Chapter 6 - Fate and Iniquity

'Father?'

'Yes, Miles?' Gregory asked and walked into the communal hallway of the courthouse.

'That prosecutor earlier was really mean to you.' Gregory laughed and took his son's hand.

'It is their job. However, Mr. Von Karma is quite an eccentric man, I must admit.' Both travelled towards the elevator of the fifth floor. They had planned to go home as the trial had ended and the case was postponed to after the weekend. Earlier, Miles had waited in the lobby for some minutes to wait for his father who spoke to his client. Miles saw that the man was eventually taken away, likely back to the detention center.

Father and son entered the elevator when the door opened.

'Shall we eat some cake when we get home, Miles?' His father asked his son, while he pushed the button of the ground floor.

'Yes, please!' Miles replied eagerly as he still hold on to his father's hand.

The elevator stopped midway and another man entered the elevator.

'Good afternoon, Mr. Yogi,' Gregory said and gave a nod. The man in court bailiff uniform replied also with a nod and gave Miles a smile.

As the elevator went down, suddenly the lights went out. Miles directly looked at his father, who gave him the reassuring words: 'It will be alright, Miles. Nothing to worry about.'

But then, the elevator stopped moving and the lights were still out. The three realized that the elevator was not moving, but the building was shaking instead.

'It must be an earthquake!' Mr. Yogi said, slightly panicked and pushed the alarm button to call for help. Miles squeezed his father's hand tightly and looked up at him.

'There must be a total blackout. No one is responding!' Mr. Yogi started bonking on the door, shouting for help.

'Calm down, they will be here soon,' Gregory said to the man and sat down on the floor. Miles followed his father's example.

Suddenly after an hour, the elevator moved down, but almost directly stopped again. Owing to the sudden movement, one of the plates of the elevator's ceiling came down. As quick as he could, Gregory pulled his son to his side and covered him with his body. Miles panted and Gregory saw the fear in his son's eyes.

'They will be here soon, Miles,' Gregory spoke and hoped to calm down his son with these words.

It was unfortunately not as Gregory had said and after two hours, there was still no help.

'F-father?' Miles said with a stuttering voice.

'Yes, my son?' Gregory asked. He had put Miles between his legs and embraced him.

'I- I have trouble… breathing.'

Gregory knew what his son meant, he himself had noticed this difficulty as well. The other man in the elevator was still pushing the alarm button non-stop and banging on the elevator door every now and then.

Another hour went by and the oxygen in the elevator had gotten little.

'I…can't breathe…,' Mr. Yogi slowly panted and started desperately shouting again for help while hitting the door.

'Don't shout… you are using all the air that is left,' Gregory puffed to the bailiff.

This angered the man tremendously and he came closer towards him and Miles. Gregory crawled up and stood in front of his sitting son to protect him in the case the other man would go wild.

'You…you are the one breathing my air!' the man finally screamed and grabbed Gregory's lapels. They struggled, and the Mr. Yogi's gun fell out of his holster. Gregory was pushed against the wall of the elevator and Miles' eyes became bigger as he saw that his father was in trouble. He was scared. In the fight, Gregory unconsciously pushed away the gun with his foot. Miles sat at the other side of the elevator and breathed heavily, looking at the two fighting. He was dizzy but suddenly felt the gun laying against his lower leg. His father groaned as the other man pushed him against the wall for the second time. With all strength Miles had left, he stood up.

'No! Get away from my father!' he cried, picked up the gun and threw it at the court bailiff.

'Miles! No!'

Then, he heard this bang and terrible scream. Everything went black.

'M-Miles? Miles?! Are you awake?!' Miles could hear someone calling his name, somewhere far away. He almost could not open his eyes and he felt this certain thing on his face. Finally, after trying his best, he could open them and realized he was lying in a bed. There was this thing on his face, it helped him with breathing. Where am I?

'Miles?' Miles turned his gaze towards the side of his bed where the voice was coming from. Father?

Instead, Miles saw Raymond sitting next to the bed with a worried expression on his face. Is he crying?

'Miles! I am so glad you are awake!' Raymond grabbed one of Miles' hands and say the boy looking at him. Miles was very confused.

'F-Father? Where-' he tried to ask but started coughing. A nurse, who just came into the room, ran towards Miles' bed.

'Calm down, calm down,' she ordered him and slowly took of the breathing mask.

'How are you feeling?' the nurse asked him, as she helped him sit up straight.

'I feel…dizzy,' he replied.

'You suffered from oxygen deprivation, but you are almost fine, Miles.'

'Where is fath-,' he coughed again.

'Take deep breaths. Do not talk too much,' she patted him on the back. It was only then that Miles noticed this man in a black coat behind Raymond. Instead of saying anything, he just pointed at the man with a confused expression.

'Hello Miles, I am detective Matthew Sylvester. I am here to ask you some questions, only if you are feeling well, of course.'

'Why?' Miles could manage to say without coughing.

'Do you remember what happened, Miles?' Raymond asked him. Miles saw that Raymond was feeling depressed, this was not the Raymond he knew. He was always happy and enthusiastic, not gloomy.

'I…I…,' Miles began. Then his eyes grew big.

'Is there something wrong with my father?!' he yelled, fear in his eyes and eventually gasping for air.

Raymond avoided Miles' gaze.

'Miles, calm down and take a deep breath,' the detective said and sat on the edge of the bed.

'Tell me…please… I want to know,' Miles begged and tears swelled up in the corners of his eyes.

'Your father…,' he slowly began and sighed. 'Y-your father has left our world… h-he is now in heaven.'

Miles looked at him in horror and tears kept flowing over his face.

'Is…father…is…he…he…dead?' Miles spoke with difficulty. The detective bit his lip and embraced Miles.

'He… is,' he said softly and kept stroking Miles' back.

'He..is…not coming back?' Miles cried and looked at Raymond while still being held by the detective. Raymond looked at Miles, big tears also falling from his face.

'…He is in heaven, Miles,' the detective answered and kept holding him tightly. Miles cried and cried, almost hyperventilating. The nurse looked at the poor boy, almost crying herself when she adjusted the breathing mask back on his face.

'Father…,' Miles wept and tried to speak with the mask on.

'We are here for you, Miles,' Raymond said to him and took one of the boy's hands.

They sat there for almost half an hour, Miles still crying in the detective's shoulder and his hand being held by his father's friend and pupil.

'Did..did he have… a… heart attack?' he asked the detective after he calmed down a little, but still in massive shock. He had put off the mask again as it bothered him.

'…it was indeed his heart,' the man in the black coat answered and wiped away the boy's tears. Eventually, he let go of the boy. Raymond stared at detective Sylvester and knew it was perhaps best to hide the truth for a while and wait for Miles until he was ready to hear the whole story.

'Miles?!' two voices shouted from the entrance of the room.

He looked at who was coming and saw both his aunt Monica and his uncle rushing towards him.

'Miles? Are you feeling alright? Are you hurt anywhere?' Monica asked him with wet eyes and hugged him.

'Aunt Monica,' Miles cried again and held onto her tightly.

'Shh, I am here, Miles.' She looked at the detective, who nodded at her. She knew what it meant, he had told Miles the most horrible thing a kid could hear.

His father was dead. Gregory was not coming back, Miles knew. He had never cried as much as that unfortunate day.

A/N

In the game (AA2), Miles and Phoenix talked about Miles' aunt. I decided that she is called Monica and she is Gregory's older sister. She cares deeply for Miles, as he is her only nephew. Monica and her husband do not have any children.