Happy Fourth of July everyone! Here's a random chapter I wrote for the occasion. It isn't very good, I know, but I figured I'd write it up. Hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Ace Attorney series characters!
Chapter 23 - Turnabout 4th of July
July 4th, Independence Day. The weather couldn't have been more perfect for cookouts, picnics, parties, some form of celebration of the historic day. The sun shined brightly in the blue sky.
The Wright Anything Agency was occupied by three people. None of them said anything to each other, drowning Athena sat at her desk, staring down at the desk calendar, where she had marked today's date with stars and wrote in large red letters, "Agency Cookout!" She had been looking forward to the day, since they had made major plans to go the park and hang out together. She had so many activities planned for them. Football, soccer, badminton, running, just to name a few. She mainly just wanted to prove her superior athletic skills to Apollo. She recalled the conversation she had with her fellow lawyer.
(Flashback)
"So what exactly are we going to be doing for Independence Day?" Apollo asked, sitting at his desk. Athena was at her own desk. She had a wide grin on her face, which Apollo had seen. Frowning, he said, "I'm not going to like it, am I?"
"Heh, heh, heh. Oh no," Athena said, trying to feign indifference. "We're going to have a nice cookout at People Park, Trucy's going to perform some magic tricks later on in the evening, and…" She paused for dramatic effect. "We're going to play a whole bunch of games."
This caught Apollo's interest. "Games? Like what? Card games, board games, oh! Something like Scrabble or oh! Taboo?! I love Taboo!"
Athena shook her head. "Nope, nope, and no! Those aren't active games, Apollo! All you're doing is sitting and playing!"
Apollo stared at her. "Well, I like sitting down and playing. That's something I can handle."
"Then you better get yourself ready, Apollo, because we're going to be playing a whole bunch of sports!"
"Sports?" He whined. "Athena, July 4th is going to be our day off. You know what a 'day off' means, don't you? A day when you don't have to work? Where you get to relax?! Playing sports isn't exactly relaxing!"
"Don't be like that, Apollo! It's going to be so much fun, unless of course…" Athena had a cheeky smile on her face, an eyebrow arched. "You aren't any good at sports, which I can totally see being the case." She shrugged. "It's okay. I'll teach you!"
Apollo gasped. He wasn't going to let her get away with that insult. "Oh yeah? That's what you think of me, huh?!" He slammed his fists on his desk. "Consider the challenge accepted, Cykes! You just wait until Independence Day! I'll show you. I will serve you Justice!"
Athena only shook her head at the pun. "That pun was totally unnecessary, Apollo. But okay. I'm psyched for that!"
He stared at her for a moment in disbelief at the use of her pun before they burst into laughter.
(End Flashback)
Athena was waiting. Waiting for him to prove his athletic abilities (or lack thereof) to her. Waiting for him to "serve Justice." Waiting for him to come back, along with Trucy.
Iris was on the red sofa, and in her hands was Mr. Hat, one of Trucy's most prized possessions. She traced a finger on his facial features. Her eyes landed on the diamond brooch and the outfit the wooden prop was wearing. Staring at the brooch, she heard a few booms come from outside. Firecrackers, she was sure they were. That's when she remembered what had happened at the agency the day before the siblings disappeared.
(Flashback)
"So Iris! You're going to join us for July 4th, right?!" Trucy asked excitedly.
Iris smiled, nodding her head. "Feenie invited me to come here, yes."
"Yay! This is going to be so exciting! I have so much planned for it!" Trucy looked around, making sure no one else was nearby before motioning Iris to come closer. "You want to see some of my tricks?" Iris nodded.
Trucy whipped out her famous magic panties. "Okay. See? There's nothing in them, right?" She pulled them in all different ways to prove that there was nothing already in them or on therm. "Here we go! One, two, three!" On three, red, white and blue streamers came out of the article of clothing, along with sparkles.
Iris gasped, covering her mouth. "Oh my! How do you do that, Trucy?" The woman was amazed.
"Sorry Iris, but a magician can never reveal his or her secrets!" She giggled a little. "Not only do I have this," she began, reaching a hand into the magic panties. Out of them, she pulled a whole bunch of paper hats that had "Happy 4th of July!" written on them, along with the American flag printed on them. "We don't even have to buy any supplies from the store! I've got it all right here!"
Iris was tempted to ask how exactly Trucy acquired the items, but she figured that there was some secret behind it (that secret involving the party store and Phoenix's wallet). Trucy rocked on her heels. "I'm so excited! I can't wait! It's going to be so much fun! We're going to have a cookout at People Park and spend time together! It's been a while since we had a party!"
"You really are excited, aren't you Trucy?"
"Mmhm!" She had a small smile on her face. "I like parties so much because they bring people together in a good way. And after everything that happened…with Mommy…" She frowned a little, looking away to the side. "Along with Daddy and Polly keeping secrets from us, we need to have a fun day, all of us." She turned back to Iris, grinning once more. "You, Daddy, Athena, Polly and me of course! We're all going to enjoy Independence Day!"
(End Flashback)
Tears pooled in her brown eyes. It was that day, and yet, they weren't at People Park, having a blast and celebrating. Who knew where Trucy was, or Apollo? Were they safe? Were they hurt? Were they celebrating the historic day together? And most of all, would they be found soon?
Phoenix was at his own desk, his hand on the phone, ready to pick it up the moment it rang. He was only vaguely aware that the date was July 4th, and honestly, he didn't really care. He was too worried, too fearful about the current situation. Two important people in his life were missing. Gone, without a trace.
They had gone to the cemetery to visit their mother's grave, something they'd been doing frequently. He didn't think anything was wrong with letting the two of them go together, especially since he had been confident that Apollo would be able to watch out for himself and for Trucy too. Phoenix felt guilty at having let them go. He should've gone with them, but he didn't want to intrude. Trucy had told him that the two of them used the time they spent at Thalassa's grave talking about her, what they remembered about her. It was their private sibling time, when they could connect with each other and develop their brother-sister relationship better.
There was no word when they disappeared or how. He had gone to the police and reported them missing, after he and Iris had tried contacting Apollo through his cellphone, which was turned off. They had searched all over the cemetery, but to no avail. They were missing.
Phoenix flinched every time he heard a boom from outside. The first few times, he had picked up the phone, only to hear the dial tone instead of a familiar voice. He held his head in his hands. Ms. Gramarye. I broke my promise to you. I promised I'd look after them, and now, they're gone. He blinked back tears. Trucy. Apollo.
Please be okay.
Just because it was a holiday didn't mean that people wouldn't be getting themselves hurt or sick, and the ER was slammed with patients, the waiting room nearly overcrowded. While one of the co-directors was out in the back of the building, stuffing his face and chatting up other coworkers, the other co-director was getting yelled at by patients for being too slow to check on patients.
Serena watched another angry patient storm through the exit. She ran a hand through her hair before her eyes landed on the chart rack. There were five charts in the rack, and every room was already filled.
She picked up the phone and dialed a number. "Dr. Emilio? Where are you?!...We could really use your help up here! Things are going crazy, and patients are getting…well, impatient." She heard laughter and music in the background.
"What was that? Okay! I'll get down there in a minute."
"Alright. Thanks." I need you to come down here now, not in a minute!
"Hey you!" She turned around, seeing a person dressed in a shirt with the American flag on it and jeans. The woman shook a fist at her. "I've been waiting here for two hours now, and no one's come in to see me yet! What kind of ER are you running?"
Serena hated being yelled at, only because it made her feel horrible. "I'm so sorry, ma'am. We've been very busy, and some very serious cases came in via ambulance that we-"
"No! I don't want to hear any excuses! I'm leaving!"
"Ma'am, please! If you could wait another minute…"
"Nope! You aren't getting anything done, young lady! You call yourself a doctor? I wish that other man was here. What was his name? Ah yes! Dr. Emilio! What a nice man! He would come in and talk to us, explain the situation and what was going on, and he always had the answers to our questions!"
Serena just stood there and listened to the patient praise Emilio. I wonder if this woman would believe me if I told her that that same doctor is supposed to be working, but instead is lollygagging.
"I am not going to stay here any longer."
Serena sighed heavily. "I apologize for the inconvieniecne ma'am. Happy Fourth of July."
The woman smirked. "Can't say the same to you." With that, she left.
The 33 year old groaned. That was the seventh patient to leave against medical advice, and it would be all her fault. As if to make things worse, strutting up the hall was Dr. Emilio. He couldn't come a few minutes earlier, could he?
"Hey there! Why the long face?!"
"Nothing. Just another patient who left AMA." She grabbed a chart. "Thank goodness you're finally here. I need you take care of half these patients."
"No prob! I'll get the charts in a sec." He went into the doctor's dictation room while Serena began reading over the chart she had. She glanced up and to the room he was in, from which she could hear obnoxious laughter. Two of the voices were the physician's assistant and the doctor who was working in triage. Pursing her lips, she strolled over and stood in the doorway. Of course, they were laughing at something Dr. Emilio had told them.
"If you guys don't mind, we've got patients who are waiting to be seen," she stated.
"Dr. Sterling. Come on! It's 4th of July! Chill a little," the physician assistant told her, before giving Emilio a flirtatious smile. "Otty here was just telling us the funniest story from one of his past 4th of Julys in college!"
"Want to hear it, Serena?" He asked her, hope in his eyes.
"No, thank you. I have work to do." She walked away, shaking her head. I officially hate today. Some holiday this is. She knocked on a door before entering, bracing herself inside for a rush of complaints to come her way. 'Happy' Independence Day indeed. What's so happy about it?! It's just another excuse for people to goof off at work.
The Prosecutor's Office wasn't too busy, since many people were off for the holiday. Of course, the Chief Prosecutor wasn't one of those individuals. He was in his office, reading over some of the evaluations from his subordinates. After reading the last one in the pile, he leaned back a little in his chair.
July 4th. Independence Day. I wasn't even supposed to be here. Surprisingly, Edgeworth was planning to join the Wright Anything Agency crew on their cookout for a period of time, but after Apollo and Trucy went missing, all plans had been cancelled. Not that he minded. Celebrations weren't exactly his thing. It would've been better had it been due to another reason why the get-together was cancelled.
He was frustrated. There was little to no progress in the search for the defense attorney and the young magician. Even Edgeworth was beginning to grow concerned. He had scolded Phoenix for letting them go off on their own after the note he received, but upon seeing how distressed and guilt-ridden the man was, Edgeworth stopped himself.
Something needs to happen. We need some kind of lead to reveal itself. He pulled out a copy of threatening note from his desk drawer, which he had made before the original was taken in by the police. Who could've sent this note? And why? What is the reasoning behind kidnapping Trucy and Apollo? Somehow, he didn't think it was just to get revenge at Phoenix. There was something more to it.
Something malicious.
This was just kind of a super-random chapter I decided to write due to someone asking me if I'd write a 4th of July chapter. I wrote it super quick, and I'm sure that this chapter reflects that. Please feel free to leave a review or private message me! Thanks, and have a Happy 4th of July!