All of the Ace Attorney characters belong to Capcom, not me. I only own Rebecca and a few others
Chapter 11
A/N: Woohoo! On time again guys! I'm getting back into the swing of things now. I should be able to update on Thursday and then again on Sunday. After that, though, it'll be every fortnight as I'll be back at school by then and have less time to write. This is the chapter where...well, I won't say anymore. You'll just have to read to see, won't you? I'll just shut up now and just let you read...
THAT NIGHT:
Phoenix had gone home for the night, apparently having something he had to do at home before we met back up with Maya, so it was just me and the Chief, working on an upcoming case together. And it was a good job that he left as well because the case that we were working on was all linked to Bluecorp, the organisation that the Chief was hot on the trail of. I suspect that that's the only reason why she so willingly complied to Phoenix's request of leaving early. After all, she still hadn't informed him and currently had no intentions of doing so in order to relieve him of any pressures and keep the amount of people in the loop to an absolute minimum.
This specific case was of an apparent murder but the Chief had gathered proof that the victim was being blackmailed by Bluecorp, forcing him to kill himself. She was hoping that this evidence would be enough to incriminate the company and its CEO for a long time. She had stashed it away inside the Thinker clock that she received at Phoenix's first trial a month ago to give to Maya for safekeeping until the time of the trial arrived.
For now, though, we were just engaged in light chatter whilst we began to build a case around the all important papers detailing the blackmailing. We had already decided that Mia would be the one to head the case but were now deciding how to structure our points and refute any possible claims given by the prosecution that could harm us.
"Okay, so here's what we have so far." Mia spoke, catching my attention instantly. "You'll be standing at the bench with me in case I need any help. It'll have to be you as Phoenix only has one trial under his belt and you have far more knowledge of Bluecorp than him. We won't address the incriminating papers instantly and give it away to the prosecution too soon but, as soon as we are asked for proof of our accusations, we'll reveal them. Sound good so far?"
I nodded in confirmation.
"I can't wait to see the prosecution's face when we bring those papers out. It's gonna be priceless!"
Mia giggled lightly. "Yes, I'm sure it will be. It'll certainly be one of the highlights of the trial. However, I'm more interested in seeing how the leader of Bluecorp will react at watching his blackmailing plots crumble into dust. That'll be MY highlight. All of this work I've put in will finally pay off."
I smiled. I could understand where she was coming from entirely. It must be frustrating putting such a lot of effort into uncovering Bluecorp's crimes and have no results. However, after over 9 months of searching, the truth is finally able to come to light. The Chief must be so proud of herself.
(I wish I could feel that one day. It seems like an amazing feeling to have, success after a lot of trying. Well, hopefully, I will feel it soon...along with my brother...)
Out of nowhere, there was a sudden knock on the door, immediately grasping the attention of both of us. We exchanged confused glances for a second before Mia stood up from her desk, ventured around the corner and approached the door in order to answer it.
(Who would come to our office at quarter to 9 at night, surely they would come during daylight to ask for our help?)
I brushed the thought out of my mind and carried on with my own work but at the same time, I was listening out for anything of interest in their conversation, just in case the Chief needed any assistance. The creak of the door opening was what hit my eardrums first followed by a few seconds of silence until Mia finally spoke, but I couldn't make out what she had said.
The voice on the other side of the door was much louder and clearer than the Chief's had been. It definitely a male voice judging by the deep tone there was to it and he replied to her with a sinister sneer, "Now, Miss Fey, I'll take what's mine...the papers."
"I'm sorry, but I can't give you what I don't have." Mia's voice was strong with resolve and yet shook slightly with fear and nerves. I got the feeling that the man at the door wasn't just another person wishing to request defence services. But then, I had already made that conclusion when I noticed the time that this guy chose to visit; this only strengthened the possibility of my hypothesis.
"Miss Fey, you are a poor liar. Why, I see it right over there...that must be 'The Thinker' that swallowed those papers."
The Chief gasped in shock at the fact that this man knew about the crucial evidence, practically in sync with my own surprised gasp. "How could you know...?"
"Ho hoh." The man laughed, an odd, unrealistic laugh that seemed dreadfully forced. "You are not cogniferous of my background? Gathering information is my business, you see."
(Wh-what? Could...could this guy be a part of Bluecorp?! It certainly seems plausible...)
"I-I should have been more careful." Mia sighed in defeat, clearly disappointed with herself for not keeping the evidence safe enough.
"Ho hoh. My dear Miss Fey...I'm so very sorry, but I am afraid I must ask you for one more thing.." The man paused for a couple of seconds before breathing his last sentence in an even more sinister tone than before. It set my teeth on edge and sent a nervous shiver up my spine.
"Your eternal silence. Farewell Miss Fey." Those words and Mia's scream immediately after were what propelled me into the room. And the scene I saw made my heart stop. The man had grabbed the Thinker clock thing from the chief's desk and was starting to make his way towards her, a sadistic grin plastered on his face. For a second, he reminded me of Drew Hill, that bully that I saved Phoenix from 16 years ago.
Except this time, there was a lot more at stake. This guy was clearly capable of so much more.
Upon noticing me in the doorway, the Chief widened her eyes and quickly gave me a signal by mouthing the word 'Run'. I shook my head at her with determination. I wasn't going to run; I couldn't let my boss be killed right in front of me without doing anything to stop it! As I saw Mia back away from the purple haired man, I noticed that she had backed into the glass light stand in the corner of the room and had gotten herself trapped between it and her own desk. She looked around helplessly for a way out but it seemed that there wasn't one. As she was occupied, the guy with the statue in his hand raised it, seeing an opportunity.
This was my chance. If I was going to do anything, it would have to be now. Not really thinking straight, I did the first thing that I could think of that would help Mia, something that I knew had worked in a similar situation beforehand.
"NOOOO!" I screamed at the top of my lungs as I raced forwards.
"W-What the-?"
"Becs-"
I charged towards the two of them, specifically through the gap between them where the Thinker was about to strike. I wasn't going to let the Chief get beaten to death by that monster; she'd done nothing wrong!
The next moment, I felt an enormous amount of pain rush through my shoulder and down my back, stopping at around my torso area. I dropped to the ground almost instantly with the pain forcing me to let out a scream as I fell. I tried to force my body back into a standing position but it was no use, my shoulder was burning like hell and my back was locked into place; I couldn't move either of them at all. I couldn't stand up.
Upon witnessing my injured form, the Chief gasped in horror, clearly shocked that I would do something like that in order to spare her life.
"Becs, what are you-"
Before she could say anything else, I slowly lifted my weighted head off the office floor and l stared at her directly in the eye, cutting her off. My one good arm quaked underneath me as I held myself up to look at her terrified face.
"R-Run Chief, g-go-" Unable to say anymore, my arm gave way and my head dropped back down to the floor once more, my face falling in such a way that Mia's office desk now blocked my view. I would have moved closer so that I could see the scene unfolding before me but all of my strength and energy had been drained from my body from that hit. There was nothing more I could do now but listen.
"Hmph, pathetic. As if YOU thought you could take on someone as splendiferous as I! Now, where were we, Ms Fey?" I heard the man snarl in my direction as he turned his attention back to Mia.
(That asshole is mocking me! Grrr, if I had the strength right now, I'd-)
I heard footsteps, presumably the Chief's, swiftly moving in the direction of the office door. I breathed a small sigh of relief, glad that she took my advice. But, the man seemed to follow her. I listened closely but all I could hear were their footsteps and Mia's panicked breaths, completely in sync with my own.
However, the next noise I heard was very different, it was the kind that would haunt me for the rest of my life. It was the sound of the Thinker striking for a second time. The sickening noise it made as it came into contact with flesh.
The sound of death.
I squeezed my eyes shut in terror and clenched my teeth together to stop myself from sobbing. I knew what had just happened; even with a lack of sight, there was no mistaking what had just occurred. But I didn't want to believe it, I COULDN'T believe it.
(But then, if that wasn't what just played out...wait...no, there's no way that the Chief retrieved that clock from her attacker; I would have heard it happen if that was the case. So, that means...)
My heart froze in place in my chest and I had to bite my tongue to prevent a scream of terror erupting from my coarse throat as I realised the reality of the situation. I waited with baited breath as I heard the rustling of some kind of paper and another quiet evil cackle before padded footsteps made their way around the office. However, I continued to remain silent. I didn't want that man, that MURDERER, to know that I was still alive in case he returned back to this side of the office, saw my helpless form crumpled on the floor and decided to finish me off.
Just like he did with the Chief...
(N-No, stop it! Stop thinking about it; you'll only make it worse!)
As the office door slammed shut and the sound of the man's footsteps disappeared, I came back to life, relieved to be able to safely create noise, however small, once again. I shook my head as hard as I could muster and quickly lifted it a few centimetres from the floor and let it drop limply back down, colliding suddenly with office carpet in a desperate attempt to rid my mind of any thoughts of what just happened. It only helped very little however, as whenever I tried to avert my attention away from the woman barely breathing across the room, her raspy breaths always brought me back and made me panic again. And with absolutely nothing else to occupy my mind with in my current position, I didn't have a choice but to listen to her.
Her uneven breaths as she grasped to her last strands of life. It was all that could be heard in the room, apart from the gradually ticking clock on the wall, which contrasted greatly with Mia's wavering, unsteady gasps.
It was because of this lack of noise that a larger impact was made when the breathing suddenly stopped.
After around a minute, I couldn't hear any strained breaths anymore no matter how hard I listened. It seemed that...it was all over. I closed my eyes, feeling them starting to prickle with tears.
(My boss is dead, she's just been killed right in front of me, and what good did I do? Absolutely none. Some employee I am.)
I sniffled slightly to myself as I thought about how useless I had been to ensuring my boss's survival. I hated myself for letting her die like that; I should have done more! She didn't deserve what she got and, for a moment, I even wished that I would have died in her place; I deserved it more than she did, after all.
"B-Be...ugh...B-Becs?"
(Th-That voice...)
I could barely make it out but a muffled, raspy voice that could only be Mia's reached my weakened ears from across the room. Confused, I snapped my head back up and called out in response.
"Ch-Chief? Chief, can you hear me?!" Desperate, I shouted as loud as I could in the direction of her voice. My voice was slightly strained too but not to the extent that hers was. My sudden movement caused pain to return to my shoulder and spine but I tried my hardest to push it out of my mind.
(That isn't important right now. My boss's life is running out and that matters more to me at the moment than a bit of back pain. Come on Bec, pull yourself together!)
My throat was dry and coarse after calling her and I tried to ignore it as I awaited her reply. It eventually came after a short pause as she caught her breath and summoned the strength to stutter something back to me.
"Th-that man he w-was...ah...the m-man I was t-telling you and...M-Maya about...R-Redd White...of B-Blue...corp..."
(Bluecorp...I recognise that name!..)
Towards the end of her sentence, Mia had to take extra breaths since this conversation was clearly wearing rapidly through her final burst of energy. Her speech got more and more weak and muffled that I could hardly make sense of what she was trying to tell me. But there was one, clear thing that I got from the information she was giving me.
(The man who came in here tonight and attacked the Chief, was the very man that she had been chasing after all this time! The CEO of that horrid blackmailing organisation!)
I gasped a little in shock, clutching my shoulder once more with my operational arm as pain rushed through it again. I then did the only the that I could think to do, reassure her. Make sure that she was at ease and comforted as much as possible in such a dire situation.
"Ch-Chief! D-don't worry, help will come for us. We're gonna be ok, y-you'll see!"
My breath caught in my throat as I realised that I had just lied to her. I couldn't physically see her wounds but even I knew from the sound that the impact made and how she was speaking to me that she was severely injured and in a far worse condition than I currently was in. One thing was for certain.
She didn't have long left.
And the Chief herself seemed to know this too as she replied to me in an even croaker voice that made my heart sink in despair.
"B-Becs...pro...mise me. P-promise, ngh!" She made a pained gasp and, even though I couldn't see her, I knew that she was wincing with the effort to hold on for as long as she could. My heart rate quickened significantly.
"Chief? Ch-Chief?!"
No response. I began to panic, my emotions overtaking all logical thoughts.
"Ch-Chief! Chief, answer me!"
However, no matter how hard I shouted, no matter how coarse my throat became, it seems that Mia wasn't coming back. And finally, I couldn't take it anymore. Heartbroken sobs escaped my mouth and my injured body jerked in sync with each one. The pain returned again but I was far past caring anymore. I had held together to keep Mia calm during her last moments but, now that she was gone, I could no longer hold it all in. Around a minute passed before I regained control enough to cease my crying.
Not really knowing what to do now that Mia...was gone, I just laid helplessly behind the office desk trying my very hardest to fight off my weariness and remain conscious. I had to stay awake and make sure that the police knew who killed my boss so that he could be brought to justice by me and my sole remaining co worker, Phoenix Wright. Together, we would make sure that he got what he deserved, I'd guarantee that.
After what felt like an eternity but in reality was only a few minutes, the agonising silence was finally broken by the sound of the office door squeaking open. I breathed a sigh of relief. Help at last. The person gradually entered the office and called out to no one in particular.
"Hello? Is anyone in?"
(Ok, so it's a girl's voice; that means that it isn't Phoenix or that asshole Redd White making a return. And it sounds familiar too...)
Footsteps padded across the carpeted floor as she made her way into the separate parts of the office in search of me or my colleagues. I eventually got my voice to work and called out to her in an attempt to lure her to the right place.
"H-Hel...lo?" My voice came out coarse and broken again and I had worn myself out clinging into consciousness but that didn't matter. Pain re-entered my shoulder when I spoke but I didn't care anymore. I had to lead whoever it was over here as soon as I could and I would endure those few seconds of pain to do so.
Her reply was almost immediate. "B-Becky? Is that you?"
(There's only one person that I know who would call me by that name!)
"Ma...ya?"
I heard her footsteps quicken upon hearing my response, approaching the doorway of Mia's office.
(Good. She's going in the right direction now. Oh, why did it have to be Mia's sister to be the first to find her body?! The poor girl's going to be-)
"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek! Sis!"
(...devastated)
Her screams echoed off the walls in the office, ringing throughout the whole building. They were closely followed by her mournful sobs, filled with despair and hurt. For the second time tonight, the office was shaken with female cries of pain and sorrow as I picked up the sound of Maya kneeling down beside Mia's body. Directly after, muffled sounds were heard which I presumed to be Maya wrapping her arms around her sister's lifeless corpse.
All that I heard then was her sobs. Continuing, seemingly never ending.
I didn't have the heart to interrupt her and remind her of my situation. Even though the pain in my shoulder hadn't ceased, I couldn't interfere with a moment like this. Maya needed a few minutes with her grief before I shifted her focus onto me. This was more important, or at least it was in my eyes.
However, she was still sobbing when I felt a powerful drowsy feeling come over me. I sensed my consciousness quickly slipping away and was forced to contradict what I had previously told myself to do.
"M-Maya, u-um, a little help n-needed o-over...here."
Her short gasp of surprise and realisation was all I heard before she finally reached my line of vision. When she noticed that all that I was able to see were her purple sandals from where I was collapsed on the floor, she bent down so that I could view her face properly. The poor girl was a mess, bless her. Her pretty face and clothes were tear-strewn, her hair was beginning to fall out and the waterfalls were still cascading from her eyes.
But even still, she managed to pull herself together and reassure me that I was going to be fine, despite the fact that she was clearly fearful for my condition. I wanted to believe what she was telling me, desperately, however doubt was still rooted within me. Maya was in no state or capability to assist me and it didn't look like help was on the way for either of us. All we could do was wait.
Maya was still whispering words of reassurance into my ear when my consciousness finally wore out.
A/N: Wow, intense chapter. I really enjoy writing these sorts of chapters, where everything kicks off. I've had this one planned out for a while now as well, which helped massively when writing it. Hope you enjoyed this one. See you guys soon!
Gaby :)