After not updating in, like, forever, I have finally completed this chapter. :) I swear, I never want to go through the hell that is severe writer's block ever again.

And now, on to the review replies;

loveyourbiggestfan: I say parts of the chapters I write suck every time. And then the reviewers are always like, "Are you crazy? That was awesome!" So I should probably shut up about it? XD

Fireblast123: Ron DeLite coming in as MaskDeMasque? That would be pretty funny. 'Cept he'd need something to steal, of course. XD And Iris and Maya trying to get Phoenix's attention would be entertaining. . . and probably painful, if Pearl saw him talking to Iris and not to Maya. . .

Disturbo: Your review made my ego swell three sizes. XD

princessphilomena: Yay, tears! :) I'm sorry. I just like it when people cry at those parts, and not because the chapter itself sucked. XD As for the death penalty I'm from Canada too, and we don't use it anymore, so I honestly have no clue how it works. -smiles sheepishly-

Now, on the issue of whether or not Diego/Godot will be appearing at the reunion, I have come to two decisions. The first is whether or not he will show up. The second is that I am not telling you, even though the beginning of the reunion is only a couple of chapters away, simply because I hate spoiling even little bits of the story for the readers. Don'thateme?

And now, for the fifth chapter. . .

Chapter 5

Engagement

The next day was the start of Maya's lectures at the Gatewater. Pearl, whose presence wasn't required, showed up on Phoenix's doorstep bright and early, her face all smiles as she carried a bundle of gray tabby fur into the room.

". . . Is that the cat?" Phoenix asked, stepping aside to let her through. "Maya's cat?"

Pearl cradled the cat in her arms, gazing at Phoenix with wide, pleading eyes. "Mystic Maya was going to leave when he got past her and into the hall. One of the maids saw him, Mr. Nick. Mystic Maya told me to–"

Phoenix sighed and shook his head. "I told Maya she wasn't allowed to leave him at my place," he informed Pearl. "Sorry, Pearls, but I just don't have the time or money to be looking after a cat." He thought for a second, then added, "Well, I have the time, just not the money."

Pearl nodded. "Mystic Maya said you would say that," she replied, scratching the cat behind his ears. "That's why she told me to leave him with Mr. Justice. Only. . . I don't know where Mr. Justice lives."

Phoenix stared at her for a moment. "Oh," was all he said.

Trucy bounded into the room just then, wide awake and fully-dressed in her regular blue cape and silk top hat. He had been awake for only fifteen minutes, but still, he had not realized that she was up as well. She caught sight of Phoenix the cat and rushed over to him, crying, "Awww!"

"Trucy can show you where Apollo lives," Phoenix told her, trying not to look at Maya's cat, knowing that, if he did, he would end up caving in and allowing him to stay here. "It's not very far from here." He decided against asking why Trucy was awake so early, deciding that it didn't exactly matter. "What time does Maya's lecture end?"

Pearl bit her lip as she tried to remember Maya's schedule. "Well, Mystic Maya has lectures all this morning, but she also has a demonstration on how to charge a magatama with spiritual energy this afternoon. I think she's finished at two."

He nodded to himself. "So, you'll be coming back here after you drop off the cat with Apollo, or will you stay over there?"

Trucy answered instead of Pearl this time. "We'll stay over there, Daddy. Have fun!" She led the way out the door quickly, Pearl following her, looking slightly taken aback. Phoenix shook his head and closed the door, then went back to his bedroom with the sole intent of catching up some more on his sleep.

—Apollo Justice—

Apollo was, surprisingly, awake when Pearl and Trucy knocked on his apartment door. He had just finished the last of his calls to the people on the invitation list, and felt quite pleased with himself as he checked off the person he had just called when he heard someone's fist pound on the door and the mew of a cat.

"Who's that?" he asked as he stood up from the kitchen table, hurrying toward the door. Before he could reach it, he heard the lock click, and Trucy was opening the door, grinning from ear-to-ear. Behind her was Pearl, carrying Maya's cat, Phoenix. She set him down and looked around the apartment critically, taking in the general mess of the kitchen/living room area.

"Say hi to your new roommate, Apollo!" Trucy said, gesturing toward Phoenix the cat.

". . . Um, Trucy?" Apollo was staring at Phoenix, who was sniffing a table leg. "Why is Maya's cat in my apartment?"

"One of the maids saw Phoenix and Mystic Maya isn't allowed to keep him there anymore," Pearl explained.

Trucy nodded. "So you have to keep him until they leave," she finished.

Apollo stared at Phoenix a few seconds longer, then looked up at Trucy. "Why can't you keep him?" he asked.

"Mystic Maya promised Mr. Nick she wouldn't leave Phoenix with him," Pearl replied. Her eyes were wide and pleading. "Please, Mr. Justice?"

He almost refused. Almost. He opened his mouth, ready to say, "No. I can't afford it, and I'm not that fond of cats." If it had been Trucy who had asked him, he would have said it, too. But Pearl had this sad look on her face, the kind that you'd have to be heartless to say no to.

"I can try to stick it out, I guess," he replied instead before he could stop himself. "And you don't have to call me Mr. Justice. Call me Apollo."

Pearl bit her lip. "Um. . . okay, Mr. Apollo."

. . . Well, we made some progress, he thought to himself. "Is he trained for a litter box?" he asked Pearl, glancing nervously at Phoenix, who had curled up beneath the table and was watching them with slightly narrowed eyes.

She nodded. "He prefers going outside, though."

I'll have to buy one for him, then. And I'll have to buy a food and water dish. And some food for him, of course, and. . . Apollo could see some of his meager savings disappear as he thought about it.

Trucy had drifted over to the table he had been sitting at a few minutes ago, reading the invitation list. "You already called everyone?" she asked, surprised.

Apollo looked over at her and nodded. "Yeah. And I'm pretty surprised that they all agreed to come. Some of them are pretty famous, and, well, Mr. Wright was widely known as the Forgin' Attorney for a while back. . ."

Pearl glowered at him, pushing back her sleeve threateningly. "Mr. Nick didn't forge anything!" she told him sternly.

"Of course he didn't!" Apollo replied, taken aback by her sudden change in demeanor. "I was the one who proved that!"

Pearl stared at him blankly for a few seconds. Then a look of understanding unfolded on her face. "Oh! I remember! That case last month, the one that made Mystic Maya skip around Fey Manor and sing, 'Yes, he's innocent!' a lot."

"Didn't she always think that Mr. Wright was innocent, though?" he asked her, confused.

She nodded. "Yes, but the elders back in Kurain Village didn't. That's why she could only visit Mr. Nick once, years ago. But, now that he's innocent, they let her visit him!"

. . . I have a feeling that, even if I hadn't been able to prove his innocence and the elders still wanted her to stay away from Wright, she'd have visited him anyway, he thought. Aloud, he said, "Well, that's, um, good."

His words were followed by a long, awkward silence. Trucy watched Phoenix the cat explore his new home, while Pearl began to tidy up the kitchen, evidently deciding that it needed to be cleaned. Apollo watched her for a few minutes, until a question popped into his head. "Hey, can I ask you something, Pearl?"

Pearl looked up from the table that she was clearing off. "Yes, Mr. Apollo?"

"Why are you having this reunion, anyway?" He sat down on a chair, resting his elbows on part of the junk-free table. "I think Mr. Wright and Maya are fine just hanging out with each other. Why invite everyone they know?"

Pearl stared at him as if he were insane. "Because they'll be getting engaged, of course!"

Apollo returned her look. ". . . What?!"

"Mr. Nick and Mystic Maya have been in love for years," she informed him, her face sincere. "They wanted to get married, but Mr. Nick losing his badge made the elders hate him, so she couldn't. But now that it's all better, she can marry him now! I think they'll announce their engagement at the reunion."

"And did Maya tell you all this?" he asked her, raising an eyebrow.

Pearl never missed a beat. "No, but she told me she has feelings for Mr. Nick, and I think he feels the same way!"

"Pearl, I don't think–" Apollo began, but he saw Pearl push back her sleeve, and changed tactic at top speed, "Um, do you have any other kind of evidence that proves it?"

Pearl touched the magatama that hung from a chord around her neck. "Mystic Maya gave Mr. Nick her magatama to hold on to," she said, her voice matter-of-fact. "Mr. Nick has defended Mystic Maya twice, even though everyone believed she was the bad person. Then Mystic Maya was the one who helped Mr. Nick after his badge was taken away. And you notice how much time they're spending alone together? On dates?"

Apollo opened his mouth to point out that, after not seeing a friend for seven years, anyone would want to spend time alone with that friend, but he didn't particularly want a nosebleed, so he closed it again. Trucy, who had been silent for several moments, piped up, "And Daddy hasn't been acting like his usual self lately."

"Huh?" Apollo asked, turning to look at her, one eyebrow raised.

She shrugged. "Daddy seems to be happier ever since Maya came back. He just seems to have a new personality. Maybe Maya's bringing that part of him back?"

Pearl beamed, pleased to have someone taking her side. "See? See? They're in love!" she cried loudly.

Apollo shushed her. "Okay, okay, maybe they are in love," he conceded. "But don't get your hopes up, all right?"

Pearl glared silently at him. He quailed beneath her gaze. Trucy giggled at him. He tried glaring at her the same way Pearl was glaring at him, but that only made her laugh harder. Sighing, he turned back to Pearl. "Just. . . just don't, you know, take the microphone halfway-through the reunion and announce their marriage, okay?" He stood up and stretched. "I'm going to pick up some food for the cat. Don't trash anything, Trucy." He left the apartment, closing the door behind him.

The angry look on Pearl's face, to be replaced with one of thoughtfulness. To Trucy, she said "That's not a bad idea. The announcement." Then she frowned. "But Mr. Justice said not to."

Trucy waved a gloved hand dismissively. "Aw, Apollo's no fun. I think you should do it, anyway."

Pearl looked uneasy. "I don't know. . ."

"Don't worry about it!" Trucy sat down at the table, pulling the list of people to invite toward her and flipping it over to the blank side. Taking the pen, she added, "I'll help you write what you'll say, okay?"

"Um. . . sure, okay!" Pearl sat down beside Trucy and, together, they began writing her speech.

—Phoenix Wright—

Phoenix arrived at the Gatewater at a quarter to two, and, deciding against finding Maya's conference room, waited for her in the lobby, his hands in his pockets as he tried to look as at ease as possible. The woman behind the check-in desk was watching him suspiciously, and he had the feeling that she was all for kicking him out, except she was talking to someone on the phone. He didn't blame her; people who looked like hobos loitering in five-star hotel lobbies were generally frowned upon by employees.

A few minutes after his arrival, the woman hung up the phone and walked over to him, trying and failing to look pleasant. "Can I help you, sir?" she asked, sounding as if helping him was the last thing in the world she wanted to do.

"Oh, I'm just waiting for a friend," he said in a friendly voice. "She should be out in a few minutes."

"Well, could you wait outside, please? We don't encourage people like–" she stopped, but Phoenix had the feeling that she had been about to say, "like you."

He shrugged, smiling. "Like me? I'm sorry, Miss, but I think I'd prefer waiting in here, unless you could direct me to the lecture Maya Fey's giving right now?"

The woman rolled her eyes. "Oh, yes. The spirit medium conference." She pointed at the ceiling. "Second floor, first door on the left." She went back behind the desk, and continued watching him as he climbed the stairs to the second floor, a long hallway with yellow walls lined by doors and a rich red carpet rolled down the middle.

The first door on the left was open; curious, he looked inside. It was a small room, with the same coloured walls and carpet as the hall outside. Tables, covered with white table cloths, were scattered all over the place, with five or six people sitting at each. All attention was focused on the front of the room, where Maya was standing, holding a glowing green magatama in her right hand so that everyone in the room could see.

"–and if someone lies, locks and chains will appear. Depending on how much the person wants to hide their secret, their will be a certain number of locks, and the harder it is to break them," she was confidently explaining to her audience. "Any more questions?"

No one raised their hand. A white-haired, wrinkled man sitting in the back of the room stood up. Phoenix guessed him to be the professor who had arranged the lectures for his occult students. "Thank you, Ms. Fey," he said in a wavering voice, beginning to clap. The others joined in, and, flustered, Maya grinned at them.

"Thank you, everybody," she said happily, pocketing the magatama she held. "Remember, the next session is two days from now, here at ten o'clock."

As students began to stand up and leave, Phoenix slipped into the room. Several stared at him as he walked by; others ignored him on purpose, brushing past him into the hall. Maya bounced over to him, grinning. "Hey, Nick!" she said, clapping her hands tomorrow. "How are you? I didn't expect you to come so soon!"

"I'm the same as I was yesterday; tired," he told her. "How were the lectures today?"

"They were great! They were a lot more interested than I thought they'd be." She yawned. "Still, I'll be glad for the two-day rest before I have to talk again."

"You're not the only person speaking here?" Phoenix asked, a bit surprised.

Maya shook her head, looking exasperated, as if the answer to his question was the most obvious in the world. "Nope. They have other spirit mediums who practice other techniques here, too. I think there's four or five other mediums here, besides me. In two days, we start demonstrating the differences between each, and then I have the next few days to myself." Then she smiled. "So, what's up with you?"

Phoenix shrugged, pulling up two chairs. He pushed one toward Maya and sat down in the other, his elbows on his knees as he told her, "I think Pearls and Trucy are up to something."

She grinned, plopping down into her chair. "I had a feeling they might be. Pearly said she was going to spend the day with Trucy, but when I asked her what they were going to do, she ignored me."

"That's not very Pearls-like," Phoenix agreed. "As for Trucy, she's always up to something or other, and I think they may have roped Apollo into it, too, whatever it is. Poor guy."

Maya laughed. "Poor Apollo. But still, I wonder what they're up to that they don't want us to know about?"

He shrugged again. "Well, Trucy thinks that you and I are dating, like Pearls does. Do you think that might be it?"

Was it just him, or did the laughter in Maya's eyes waver for just a second? He blinked, but her face was all smiles again. "Probably." Her eyes slid to the ground. "I wish Pearly would just. . . let it rest, you know? It was kind of cute when she was younger, but now, she should know. . ." Her voice trailed off, as if she had lost her train of thought. Then she shook her head and stood up. "Hey, let me just go back to my room and get something, all right? Then we can go somewhere. Wait for me in the lobby?"

"Sure, if I don't get kicked out before you come down," Phoenix replied with a snort, standing up as well. "See you in a few minutes." He watched Maya leave the room first, thinking, What was she going to say a minute ago? That we wouldn't go out together? Or something else?

After a moment of silent debate with himself, he decided that it probably didn't matter, and left the conference room, closing the door behind him on his way out.

If this chapter seems a bit. . . rushed, I apologize. I just really, really wanted to get it over with so I could get to the parts I've been itching to write since I first thought of this fic, and I want to get as much of it done as possible (finishing it would be great, but I'm not that delusional) before the end of June, when I leave for a six-week trip that will probably not leave me much time to write and update.

As ever, reviews and concrit are appreciated. :)