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Begin Again

Summary:

He had always heard that the place beyond death was a place beyond time, but he had never imagined it quite like this. A world eternally stuck at the moment of his death.
“The final moment of your death, you mean." The shadow said, "You were doomed to die the moment you ingested poison. That was really the moment of your death.”
To Apollo, that seemed needlessly pedantic.
“I understand that seems needlessly pedantic, but it is in fact, vitally important.” The shadow explained, “Because it makes what I’m about to do technically not against the rules.”
And Apollo Justice’s ghost watched as the scene before them slowly reversed back to life.

or: Apollo Justice solves the case of his own assassination

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

The Royal Gala had been fairly pleasant for Apollo before he dropped dead.

Apollo Justice, Royal Advisor, and adoptive brother to Crown Princess Rayfa Sadhmadhi and Regent Nahyuta Sahdmadhi of Khura’in, had arrived at the annual Royal Gala. The Royal Gala was held annually at the High Emperor’s Palace, and this marked his fourth one, though his first coming to the country alone. As he entered, all the familiar jittery feelings and uncomfortableness came back to him full force. Regardless, he forced them back down to enjoy the gala.

“Wine, sir?”

A waiter had approached him, several goblets on a single plate in his hands, offering one to him. Apollo nodded and accepted the goblet, swirling it in his hand as he moved to the corner of the hall, looking around for people he recognized.

There were only a few people Apollo had ever spoken to during these Galas, and even fewer that he had spoken to without heavy prompting from his adoptive brother and sister. He looked down at the wine in his hands.

“They do say alcohol is liquid courage…” Apollo said, then promptly drank it down. Looking around, he then spotted Prince Klavier Gavin in the middle distance, and headed towards him.

“Ah! Guten Abend, Herr Advisor.” Prince Gavin smiled, “You look as handsome as ever I see.”

Unlike the other guests at the ball, he was wearing a light purple semi-translucent shirt, flowy and magnificent, with a deeper magenta sleeveless shirt underneath, which while not formal, was certainly fancy enough to get away with, even if a little bit… revealing. He also seemed to think teasing Apollo was the funniest thing in the world.

“You’re one to talk.” Apollo snapped back.

“...You are calling me handsome as well? That is not the insult your tone seems to imply it is.” Klavier responded.

Apollo flushed. “Shut it, Gavin. The only reason I came to this ball was so I wouldn’t be teased by Nahyuta and Rayfa for staying home. Don’t make me regret it.”

Klavier, slightly embarrassed, took a step back. “The pair cannot make it?” He asked.

“No. Court politics, their uncle tried and failed to cause a revolution, you know the works. Since Rayfa’s technically in charge, and Nahyuta runs everything until she’s old enough to be, they both had to stay behind, so here I am.”

Klavier sighed, swirling his own goblet. “I suppose I am lucky. My brother was the one who inherited the throne, and he’s run things since our parents passed. I’ve just had to sit back and relax, not worry about all the… politics things.”

“Come on, Kristoph’s a control freak.” Apollo smirked, “Glad he’s not here to see you interacting with, what was I that time? A ‘lowly ranking administrator’?”

It was Klavier’s turn to flush. “It’s stupid. You’ve been raised by the Khura’inese royal family since you were practically born. You deserve respect.”

“So I wouldn’t deserve respect if I wasn’t raised by a royal family?” Apollo questioned.

“Ach! No, I didn’t mean-”

“Relax, I’m joking.” Apollo smiled. “Besides, Phoenix Wright was a ‘Lowly Court Administrator’, look where he is now!”

Apollo gestured to the man in a blue suit, walking alongside a young girl in a magnificent light blue dress and cloak, the official garb of the Gramarye people.

“Regent of the Gramarye Royal Family, and he wasn’t even involved with them until that mess of an inheritance crisis.” Apollo exclaimed. “He’s my hero, you know. He was an orphan, like me, before he adopted Trucy.”

“He was still an orphan after he adopted Princess Gramarye, Herr Advisor.” Klavier snorted.

“R-Right! I’m just saying, he used to be just some baker, scholar guy and to him, Trucy was just some little girl, and he adopted her and took care of her, then it turned out she was the lost daughter of the late Queen Thalassa Gramarye, and now he’s the second most powerful person in that entire country! It’s incredible. I’m still slightly starstruck at the fact I’m actually on speaking terms with him.”

As Apollo finished his minor speech, he immediately felt embarrassed for talking too much.

“Sorry, I probably ran my mouth too much.”

“No, no, Apollo, it’s… fascinating watching you speak.” Klavier responded.

As Apollo opened his mouth to respond, he felt his vision blur, and his knees buckled, and he dropped to the floor.


It looked like a shockwave passing through the crowd. On the furthest end of the royal hall, The Emperor was stroking his beard, talking to some duke or other, both unaware of the tragedy that had just befallen. A little closer, a few women in fancy dresses were turning their heads, as if they had just heard the commotion, though unaware of what it was about. Nearer by, Regent Phoenix Wright and his daughter, Trucy Gramarye-Wright beside him were running, as if getting to his body faster would reverse his fate.

Closest to the centre of the shockwave was Klavier Gavin. The prince had a look of wild fear and panic in his eyes, and in his arms, the dead body of one Apollo Justice.

Apollo Justice’s ghost examined the frozen scene. He had always heard that the place beyond death was a place beyond time, but he had never imagined it quite like this. A world eternally stuck at the moment of his death.

“The final moment of your death, you mean.” A voice spoke.

Apollo’s ghost turned to the voice. In the rough shape of a person, there was a black shadow, floating around Apollo Justice’s dead body.

“You were doomed to die the moment you ingested poison. That was really the moment of your death.”

To Apollo, that seemed needlessly pedantic.

“I understand that seems needlessly pedantic, but it is in fact, vitally important.” The shadow explained, “Because it makes what I’m about to do technically not against the rules.”

And Apollo Justice’s ghost watched as the scene before them slowly reversed back to life.

Apollo’s lifeless body gradually regained vigour, as it uncollapsed from the floor, untalked with the blond prince for a few seconds, then made its way backwards to pick up an empty goblet he had left on a table and put it to his lips.

“You have four minutes until the poison takes effect.” The shadow spoke. “Good luck.”


Apollo Justice’s spirit reawoke in his body, and for the first time in a while, he found the ability to speak.

“What in the Holy Mother-”

It took a few seconds for Apollo to reorient himself in the world of the living. 

He was Apollo Justice. This was the fourth annual Royal Gala, being held at the Emperor’s palace, and the third one he had attended. Two plus two equals four.

Then he shook his head. That wasn’t important. What exactly happened tonight? 

“Somebody just poisoned me.” Apollo exclaimed, “I need to go get a doctor.”

Apollo ran to the closest knight, a thin man in a skinny blue suit of armour.

“I believe, sir, I’ve just been poisoned. Where is the court med-”

“P-p-p-p-POISON?” The knight yelled, “Oh dear, oh dear! What should I do? What should I do?”

“I- I just said, I need the location of the court medi-” 

“I don’t know how to fight poison! I only have a sword! You can’t stab poison can you?” The knight jittered.

“COURT MEDIC.” Apollo yelled, ignoring the sudden strange looks he was now getting from across the hall. “Where. Is. He.”

“D- D- Down the hall and to the right, sir!” The knight finally spat out.

“Finally!” Apollo groaned, his head starting to get slightly dizzy. He slammed out the door of the hall and finally saw the room where the court medic was residing. He was an elderly gentleman, a tuft of pink hair on his head, and a golden tooth residing in his mouth.

“Sir, I believe I have just been poisoned.”

“Poisoned? Well that’s a shame…” The doctor replied.

“Do you have antidotes here? I’m looking to reverse a poison that is dissolvable in liquid and acts in four minute-”

“Hmmmm Yes, yes.” The doctor replied, scratching himself. “We do have antidotes here.”

“For this poison in particular?”

“Hmmmm. Yes, probably.” The doctor nodded. “There’s a lot of antidotes here, after all.”

Apollo stared agape at the doctor.

“I’m asking for it then! Where is that antidote?”

“Ooh, I don’t know. I’m just a substitute.” The doctor nodded. “The old doctor fell very, very ill a few days ago. I don’t know where anything is.”

Apollo tried to retort, but his vision had already blurred, and he could only let out a single expletive before falling to the floor.


“You can’t reverse it.” The shadow said, standing above his body. “I can’t really let you just survive, now can I? That’d be cheating.”

Apollo’s ghost, now floating in the infirmary, crossed his arms. He didn’t see the point then.

“The point is that you were just assassinated.” The shadow responded, “Do you really think you would have been the only target?”

Apollo hadn’t considered that.

“You know you were assassinated. You know how you were assassinated. The gala is still young, and goblets are still being passed around. You were the first to drink from your goblet that night.” The shadow said. “I think you can work it out from there. Good luck.”


Apollo gasped. He was back in his body, the goblet back at his lips.

“I’m already dead.” Apollo spoke aloud to himself. His stomach churned with a variety of uncomfortable feelings, some of which Apollo could attribute to the poison festering inside of it, but he’d have to get used to them.

It seemed the shadow would reset him as many times as it would take to get it right. Apollo decided to spend these four minutes thinking through his plan of action.

There were, of course, the six fundamental questions as to how he had been poisoned. Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How. Who and Why, though the most important, would also likely be the last thing Apollo would be able to work out.

What and How, Apollo decided, was the first order of business. The goblet, Apollo remembered, had been offered to him by a waiter. Apollo looked around. He noticed the waiter standing at the side of the hall, one last goblet in his hands. Apollo looked around and realised he was one of only a few people who had already been given goblets.

There was a goblet in the hands of of Regent Phoenix Wright of Gramarye, a golden goblet in the hands of Prince Klavier Gavin, and the waiter was now approaching a young blue haired girl, the daughter of former imperial scholar Drew Misham, who unfortunately hadn’t been able to make it. 

“I know all of these people.” Apollo spoke aloud.

Nobody else has a goblet. Apollo realised. Nobody’s even been offered one. This is a targeted attack.

Phoenix and Klavier hadn’t drunk their wine yet, as they were engaged in polite conversation. Vera, however, was a loner. As she took the goblet in her two hands, she had just begun to carefully raise the goblet to her own lips for a sip.

“STOP!”

Apollo raced towards Vera, who turned towards the noise, shocked by the sudden speed shown by the royal advisor. He knocked the goblet out of her hands, letting it spill to the floor. The entire royal gala stared at him.

“Whatever do you mean, Herr Advisor?” Prince Klavier spoke up, walking towards the pair. 

“Don’t drink that wine yet!” Apollo huffed. “The gobl- The goblets are poisoned!”

Klavier stopped, looking in shock at his own drink.

“I… I just drank some. I realised it immediately.” Apollo’s head was beginning to spin, “It takes effect… in four minutes from the first drink.”

“Somebody bring this man to the doct-” Klavier shouted.

Before he could explain that it wouldn’t help, Apollo Justice collapsed.


“Good effort.” The shadow nodded. “You’re on the right track. Of course, the assassin isn’t going to stop there. You’ve simply delayed their fates by roughly three weeks.” 

“Send me back then.” Apollo’s ghost retorted.

“Pushy already, eh? I’ll give it to you, you are certainly persistent.” The shadow made a motion that might have been a shrug. “Off you go. Good luck.”


On the third go, Apollo wasted no time at all. He quickly made his way over to the waiter near the side, who appeared to be scanning the crowd.

“Ah, Mr. Justice…” The waiter spoke slowly. “I’m afraid we don’t have refills at this stage.”

“Who hired you?”

“Hm?”

“Who told you to give out these drinks? Where were they given to you?”

“The kitchen, obviously.” The waiter looked confused, raising a single eyebrow. “Where else?”

“Alright then, who gave you the orders to only give it out to specific people?”

“They came from the party planner?” The waiter questioned, “Sir, I don’t understand why you’re asking this of me…”

“Who is the party planner?” Apollo demanded, putting his arm up to the wall, trapping the waiter against the wall

“Shadi Enigmar!” The waiter blurted out. “Mr. Shadi Enigmar, sir.”

“Is he here at this party?”

“No sir.” The waiter spoke.

“Was there any moment you left these goblets unattended?”

“...Once sir.” The waiter spoke slowly, “Near the beginning of the night. I left them on the table over there, and went to help with decorations. I did not retrieve them until the first set of guests had arrived. That was also under the original instructions of the party planner.”

“Which guests?”

“You can check the registration book!”

With that, Apollo collapsed again.


Take four. What and How were now fairly straightforward. It was time to move onto Who.

“Your Honourable Emperor,” Apollo bowed to the wise old man, “I must say these decorations are magnificent! Tell me, where is the man that organised this event? I must congratulate him!”

The Emperor shook his head, a sad look in his eyes. “A massive shame, really. He unfortunately passed not too long ago, after he finalised the events. I would have had him come to the event in person to meet everyone, truly.”

Apollo gasped.

“Really? Do… Do you think it may be sabotage?”

“Perhaps. Though a plague has been passing through my palace as of late, and I believe it to be of that reason that he passed. My captain of the guard, too, has gone ill, along with my Court Medic.”

Apollo’s eyes widened, as his mind recalled his failed first attempt.

“Have you confirmed that it is plague?”

“Well, no, but the new substitute doctor seems to think so.” He shrugged, with a shocking amount of nonchalance for the single highest ranking member of the nobility in the entire continent.

Apollo knew better than to trust the word of that doctor, considering that the man seemed incompetent at best and slightly insane at worst. However, Apollo did not have an opportunity to voice this opinion, since by the time he tried to speak it, he was already dead.


Take five. The second Who. Apollo made his way back to the entrance of the hall, and the incredibly nervous, skinny knight.

“I need names. Who were the first few guests to arrive at this party?” Apollo demanded.

“Uh-h-h Sir, I don’t…”

“This is a matter of imperial importance. I demand to know who arrived first.”

“Well, the Emperor was the first to arrive. Soon after that was Prince Klavier Gavin… then I went to the bathroom.” The knight admitted. “After that, pretty much everyone else was here!”

“GOD-” He groaned. “Of course. I don’t know how you could possibly be high-ranking enough to be a replacement for the captain of the guard.”

“Apollo!” A familiar voice behind him yelled.

Apollo turned behind him to see a familiar blue-suited Regent and his daughter coming up to him. 

“Why are you bullying Sir Meekins like that, Polly?” Trucy Gramarye-Wright spoke, putting her hands on her face. “I thought we trained you in better court etiquette than that!”

“That’s right, Apollo.” Regent Phoenix Wright spoke, “Hell, you’ve even drunk the wine already! Everybody knows it’s rude to drink until the Emperor makes his speech!”

“I think the goblets have been poisoned.” Apollo blurted out. “I think somebody got in here early and poisoned our drinks.”

Phoenix Wright’s expression turned from joking to confused, then confused to dark and serious.

“How do you know that?”

On one hand, Apollo would sound certifiably insane. On the other hand, he was about to die in less than a minute, so that wouldn’t really matter.

“I’ve already died. I keep coming back to the moment I drank from my cup, and apparently right when the first guests entered was the only moment the goblets were unsuper-”

Before he could finish, his body collapsed on the floor.


“Interesting.” The shadow spoke.

Apollo was shocked by his sudden appearance, considering he hadn’t spoken in the past few resets.

“This reset was unique. You’ve told someone what’s going on. I’d suggest you try again, with more time.”

Apollo shook his head. There was no chance anyone would believe him, least of all Regent Phoenix Wright. He was one of the most logical, intelligent people Apollo knew, and there was no chance a man like that would believe what he was about to say.

“Tell him Mia says hello.” The shadow replied. “That’ll get him on the same page as you.”

Before he could ask what that meant, his ghostly form was shunted back into his body.


“Regent Phoenix Wright.” Apollo quickly exclaimed as he ran towards the pair. “Mia says hello.”

In a flash, Phoenix Wright’s eyes turned from lighthearted to serious.

“How did you die?”

“Wh-Huh? You kn-”

“I assume you don’t have much time. How did you die? What do you know?”

“Poison. From the goblets. The waiter was told to give it to me, you, Klavier Gavin and Vera Misham, by the party planner, who’s dead now, along with a sick Captain of the Guard and Court Medic, both of whom have been replaced by people who are totally incompotent.”

Phoenix Wright dropped his goblet immediately, letting it crash to the floor.

“I’ll ask Vera. You go to Klavier. Tell him the entire poison plot.”

The Regent ran with a total disregard for any and all social norms to corner Vera, as Apollo ran slightly more conservatively towards Klavier, Trucy trailing behind him.

“What did you just tell Daddy?”

“Nothing,”

“Why are you running to your boyf-”

“Shut it!”

“Herr Advisor, Frau Gramarye!” Klavier smiled, as the two quickly approached “I haven’t had the opportunity to speak to you yet tonight, the flaw of being fashionable means one is also fashionably late, I suppose.”

“Yeah, your carriage managed to be behind ours, which is saying something.” Trucy noted. “I know the Sadhmadhi’s couldn’t make it this year, but I didn’t know your brother couldn’t, Gavin. ”

“King Kristoph Gavin shall be gracing us later.” Klavier nodded. “He isn’t set to arrive until after the Emperor’s speech, apparently.”

“No, listen, Klavier. The goblets are poisoned. Somebody’s trying to poison me, you, Wright and Ms. Misham.”

“Ms. Misham?” Klavier turned his head towards her, “That girl… she is the daughter of Drew Misham?”

“Y-Yeah? Didn’t you hear the first part? The part where somebody is trying to poison us?”

“Ja- Wait, WHAT?” Klavier turned his head. “Poison?”

“Yes, in the goblets. Now, do you have any clue-”

“How do you know this?” Klavier asked.

“Wh-Huh?” Apollo asked, “I don’t have tim-”

“APOLLO!” Phoenix Wright yelled across the hall. “YOUR DAD, JOVE, HE-”

Wright didn’t get to the end of his sentence before his internal timer for four minutes hit zero.


When Apollo awoke for his seventh time, he glanced at Phoenix, before deciding to go straight to the source. The waiter wouldn’t get to Vera for another two minutes, so he wouldn’t have to make a scene just yet.

“Vera.” Apollo said as he got to the blue haired girl. “Do… Do you know anything about my father?”

Apollo’s father, Jove Justice, had died in a fire in Khura’in while he was performing for the royal family at the time when Apollo was just one year old. It was because of that that the Queen of Khura’in had been unable to track down the rest of his family, and Apollo had been raised alongside her two children. He had never known anything about her father, beyond the fact that he had been a musician.

Vera, however, apparently did.

“What?” Vera squeaked.

“Yes. Jove Justice. A musician. He died in Khura’in when I was about one year old, leaving only me behind. I heard that you know something about him.”

Vera looked scared and surprised, and unfortunately, completely nonverbal. Apollo decided he would do what Phoenix had probably done, been completely and unflinchingly honest.

“Listen. I’ve been poisoned. Whoever knows you know this secret, they want to poison you too. Tell me so I can figure out who would have done this.”

Vera took this in. Then, she took a deep breath in, and took out her sketchbook, showing what she was drawing to Apollo as she drew it.

“...Your father was very important.” She said, drawing him next to a quick sketch of a castle. “To marry.” She drew a wedding band around his finger and the figure of a beautiful woman, inside the castle.

 She drew another person on top of the woman, this one with white hair. “Not good. Father dislikes. He hired someone. To kill.”

She covered the drawing of Jove Justice in red, pastel flames.

Apollo’s eyes widened.

“But… How come I never knew this?”

“Hire. Destroy. All evidence.” She drew another person, a man Apollo recognized as Vera’s father, Drew Misham. “He helped. Helped the killer. Helped Devil.”

“Devil? Wh-Who’s Devil?”

Vera shook her head, clamping her mouth shut.

“Can you draw him?”

Vera slowly nodded. She slowly began to draw a face. A man’s visage appeared, with an appearance of long, blond hair. Familiar, long blond hair.

His face was the last thing Apollo saw when he slipped into the cold embrace of death for the eighth time.


Apollo had worked it out.

“Oh?” The shadow asked, “Are you sure?”

Apollo nodded, determination fierce in his eyes.

The shadowy figure clapped it’s hands together.

“Well then, Mr. Justice, you have four minutes to share it with the world.”


Apollo Justice gasped as he removed the goblet from his mouth for the ninth and final time.

“Mia says Hello!” Apollo yelled to Phoenix Wright as he ran past him.

“Wh-” The Regent asked, but Apollo couldn’t waste even a single second.

“I need you to bang the Gong that the Emperor uses to announce his speech.” Apollo said, “Now.”

Phoenix Wright saluted him, then ran towards the gong as Apollo made his way to the stage that was not set to be occupied for another half hour. The blue suited man grabbed the mallet beside the ceremonial gong, and hit it loud and hard. Everyone’s eyes turned to the stage, confused, most of all the Emperor himself.

“All guests with goblets in their hands, please drop them, including the waiter! I have just discovered a plot to assassinate not one, but four of our esteemed guests, including myself, through poison. I demand each and everyone’s attention so that I may direct what is to happen next.

“For those of you who don’t know me, I am Apollo Justice, Royal Advisor to the Regent and Crown Princess of Khura’in, acting on their behalf. However, I am also the son of the first husband of a queen, who was assassinated, and his marriage to said queen covered up. Due to the nature of my existence, and now presence in the local political sphere, my life has been targeted, along with several other people, in order to keep this fact covered up.

“This explains the attempt on my life, and the life of one Miss Vera Misham, whose father helped with the coverup. Yet, two other people’s goblets were poisoned: One Regent Phoenix Wright, and another Prince Klavier Gavin. These people must have been involved somehow, but how? I would like to propose a theory: That I am the child of the first husband of Trucy Gramarye’s mother, the late Thalassa Gramarye. As Regent, Phoenix Wright is the current caretaker of the royal archives of the Gramarye royal family, and likely had access to correspondence and other evidence that would lead to the coverup. However Phoenix Wright also joined the household recently, and thus was likely not part of the original plot, and thus would have to be eliminated.”

“That leaves us with one more potential victim: Prince Klavier Gavin. How does he tie into all of this?”

Apollo looked out at the purple-clad prince, who’s eyes were wide in horror of a sudden realisation.

“According to the waiter, as I am sure he will testify, the fact that the first round of drinks was to be provided to us four was ordered to him by the party planner, who is now dead due to an alleged plague. It’s obvious he was then in on the plot, and had to be eliminated. This gave the killer an opportunity to walk in near the beginning of the party, and poison the goblets he knew would be passed to us later. According to the guard at the entrance, the two people who entered the ball room first were the Emperor himself, and Prince Klavier Gavin.

Everyone turned to face the prince, who stared at Apollo, his face slack jawed.

“N-No! It wasn’t me, I swear, I’m as old as Apollo myself, how could I have orchestrated the original coverup?”

“You could have been an accomplice!” Someone else from the crowd yelled.

“Poisoning your own cup could have been to give yourself an alibi, since you just had to wait until someone else drank it first!” cried another.

“NO.” Apollo yelled, silencing the crowd. “Klavier Gavin… could not have committed this crime. Because he arrived to this gala late. Trucy Gramarye-Wright herself told me that his carriage was behind theirs. Yet somebody was mistaken by the guard here as Klavier Gavin. Somebody who managed to impersonate him well enough to get in, poison some drinks, then get out before Klavier arrived himself. That somebody is-

It was at that point that a man burst through the door, dressed in a handmade, formal suit. His hair in a long, twirled curl on his shoulder, much like his very own brother.

“King Kristoph Gavin! I was told you weren’t going to make it until after the Emperor’s Speech!” Apollo exclaimed, clapping his hands together, “Though I suppose in the room you’ve been hiding in, you thought the gong meant that that was happening right now.”

Kristoph Gavin paled. He looked around, his eyes darting from Apollo on the stage, to Phoenix Wright by the gong, to his brother, Klavier Gavin in the crowd, then to Vera Misham by the side of the hall.

“No… NO! You have proven NOTHING!” He turned to Apollo on the stage. “This is pure coincidence! My carriage took a shortcut!”

“I suppose there’s a chance that my theory is wrong. Though, actually, there is another thought that I’ve just had.” Apollo said, as he began to feel his knees weaken. “Even though you orchestrated a complete lunatic of a doctor to take the place of the Court Medic, I can’t imagine you’d let the antidote be stored in the infirmary anyway, would you? After all, someone who murders every single one of their co-conspirators is hardly going to let such a freak chance undo their entire plan. I wonder if you have it on your person.”

“Tsk, as if you could prove that.” Kristoph snapped back. 

In a flash, Apollo jumped off the stage, and raced through the crowd, his goblet in hand, and cornered Kristoph Gavin, slamming him against the wall. He took his cup and pressed it against his lips, letting the liquid inside pour into his mouth, then took a step back.

“There. You have four minutes until the poison takes effect.”

Kristoph Gavin spluttered, walking away from Apollo Justice.

“Y-You don’t have anything! I swear! Nothing!” He exclaimed.

“The clocks are ticking.”

“This is murder!” Kristoph yelled again.

“You tried it first.” Apollo replied.

“...” 

Kristoph slumped to the floor, defeated. Trembling, he took a small vial out of his pocket, filled with a silvery liquid. The antidote.

Apollo grabbed it out of his hands and chugged it.

“Wh-WHAT?” Kristoph asked.

“I already drank the poison in that cup.” Apollo smiled. “What was left in that cup was first grade Apollo Justice spit.”

Then, he collapsed.


When Apollo awoke, he was not a translucent ghost hovering above a dead body. Instead, he was a very alive though very in pain person still inside his own body, in an infirmary bed.

Take that, Mysterious Shadow. Apollo smirked.

“That’s unnecessary.” A familiar voice spoke. Apollo jumped up, only to see a black cat standing by his bed.

“Wh-Huh? Who are you?”

“The shadow You may call me Mia.” The cat replied. “I can still read your mind, even in this form.”

“Wh-What? So, this was part of your plan from the start?” Apollo asked, “But I thought you said I couldn’t come back to life, since that would be cheating!”

“I’m afraid I had to redirect your attention somehow.” Mia the cat replied, “Otherwise you would have kept trying to get the antidote. I couldn’t let you waste all your lives like that, when you could have been solving the mystery.”

“All my… lives?”

“How many lives have you had now?” Mia asked.

Apollo counted.

“The first time I originally died, the second time I went to the infirmary, the third time I stopped Vera drinking the poison, the fourth, fifth, and sixth time I interrogated the waiter, then the Emperor, then the Knight, then the seventh time I told Phoenix, then for the eighth, I questioned Vera, and this final time I revealed it all. Nine lives.”

The cat smiled. “Nine lives. I’m afraid that’s all I have to offer.”

Apollo groaned at the realisation.

“I really cut it close, huh?” Apollo said, leaning back in his bed. “What was all that with Mr. Wright, though? He seemed to know exactly what was going on.”

“My power is an old and ancient one, Mr. Justice.” Mia smiled. “You’re not the first to be graced with my powers, you know.”

Suddenly, someone came knocking on the door.

“I’m afraid this is goodbye, then.” Mia spoke, crawling to the shadow beneath a chair.

“Thank you! I’ll never forget this!”

“I imagine it’d be fairly hard to.” The cat responded, before vanishing into the darkness.

Then, the door burst open letting in a concerned Princess Trucy, Prince Gavin, Regent Wright, and Miss Misham, in that order.

“Polly! Are you doing okay?” Trucy asked.

“Apollo, thank goodness you’re awake!” Gavin exclaimed.

“Kids, kids, calm down.” Regent Phoenix Wright said as the former two quickly wrapped the Royal Advisor in a warm embrace.

“Oof. Guys. I still need to breathe.” Apollo managed to get out.

“Ah, right.” Klavier remembered, stepping back. Trucy, though, stayed hugging him.

“You guys can hug later. I, on the other hand, have fifteen years of missing hugs to make up for.” Trucy said, as Apollo wrapped his own arms around the teenage girl.

Apollo looked up at Mr. Wright. “Was my hypothesis right, then?”

“Spot on. After Kristoph practically confessed, I looked through the old archives of the Gramarye Palace, and sure enough, Thalassa Gramarye was once engaged to a certain Jove Justice. Though young at the time, Kristoph Gavin was already well-known for his ability to make certain things… disappear. He organised the whole thing.”

Klavier sighed, sitting down on a chair beside Apollo’s bed. “No wonder he didn’t want me to talk to you, eh, Apollo?”

“Oh my goodness, right!” Apollo sat fully up, and Trucy let go so he could hold Klavier’s hand. “Klavier, are you doing alright? I totally just accused your brother of assassinating four people.”

“Including myself, Apollo.” Klavier nodded. “You… You saved my life, Apollo, even if you did give me a heart attack while doing it.”

“I’m so sorry. I never intended to make it sound like you did it, it just came out that way”

“It’s fine, I swear…”

“No, I- I probably could have handled it better. I’m sure of it, you deserved that much at lea-”

Klavier kissed Apollo on the mouth, shutting him up. After a few seconds, their lips parted, and Apollo stared at him in shock.

“Did I read the room wrong?” Klavier suddenly blurted out, his face suddenly as pink as a gender reveal party, “Are you not…” 

“No! No! I am. I do. Like you.” Apollo replied, his face as red as the curtains that lined the royal hall. “Uh. I just. Wasn’t expecting you to reciprocate right after I accused your brother of conspiracy, assassination and god knows what else.”

“Apollo Justice.” Klavier said, holding both of Apollo’s hands in his own. “Over the past four royal galas, talking with you has let me be the most honest and relaxed I have been free to be across my entire life. I am, to be honest, experiencing many emotions right now. All of which are complicated. I am going to have to deal with them, especially considering I am now responsible for an entire country now that my brother is out of the way. But... there is no person I would rather go through all of that with than you.”

Apollo held Klavier’s hand tightly.

“I accept.”

“Oy!” Trucy said, hitting Klavier lightly. “This is supposed to be my tearful reunion with my long-lost half brother! Get a room!”

“I would also like to say my thanks to Mr. Justice!” Vera blurted out. Everyone’s eyes turned to her. “I. Um. Uh.”

She quickly grabbed her sketchbook and drew a birdcage that was now opened, with a doodle of Kristoph Gavin in chains in the corner.

“I think what Vera means to say is she feels free now as well, since Kristoph Gavin has finally been put away, and she no longer needs to fear that her father’s connection with him may result in her being in danger.” Phoenix Wright translated.

“Aww, Vera! Come on, group hug!” Trucy exclaimed.

Trucy dragged the young girl towards them, and Apollo scrambled not to get squished in the warm, loving embrace that followed.

It was fitting, Apollo felt, that after so many resets and temporary new beginnings, Apollo and the people around him would find a permanent new beginning of their own.

Notes:

Wrote this fic a while ago for a school project, finally decided to upload it here. Love Ghost Trick, if any Ace Attorney fans here haven't played it, I highly recommend playing it once the Switch version comes out (or before it if you can). One of my favourite media experiences of all time. Hope you enjoyed reading!