The rays of the sun seeped through the curtains, waking Apollo successfully. He groaned and sat up, stretching his body, only to groan more because of the pain that flared from his entire body – but the pain was absolutely unbearable in his wrists. No wonder, since the waitress did grip his hands in a pretty much sadistic manner. He snorted. The waitress had beaten him up worse than he originally thought, apparently. He sighed. He wondered if he would be able to do any paperwork done with that condition.
He stood up and stepped in his kitchen to get his morning coffee, his yet to be gelled bangs covering his eyes. He combed his bangs with his fingers as he made his and Thalassa's share of morning brew. The former magician was not fond of waking up early in the morning. Despite her looks, she usually slept in the midnight (at dawn, even) and woke up at noon. She claimed that it was caused by her days as Lamiroir. She was too used to having performances at night that her sleeping pattern was disturbed. After she lived with Apollo, however, he forced her to get back to her normal sleeping patterns since she usually preferred to go to the agency with him.
"Hey, Apollo."
Apollo jumped and yelped at the call then turned around. He was surprised to see Thalassa, Trucy and Phoenix seated in his living room, sipping drinks casually. "Why are you here?" he asked.
"I should be the one to ask you that," Phoenix raised an eyebrow. "Do you know what time it is?"
Apollo looked at the clock hanging on the wall and grimaced when he saw that it was already half past nine. He smiled sheepishly to Phoenix. "I'm sorry," he apologized.
"Nah, it's probably because of last night," Trucy smiled. "Right, Daddy?"
"Mmm," Phoenix replied half-heartedly, taking a gulp from his bottle of grape juice.
"And Polly," Trucy grinned, "I have to say, it's certainly refreshing to see you like this. I've told you you'd look better without the hair gel!" Her eyes traveled to Apollo's ruffled white shirt and old red pants he wore to sleep. "And casual clothes look great on you, too. It's a nice change, really."
"Oh," Apollo touched the bangs. "I haven't used my hair gel, huh." He poured the coffee that was finally ready and sipped it. "Hold on, I'll put some hair gel and we'll go to the agency together."
"Oh, Polly, you don't have to go through all that trouble," Trucy's grin turned mischievous, widening slightly. "I've taken the liberty to throw it down the dumpster out of this apartment, and the garbage truck has taken it hours ago."
"What?! Trucy…!"What about my hair…?
"Polly! It's not like the world will end if you don't apply your hair gel!"
Apollo sighed. "Alright, alright. No hair gel for today, I got it. But still I can't go to work dressed like this, so wait around for a bit until I'm ready."
"Alright Polly, fifteen minutes!" Trucy pointed at him.
Apollo put down his coffee mug and smirked to Trucy. "Nah, five minutes is enough, ten at most. I don't need to use the bathroom for hours like someone."
"P-Polly!"
"This feels weird."
"But you look better."
"I don't think that I look better."
"Oh, that's probably because you're too weird…"
Apollo glared at his sister, thinking, You're the one doing magic tricks with panties and I'm the one who's weird?
"I wonder if we'll have a client today," Apollo sighed at last, deciding to change the topic to avoid being called a weird person again.
"I sure hope so," Phoenix muttered. "It's time to pay the rent."
Apollo groaned. Another month without decent meal, he thought.
Phoenix snickered at the young apprentice's reaction. He unlocked the agency's door and walked inside, followed by Trucy, Apollo, and Thalassa.
"Polly," Phoenix suddenly called, "Make sure you get a job for this month, alright?"
"What if I can't find a client?"
Phoenix ignored Apollo's question.
To put it simply, I have to find a client one way or another, thought Apollo miserably.Ah, this is really, really great.
He plopped down on the chair he had branded as his, facing a desk he had thought as his, and stared to the wall across the room as he always did whenever he had no case to work on. He would probably have to go downtown to see if there was a case or two; be it murder or theft, as long as there was a case he could work on.
He was thinking about the chances of getting a client downtown when someone knocked on the door. "I'll get it," yelled Trucy when he stood up to open the door. He sat down again, looking at the person standing by the door as Trucy gave her the speech she gave to everyone who came to the agency.
"Welcome to –" Trucy started, but she was cut short as the person – a woman around forty years old or so – nonchalantly walked in the office.
"This is the Wright and Co. Law Office, right?" she asked.
"Well, technically, it's now the Wright Anything Agency," Trucy said, grinning to the woman, "But yes, you've come to the right place! Is it a defense attorney that you need?"
"Not really, but is the defense attorney someone named Apollo Justice?"
Apollo perked up when he heard his name. Was it a client? Would he finally get a client? Hopefully she would pay him decently. It probably wouldn't be much, but at least enough to keep the agency intact and his stomach full for the rest of the month. Wait, wouldn't that be much?
"Yes," Trucy professionally answered the woman. "Would you like to speak to him?"
"Yes, thank you," the woman smiled.
"Okay!" all of a sudden, Trucy dropped the convincing professional image and ran to Apollo, then dragged him to the potential client, ignoring Apollo's cries of surprise.
"Uh, hello," Apollo greeted sheepishly as he finally came face to face with the woman. "What can I do to help you?" Please let it be a case, please let it be a case, please let it be a case…
"So you're Apollo?" asked the woman. "Hm. I don't have a case for you, but I do have business with you. You're not like I thought you would be like," she muttered to herself as she examined Apollo from head to toe, making him blush at the stare she gave him. "You don't look like how you look in the papers. You resemble him more than I thought."
So it's not a case… wait, what? Who do I resemble?
"Him?" Trucy asked. "Who?"
"Why, his father, of course!" the woman answered as if it was obvious.
Apollo froze instantly. Trucy stared at the woman. From the kitchen, they heard something fell and crash to the floor, while Phoenix, who was drinking a bottle of grape juice on the couch, stood up and approached the woman.
"You know my father?" asked Apollo cautiously.
"I knew him," said the woman. "He died years ago."
"… Hera…?"
The woman straightened up and smiled when she saw Thalassa standing near the kitchen. "Hello, Thalassa. It's been a while."
Thalassa forced a smile to her lips. "Yes. A while indeed."
"You know my mother too?" Apollo asked again. Thalassa stared at him. Even though he had known that she was his mother, he had been reluctant to call her 'Mother'. It was the first time he actually referred her as his mother. "Who are you?" asked Apollo again.
"Well, let's start it with a name," the woman said, smiling sweetly. "My name is Hera Winters, but my maiden name is Justice." She fixed her gaze to Apollo and added, "Your father and I are siblings."
The woman, Hera, sipped her tea quietly as Apollo, Trucy, Phoenix and Thalassa watched her intently. She put down the cup and rummaged through her things, looking for something Apollo couldn't guess what.
Only then that he truly looked at her. She was wearing a blue blouse and a matching knee-length skirt. Her long, brown colored hair was tied in a somewhat messy bun. Her nails were colored in arrays of red and white. Overall, she looked like a neat worker.
She finally took out what it was that she was looking for and put it down on the table.
Apollo could only suppress a gasp.
On top of the table laid a black wooden cube, each side had nine different symbols engraved to it. Despite its weird appearance, Apollo knew that it was a Rubik's cube. The conversation with the waitress girl the night before filled his head once more. She had demanded for a cube key. Could it be that the black cube sitting in front of him was the very cube the waitress had asked? His hand unconsciously moved to take the cube, but he stopped midway and pulled it back. It was probably best to hear Hera explain everything first. He might get too occupied with the cube to listen to her if he took it.
"Now then," said Hera. "You said you wanted to know about everything?"
Apollo nodded. You bet I do!
"Alright, so…" Hera muttered. "So your father met your mother, they fell in love, they got married, they had sex, they had you…"
"Hera!" Thalassa yelled, her face a bright shade of red. "Not that straightforward!"
Hera laughed. "Alright, then. Let's just skip that and move on." Hera straightened her posture. "His name was Ares. Ares Justice. You two look surprisingly alike, aside for the fact that he had more normal-looking hair. Where are the horns that are usually on your head?"
"Trucy threw my hair gel away," Apollo sulked.
"I've told you your hair looks weird! Right?" Trucy asked to Hera. Upon seeing her nod, she yelled out in triumph to Apollo, who could only look down in embarrassment.
"He was a performer," said Hera. "Do you remember?"
Flashes of a man in black magician's suit, playing with doves and cards, danced in Apollo's eyes, though he couldn't remember the man's face. "Vaguely," he finally said.
"He died in a failed act," Hera said. "He was supposed to be cuffed and put in a glass case full of water. If he wanted to get out he had to open the cuffs first. He couldn't open the cuffs." Images of a glass water tank with a man inside, bubbles of water escaping his mouth as his cries for help went unheard while the audience watching him was too busy panicking to be of actual help. Apollo closed his eyes, gritting his teeth at the image. He couldn't remember it for sure, but was he there, watching his own father die? Why didn't he do anything?
Hera wrinkled her brows, not even noticing Apollo's troubled face. "I have a hunch that someone sabotaged his props, but that's a story for another day. Today, it's the story of what your father did to you before he died."
"What? What did he do?" Apollo asked in curiosity, the memory of the drowning man temporarily forgotten.
"Thalassa, don't be shocked, but…" Hera looked at Thalassa, picking her words carefully. "Do you remember when you once whined about how Ares is almost never at home?"
A faint blush appeared on Thalassa's cheeks. "Yes," she admitted. "He always said that he was only working, though."
"Well, he did work," Hera said, "just not working like people would interpret. Actually, he's kind of working against the law."
Hera smiled at the incredulous looks the people in the room gave her. "What, was it shocking?" she asked with a giggle. "I was also surprised. I knew he had no money and all, but I didn't think he'd be doing things such as that."
"What did he do, exactly?" asked Thalassa.
"He created an underground casino. Illegally, of course."
"What?"
"It's true. I can even tell you where, if you want to. But I don't need to prove it to Thalassa. She knew I never lie to her. Right?"
"… That man!" Thalassa cried out in anger after a moment of silence. "He… how could he do that?! What if the police find out about it?! He could just perform! I could've helped him! How could he just tell me to stay home and take care of Apollo while he danced his way around as a criminal?!"
"Because he was worried that no one would take care of Apollo if both of you were gone," Hera answered. "You know I was busy with my work. And Cain, well, he was too busy gambling and losing bets on horse racing and poker."
Thalassa, visibly deflated, sighed. "Yes… you're right. I forgot. Please, continue."
"Wait, can I ask who this Cain is, first?" Apollo asked out of curiosity.
"Your uncle," answered Thalassa.
"Unfortunately, he does nothing but lose in numerous gambles," snorted Hera. It was obvious that she didn't like her brother. "He even had the nerve to ask me for some money, now. He'd only lose it anyway, in his idiotic games. Why should I give him?"
"Ah. I see."
"No, you don't see!" Hera suddenly roared. "He's the horrible kind of person who will do anything to win a gamble, even if it means he'd lose everything else in his life! He even asked Ares for money, even though he knew the pay of a magician who has little to no audience is pathetic! If it wasn't for the fact that we share the same blood, I might have killed him over and over again!" She panted and took a deep breath. "Alright. Let's not talk about that trash and go back to the main topic. So, where were we?"
"Uh, Father made an underground casino," Apollo answered.
"Ah yes," Hera nodded. "So, long story short, he managed to make money with the casino. Lots of it, actually. He made a special vault underground, where it is, I cannot tell you. He entrusted the key to me and asked me to make sure the money would be used for your school fees and make you an attorney." Hera looked at Apollo. "I didn't really want to force you to become one, but since you really did, I guess there is nothing I should worry about when I finally meet Ares."
"And… what?" Trucy asked. "Is that it?"
"Actually, no." Hera smiled to Apollo. "Aren't you curious about the whereabouts of the remaining fortune your father left you?"
"To be honest, yes, I do," Apollo answered.
"Then I'll tell you the riddle Ares left me to tell," Hera nodded. "First, that black cube is actually a Rubik's cube, and it's the key to open the vault. Second, here's the riddle to figure out the key combination: The circle will tell you all and bring you to the scale. Look for the tell-tale owl and walk to the gold coins through the open gate. These water droplets of mine might bring you destruction and splatters of blood. The symbols will guide you to what is yours; use it wisely."
"Wha –" Apollo gawked. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Alright then, I'll write it down so you can think about it," Hera sighed, taking a notebook and a pen from her handbag and wrote down the riddle. "One thing, though," she said as she handed Apollo the note, "The riddle's key is what lies in your memories. In the first line, 'The circle will tell you all', the circle actually refers to you."
Apollo once again gawked. "But I don't understand a thing!"
"But Ares told me that he taught you every vital point of what is needed to open the vault," Hera pressed. "You may have forgotten it, but trust me, you already know the keys. Once you remember every key Ares taught you, finding the vault would be as easy as snapping your fingers."
Apollo looked at her incredulously. Really? He couldn't even remember his father's face. How could she expect him to actually remember what he said?
A/N: uploading the second chapter of A Father's Legacy: check. Now, where's that homework I left for this story...
Alright, uploading this chapter really feels like a piece of heaven for me, somehow. Exam is drawing near and my teachers are determined to finish every unfinished business they have with our lessons. That includes giving us many homework, and some of my teachers are insane enough to tell us that the grade we get from the homework might be used as a test grade. Way to put pressure on a homework. And besides of that, there are tests and quizzes they give us almost every day. God help me, I feel that my brain's fried. Thank God I can still read and (sometimes) write fanfics. Never before have I felt that fanfics can be such a salvation.
And, can you leave me some review? To give me a reason to look away from the textbooks for a while? *looks with sad puppy eyes*