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“Trucy can you get the door?”
“Sure thing, Daddy!”
Phoenix continued to mix the mixture of flour, sugar and butter together, folding the mixture into a firm dough. He heard the door open, the sound of Trucy talking with a group of people travelling to the kitchen. Taking the sugar cookie dough from the bowl, he began to wrap it in cling film to chill. Next to him, Miles was taking out ingredients from the fridge, laying out an assortment of them on the table. A whole turkey was accompanied on the table by potatoes, apples, raisins and an assortment of baking ingredients. Miles had carefully washed the ingredients that needed washing, hence the glistening sheen of water on some of them.
“Merry Christmas, Herr Edgeworth, Herr Wright!” a voice cheerily called from behind them. Turning around, Phoenix flashed a big smile at the blond prosecutor and his protege. Klavier and Apollo were each holding a present in their hands, wrapped neatly with a bow on the top.
“Merry Christmas, Klavier, Apollo!” Phoenix greeted back.
“Merry Christmas, Prosecutor Gavin and Mr. Justice,” Miles said, smiling softly at the two. “Are those presents?”
“Yeah,” Apollo smiled. “Where should we put them?”
“Under the Christmas tree in the living room,” Phoenix replied. “All of the presents we got for everyone are under there already.”
“Come on, I’ll show you!” Trucy called excitedly, leading the pair to the living room.
Soon, more people came trickling into his and Miles’ shared apartment. After Apollo and Klavier came Athena and Simon. Each of them held a present in hand. As Phoenix had expected, Simon had wrapped his gift in black, while Athena wrapped her gift in yellow. How the two completely opposite attorneys got along so well, Phoenix wasn’t sure.
Next came Franziska, Gumshoe and Ema. The two detectives were already busy discussing forensic kits, while Franziska was reading a book. Each had brought their own presents as well, and Trucy eagerly showed them where to put them. To his utter shock and disbelief, Franziska smiled as she saw Trucy, ruffling her brown hair. Phoenix could literally feel his jaw drop, while Miles grinned in amusement.
“When did that happen?” Phoenix asked, mouth still gaping.
“You should see her when I take Trucy to see her,” Miles laughed, chopping up some potatoes. “She’s happier with Trucy than she is with her whip.”
“Unbelievable.”
“Looks like the great Franziska von Karma, prodigy prosecutor has a soft spot for her.”
“I heard that, you fool.”
“And she’s come back to her senses…”
Franziska sauntered towards the two, the smile she had replaced with a frown. “You be glad I didn’t bring my whip this year, Phoenix Wright.”
Phoenix sheepishly grinned, taking out the chilled cookie dough from the fridge. He took a cookie cutter, beginning to cut circles into the firm dough. As he neared completely cutting up the dough, another ring came at the doorbell.
“That must be Maya and Pearl,” Phoenix announced. “I’ll go get it.”
“Don’t wipe the flour on your hands on your sweater!”
“Got the memo, Chief Prosecutor,” Phoenix grinned, rushing out of the kitchen.
As he opened the large wooden door, he was immediately barreled by two girls, who hugged him tightly. Laughing, he patted both of them on the head, earning a complaint from the taller girl.
“I’m not a kid, Nick!”
“Hi, Mr. Nick,” the younger spirit medium smiled. “It’s nice meeting you again.”
“And you, too, Pearls,” Phoenix smiled.
“And me?” Maya demanded. “I spent 6 hours on that train too, you know.”
“Of course it’s nice to meet you too, Maya,” Phoenix smiled. His former assistant beamed back at him.
“Is there anything we can help with?” she asked, looking around the decorated house.
“I’m going to get everyone to help with dinner,” Phoenix replied. “You’re more than welcome to help out.”
“Are we having ramen?!”
“Maya, it’s Christmas!” Phoenix groaned.
Slowly, he began to usher everyone into the kitchen. Once everyone was in the kitchen, they began working on dishes, each of them in a separate area of the kitchen. Phoenix had gone back to working on the cookies, while Miles helped him concoct multicolored icing. Apollo and Klavier were in a corner of the kitchen, feverishly arguing the ethicality of roasting the chicken as they wiped the turkey dry.
“But it’s a living being!” Klavier poued, ripping another piece of tissue to pat the chicken dry.
“Ex living being,” Apollo grumbled. “You really never grow out of it, do you?”
“Meaning?”
“Klavier, you cried in high school when they served steak for dinner.”
“Hey!”
On another corner of the room, Athena and Simon were boiling potatoes, mashing the already cooked through potatoes. Simon slowly poured salt into the saucepan of boiling potatoes, earning an indignant protest from Athena.
“Simon, who puts that much salt in mashed potatoes?”
“Cykes-dono, you know nothing about cooking.”
“It’s not like you know how to cook any better!”
Franziska and Maya, on the other hand, were decorating a pie, completely peaceful as they did so. The two typically loud girls were silent as they pricked the pie, using a fork to create decorative edges on the pie. Maya helped Franziska mix up an egg wash, passing it to the prosecutor to brush over the pie. It was definitely suspicious, but Phoenix opted not to comment on their odd behavior.
Next to them, Pearl and Ema were looking over a recipe on how to make raisin pudding, but it was abundantly clear that neither of them had ever baked before. The batter looked like soup rather than a thick base, but to Phoenix’s relief, Miles swooped in to fix their slip up. Phoenix had always wondered where Miles learned to bake, but he decided not to question it. After all, it was a helpful skill in the kitchen.
Soon, a mixture of delicious smells began to spread throughout the kitchen. The turkey that had been roasting in the oven was now on the table, a beautiful dark brown. The mashed potatoes were in a bowl beside it, chives sprinkled on top of it. The apple pie was still in the oven, tantalizing smells of the baking desert filling the air.
“Let’s go eat!” Maya announced excitedly, grabbing the mashed potatoes to bring to the living room. The rest of them followed suit, bringing drinks and platters of food to the dinner table while Miles, Phoenix and Trucy carried the chopping board with the large turkey on it. As they set it on the table, Athena and Maya clapped, clearly famished.
“Let’s eat!” Phoenix announced, smiling as he sat at the head of the table, Miles on the other end of the long wooden table. They cheered, quickly grabbing plates and putting food onto their plates. Miles stood up, carving the turkey as neatly as he could as the rest began to eat the other dishes they had prepared. In ten minutes, Miles already had the turkey carved and ready to eat, to the delight of everyone at the table. He passed a piece of meat to all of the seated guests, and everyone (even Klavier) enjoyed the seasoned bird. Taka, who was perched next to Simon, was enjoying his own share of raw meat that Phoenix had bought specifically to the bird. Clearly, Simon was grateful for Phoenix’s care.
“Hey,” Maya spoke up, “has Nick ever told you guys how he fell 50 meters into a rushing river once?”
“What?!” the younger attorneys exclaimed, eyes wide as they looked at Phoenix. Franziska was mumbling distastefully under her breath, while Miles tried to suppress a chuckle.
“Mr. Wright, did you really fall into a river?” Athena asked, mouth open.
“That’s crazy!” Widget chirped.
“I can confirm that the fool did do that,” Franziska growled, though her tone was good natured. “He foolishly decided to launch his foolish self across a burning bridge during a case. A murder happened minutes before, and the fool was conviced the killer had run to the other side of the bridge. Maya was on the other side, so the fool launched himself across to save her.”
Miles nodded. “I wasn’t the least bit surprised when I received the news.”
“Looks like Herr Wright’s much cooler than you, Herr Forehead.”
“Hey!” Apollo protested. “I much prefer keeping my body intact, thanks.”
“So what happened after, Wright-dono?” Simon asked, chewing on a small piece of turkey.
“I caught pneumonia, and I couldn’t investigate the case. Thankfully, the defendant was still protected for the first day.”
“But how, Mr. Wright?” Apollo asked, curiosity dancing in his eyes. “I thought you were sick?”
“Well, Miles happened to be in town, and I gave him my badge.”
“Wait, Mr. Edgeworth acted as a defense attorney for that case?!” Athena asked, eyes wide. “How did he even get away with that?”
“Arrangements were made,” Miles replied coolly. “I called in Franziska from Germany to prosecute the case, and I arranged for another judge to preside over the case.”
“I can’t believe I lost to a fool like you Miles…”
“And the day after, Wright insisted on being the defense for the case, like the insufferable hard headed person he is,” Miles groaned. “He still had a high fever but insisted on defending the client.”
“That’s Daddy for you,” Trucy giggled, taking another piece of turkey.
“I can’t believe we missed all the action while Mr. Wright was falling off a burning bridge!” Athena complained, shoving mashed potatoes into her mouth.
“Ja, the courtroom would’ve totally rocked if we were there too!”
“I’m perfectly fine with staying on the ground and not on a burning bridge,” Apollo shivered. “There’s no way I’m flying across a burning bridge to save anyone.”
“And then there was the time I was kidnapped,” Maya giggled. “That was truly a ride.”
“And the client Phoenix Wright foolishly took in shot me on the arm,” Franziska muttered. “Foolish fool…”
“What happened then?” Athena asked, practically on the edge of her seat.
“Well, I used the magatama to check whether my client was actually telling the truth or not,” Phoenix began. “He said ‘I didn’t kill anyone!’ and no locks appeared, so I assumed that he wasn’t the killer.”
“But what Phoenix decided not to consider was that someone else helped the client murder the victim,” Miles sighed. “It was a headache and a half to extend that trial. I had to continuously break my own case so that he could get more time to save Maya.”
“Respectable, Edgeworth-dono,” Simon nodded. “A true warrior.”
“In the end, the culprit happened to be a serial killer ordered by my client to kill the victim,” Phoenix ended. “It was a headache trying to convince the serial killer to let Maya go. We even had to channel Mia several times!”
“That’s amazing, Mr. Wright,” Apollo marvelled. “No wonder you were so highly regarded when I was younger.”
“I wish we were there to witness all that!” Athena rambled. “It would’ve been so cool!”
“Athena, we dealt with a hostage situation, a courtroom bombing and getting two of us here today accused for murder,” Apollo sighed. “Isn’t that enough for you?”
“What a party pooper…”
“But Athena does have a point,” Simon conceded, cutting another piece of turkey. “It would’ve been quite impressive to watch Edgeworth-dono and Wright-dono battle it out in the courtroom during their younger days.”
“I’ve seen enough courtroom battles for a lifetime, thank you,” Apollo shivered.
The chatter continued, Maya continuously bringing up old cases from the past. From the Steel Samurai case to the Yanni Yogi case to the Tres Bien case, the young assistant seemed to remember it all. Phoenix appreciated her caution, though, making sure to leave out more painful details from public ears. More specifically, her caution when she talked about the Gourd Lake case, making sure not to delve into the details of the impromptu trial after.
“Well, that was a good meal,” Athena sighed, sinking slightly in her chair.
“The best!” Widget piped up.
“Well, I hope you’re hungry, because we still have the pie and pudding,” Phoenix pointed out, emerging from the kitchen with two platters in hand.
“Sweet!” Widget cheered, monitor turning green.
“Any more interesting stories, Fräulein?” Klavier asked, turning to the spirit medium. “You seem to have many.”
“Well,” Maya thought, tapping her chin, “I’m not sure I have much more. How about you, Ema?”
Ema jumped slightly. “What?”
“You’ve been pretty quiet,” Phoenix pointed out. “I’m sure you have your fair share of fun court stories.”
“Well, there was the time I first met Mr. Wright!” Ema smiled brightly. “I was rushing around the city trying to find a defense attorney for my sister. It was awful.”
“What happened?” Athena asked, intrigued.
“Well, apparently the Chief of Police at that time was pretty evil,” Ema mused. “He even tried to pin the crime on Mr. Edgeworth, I think!”
“On Mr. Edgeworth?!” Athena repeated, shock evident on her face. “Mr. Edgeworth, how many enemies do you have, exactly?”
“More than enough.”
“Well, the Chief of Police blackmailed my sister into helping with the crime,” Ema continued, grimacing slightly. “His master plan was to pin it on Mr. Edgeworth by moving the body with his car, I think. But then my sister was caught fabricating the crime scene. She stayed silent the whole time to prevent him from hurting me…”
“Lana was amazing,” Phoenix nodded. “She was really amazing, as Chief Prosecutor. She held up even under the pressure of blackmail.”
“Your sister was Chief Prosecutor?” Apollo asked, looking at Ema.
Ema nodded. “She was Chief Prosecutor Lana Skye. She worked with the police first, though. She was the Chief Prosecutor when Mr. Edgeworth was just a High Prosecutor!”
“Prosecutor Skye’s ability in court exceeded almost everyone,” Miles agreed. “Her position was well deserved.”
As their conversation continued, the dessert slowly began to disappear. Though each of them ate their share of desert, most of it was eaten by Athena and Maya, who were famished to no end.
“Athena, I think you’ve eaten quite enough,” Simon muttered as Athena took her fourth slice of pie. She gave him a glare, before proceeding to eat the piece she had just taken.
When all the pie and pudding was finally finished, Trucy brought out the cookies Phoenix and Miles had baked, Phoenix carrying the bags of colored icing behind her. Setting the plate down on the table, Trucy began her explanation.
“So, I thought up of this idea a few days ago,” Trucy began, “where we decorate cookies together!”
“D-Decorate cookies?” Apollo stuttered, while Klavier sniggered behind his back.
“Yep!” Trucy chirped, passing two cookies to each of them. “It’ll turn out delicious in the end regardless, because Daddy used Uncle Miles’ super secret recipe!”
Apollo took an icing bag despite his complaints, beginning to decorate his sugar cookie. The rest of the group followed suit, room quiet in concentration as the piped designs onto the flat buttery cookie.
“Ema, where did you learn to decorate cookies like that?” Apollo asked, amazed as he looked at Ema’s neatly drawn on cookie. “You’re so good at it!”
“Well, forensics takes precision, and we had to learn how to draw for biology,” Ema offered. “I guess I got it from there.”
“Mr. Wright has an unfair advantage too!” Athena mumbled, wiping off some icing from her cookie, leaving a smudge. “He was set out to become an artist before he actually started studying law!”
“Wright-dono was an art student?” Simon asked as he tried to keep the icing from spilling.
“I studied art for as long as I can remember,” Phoenix responded, piping a line perfectly straight. “I decided to take law after college, though.”
“You must have studied hard, Mr. Nick,” Pearl piped up, a magatama already neatly drawn onto her cookie. “It must’ve been difficult!”
Klavier looked up from the Gavinners logo he was drawing on his cookie. “Herr Forehead still hasn’t practiced since highschool, it seems.”
“Were you friends in highschool?” Phoenix asked, looking up from his cookie.
“I went to Themis Legal Academy with a scholarship,” Apollo replied, tongue sticking out as he concentrated on the cookie. “I met Klavier for the first time there. We investigated cases as interns.”
“Interns?” Athena echoed. “Who were you working under?”
“As a matter of fact, Prosecutor Gavin interned under myself,” Miles butted in, earning wide eyed looks from the rest.
“Edgeworth-dono, you taught Gavin-dono?”
“We worked on about 5 cases together. He was my assistant, of sorts.”
“How about you, Polly?” Trucy asked, some of the icing in her piping bag dripping onto the table. “Who did you intern under?”
Klavier and Apollo shared a dark look. Klavier nodded slightly at Apollo, making him look back up at Trucy as he replied.
“Actually, I interned under Mr. Gavin,” Apollo replied, voice quiet. “Kristoph Gavin, that is.”
“So that’s how you ended up working under him,” Trucy murmured, but immediately dropped the subject.
“The cases Klavier helped me with began innocently enough,” Miles muttered, “but the more cases we did, the darker it got.”
“The arsonist case, especially,” Apollo mumbled.
“Arsonist case?” Phoenix asked.
“Trust me, Wright, you wouldn’t want to know,” Miles replied darkly. “It was truly the worst murder I’d ever seen.”
“For once, I agree with Miles,” Franziska added. “Whichever fool coerced the culprit to do it was truly evil.”
Klavier and Apollo shared each other a dark look.
They continued to work on their cookies in silence, each completing their own designs. When they were finally done, Athena looked at the remaining cookies on the plate Trucy had brought them in, scrunching her eyebrows.
“Boss, did you make two extra?”
“Well, yes I did,” Phoenix mumbled. “I thought I would visit someone. An old friend, if you will.”
“An old friend?” Trucy asked, looking at Phoenix. “Who?”
“Well, you’ll see,” Phoenix replied, forcing a smile. “He’s… meaningful. To both myself, Maya and Pearls.”
…
“Long time no see, Trite.”
“Prosecutor Godot, nice to finally meet you again.”
“I see you’ve brought a crowd?”
“Well, I thought you would be lonely so I decided to bring a bunch of people…”
“How Mia saw your worth before anyone else could, I’m not sure,” Godot smirked. “I suppose introductions are in order?”
Phoenix nodded. “Well, the Wright and Company Law Offices has… grown considerably.”
“Just like Mia always said,” Godot sighed, smiling slightly. “She always said she would build a big law firm. I guess she wasn’t wrong.”
“Well, I have two attorneys of my own now,” Phoenix smiled. “Athena and Apollo.”
Athena flashed a peace sign at the prosecutor, while Apollo settled with a smile. Godot grunted in acknowledgement, though no one missed the small smile on his lips.
“And the last member of the agency, my daughter, Trucy,” Phoenix continued, pointing at Trucy. “She’s a magician.”
“Hi, Mr. Godot!” Trucy smiled. “Would you like to see a magic trick?”
“Sure, kitten,” Godot smiled, fondness dancing in his eyes. “I think I’ve heard of you somewhere before.”
“I’m the granddaughter of Magnifi Gramarye, the magician,” Trucy smiled. “Here, I’ll make an attorney’s badge appear out of my Magic Panties!”
As she said so, a prosecutor’s badge appeared from the pink and blue bloomers, causing Godot’s eyes to widen slightly.
“Where did that badge come from?” Godot marvelled, looking at her. “This one has talent, Trite.”
“That was my badge, Trucy,” Miles grumbled, earning a small giggle from Trucy.
“If it isn’t the High Prosecutor himself,” Godot recognized. “Prosecutor Edgeworth, wasn’t it?”
“Actually, Uncle Miles is Chief Prosecutor now!” Trucy excitedly announced. Miles blushed slightly at the statement.
“Chief?” Godot echoed. “Seems like you’ve gone far, Prosecutor Edgeworth.”
“Well, so has the Prosecutor’s Office,” Miles added, smiling politely. “Now we have Franziska working internationally, as well as Prosecutor Blackquill and Gavin.”
Each of them greeted Godot politely.
“And lastly we have forensics investigator, Ema Skye,” Phoenix smiled, pulling Ema forward. “I think you might find her face familiar.”
“Skye?” Godot scrunched his face. “As in the Chief Prosecutor’s younger sister?”
“Mr. Edgeworth’s Chief Prosecutor now, but yes, Lana Skye’s younger sister,” Ema beamed.
“I’ve seen you at the office, once, a long time ago,” Godot nodded. “Lana was fond of you, I could tell you that much. She couldn’t stop talking about you whenever she got the chance.”
“Really?”
Godot nodded, earning a smile from Ema. She looked happier than when she had received a forensics kit for Christmas from the Wright family the previous year.
“And as you know, the last two are Maya and Pearls.”
Maya and Pearl both bowed at Godot, who smiled even more as he saw the two.
“Thank you so much again for everything, Mr. Godot,” Maya whispered. “I don’t think I can ever thank you enough for saving me.”
“Saving you?” Athena asked, eyes wide. “What do you mean ‘saving you’?”
“Since you all have introduced yourselves, it’s only fair if I introduced myself,” Godot cut in. “My name is Godot, but some know me as Diego Armando. I was once a defense attorney, then I proceeded to become a prosecutor. I was part of the ever so famous Hazakura case.”
“Hazakura case?” Klavier repeated, confused. “Which one is that?”
“The one where Nick ran over a burning bridge,” Maya clarified, shifting her feet slightly. “It was a much more complicated case than Phoenix just running over a bridge.”
“What happened?”
“One can say the case took a turn for the worst, and I was forced to commit murder to prevent a murder,” Godot murmured. “Convoluted and as dark as coffee, yes. But I don’t regret a single thing.”
“Murdered to prevent murder?” Simon asked, stroking Taka. “What do you mean by that?”
“There was a person who intended to kill Maya,” Godot explained, “so that someone else could inherit the right to become master of the Kurain channeling technique. So instead of letting that happen, I acted first.”
“That’s incredibly honourable,” Simon nodded. “You have my respect.”
“But, how do you know Mr. Wright so well?” Athena asked, looking at Godot. “I mean, I didn’t see your name a lot in the old case files back at the office.”
“You could say we had a connection through a person,” Godot replied simply. “Mia Fey. I was her mentor and partner before I became a prosecutor.”
“‘The only time a lawyer can smile is when it’s all over’ and ‘the worst of times are when a lawyer has to force their biggest smiles’,” Phoenix quoted wistfully. “Those were passed down through four generations of lawyers, if you think about it.”
“Four generations?” Godot asked.
“You to Mia, Mia to me, and me to these two.”
“That’s saved us many times in cases, Mr. Godot,” Apollo smiled. “Thank you.”
“You should be thanking Wright,” Godot deflected. “Mia was right about him, until the very end. I should’ve never doubted her judgement.”
“Visiting hours are ending in five minutes!” the guard announced, causing some of them to jump.
“Well, I think you need to go now,” Godot sighed. “It’s been almost a decade, has it?”
“It has,” Phoenix replied grimly. “How are you holding up?”
“I’m better than ever,” Godot smiled. “Not as much coffee and prosecuting as I would like, though.”
“Mr. Godot, we came with a gift too!” Trucy piped up. “We asked the guard to give it to you. We all helped put it together!”
“That’s sweet of you, kitten. What is it?”
“Well, Daddy said you really liked coffee, so we went and brought you some coffee flavoured things,” Trucy mused. “We managed to get some sugar cookies, a small cake and some coffee grounds. Daddy searched far and wide to get your favorite!”
“Godot’s coffee blend number 107, right?” Phoenix asked.
“Looks like you paid attention in court, Trite,” Godot jibed, his tone good natured.
“As always.”
“Thank you for visiting me,” Godot sighed. “It may have been a decade, but it looks like I won’t be seeing the last of you, Wright.”
Phoenix smiled, the guard ushering everyone out of the room. Just as he was about to leave, he heard Godot call him one last time.
“And Wright?”
“Yes, Prosecutor Godot?”
“Thank you for looking after her.”
Phoenix smiled softly at the prosecutor. “Any time.”