(Sorry this one is a bit short, but I couldn't think of a way to extend it properly. Please review and I'll update quickly!)
Chapter 16
The look of purest annoyance never left Manfred von Karma's face as he walked to a steady rhythm toward the entrance hall. He wasn't about to let it show, but the fact that Franziska had found him bothered him slightly. He had remained low, not allowed his name to appear anywhere on any records. He rarely ever left this house, having more than enough people at his disposal to handle anything he needed them to. However, she had still managed to get here somehow, and the fact that she even had the gall to come angered him deeply.
As he neared the entrance hall, voices reached his ears, and it seemed one of his men was attempting to get his visitor to leave.
"I don't care that he is your father! You are not wanted here!"
"I'm not leaving, Riedel! I did not come here on invitation, so obviously it does not matter whether I am wanted or not!"
"Do I have to personally remove you from the—"
"You lay a hand on me and I will smack you so hard your grandchildren will be born dizzy!"
"Enough!"
Both occupants of the lobby turned to look at the man who had just entered. Riedel looked hopeful, as if expecting his boss to back him up, while Franziska simply folded her arms and inclined her head a bit, her expression unreadable, but in no way frightened.
"Sir," Riedel began quickly. "I've been trying to get her to leave, but—"
"If you will excuse us." He wasn't looking at his lackey, but the man knew to whom he was speaking. With a reproachful expression, he left the room, leaving father and daughter alone.
Manfred began to walk forward, keeping his gaze fixed on the young woman before him. Her facial expression was the only thing on her he really recognized, and even that had something new within it. Her hair had grown out even more in these past two months and it was pulled back out of her face in a loose braid that could be seen over her right shoulder due to the tilt of her head. She was also dressed down considerably, wearing a simple red sweater and a pair of black dress pants, although she still wore those black, heeled boots. He also noticed that her whip was nowhere to be found. She looked older, more mature in every aspect, no longer the wild mare she had been before. She was calmer, more dignified, presenting a quiet yet powerful air of confidence and strength.
He even saw it in the way she was standing now; her demeanor had completely changed, and with a sneer he realized how like Miles Edgeworth she appeared now.
"Guten Tag, Franziska."
"That's close enough." He was about five feet from her now, and she didn't wish for that distance to shorten any further.
For a moment, Manfred considered continuing to advance just to assert his authority, but he saw no real reason to do so and stopped.
"I would prefer to skip the introductions if you don't mind," Franziska continued, her expression unchanging as she stood with her arms still folded across her chest. She did not hold her head high in a proud sort of way, but held it slightly lowered giving her a rather dark appearance, and her tone of voice matched this. "You know why I'm here."
He took another moment to take in her appearance, then allowed a smirk to form on his lips. "What I would like to know is how you found this place and what gave you the false notion that coming here would solve anything."
In response to this, Franziska closed her eyes and a smirk curled the corners of her mouth as a soft laugh sounded in her throat. She then opened her eyes once more, but the smirk did not vanish. "As unfortunate as it may seem," she began, "I am your daughter. Did you honestly think that I wouldn't be able to find you? And as for my coming here…" She thrust her head back up for the soul purpose of getting her bangs out of her eyes, but did not lower it all the way to its original level. "…You were sadly mistaken if you thought I would sit idly by and let you do this. In case you haven't noticed, I'm not a child any longer; I'm not so easily frightened."
This time, it was Manfred who began to laugh, and it was more menacing than she had ever heard it before. "Not a child." His laughter grew slightly louder as he began to walk, moving past her as she kept a close eye on him. "Really, Franziska, do you think that you can consider yourself an adult simply because you've slept with Miles Edgeworth?"
"I fail to see how that is any of your business." She had somehow managed to keep her expression from wavering, though his words had shocked her. However, she couldn't keep the bitterness from her tone.
"Oh, for God sake, Girl!" He turned on her again, no longer smirking, but sneering. "Your expression, the way you speak, the colors you wear, even the way you carry yourself: you are just like him! Like a child you clung to the first man to show you the slightest bit of attention and imitated his every move!"
"Then perhaps you have yourself to blame!" It was the first time she had raised her voice since their conversation had begun, and it was the first time that her true anger had penetrated that perfect composure. "Your so-called 'perfection' extended no further than whatever courtroom you happened to be prosecuting in at any given time! If you wanted an heir, perhaps you should have given more thought into being a father! After everything you put us through I am amazed at how stupid I was to ever trust your ways! Even after I learned that you were the true killer behind the DL-6 Incident, like an ignorant child I continued to follow in your tainted footsteps, and then I too lost my perfect record to that same defense attorney, twice! Miles was the one who saved me from that mistake, who saved me from becoming what you are now: a deranged, obsessive, psychotic, self-centered ego-maniac!"
A ringing silent fell between them, and Franziska realized just how tense she had become. All of the fury that had been festering silently over the past two years had just erupted in an explosion of bitter hate. Her adrenaline was still pumping; she wasn't finished yet.
Manfred von Karma stared on in pure shock as these words reached his ears. Never had this girl ever had the audacity to stand up to him like this. As a matter of fact, there was only one other person who ever had, and this outburst from his daughter only confirmed his suspicions and made him hate that man even more. "You think he saved you, do you?"
Somehow, Franziska knew where this was going, and she wanted to stop it before it began. "Don't even try to vilify him," she hissed. "You're a liar and we both know it!"
"He used you, Franziska!" The sound of shattering glass mingled with his shout as he flung his fist back and sent a decorative urn sailing from its shelf to the hardwood floor behind him. "He saw just how easy you are to manipulate, and he took advantage of that! You think he gave a damn what it would do to you?! He simply craved that sense of power that controlling my daughter would afford him! That dog lured you into an obvious trap, and you so willingly took the bait! Because of him, you are no longer a von Karma!"
She hadn't thought it was possible, but her loathing of him deepened with every word that was said. "That's funny," she snarled in a low and dangerous voice. "It sounded to me like you were just describing yourself."
Having nearly reached the point of having had it with her insolence, Manfred's left hand balled into a tight fist against his side as he glared at her.
"If what you say is true," she continued, no louder than was necessary, "then I would be dead. I would have been killed three months before you managed to break out of prison."
"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded, remembering that for three months before he got out, she had not prosecuted a single case. His outside sources had informed him that it was around that time she had started becoming very close to Miles Edgeworth, so he had become convinced that boy was to blame.
"A man I had prosecuted and sent to death-row escaped almost half a year ago and pursued me. He shot Miles and then attempted to kill me, and he would have succeeded had Miles not come to my aid. Even with his injury he fought, and during that fight his wound was reopened. Bleeding to death and with only one usable arm, he took that man's life for me, and to those of us who have a conscience, murdering someone—even if they deserve it—is an act that can destroy the person who commits it. So, don't even try to tell me he didn't care, because only a fool would believe that someone would put themselves in so much danger simply to have a sense of power over one person. And as for no longer being a von Karma…"
She reached up to push her bangs back again, making sure to look him directly in the eyes as she said this.
"…That was my decision."
The silence that followed felt like an eternity, though it probably only lasted a few seconds. Franziska's cold stare remained steady, but inwardly her anxiety was building. What she had just said was more than anyone would ever dare to before this man, and she could already tell from just these few minutes spent with him that his time in prison had changed him, although the thought of what he was doing to Miles pretty much gave her that impression in the first place. If she had dared to say anything to him like this as a child, he would have probably knocked her unconscious without hesitation, so she couldn't help but feel a bit of fear now that he had lost what bit of sanity he might have had.
A fury like none he had ever felt before was burning within him, yet somehow it did not erupt into a violent assault as it usually would. Somehow, he contained it, and a smirk etched its way back onto his face as he advanced slowly, only having to take a few steps to stand right in front of her. This forced her to tilt her head back to look up at him, and after searching for some time, he found the small amount of fear in her eyes.
"Come with me," he all but whispered, "and I will show you what's left of your 'knight in shining armor'."
She turned to follow him with her gaze as he moved past her and proceeded out of the entrance lobby. She waited for a moment until she was sure he was out of earshot, and then spoke in the lowest voice she could while still being heard before exiting the room after him.
"We're coming."