Reminder, I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Advent Children or Phoenix Wright.

Tifa again insisted on preparing Reno for court the next morning. This time, he did not complain or make a fuss, mind too occupied with concerns over how today was going to go. He had not slept that night and when Demyx stopped by early in the morning with breakfast, he could not eat it.

As he walked to the courthouse alone, at his insistence, he seriously weighed his options. He could not believe this ridiculous trial was not only moving forward but there was a good possibility that he could be convicted. Of all the wrong things he had done in his life, it was like a twisted irony that he might get busted for the one thing he did not do.

Reno sighed heavily as he approached the courthouse steps. Well, he knew the truth and everyone who mattered believed him so he was just going to have to hold on to that and trust Phoenix to do his job. This whole thing was still completely ridiculous.

He tossed his cigarette into one of the containers designated for them outside the door. As he reached for the door to open it, he heard his name. He turned toward the voice, seeing Phoenix coming up the stairs with another man in tow. Reno assumed it was his law partner.

"Hey," Phoenix greeted, fixing his tie. The flat-silver haired man beside him glanced over and sighed faintly at the mess the attorney was. Phoenix grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, I was running late this morning."

The other pulled at Phoenix's collar. "You usually are. When my case is over for the day, I'll duck into yours. Perhaps I'll be able to pick up on something that will help."

"Thanks, Miles."

The immaculately dressed attorney nodded toward Reno and disappeared into the courthouse. Phoenix stopped fussing with his clothes and placed his attention on Reno. "So, Miles and I went over all of the testimony he's got a few ideas. Like he just said, he's gonna try to sit in as much as he can today."

Joy, more lawyers. "So what's the deal for today?"

"Well," Phoenix held the door open for Reno and then followed him in. "Alexis has her last witness and then we can start calling ours. I spoke to Demyx, Elena, and Zack last night and they should be here today. I doubt I'll get to all of them today but we'll see how things go."

"Fine," they walked down the main hall to the courtroom. This time, not only were Cid and Yuffie waiting outside of it but Cloud and Aerith also. The four looked at Reno as he approached with Phoenix, the women with optimistic expressions and the men almost indifferent.

"See the freak show yet?" Reno muttered to Cloud as he passed him.

"Kadaj and Loz went in a few minutes ago," replied the blond, a light frown on his face. "Riku's trying to figure how and why they're here."

Reno snorted dismissively. "Not that it really makes a difference now, yo. The reason has nothing to do with what they wanna lock me up for. Heard anything from Sephiroth?"

"No but I know he's around." Cloud frowned. "Riku said something about going to find him but I don't know if he did. I haven't spoken to him since yesterday."

"We need to get inside," Phoenix interrupted. They were a little late and he wanted a moment to sit and finalize his strategy for the day. This was his last chance to catch something that would blow the whole case out of the court.

The small group headed in. Kadaj glanced over his shoulder and smirked wickedly at Cloud who completely ignored him. The blond swordsman simply slid into a bench in the back Cid and Aerith. Yuffie decided she wanted to sit closer so she could keep a better watch on everyone in the jury box.

It was only a few minutes before the bailiff called for attention and Judge Walter took the bench. He wore the same bored expression as the day before and when he sat, he did not bother to open the case file before him. "Prosecution, call your witness."

"Okay," murmured Phoenix slowly. "Apparently the judge is already bored with this case."

"That or he already knows the outcome and he just wants to get this over with." Reno watched as Tseng walked in and took the stand. The man was sworn in and sat, expression completely unreadable. He had his Turk Leader face on.

Alexis did not get up from her seat but her posture showed that she knew she was not going to get much out of her last witness. "Would you state your name and occupation for the record please?"

"Tseng. Director of Radiant Garden Security."

"Prior to this you were the Director of Shinra's Investigative Division of General Affairs, correct?"

"Yes."

"And Reno worked under you back then in approximately the same capacity as he does today."

"Yes."

Nodding slightly, Alexis laid her forearms on the table and laced her fingers together. "Could you tell the court what Reno's work schedule was on the day in question?"

Tseng's composure did not alter in the slightest. "He worked the day shift with Rude from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. There was a minor situation that required him to remain until 6:30."

"The apprehension of those two petty thieves, correct?"

"Yes."

"Do you know if he planned to go anywhere after his shift?"

"He said that he was going to meet some others at Seventh Heaven."

Alexis flexed her fingers. "Did he give a time for this meeting?"

"He said they were supposed to meet at seven but he doubted he would be there at that time."

"I'm sure that he called them to let them know he would be late." Alexis smiled faintly.

Tseng gazed at her mildly. "I cannot confirm nor deny that statement."

The female attorney shrugged. "Assuming he did, hypothetically speaking of course, that would have given him plenty of time to stop at the Jenova residence before heading off to meet his friends."

"Objection!" Phoenix shouted. "This is pure speculation!"

"Sustained," agreed Judge Walter. "Watch yourself, Councilor."

"I withdraw the question." Alexis leaned back in her seat. "You were part of the team that originally attempted to take the… victim, right?"

"I was."

"You were badly wounded by…" she searched for the best way to put it, "Jenova's triplets, on that occasion, weren't you?"

"Yes."

"In fact, you and the one with you, I believe her name was Elena, were both unable to complete your task." Alexis continued. "And the defendant was the one who had to finish the mission to abscond with Jenova, correct?"

"Objection!" repeated Phoenix almost desperately. "That occasion has no bearing on this event."

"I am establishing the fact that the defendant has committed the crime previously and went unpunished."

"Only under orders! He has no reason-"

"Order!" the middle-aged man pounded his gravel upon the bench. "Both of you settle down."

Phoenix took a breath and Alexis tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

"You may proceed but get to your point," the judge said to Alexis. He then turned to Tseng. "Answer the question."

Tseng's expression did not noticeably change but Reno knew him well enough to know that the man was not at all happy to be talking about any of this. He felt bad for his superior and fought back the urge to throttle those silver-haired freaks for putting them through this. He still was not entirely convinced that this wasn't some kind of elaborate scheme.

"Reno was the pilot for that assignment and was the one who brought her to our boss."

"And he was well aware of your boss' intention to destroy her."

"Objection!"

"No further questions." Alexis took her attention away from Tseng and picked up her pen. She appeared completely disinterested in any line of questioning Phoenix might direct at her witness.

The black-haired attorney studied Tseng for a long moment. He was not sure what he could ask the Turk leader that would help Reno's defense in any significant way. This case was so full of circumstantial evidence…

"Your Honor, my apologies for arriving late. I was tied up with another case."

Phoenix looked over and thought he was going to start laughing hysterically. Miles smoothly set his soft-sided briefcase on the table, sparing a mere second to glance at Phoenix. Beside him, Reno narrowed his eyes in confusion.

"I thought you said he was just going to sit in, yo."

Phoenix shrugged.

"I ain't paying for both of you."

Judge Walter smiled slightly at the newcomer. "I wasn't aware you were serving as co-council, Mr. Edgeworth."

"We were uncertain if my prior commitment would interfere," He straightened his caveat. "That case is over now."

"Excuse me." Alexis stood, looking extremely put off. "The defense can't just suddenly add another attorney this far into the trial. He hasn't been present for enough of the testimony."

"Begging your pardon," Miles politely nodded at the woman. "But I am well informed of what has already taken place and if the Judge will allow it, I'd like to begin cross-examination of the witness."

"By all means." The graying man waved for Miles to proceed.

Before heading toward Tseng, the elegantly dressed lawyer muttered to Phoenix. "Now's the time to start figuring out how you're going to turn this around."

Reno watched Miles as he began carefully asking Tseng questions about the Turks, Shinra and eventually Jenova. The man was extremely good with wording, obviously understanding what Tseng would be willing to reveal. He leaned toward Phoenix and whispered, "Why didn't I hire him in the first place?"

"Miles never would have taken the case," murmured the attorney, only partially paying attention to what his partner was asking. He knew Miles had only interceded to give him some time to think. "This whole case is going to boil down to how the jury interprets the circumstantial at best evidence and how they ultimately view you. In any other setting, this would never have gone to court but obviously the laws here have yet to be fine tuned."

"Joy," Reno sighed. He leaned his head back and spotted Kadaj. The remnant flicked his eyes at him and glared hatefully. "So basically I'm screwed."

"There's gotta be some sort of concrete proof that you're innocent. I just need to figure out what I'm missing…"

"Thank you, Tseng," Miles stated. "I have nothing further for the witness."

He returned to table and sat beside Reno. "This whole event is absurd."

"Yep," agreed Reno.

"I see there are no further witnesses for the prosecution so-"

"Actually," Alexis stood. "If you look in the paperwork, I filed to add one more."

Phoenix, Reno and Miles all whipped their heads toward her. Obviously, Phoenix had not received anything about this. "We didn't get anything on that!"

"I'm sorry," she smiled in a falsely sympathetic manner. "He's a very last minute addition."

Judge Walker located said paper and after glancing over it, nodded. "Call your last witness."

"Thank you." The woman turned slightly. "I call upon Reno Sinclair."

"What?" Phoenix shouted, standing up. "You can't-"

"Calm down, Councilor." Walter advised. "I agree it's unusual but I think we need to hear the defendant's story from his own mouth."

"Then you must allow us a brief recess to speak with our client," Miles stated firmly.

Walter clearly did not want to drag this out any longer than he had to but he nodded. "There will be a ten minute recess. When we return, Mr. Sinclair takes the stand."

He tapped his gavel and left the room, as did the jury. Alexis gave them an unhappy look but began sorting through her papers. A few members of the gallery got up, including Cid who was probably after a cigarette which sounded damn good to Reno.

Even before Phoenix and Miles could talk to him, Yuffie flounced over. "Can she really make him talk? Why would she want him to take the stand?"

"If she can get him to incriminate himself, it pretty much closes the case for her," Miles explained.

"Reno," Phoenix claimed the Turk's attention. "No matter that she says or asks, you have to remain calm. If you lose your temper on the stand, it'll blow our case."

"I know that!" Reno hissed. "I'm not an idiot."

"Sure could have fooled me." Kadaj shouted over. How he heard the conversation from where he and Loz sat was beyond any of them.

"Shut up, freak!"

Kadaj stood and narrowed his eyes dangerously at Reno. "What did you do with Mother?"

"I didn't do nuttin' with her, yo!" The Turk replied loudly. "Maybe she got up and walked away."

Yuffie snorted as Kadaj's look became murderous. Loz glared angrily at them also. The pair moved to advance but Cloud smoothly stepped in their way.

Kadaj smirked at the blond wickedly. "Hello, Brother."

"Why are you here?"

The young silver-haired male shrugged. "Does it really matter? Seen Big Brother lately?"

"No."

"I'm starting to think he doesn't like us anymore," mulled Kadaj. "Not since he found our other brother."

Reno tuned out the rest of the conversation. Cloud could deal with the Jenova freaks, he wanted nothing to do with any of them ever again. Well, with the exception of Riku. He rather liked the teenager and while the kid may have been a part of the whole mess, he didn't play into any of the Mother shit.

Phoenix and Miles were going over notes so Reno focused on Yuffie and her animated retelling of something that happened the night before with Zack and Leon. He didn't really process most of it, too preoccupied with the fact that he was going to have to actually get up in front of everyone and defend himself for a crime he didn't commit.

The ten minute recess passed and everyone filed back into the courtroom. Once they were called back to order, Alexis commanded Reno to take the stand. The Turk glanced uneasily at Phoenix a moment before slinking up to the witness box.

The bailiff swore him in and he tried to sit straight as Alexis approached him with an artificially sweet smile. He figured that sitting here looking like a total slob was not going to help him any. The jury probably already had a horrible opinion of him.

"Would you please state your name and occupation for the record?"

Reno fought back the sarcastic response he wanted to say and simply answered the question. It was unbelievable how redundant the legal system could be. As if no one here knew all of that information already.

"And would you tell us, Mr. Sinclair, your exact whereabouts for the entire course of the day Jenova went missing?"

"I got up around 7:30, grabbed a ten minute shower and went to work. I stayed at the building until nine then went on patrol with Elena. We returned a little before noon and then I went to lunch with Rude and Tifa. While there, Zack called and asked me to meet up with him and a few others at Seventh Heaven after work. From one until around 3:30 which was when that attack Tseng talked about happened. Once that was handled, I went straight home, changed and headed to the bar."

"Tseng stated earlier that you were let go around 6:30." Alexis reiterated the man's testimony. "You say you went straight home. Do you have any sort of proof that you did?"

"I talked to my neighbor, Demyx for a few minutes as he was leaving to see his friend Riku who I guess was having some kind of crisis or something, I wasn't really paying attention."

Alexis raised an eyebrow at this. Apparently, she did not know about this conversation. Not at all deterred, she asked, "And do you recall at what exact time that was?"

"No," Reno spat out. "If I'd known I was gonna be hauled in for bogus charges I would have paid more attention, yo."

Phoenix shot him a look that clearly read watch yourself. The attorney took a deep breath and listened as Alexis prodded his client for minute-by-minute details of everything between six and eight p.m. She also went into the distances between work, his apartment and the sight of the kidnapping. It was unfortunately working against them because there was enough space that he could have theoretically committed the crime

Miles leaned toward him and whispered, "I do hope this Demyx is more detail orientated than Reno."

"I think so. He was really specific about what happened when I interviewed him. He's our first witness."

"Do you have those notes?"

"Yeah," the black-haired lawyer rooted through his paperwork. Once he found the page he needed, he moved to hand it over then froze.

He had gone over to the young man's apartment the day after taking Reno's case. Demyx had been very friendly and open, talking easily about anything that Phoenix asked. He remembered that the musician had said he was concerned about a friend who was in an awkward position.

Glancing at the notes he had taken, the name Riku was there. Hadn't Cloud been talking about a Riku? And didn't Yuffie say something about him in conjunction with Jenova?

"Phoenix?"

He blinked and turned toward Edgeworth. "What?"

"Do we want to ask Reno anything?"

"Uh," he took a moment to collect himself and stood. "We have no questions at this time but hold the right to recall him later."

Judge Walter nodded. "Fine. The witness may step down. We'll break for lunch and reconvene at one o'clock."

Reno returned to the table, looking worn and extremely unhappy. "That fucking sucked, yo. What the hell was the point?"

Phoenix was not listening. He quickly gathered his files and shoved them toward his partner. "Here, if I'm not back in time, stall."

Edgeworth stared at him in confusion. As Miles ran out of the courtroom, he called out. "Where are you going?"

If his memory was correct, there had been a picture on one of Demyx's bookshelves…"To hopefully live up to my reputation as the Turnabout Lawyer."