"Why are you bringing him along?" Klavier asked sourly, glancing over his shoulder as he walked up the stone stairway.

"That's a good question. Why are you bringing him along?" Phoenix added. "He's a truly horrible man."

"You're right; he is. And for that very reason, he should have to live with the guilt of what he's done in prison for the rest of his life, however short that may be." Edgeworth explained as he hoisted Kristoph Gavin's unconscious body up the stairs of the secret passageway. "Besides, it would be wise to keep an eye on him. If he were to wake up again, we can put him back out of his misery."

Edgeworth was mildly surprised at his logic and that he was able to carry Kristoph on his own. He was certain that he had never known strength like this ever before in his life.

Truth be told, he had never felt quite the same after returning from that mirror… but he brushed the thoughts aside. There were more important things to be concerned about.

Phoenix Wright's mental health was definitely one of them. He pretended to be nonchalant about the situation, especially now that Ema and Klavier had returned to them, but Edgeworth could tell that the man was truly troubled.

Nearly giving himself an concussion earlier probably hadn't helped.

This house, and the fact that Dahlia Hawthorn's ghost was likely following them around, was scaring his friend like nothing else. On top of his own fear, he had the safety of his children to think of as well. Phoenix had good reason to be agitated.

The group reached the top of the staircase and returned to the ballroom. They followed Klavier through the operating laboratory and heeded his warning about not walking into the next room.

"The floor has collapsed to the basement," Klavier explained. "Fräulein Skye nearly fell to her demise earlier."

Phoenix whistled, peering over the dark edge of the collapsed room. "I can't see, since I don't have a flashlight, but it seems like a long way down…"

Push him… push him down…

Edgeworth winced, blinking quickly. Who had said that?

PUSH him… just PUSH him down…

"Ugh…" Edgeworth set Kristoph down on the cold dank floor of the laboratory they were standing in. He didn't feel right… dizzy and just a bit disoriented…

Klavier glanced his way. "Herr Edgeworth?"

PUSH HIM!!!

Edgeworth felt the soft fabric of Phoenix's shirt beneath his fingers. With one little shove, Phoenix was gone.

Something inside him felt deeply satisfied.

The world around him was fuzzy. He vaguely heard a shout from Klavier beside him, pulling him out of his stupor.

"Scheiße!" Klavier cursed under his breath, then shouted down the gaping hole in the floor, "Herr Wright! Can you hear me?!"

Klavier turned his dangerous gaze to him. "Miles Edgeworth, what is wrong with you?!"

Edgeworth froze. Had he really just done that? Had he pushed Phoenix down to his doom?

A soft moan came from the floor below. "…yeah…"

Relief flooded into him but was quickly replaced with fear. He kneeled by the edge of the floor, shining his flashlight below. "Wright, are you ok?"

"I should be asking you that," Phoenix's dry comment stabbed through him. The tiny ray of light found Phoenix laying on top of a pile of burlap sacks filled with what appeared to be flour. "I'm ok, though… it's a good thing these were here to break my fall."

Follow him…

"Wright, move. I'm coming down too," Edgeworth commanded. Phoenix barely had time to scramble away before he jumped onto the pile below, the impact of the jump knocking the wind out of him. He was certain that he would have bruises in the morning, but he shook the feeling away for now.

Phoenix looked at him like he had gone mad. "Edgeworth… what's gotten into you? This isn't like you."

Lie.

Edgeworth shrugged and offered a explanation, "I know, I..." The words choked in his throat.

As he shone the flashlight around what appeared to be an antiquated larder, he felt Phoenix's penetrating gaze on the back of his jacket. "Miles, this isn't you."

LIE to him!

Edgeworth grunted, feeling a wave of nausea hit him. "I… I don't…"

LIE TO HIM!!!

Edgeworth leaned over into a nearby barrel and retched.

Phoenix was at his side instantly, looking as if he were unsure of what to do. "Miles! Are you ok?!"

"Obviously not, Wright," Edgeworth laughed bitterly, wiping saliva off his face.

WORTHLESS IDIOT!! LIE!!!

Edgeworth doubled over again, finding he had nothing left to heave into the barrel. "Wright… there's something… wrong… with me…."

"What's happening down there?" Klavier called down. Phoenix looked up at the darkness above quickly but did not reply.

Shakily, he held the flashlight out to Phoenix. "Take my flashlight and go."

"Miles, we can't leave you here," Phoenix looked torn.

Edgeworth turned back to him, feeling every bit as conflicted as his friend. It was maddening, not knowing what was wrong, but it was clear now that he couldn't trust himself.

"Wright, I pushed you down into a dark pit, and I don't know why," Edgeworth stated the facts as calmly as he could, pressing his flashlight into Phoenix's hands. "You could have died."

Phoenix, idiot that he was, grasped both the flashlight and his hand, pulling Edgeworth up from his stooped position. "I'm not leaving you," he insisted again. Phoenix pulled Edgeworth's arm over his shoulders, helping him walk along.

"You're being unreasonable, Wright," Edgeworth grumbled, taking his friend's help. "You should be fleeing from me right now. You should be terrified."

"Oh, I am," Phoenix quickly agreed. "But you're easier to keep an eye on if you're next to me, not behind me."

"Heh." He had to admit, Phoenix occasionally had good logic.

***

Apollo Justice was confused.

"But we found the back door," he said for the third time. "Shouldn't we take this as a sign that we should leave?"

"Never give up, Polly," Trucy insisted, pulling him back through the door and into the house.

Apollo had his doubts. Even though nothing had really happened to them yet, he had a terrible feeling about the house. His bracelet was going nuts, which unsettled him even more.

Trucy, however, didn't seem to have a care in the world. She insisted that there must be some "cool tricks" in the house somewhere, and she was ever so excited to explain them to him.

They walked back into the last room, an extremely dusty corridor. In the middle of the hallway, a four way split seemed to draw the girl's attention. "Now let's see…" Trucy put a finger to her chin in thought, pointing to the left. "…if we came in through that door, then that means we still have two more directions to choose from!"

The magician girl pointed to the right, pulling Apollo along behind her. Without hesitation, she dragged him through the next door. "Trucy, I still don't know if it's smart to just… Aieeeeaaa!!!"

Apollo shrieked as they slid down the coal chute. They landed safely on a pile of coal in the basement landing. Apollo coughed the dust out of his lungs, rolling to his feet and brushing darkened cobwebs off his clothing.

"Eeew… this place seriously needs a woman's touch," Trucy stuck her tongue out as she attempted to brush the gooey cobwebs off her once-bright blue cape.

"See? This is why we shouldn't just wander aimlessly through a haunted house," he grumbled, searching the room for a way out.

"Well… that wasn't so bad. Think of it as a really big slide!" Trucy said brightly, to Apollo's concern. It seemed like she still didn't understand that they could seriously be in danger.

After quickly surveying the room, he noted that they had four choices again. And, if he knew anything about haunted houses, only one would lead to an exit.

Before he could think about it further, Trucy had again found his hand and was pulling him through another door…

***

Franziska Von Karma was still unimpressed.

Yes, things in this house sometimes seemed to move when they shouldn't. Yes, that idiot detective seemed to "hear things" and shriek in every room they entered.

Impressive? No.

"Miss Von Karma, I don't know if…"

"Silence, you foolish fool!!" Franziska spun around, glaring shrewdly at the foolish scruffy detective that followed her like a meek little mouse. He still had yet to realize that all of these ghosts were clearly in his mind. Of course she couldn't expect a fool like him to reach her level of perfection.

"Scruffy Detective, you will learn courage by the end of this night." Franziska grasped Gumshoe's backwards tie, pulling him to her. At the same time, she yanked open a door and used the bulky detective's forward momentum to hurtle him into the next room. "Now go! Have courage!"

Of course he didn't have courage. He screamed like a little girl and tried to hold onto the door frame, but she whipped his hand, forcing him to let go. She ran in right after him…

…and fell through the very same large gaping hole that Gumshoe had tried to avoid.

She heard a splash below her but didn't pay much attention to it. Quickly, her eyes darted around the bricks and pipes that jutted out of the sides of the room, finding a support beam from the first floor.

Expertly, Franziska lashed her whip at the metal rod, knowing without even looking that her perfect swing would wind around the support beam enough to hold her weight.

Naturally, she swung to safety, her feet landing perfectly on the cobblestone ground beside a large underground lake. Now that her attention was not being diverted, she made note that the loud splashing sound was none other than the scruffy detective, who had fallen into the middle of the lake and was now struggling to swim over to the edge.

She gazed at his sputtering form shrewdly (was he doggie paddling?) and decided that this house perhaps did have a few "traps." It was old, after all; she wouldn't have been surprised if there were another room in the house somewhere that the floorboards had rotted completely away.

But ghosts? There were certainly no ghosts.

"AAAH!!! There's something swimming in here!!!" The blubbering detective shrieked, paddling a little faster.

"Fool! You are swimming!" Franziska knew exactly what he needed. Dislodging her whip from the beam above, she lashed it at Gumshoe, whipping him, but also attaching it to his arm so that she could pull him over.

As the scruffy detective gasped for breath, water dripping off him as if he were still in a thunderstorm, Franziska's lips twisted into a frown. "I've seen better haunted houses at Disneyworld!"

She had.

"No more wasting time!" She quickly whipped Gumshoe, making him stand up straight. "Next door, scruffy! This time, have courage!"

Of course, he didn't, and proceeded to scream again when she shoved him through the door.

Franziska Von Karma continued to be unimpressed.

LateNiteSlacker's Notes:

Thanks to everyone who patiently awaited this chapter. I hope that it was worth the wait! =)

With nearly all the cast and crew in the basement of this haunted house, things are bound to wrap up sometime soon! What do you suppose will happen to these brave (or in some cases not-so-brave) characters?