All of the Ace Attorney characters belong to Capcom, not me. I only own Rebecca and a few others

Chapter 6

A/N: Hi, so sorry for the slow update time, you know, school and stuff. First week back and the teachers are already starting to pile on the homework. I've also been pretty ill which hasn't helped at all. So, sorry about that. Anyway, on with the chapter!

"Oh, my god...that, was you?" I was so taken aback by the story that I could barely speak. All of my memories had come flooding back upon hearing Phoenix tell it, abruptly knocking all of the air out of my lungs and washing away any words that I had thought of saying.

"Yup, sure was. I'm glad you finally remembered me Becs."

"B-But hold on a second, how did you remember me? You were younger than I was at the time."

Phoenix cupped his chin in his left hand, thinking for a second before he spoke. "Well, I guess it just meant more to me then it did to you."

(What's that supposed to mean?)

"Huh?"

"Well, you saved me from a severe beating that day and...that meant a lot to me. When I moved schools a year later, I was bullied again but for a different reason: I was accused of stealing someone's lunch money. I was probably blamed partially because I was the new boy. Luckily, someone else came to my rescue and that's something that I can never forget. It may not have seemed like much to you but, to me, it meant the world. I mean, how could I forget someone who was brave enough to stand up against everyone else, against all the odds, for me?"

I was touched, he actually felt that I had done something right for once, helped someone outside of court. Influenced someone in a positive way instead of getting in the way of others who are trying to do good, which I tended to do regularly. It wasn't my intention to do that though; my intentions were entirely positive however when I try to help someone out, I don't usually use the most effective methods to assist. Therefore, someone else, mainly the Chief, needs to come and help me out.*

I quickly shifted my eyes to the floor, the feeling of a sudden flush spreading to my cheeks. I rocked slowly on the balls of my feet as I spoke, my hands clasped together behind my back.

"Hey, y-you did the same for me. I-I mean, if it wasn't for you, I'd have gotten a mouthful of Drew's fist that day." I replied gratefully with a small laugh. I stopped rocking and lifted my head up slightly. "You were the one who gathered up the guts to fight back when Drew had me trapped. I guess, I'm just thankful that you knew he had that weak spot, you were...pretty smart for a seven year old." I glanced back up at Phoenix, my eyes meeting his, with a smirk pulling at my lips.

Now it was his turn to be embarrassed.

His right arm made it's way behind his head and scratched at his neck nervously. Faint blotches of red became visible on his cheeks as beads of sweat began to form around his hairline. "Y-Yeah, me too. I...I don't know what I would have done if he had hurt you, I'd have probably never forgiven myself if I hadn't have acted at that point and done what I did..."

(Th-That's..!)

"That's exactly like me!" I blurted out, speaking my thoughts. I instantly clasped my hands over my mouth and apologised to Phoenix for interrupting him. He looked slightly taken aback by this but motioned for me to continue anyway.

"I-I feel just the same. If I had just stood back like everyone else and let Drew hurt you, when I was capable of helping and could have prevented it, I would have hated myself for it. You have no idea how glad I am that I acted when I did and stopped him. Because it didn't just help you, you know; since you, me and my friend Melissa went against him, things changed after you left."

"R-Really?" Phoenix's eyes widened in surprise.

I nodded eagerly and started to explain. Since that day, when me, Phoenix and Mel stood up to Drew and his gang, he never bullied anyone again. He finally realised that the kids at our school didn't appreciate what he did to them and that, if he didn't change his ways, others would soon follow our example and fight back. The teachers finally snapped out of it too and severely punished him for what he had done (along with us, unfortunately), the tables had finally turned on him. And, surprisingly, for the remaining time that he was in Springwood, he treated Mel and I with great respect and never bothered us again.

"It was a pretty drastic change, it was like he was a completely different person after that."

Phoenix started to laugh slightly, seeming to find it amusing that our actions were all it took to bring Drew down. "Ha, wow...we were awesome back then, weren't we?"

I started to giggle too, his comment tickling me a little. "Haha, yeah. I still can't really believe I had the guts to do something like that, making a big kid like him squeal like a girl half his age. Man, I'm good!"

"Yeah, you got that right." Phoenix's laughing increased in volume as he openly and genuinely chuckled at what I had just said. His laughter made my grin widen. It was so open and unique, like he wasn't afraid to be himself on front of me even though he had only known me for a few weeks, and I liked that a lot about him.

He recomposed himself relatively quickly and gazed into my eyes with a wide smile and kind eyes of his own, becoming serious once again. "Y-You were one of my heroes Becs. You, a-and two boys at my other elementary school were people who I looked up to immensely for standing up for me and fighting back when others wouldn't dare to. You were the ones who influenced me and ultimately made me want to become a defence attorney so that I could do the same. So...th-thanks."

(I-I influenced him to do...what?!)

I had no idea how to respond. I opened my mouth to reply with some clever comment or joke to lighten the mood again (I'm not very good at serious situations like this) but nothing would come out. I just stood there in front of him, jaw dangling open like some kind of fish. I must have been open for longer than I thought because Phoenix started to look a little concerned for me. Once he waved his hand in front of my eyes, I snapped out of my weird trance and shook my head lightly to get rid of any remains of it.

Then, I thought again about what he had said about me, those extremely thoughtful, kind words, and finally processed them properly. And before I knew what I was doing, I had thrown my arms around his torso and pulled him into a hug, tears prickling at the corners of my eyes.

Poor Phoenix seemed pretty taken aback by my sudden gesture as his arms waved around in midair, not really knowing what to do with themselves. "U-Um, Becs? What are you doing?"

"Th-Thank you, that m-means so much." I spluttered out through shaky breaths as my emotions started to take over.

Hearing my response, Phoenix seemed to calm down more and ease into the hug, wrapping his own arms around my shoulders to try to comfort me.

"Your welcome."

His voice was surprising calm, especially compared to my hiccuping, high pitched one. I'd have thought that he'd be more worried that some random 26 year old woman who he had only known for 3 weeks was suddenly bawling right in his face and dragging him into a hug. However, even though I was extremely embarrassed to be crying my eyes out on the poor guy's shoulder, he didn't seem to mind in the slightest.

Now, it may seem really childish to cry over something like that but his words meant the world to me. Because it showed that I was actually doing something right, making someone happy, influencing someone else in a positive way, inspiring them. And there was nothing that made me more overcome with joy that seeing others like that because of me and, since this was a rare occurrence, I wanted to savour those moments for as long as possible.

A/N: I know, this is really bad compared to the last one, right? Ah well, I can't be that good at writing all of the time you know! Just wait until the eventful stuff happens again (which will be soon) and hopefully my writing will improve. Either way, I hope you liked seeing a more emotional side to Rebecca in this chapter as opposed to her usual upbeat, jokey self. Reviews about what you thought (good or bad) are much appreciated. And, as always, see you in the next instalment!

Gaby :)