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doctorcorby · 25 days

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In Justice We Trust (76501 words) by thesavagesabretooth

catch up here

With Simon Blackquill and Athena Cykes assigned as their psychologists, the Phantom and Fulbright must grapple with their identity, their deeds, their future, and their love for the twisted samurai whom they betrayed.

All the while, Edgeworth and Wright find their relationship tested as they walk the narrow path between pursuing real justice, and the dark age of the law.

December 24, 8:50 pm

14 hours in an airplane was a tiring flight, no matter how excited you were to watch your rockstar bestie film a commercial, and by the time Trucy and the gang shuffled out to go pick up their luggage, even she and Pearl were dragging.

Pearl stumbled, and caught herself on Trucy's shoulder, giving her an exhausted smile. "Oops! sorry about that."

“Oop!” Trucy caught herself from stumbling too, flashing a bright smile at her as she managed to keep them both from toppling over. She yawned. “Don’t worry about it! I’ve never been on a plane like that before. It felt like we were flying forever.”

"Right? And Mr. Nick and Mr. Miles were like, mostly asleep the whole time," Pearl giggled, straightening up a bit in Trucy's arms. "I'm glad we at least got to chat with Kay! Do you think she'll be too busy to go see Klavier with us?"

Trucy put a gloved hand to her lips, her arms around Pearl’s shoulders as they shuffled along. “It was nice to talk to Kay. I’d been wanting to get that pickpocketing secret from her for like, years. Maybe we can ask her? I hope not, I think she’d be over the moon to see it instead of whatever Mr. Edgeworth wants her to do.”

"Same," Pearl nodded. She chewed on her thumb as they waited by the baggage claim for their suitcases to appear. She dropped her voice low. "Whatever it is, they sure aren't excited to tell us about it, huh?"

“Nope…I tried asking Daddy and he went white as a sheet and told me it wasn’t something to worry about." She sniffed in quiet frustration as she watched the baggage belt roll past “which usually means it really is.”

"For real!" Pearl nodded. "Mr. Nick always tries to handle all his problems himself. That's why we always have to butt in and help him, right?"

“Exactly! Just like always, yeah? Because who’s gonna help him if we don’t?” She shook her head. “He really should have learned by now that the more he tries to leave us out, the more we get involved, right?”

"He really should have," Pearl nodded, and continued to chew thoughtfully on her nail. "But um, we'll do that after we go see Klavier, right?”

“Well yeah!” Trucy gave her a squeeze, her hat slipping down her forehead. “Like heck I’m gonna miss his show after he invited us all the way out here! He’d probably cry from a lack of Trucy and Pearl gracing his stage.”

"I bet he would! And that would be awful!"

"Hey ladies!" A voice greeted them from behind. "Need a hand with your suitcases?"

“EEEK!” Trucy jumped, her had leaping a full inch over her head before plopping back down on her brow

"Whoa, whoa, sorry!" Apollo Justice held out his hands apologetically as they both turned around to see him. "I didn't mean to scare you!"

"Well, um, you did!" Pearl pouted. "Gosh make some noise next time…"

Trucy stuck her tongue out.

“Polly, you usually boom everywhere with that voice of yours!” She pointed to him with a grin. “for that you get to carry my bag for me! And Pearly’s too!”

Apollo blinked at her, and pushed his hair back.

"Trucy, I just offered to.-- you know what, never mind. You got it." He laughed and grabbed both their suitcases as they came down the track. "I don't have one to carry right now anyway."

“Really?” Trucy gasped in surprise. “...why didn’t you pack anything, Polly? You’re gonna worry Klavier!”

"No, no, I packed," he explained, hauling the cases across the airport floor as he looked around for Trucy's dad and the rest. "Well– okay technically Athena packed for me. I didn't have any time, so, she's got my suitcase… I hope."

Pearl giggled behind her hands, but Trucy noticed she was watching Apollo carefully. "Gosh, Apollo! Kind of scatterbrained, aren't you?"

"Sorry to disappoint you Miss Pearl."

Pearl meanwhile, glanced significantly over at Trucy, and Trucy remembered what they'd talked about the night before.

Trucy nodded seriously at her, before she put on her best and brightest smile.

“Hey, Apollo…I wanted to ask you something when you got a moment for your favorite little employer.”

"Huh?" He glanced over his shoulder at her. "Um, sure, of course Trucy. Maybe when we're settled at the hotel?"

As Trucy looked at him, she thought, maybe it was a trick of the light but his eyes, and his hair looked darker than usual.

“Hmm…” Trucy’s strange eyes stared him down for a long moment before she broke into a bright smile. “yeah that sounds great!”

December 24, 9:20 pm

At the hotel, Trucy and Pearl hurriedly got comfortable in their room together. They laid out their things, brushed their teeth, checked the channels on the hotel's tv, and giggled with excitement about going to see Klavier the next day.

Soon, Pearl said, "I'm gonna take a shower if you don't mind, Trucy. Are you still planning to talk to Apollo tonight?"

“Of course!” Trucy replied as she leaned up and stretched, using the motion to ease herself to her feet. “I think I’m gonna ask him about the ghost thing…when you channel someone you can see it, right? At least a little.”

"With the Kurain technique of channeling your whole body transforms," she murmured thoughtfully. "I don't know exactly how it works for other types of channeling or possession, but i think you can see it at least a little.."

“I think I saw some of it. Apollo didn’t look…exactly himself.” she murmured to Pearl. “I think it was his friend.”

"I thought that might be the case. Um, Trucy?"

Trucy leaned in with a tilt of her hat as she placed it upon her head .“Yeah Pearly?”

"Be careful, okay? If Apollo doesn't want to talk about it, maybe don't push too much? Um, I don't know him too well, and I didn't know the ghost that's hanging on to him at all– I'm sure he was a nice person, but…" Pearl trailed off nervously.

“But you don’t want me to be ghost murdered?” Trucy said with a serious nod “...I get it. Ghosts can be kinda touchy, right?”

She nodded seriously. "Exactly. Ghosts don't always react like living people, especially if they're not being channeled by someone with experience, or if they don't know they're dead and you make them think about it. They can get um, I think the word I've heard used is 'erratic'."

Trucy shivered as the ‘worst case scenarios’ flashed through her mind. Still, she bonked herself atop the head with a broad grin.

“I promise, Pearly. The minute he starts getting too weird or makes a sudden move, I’ll bonk him with Mr. Hat and make a run for it.”

December 24, 9:30 pm

Apollo was staying in the same room as her Daddy, but she was pretty sure that Daddy was with Mr. Edgeworth in his room, talking about whatever it was she wasn't supposed to know about. Probably a murder. It was usually murder.

Anyway, that meant she was reasonably confident that Apollo would be alone– or as alone as possible given the circumstances– when she knocked on the door, and as luck would have it, she was right.

He popped his head out the door, wisps of unruly hair flopping over his face.

"Hey, Truce!"

“Hel-lo Apo-llo” she sounded out the words with a playful grin, leaning in with a flutter of her cape. “Got some time for your favorite boss?”

"Did my favorite boss send you to ask that?" he teased. "Assuming you mean you– come on in."

“Uh huh.” She stuck her tongue out at him, before she slipped inside. “You haven’t been around as much lately. I’ve missed you!”

Apollo's hotel room was already a mess with Trucy's daddy's things– she saw one of his blue suits laid out over the chair. Apollo stood awkwardly by the desk, and smiled over at her.

"I've missed you too. But it's been quite a week, huh?"

“It’s been crazy.” Trucy agreed, tucking her dark hair over her ear as she shut the door behind her. “I didn’t expect to be traveling halfway across the world so soon!”

"Yeah, tell me about it," Apollo said. He shook his head. "I didn't know until this morning. Feel like I've hardly had a chance to catch my breath."

“Yeah? I know I’m coming to see Klavier~” she mused as she plopped herself up on the table beside him. “Daddy’s also here but he won’t tell me why. Typical. Like he thinks he can actually keep secrets from me.”

"He didn't tell you?" Apollo raised his eyebrows. "So, wait– you didn't think I was coming to see Klavier too, did you?"

Trucy leaned towards him with a shake of her head.

“I’d kinda hoped! But I figured you were here with Daddy…which means you know what’s goin’ on.” She pointed her finger at him. “I wanna know, a secret for a secret, okay?”

He crossed his arms, leaning against the desk. "What do you mean, a secret for a secret?"

“I mean I’ll tell you a secret we noticed in exchange for what Daddy’s doing here, Apollo!”

"I mean, your dad's not going to be happy with me if I tell on him– although I can't imagine it staying a secret for too long with everybody here," he muttered. "...is your secret a good one?"

“It involves you?” Trucy offered with a bright smile.

"It involves me," he repeated, narrowing his eyes. He sighed heavily, and Trucy watched him fidget with his tie, loosening it. "Alright. Fine."

Trucy snuck closer to him, inching over the top of the table with a huge grin. “you first.”

"Okay," he pulled his tie open, leaving it hanging over his vest. Trucy thought she saw his appearance seem to shimmer strangely as he stood there, a far away expression in his face. "You probably guessed it's for a case. Some interpol agents were killed, and Edgeworth wants us to look into it."

Trucy nodded sagely. She took off her hat, and left it on her lap as she hummed.

“Yikes. Sounds like it’s kinda a big deal if Mr. Edgy is getting involved too. So that’s why Daddy’s being secretive about it.” She tilted her head at him. “...Innnteresting. Alright, as payment...about the thing I wanted to tell you…”

"I'm listening," he nodded, his dark gaze flicked toward her.

“We’re secretly brother and sister,” she lied with a wicked grin.

He snorted, and she watched his shoulders jerk in surprise.

"What?" He rubbed his bracelet–it must have pinched him– and looked at her with one eye open, "Trucy, it's not funny to lie about that kind of thing."

She laughed, kicking her feet with an innocent grin on her face before she bopped the top of her head with her tongue out.

“Sorrrryyyy. I was just kidding around! Sorry…but the real thing is ah..” she bit her lip. “Pearly said she saw a ghost in you. Like…you’re possessed.”

His chin jerked up, and his dark gaze fixed on her again. She watched him rub his bracelet again, this time with a different frown written across his face.

"Can you say that again?"

“Pearl says she can see another spirit in you.” Trucy tilted her head to the side, as her hand reached back to rest on Mr. Hat’s mechanism, just in case. “She’s a spirit medium, you know? And I’ll be honest…I’ve kinda noticed too. Sometimes you look just a little different…and act different too.”

He looked away still rubbing his bracelet. He had to know that she wasn't lying.

"Pearl shouldn't make jokes like that."

“It’s not a lie,” Trucy said slowly, “or a joke. Pearl wouldn’t joke about that kinda thing, Polly. I know I can joke around a lot, but I’m being serious when I say I noticed it too…and Pearl super did.”

"I don't want to say anything unkind about Pearl, but I think maybe she's just got an active imagination, and wrapped you up in it, Trucy." Apollo had crossed his arms tightly and protectively over his chest. "I know Pearl was raised to believe in ghosts, but is that something you really believe in, Trucy?"

She stared at him incredulously. “I’ve got eyes that can tell when someone’s lying, and a family of magicians. Plus, Daddy says his old legal assistant Maya used to summon her dead sister into her body all the time to give him pep talks and stuff.”

"Trucy, not to be negative, but 'eyes that see someone lying' is more like weaponized anxiety than anything else. And I know what Mr. Wright says but– I'm serious, Trucy, do you really actually believe in ghosts? You're not 12 you know."

Trucy felt a sting of irritation, causing her to pout as she leaned back on the table.

“Yeah, no shit, Polly. But I’m saying stranger things happen every day…and Pearly says she can see and channel ghosts and I believe her. Did you know?” She pointed to him. “You’re a lawyer, so you super should. The existence of ghosts is a legal fact, dummy. It was proven in court like, 8 or so years ago. They had an exorcism on live tv! Daddy’s nasty ex girlfriend, everyone saw it!”

Trucy knew that Apollo must have seen it too– after all, Apollo had hero worshiped her daddy for a long time. That was what he had said, that Phoenix Wright had helped him want to become a lawyer.

"Just because it was accepted as evidence in court doesn't mean it must have been real," he murmured bitterly. "Trucy– I don't want to fight with you. I don't want to make you upset but I– I lost someone really close to me recently, you know? You can't just say things to me like ghosts are real and not expect me to be upset."

Trucy grimaced, looking down with a slight flush of guilt. She gripped her wrist, glancing up at him with her focused eyes.

“I..I know, Apollo. I know you’re hurting, a lot. Trust me.” She shrugged her shoulders gently “I’ve lost a lot of people, too. But…you seem different. Really different, sometimes…maybe I’m a little worried that you don’t think you can trust me to talk about it….or I dunno. You’re going to start getting distant…or whoever’s in there with you will.”

"Trucy," he repeated. He looked at her with absolutely heartbroken, exhausted eyes. "Trucy, I know the last time you lost someone you were really young. But I am grieving, okay? You have to understand that I am going to be different because I'm seriously– I'm seriously messed up about this."

He put his hands on her shoulders and looked at her with a dark, haunted expression. "I'm not going to tell you I haven't been different. I have– I know I have. Even after I made up with Athena. But grief does that, Trucy. Grief can make you somebody else for a while. I can't– I have to– I have to work really hard to get over this big part of my life that's just been torn out of the world forever."

Apollo's voice hitched and broke. His fingers dug into her shoulders. "I have to, okay? I have to work through this, and get over it. I have to. You can't come in here and tell me that when I hear his voice in my head that's real, that that's really him. That's not– that's not healthy, Truce."

His big, haunted dark eyes looked terrified, and were beaded with tears.

Trucy winced under his hands. It wasn’t exactly true that the last time she’d lost someone she cared for was when she was young. She’d seen pictures of her father’s corpse far more recently than that, and pushed herself to smile through the trial, forged evidence and all.

It wasn’t like she forgot what grief felt like, or how badly the gaping hole a loss left could sting.. But she couldn’t help but think that maybe knowing they were there, with you still, was a comfort rather than something unhealthy and hurtful. She liked to imagine Zak Gramarye there in the crowd at every show, clapping proudly as she performed quite literally in his name.

But it was clearly hurting Apollo to even imagine the possibility. She hiccuped, her shoulders shaking.

“S-sorry Polly,” she managed to say, “I just t-thought, you know…it’d be nice if you k-knew it wasn’t forever.”

His fingers dug into her shoulders for another moment, and then he pulled her into a tight hug. She heard him make a choked noise as he held her, and she felt his body shudder.

"Sor–sorry, Trucy," he murmured, holding her tight. "Sorry to be such a bastard about it I just– I can't. I don't know how I'd– sorry."

Trucy rubbed his back, feeling even guiltier.

“You’re not a bastard…Pearl was worried about me sayin’ something. I should have thought a little more before I …y-you know…said anything.”

If there was a ghost inside Apollo…it wasn’t erratic…it was hurting.

Apollo swallowed so thickly that Trucy could hear it, and he didn't let go of her, just nodding against her shoulder.

"Can I… can I tell you something, Trucy? Without you thinking less of me?" he murmured.

Trucy nodded against him, holding him tight. “Of course..we both say all kinds of stuff all the time. Nothing you tell me’s gonna make me think less of you, okay?”

He took a breath, rough and raspy, still just holding her, face buried in her shoulder. "Clay wasn't just– he wasn't just my f-friend, Trucy. He was– we were– we were together romantically, y-you know what I mean? Like dating…"

Trucy’s eyes widened in sudden understanding.

That explained a lot, honestly.

“Oh. Oh Apollo…” she bit her lip “I’m sorry…I didn’t know you guys were dating, I didn’t…” She felt even guiltier. This had all been a big mistake. “He seemed like a really great guy.”

He squeezed her again, and she could hear his embarrassment when he said, "it wasn't exactly the kind of thing you talk about at work, you know."

It wasn't exactly something you talked about at work. Her daddy and Mr. Edgeworth didn't talk about it. She hadn't even known for sure that they were together until a little more than a year ago, when she'd been sat down for a 'serious talk'.

It wasn't that it was something illegal, or that it was wrong, per se, but it just… wasn't talked about. It wasn't respected. Certain people wouldn't take you seriously if you 'weren't the marrying type'. It had just always been that way.

Trucy remembered that it had come up at the trial about Aura, and everyone got embarrassed and tried to dance around the subject.

It made sense why Apollo wouldn’t have told her, no matter how absolutely ridiculous she felt the social ‘norm’ was. She knew the way her own heart tended to lean, without heed to the arbitrary line of ‘gender’...and her own attractions.

It just wasn’t something talked about– and Apollo was suffering alone because of it.

“I know what you mean ..but you can talk about that with me. I understand it.” She squeezed him tighter, “I’m sorry, Polly. I’m sorry you lost your boyfriend, and I’m sorry I pushed you on it.”

He took a deep, shuddering breath, and squeezed her again, sniffling. "Thanks, Trucy. I appreciate you understanding…"

“Of course I understand,” she murmured against him, doing all she could to hug him as comfortingly as she could manage. “You can talk about anything with me, okay Polly? Anything.”

He nodded against her, holding her for another minute. Then he took a breath and a step back, arms still on her shoulders.

"Thanks… I'm sorry I snapped at you. I've been barely holding it together this whole week…"

Trucy rubbed at her eyes with one hand, shaking her head. “It’s been a really hard week for you guys…don’t be sorry okay? I pushed a little too hard.”

Apollo squeezed her shoulders more gently this time. "It's okay. I know you just wanted to help."

She smiled at him , her big and bright showstopper of a smile that won hearts at the Wunder Bar. “Because you’re important to me, dork.”

He grabbed the rim of her top hat and pulled it down over her eyes gently. "You too, Truce. Even if I'm kinda shit at showing it right now."

“Wah!!!” Trucy bopped the rim of her hat to knock it back up with a puff of her cheeks. “You’ll get better. Just gotta retrain you on Trucy Wrangling, I guess. Just don’t let yourself fall too deep in your own head.”

She shrugged her shoulders gently.

"I'll do my best," he said, slipping his hands into his pockets and standing awkwardly in front of her. "So… h-hey…"

Trucy tilted her head to the side. “yeah Apollo?”

"If Pearls thinks I have a…" he shifted uncomfortably as he spoke, and she watched him clench his hands in his pockets, "ghost attached to me… what did she want me to do about it? Did she want to.. I don't know, perform an exorcism?"

“No! Of course not!” Trucy put her hand to her lips with a gasp. “No way! She just noticed it and I thought it might…help. To know. You know?”

"So she just wanted to… bring it to my attention, then?" he asked, raising his chin curiously.

“I mean yeah? She didn’t exactly grab my shoulders and go TRUCY WE GOTTA EXORCISE THAT GUY. More like she just pointed it out and I had to agree?”

He rubbed the back of his neck and smiled, his face tearstained and rough. "Well, that's a relief. Here I was worried I'd have to dodge her coming around the corner with spirit charms."

Trucy leaned forward and wiped away some of his tears with her gloved fingers. “Nah, Pearly’s not that kinda girl. She’s nice.”

"Well yeah of course she is. But if she thinks I'm possessed or something she might be convinced the nice thing to do is help me whether i want it or not, right?" He rubbed his face again, and then started to root around the desk for a box of tissues.

“I think she’d probably ask first, Polly.” She wiggled her feet nervously. “Don’t worry. Nobody’s gonna try to kick whatever ghost you totally don’t have with you out. Promise.”

"Alright," he nodded. She watched him wipe his teary face with a tissue. "Frankly, because I think the stress of it might kill me, not because I have a ghost possessing me, understand?"

He gave her a wry smile, but his voice was firm.

Still, Trucy wasn't sure whether he believed it or not.

“Of course!” She flashed her smile again. “We wouldn’t want to add to the ‘are ghosts real’ question by having YOURS around too after you have a coronary.”

"Yeah," he chuckled, rough and pained. "One ghost is too many, but two would be complete anarchy."

December 24, 10:15 pm

Pearl was carefully combing out her long, long, long hair after her shower when Trucy returned to the room after talking to Apollo. She'd only seen it down a few times before– it had to be all the way to her knees, if not her ankles.

"How'd it go?" Pearl asked softly, looking up at her as the door closed.

“Preeeetty bad.” Trucy took off her top hat with the same weighty sigh as her father taking off his tie after a bad day in the courtroom.

"Oooooogh…" Pearl put a hand over her mouth as she frowned. "Nobody's hurt, right?"

“No, nobody got hurt.” Trucy shook her head with a sigh as she plopped herself down next to her, before letting herself fall back against the bed with an ‘oof’. “But he got really upset…told me that it’s not real, and it can’t be…and then got really really nervous that you were gonna try to exorcize the ghost.”

She chewed on her thumb gently. "I was kinda worried about that… we'd better keep an eye on him."

#trucy wright #apollo justice #pearl fey #blackbright #phantomquill #ace attorney #fanfiction #fanfic #fan fiction #archive of our own #ao3 #darkfic #dark fic #dead dove

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toxicsludgeyaoi · 6 months

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Toxic Sludge Yaoi Tournament: Phantomquill (Ace Attorney: Dual Destinies) Vs Lawlight (Death Note)

(No image provided for Phantomquill. Vote for whichever you like more.)

Propaganda under cut. Note: spoilers for these medias may be below.

Phantomquill propaganda

"Spoiler warning for Dual Destinies (mostly the last 2 cases). Blackquill, a prosecutor, was trying to figure out the identity of The Phantom, an international spy. So The Phantom killed Blackquill's biggest ally, which forced him to take the blame for the murder (to protect this person's daughter). So he ended up in jail for a crime he didn't commit. Six years later, The Phantom assumes identity of detective Bobby Fulbright, and under that disguise works together with Blackquill, who was allowed to prosecute again (despite being on death row). Their dynamic somehow contains a two-way power imbalance, since Simon is able to boss "Fulbright" around and insult him (being his direct superior), yet also "Fulbright" is technically his handler, and solves Blackquill's behavioral problems by... tasing him. They work together for most of the game. The Phantom forced Blackquill to take the blame for yet another murder. After it was revealed that Bobby Fulbright was in fact The Phantom in disguise (a man he was chasing all these years, the one who ruined his life, ended up right by his side), Blackquill cut his mask, thereby causing Phantom's breakdown. Blackquill took The Phantom into police custody at the end of the game. The jailer becomes the jailed. Great stuff."

Lawlight propaganda

"doomed by the narrative, age gap, voyerism, sexy sexy mind games, one kills the other, insane judas and jesus parallels, incredibly homosexual foot washing scene"

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rinienne · 1 year

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That one funny scene from Agents of Shield, but set in my post AA5, Phantom helps hunting down the terrorist organization who sent him fanfic. Phantom’s design is based on that one Fulbright concept art.

#ace attorney #phantomquill #my art #Simon Blackquill #athena cykes

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johnny217 · 1 year

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He can take 5 of them (in a fight)

#lmao i spent to much time for this #💀#ace attorney #simon blackquill #my art #ace attorney phantom #understandable to me and to three other people maybe #okay the first Phantom is from fic series Woeful Wiling and Wanton Wishes #second one is my Phantom sona spy Scarlet Spectre #then it's Bobby and Phantom-Bobby #and Space Center Ghost <3 #bobby fulbright #blackbright #phantomquill

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jarofmayonassey · 1 year

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no comment

#bobby fulbright #ace attorney #dual destinies #aa #simon blackquill #the phantom ace attorney #phantomquill #blackbright #it could be either but in my soul its phantomquill

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catgirl-catboy · 1 year

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What's your most controversial ace attorney ship or take?

Ship: Phantomquill. I like it abusive and completely one-sided on Simon's end. I hc that him and aura were extremely close as kids and the phantom just sort of... slid into that emotional space. Simon actively pretended not to give a shit about him until the reveal and was only honest with himself afterwards.

Take: I fucking hate how much the fandom obsesses over found family. Phoenix and Maya aren't siblings in canon, they are just close friends! Honestly, Phoenix isn't really Apollo's dad, just Trucys. He is Apollos annoying boss (affectionate.)

If you enjoy found family headcanons, more power to ya! But I wish people didn't start shit with me because they aren't my jam.

#ask tag #ace attorney #phantomquill

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theholeyness · 11 months

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#simon blackquill #bobby fulbright #the phantom #phantomquill #blackbright #idk they're the same ship to me #holey art tag

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the-bar-sinister · 22 days

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In Justice We Trust (88252 words) by thesavagesabretooth

catch up here

All the while, Edgeworth and Wright find their relationship tested as they walk the narrow path between pursuing real justice, and the dark age of the law.

December 25, 6:45 am

Miles had requested one of the hotel conference rooms so that he could bring Phoenix up to speed on the case– given the lack of time or appropriate space to do so any earlier. He'd sent Kay to go fetch some bagels and coffee for the meeting, and he flipped through the paperwork from his briefcase, adjusting his reading glasses.

There was a knock on the door, and the man behind it didn't wait for a 'come in' before he invited himself.

Phoenix Wright swaggered in, in his shirt sleeves and suspenders, with his signature blue coat tossed over one shoulder. His hair wasn't gelled back yet, hanging instead in untidy damp locks around his face and over his eyes.

He yawned, clicking the door closed behind him. "Morning, Edgeworth."

"Good morning, Wright." Miles looked up at him rather appreciatively, leaning on his hand and taking in the view. "I see my request caught you just out of the shower."

"Hey, you jump, I ask how high, eh?" Wright walked over and put his arms around Miles' shoulders, leaning over him from behind the chair.

Miles laughed and nuzzled his face against Phoenix's warm, freshly shaved cheek, the gentle scent of his aftershave and shampoo mingling. "You most emphatically do not do that, Phoenix. But you smell nice, so that's something."

"Well, as long as I've got something going for me, huh?" He smiled that big, stupid smile of his, and Miles grabbed his chin and pulled him into a rough, insistent kiss. It was the first one he'd managed to steal in days, and he was determined to enjoy it. Phoenix's tongue tasted of peppermint, and he made a soft noise as Miles bit and sucked at his lips.

When he finally released him, Phoenix took a deep breath, and batted his eyelashes. "Why, Mr. Edgeworth, how terribly scandalous!" he cooed in a falsetto.

Miles rolled his eyes. "Every time, Mr.Wright. And worth the potential scandal every time."

Phoenix leaned on him. "You spoil me, Miles."

"After the way you've behaved lately? I absolutely think I spoil you. You'd better be ready to really earn that badge I got back for you." He traced his fingers over Phoenix's jaw softly. He'd been hurt– terribly hurt– when Phoenix had said he wouldn't go to bat with him on this case, after everything Miles had done for him. But he could never stay angry at Phoenix long. It was that puppy dog look of his.

Phoenix leaned into Miles' touch and nodded, closing his eyes. "Consider me ready, Miles. But you already have the others here, what exactly is the plan?"

"For starters, I'm keeping you on a leash this time. You're going to help me investigate some of the more behind the scenes elements here."

"Oooh, investigating is my favorite part," Phoenix grinned.

"Don't think I don't know it," Miles chuckled. "Really, you would have made a better detective than a lawyer, Phoenix."

"And what about you, Miles? I'd say the same."

Miles adjusted his glasses, and smiled, bashfully. "Yes, well, we all have our roles to play, don't we? What use is playing detective if it's for a corrupt system?"

They'd talked about it before. About washing their hands of the whole thing and doing something like joining interpol, or opening a detective agency. But Miles couldn't bring himself to do it. He couldn't bring himself to give up trying to piece back together the broken shards of their legal system.

One day. One day he could retire and leave the politics behind, and just do the fun part. Maybe he could even get Phoenix to come with him.

"So you say, Miles," Phoenix murmured. He nuzzled him like a cat– and they both froze when there was another knock at the door.

The door swung open, and in walked Kay Faraday, her arms laden down with a few paper bags and a balanced tray of three coffees in cheap, but sizable, paper cups.

“Gotcha the coffee, boss! And bagels. Hope you like onion, it’s all they had le–” The young woman paused, before flashing a grin. “Knew you’d probably show up, Mr. Phoenix. Got you a coffee too!”

Miles flushed, and pulled away from Phoenix, who did the same, straightening his tie. Kay knew about him and Wright of course, but that was no excuse for such unprofessional behavior.

Miles cleared his throat and smoothed his hair. "Ah, yes, thank you, Kay. I appreciate the effort. We're just about to go over the facts of the case."

Phoenix grinned, tugging at his cuffs. "Hey, Kay. Been a while."

“Been a long time, Phoenix. How’s the office? Still run in the tyrannical grip of your daughter?” Kay asked with a snicker as she dropped the bags on the table along with the coffee.

She’d changed over the years…even if she was still ever the playful thief, she’d still grown up in a lot of ways. She had her hair in a loose bun today, pinned down with a pair of ornate sticks..

“I didn’t miss the brief?”

"Not at all," Miles said, spreading his hands. "It was just… smalltalk. Have a seat."

"The smallest," Phoenix chuckled. He pulled out a chair for Kay on Miles' right side before sitting down at his left.

Kay Faraday took a seat, leaning onto her hands as some of her dark hair fell across her eye “Guess it’s time to get down to business, eh? So you can have some more time for smalltalk later~..”

December 25, 7:00 am

Miles coughed as Kay teased him.. "Yes, ah, anyway… the best place to start is with the dead agents."

She watched as he pulled a folder out of his briefcase.

Kay Faraday glanced at the folder with a low sigh. She’d gotten long used to bodies, they’d always seemed to crop up wherever she and Miles had gone together. They never got any easier to deal with, or any less sad to see…but she was used to them.

“Got any names for us, boss? Or is Lang keeping them hush?”

"That'd be pretty inconvenient if so," Phoenix mused, leaning on his hand.

"Hardly," Miles rolled his eyes and presented to glossy photos– one of a tan skinned man with glossy ringlets of black hair, the other blond, blue eyed and clean cut. "Agent Angelo St. John, and Agent Layton Fish. They were the closest agents here in Cauli when Lang sent word to watch the airport."

“Bad luck. Guys are sleeping with the fishes and running with the angels at the same time. One bad job, ” Kay murmured. She leaned over to look at the pictures thoughtfully. “what’s the scene look like?”

"Not good." Miles set his jaw and showed another picture. Two vehicles, both burned and twisted almost to unrecognizability.

Phoenix whistled. "I'll say. Did they find any bodies?"

"Two. Interpol has their forensics working on dental records. I'm planning to have Ema lend us her expertise at the scene."

"So we don't even know if these are our guys," Phoenix said.

"Not one hundred percent, no. But Agent Kelso has confirmed that one of the vehicles matches– well, matched– the car that the agents left in."

Kay’s eyes lingered on the damage from the fire. “So it’s pretty likely, unless someone’s playing one heck of a trick on us. “

Phoenix weaved his fingers together. "We've seen some pretty good tricks. But there's always evidence."

"There's always evidence," Miles agreed. "I'm sending most of our people to the scene to look in person today, while some of us take a different tactic. I'd like to do some investigating at the airport itself and see if we can get anything from the security people."

Kay nodded seriously, leaning on her hands with a grin. “Might turn up something. Might turn up more if you let me slip in there and dig around their security files.”

"Kay, don't even suggest anything illegal to me today," Miles said firmly. "We're here by the grace of interpol. We do things by the book– that goes double for you, Phoenix."

He held his hands up and grinned. "What, me? Do something unethical? Never."

“And who from Interpol’s here?” Kay puffed out her cheeks. “I mean…Agent Lang always let me do my thing. And it’s not like either of his subordinates are gonna give me crap for unconventional tactics.”

Miles crossed his arms. "if you clear it with Lang you can do whatever you want, Kay. If you clear it with Lang. His favorite agents are with him too, if you'd like to give wheedling them a shot. Meanwhile, Phoenix and I are also going to be following up on our main target."

“Ooof.” Kay grimaced. “I mean, Badd’s a pushover when it comes to me, but…” the other one…she had some complicated history with. Besides, she’d probably just laugh the request off.

“Yessir. “ She sighed, and grabbed a bagel “sounds like you got a day chock full of adventure.”

"Adventure is one way to put it," Miles murmured. He pulled out another picture. It was a wide shot of the airport's baggage claim, the same one they'd been in last night. "This is the picture that Agent Kelso sent back before the disappearance of her fellow agents. It was just enough to make a positive ID."

"A positive ID, huh?" Phoenix rubbed his chin, and squinted at the picture. There was a pair of figures circled in red marker. A blond, bespectacled older man meeting with a slim, dark haired figure in large sunglasses. The older man's face was turned toward the camera, and his features were visible.

“So that’s the guy, huh?” Kay whistled low under her breath “...and the person in the shades, that’s the one Kelso had been tailing?”

Miles nodded. "The one in the shades is the one Kelso followed from LA to Cauli, yes. The bomber at Fulbright's apartment. And the other– the blond– we think that's the one that the Phantom referred to as 'specs' during questioning."

"Specs, huh?" Phoenix asked. "You said you got a positive ID from this picture?"

"Interpol ran the data for hours," Miles nodded. "It came up with a man named Gaius Lovelace. Dual British and Zheng-Fa citizenship. He runs a consultancy business and manages a hedge fund."

“Bet he’s hedging his bets that we aren’t going to find him and kick his ass six ways from Sunday.” Kay grumbled, before quickly adding. “with the law, I mean!”

"With the law," Miles agreed. "We're going to see if we can pick up his trail here in Cauli somehow, while Interpol is investigating his residence in England."

"Sounds like a hell of a case, Edgeworth," Phoenix said with a little smile.

Edgeworth smirked back. "I knew I could get you interested, Wright."

Kay stretched as she stuffed her bagel into her mouth. A moment later, she dared to ask the question. “So what should I do, boss? Given it’s date night for you two.”

The noise Edgeworth made was hilarious.

December 25, 7:30 am

Halblicht caught his breath as he watched Apollo's receding figure leave the cafeteria. Everyone was staring at them. The staff were staring at them.

That was a disaster.

Simon's hands were on his shoulders, and he looked up to see the prosecutor's gaze following Apollo as well. And Athena was still interposed between himself, and the world.

It could have gone worse, I suppose.

"Still with us, Half Bright?" Simon demanded, glancing down at him.

"For the moment." He fixed his sunglasses. "Ms. Cykes, you didn't need to do that."

“No, Robert.” Athena’s voice carried a tremor that was hard to identify the root of, but she stayed standing between him and the retreating Apollo.

“I did. You’re my patient. I promised to help you, right? Part of that’s not letting my friend beat you to a pulp because he’s lost control of his emotions.” her voice dropped into a quiet murmur “...it wouldn’t be right.”

Bobby reached out, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Ms. Cykes, I accept your commitment as a staunch fellow ally of justice– but he could have hurt you."

Their eyes watered and Robert almost staggered under the weight of Bobby's wave of concern and gratitude.

When Athena turned towards him, there were tears in her eyes and a smile on her face that didn’t quite reach them.

“He already did, Bobby. Didn’t even have to land a punch.” She shook her head, and her shoulder shook under his hand “...it was a risk I was ready to take. I’m stronger than I look, I could have taken it. I didn’t want him to hurt you anymore…or to hurt himself doing something he’d regret..”

They rubbed their chest. It ached. Apollo had hit them right in the same place that the bullet had.

"I appreciate it, Athena, but…"

Simon scoffed. "What's done is done. Athena threw herself into harm's way for, perhaps no good reason. But who among us can say we've never done the same."

"I suppose," Bobby murmured.

Is he including us in that?

I have no idea.

They glanced across the table. Investigator Skye had been there when this began– was she still?

Ema had shot up in the confusion, and was halfway across the cafeteria as Apollo vanished. The last sounds of her calling out to him died in a low growl as she ran her hands through her hair.

“Great, fan fucking tastic. Great. Awesome.”

Simon frowned deeply, as he followed Halblicht's gaze."Well. I suppose we have the table to ourselves now. And Mr. Justice is aware of the situation. So whatever else may be the case– mission accomplished."

“Yeah..” Athena’s voice was hollow as she pressed her hand to her face. “Mission accomplished.”

“...” Ema tugged at her hair just a little bit ahead, hissing under her breath. Eventually she stormed off to a table, where she grabbed a bag of complimentary chips “I’m getting ready for the damned investigation.”

"I guess we all should…" Bobby sighed heavily and finally seated himself as well– noticing that only now did Simon take his hands off him. The prosecutor didn't acknowledge it, merely sitting down next to him. "I'm sorry about the scene…"

It was inevitable, really.

Maybe, but I'm still sorry. I hope Mr. Justice can… calm down, at least.Ema vanished out the door, and Athena dropped into a chair.

“...it’s my fault," Athena sighed,"I should have explained it better…or just bitten the bullet and dealt with Miles being angry with me and told him sooner.”

Robert pushed their glasses up. "Frankly, Ms. Athena, we probably should have gone to Mr. Edgeworth and let him handle it. but what's done is done."

“What’s done is done,” she echoed, looking at the door. “But I think I’m out an investigation partner for the day.”

"Well, it's irregular," Simon said, leaning on one hand and starting to pick at his breakfast again. "But this is an irregular situation. Why don't you just investigate with us?"

Athena looked up at them with a blink “...the defense and the prosecution working together, huh? Not a bad idea…”

Bobby smiles. "You two do make quite the impressive team. And anyway, we don't even know who you'll be representing yet, Ms. Athena. I'm sure there's no harm in it."

“That’s true.” Athena finally smiled again, rubbing the back of her neck. “no harm at all…and anyway, the prosecution needs to start learning to share anyway.”

"True enough," Simon agreed with a smirk. "Much as I enjoy mysterious ways, now that the dark age of the law has started to crack, things might change."

Bobby stood to get himself some coffee. It already felt like things were changing.

Charging in had definitely been the right thing to do.

"Where are you going, Half Bright?"

They stopped frozen and turned toward Simon.

We should probably have asked permission…

"Ah, just to get some coffee, sir."

They waited for the rebuke.

"Good, get me another cup."

Bobby wasn't the only one who felt a small sting of relief.

December 25, 7:30 am

Trucy and Pearl had slept in a bit compared to everyone else. Trucy had woken up to a message on her phone from her Daddy to go and have breakfast without him, because he was in a meeting with Mr. Edgeworth.

“Looks like we’ve gotta go it alone this morning, Pearl.” she’d said as she tied her hair into its usual low ponytail. “Daddy’s busy with Mr. Edgeworth, so we’re gonna have to scrounge for ourselves.”

Pearl had put her own hair back up in it's complicated coiffure the night before after it had dried, and she was sitting on the end of the bed, kicking her feet, and watching as Trucy finished getting ready.

"You say scrounge as if there isn't a whole hotel restaurant, Trucy," she giggled.

Trucy fluffed her hair, letting the cluster of locks fall down to frame her face in a curl on one side, before she turned with a sweep of her cape as she fastened it over her shoulders.

“A whole hotel restaurant for us to scrounge and forage in…only us, our wits, and daddy’s hotel tab between us and a good balanced breakfast.”

Pearl giggled and hopped up to her feet. "I think it might actually be Mr. Miles' hotel tab in this case. Or maybe even Klavier's!"

“You know what that means, Pearl.” Trucy offered her hand with a grin “...we don’t have to worry about going ham. Daddy’s broke, but Mr. Edgeworth is loaded.”

Pearl giggled and took her hand. "Let's go ham then! Or at least get ham. I don't want to be stuffed to the gills when we go meet Klavier, after all!"

She giggled and tugged her toward the door.

Trucy followed her with a laugh. “That's true, that’s true. Alright, we’ll make sure to at least get ham and maybe something sweet on the go, and then get going to see Klavier. I’d like to be able to dance, at the very least.”

"Dance huh?" Pearl asked as they hurried down the hall. "You think he'll invite us to?"

Trucy squeezed her hand. “I mean he’s a musician, I think he’d be offended if we didn’t wanna!”

"Truuue, but I didn't know if he was gonna do anything actually musical in this commercial," she mused. She paused waiting for the elevator. "You said it was for a brand of soft drink, right?"

“You…” Trucy rubbed her chin. “you think he’d agree to do it if he wasn’t gonna get to rock out? What? Is he gonna prosecute someone in it?”

Pearl stepped into the elevator. She mirrored Trucy's gesture, rubbing her own chin. "Well I mean I kind of just thought he was going to open a soft drink 80 different times in 80 different takes and go 'ahhh, so refreshing!' or something."

Trucy stuck out her tongue. "Blehhh… First of all, he’d get a stomachache. Second of all, that’d be lame. There’s no pizzazz in that. Where’s the magic? Where’s the light and sound? Nobody’s gonna wanna drink their stupid soda if it’s just a guy opening it, looking sick because it’s his hundredth soda and going ‘yum, it’s good, buy it, dummy’, you know?”

Pearl rubbed her neck as the elevator descended. "Um, I super agree with you Trucy, but I'm not sure that's how commercials work. I'm also not sure why I know more about commercials than you…"

Trucy flushed a brilliant red, huffing. “I…I…every commercial I’ve ever been in’s been exciting! That’s all! Geeze!”

The elevator stopped at the first floor.

"Have you been in a bunch?"

“I’ve been in one.” Trucy waved her hand back and forth in the air, still holding Pearl’s. “It was for the Wright Anything Agency!”

"Ooooooh. Well, then it's no surprise it was exciting!"

The door opened and she tugged Trucy out and toward the dining hall.

Trucy followed close behind, grinning as she went .

“We didn't have food, either, but if we did I wouldn’t have wanted to waste it, you know? So obviously someone’s gotta drink the sodas that Klavier doesn’t….maybe he actually gives them to the crew so he doesn’t get sick? I dunno.”

"Ooooh, maybe. That'd be nice, right?" She pushed the door to the dining room open. "After you!"

Trucy dipped into a curtsy with a grin.

“why thank you, Pearl.” she winked “you know how to make a girl feel special…” With that and tip of her hat, she slipped into the dining hall.

Slipping into the dining room, Trucy realized there was almost nobody in there. A couple of people off to one side Trucy didn't recognize, and Athena sitting with Simon Blackquill and some other guy.

And that was basically it. No Kay, no Gumshoe. No Apollo.

“Uh…..” Trucy stopped short with a raise of her eyebrow under the brim of her hat. “...where the heck is everyone? Polly shoulda been here by now. He never misses breakfast.”

Pearl rubbed her neck. "More breakfast for us I guess? Maybe he already ate and got going?"

Trucy watched her look around the dining hall, and her gaze come to rest on the mystery man sitting with Athena and Simon.

She leaned on Pearl’s shoulder, staring along with her with a puzzled tilt of her head. “Who's that guy?”

Pearl chewed on her thumb, and looked distracted. "Gosh, um… that's a good question..."

“He kinda looks familiar…like I saw him somewhere recently.” Trucy mused with her chin against Pearl’s shoulder. “..what’s up, Pearl? Do you recognize him?”

"Um…." Pearl chewed on her thumb again. "Why don't we get some breakfast."

Trucy glanced between Pearl’s expression and the mystery man tugging at the edge of her memory.

“...Yeah uh.” She eased Pearl towards the breakfast buffet tables, “let’s maybe do that and we’ll sort it out together.”

December 25, 7:45 am

As they were finishing up with breakfast, Athena noticed Trucy and Pearl pause in the doorway, before they headed over to the buffet area.

“Hmmm,” Athena’s brow knit as she nibbled down a piece of bacon. “Why…are Trucy and Pearl here?”

Simon looked up. "I'm sorry, what?"

Athena pointed to them at the buffet table with her slice of bacon. “...Trucy and Pearl. They’re over there. They were staring right at us for like….3 minutes before they wandered over there. Why…why are they here in Cauli?”

Halblicht looked over his shoulder curiously as well. "Trucy Wright, yes? And the other girl… wasn't she involved in the orca case?"

“Yeah, that’s right! She was the penguin whisperer…because she fell down in a bunch of fish.” She laughed into her hand. “She’s a spirit medium from Kurain , I’m pretty sure. She’s really great.”

"A… spirit medium?" Halblicht's expression was unreadable, but Athena felt a brief flicker of odd, twisted emotions from him anyway. "How unusual."

“Yeah…her cousin was part of that whole case back in the day that proved the existence of ghosts, you know.” Athena mused , leaning on her hand. “She was possessed by the vengeful spirit of a multiple murderer..”

The restaurant’s door slammed open, carrying with it a cheerful, if very sleepy sounding, salutation.

“G’morning, fellas!” Agent Kelso called out, as she adjusted her sunglasses in her hair. “Can the Edgeworth party come with me?”

#narumitsu #wrightworth #phoenix wright #miles edgeworth #athena cykes #bobby fulbright #simon blackquill #trucy wright #pearl fey #blackbright #phantomquill #ace attorney #fanfiction #fanfic #fan fiction #archive of our own #ao3 #fic: in justice we trust

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doctorcorby · 26 days

Text

In Justice We Trust (72401 words) by thesavagesabretooth

catch up here

All the while, Edgeworth and Wright find their relationship tested as they walk the narrow path between pursuing real justice, and the dark age of the law.

December 24th, 8:00 pm

14 hours of travel time, and jet lag, and a day that was swiftly moving toward its 24th hour of wakefulness clouded Simon's mind and made the whole proceedings feel like some kind of waking dream.

He was glad that Athena was going to stay the night– he couldn't bear to have been in the room alone with Halblicht– with Bobby. Not now. Not with all of the confused things going through his mind. He was deeply torn, part of him wanting to embrace and accept the return of the man he'd spent his year with– the other part now even more deeply wounded and skeptical that things could ever be alright again.

Just because Bobby was real– in some strange and twisted way, as a part of the Phantom's mind– didn't mean that Simon had it in him to forgive him. Did it?

He took deep breaths, in and out, trying both to calm himself and to focus on what was important as he listened to Athena get into the weeds with Halblicht.

Athena was looking bad, despite her ever present smile. The dark circles under her eyes spoke to her exhaustion as she tapped away at the screen.

“I’d like to loop back to your…training, if that’s okay.”

Bobby ran his fingers through his hair, and nodded. "I'm not surprised. I'll try to help Robert answer where I can."

“Thanks Bobby. I know it can’t be easy…unpacking trauma never is…you saw how messy it was for me during the trial, yeah? I understand.” She was quiet for a moment before she snapped out enough to ask her first question. “He wasn’t given a name, and in court he spoke about how he’d ‘discarded’ his identity…that he was an abyss. I want you to elaborate on that…”

"Left them behind," Bobby murmured, rubbing his arm thoughtfully. "He said that he left them behind. It wasn't really something he had a choice in, whether he wants me to tell you that or not. He's not even sure if he ever had an identity to begin with."

“The people who ran the organization…correct me if I’m wrong, but…given they didn’t give him a name it’s safe to assume they were trying to tell him since as long as he could remember that he didn’t have a personality? Emotions…any of that?”

"Yes," Bobby nodded, twisting his hands in his lap. "They punished him for expressing any kind of emotion aside from blind obedience. They… miss Athena… they beat those children for giving one another nicknames."

Athena’s mouth drew a hard line, and Simon could see a flicker of something behind her tired eyes.

Maybe it was rage. Or maybe he was projecting his own feelings on her. The idea that anyone could be so monstrous made him sick.

“I see,” she said softly, “they did the same for any other attempt at individuality, however minor?”

"Yes, ma'm," he nodded again, his hands tight together. It was clear he was having trouble speaking about it, even with 'Bobby' as whatever buffer he existed for. "No possessions. No voluntary alterations of appearance. No expressing preferences, even for simple things. Food, or clothes. The punishments were… severe."

Athena’s fingers tightened on the sheets, palpable only by the way they shifted against his leg as she drew more of them into her palm.

“Horrible,” she said a moment later. “absolutely sickening…ritual abuse to turn children into tools of war and espionage. By…stamping down individuality, they wanted to create someone who could become anyone, c-correct?”

Simon watched with disgust and curiosity as Halblicht's posture changed and his expression smoothed. He looked off into the middle distance. "That was the goal. To create weapons, and tools. That's what we were told. That we were not people, we were tools. 'You're no one'."

“You’re no one.” Athena echoed hollowly as her fist closed tight around the handful of sheets. “Do you remember anything before them? Before they tried…tried to turn you into a tool?”

"I do not," he said, impassively, shaking his head. "The earliest memory I can recall is being in the back of a truck with several other children, and then marched into a building through a concrete hallway."

"How old?" Simon asked, eyes narrowing on him. It was evil. It was impossibly evil. No wonder it resulted in creating evil… Treating children like they were tools as if they were nothing more than a robot who could hold a gun.

Robert shook his head again. "I have no idea how to judge that. We were small. Maybe four? Maybe six? I suppose I could have been as old as eight at that point."

Athena made an involuntary noise…horror, a quiet intake of breath before she managed to ask another question.

“It’s no wonder. It’s no wonder you called yourself the abyss. Taking children and beating the very identity out of them, in the formative years of your lives.They saw you as nothing but a tool, something to point and shoot, or sent to retrieve. It’s no wonder you felt you were no one.”

Her breath hissed audibly between her teeth “put through so much, so young, by the real evil. True, genuine evil.”

Robert shrugged. "People do whatever they think will facilitate their goals. Evil or good are abstract. These people wanted weapons, so they created them. Children were only the raw materials. Some children are raised to be people. I was raised to be a tool, that's all."

Athena’s eyes flicked down to the screen.

“Do you really believe that, Robert?” she asked in an even tone, “or is that what they told you?” WIth a soft sigh, she continued “I’ll dispense with good or evil. I’ll say what I really mean. These people are cruel. The psychological damage they inflict by their actions is immense.”

"It's only damage if you're trying to create a person, isn't it?" he murmured. "If it's a weapon you're trying to create, it's structure. It's like saying you damaged a stone by chipping it to make a statue."

Simon felt himself bristle. and he moved involuntarily forward on the bed, closer toward Halbricht.

"That's rubbish! Complete rot! A child isn't a stone to be shaped as seen fit!"

Halblicht winced, and looked up with a watery, apologetic expression. "I think it's how he copes with what happened… by telling himself that it doesn't matter. That he doesn't matter. I think it's easy since it's always what he's been told…"

“It’s a coping mechanism,” Athena suddenly said. Despite the watery look in her eyes, her outward expression was soft and quiet as her voice “but it’s not a good one. Not in the long term. It’ll only reinforce what they’ve done to him.”

She raised her hand to her chest.

“Robert…we all come into this world as people. Some of us are stranger than others, some of us are ‘chipped’ or molded by others or circumstance…or in the case of your handlers…abject cruelty. But they cannot turn a person into a tool, not completely.”

Slowly she reached her hand through the screen, disrupting the mood matrix as she gestured towards him. “There’s always going to be something lingering, trying to break back through. Think logically…don’t respond with their words…have you felt something like that since you’ve gained a little autonomy from them and theirs? Anything? Emotions, desires, tastes…anything?”

Halblicht's face returned to the impassive, distant expression. But Simon watched him put his fingers gently on the buttons of his shirt and toy with them.

"Four nights ago you exposed my fear for everyone to see, Ms. Cykes. Why do you think someone like me would even be afraid to die?"

Simon felt like he had been stabbed in the chest by the sheer weight of hearing the Phantom's admission.

Was this why he held on so hard to being Bobby Fulbright? Because he'd actually been able to enjoy himself?

“Because you have,” Athena’s hand lowered to her knee. “The only reason to fear death is when you have something to hold on to…and it’s clear you’re more than what they created. People aren’t tools, no matter how hard they try to make it so.”

Her brow furrowed as she continued. “You’ll need to face that if you want to heal. You can’t heal from damage you pretend isn’t there. You matter. You’re a person, with feelings that we could register even during the trial, feelings that make you fear death and lead you to your own choices no matter how much they tried to stop you.”

Simon couldn't breathe. Suddenly the murder of Metis Cykes was no longer the deliberate and wicked choice of an evil man. At least– not the one sitting in front of him. Suddenly it was the action of a man who had no choice at all. Who had never had a choice.

If someone had used Ponco to commit a murder– would that murder be Ponco's fault? Where does blame lie when you've raised a child as an obedient killer?

Had this man truly never experienced a moment of affection in his life before– before Simon himself? Was it not, as he'd believed when they started their relationship, one love-starved prisoner seeking out someone he could touch, but two prisoners instead?

If it was a lie, it was a good one. It was the only one that could possibly have tugged at Simon's heart.

Then Phantom was hanging his head down, staring at the floor.

"I don't understand, Ms. Cykes. Why would you want to help me? Why would you want me to be a person?"

The mood matrix flickered off before her with a wave of her hand, removing the obscuring wall of holographic imagery and leaving just Athena Cykes and himself sitting there on the bed opposite ‘the Phantom’.

“Robert.” Her voice rose above its soft spoken tone to emphasize the name…pointedly. Simon saw her hands shaking. “Why wouldn’t I want you to be a person? Nobody deserves to be a tool. I don’t want that…my mother wouldn’t have wanted it either. I know what it’s like to feel like you’re not a person…to think of yourself as a machine. Maybe it’s that. Maybe I want to prove your creators wrong. Or maybe it’s just…the kind thing to do for someone starved for kindness…no matter what they’ve done to me personally. I don’t know, exactly…but I know I’ll keep helping.”

Athena's words hung in the air in silence for a moment.

"You'll help me," he said again, incredulously. His chest spasmed in what might have been a silent laugh, or a shudder of disbelief. "I killed your mother, and you want to help me. That's insane. And I guess Bobby's right– I guess I'm insane too. Because I actually believe you."

Insane. The phantom was right. It was completely insane that either one of them could move past the evil he had done them– the life he had so carelessly snuffed out and thrown their lives into chao– it was unthinkable that they could want to help him.

So damn it, why did Simon want to help him, too? Why did he want to pull the man who had ended Metis Cykes life– who had snuffed out another young life less than a week ago– into a hug and never let him go?

Simon started to laugh too, and he slapped the bed unable to catch his breath. "What a joke on all of us. What a wretched jest we're party to. You'd better understand this, Half Bright— Athena isn't the only one who wants to help you. Justitia help me."

Maybe it was infectious, because Athena’s shoulder shook in a quiet and desperate laugh of her own.

“A joke…maybe.” She pressed her hand to her face, before she pushed her hair away and smiled in Simon’s direction. He could see there was pride there, and some kind of hope in her expression.

The phantom's shoulders shook, his hand still clutching the buttons of his shirt like he was clutching at his heart. Was he laughing, or crying? Simon heard nothing but a wheezing breath from him, and he saw no tears. But it could have been either, or both.

Halblicht steadied after a moment too, and looked up at Simon. "You really want to help me as well, Simon?"

"So it would seem. No one is more surprised than me." Simon caught his own breath, and he smiled helplessly over at Athena. "I guess we had that breakthrough that I called you in for, Ms. Cykes."

Athena seemed to sigh with relief, before wiping at her eyes with a laugh. “All the best breakthroughs happen when everyone’s overly exhausted, Simon. That’s just a fact.”

It was also, probably, a lie.

"Oh yes, that's just obvious," Simon nodded along, sarcastically. "Insanity and nonsense suddenly make the most sense when you're completely wiped out."

Now Simon heard the familiar sound of the absurd sniffling that always came before Bobby started to sob. Halblicht pushed up his glasses, and tears ran down his face.

"Ms. Cykes, Prosecutor Blackquill– I– I don't know what to say," Bobby– it was obviously Bobby again now– whimpered. "We don't deserve such overwhelming kindness from you. It would be justice just to throw us away but… but thank you so much just for listening."

Athena turned her attention back to him with a little sniff. “C-come on. I’ll start crying too!” She sniffed again “thank you both for being open with us…for being willing to accept help, y-yeah?”

Bobby nodded, still crying against his arm.

"S-sorry! I don't want to make you cry but… but it's just so much. I-I can hardly believe it, you know? And y-you even made Robert believe it too, and he doesn't t-trust anybody…"

"I can't imagine why he wouldn't," Simon drawled, blinking back his own tears. "but you'd both better believe it. Mad as it is, this is apparently the reality that we have to deal with."

He stood up suddenly, and marched over to the desk where he grabbed the box of tissues. He pulled several out of the box, and handed them to Athena, then he shoved the whole box in Halblicht's face.

"Here, Half Bright. Clean yourself up. You're a mess."

Bobby looked up at him with big, wet eyes, and it was all that Simon could do to stop himself from pulling the man into a hug.

He'd killed Metis Cykes. But now it wasn't some cold, emotionless killer who'd held the knife. It was poor, stupid Bobby Fulbright, waiting somewhere to be woken up from the nightmare he'd been born into.

Who would hurt a child like that? Who could turn someone who had a man like this in his heart into a killer? Simon found himself shaking with rage.

Athena wiped her eyes beside them, hiccuping softly as she attended to the spilling tears. He didn’t need her hearing to hear the sorrow in her voice.

“The world can be mad, you know? Cruel, too. But…but. It doesn’t have to be. I want you both to believe that we’re going to help Mr. Edgeworth put a stop to this too. I’ll defend whoever I gotta defend to make sure the truth…that justice is reached.”

"Indeed," Simon said firmly. "If you have been used as a weapon, then justice will be only be done when we apprehend the monster who dared to use you in such a way."

Bobby sniffled and pulled handfuls of tissues out of the box, wiping at his teary eyes.

"Thank you… thank you both. I'm glad… I'm glad to have your help. I've been saying this whole time to Robert that it wasn't fair what they did to him… that it wasn't just…it's awful to see what happened. I want to bring those people to justice with you. We want to."

Athena reached out a hand towards them, her smile tentative and kind. “And we will. You will. That’s a promise, alright?”

"Thank you…" He wiped his eyes with one arm, and shaking, reached out and put his hand on hers. "It's a promise."

"A promise." Simon put his hand on top of both of theirs, and squeezed. "Some sort of dark pact, even."

He huffed a laugh, but, mad as it was, it seemed like some kind of new beginning. Of what, he didn't know.

December 24th, 9:40 pm

They talked for a while longer, in murmured, exhausted voices, going over the things they'd already said, without breaking much new ground. Robert was quiet, while Bobby continually thanked them, and apologized. Simon's emotions were so omnipresent and confused that Athena could barely hear herself think.

Finally, Simon had insisted that they had to at least try to get some sleep for the investigation in the morning, and that had caused another discussion. Not quite an argument. Each of them volunteered to sleep on the floor. And none of them would allow the others to do so.

Finally, exhausted and clearly manic, Simon had laughed, and suggested they just all sleep on the bed in their clothes 'like an anime convention.' He had promised to get Bobby an iron for his 'poor, wrinkled shirt' in the morning.

Which was exactly how Athena found herself laying there on the right side of Simon Blackquill, staring at the darkened ceiling with her thoughts ticking away like the seconds and the sound of the two men’s breathing played at the edge of her hearing as all else tuned out.

Thoughts of the therapy session played in her mind…the stories of the facility he grew up in, the other children…the deliberate suppression of individualization and emotion. A person they tried to turn into a machine. The very thought made her sick, the horror twisting inside her before spilling into the darkness of her internal matrix.

She remembered the little conversation outside the restaurant after dinner. The moment they met eyes and he whispered understanding to her. What was it like for him? What did it say about her that he could recognize her like that.

Their circumstances were so different…he was forged, raised by that horrible and abusive ‘organization’. Trained to suppress emotion until he became the man who killed her mother over a rock…the man who felt, but knew he wasn’t allowed to so he forced them down as his handlers demanded…to the point where he had no idea how to process them.

If not for Bobby Fulbright. The smiling, emotional, kind hearted goofball who’d endeared himself to everyone around him. A man who was still, somehow, around despite everything. A part of Robert through psychology or fate, she supposed.

But it wasn’t Bobby who recognized something behind her eyes…it was Robert, the phantom. He was the one who quietly understood her in the cold street outside the restaurant, who shared that moment of comforting silence despite the din of words.

Where he was created by cruel and horrible hands, she was born…different. Her emotions had always felt hard to reach, quiet and subtle to the point of becoming drowned out by any outside stimulus. Her miraculous hearing backfired into a curse, distancing her from the ability to feel her own emotions while othering herself from anyone outside Cosmos save for Junie.

At times, she’d thought of herself as another robot like her ‘brother and sister’ Ponco and Clonco…at times she wondered if any of her feelings were real at all.

Maybe that’s what Robert had recognized in her. The use of masks, and the use of exaggeration to show the world the same quiet, muted pulse in your own heart in a way that they could understand. Even if it wore you down. Even if it sometimes felt like too much, at least they’d understand.

Maybe she did relate to her mother’s killer…and maybe that’s why Aura had hated her for so long.

As she shifted to look over at the two men while they slept, she smiled faintly in the dark. Maybe that was why she wanted to help him so badly…outside the sympathy and the fury at those who’d made him and who’d truly taken her mother’s life. Maybe he was a kindred spirit.

December 24, 9:40 pm

Simon lay awake, still and quiet with his eyes closed, pretending to be asleep. He felt the warmth radiating from each of the bodies beside him– the lithe form of Athena on his one side, and the solidly built body belonging to Bobby Fulbright– and whoever else– on his other. He lay stiffly, unable to fully avoid touching the other man, but unwilling to give in to his impulse to wrap his arms around him from behind.

So, Simon had never known the real man Bobby Fulbright. He had thought, when that revelation came to light, that it meant that everything he had known for a year had been an elaborate lie, a falsehood, an act and a put-on without any true feeling or meaning behind it. Simply a manipulation of his own feelings.

But now it seemed that wasn't exactly the case. He had no reason to doubt Athena's skill and her judgment. If she believed what they were hearing from Halblicht, then it must be true.

The man he had known as 'Bobby Fulbright' existed– as a mental construct separated from the broken mind of a tormented victim of horrific abuse. The same victim of horrific abuse who had killed his mentor. Who had murdered Athena's mother Metis in the coldest of blood.

So where did that leave Simon? What did that mean for him? If there was even a part of this man who had felt something for him, who had held him in the darkness when Simon was at his lowest point, how could he reject that? He kept imagining Bobby as a child, huddled and afraid in a cement room, beaten and starved for daring to show a smile out of turn.

Treatment like that would break the spirit– destroy the very soul– of a grown and strong man. What would it do to a small child?

Turn them into something like the Phantom, who could barely register an emotion. Who could only safely show emotion by projecting it on someone else, on 'Bobby'.

Even if it wasn't exactly Bobby huddled in that horrible room, suffering that terrible torment as a child– even if Bobby was new, and the one who had suffered was 'Robert', was the Phantom, was Metis Cykes killer– the rage and pity and compassion for that child that stirred in his heart was the same.

If that experience was true– and Athena believed it, which meant Simon believed it– how could he carry on the hate in his heart for Metis' killer? How could it be anything more than a tragic and disgusting accident perpetrated by a man who had no choice? Could Simon actually move past the fact that this man had killed Metis, had traumatized Athena and forced her to grow up an orphan, had sent Simon himself to death row for so many long years, had driven his sister to the brink?

Could he forgive him?

Would Metis want him to forgive him?

If Ponco had killed her, would Metis want Ponco held responsible? Would Simon have hated the robot just doing what it was told?

The conflict roiled and rolled in Simon's heart. His fury and disgust raged within him, but rather than being pointed at the Phantom, now they were aimed squarely at the ones who had done such a thing to a child. Had stripped him bare and broken him of his humanity. It made Simon want to cry. It made him want to pull Bobby into his arms and hold him– hold him until maybe even Robert– the man who had killed Metis Cykes and felt nothing– could cry. If such a thing were even possible.

If Bobby cared about him, it must mean that somewhere at his core Robert– the Phantom– cared too didn't he? Or were they completely separate? Had Robert watched passionlessly as Simon and Bobby had spent time together?

Simon wondered. Simon wondered about it all, as he lay in the dark, and he started to tug at the frayed edges of what might be clues, or what might be shadows.

Bobby Fulbright had been the one who presented the lighter as evidence. The lighter that– while it implicated Athena– would have freed Simon. Would have saved him from death row. And it put the Phantom himself in danger.

Bobby had kept promising to reform Simon. To rehabilitate him and return him to society. To save him. Had the implication of Athena, twisted and vile as it had been, been to that end? Had the Phantom decided that Simon's life was worth the risk?

Had something in Simon awakened the feelings of a man deadened inside by years of torment? Had he awakened some true feelings of care from the very man who had ripped his life to pieces?

The idea was as sickening as it was romantic.

Halblicht's chest rose and fell in the dark, and he heard him make a noise that might have been a murmur.

Simon broke, and he put his arm around him.

His thoughts chased each other like dogs through the street for a long time after, before he finally fell asleep.

#simon blackquill #bobby fulbright #athena cykes #blackbright #phantomquill #ace attorney #fanfiction #fanfic #fan fiction #archive of our own #ao3 #darkfic #dark fic #dead dove

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