A/N: I do not own Phoenix Wright or Miles Edgeworth; CAPCOM does. However, the plot and Major Shaw and other soldiers, Confederate and Union, are mine. The Battle of Malvern Hill, where this story is set, is being used fictitiously.
Finally done! This fic has been an emotionally draining experience for me and I am glad that the story is complete. I have another section to do-the sources I consulted since I ran out of room in the end notes here.
If you REALLY want to up the emotional ante, read the scene where Miles is carrying Phoenix's dead body down the hill to Bloodborne's Moonlit Melody... which is the same piece of music I listened to when I was writing it.
At any rate, the setting I chose for this story is the Battle of Malvern Hill, July 1, 1862, the final battle in the Seven Days battles. I also changed the timeline for the battle-the actual battle was over by 8:30 that evening-for dramatic purposes but kept the outcome the same. couldn't find any information on the burial services of soldiers on the battlefield-there was mention of men being buried on the battlefield but not exactly what was read over them-although I assume that Psalm 23 could have been read as the bodies were buried-so I included that and a short eulogy by Major Shaw as being something at least reasonably close to what was actually done seeing as how they sometimes had to cope with burying thousands of men at a time.There wouldn't have been time to properly observe Victorian American mourning traditions and customs prevalent in the day which included an extended period of mourning. There are reports that some bodies worked their way to the surface months, or even years, after a battle which would have been quite an unpleasant surprise to the living soldiers that came across them, to say the least!
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The Minié bullet-properly pronounced "min-YAY" after its developer, the French Army officer Claude-Étienne Minié, but pronounced "minnie ball" by the Americans [taken from The New York Times Opinionator blog, The Bullet That Changed History by Pat Leonard. August 31, 2012-was a nasty invention. It was a soft lead bullet that exploded on impact and caused horrific wounds; it didn't just break through bone like a normal bullet would, it shattered them, shredding flesh and internal organs as it tumbled through the body, along with it.
Snipers were also in use during the Civil War-they were called "sharpshooters"-and were generally looked down upon by most of the other soldiers. They were not well liked and considered to be "cowardly" since they struck from a distance and not face to face in "honourable" combat. They were effective; Union general John Reynolds was killed on the first day of battle at the Battle of Gettysburg-July 1-3, 1863-by a Confederate sharpshooter.
Thanks to my readers and all those who have favourited, reviewed, story alerted, favourite author or author alerted me. I appreciate it more than I can say! :)
Thank you as well to my AMAZING beta, Pearls1990, for her skills! Thanks bunches for the critique and suggestions! :)
EXTRA EXTRA Special thanks to my beloved husband, DezoPenguin, for all his help, support, advice, the title, nagging (when necessary) and encouragement! I appreciate it more than I can say! Love you!
Special thanks also to the following Tumblr users who gave me their opinions of the script I had developed for the va commission I had done of Lullaby And Good Night and incorporated it into this fic: edgeworth-take-the-wheel, lux-mea-lex, nekocrouton, adventuresofsarahjane1975 and metaphoricalmelodies. Thank you all! I REALLY appreciated your input! :)
Special thanks also to ProDZvoices for the AMAZINGLY AWESOME va's! *He is an AMAZING voice actor on Tumblr-and also is on YouTube-who does FANTASTIC Phoenix and Edgeworth voices! I wish they'd use his Miles voice in the official games; he's THAT good!* There were a couple of scripts I did-Lullaby And Good Night and Thinking of You, chapter 3-that either weren't yet incorporated into my fics, not completely written/edited/weren't finished at the time and I liked the va's he did so much I decided to include the dialogue, along with the voice nuances, in the fics themselves which, in my opinion, makes them MUCH better as well! [I'm in the process of incorporating the va for Lullaby And Good Night into the fic and fleshing out the rest of it] It's helped me to become a better writer and I wanted to pass along my sincere thanks to you. THANK YOU! :)
Comments are appreciated and constructive criticism is welcomed. I will probably change some things at some point; always room for improvement!
Rated Teen, male/male relationships, Tragedy, Major Character Death, Phoenix x Edgeworth, American Civil War [1861-1865], Historical
