Pearl Wright: Chapter 2

The Plan

The eyes of Pearl Fey fluttered open in the morning to an amazing smell filling her nostrils. Glancing over to the digital clock on her bedside table Pearl noticed that it was 9:34am, indicating that she had slept for over twelve hours. This was something very uncommon for Pearl. Normally due to her training, Pearl tried to only get a maximum of eight hours so she could devote as much time as possible to her training.

With the amount of time that Pearl spent sleeping finally sinking in the young girl shot up out of bed in a heartbeat.

Now on her feet, Pearl's first priority was getting dressed for the day as she walked over to her closet. Opening it up all that Pearl saw were multiple acolyte robes that she usually wore. Upon instinct she took one off of its hanger, but when she held it in her hands images of Maya flashed through her head causing her to drop the robe.

For a moment Pearl just stood there staring at the clothes she just dropped with thoughts of Maya flooding her head. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't make the thoughts go away until eventually anger swelled up inside her as she kicked away the robe.

After calming down Pearl noticed a cardboard box in the corner of the closet. Pearl kneeled down and opened the box up revealing a bunch of old clothes that must have belonged to Mr. Nick when he was her age. Not wanting to be bothered by thoughts of Maya Pearl picked out a pair of underwear, pants, and a shirt all from the box for her to wear instead.

The pants were a simple pair of blue Jeans, with the shirt being a red and light blue striped t-shirt.

Before she left the room for breakfest, Pearl took a quick look at herself in the mirror to find that her hair was beyond messed up. Not wanting to take the time to make it up into its usual shape, Pearl just put it into a ponytail.

When she opened up the door to her room the faint smell from before grew intensely. Whatever it was, it smelt amazing, and it probably was going to be for breakfast.

Before she made it into the kitchen, Pearl heard Phoenix's voice saying.

"Glad to hear that you're awake. I'm making food right now."

But when Pearl finally entered the kitchen and came face to face with Phoenix's, his eyes widened at the sight of her."

"Pearls?!" Phoenix said almost spitting out the orange juice he was drinking. "Why are you wearing my old clothes?"

"... I felt like it…" Pearl said. "Is that alright?"

Phoenix scratched his head in confusion.

"I guess so…"

Pearl looked over at the stove to see some round brown thing in a frying pan. It smelt delicious, but she had no idea what it was.

"What's that Mr. Nick?"

"Oh, that's a pancake. I guess you never had one growing up in Kurian and all."

"Pan…cake? Why are we having cake for breakfest?"

For the first time in awhile Pearl saw a genuine smile and laugh out of Phoenix.

"Haha, no Pearl it's just a name, it's not really cake. It's almost done though, so just go sit at the table and I'll bring it to you."

Pearl nodded as she moved over to the living room of the apartment. It was a small place that Phoenix had, so it didn't have a dining area. Usually they ate at the coffee table next to the tv.

As she sat down on the couch Phoenix called from the kitchen.

"What do you want to drink?"

"Apple juice please." She called back.

A moment later Phoenix walked over to her with the pancake and her apple juice and placed it infront of her. The plate also had a fork and butterknife on it indicating that she was supposed to use them to eat it, but when she picked them up Phoenix stopped her while chuckling.

"Not yet Pearl, I haven't gotten the syrup yet."

"Sur-rup?"

"Just wait one second I'll get it."

Quickly Phoenix darted over to the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of some sort of liquid and came back. Before Pearl could even ask exactly what is was, Phoenix opened up the bottle and started pouring the liquid inside of it onto her pancake.

"There, that's syrup." Phoenix said. "You put it on your pancake to make it taste better."

The two smells of the Pancake and the syrup mixing together made the meal smell even better than before, and before she knew it Pearl had already used her knife and fork to cut off and piece. Putting it in her mouth her senses exploded with flavour.

For the first time that week Pearl's lips curled up into a smile, Phoenix obviously noticing as he smiled back.

"I take it that you like it?" He asked.

"It's great Mr. Nick!"

"I'm glad you like it, and it's great to see you smile again."

Hearing those words once again reminded Pearl of the recent events, drastically bringing her mood down. Still though, she kept her smile on, for Phoenix's sake.

"I'll go make one for myself now. I'll be right back in a moment to eat with you."

When Phoenix came back the two mostly ate in silence while watching tv. By the time they both finished, and the show they were watching was over it was 10:48am.

"Alright Pearls." Phoenix said. "I promised to have you back at the orphanage by lunch time, so we should get going."

Pearl silently nodded knowing that there was no way she could get out of going back. The orphanage she went to didn't commonly let children out overnight on most occasions. She got to stay with Maya plenty of times, but that was because Maya was her only family. The only reason why she was able to stay with Mr. Nick last night was in one part the circumstance she was in being that she just went to a funeral, and one part the owners of the orphanage seeing Phoenix alongside Maya so often picking her up, letting them know he was a safe person.

With that Pearl walked over to the door with Phoenix, and put on her shoes.


The orphanage Pearl stayed at wasn't very far away from where Phoenix lived, maybe a good fifteen minutes away. The place was called Suns and Smiles Orphanage, and it was run by a middle age couple by the names of Daphne Clarke, and Ernie Clark.

Most of the other children who lived there had been there ever since they were babies. Infact Pearl was the one who came in at the oldest age. She felt like an outcast there considering that most of them grew up together.

The orphanage was actually quite large, housing many children. Infact there was enough children there for the caretakers to hire teachers making the orphanage double as a school for all of them.

After a little bit of driving Pearl saw Suns and Smiles Orphanage at the end of the street they were on. Phoenix pulled into the parking lot and the two exited the vehicle.

"There, and with a little time to spare." Phoenix said proudly, he was sure loving the perks of having his own car now.

Pearl walked up to the entrance and walked inside as Phoenix followed her. Inside was a large foyer with a desk right in the middle. Sitting at the desk was none other than Daphne Clark herself.

Daphne was well into her fifties now and had most of her hair greyed out, and had to wear glasses all of the time. In terms of size Daphne was only about five foot two.

Seeing her come in Daphne smiled right at Pearl.

"Hello Pearl." She said with a warm smile. "It's good to have you back."

Pearl in response lowed her head downwards and quietly responded. "Nice to be back…"

"Well well well, you are talking again! That's fantastic to hear. It seems that Mr. Wright has a great effect on you."

"Hehe, thanks." Phoenix said whilst scratching the back of his head.

Pearl now turning around to face Phoenix said. "I'll be heading back to my room now Mr. Nick. Thank you for letting me stay with you…"

Phoenix kneeled down until he was at the same height as her.

"Alright then Pearls. If you need anything you know my number."

"...Okay. Bye Mr. Nick…"

"Bye Pearls, I'll see you later."


As soon as Pearl was out of sight Phoenix turned around towards Mrs. Clark.

"Excuse me Mrs. Clarke I would like to get a few papers while I'm here. It's for-" He tried to say before Mrs. Clark interrupted him.

"I think I know exactly what papers you want." She said smiling.

"Heh, yeah."

"Mr. Wright I've seen you come through here plenty of times, and I've heard quite a lot about you from Pearl. From what I can judge so far I can not think of any better person for the job than you."

"You really think so?"

"She's always spoken very highly of you even since she first came here Mr. Wright, which is surprising considering that you are the reason why she ended up here."

"Her mother Morgan Fey was an awful person. I hated to take Pearl's mother away, but I had to."

"Do not confuse the meaning of my words, you did the right thing. It's probably for the best that her mother didn't fully raise her due to the possibility of Pearl going down the same path as she did. Putting Morgan Fey away was a good thing for Pearl, but most children regardless of the circumstances would hold a very large grudge against the person who put their parent behind bars. This is especially true in Pearl's case due to her not knowing how terrible her mother was till the last minute, yet she looks up to you so much. It takes a good man to put that kind of impression on a young girl." Daphne explained as she gave Phoenix the papers he wanted.

"Thank you very much Mrs. Clarke. Trust me when I say she is in good hands."

"I don't doubt it for a second. I couldn't see anyone else being better suited for what you are about to do. Have a nice day Mr. Wright."


Phoenix was now driving along the busy streets of Los Angeles trying to make it to the new Tim Hortons in time. Tim Hortons was a popular Canadian coffee chain that had only recently made its way stateside. While he was somewhat curious as to how thing tasted there, but his real reason for picking it was that the prices according to their website were dirt cheap. A startling contrast to someplace like Starbucks.

It was starting to Near Twelve now, but Phoenix was positive that he would make it with time to Spare. Thankfully traffic was starting to clear up so Phoenix managed to get to the cafe ten minutes early.

"I would have never gotten here this early if I took the bus!" He said to himself. "Ha, take that Edgeworth, I told you I would one day get my licence!"

As he pulled into the parking space, he noticed that Edgeworth's car was in the lot as well.

"Typical Edgeworth, always early."

It had seemed that no one else had arrived yet, so Phoenix grabbed the papers, left his car and went inside to meet up with Edgeworth.

When he went inside, Phoenix saw Edgeworth sitting at a table alone with cup of tea. Upon noticing him Edgeworth did a small wave barely reaching over his shoulder. Phoenix waved back, and then held up one finger to indicate that he would be over in a moment to which Edgeworth just nodded.

Walking up to the cashier Phoenix noticed that the establishment had a wide variety of doughnuts. When the cashier asked what he wanted, he ordered a simple medium black coffee, and a Canadian Maple Doughnut.

With that out of the way he took his food over to where Edgeworth was and sat down.

"Hmm, I'm actually quite surprised you made it time." Edgeworth said.

"First off I'm not that pathetic, secondly it's nice not having to use the bus anymore." Phoenix replied as he took a bite out of his doughnut.

"A doughnut, really Wright?"

"And you're drinking tea as usual. Be careful, drinking tea while wearing clothes like that, someone might think you're a hipster."

"A what?"

"Uhh nevermind."

"Very well then. Shall we get down to business before the others get here?"

"I guess so."

"And I take it that whatever you have planned for Ms Fey has something to do with those papers you are holding."

"Your observational powers never seem to stop amazing me Edgeworth."

"At least I have observational powers, you on the other hand just rely on that magatama."

Phoenix handed over the papers to Edgeworth whose eyes widened the moment he glanced at it.

"Well?"

"You're planning on adopting her!" Edgeworth borderline shouted, making a few people in the cafe glance towards him.

"What, do you think it's a bad idea?"

"Well... Uhh…" Edgeworth started out seemingly trying to collect his thoughts. "It's not that I don't think you would be a suitable parent for Pearl, after all you're practically already a father figure to her."

"Where are you trying to go with this?"

"Wright, do you honestly think that you're financially stable enough to go through with this. You are already barely getting by, and providing for a child is costly. Granted you could take more cases, but you only like defending the innocent, and while that is very noble of you it doesn't exactly get the bills paid."

"I know, I am just going to have to push more for work rather than waiting for clients. There has to be more innocent people in the city I can defend, I just have to seek them out."

"Even so what about Pearl herself? She's supposed to be the next master of the Kurain channeling technique."

"Edgeworth you know I can't let her go through with that. She's only ten years old, she doesn't need that kind of burden on her. Plus just look at what people tried to do to Maya for being the master! It's just a big fight between a bunch of families who want to be on top, who knows what they'll do to Pearls!"

"That should be her decision though."

"She mature for her age, but she's still only ten. Look Edgeworth, being apart of that family has caused nothing but hardship for her. Maya was the last good connection she had with them, and… now she's gone. In the end though I'm taking her out of that family for her own good!"

"...Very well then Wright, adopt her. Be careful though, this is a big risk."

Suddenly a voice interrupted them.

"EDGEY! NICK! Wassup dudes!"

Both of them turned around to be face to face with Larry Butz with Dick Gumshoe right behind him.

"Yes, hello Larry." Edgeworth said, his voice as monotone as ever. "Thank you for your… unique way of announcing your presence."

"Oh you love it Edgey! Hey this place smells pretty good, I bet the food is great! I'm a little short on change right now though, maybe one of you could lend me a few dollars?"

"NO!" Phoenix and Edgeworth collectively shouted.

"Aww come on, what are friends for!" Larry said finally sitting down next to Phoenix. Gumshoe on the other hand sat next to Edgeworth and handed him a file.

"This the report you asked for on that one case." Gumshoe said proudly.

"Thank you very much detective." Edgeworth pulled a five dollar note out of his pocket. "You have done great work lately, go buy yourself some lunch." To which Larry interjected.

"What! He gets money and I don't! Come on Edgey, I've known you for way longer than he has."

"Yes, but he is actually useful most of the time, and is far less annoying."

"Thank you sir." Gumshoe said.

"Ahh oh well. So Nick what's your plans with the little girl." Larry asked.

"I'm adopting her."

"Dude seriously, that's awesome!"

"Congrats pal, you'd make a great dad." Gumshoe added.

"Thanks guys. It means a lot getting your support. Pearls means so much to me, and she needs someone to take care of her. She needs to grow up in a place where she doesn't have to worry about all the things that the Kurain family put on her. I'll raise her as my own and make sure she lives a happy normal life."

"Ohh I wonder if she'll start calling me Uncle Scruffy!"

"Well don't get your hopes up too high Gumshoe. Either way, in the end I just hope that this is what Maya would have wanted me to do."

"Hmm… Maya put a lot of faith in you throughout the time in which she knew you. I think she would gladly leave that kind of choice to you. Whether or not she would be happy about Pearl not becoming the next master, I don't know, but I'm sure she'd trust your judgement." Edgeworth explained.

"Yeah I hope so. Heh, you know I wouldn't be surprised if Mia and Maya were in this room right now with us just not being able to see them."

"I wouldn't put it passed them."

With that Phoenix just stared out the window in thought while drinking his coffee. There were still so many uncertainties he'd have to weave through in the next few weeks, but his mind was set and nothing would change that. Pearl was going to be his daughter, and he'd do anything to make sure that would happen. He swore on his very soul he'd make her Pearl Wright.

AU: Ok guys chapter two is up. Sorry for the delay I'm often slow with updates when I initially start a story, but once I get into a good pace you can expect weekly updates. Please post your comments down below, I am very interested in seeing what you guys think of the story so far. Also this is planned to be a long story, I am targeting at least 100k words min. Until next time I'll see you guys on the online Halo MCC battlegrounds! ( Halo is my second fav game btw ).