SWD: Chapter 8

About fifteen minutes had passed by after Lucian's talk with Marie. The rest of Marie's friends learned that Lucian could be her real father, much to everyone's (not) surprise. The adults began to talk to him and his partner while Camilla stayed with the group of teens, smiling and laughing as she talked with them.

While the teens were sitting around, Serena saw an opportunity to leave for a moment, walking out to Zoey's backyard with her cell phone. She went to a corner, hoping no one saw her come out there. She nervously began to call one of the two numbers that she had memorized from Marie's contacts. It did not take long for someone to answer.

"Who's this?" asked an older teen girl's voice that seemed a little deep, not even saying hello.

"Oh, my name is Serena, and I, umm…"

"We don't want anythin' you're selling—"

"W-Wait! I'm not trying to sell anything!" Serena gasped, "Are you one of Marie's sisters?"

There was a strong pause before the girl spoke again, "You're on speaker now."

"Huh? What's going on, Lee?" asked another voice nearby on the other girls' end, "Who'd you put on speaker?"

"Someone chick named Serena, saying she knows Marie, apparently."

Serena started to feel nervous again.

"… So, spit it out. What's going on that's made you call us?"

"U-Umm… I noticed Marie's been acting different lately, and it's making me and my friends really worried," Serena started to explain, "Matt – UH, I-I mean Marie's mentioned you two before, and… I think she's feeling lonely," she takes a deep breath, "She said you two were coming the day before Christmas Eve, but… I was wondering if there was a way for you to visit her for Christmas early. Like a few days before then…"

There was another strong pause from the two sisters on the other line.

"You're tellin' us the truth?"

"Yeah…?"

"… D'aww, she misses us!" chirped the other girl on the other line, "I think we should visit early! Make it a really big surprise!"

"Shut it, May!" the older hissed a little before making sigh, "Listen, I appreciate the heads up, but I can't promise that it can happen."

Serena seemed confused, "Huh? Why not?"

"We don't have a way to travel there right now," the older girl replied, "May's dad has been using his truck for work with last-minute deliveries at his job, so we're kinda stuck here."

"… Wait, I got an idea!" gasped the other girl, "Maybe we can ask Oscar to take us there in his car! A-And Timmy can come too! It can be a big Christmas party!"

"Y'know… that's not a bad idea!" the older girl cheered, "Don't know why we didn't think of that! We can drop in as a surprise!"

"Yeah, I wanna see how the Eds are doing without us! They gotta be lonely too!"

The older girl laughed, "Doubt that, those three always hated our guts!"

"But that's what made them cute back then!" the other girl giggled.

Serena took note of everything the two girls were saying, the tone she could hear in their voices sounded flirtatious, but also passive.

"Alright, we'll take you up on the offer."

"R-Really? You will?!"

"Yeah! I'll talk to my boyfriend later and see if we can book some sort of room in a hotel nearby. Pretty sure it wouldn't work out if we all tried to stay at Marie's house; it would be too cramped."

"That would be great! Thank you!"

"Oh, oh! I got a question I wanna ask before you hang up!" the other girl on started to say, "Did Marie finally get her man while we were gone? He's the reason she didn't move with us; you know."

Serena was silent at the statement, "Her… 'man'? Who are you talking about? Are you talking about Matthew?"

"Uh, who the heck is that?" the other girl questioned, "We haven't spoken much since we left, but Marie's never mentioned that name. We're talking about her Oven Mitt!"

"Oh… maybe we're thinking of different people?" Serena replied in confusion, "My bad."

"Ah well, we can talk all we want once we come visit!" the older girl replied, "We'll try to come visit her on the 21st."

"Okay, thanks! I'm sorry about the sudden call…"

The two girls laughed on the other line, "Don't be sorry! See ya!"

"Bye!"

The girls then hung up on the other line, leaving Serena a bit speechless from the conversation, 'Oven Mitt… Who was THAT supposed to be?'

"That was certainly… a thing," Serena muttered to herself, "I can't help but feel like I did something awful, but I don't know why… Weird."

Serena pocketed her phone as she hurried back inside, hoping no one noticed that she had been absent.

A few minutes later, everyone could see that Detective Wells had finally arrived to talk with Lucian and Robert along with Phoenix and Miles. Detective Wells and Miles went to the kitchen to discuss the situation and what to do, along with the rest of the adults.

Meanwhile, Phoenix stayed behind to keep an eye on the teens in the living room. Phoenix looked around him with a small smile, reminding him of the days when Trucy was younger.

"Umm, Mr. Wright?"

Phoenix perked his head to see Jennifer walking over to him, "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course you can!" Phoenix replied as Jennifer sat down next to the man, "What do you want to ask?"

Jennifer seemed a bit fidgety to him about her question, "Umm, I wanted to ask a few questions about you and Mr. Edgeworth."

"About me and Edgeworth?"

Jennifer nodded, "All I know about you two is what's in the games your friend made with Capcom," she paused for a second, "But those games are based off your own cases along with Mr. Edgeworth's cases, right?"

"Yes, that's right," Phoenix replied.

Jennifer remained silent before resting her arms and clasping her hands in her lap, "U-Umm… I was curious to know where Ms. Ivory is now?"

Phoenix stared at Jennifer before widening his eyes, quickly realizing who she was referring to. 'Ivory Blackthorne' was the alias that Capcom used in place of Iris Hawthorne. She was a woman from his past… a girlfriend who was only a close friend now. At one point, Phoenix called her a different name because her twin sister forced Iris to keep an eye on him… Her sister was Daliah Hawthorne, a literal femme fatale who schemed and killed whoever was in her way, usually by poison. It was many years later that Phoenix learned the truth about Iris and Daliah; during a strange case that involved Iris.

"… Why do you want to know?"

Jennifer looked back to Phoenix, noticing that his tone of voice completely changed from kind to stern, "Oh… wait, I didn't think about how awful that question was before I spoke, Mr. Wright. I'm so sorry!"

Phoenix was silent before taking in a deep breath, "It's all right. You don't need to apologize. It just took me by surprise," he looked at Jennifer, "Iris is out of prison now, she already served her sentence for what happened on that case. Last I heard from her, Iris told me she was planning to move to Seattle to try and live a normal life there."

"I-I see," Jennifer replied before glancing away, "I was only curious because she seemed like a nice lady; at least that's what the game was saying. She was forced into doing all those awful things, so… I'm happy she's doing okay."

A few seconds passed by before Jennifer spoke again, "Anyway, I wanted to ask you that first before asking my real question."

Phoenix looked back at Jennifer again, noticing that she was fidgeting with her thumbs, "Mr. Layton has probably told you that I'm, umm… not exactly the brightest when it comes to figuring out other people's feelings and emotions; or even how I feel about myself and others. It took me a long time to realize that I cared so much about Eddward; as more than his friend."

Jennifer lowered her head, glancing to the floor, "I know this is none of my business, and you don't have to answer my question, but… umm… Are you and Mr. Edgeworth partners?"

A heavy silence fell between the two. Phoenix widened his eyes when he realized she was not talking about 'partners' in a business sense.

"Whoa! What a way to put me on the spot like that," replied Phoenix with a hearty laugh afterward. He placed his hand on Jennifer's shoulder, "That answer is a bit complicated to fully explain, but yes. Edgeworth and I are partners; it hasn't been that long since we established that either."

Jennifer widened her eyes, looking up at Phoenix, "Huh…? I-I was right?"

Phoenix nodded, "Yeah."

"O-Oh…" Jennifer was silent before she made a nervous laugh, "I'm sorry for asking! A lot of times, I get my wires crossed, s-so I wanted to know if I was correct on what I was thinking."

"No need to apologize about that!" Phoenix laughed again, "We don't really go out of our way to express it in public 24/7, so I'm surprised you did notice."

"Really?" Jennifer smiled before gasping, "Wow, I guess I am getting better! Being aware of other people's feelings is something I've been trying to improve on…"

Jennifer then glanced to her left to see Double D who seemed to be walking toward the window near the front door, "Oh, umm, I need to ask Eddward something too," she said as she got up from where she sat, "Thank you for answering my questions, Mr. Wright."

Jennifer then waved goodbye to Phoenix, leaving him behind on the couch. He made a sigh afterward, "Funny. I think that's the first time I admitted it to someone that isn't my family or co-workers."

Author's Note (December 16th, 2024): GUYS.

GUYS.

OKAMI SEQUEL IS REAL. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. THANK YOU CAPCOM GODS.

Anyway, besides that, my writing has been slowing down. Oof.