All of the Ace Attorney characters belong to Capcom, not me. I only own Rebecca and a few others
Chapter 12
A/N: Hey guys, I is back again! Sorry for leaving you like I did last time but I kind of had to (you know, for building tension and all that). Ah well, it's okay as it's finally time to see what happened after Rebecca lost consciousness. So, without further ado, let's dive right back in.
It wouldn't stop playing through my mind. It seemed like it was never going to end. Over and over, time and time again, the clock struck and a life was lost. An endless deadly cycle, like a broken record in my head that wouldn't leave or fix itself. And I couldn't seem to find any way to repair it with my own hands. I was stuck, watching the events unfold repeatedly, with absolutely no means of stopping the inevitable. Just like when it actually happened.
The man's evil, demonic cackle rung in my ears, along with the screams of my mentor, both simultaneously getting louder as if trying to outmatch each other. And they wouldn't go away, no matter how hard I tried to force them out of my mind.
Eventually, I couldn't take it anymore.
A long, loud screech poured out of my mouth, the only thing that I could think of that would drown out the noise. I held on for as long as I could, desperate to keep the other noises at bay. It must have been around 15 seconds before I started to feel breathless. And just as I was running short of breath, I felt myself being shaken gently, as if someone was trying to wake me from this nightmare.
(Finally, some help...thank you...)
And then, another friendlier voice sounded in the near distance, cutting off all other sounds surrounding me.
"Becs? Becs, can you hear me?! Please wake up!"
They seemed desperate, like they were worried for my safety and felt an intense need to reach me and pull me out of my own mind. And the nickname that they used...could it be-
(M-Mia? ...Wait, no. That's impossible, she's...no longer here. Therefore, it's gotta be-)
"Phoenix?"
My eyes gradually slid open to reveal the panicked face of my friend. He was breathing heavily and he had evidently begun to sweat as he regularly did when he was nervous. He was in a right state over something, for certain. He was seated on the right side of the bed that I was propped up on and was clutching my shoulders tightly, indicting that he had been the one to shake me. Beside him was a female nurse, looking to be in her early thirties, who had her hand on mine and seemed to be checking my pulse. Whilst I began to come around, she glanced up and smiled comfortingly, so as not to scare me.
"Hello Miss Moore, it's nice to see that you're awake. How are you feeling?"
I laid for a second and examined myself. My head was beginning to throb painfully with the start of a headache and lightheadedness had settled itself in my weary mind. My left shoulder and back felt stiff with some kind of padded bandaging however I couldn't feel any pain within them or any other part of my body, which relieved me greatly.
"U-um, I'm feeling a little drowsy and I have a bit of a headache but, apart from that, I'm feeling ok...I think."
As I spoke, the nurse noted something down on the cards at the end of my bed before replacing them in their plastic wallet.
"That's good to hear. And don't worry about your headache, that's only natural. We'll give you some painkillers through that needle in your arm that'll help with that."
Upon mention of a needle, I felt my blood run cold. They were one of the few things that truly scared me and it was a weakness that I didn't like to show. I hated showing that I was vulnerable, especially in front of other people, and therefore avoided needles at all costs. And yet now, I was directly next to one in front of one of my closest friends and, even worse, it was actually stuck INSIDE MY BODY. I gulped, pushed the thought out of my mind and took a deep breath.
(It's okay Bec, all you have to do is not look at it. No probs, right?)
Solidifying that thought in my head, I focused my eyes onto the nurse in front of my bed, averting my eyes far away from either of my arms, and managed a small smile of gratitude.
"Th-Thank you very much."
"No problem. Well, I'll leave you now so that you can have some time with your-"
The nurse cut herself off and looked at me and Phoenix questioningly as she realised that she didn't know the relationship between us. I opened my mouth to answer but Phoenix jumped in to speak before any words could come out.
"Friend. Colleague and friend."
"Okay then. Well, I'll come to check on you in a little while, alright."
I nodded slightly and widened my smile as the nurse exited the room. I sighed contentedly.
(Well, it's nice to know that I'm in good care here. And the nurse seems to be kind enough. But, more importantly..)
As soon as I shifted my eyes to him after the nurse's departure, Phoenix grinned widely in relief, his smile stretching from ear to ear.
"Oh, thank God! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"
"Wh-What? I'm confused..."
"You were screaming just then, really loud. You terrified the life out of me, I-I had no idea what to do, I...I thought you were dying."
At that point, I realised. Even though the other noises were entirely in my mind, my own scream was completely real, the only sound of all three that would have erupted outside of my own head. I must have scared the crap out of poor Phoenix when I suddenly screeched with terror in my sleep, explaining his state when I awoke.
"O-oh. Phoenix, I'm so sorry for giving you a fright."
Surprisingly, he quickly brushed off my apology with a smile and a wave of his hand.
"Hey, it's fine. You had no idea that I was here so there was no way at you could have known that you were scaring me. Besides, it did wake you up and that makes those few seconds worth it."
His smile widened as his eyes met mine again, showing to me his genuine happiness at the fact that I was now awake.
I found his smile to be instantly infectious and suddenly realised that I was equally overjoyed to see him. After all, he had broken me out of my nightmare; his voice had been the one to obliterate all of the others and bring me out of unconsciousness. Without him, I realised, I probably would not have woken up.
"I-I'm happy to see you too. Phoenix...thank you so much for being here for me."
I leaned forward from my seated position to hug my friend in gratitude as I normally would, only to be jolted straight back by an intense pain in my back.
"Argh! You bugger!"
"Becs! B-be careful! You can't move too quickly or you'll hurt yourself."
I fell back into the pillows behind me, contorting my face in pain and holding one hand against the throbbing area in an attempt to soothe it. In an instant, Phoenix was up from his chair and at my side, his hand tentatively placed on my right arm.
"This IS your good arm, right?"
That's when it clicked.
(Ah, yeah. That's right; I injured my back and left shoulder when I tried to protect Mia. That must be why I'm in the hospital.)
I nodded in confirmation to Phoenix's question, unable to say a word, as I waited for the pain to cease. A nurse approached my bed to see what was wrong however he quickly moved on once Phoenix told him that he had control of the situation. Besides, there seemed to be another patient who required his services more than me anyway.
As soon as I got my breath back, Phoenix smiled and ventured even closer to my bedside, so close that his legs were touching the cold steel frame. He leant over to me as far as he possibly could, arms outstretched.
"Here, let me come to you."
Slowly, I tilted myself forward to meet his arms, this time feeling only minimal pain, and wrapped my good arm around his neck. Meanwhile, Phoenix's arms carefully slid around my upper back. He held me firmly, but also gently to prevent causing me any more discomfort. For the first time since the previous night, I felt safe, like I could actually relax for a minute instead of being on edge constantly. I had never felt so happy to feel someone hug me. I sighed contentedly as he began to let go of me, gently lowering me back onto my pillows.
"There, better?" Phoenix asked as he seated himself back in his chair and shuffled a little closer to my bed.
I smiled and nodded. "Yes, much. Thank you."
"Heh, no need to thank me."
As silence started to settle over us, I began to think of something else to say in order to break it; I hate silences. I noticed Phoenix's smile fade gradually as he realised that there was a subject that he had to address. He sighed deeply and began to scratch the back of his head as he spoke.
"I arrived just after you lost consciousness, you know."
"W-what? What do you mean?"
He sighed again, clearly reluctant to explain in more detail. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Last night, when I came to meet you guys for food as we arranged, I arrived just after you blacked out. There was a girl there and she was crying near...Mia's body but kept glancing back to her desk for some reason. When I went to check it out, I discovered you, completely out of it, behind the desk. I thought that you were dead too at first but then I saw your chest rising and falling slightly, which was a huge relief. I have no idea what I would have done if I had lost the both of you in the same night."
I looked at him with deep sympathy as he spoke.
(Poor Phoenix, it must have been horrible for him to see his two colleagues like that. I'm so glad that I was able to hold on for him; if I'd have died too, I would have died hating myself for leaving him behind on his own.)
He sighed again and took a deep breath before continuing.
"Anyway, I didn't get chance to ask the girl anything before she blacked out too. I laid her on the office sofa before I investigated a little around the Chief's b-body. I didn't get chance to do much before a detective burst in, apparently from a call in the hotel across the street, and arrested the girl because her name was discovered to be written in the Chief's blood on a receipt. Luckily, he quickly dismissed you as a suspect because of your injuries and let me off too after quite a lengthy questioning session. The other detective that came with him brought you to the hospital because she was frightened for your condition. And...that's basically all I know."
I nodded as he finished, taking in every word that he had to say.
"Okay, and the girl was called Maya, right?"
"Yeah, I think that she's the Chief's little sister that we were meant to meet with last night."
I nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, she is. I saw her come in just before I blacked out. She tried to keep me calm whilst we waited for help, bless her. She was really shaken up by the whole thing and yet, SHE was comforting ME. I'm so grateful to her for that."
"Poor girl. And now she's been arrested too." Phoenix inputted with a solemn look on his face.
"Have you been to visit her at the detention centre yet?"
"No, not yet." Phoenix replied. "I came straight to see you; I wanted to check that you were ok before I did. It really worried me, seeing you passed out on the floor like that. So, here I am. Must have been here for about 10 minutes, talking to that nurse about your condition, before you started screaming. And...well, you know what happened after that."
"Well, now that you know I'm...sort of okay, you should go and see her. I can't do it so it'll have to be you. I'm so sorry that you have to do this on your own but, you know, what can you do when you're hospitalised? Trust me, if I could get outta here, I would in a heartbeat."
Phoenix's grin widened. "I know you would. If there was a way, you'd find it."
"Damn right. Finding loopholes is my speciality, as both a prankster and a lawyer." I proclaimed proudly.
Phoenix chuckled a little, prompting me to do the same. It felt nice to finally laugh a little after the events of the previous night. Despite the seriousness of the situation that we were both currently in, we shared those few seconds of joy and silliness and welcomed them willingly; it was something that we both needed, a moment to just forget about the situation. As the laughter started to die down, I came back to my senses.
"Now, off you go. Maya's gonna be worrying about you."
"Okay, as you wish Becs."
He stood from the chair and gave me a mock salute, causing me to giggle again. He beamed one last smile at me before he turned on his heel and headed towards the door. Just before he reached it, I shouted out to him again, remembering something.
"Phoenix?"
"Hm?" He turned to face me as he grabbed the metal door handle.
"Can you say 'hi' to her from me, please? And that I'll be out of here to help as soon as is humanly possible?"
He smiled again warmly as he tugged the door open.
"Will do, Becs."
And, with that, I was alone again.
A/N: So, Phoenix is off to see Maya and Becs is hospitalised for the time being. And poor Nick is going solo for the investigating and trials for the time being (but then, you already knew that didn't you?). See you in the next chapter!
Gaby :)