Phoenix

(For Gravaja Umbros)

I have a confession to make...

I fell for "Dahlia Hawthorne", for "Dollie", so quickly that I barely had a minute to catch up with myself. Those were the happiest months of my life, happiest time that I've had since I was at school with Miles and Larry and the three of us were a happy team, where Miles was the best friend I ever had, before he left. The happiest time until Mia hired me, until she became my friend. Before Dollie came along, I was lonely; I had friends, but I had totally lost my way, I'd lost my goal. I wanted to find him, to save Miles, but by the time I got to college I'd fallen by the wayside, chosen a major far from what I really wanted to be doing because some of my friends were doing it, because I thought it would be...I don't know, easier. And then Dollie comes along and becomes a bright light in my life, leading me happily on my way.

And then she tried to kill me.

I couldn't cope, couldn't cope at all for a long time afterwards. I sat inside, I didn't see anyone. I didn't want to. And then, then, I got the phonecall.

"Hello, is this Phoenix Wright?"

"Yes. Who's calling?"

"It's Mia Fey. Remember me? I was the lawyer. I'm actually calling with a proposal for you...if you would be at all interested."

And, of course, that's when my life changed. You all know the story from there; Mia died, I met Maya, and I became pretty successful following in Mia's footsteps. I was able to put Dollie behind me, forget about her, forget about how she was like two people, because my Dollie, my Dollie was not that evil woman who had been sentenced to die, she was not Dahlia Hawthorne, who had tried to kill me, who had killed Doug, who had killed Mia's lover. Not my I pushed her out of my head and focused once again on my original goal, with Maya now to help me, and Mia still guiding me from afar, and somehow, somehow, I did it. I saved him.

My life was never peaceful from when I started on that path, but it was happy. Except for a short time, when I thought he was dead, every bit of the stress was worth it, because I was surrounded by my friends, by my family, and, well, I was saving people. And never once did she cross my mind.

And then she did again.

I won. I got her. She was gone for good, Maya was safe, and Diego Armando was once again alive. And then Iris, sweet, pretty Iris who bore such a resemblance to Dahlia that it could fool us all, told me how she'd fooled me before. Weary from the stress of the trial, weary from everything I'd just seen, everything I'd done, I couldn't even bring myself to be shocked. In fact, I think a part of me knew the minute I met her, the minute I met Iris, I saw the 'Dollie' who had been replaced by Dahlia Hawthorne when Doug died.

I stared at her that night, the memories of our time together overwhelming. Pearls slapped me a few times, but I couldn't stop, I couldn't look away, I couldn't stop thinking about the time we'd had together, the things we'd done together before I'd done them with anyone else, the places we went, the words we'd exchanged. She was the first person, the very first person who wasn't a member of my family, to whom I said "I love you."

I spoke to her alone a few days later.

"You lied to me," I said after a few moments of us looking at each other in silence.

"I know. I'm sorry, Fe-Phoenix. Mr Wright."

"Phoenix is fine," I said, half-smiling at her. "You don't need to apologise, Iris. I know why you lied. I understand."

"I still lied," Iris said, raising her eyes to look at me, and for an instant my heart beat faster - but only an instant. "I didn't have to. I just...I was selfish."

"You were not."

"I fell in love with you, and I let that get on top of everything."

I paused then, memories flashing through my head, our first kiss, our first touch, the feel of holding her against me...

And then they were gone.

"You made me happy, Iris," I told her, and now I was smiling. "Whatever your reasons, whatever your motivation, you made me happy. And I loved you too. So thank you."

Her eyes widened - she was surprised. And then she smiled back at me and we began to talk. We spoke about her life as an acolyte, we spoke about mine as an attorney, about Maya, about Miles, about Pearls, and most of all we spoke about Dahlia. Every word we said, every memory we exchanged, let a little more of her poison out of us, freed us a little bit more. We didn't talk about our shared past, not now. Not again, I don't think. We didn't have to. We'd changed, both of us. She was Iris, not Dollie, the acolyte, the carer, Pearls' sister. And I...I was Phoenix Wright, attorney at law, not Feenie the theatre major, not the soft, naive, lonely boy I was then, who needed my gentle Dollie to protect me, to care for me. I'd loved since then, loved in different ways, loved in the same way as I had once loved Dollie, once loved Iris. We weren't the same people anymore, and neither of us would be alone from now on.

"I'd like to stay your friend," she said gently.

"I'd like that a lot, too."

Time was nearly up now. I stood to go, promising I'd come back and visit as soon as possible, maybe bring Pearls with me, let her get to know her sister properly.

"I have another sister to look after now," Iris mused, almost to herself.

I frowned. "It's about time you started looking out for yourself, Iris."

She smiled to herself, quietly, sadly, and said two words to me. "Goodbye, Feenie," she said, and I understood completely.

"Goodbye, Dollie," I replied, and that chapter of our story closed behind us forever. I reached the door, opened it and paused, turning around as Iris spoke for the last time that visit.

"I love you," she said to me quietly, her eyes filled with tears, but not with sadness.

"I love you, too," I told her, and both of us meant the phrase completely differently from we had in our past.

But that it's meaning was different, didn't mean that it meant any less.

...I was so happy to resolve everything.