A/N: Wow, I copied all of Devil's ch 8 into here, but I only ended up keeping about 2 lines of it. Mostly because Phoenix and Maya were never supposed to show up in this scene in the first place...

Chapter 8 - Before You Get to Heaven

It was 5 p.m. when Edgeworth recieved the call. As soon as he picked up the phone, he could hear the crying...

"Hello? Franziska?"

"Miles..." Her voice was shaking and he could tell that she was at her breaking point.

"Don't worry, I'll be there soon." He didn't care that he was in the middle of an investigation. It wasn't likely that Odin could be convicted of anything, anyway, after the evidence that had come out at yesterday's trial. Besides, he was sure the police could handle the rest on their own.

"Whoa, Mr. Edgeworth, where are you going, pal?" Edgeworth sighed. Of course that pesky detective would notice him trying to sneak off.

"Franziska just called me. She's having some trouble with the kids. The officers should be able to handle this without me..." Of course, he should have known that the man could not take a hint.

"I'm coming with you!"

Edgeworth decided not to waste time arguing the point. And here's hoping that he knows something about kids, because I sure as hell don't.

They arrived at Franziska's apartment to find that the situation was already resolved, for the most part. After making the call for help, Franziska had finally broken down and started crying. Sparda stopped crying soon after Franzsika started. Somehow he managed to get Mushroom and George to calm down enough that they could be distracted with toys, and led them back into the bedroom.

Which left Sparky and Franziska in the living room, both still crying.

Sparky raised his head and looked straight at Franziska and he said, "My mommy killed my brother and sister, didn't she?"

"Yes," Franziska answered in a strained voice, not looking at the child. And what she said next, no one expected. "My papa killed my mama." The memory had been hovering at the edge of her mind ever since that night on the train. It seemed she could no longer run from it, no longer suppress it. Now that she had voiced it aloud, she would have to come to terms with it and what it meant for her. (Now that everyone was distracted, Sparky took the opportunity to escape and re-join his brothers and sister.)

Tears poured down Franziska's face and she sobbed brokenly. Gumshoe and Edgeworth knelt on either side of the crying girl and wrapped their arms around her. She could hear the two of them speaking meaningless words to her: "It's alright. You're safe now. Your father is gone. Please don't cry. I'm here. Calm down. Everything is going to be alright." While Edgeworth's voice was confident, his touch was tentative. On the other hand, the detective fumbled for words while his embrace was firm yet gentle. Franziska shifted to lean against the detective and laid her head on his shoulder. She had calmed down a bit by now.

Detective Gumshoe looked over at Edgeworth and asked, "Mr. Edgeworth, did you know that Manfred von Karma killed his wife?"

"I had my suspicions," Edgeworth replied hesitantly. "There was never any proof, though, and he always maintained that his wife left him because of his focus on his career." He paused. "I think he may have killed Jean Russeau, also."

"Who's Jean Russeau?" the detective asked.

"She was Franziska's nanny..."

The next few moments passed in silence, then Franziska suddenly burst out, "It was stupid!"

"What was...?" Edgeworth asked hesitantly.

"My parents. The reason. It was so stupid. They started fighting because he told her not to speak to me in baby talk... After that, I became terrifed to speak. What would he do if I pronounced something wrong?" But, she had learned. She was speaking now... Gumshoe was curious as to how that had happened, but he didn't really think this was the time to ask. Edgeworth, of course, already knew the story behind that, but there was one thing that was bothering him...

"Where was your sister when this happened?"

"She had run away from home to be with a man that papa had forbidden her to see." Franziska paused. "I see her from time to time... I don't know my sister very well."

notes on chapter title: It's from a line of a song. The full line is "You have to go through hell before you get to heaven."

A/N: Bad place to end the ch, I know. I got most of this out there pretty fast, but now that I'm actually having write the chapters off teh top of my head, it might be a while between updates.

The sister is going to play a big role in the ending of this fic. Any suggestions on what the sister and sister's daughter might be named? Also, if you'd like me to continue the original Sympathy for the Devil, please let me know. If enough people want it, I might take down the epilogue and continue from where I left off.