Butterfly
by Cyberchao X

Summary: It's amazing how drastically the course of history can be altered with just the slightest difference in a single event. In the world of Ace Attorney, the first quarter of the 21st century was shaped by one single moment.

February 16, 2013
9:00 AM
Criminal Affairs Department

"Detective Mia Fey, reporting for duty!"

Lana Skye had to hold back a chuckle. "Relax, Mia. It's not like this is your first day on the force."

"Yeah, but…" She trailed off.

"…You want to make a good impression on your first day as a detective. Am I right, Mimi?"

"It's 'Mia', sir."

Damon Gant laughed. "Of course it is."

"Damon likes to give everyone nicknames," Lana explained. "Though he's never given me one."

"Your name doesn't lend itself to making a nickname very easily. Besides…there may come a day when you're my superior, in a manner of speaking."

"Damon, I highly doubt that. You're the deputy chief of the police department; likely to be chief within a couple of years."

"But even the Chief of Police has to answer to the Chief Prosecutor, no? And that's where you're headed, mark my words."

"Someday, maybe. But I'm not even a prosecutor yet, and the chief is usually someone with quite a long tenure."

"Ah, sorry. I suppose I meant Head Prosecutor."

CCX: It has come to my attention that it is only due to a localization error that Lana Skye was given the same title that was previously held by Blaise Debeste and as of AA5 belongs to Miles Edgeworth. In the original Japanese, her title is different from theirs. I'm going to use the term "Head Prosecutor" for this station.

"So how does this work, anyway? I figure I'm going to have to be assigned a partner, right?"

"Well, some detectives actually work solo, but yes, you will be. The Chief thinks it would be in everyone's best interest to team you up with Detective Starr, for a…multitude of reasons."

"…'The Cough-Up Queen'? Okay…I've heard she's kind of hard to deal with, but…"

"Well, yes, she is a bit…eccentric. One of the main reasons you're being partnered with her is that she's been chewing up male partners left and right and they think maybe a female partner would do her some good."

"So dismissive. But I'm fine with it; not being tied a male partner frees me up to play the field a bit more."

"Ah, Detective Starr. I'm glad to hear that you're not mad about this."

"I asked the Chief why I was being partnered with some rookie, but…I liked his answer. He didn't mention any concerns about my effect on my old partners, though."

"Just out of curiosity, what did he mention?" Mia asked.

"That you've got a nickname here, too. 'The Human Lie Detector'. You have a knack for knowing when someone's hiding something. Seeing as how my specialty is extracting secrets, having a partner who can see who's hiding them seems…pretty damn useful."

"Huh. When you put it that way, I guess it does seem like a natural fit."

CCX: …You were expecting something else from that date? Hehe…I suppose it does stretch a bit longer than I expected it to, but there weren't really any good dates I could use from the previous couple of years, especially since the only major case in 2012 already had a freshly promoted detective…not to mention it's not a case that's actually tangibly affected by this butterfly. Obviously it didn't play out exactly the same because Miles Edgeworth was already a budding prosecutor in the "Second KG-8 Incident", but the end result was likely unchanged—Byrne Faraday and Mack Rell were killed by "Calisto Yew", who escaped after being outed as the Yatagarasu.

…Also, because the timeline tends to try to find a way to correct itself, Calisto Yew's shot at the prosecution managed to hit, and Manfred von Karma had to take a vacation afterwards in order to recover. It was a shorter vacation, though, because due to the circumstances under which he got shot, there was no reason to hide the fact that he'd been shot in the shoulder. Because why not? It gives him a reason to keep that shoulder-grabbing animation; the wound still hurts from time to time.

But back to what we're really here for. I was replaying PW1 when I got the idea for this chapter, and I realized that partnering Mia with Angel would just be too awesome. And of course, you know where this chapter is headed, right? Of course you do.

February 19, 2015
6:00 PM
Criminal Affairs Department

"Hey, Maya? I think we're going to be running late here. I'd ask you to swing by the station to wait, but I know how you are with food."

Maya Fey giggled into the phone. "It's fine. I'm sure I won't run out of room by the time you get here. But you've got enough time to call me?"

"Ah, well, I'm not busy at the moment, personally. But Lana's still busy."

"…Wait, wasn't I going to be meeting your partner?"

"No, Lana's not my partner. She's…I guess technically she's my superior, but she's only a couple of years older than me and we actually met in school. She's got a younger sister around your age who will be joining us."

"And your partner?"

"She's already left for the day. I believe she had a date…as usual."

"She's popular with the guys, huh?"

"That she is. But she's a good person. Oh, Ema just showed up now. I'll see you soon." Mia hung up. "Hello, Ema. Lana's still working on a case."

"That's fine. I'll just wait in her office."

"Good idea."

7:10 PM
Criminal Affairs Department

"Lana, what's wrong?!"

"Damon just told me that Darke escaped. We're on lockdown." (CCX: Apparently only Gant and Marshall had been in the interrogation room with Darke before the blackout. Seems weird to me.)

"I don't think I'll ever understand that man. He kills one man by accident, then freaks out and kills all witnesses, then turns himself in, but tries to make a break for it?"

"He's obviously insane. Don't think too hard about it."

"…You know Ema's waiting in your office, right?"

"…Let's go."

7:15 PM
Deputy Chief's Office

"N-Neil…"

"Um…we can definitely convict him for this one, right?" Mia asked.

"…I certainly hope so. …Darke still had his knife on him. Why didn't they take that from him?"

"…You should stage the crime scene to remove any doubt. Put the tip of Darke's knife in the wound."

"Damon…"

"What are you talking about, sir? If we forge evidence and it gets out, we lose him! We can't let this guy get away like that!"

"Mimi. Think about the situation. Darke had a knife, yet Prosecutor Marshall was killed by impalement upon my suit of armor. Why would that be?"

"There was a struggle, of course. They fought for the knife, and in the shoving, Prosecutor Marshall ended up on the lance."

"…Or, there was an accident. It was pretty dark, and…Neil had a 'knife', too." Lana indicated the King of Prosecutors trophy. "…Neil actually got the upper hand on Darke, but all Ema saw was a man with a knife. In the struggle, she couldn't tell who was who…"

"…No one would convict her. It was an accident…"

"It would still be involuntary manslaughter. Given her age and the circumstances, it'd be…3 years at most, probably even less. But…I can't let that happen. Not when we have a chance to put Darke away for good."

"It's for the best. I'll move the body to your side of the office; you clean up those jar fragments."

"Hmm?" Mia asked.

"The jar. It was next to the armor, and now it's broken all over the floor. Points to the struggle being in that area, and as such, it would point towards Ema being the culprit."

Chains came crashing down, and three Psyche-Locks appeared over the Deputy Chief of Police.

"Damnit, I wish Angel was here right now. Lana, is there anything else that Deputy Chief Gant might've meant by 'clean up those jar fragments'?"

"N-no…"

"…Then why are you cleaning off the individual fragments?"

"…because they have Neil's blood on them." One of Gant's Psyche-Locks broke. "You noticed that too, Damon?"

"Kind of hard to miss."

Mia went over to examine them. "But that's not the only reason they'd lead to Ema, is it? Lana…that doesn't look like random blood spatter."

"No, it doesn't. It looks like writing."

"What type of detective are you? For all we know, that could've actually implicated Darke! Unless…you're already absolutely certain that it would implicate Ema. But…how could that be, when you arrived after us…Deputy Chief Gant?"

"…I suppose I should've checked that more closely. My bad." A second Psyche-Lock broke.

"Yes, well, it all seems very fishy to me. After all…that writing spans multiple pieces, does it not?"

"It does indeed," Lana confirmed.

"Which means…that the message was written when the jar was whole."

"…That it does."

"Which can only mean that the jar wasn't broken during the struggle at all."

"What are you getting at, Mimi?" Damon Gant's voice suddenly took on a slight edge.

"This crime scene was already staged. There's something else that's been bothering me…namely, Prosecutor Marshall's vest."

"…His vest?" Lana asked.

"You didn't notice? There seems to be a piece missing. …Hey, Lana. Do you think you could stop wiping off the jar for a bit and try to reassemble it? The pieces all look pretty big…and with a bit of work, you could probably make it look like new."

"Brilliant, Mimi! Hide the fact that it was ever broken!"

"Not to mention decode the message, assuming it's still visible."

"It might take awhile to set, though. Permission to take the jar home, Damon?" Lana asked.

"Negative. There will be others checking out the crime scene…those who know where the jar belongs. I guess Mimi's plan won't work, since it would look suspicious if we waited to report the crime. Just finish wiping away the blood and leave it for evidence. Since it's nowhere near where the body will be found, it can be pinned off as something that happened earlier in the struggle, before the death occurred on your side of the office."

Mia thought about this. (Damnit, he's still hiding something…but I can't prove my suspicion without being able to reassemble the jar.) "Okay, then. I guess there's nothing we can do about it."

"…You're going to back down about the evidence forgery?"

"It's not worth it. I don't want Ema to go to jail any more than you do."

"…They're going to have to question us. Ema and me both. Mia…you should go. Pretend you were never here, and go see your sister. We'll have to introduce Ema and Maya some other time.

7:57 PM
Edgeworth Law Offices

(Three minutes from going home and the phone rings.) "Edgeworth Law Offices, Miles Edgeworth speaking."

"Mr. Edgeworth. I was hoping you'd still be in."

"Who is this?"

"Detective Fey. You were my cousin's defense attorney last year."

"She got convicted. Is that what this is about?"

"No. Dahlia was guilty, so I'm not mad that you couldn't get her off. I value justice above all else…and I sensed that you were of a like mind. Which is why I'd like to ask you to defend another client who is guilty of…a good few murders."

"Miss Fey, I don't think that's the best way to sell a defense attorney on a potential client."

"True. But I believe him to be innocent of the murder that he'll actually be tried for. Actually…I know that the police department is framing him, but I believe that the person who they're trying to 'protect' is also innocent. I…think the deputy chief might have been so desperate to convict Joe Darke that he actually murdered a man in order to frame Darke for it."

"That's a heavy accusation, Miss Fey."

"They'll probably try to cover up the evidence. I'll help you as much as I can."

"You'd be risking your own job if you did that."

Mia grinned. "Yeah, but if I successfully expose corruption in the police department…I figure I'd probably be due a hefty promotion. Not to mention, there's still a fairly good chance that Darke will go down for his murders back in September."

"Marshall's the prosecutor on that case, right?"

"…Neil Marshall is the victim in the case you'd be trying. If you'll accept, that is."

"…That's a shame. The Prosecutor's Office is full of ruthless men with few morals who care only about getting a guilty verdict. Of course, ideally they'd be in the right to do so… if only there were as many detectives as thorough as you. But as I was saying, it's a shame that one of the good ones had to go. Prosecutor Marshall was an honest man."

"Yes, he will be mourned. …Wait, what was that about more detectives like me?"

"Don't be so modest, Miss Fey. You have a reputation for having a pristine conviction rate. No defense attorney wants to try to defend a client when you and Angel Starr are listed as the arresting detectives. Well, not at our offices, anyway; Grossberg's men don't seem to have a problem with it."

"Ah, yes. I once testified in a case matching Robert Hammond against Manfred von Karma. Most distasteful thing I've ever witnessed."

"I would've thought you'd like having von Karma work your cases."

"Well, I'll admit that he's an incentive to work harder. He'll get the suspect convicted whether they're guilty or not, so I'd better make sure I deliver him a suspect who's actually guilty."

Miles Edgeworth chuckled. "Well, I do believe I am working overtime now, so I should get going. Perhaps you can stop by at some time tomorrow?"

"Well, I'll probably need to get a better handle on the evidence myself, so it'd have to be after work. My shift normally ends at 6:00, so I'll come by your office at around quarter after."

"Sounds good. See you tomorrow." He hung up. "Ray, what're you still doing here?"

"I heard you talking. Did you say that was Detective Fey on the phone?"

"…Yeah. She has some misgivings about her colleagues' conduct…or at least, one in particular. She wants me to defend Joe Darke for the murder of Neil Marshall."

"…wait, I thought I was mishearing that part. Neil Marshall's dead?"

"It apparently happened today, at the precinct. They're going to accuse Darke; this should be the one that they finally have the evidence for…except Miss Fey believes that the Deputy Chief was actually the one who killed Marshall, and his only motive was to have a crime that they could easily pin on Darke."

"That's…quite the accusation. And this from a detective? …And wasn't she related to a client whose case you lost?"

Miles shuddered. "That was a rather unnerving case…probably the most unnerved I've ever been when not trying a murder case. I really don't know why I took that case."

"Because Phoenix asked you to," Gregory Edgeworth reminded his son.

"Oh, right. I took on that flirtatious floozy as a client because her twin sister is dating one of my best friends." Miles grumbled. "I really need some better friends."

CCX: So Dahlia still managed to get herself into legal trouble in 2014, but not murder. Really, though, why would she? She's a lot like Joe Darke, actually, in that most of her crimes were committed to cover up earlier crimes. Since her plot in 2007 was foiled, she had no reason to murder her stepsister, which means she had no reason to have been in the courtroom in 2013 and thus never would've poisoned Diego Armando or tried to kill Phoenix Wright. Maybe she tried her hand at theft again? Oh, and for some reason Iris is actually attending Ivy University as herself, alongside her twin sister…and, what do you know, she ended up falling in love with Phoenix anyway. Until next time, this is CCX, signing off.

…I wasn't originally planning on writing the whole chapter tonight…