Chapter 7: Trucy

Phoenix awoke abruptly from the ringing of his phone. His a partially asleep stupor, the ex-attorney fumbled to fish out his cell, which was blaring the Steel Samurai's show tune on its highest setting. He should change it, but then again, he had grown a little attached to it.

"Yes?" Phoenix lazily answered the caller without looking at the ID. He plopped his head back down onto his pillow, ready to sleep if it was just a weird telemarketer.

"I heard you lost your badge," Miles's voice said sternly over the phone.

"Yes."

"And that you're adopting an eight year old."

"Yes," Phoenix quipped. He wished there was no time difference and that Miles actually called at an hour that made sense to him. It might be bright and early in Germany now, but that doesn't mean it's acceptable to call someone in America in the middle of the night.

"Wright!"

"Edgeworth!"

"This isn't a laughing matter," Miles said quietly.

"Does it look like I'm laughing? I'm breaking down here, Miles."

"Put the girl up for adoption."

"No, I can't do that. She's already calling me 'Daddy'," Phoenix sheepishly replied.

"What."

"Do you want to be Papa Miles or Uncle Miles."

"What," angry Miles voice alert! Abort, abort, abort!

"Kay, love you, bye!" Phoenix said as he disconnected the call and turned off his phone. He needs to be able to deal with this matter when he wasn't sleepy as Hell.

The next afternoon Miles showed up at his apartment and almost strangled Phoenix to death.

"Hey, if you want to be called Mama Miles, that can be arranged too!" the raven joked, only to have one of Trucy's practice stuffed toy doves flung into his face.

"Now Nick, it was your fault for hanging up in the first place," Maya lectured. She was helping Trucy and Phoenix settle everything, the documents, the adoption papers. She could only stay for a few days or so, she needed to return to her training to become the best Kurain Master. Miles was out buying clothing and school supplies for Trucy with said girl in order to blow off steam.

Phoenix rubbed at a bruise on his cheek as Maya popped in a Steel Samurai DVD. In a failed attempt to flee an angry Miles, Phoenix might have fallen down a few stairs and hit a few doors on the way. A few.

"Hey Maya, can we live with you at Kurain? I can marry into you and help you make a billion babies and all of them can have your weird powers. Trucy would have friends and siblings and she can teach Pearls magic tricks."

Maya laughed at that, "If Miles found out you were being unfaithful, he'd kill both you and me. But sure, we can have children - if you want to spending a fortune turning some of your bone marrow into sperm. Also, do you really want to become a vegetarian?"

"Point taken, I need my protein." Maya scooted Phoenix across to the other side of the sofa to look for the remote, only to have Phoenix pull it out of his sweater. "How do you survive with no meat up there?"

"How do you survive with no sleep?" She took the remote from Phoenix's grip and plopped onto the seat right next to him. She nestled next to the older man, who was now no longer shaving his facial hair - much to the protest of both Maya and Edgeworth.

"Pshh, Truce is like what, eight years old? Not eight months old."

"Oh man, Nick. I can't wait for you to show up at parent-teacher meetings and you're like the youngest one there and they'll be like omigosh she's a college baby!" Maya put on her best surprised face.

"That is, if I do get to adopt her. I don't know how easy it'd be for them to let a trans man who just lost his job to adopt a child whose father escaped court."

Maya held Phoenix's hand in hers and squeezed tightly.

"You'll get her, I promise."

Phoenix smiled sadly at her, "Thanks, Maya."

"Hey, Nick," Maya whispered when the opening credits started to play.

"What is it, Maya?"

"Can I be the godmother?"

"Not a chance."

"But Auntie Maya is so boring. Can't I be like, Godmother Maya?"

"Not a goddamn chance."

"Only a foolish fool would adopt at such a foolishly young age," Franziska cracked her whip at the doormat, just missing Phoenix's bare feet.

"Ouch! Nice to meet you, Franziska. By the way, people at my age are actually starting to settling down with a family. So I'd say it's not too early-Ow!"

"Silence, Phoenix Wright. I am not here to discuss small talk with you. I am here to give a gift to my niece."

"To your-? Oh, Truce! Hey Truce, someone's here to see you." Moments later, and pink ball pranced to the door. Seeing that it was a stranger at the front door, the young magician immediately hid behind her dad. She did however, took a peek by poking her head out.

"Hello, young Trucy Wright," the woman before her said with a slight German accent. "My name is Franziska von Karma."

"She's Uncle Miles's sister," Phoenix explained, only to be pierced with an icy glare from Franziska.

"Nay, Phoenix Wright. It is in actuality that Miles Edgeworth is my younger brother!" Doesn't that just mean the same thing?

"Auntie Franziska, you're really pretty," Trucy said in a meek voice. She was both mystified by the woman in front of her, and scared at the fight that she was scaring her dad as well.

"There is hope for you, after all, Trucy Wright," Franziska smirked.

"Can you not call her be her full name? She's just a child."

"Shut your foolish trap, foolish Phoenix Wright! I am speaking to your daughter!"

"Whatever, you say. Here, Truce. I'm sure Franziska won't hurt you. She has some boundaries. She's just here to talk to you." Slowly inching out from under her dad's figure, the tiny girl stepped before the prodigal prosecutor.

"Here," Franziska gave her a fairly medium sized box, about one sixth of Trucy's height. It was light enough for Trucy to lift, but what was inside it was a mystery. "In congratulations for you in becoming this foolish fool's daughter. Or perhaps it is a pity present, for he has no income to support you with."

"Hey now, I'm job searching," Phoenix frowned.

"Likewise," Franziska commented offhandedly.

"Thank you, Auntie Franziska!"

The silverette nodded approvingly,"I hope it suits you well, and now I must take my leave. Your foolish American airports take too much of a foolishly long time to operate properly and I always have to arrive at a foolish hour to have my baggage checked in!"

As she walked away, her heeled boots barely made a sound on the carpeted floor, but she made sure of her presence by occasionally whipping the walls of the apartment complex's hallway.

He didn't know what was weirder, Franziska accepting the fact that he dates her brother or the fact that she actually cared. Phoenix breathed out a long sigh as he closed the door, "So what'd she get you, Truce?"

It was a cloak - identical to her own, except it was a pale cornflower blue. It was soft and silky to the touch, and Phoenix could see the sparkles in his daughter's eyes as she held onto it with tight fingers. There was even a matching top hat to go along with it. Trucy's expressions soon turned sour after she realized that neither fit her.

"Daddy, it's too big," she pouted. Phoenix realized the implications of this.

"Truce, I think Auntie Franziska bought it for you for when you get older. Are you okay with putting this away for now until you get bigger, honey?"

"Okay! You know, it's too bad that Auntie Franziska is Auntie Franziska." Was this one of those phrasings that gets lost from translating child to adult?

"What do you mean, Truce?"

"I mean, since she's Auntie Franziska, it means she can't become Mommy Franziska, right?" A chill ran up his spine. Just the thought of marrying the von Karma made his blood run cold.

It had been a few months since Trucy Wright was adopted, and her new Daddy had loved her every step of the way. She loved daddy too, even though she wanted a mommy as well. But her daddy worked the job of being both mommy and daddy to her, and that was enough for her. It must have been around ten at night, her daddy had tucked her to bed the moment they got home. It was a show night, and since it was Friday neither of the two were worried about being tired the next day, or late for school. But according to her father, staying up late was bad for your health and skin, and her father was always right. Most of the time anyways. The moment Trucy began to doze off, the doorbell rang. She heard her daddy say a bad word, and fumbled out of his bed. She heard her daddy trip and fall, emitting a loud and verbal "Oof."

Her daddy ran to the door, which was beginning to ring more constantly and consistently. The door opened and her daddy hissed, "Larry, what the hell?"

"Nick, I'm so sorry for coming at such an hour but I need you to hold onto these for me," Uncle Larry whined. There was shuffling and Trucy can hear that her daddy was now holding something.

"...Is this what I think it is?" Phoenix asked precariously. Uncle Larry "uh-huh"d in confirmation.

"All those precious memories of when we dated." What? Daddy and Uncle Larry used to date? This got Trucy's curiosity, so she slipped out of her bed. Careful not to acquire attention from her adoptive father, Trucy tiptoed out to the hallway before the door, hiding around the corner.

"You're lucky you didn't wake up Trucy, don't ring the bell like that so late at night," Phoenix lectured the guest. Uncle Larry must have noticed her then, as he gave her a wink. She almost let out a gasp but contained herself. Trucy didn't want to reveal her position to her daddy, she was suppose to be asleep in bed, after all. Her dad continued his conversation with the uninvited person, still on full father mode,"Why are you bringing me this stuff?"

"You were the best girlfriend I've ever had and I never had the heart to throw away anything." Girlfriend? Surely Uncle Larry meant "boyfriend", right? From the angle that she was hiding at, she could tell that her daddy was holding a cardboard box. She could not see what was inside the box, but she gave herself a mental note to look through it when daddy undoubtedly hides it so she would not "accidentally" find it.

"I think I'm only the "best" because the breakup was mutual, right?" Trucy's dad asked, Larry shrugged. Not a yes, but not a no either, which was it? "Then why are you giving me it? If I would bother to take anything out of this, it would be hurt, Larry," Phoenix joked with his friend.

"Oh, it's because Jenny is the jealous type. Isn't that funny? Jealous Jenny! Isn't that a great altercation?"

"Alliteration, Larry. The word you are looking for is alliteration. And jealous? Of what?"

"I think it's the photos...just look at them. I assured her it was of me and my best friend - you. But she was all 'it doesn't look like you're only best friends in this photo. And this photo! And that photo! You still hold feelings for her don't you? Well it's either her or me, take your pick'! Man, Nick, she's crazy but I love her so much."

Her daddy sighed at this, and if both his hands weren't occupied, one of them would be pinching the bridge of his nose. Her father might be stoic 90% of the time, with passive-aggressive-sarcastic humor, but the one person that can aggravate him enough to bring him to the land of annoyance would be his best friend and her uncle, Larry Butz.

"And let me guess, you chose her, but since you don't want to throw these away, you're giving it to me."

"Yep!" Larry chirped, sporting his wonky smile and signature thumb's up. Daddy sighed in resignation again and nodded. "Thanks man, you're the best! Signoria!"

"Sayonara, Larry. The word is sayanora!" But the language lesson fell on deaf ears, as Uncle Larry was already gone from the door, and Trucy's dad was left alone, standing in his pajamas (which was practically his normal clothes anyways) holding a probably-older-than-a-decade-but-not-quite-two-decades year old cardboard box. When Phoenix shifted the weight of the cardboard box onto one hand to use the other to close the door, Trucy jumped into action to run back to her bedroom before her dad could round the corner. It was a perfect plan. She left the door slightly ajar, just how she liked it, and dived under her covers. It was not a moment too soon, as only a few seconds of fake snoring has passed when Phoenix opened the door to check on his daughter.

"Larry's damn lucky he didn't wake Truce up," her dad murmured under his breath. He closed the door until it only let a smidgen of light in before he continued to his bedroom. Trucy decided to tempt fate this time around and snuck a look between the crack of the open door to spy on her dad. Phoenix opened the tiny closet that was in the hallway, and after shifting some of her magic tools around, fitted the box on one of the shelves. It was a little too high for her, but nothing a stool couldn't help her reach.

After a few minutes of silence, and Trucy could hear the snoring of her father, did she dare to exit from her bedroom. She opened the closet, examining her target, and then she left to go to the kitchen. Getting the stool from the kitchen that she uses to help her father wash the dishes - the rare times that they do decide to actually eat at home - she placed in carefully in front of the closet. The box was lighter than she anticipated, and she managed to lift it off with minimal trouble.

The crash of the box as it met with the floor was a little loud, but there was no disturbance in her father's snoring so she turned her attention back to her Uncle Larry's belongings. There were two mediocrely made metal bracelets, with the motif of dragon. For some reason, a load of makeup supplies were in the box as well. There were a few pins here and there, and then she reached the goldmine. It was a wallet sized photo album. Ones you see people who have like ten photos of their family would own. What she wasn't prepared for, were the photos of her daddy.

There were none. She couldn't find a black haired boy in any of the photos. Uncle Larry was in every shot, with his hands or arms holding onto the same girl. The two were around the same age as she was, well a few years here and there older than she was, but nonetheless they were young. Now, seeing her dad nearing his thirties, it was hard to imagine him of what he would look like as a tween/teenager.

She finally gave up trying to find her father, and the female caught her eye. There was a sense of familiarity emitted from her presence. It was then that the twinkle of the girl's blue eyes gave Trucy the final piece to the puzzle. Daddy was a girl?

It was then Trucy forgot all about the secrecy of her mission. The millions and millions of questions that flooded her mind prevented her of the possible consequences that might occur. She rushed into her dad's bedroom and jumped onto his bed.

"Daddy! Daddy!" she shouted.

"Truce, what is it?" Phoenix shut up right away, scrambling for the lamp beside his bed, preparing himself to comfort his daughter from the possible nightmare she just had. Instead he was face with the photos of his middle school days. His female days.

"Daddy, I don't get it, are you my mommy?" Oh boy. Phoenix had planned to tell his daughter later when she was older, and definitely at a more timely hour of the day. It was sometime after who knows what and Phoenix just wanted to sleep.

"No, Trucy, I'm still your daddy. I'm just a bit different from other daddies," Phoenix explained. The look of confusion from his daughter's eyes quelled the sleepiness from his. This was going to be one heck of a conversation.

"You see, Trucy. When I was born, my anatomy was that of a girl's, so I was assigned female at birth, just like you. As a child I was very much a tomboy. And in middle school I was pressured to act more like a girl, most likely because my body started to change to that of a woman. My breasts were developing and I started to ovulate - getting my period. You learned that in school a few days ago right?" Trucy nodded.

"To be honest, that was way faster than most girls, but that was the main reason grandma wanted me to act more like a lady. Everyone said I was a girl, so I believed them. As you can see here, Uncle Larry and I used to date. But neither of us could get past the besties phase and so we remained as friends. In highschool I realized that I wasn't comfortable being a girl, realized I've felt this way since I started to dress like one and pretended to act like one, so I began to transition into being male.

"That means I started to dress like a boy again like I did in elementary school, and later on I started to take medicine that made my body to become more boyish. Even though my birth sex was assigned as a girl, I identify myself as a boy, do you get what I'm saying so far, Truce?" Phoenix stopped for a breather. His daughter nodded slowly, processing the information.

"So, in my eyes, I am male. And I expect everyone to respect me like I'm a male, even though I know some people will find it hard to see me as one. I am known as transgender. In my specific case, I was identified as a female at birth, but I think of myself as a male. Are you okay with that, sweetie?" Trucy pondered that question for a moment.

"Soo...you are just my daddy as always, right?" Trucy concluded. Phoenix couldn't help but hug his daughter. His precious, perfect daughter. "But I still have some questions." Precious, perfect, and curious.

"Yes, what is it, Trucy?" So Phoenix answered all the questions Trucy had to give him. No, he didn't have a boy part, yes his girl part is still there. No, he no longer menstruated. His chest is flat because of surgery. The facial hair and adam's apple was a result of the testosterone he took. No, it didn't make him all muscular - he had to work for that.

"Does Maya and Pearly know?"

"Yeah, they know."

"Are they okay with it?"

"Maya figured it out because of weird spiritual things, and it took Pearls a while to understand. But other than that, yes, they're fine with it. It didn't stop Pearls from pushing me onto her cousin though, not one bit."

After Trucy ran out of questions she hugged her dad, and they both slept in the same bed until morning, both tuckered out because of the late night of magic and the Q&A session.

It seemed that in the morning Trucy still had some questions.

"Hey daddy?" Trucy asked, still cuddled near her father.

"Hmm?" the half asleep piano/poker player answered.

"Did you hate...being a girl?"

Phoenix opened one eye at that, before closing it again "..I didn't hate it per say. I just felt like I was faking who I was. I don't mind talking about my middle school days, as both genders, male and female are me.. I can't hide the fact that I lived as a girl for at least three years of my life - or at least tried to, and I don't deny it if confronted. It was a difficult time for me, but I had people like Uncle Larry to help me and encourage me to do what I want. They helped me understand about myself better than I could have if I isolated myself from others. Besides I think maternal and paternal instincts are helpful in raising a troublemaker like you."

"I'm a troublemaker?" Trucy inquired.

Do you guys keep your middle school sweetheart's belongings for that long? I know I sure Hell don't. Larry seems like the type of person to do that though, isn't he?