The lobby was dark and dreary, but Apollo saw no reason why he could not use it for communication, as he had done so many times before.

"Well, then." Detective Kay Faraday began, "I guess we can start with..."

"Excuse me," Apollo fidgeted. "Sorry if I'm talking out of line, but can I have a private conversation with her?"

Athena was only a few feet away. She stood straight with her back against the wall, and it seemed as if she was trying to force herself back into it.

"Oh, well..." Kay's composed demeanor left her, and she fiddled her fingers. "I'm not sure..."

"Please." Apollo looked up at Kay, doing his best to forget that she was a couple heads taller than himself. "I need to talk to her..."

"Your client is Clay Terran, not her." Kay frowned. "I..."

"Let's get whatever he wants over with."

They both looked at Athena. Her eyes were clouded, but her frame was a touch more relaxed now. She nodded at Apollo.

"Fair warning," Kay spoke. "I will have to talk to you about the lighter." She looked at Apollo. "Five minutes max. We were lucky to get twenty out of Aura."

Apollo watched Kay as she went back through the entrance to the courtroom. He approached Athena. He could tell that she was trying to maintain a projection of fortitude, but his bracelet told him better. It tingled on his wrist. He focused on her hands...she clenched and unclenched them in intervals. He knew he would have to be direct.

"The murder of Mr. Cosmos...that was not the only tragedy you guys dealt with at the space station, right?"

Athena's lip quivered ever so slightly.

"Do you need to talk about it?"

Athena frowned. "I don't want to talk about it."

Apollo sighed. "Do you need to talk about it?"

Athena looked up at him, but it was as if she was looking right through him...as if he were some figment of her imagination, some dream she hoped to wake up from.

Then she conceded.

Taking a few deep breaths, she slowly stood back up on her feet to face Apollo. She folded her arms.

"My mother...Metis Cykes...she used to live at the space station."

"I thought you were going to say she worked there..."

"She did both." Athena began to idly play with her hair. "She was so caught up in her technical job, eventually she just stopped leaving altogether. Mr. Cosmos was okay with it, since she was his brightest and best. And I lived with her."

Apollo took note of the mix of emotion that flickered in Athena's eyes. Pride and sorrow.

"I...I wouldn't say things were amazing or mind-blowing. But it was quiet, things were peaceful, and I had my mother. I had the staff." The faintest smile touched Athena's face. "And Aura."

"So, what happened?"

Athena did her best to maintain her composure.

"Mom began to talk to someone who began recently visiting the space center. A prosecutor..."

Apollo blinked, but quickly recovered after an involuntary and cursory look at the doorway behind him.

"Blackquill?"

"The very same." Athena nodded. "I knew I shouldn't have, but I couldn't help but listen in on their conversations. He said he was chasing a phantom...a kind of thief that raided other space stations around the country."

"A phantom?"

"Yes. He said he tried to warn Mr. Cosmos, but nothing came of it."

"One day...I...I had just finished lunch. I was going back to my mom's office. And she...she was there, like she always was, but...but not alive anymore."

Apollo opened his mouth, closed it, and reluctantly spoke aloud.

"Was it...a single stab wound? To the heart?"

Athena stood silently, and then gave a hopeless shrug. "I guess you're a mind-reader as well as a lawyer..."

"Not really." Apollo took a step forward. "I just noticed how this case, and the one that happened when you were a child...it's too much of a coincidence for the two of them to be unrelated..."

"Do you...think Mr. Blackquill was right about the phantom?"

"Maybe, maybe not." Apollo frowned. "I'm as in the dark as any of us. But I want you to know this: I feel your pain. And even if nobody else does, I'll be willing to believe in you."

There was a glimmer of a tear in Athena's eye.

"But I need to gather the facts. Do you recognize the lighter?"

"It's standard issue for our toolkits." Athena answered unsteadily.

"Do you remember having it on the day of the murder?"

Athena winced. After a long pause, she shrugged. Apollo put a finger to his chin.

"Blackquill will probably use that against you. He will probably say that Clay used you as an accomplice. Just follow my lead, follow my instructions, and we might be able to get through this alright."

Apollo and Athena walked to the entrance of the courthouse, prepared to face the unknown together.

-A multi-chapter story; Chapter 48; story idea by CRed1988 and writing by Jerviss.