Wahey, I've finally finished the final chapter. I've lost the plot a bit though, so I apologise if it seems a bit disjointed. Thank you very much to all the wonderful people who reveiwed and bye for now. x
The door to the judge's chambers, though a little shorter then he was, was imposing to Gumshoe. Never-the-less he swallowed nervously and banged his large fist against the flimsy wooden door. It jumped straight out of its frame, and the detective was left filling up the doorway, staring down at the startled judge with an expression of mute panic on his face.
To say he was surprised was nothing compared to the shock the Judge got when confronted by a man mountain squeezing into his office. Quite where the Judge had found the golf club neither man knew, or were prepared to tell, but needless to say it was some time before Gumshoe could remember why he came.
It was yet more time before he could relate his story; the judge insisted on hearing every detail about the new addition to the detective's family. While he cooed over a picture of a chubby baby in a frilly orange dress, Gumshoe began a mental checklist, ensuring his argument was watertight.
"Sir," he began, clearing his throat in the manner of one preparing for a speech, "it is my belief that Kristoph Gavin has committed a crime."
The judge did have the decency to look relatively surprised – in fact he probably was.
"Well of course he has, that's why he was arrested!"
Gumshoes eyes drifted away into some other time. He was muddled now, and he had rather lost the thread of his thoughts.
"Got it Pal!" He burst out suddenly. "Not that crime; a new crime! An unprec-e-dented crime." He finished this statement on a definite note of smugness.
The judge frowned. "Well forgive me if I'm wrong, but I don't think you can just make up crimes."
"But ….but Pal! He's wrecking the course of true love!"
The judge shot straight out of his chair with deceptive agility for his age (or at least for the colour of his beard, but that had been like that for as long as anyone could remember).
"Never!? We must resolve this immediately!" He looked expectantly at Gumshoe, who made no motion that looked anything like resolving.
"Well you must talk to Mr Edgeworth immediately. He will sort this out straight away."
"Of course he will, Pal!" Beaming from ear to ear, Gumshoe set off devotedly in search of his boss.
…
"Justice." Klavier's face was shadowed with barely restrained anger as he confronted Apollo.
"Klavier." Apollo's response was cool and his face was unreadable.
"Do you have any idea what you've done?" His tone was muted but deadly.
"Exposed her twisted game for what it was."
"Wrong!" Klavier spat, venomous now. "What you've done is destroyed an innocent girls faith in humanity. Vera will never leave the house again."
"Innocent? Kristoph Gavin is hardly innocent."
"Exactly!" Klavier exploded, "If you can't see that my bas..brother is behind all this… It reeks of him."
Seething, Klavier fled the room, leaving Apollo to contemplate exactly what had been said. He had barely gone when an all familiar detective shuffled in too take his place. Gumshoe started on recognising Apollo and began to back away, but it was too late, Apollo had noticed him.
"What do you want?" He asked sullenly.
"Well Pal, um, the Judge, see…." Gumshoe stuttered.
"Spit it out." Apollo griped.
"KristophGavinplanneditallandframedVeraandmadeyouhateher, pal."
"Huh?" Apollo could do nothing but stare blankly at the detective. Then he read it again.
"Oh shi…" He was cut off by Gumshoes rather pointed coughing. He quickly rephrased. "What have I done?"
He sunk into the sofa, shoving aside a lumpy object that may or may not have been used to saw somebody in half. Head in hands he regretted everything he had said, everything he had thought in the last day.
…
"Beautiful lady…be my baby…" Pausing mid line, Klavier let out a string of expletives and shoved his guitar off his lap. "What is wrong with me? I can't even write a song about her. Lady, baby? She's never going to fall horribly in love with me if I keep producing this rubbish."
Luckily for music fans world wide, the she in question chose that moment to waltz into the room, snacking as usual.
"Ema, you came!" Klavier's face lit up like a schoolboy and a wide grin spread across it.
She smiled warmly back at him. "Yup, I got your message." She put on a heavy fake German accent "'Come and see me, mein leibe.' And so I came, I saw, and now I'm leaving."
She turned and made to exit, but he was in front of her, blocking the doorway and generally invading her personal space.
"Not until you kiss me." He leant in towards her and she recoiled, mock horror on her face.
"Polo?" She pre-offered a packet of brightly coloured mints. He brushed them aside and pressed his lips to hers. His intensity made her gasp, and she realised he was still angry; with Apollo, with Kristoph and with himself.
Sensing her hesitance, he pulled away and stared intently at her.
"What?" She demanded.
"Why do you love me?" He questioned, the thoughtful look on his face somewhat diminished by the mischievous glitter in his eyes.
She grinned back at him. "I honestly don't know… Which of your awful, glimmerous character traits did I first fall in love with? And why on earth would you put up with me?"
"Put up with, that's exactly it. Falling in love with you wasn't exactly intentional; it was entirely against my will."
Ema snorted and threw a chocolately snack at him. He caught it good naturedly and began to chew idly, enjoying the rare peaceful moment he could hope to expect in their relationship.
…
"PLEEEEAASSEEE POLLLY!"
"Trucy, NO. D'you think I don't feel bad enough with out you trying to force blind dates on me left, right and centre?"
"Please?" Trucy pouted.
"Actually, I think it's a good idea." The disembodied voice of Mr Wright floated across from the sofa over which he was spread.
"What?!?" Apollo spun to face his feet, this being the only part of the man not obscured by the back of the sofa.
"I do. In fact, I've arranged for this friend of Trucy's to come here to meet you this afternoon. She's quite looking forward to it."
Apollo could only imagine Mr Wrights sardonic smile, but it was all too much for him. He sank to the floor, contemplating grovelling at a happily skipping Trucy's feet if that could count for an adequate apology.
It didn't, and so Apollo found himself neatly groomed and pinned down to the sofa, sandwiched between the Wrights and their prosecutor friend, all of whom had identical evil grins. All too soon, the doorbell signalled his impending doom.
Tentatively, he crept to the door, and the sight he saw there nearly knocked him flat. Vera peeped up at him through her eyelashes, looking tiny and yet so full of life, her hair still a vibrant unrealistic blue and her socks still just as pink.
"Vera!" She was literally knocked flat, but he had already caught her and was swinging her around, crying out declarations of love, and promises never to ever say anything against her ever and to be her slave for life. There was also a fair bit of grovelling, but Apollo chose not to repeat it in future retellings of the story.
In all his celebrations he failed to notice Klavier and Ema slipping in after Vera, carefully maintaining an appropriate distance between them. Trucy, however, didn't; she skipped over and grabbed them both by the hands, drawing them closer together.
"Yay!!! Now everybody's in love."
Everybody turned to look at her, their faces ranging from confusion to mild amusement.
"Err, Trucy….?" Ema began, attempting to extract herself from the young magicians grasp. "Who said we were in love?"
"Ooops." Trucy grinned sheepishly, dropping both their hands and backing away. The entire room waited expectantly (and in some cases nervously) for the pairs reaction.
It was Klavier who broke the tense silence. "Ah, but Ema, don't you love me?"
"No more than reason." The detective muttered, embarrassed.
He grinned widely. "Oh, but Herr Forehead seemed so convinced you did. However did he get so confused?"
Ema allowed herself to smile tentatively in return. "But don't you love me, Klavier?" She asked coyly, and raised her hand to her heart in a gesture that made a look so like her sister.
"No more than I should." He pouted.
"Well then, Trucy must have been lying too." She smiled ominously at the girl, who squealed and ducked behind her father.
"And I was told you couldn't breathe for loving me…"
"And they said you couldn't live if you didn't tell me….."
The pair spun on Trucy, who was conveniently hidden by Mr Wright, wearing an identical sheepish look.
"What? It's true!"
Klavier smirked. "Prove it."
"TAKE THAT!" The shout was naturally Apollo's. "I have here a song written, by you, dedicated to Ema." He paused to read the paper. "Call yourself a musician?"
"Hey!" Klavier protested, and Trucy stuck her tongue out.
Ema snatched the paper from Apollo's outstretched hand and read it greedily. "You do love me!" She laughed, and threw her arms around him. The paper fluttered to the floor, abandoned, as Klavier swept her up in his arms and held her to him.
"And you love me."
"I do." She breathed, resting her head on his shoulder. "But only out of pity."
"Oh shush." He cut her off with a kiss, and a cheer went up around the room, punctuated by wolf whistles, and remarks of 'finally'.
Detective Gumshoe, who nobody had really noticed arriving, couldn't help but join in the celebrations.
"Hey, Pal. Do you think we can have Kristoph arrested for this?"