And so we reach the end! I hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it, and again, any and all comments are always welcome!
March 10 2028 09:17 am
District Court - Courtroom n°2
"Bailiff, please arrest Miss Coral Drake for the murder of Ms. Cyan Sammons," the judge announced. Phoenix wasn't even paying attention anymore. They'd lost Apollo and Athena. They'd been his responsibility, and he hadn't been able to take care of them.
"You will be held at the detention center where you will await trial, Miss Drake. I do believe the Prosecutor's office will also charge you with the disappearances of Prosecutor Gavin, Mr. Justice, and Miss Cykes."
"Deaths," Coral Drake corrected placidly. Phoenix placed his hands on the table.
"How can you do this? How can you be so calm about this?"
"Because they mean nothing to me, Mr. Wright. Only to you." Coral Drake smiled even as the bailiff came to guide her away from the witness stand. "How many trials have you not conducted in complete calm, because the victim meant nothing to you? And you, Mr. Edgeworth?"
Edgeworth looked stricken. Coral Drake smiled and shook off the bailiff, instead descending from the witness stand by herself. "But as I said, you cannot keep me. Ator will come for me." She checked the bracelet around her arm. "Right now, in fact."
The air in the middle of the courtroom started to shimmer, as if distorted by an invisible lens. Phoenix suddenly had a very good idea of where Ms. Sammons' missing portal technology had gone. Had Coral Drake planned this all along? Had she set it up yesterday, when she was testifying in court? Coral Drake walked forward even as the judge slammed his gavel.
"Everyone, please exit the courtroom calmly and quietly. Bailiff, stop Miss Drake!"
The ensuing evacuation was neither calm nor quiet. Phoenix rounded the bench —if he could only stop Coral Drake from entering the portal, if they could at least prosecute her, but Coral Drake was already entering the portal and the bailiff looked too scared to go after her.
"I really wouldn't do that, Miss Coral," said Athena.
Phoenix skidded to a halt. On the other side of the courtroom, Edgeworth rounded the prosecution's bench. And Coral Drake stopped, stupefied.
"You—"
Athena exited the portal, her hair in disarray and her clothes torn in places, but very much alive. Behind her stood Apollo, his face bruised and smeared with dried blood, and his eyes burning with a cold fury Phoenix had last seen when he'd accused Athena of murdering Clay Terran. Now all his anger was aimed at Coral Drake. He was supporting Prosecutor Gavin, who was bleeding through the bandages around his left arm.
"Miss Cykes?" The judge blinked. "Bailiff, call an ambulance right away! They need medical care!"
The bailiff only seemed too happy to oblige. Phoenix wanted to rush forward, but he could barely feel his legs. They were alive. They were all still alive and they'd made it home.
Coral Drake shrieked. "Ator! What did you do to Ator, you little—"
"Oh, she's alive," Apollo said, voice icy. "Unlike some of us. You tried to kill us, Miss Coral. Just because you wanted some money and some recognition and thought you were better than the rest of us. You almost succeeded." His grip on Prosecutor Gavin tightened. The Prosecutor looked on the verge of passing out.
"Not that bad, Herr Forehead," he still managed.
"Where is she!?" Coral Drake shouted. She rushed at Apollo, but Athena got there first and grabbed her arm, twisting it around and forcing her on her knees. Phoenix finally regained feeling in his legs again and rushed forward.
"Athena! Are you all right?"
Athena nodded. Edgeworth stepped forward to take Prosecutor Gavin from Apollo.
"Where is Ator!?" repeated Coral Drake. Athena snorted dispassionately.
"Right over here," Mr. Yuki said. Phoenix had practically forgotten about him in his rush to make sure the others were okay. He was dragging along a red-headed woman who had to be Ator, and was accompanied by a winged, hermaphroditic-looking spirit with eyes of two different colors. Coral tried to shake off Athena. Phoenix quickly grabbed her shoulders and forced her down.
"Bailiff!" Edgeworth shouted. The bailiff finally moved forward and took Coral Drake from Athena and Phoenix. Phoenix turned around and hugged Athena tightly.
"You okay?" he whispered, looking her over. She had looked better, that was for sure, but she was still in one piece.
Athena smiled. "I would kill for a shower right now."
"I'm so sorry, Coral," the woman named Ator said. Her eyes were downcast. "I couldn't— He's the Supreme King."
"You," Coral Drake growled even if she was being dragged off. Ator tried to move after her, but the massive winged spirit forced her back into the portal.
"Don't even think about it," it said. Mr. Yuki, whose eyes were glowing the same orange-teal as the monster's, addressed the judge.
"Your honor, permission to take this spirit back to the spirit world. Your prison cells will not be able to hold her and being separated from her partner will be a far worse punishment."
The judge frowned. "This is highly unconventional, Mr. Yuki. You say she was involved in the crime?"
"She killed Ms. Sammons and tried to have the three kids killed," said. "Unfortunately, spirits won't remain tangible in this world. You cannot hold her in an earth prison."
Ator watched after a sobbing Coral Drake, who was being handcuffed and escorted away. "I will find you, Coral!" she shouted. The judge shook his head.
"I don't like the idea of a culprit running free, Mr. Yuki."
"I will see her brought to justice, your honor."
"In that case…" the judge nodded. "She does not fall under my jurisdiction. I will trust your judgment, Mr. Yuki."
Mr. Yuki nodded and stepped back into the portal. "Athena, Apollo, Klavier," he said. The three of them looked up. "I am sorry for dragging you into this. I never intended for it to happen."
"I guess you came through in the end," Athena said. Apollo didn't say anything. He was standing in the middle of the courtroom, staring straight ahead.
"Apollo, I'm sorry." He and the monster turned around. "You'll see me again, I'm pretty sure." He grinned. "Tell Maya I said hi and that I'm sorry I can't stay to chat."
He dragged Ator back into the portal with him and disappeared together with the massive monster. There was a high, whistling noise that had Athena covering her ears, then a flash of light and the portal disappeared. Silence fell over the courtroom, only broken when the sound of nearby sirens echoed through the place.
"The ambulance is here," Edgeworth said. Prosecutor Gavin tried to get up, but hissed in pain. It shook Apollo out of his trance, and he and Athena hurried over to him. Phoenix could only look at their disheveled forms. They were back, they were home, but what had they gone through?
"That was… most certainly eventful," the judge said. "Mr. Justice, Miss Cykes, Prosecutor Gavin, how are you feeling?"
"Been better, been worse, Herr Judge," Prosecutor Gavin said. Apollo glared at him.
"You had a dragon almost tear your arm off, you idiot. What could have been worse?"
Prosecutor Gavin smiled faintly. "Ah, there was that one time after our anniversary concert—"
The judge banged his gavel. "The emergency personnel will be here any minute. But in the meantime, I feel it is safe to declare that, in the case of the murder on Ms. Cyan Sammons, the defendant, Mrs. Longxin Huang, is not guilty."
March 10 2028 12:14 pm
Hickfield Clinic
"Athena!" Trucy shouted when she entered the room with Daddy. Athena grinned.
"Hey Trucy. Good to see you again."
"Oh gosh, I was so worried, and then Mystic Maya wouldn't let me and Pearls come to court today and I thought you and Polly were dead…" Trucy's eyes were burning. She'd really thought she'd never see them again.
"Cykes-dono, I will take my leave."
Trucy gasped. She'd been so worried about seeing Athena that she'd missed Prosecutor Blackquill. Daddy looked a bit pale all of a sudden.
"Aww, Simon, you don't have to go! You only just got here!"
"I will leave you with your guests," Prosecutor Blackquill said. "If I could have a word with you first, Wright-dono?"
Daddy's face was starting to look like the one bottle of milk in the fridge they'd forgotten to throw away. Athena bit her lip.
"Simon, before you go, could you talk to Apollo for a bit?" she asked. Prosecutor Blackquill, already halfway out of the door, paused.
"Justice-dono?" he asked.
"It's about a bird," Athena said.
Prosecutor Blackquill nodded and stroked Taka over the head. "Wright-dono, if you please?"
Daddy squared his shoulders and followed Prosecutor Blackquill outside. Trucy glanced at Athena and bit her lip. She seemed so drawn. Her face was pale under the sunburn. Athena caught her looking and smiled.
"We're fine, don't worry." She lifted her arm and showed the IV line stuck in her wrist. "Just a bit dehydrated, apparently. They still haven't let me shower, can you believe it?"
Daddy entered the room again and closed the door softly. "Prosecutor Gavin needed to have stitches for his arm, and they're checking his blood for anything dangerous, but he should be fine," he said. Athena let out a relieved sigh.
"How's Apollo?" she asked. "They wouldn't let us share a room."
"He didn't really want to talk to us," Trucy said. She bit her lip. Daddy looked sad.
"He seemed… cold in court today. Did something happen to him?" he asked. Athena looked down, hands fisting in the hospital sheets.
"It's not really my story to tell, but I guess… He made a friend out of one of the spirits in that world. She died trying to protect him."
Oh, poor Polly… "We should go visit him again, Daddy," she said. Daddy looked conflicted.
"I think he needs some rest now," Athena said. "But can we go to the cafeteria? The food here is awful and they may have managed to chain me to this IV thing, but they haven't chained me to bed yet."
"You should be resting too," Daddy said. Athena laughed.
"Oh, come on, I need food! I kept having to look out for Apollo and Klavier. They wouldn't have gotten anywhere without me, you know?"
Daddy averted his eyes and Trucy looked down. What if Polly and Prosecutor Gavin hadn't made it back? She'd been so sure she'd never see them again.
Athena laughed nervously. "Ah, but come on, let's go." She swung her legs out of bed and winced a bit when her feet hit the cold tiles. "Neither of you would happen to have socks with you?"
"Just a second!" Trucy took off her hat and showed it to Daddy and Athena. "See, nothing inside, right?"
"Right, Truce," Daddy said.
"Okay!" she turned the hat around and threw it up in the air. "Aaaand one, two three!"
She fished out a pair of socks triumphantly and handed them to Athena. Daddy applauded.
"New trick, honey?"
"Nah, you just haven't seen this one yet, Daddy." Trucy put her hat back on and Athena tugged on her brand new socks.
"Much better," she said. "Thanks, Trucy."
They left the room together. They'd just turned the corner of the hallway when they bumped into another familiar face—Mrs. Huang.
"Miss Cykes!" she said. "I was just about to come visit you! How are you doing?"
"Very well, Mrs. Huang," Athena said. "I'm glad to see you out and about again."
"Oh, it was never an issue," Mrs. Huang said. "Chairman Pegasus knew where I was when Cyan was killed."
Daddy nodded. "I see… Wait, what?" He pointed an accusing finger at Mrs. Huang. "You mean you had an alibi all this time?"
"You did?!" Athena asked. "But why didn't you tell us?"
Mrs. Huang was unfazed by the accusations. "When the news broke that Cyan had been found dead, Chairman Pegasus and I were in a conference call with Kaiba Mokuba and had been for most of the night. Kaiba Corporation is tough to negotiate with." She smiled. "But we knew that the person who'd killed Cyan was also the one who'd been leaking secrets. So we decided I'd be arrested for the murder, so we could find the real culprit." She smiled at Athena. "I never doubted you and Mr. Justice for a second, Miss Cykes. Though I regret the situation you ended up in."
Daddy and Athena looked utterly gobsmacked. Trucy giggled. That was a pretty great trick.
"Did you suspect Miss Drake?" Athena asked.
"She was on our suspect list, I will admit. I had hoped it wasn't her, though." Mrs. Sammons shifted from foot to foot. "Truth is, Coral and I are related to each other. Very distant relatives, to be true, but we share a common ancestor several centuries back, before her family came to the United States. My side of the family kept the reputation of dealing with dragons. Her side was the one that actually had the spiritual power to do so. If anyone could do it, it was Coral. I still don't really get what drove her, though."
"She… Ator said she felt underappreciated. Said her family had been laughed away for seeing spirits all this time. Ms. Sammons' technology could prove their existence to the world. And since the Drake family is one of the few that can communicate with them…" Athena said.
"It would've been great for military purposes. A portal they could send their enemies through, only to be killed for them. It'd have made her rich, no doubt." Mrs. Huang sighed. "Poor Cyan, having to die for that."
"That's… a bit sad," Trucy said. Seeing spirits sounded so awesome, so why would Miss Drake use it just to get some more money? Some people really were greedy.
"What about your daughter?" Daddy asked. "And the money?"
"Xiaoyan is doing fine now, thanks to Chairman Pegasus," Mrs. Huang said. "But it was an ill-kept secret that our family needed the money. The chairman and I suspected that our culprit would be aware of that too, so that became my motive for the crime."
"So all this time you were the ones setting us up." Daddy sighed. "I think I liked playing piano better."
"We still need to pay this month's rent, Daddy!" Trucy reminded him. Mrs Huang laughed.
"Chairman Pegasus will be sending you the check next week. We are very grateful to you," Mrs. Huang said. "It was great seeing you again, Miss Cykes. I do wish you the best in your further career. You too, Mr. Wright."
"Good day, Mrs. Huang," Daddy said. He and Athena watched her as she walked off. Athena shook her head.
"One day I wish our clients would tell us everything before the trial started," she said. Daddy laughed.
"I still wish for that every day, Athena. Come on, let's go save you from hospital food."
March 15 2028 11:23 am
Wright Anything Agency
Apollo groaned as he took in the pile of assorted paperwork. Mr. Wright had wanted him and Athena to take off longer than a few days, but he'd been far too bored in his little apartment to stay away from work. Now he was starting to regret that decision. Even though he and Athena had only been the defense on the Sammons case for one day, the paperwork had still managed to find them. And 'them', of course, meant him, because Athena had, in her words, deferred to his superior experience and left all the administration to him.
He grinned. He couldn't say he wasn't grateful to be kept busy. Being back home was great, but he still had dreams about the Desert World and he missed Chrysta more than he thought possible. He'd only known the bird for two days at most and she'd attacked him when they'd first met. He rubbed his face and winced. The bruises he'd earned himself in the desert world still hadn't faded away entirely.
Klavier, at least, was recovering nicely. They'd even let him out of the hospital yesterday with the stern warning to not do anything strenuous and come back if the dragon wounds so much as thought about getting infected. He'd shrugged it off and had then been admonished for doing so by both Athena and Apollo himself.
"Polly, mail!" Trucy shouted, bounding into the office. He took the stack of mail from her and immediately put the top few letters aside - he'd do a lot for Mr. Wright, but he wasn't about to pay his bills for him yet. There were a couple of letters for him, mostly administrative business, and then, near the bottom of the stack, two letters without a stamp on either of them. One had 'Athena' written on it in sloppy handwriting, the other 'Apollo'. Apollo carefully put Athena's letter aside and opened his own. Inside was a handwritten letter.
"Who's it from?" Trucy asked, leaning over his shoulder to get a better look at the letter's contents. Apollo shook his head.
"Dunno. Let me read."
Apollo,
I'm sending this letter to Klavier and Athena too. I hope you're all doing okay. Once again, I'm sorry for getting you in trouble, and I hope that one day you'll be able to forgive me.
I have made a lot of mistakes in the past - if you knew the full extent of them, you'd probably think even worse of me. Still, I'm hoping to make up for it somehow. Yubel and me have taken Ator back to the Desert World. She'll stand trial there, though I don't know how seriously they'll take it since it was only humans who got hurt. I don't think I can keep her away from Coral forever, but Yubel destroyed that bracelet she had, so it'll take her a bit. You'd better do the same with Coral's bracelet too. Whatever she is, she's not stupid. She'll probably find a way to use it.
Apollo grinned. Coral Drake's bracelet had already been confiscated and was now being studied by Industrial Illusions.
One more thing, Apollo. I'm very sorry about Chrysta as well. I haven't yet personally experienced the pain of losing a partner, and I know that what I'm about to say won't make up for it. But there's a card in this envelope. It belongs to a little gal who's lost in the world, so I hope you'll be able to help her.
Until we meet again,
Yuki Judai and Yubel
P.S. Black Panther says hi. He says you need to practice on running faster.
Apollo grabbed the envelope and turned it upside-down. A card fell out, one of the Duel Monsters cards that had driven the case.
"Eagle Eye?" Trucy read over his shoulder. The picture on the card… It wasn't Chrysta, but it was definitely the monster Chrysta was supposed to be. The eagle in the picture had the same golden head covering Chrysta had had.
Something squeaked.
"Apollo, is that a bird?" Trucy whispered. And indeed, there was a bird hovering over the two of them. Not Chrysta—This bird was far smaller than Chrysta had been, with feathers just a shade darker, interspersed with the downy feathers of a chick that had only just learned to fly.
"Hello there," Apollo whispered. The eagle sized him up warily. "Did he put you in an envelope? That's not very nice."
The bird landed on Apollo's desk and primped her feathers. Trucy eyed her with fascination. He sometimes forgot her vision was as good as his.
"Does that mean I can see spirits now like Mr. Judai, Polly? Wait, can you?" she asked loudly. The bird, shocked by her sudden outburst, hid behind Apollo's stack of paperwork.
"Yes and yes," Apollo said. He put the Duel Monsters card down and held out a hand to the bird. Carefully, the little bird emerged from behind the stack of papers again and pecked at his hand experimentally. Apollo laughed.
"You know what? I think we'll get along just fine."