Detective Grantaire said, "the Ked Napp case."

Apollo raised his eyebrows from where he was pulling the relevant file off the bookshelf next to Charlie. "Wait… Ked Napp…?"

"Mais oui, keum," Detective Grantaire said with a grin, "one of the biggest mass murders dans l'histoire de la Californie. The L. A. Holmes hostage crisis."


If future Alois and Miguel's relationship sounds weird, that's because it is, and it's also because it's exactly the kind of relationship I am (was?) in lately. (I think he might have "broken up with" me because I'm "out of his league" and "don't deserve" him. Okay?)

"Ked Napp" is a pun on "kidnap", obviously. Gotta love a game that lets me get away with such painful wordplay as this…

Translations:
Guten tag, (DE) Good day,/Hello,
Über das… (DE) About that…
nicht gut. (DE) not good.
Nun… (DE) Well…
du weißt (DE) you know informal
Aber ja. (DE) Of course.
Und (DE) And
Jourbon (FR) Hello verlan (similar to AAVE in english) slang
Ça fait ièche (FR) That's annoying "ièche" is verlan slang
chanmé (FR) mean/nasty verlan slang
Ooh là là, (FR) exclamation of surprised dismay
j'ai oublié. (FR) I forgot.
non, (FR) no,
Chuis ici (FR) I'm here "chuis" is a shortening of "j'suis" which is a shortening of "je suis"
s'il te plaît (FR) please informal
m'sieur (FR) mister shortening of monsieur
une enquête privée (FR) a private investigation
M'sieur l'avocat bruyant (FR) Mr. loud lawyer
Mais oui, keum (FR) Of course, man/dude "keum" is verlan slang
dans l'histoire de la Californie. (FR) in the history of California.