Ah, the last chapter! I'm fairly sad to see this end, but I'm pleased to say that my week living in my fort has given me considerable inspiration and ideas for a sequel. If you all want one, of course. I really hope you enjoy the fruit of my efforts, and I've tried very hard to make this a good chapter! Thank you for reading!
(P.S. I'm so so so so so sorry for the extremely long wait. This has been done, but my muse refused to give me feedback on it and I didn't feel comfortable posting it until I edited it as well as I thought possible. If you actually read this, thank you for bearing with me!)
Apollo Justice was less than thrilled with his current situation. The police department had immediately sent out a missing persons report when Prosecutor Gavin didn't appear in court, and soon after it was discovered that Detective Skye was MIA as well. And Apollo had been not-so-willingly been recruited for the search party.
Trucy, of course, had insisted on tagging along, and seemed to be losing her everlasting hope fast. She tugged at his sleeve, poked his shoulders, stepped on his feet, whimpered softly. Her constant cries of "Polly!" had caused many unwanted glares and glances at the distribution of search areas, and Apollo was certainly ready for the two missing persons to turn up again so that he could get back to his vocal exercises.
If this was Ema's real-life romance novel, she wanted to file a complaint. Or get a refund. Or just anything. Why couldn't she have been stuck with anyone else? She would have preferred Mr. Edgeworth, but she had heard a few tales of his behavior in elevators. Phoenix would have spent the whole time musing on law and the new jurist system, Gumshoe would make her feel a bit better about her income, and at least Polly wouldn't have the gall to try anything.
But noooo. She had to get stuck with stuck-up, rude, crude, wanton, pretty, foppish, good-kisser Gavin.
She could have cut the newly-formed tension with a scalpel, dissected it, and written a essay on all of the ways Klavier Gavin had ruined her life. But she couldn't deny that he made it more...eventful.
Meanwhile, Klavier was feeling pretty attractive. If he wasn't mistaken, he had just gotten kissed back. Kissed by his own snarky little fräulein. Perhaps assuming that this meant she was hopelessly in love with him (and honestly, how couldn't she be?), he gleefully took a few steps closer and placed his hands on her waist. Ema shot him a dirty look, but Klavier didn't notice. He simply picked her up and hoisted her over his shoulder.
He immediately felt his captive's small fists beating into his back, but both of them knew that it wasn't going to do much. It wouldn't stop Ema from trying though. After a few minutes of chuckling and playful spinning on the fop's part, a well placed kick effectively sent her tumbling back towards the ground, while Klavier just struggled to keep from crying.
Ouch.
Ema knew that she had hurt him. The airy, pained gasp was enough to assure her of that. But she did not like being flung around.
Then she looked over at him. He had set himself up in the opposite corner, arm gingerly leaning on a railing for support. His normally clear, china blue eyes were clouded with tears, threatening to tumble out at any second. Her heart ached, actually feeling bad for hurting the fop for once. She weighed her options, finally deciding to quasi-make up for it.
She padded over to his side and placed a hand on his arm. Her face flared, not expecting to be able to feel his muscles through the jacket. Ema garbled out a few nonsense words before finally coming up with "I'm sorry!", at which point Klavier finally turned to look at her. His lips curled into a small smile at her obvious fluster, then trailed his eyes down to where her hand rested.
Ema quickly retracted her hand, stuffing it hastily into the crook of the other arm. She frowned, leaving him to decipher her swinging moods.
"Do not worry about me, fräulein. I'm sure I'll be perfectly fine as long as I'm here with you."
She struggled to hold back a snort, somewhat relieved but also slightly annoyed that he had rebounded so easily. Sure it was good that he was feeling better, but Ema was not looking forward to more foppish hijinks...
And then they dropped.
Trucy jumped. Much to her delight, the doors in front of her whizzed open to reveal the prosecutor's office. People buzzed all around, talking over walkie-talkies or fancy cellular telephones. "Gavin" seemed to be a reoccurring topic, and the young magician soon was asking her companion why people weren't talking about Ema as much.
"Because...Well, er-" Apollo didn't rightly know why Ema wasn't being mentioned. She was probably the best detective on the force besides Gumshoe himself, and definitely the best at keeping the teenage girls away. "Because they think that she's with Prosecutor Gavin. So if they can find him, then... yeah."
He stroked the back of his head nervously, trying to think up a better answer if Trucy refused to believe him.
Fortunately, no such protest came. It seemed perfectly reasonable to the girl, who now was much less worried. In fact, she felt a twinge of sadness that Mr. Gavin and Ema's getaway would be ruined if they were found. Nevertheless, the attorney and his assistant pushed through the crowds. Trucy raced to press the button first, and she didn't notice that no one else was competing with her.
Before they could even reach the elevator doors, Gumshoe had appeared. He looked downtrodden and sad, and Apollo tried to determine if this was how he normally looked.
"Elevator's broke, pal. They've been tryin' to fix it for the past day. If you're tryin' to get to Prosecutor Gavin's office, you're gonna have to walk." Someone listlessly called out to the detective and he started to walk off. "But if you find anything, make sure you tell me, pal!"
Trucy and Apollo exchanged glances, both looking once more at the scraggly Dick Gumshoe before pressing the button anyways. Of course nothing happened, but it made Trucy feel good and distracted them both long enough for more officers to jab their elbows into their backs and scurry off.
After scaring a few people off with The Amazing Mr. Hat, the crew of Wright and Co. Anything Agency set off on a trek to the Head Prosecutor's office by way of stair.
Ema's back smashed into the wall. The dull throb of pain was smothered by the confusion and primal instinct of the heated moment, her arms slowly finding their way around the prosecutor's neck as he smiled against her lips. Neither seemed to know where the other was going, thus resulting in a rather mangled but otherwise enjoyable kiss. Klavier whined when the detective jerked away, but she didn't seem in the temperament to throttle him.
"If we live, we're going to dinner. You're buying, I'm driving."
It obviously wasn't a question. As soon as she had finished, the two were playing another round of rather violent tonsil hockey. So violent that neither seemed to notice that the water now ceased to trickle down their forms or that the metal car was no longer dropping at ridiculous speed. The impending doom that led to the impulsive make-out session was now just subtle movement, and it seemed as if now they were returning upwards. But they didn't care, and continued sucking the air out of each others lungs for a few seconds more.
Of course Ema had been the first to hear the ding of the door's bell and the whirring of the doors as they slid open. She pushed the German away quickly, turning to see a rather flustered Apollo and smiling Trucy peeking in. In an attempt to keep at least some smidge of dignity, her palm connected with the tanned skin of her "attacker" with a sickening clap before she briskly trotted off, pushing through the duo and continuing on til she reached the stair well.
Klavier blinked, trying to keep some form of composure while both his lips and cheek tingled with pain. He made a b-line out of the elevator before the doors closed, but the inquisitive glances he received from Fräulein Wright and the defense attorney were enough to wish himself back in. Before either could pose a question, a voice echoed through the well.
"Hurry up, Gavin!"
He smiled, offering a curt wave to the two before sprinting off and closing the door behind him.