A/N: Greetings, Orion Fowl here with the start of the start of the second arc. There is important information regarding this arc at the bottom of chapter, so check it out! But for now, enjoy the chapter. It's time for femslash!

Arc 2: Turnabout Shadow

Chapter 6: Remorseless Shadows

December 22, 2030, 8:30 a.m.

Newman-Woods Residence, Backyard

After a quick breakfast inside inside the house, Robin returned to the backyard to ensure good reception as she made another phone call.

It was no coincidence that her mind kept going over past events. Each and every memory, no matter how insignificant, was a part of her relationship with Juniper. But not all of those memories were good. In order to get the complete picture of the past three years, one had to acknowledge the bad as well as the good.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Hugh. Mind lending me an ear?"

February 5th, 2028.

A week had passed since Robin had found the mysterious note inside the locker. After Juniper had hyperventilated and passed out Robin had immediately rushed to her side, but Hugh had reached her first and told Robin and Myriam to stay by the locker to make sure any evidence left inside wouldn't wander off. Well, that was how Hugh had worded it, but everyone knew what he actually meant.

While Myriam had gone to report what happened with Robin's blessing, Robin waited by her locker. For what felt like hours but was only thirty minutes, all Robin could do was glare at the hateful note in her locker and wait for news on Juniper's condition. For someone to so effectively strike at her, leaving her feeling deeply shaken using only a note and a picture slipped into her locker-Robin couldn't even begin to imagine who was responsible for this, or why.

The worst part of the note, and the reason Robin decided to report what happened, was the implied threat in regards to her relationship with Juniper when paired with the picture that had Robin crossed out: "...I swear to personally deliver justice onto you."

Whoever had sent the note had meant it as a warning. Robin had no intention of listening to a word her anonymous foe "said" of course, but the fact still remained that somewhere out there was someone who was hanging this threat over her head. A faceless opponent she didn't know, but who knew about her and Juniper.

In the end, Hugh reported that Juniper was fine, and Myriam showed up with the campus authorities. A preliminary investigation had been launched, but it quickly ground to a halt when they couldn't turn up a shred of evidence to show who was the culprit behind the note. No fingerprints, no footprints, no traces of any kind.

It was as if the note had simply materialized out of the ether and into Robin's locker. The only thing that could be discerned was that as the locker's lock wasn't broken, the note had likely been slipped in through the slats. But that meant that the culprit could be anyone at the school.

Unsatisfied with this result, Robin took Myriam and arranged something with the Principal. But afterwards, all there was to do was to wait.

So Robin attempted to continue to live her life, but now there was a shadow cast over each day….

February 5th, 2028. 7:27 a.m.

Newman's residence, Robin's room.

"...And always remember that the best way to point at someone is to put all your energy into it. Make sure to really emphasize your hips in the motion!"

"Mr. Wright already taught me about pointing, and I don't think I need to emphasize my hips in anything, Robin."

"Well then, don't call on my help if you don't actually want it!"

Hugh O'Conner waited for Robin to finish with her crocodile tears and skimmed through the textbook in front of him. After a few minutes, Robin dropped the act and smiled at her close friend.

Near the start of the school semester, Hugh approached Robin with a simple request: to tutor him so that Hugh could pass all the remedial classes that was required of him so that he could graduate. He had accomplished his earlier goal of acing the entrance exam with a perfect score, but one look at his class schedule and Hugh immediately swallowed any semblance of pride he once had.

While it was true that the two were in different courses, Robin got around this by helping Hugh with topics that overlapped between defense and prosecution. The tutoring sessions themselves were never boring, as Robin's vivacious nature wouldn't allow for something like that to happen, and when the two weren't studying they chatted about life at large. The most prevalent topic, of course, was the note that had been left in Robin's locker.

"Have there been any new leads on our cowardly Shadow?" Hugh asked.

Robin shook her head, frustration clear on her face. "Nothing. I even got a second opinion from Athena and Apollo, but they came up blank as well."

It wasn't just that they failed to find evidence. They had asked Robin if she could think of anyone who would want demand that she and Juniper break up, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't come up with anyone. Without a suspect, everyone had started to refer to the culprit as the Shadow. Surprisingly enough, it had been Athena who had coined the term, saying that if the culprit didn't have the spine to show themselves, they may as well refer to them as was appropriate.

Well, Athena had actually been a lot louder...and her language a lot more colorful.

Hugh contemplated over Robin's words and smirked bitterly. "Heh. It seems like they already have an inkling as to who the Shadow might be, or at least what their motive might be."

"What do you mean, Hugh?" Robin asked.

"Think about it. Whoever did this must truly bear ill will towards you and your relationship with Juniper. Otherwise, our Shadow wouldn't risk so much just to leave a note and picture that could be seen as a threat."

A bulb went off in Robin's head as a memory from October resurfaced. "Oh! you mean that rule?"

Hugh nodded and extracted a small leaflet from his pocket. The leaflet was passed to every student attending Themis Legal Academy, and on it was a single, simple, rule.

If you are convicted of a crime, regardless of how minor the offense, you will face immediate expulsion from Themis Legal Academy.

Robin and her group had actually almost run afoul of this rule during Juniper's trial last October. Myriam especially had scraped by the skin of her teeth over her booby-trapped envelope, and the only reason any of them had been spared was that they had each contributed in taking down Professor Means.

The Shadow, on the other hand, had no such protection. What they did was clear example of harassment.

Themis leaflet info jotted down in Organizer.

Shadow's note info jotted down in Organizer.

Unfortunately, this brought them no closer to identifying the culprit, and Robin realized that using this info incorrectly would just cause the culprit to become alert, killing any chance at bringing them to justice.

Robin mentioned this to Hugh, who once again smirked.

"Chances are, our Shadow is already aware of this rule," he said. "As a student of Themis, they would have to be. But I do agree that we shouldn't be rash about this."

This brought everything full circle, leaving no course of action to take that Robin could see.

"Then don't think about it," Hugh advised, reading the expression on his best friend's face. "Just wait until the right path opens up."

But what would the right path even be? Robin wondered.

The puzzle itched in the back of her head for for the rest of the study session, leading her around in endless circles.

February 5th, 2028. 10:15 a.m.

After Hugh went back home at the end of the study session, Robin decided that if she couldn't do anything about the Shadow, she wouldn't waste any more time thinking about them.

My day's just begun, so there's no w-a-y I'm going to let anything or anyone spoil it!

She called up Juniper to ask if she was free, but surprisingly Juniper said she was taking care of something with Myriam but might be available later. Next, she called up Apollo, but he turned out to be busy with a case. Hugh, of course, had already gone back home and he had told Robin before he left that he needed to talk to his parents about his remedial classes.

This left Athena, so Robin called her.

The phone rang only once before Athena picked up the phone.

"Hello, Robin. What's up?"

"Hey Athena! I wanted to spend some time with my favorite defense attorney," Robin said. "So how would you like to spend the day with m-e me?"

"Actually, I'm glad you called." Athena's voice took on a heated tone. "I have a lot of irritation work off and I imagine you do too! Meet me at the Agency in half an hour!"

"I'd be glad to go, but why-?"

"Schnell, Schnell!"

Without another word Robin hung up the phone and went right out the door.

February 5th, 2028. 10:45 a. Anything Agency.

When Robin arrived in front of the agency Athena was already there, dressed in sweatpants and a sweater. She was jogging in place, and appeared to be muttering under her breath.

"The next time they insult her I'm going to drive drive my foot- oh Robin. You're here. Why aren't you dressed out to work out?"

"I didn't have enough time to change clothes," Robin said nervously. "What were you talking about?"

"You heard that? Don't worry about it, I'll tell you later." Athena grinned. "For now, we have some running to do!"

And with that, Athena took off, leaving Robin to chase after her. This wasn't the first time this had happened. In the months since Robin had gotten to know Athena, she quickly learned how much the defense lawyer cum therapist loved to exercise. At first, Robin tried to back out, but Athena quickly learned to appeal to Robin's competitive side.

This occasionally ended badly. For example, after the two had faced off in a painting contest they were banned from painting in the same room without supervision ever again. Robin still found traces of paint in her room on occasion.

Today, however, they simply ran. Athena seemed to have no real destination in mind, she just kept running without saying a word beside the occasional pep phrase whenever Robin slowed down.

Finally, they stopped in front of the Criminal Affairs department, and Athena stared up at the building with an odd look on her face.

"Oh, I'm all sweaty and gross," Robin grumbled. "What's been going on with you today, Athena?"

"Nothing at all, mon amie," Athena said, with clearly forced smile plastered on her face.

"I just want to tear someone's head off!" Widget declared cheerfully.

There was a pause as Robin slowly backed away from Athena. "Okay, I'll be quiet. Just please, don't tear anything off."

"I don't mean you! I just don't want to bother you with my problems when you have your own!"

"C'mon, Athena." Robin nailed the defense lawyer with her best pleading eyes. "Tell me? Pretty please?"

"Alright alright, I'll talk." Athena shot Robin an exasperated look. "Just promise not to tell anyone for now."

"Yay! I promise."

"I'm kinda sorta maybe going out with someone. A detective that works here." She pointed at the Criminal Affairs building.

Robin gasped, then felt herself swoon. She managed to catch herself before asking, "Really? Who? When? And what you mean by kinda sorta maybe?"

"Whoa hey slow down!" Athena said, looking distinctly panicked. "Um, let's see...she's a detective that I met during during a poisoning case I worked on about a few weeks ago. We've really only gone on a couple dates so I'm not sure how 'official' we are yet."

"Oh. Congratulations, Athena! Wait...she?!" Robin felt herself swoon again, and this time she crumpled on the ground.

A splash of ice water brought Robin back to her senses, and the first thing she saw was a concerned Athena.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for you!" Robin said quickly as Athena helped her back up. "But that was such a shock. I didn't know you liked girls."

"Well no, it's not so much that I like girls," Athena clarified. "It's more that I...like...both."

"Oh. Wait, but then why have you been so irritable all day?" Robin asked. "Does it have something to do with why you brought me along on your run?"

Athena sighed, and sat down on a bench in front on the C.A. building while motioning Robin to join here. Once Robin was seated Athena began to talk.

"The point of this run was actually so that we could forget about our problems. But I guess that didn't work, eh heh."

"So what's going on?"

"Well, its just, first there was the note you got from the Shadow." Athena started to grow angry again. "And my girl is dealing with her own Shadow in at the precinct where she works. The evidence she handles just so happens to be misplaced and her office just happens to get ransacked-"

Athena shot up, red in the face and shouting.

"And what is wrong with this world?! What did you and Junie ever do to have some creep stalk you two? Why is Ema being harassed? Why can't I do anything for the people I care about except-just-SIT-HERE?!"

Now finished with her brief rant, Athena hunched her shoulders and stared at the ground, her body shuddering with rage.

A note. Robin was so wound up over a simple note, even when that note had a picture that promised a vague threat. And yet here a close friend of hers was dealing with a worse problem while still worrying over her and Juniper.

Robin carefully approached Athena and lay a hand on her shoulder. When Athena simply turned to look at her, Robin decided to answer Athena's rant with her own speech.

"Don't be so hard on yourself. Maybe we can't catch the Shadow right now, but if anyone can do it its y-o-u! In fact," A glint shone in Robin's eyes as an idea occurred to her. "I'll work on catching my Shadow, and you help your girlfriend Ema catch her Shadow. Let's see who exposes their prey first!"

Athena's anger quickly turned into determination, just as Robin thought it would. "Oh, it's on now, Robin! I'll catch both of these cowards and still have enough time to defend a trial!"

Then, Athena remembered something that had slipped out earlier.

"Oh, I said Ema's name out loud earlier. Oops," Athena said, flustered. "Remember, don't say a word! I wanted to tell Junie first when Ema and I are ready."

"I promise!" Robin said. "After all, I still need to pay you back for everything you've done for me."

February 5th, 2028. 3:55 p.m.

Newman's residence, Robin's room.

Robin spent the rest of the day hanging out with Athena until Athena had to go back to the Wright Anything Agency. After that, Robin headed back to her own home. Her parents weren't there, but not long after she arrived she got a phone call from her dad.

"Hello, Robin. How have you been doing in school lately? " Her father's voice came across as a bit stilted, but that might have just been the reception.

"I've been doing really well. Why did you ask?"

"You haven't talked to us about school for the past couple of months."

"Well, there just hasn't been much to talk about, that's all."

"I see. Well, if you need to talk just say so."

The two exchanged goodbyes and hung up. Most conversations with her parents went like that these days. Walking on eggshells. But conversations like these were an improvement after the atmosphere that resulted from last October.

Her phone rang again, and Robin checked to find that it was from Juniper.

"Hello, Robin. I'm sorry I haven't been able around today. How has your day been?"

"Its been great! Athena and I went running today so that we could pump ourselves up, then we ran some court simulations!" Robin said, remembering her promise to Athena.

"That's good to hear. I'm glad that you and Thena are getting along so well." Juniper said warmly.

"So, what was it that you did today, Juniper?" Robin asked.

"I was arranging something with Myriam….actually I wanted to talk to you about that. Myriam and I have been talking about the note that it was left in your locker, and I think its time."

"Time for what?"

"I think its time to be honest about our relationship with everyone," Juniper said, sounding completely serious. "You aren't the only one that got a note like that. I was already planning to do something about it as the Student Council President. But as your girlfriend, I won't allow someone to threaten you just because you're dating me. If you agree, we'll start with having an interview with Myriam."

After an entire day of being away from Juniper, she still found a way to say the exact perfect thing. The Shadow's demand was for them to end their relationship, and Juniper's answer to this was to help Robin throw light on their crime.

Eh heh heh heh. Watch out, Shadow! You thought that you were intimidating a harmless little girl. You have another thing coming!

"Okay, Juniper. Let's give Myriam her scoop." Robin almost stopped there, but then she remembered the conversation with her father. "After that, do you want to tell your Grandma and my parents?"

And since Juniper was willing to do something so grand, it was only fair that Robin do the same.

December 22, 2030. 8:35 a. -Woods residence, backyard.

"Ah, you wanted to talk about the Shadow incident. Any particular reason why?"

Robin felt the bad memories surface and let them this time. She had to go over all her memories. If she was going to propose to Juniper, she needed to have the complete picture of all the years they spent together.

"Do you remember what happened at the end of that incident, Hugh?"

Even if it meant staring a really painful mistake in the face.

A/N: Now that Turnabout Shadow has begun, I will have an evidence list for the readers to follow. Feel free to speculate in the comments! Now, why are Athena and Ema in a romantic relationship? Its a reference to this yuri piece: / works / 2392187. I got the author's permission, so consider an AU version of the piece to be in continuity with this story. It will get expansion in future chapters.Until then, this has been Orion Fowl, and thank you for visiting my corner of Romance.