A/N: Today's chapter will see the return of a familiar Apollo Justice character, as we visit an art exhibition. So learn their connection to the overall narrative below, as this story approaches it's conclusion. Enjoy, my readers!

Chapter 9: All Over Again

January 10, 2028

Woods Residence, Juniper's bedroom

11:15 a.m.

Athena would have just stayed by Juniper's bedside until her friend finally woke up- except her stomach rumbled, which caused Virginia to announce that it was time to take a break, to eat and sit down after the long periods everyone had spent standing. That did immediately raise the question of whether it was necessary to leave anyone behind in case Juniper woke up.

"Well, I know I want to s-t-a-y!" Robin exclaimed, pumping her fists. "And I bet Hugh and Myriam feel the same way!"

Hugh adjusted his glasses and nodded in agreement, while Myriam said, "Hey, don't speak for me! If I want to stay, I'll say so. And I do want to stay, sss sss sss."

"Well I'm certainly not going anywhere!" Athena said heatedly, despite her stomach still grumbling.

"In other words, we continue doing exactly what we've been doing," Apollo said. "Well, I can't say I don't understand the sentiment."

"Well how about this, then. Since we're all so determined to wait here for Juniper, then once she wakes up we all take her out for a big lunch," Hugh said. "Anyone that wants leave to go eat is free to do so, of course."

Which more or less guaranteed that no one would step outside the room. Meanwhile, Robin took out a small sketchpad and a pencil and began sketching a sunflower Juniper had on her nightstand. As an artist, Robin enjoyed making art pieces out of pretty subjects, because she loved making the world a prettier place.

Her art skills, mediocre that they were, often made Juniper smile. So when Juniper woke up, Robin wanted to have something nice for her to look at. That way she would immediately feel at home when she finally returned.

January 13, 2028

Alternate Gallery Nucleus, exhibition room

1:00 p.m.

Maybe it was just Juniper's imagination, but she could swear she was hearing the sound of someone sketching something in pencil. Well, perhaps being in an art gallery was subconsciously making her think of Robin. Not that the artist seemed to be here, by the looks of it.

Meeting with Apollo and Athena outside this gallery, Juniper saw that it was an artist by the name of Vera Misham that was holding an exhibit of her art work here. Having come all this way from home, Juniper decided to stick around to meet this artist, and look at her artwork.

"This art's really, really good!" Athena exclaimed, admiring a painting of a hand of poker cards scattered on a table.

Athena's statement was accurate to this and every art piece in this room. Juniper had to admit, whoever this Vera was, she was clearly incredibly talented. All of her works also had this… melancholic quality to them. If Juniper wasn't mistaken, Robin would describe the paintings of having been done in muted colors.

"Uh huh. Vera's always been this good," Apollo said, a proud smile on his face. "But there's a lot she's had to recover from. I'm glad to see her make such large strides in her life."

Hearing this, Juniper couldn't help but feel proud for Vera too, despite not having met her yet. Before coming to this gallery, Juniper decided to look up Vera, and therefore learned about how she lost her father.

"So when do we get to meet Vera?" Juniper asked, now really wanting to talk to her.

"Hang on a moment. If I'm not mistaken, she should be near the back of this gallery," Apollo said. "She's still nervous about meeting strangers. Give me a minute…"

Apollo headed towards to back of the gallery, going into a door that lead to another room of the place. While he was gone, Juniper and Athena continued to look around at the different art pieces, such as a series of busts centering around the Gramaryes or a rough sketch of a sinister looking defense attorney wearing glasses. Finally, Juniper found herself drawn to the painting of a bright red parrot on a stand, at the witness stand.

Something about the specific painting seemed different than every other art piece in the gallery. It used much more vibrant colors than Vera's muted paintings. And the brushwork had a kind of detail that just felt different, such as the gloss on the parrot's feathers. In fact, it reminded Juniper a lot of-

"So that's where you went off to, Juniper. This is friend I was telling you about, Vera."

Juniper turned towards Apollo's voice to see him standing next to a girl that looked around her own age. The girl wore what appeared to be a handkerchief in her long, light-blue hair, had brown eyes and a soft face, and wore a purple and pink shirt under a blue pair of overalls with a bear face on it.

"Hello. Are you…. Juniper Woods?" Vera asked, her tone soft and methodical.

"Um, yes. It's, um, nice to meet you!" Juniper said, feeling nervous in the face of Vera's odd calm.

Vera took out a notebook, quickly scribbling something on it. She showed the page to Juniper, revealing that she drew a smiling face on it. "It's nice… to meet you too. My name… is Vera Misham. This is… my exhibit."

"I like all your art. It's very well made," Juniper said, her mood brightening now that she had a better impression of Vera as a person. "I imagine it took a lot of practice to get to where you are now."

The last thing Juniper expected was for Vera to react to this by anxiously biting her thumbnail. "Art has always come easily to me. But… that hasn't always been a good thing. If I'd only been more attentive…"

"This isn't your fault," Apollo said in response to Juniper's worried expression. "You couldn't have known. And Vera, Juniper was just saying that she liked your art."

Even so, an awkward atmosphere had settled on everyone. So perhaps it was fortunate that Athena picked that moment to pop up out of nowhere. "There you all are! Why'd you all just abandon me out of nowhere?" Athena exclaimed indignantly.

Vera jumped in surprise at Athena's voice. Athena in turn reared back, evidently not noticing that Vera was standing there. Apollo, meanwhile, rolled his eyes in exasperation at the entire display. "See, this is exactly what I was afraid I was going to happen."

"Oh, are you Vera? I'm sorry if I scared you!" Athena made a V sign at the artist, smiling. "I'm Athena Cykes! I'm a defense attorney just like Apollo. I see you've already met my best friend."

"You mean Juniper? Yes, she's quite kind," Vera said, smiling for the first time. "Actually, she reminds me a bit of my own best friend."

"Is this best friend of yours the person you wanted me to meet?" Apollo asked curiously.

Vera nodded. "Yes. She's the one that painted the painting of the parrot that's next to us. She's also made a few of the busts here. But she's been late getting here… I hope she's okay."

There was no mistaking that description. Juniper only knew one person specialized in those two art forms. Which meant that in this world-

"Hey, Vera! Sorry you've had to wait up for me!"

Juniper turned towards the voice and laid eyes on Robin Newman for this first time in this alternate world. The immediate difference was that Robin wore a bright red dress with a frilly white bottom, a paint-stained apron worn over the dress. This Robin wore no headband, instead sporting a big red bow in the back of her head. The only other difference was that her hair was down to her shoulders; besides this, Robin looked exactly as Juniper knew her.

Before Juniper could process seeing her friend again, Robin ran right past her, going instead to grab Vera's hands. "I wanted to be here on time, but I got caught in this nasty traffic jam. But it looks like you've been managing on your own!"

"I'm thankful that you're here now, Robin," Vera said, smiling. "And yes, this exhibit has been going well. I've even made a few new friends."

At this point Robin looked around, noticing that everyone else was there. Quite unexpectedly, she began to play with her hair in a flustered manner, a red tinge on her cheeks. "I totally ignored everyone here, didn't I? I apologize for my rudeness! Allow me to introduce myself: I am Robin Newman, second rate artist!"

Apollo and Athena introduced themselves to Robin, reassuring her that they didn't mind her unintentional rudeness. Then Robin faced Juniper, and for a moment there was silence between the erstwhile friends.

"Hello there. My name is Juniper Woods," Juniper said, remembering how she actually met Robin in Themis Academy. "I am a judge student attending Themis Legal Academy."

"A judge student? That's really impressive!" Robin exclaimed. "I'm sure you're going to be a great judge someday!"

"Wait, how can you say that to someone you've just met?" Apollo couldn't help but ask.

"I dunno. There's just something about her," Robin said. "She just seems like a capable person to me."

In her head, Juniper remembered how this conversation went the first time: When Juniper introduced herself as a judge student, Robin introduced herself as a prosecutor student- before saying how much she wanted to be in a court run by Juniper, facing Hugh in a heated court battle.

"Well, if I may so, judging by this painting you're far from a second rate artist," Juniper said, looking again at the painting

"You really think so? But I've got such a long way to go! Especially compared to Vera. She's the truly amazing artist!" Robin said, playing with her hair again.

"But, you're the one that encouraged me to do this exhibition in the first place, Robin," Vera said. "So I wanted to show the world what a great artist you are."

"I guess that explains why you wanted me to meet her, Vera. I'm glad to see you've made such a good friend," Apollo said, a bittersweet smile on his face. Juniper knew that he was thinking about Clay, and her heart ached for him.

"So how did you and Robin meet in the first place, Vera?" Athena asked.

"Well… after I was found innocent of murdering my father, I was at a loss as to what to do with myself," Vera explained. "And I decided to start attending a local art college in to further my craft. I was so nervous, being around so many strangers. In fact, I almost gave up and left. That was when… I met Robin."

"Well, ever since I was little I've always wanted to be an artist!" Robin said. "So I convinced my parents to let me attend this art high school in France! In fact, my parents are still there. But I decided to move back here briefly to attend a prestigious art college."

"And as you might have guessed, that college was the same one I was attending," Vera said. "The day we met, we just happened to run into each other. When Robin heard I was a new student too, she said we could be friends, even though we just met. We've been friends ever since."

"Yes, that sounds just like Robin," Juniper said. So that was life this version of Robin had. In the end, it seemed like Juniper's wish came true. This Robin was so much happier, living the life she always wanted for herself. She even had a new best friend…

"Junie, what's with that look on your face?"

Juniper shook her head, getting ahold of herself so no one would worry. She couldn't afford to do anything to interfere with her friend's life, now that the judge student had finally found her. Even if that meant being forced to watch Robin walk right out of her own life.

A/N: Next chapter is the final chapter of Distorted Reflections, followed by an epilogue. In other words, the next time I post for this story will likely be the last. So I hope to see you all at the end of this tale of alternate worlds. See you next time! Please review.