Chapter Text
Miles grinned, a rare show of utter happiness. It had snowed the night before, blanketing everything in pure white. He firmly ignored the mutterings and cursings of his best man as he watched the sun rise over the beautiful scene. Their pavilion would need to be shoveled out, but that was exactly why Miles had suggested last night at the rehearsal that they leave off fully decorating until this morning.
“Why the hell do you need to have an outdoors winter wedding, Edgeworth?”
“Because that is tradition in Kurain.”
“She told you she’d wait for spring!”
“And I told her that wasn’t necessary.”
“It is cold, Miles. We’re all going to be too cold to enjoy the ceremony.”
“It will be heated, and the reception is happening inside the manor. Really, Wright, you’re behaving as though we’re all going to be standing under freezing waterfalls.”
“Don’t even mention those words.”
“And you will not be clearing the snow, either. Even if I would allow you to put your health in jeopardy, I need you in here until it’s time for us to go out to the pavilion for the ceremony.”
Phoenix grinned at him, finally. He hadn’t made a full recovery from his heart attack, but he was working on it. His cardiologist had been immensely pleased with his healing so far, and his doctor was almost happy with his cholesterol and blood pressure. Almost. He was still working as a lawyer, something that had been suggested he back away from, but he’d switched sides again. Working defense, he decided, was far less stressful and far more productive than working as a prosecutor. And now that the wheels were set in motion to set the justice system right, more people on that side of it were conscientious of innocence.
It was a start. The system wasn’t nearly close to “fixed” and likely wouldn’t ever be completely fair, but it was a start. As long as there were those in the system to teach the next generation how not to do things, it would continue to improve.
Pearl’s recovery had not been so smooth. She’d needed several blood transfusions, and Miles’ knife had damaged a couple of her internal organs as well. They’d almost lost her a number of times, but she pulled through.
And then the efforts to restore her mental health began. They’d all suffered ill effects from the ordeal- by the time Maya had successfully channeled Ami, and Ami forced Jillian’s spirit from Miles’ body, Jillian’s foul magic had reached the outskirts of the city. Post-traumatic stress syndromes had become nearly epidemic in the area, and the worst hit of all were those in Kurain.
Pearl was the worst of all. She woke screaming in the night. She refused to have anything to do at all with spirit channeling- even simple, secular meditation was verboten, as far as she was concerned. If she’d been permitted to, she’d have locked herself away in her room and never come out again. She shied away from both Miles and Maya in fear and self-hatred, blaming herself over and over again for what had happened. She should have told someone about the voice in the urn speaking to her. She should have consulted with Maya- or one of the elders- before agreeing to channel “Ami”. She should have been strong enough, as Miles had been, to overpower Jillian.
She should have… she should have… she should have…
Slowly, though, as the days passed, she let Miles first, then Maya near her. She listened to them as she told them what she should have done, and they told her what the reality had been. She should have told someone about the urn, but her fears- which were more than likely justified, even if they were incorrect- prevented her from doing anything but what she did. She should have consulted with someone about the spirit asking her to channel it, but as far as everyone else knew, that was Ami’s spirit in the urn, and no one could have predicted what would happen. She should have been strong enough to overpower Jillian, but Miles wasn’t a spirit medium and he’d had help in resisting her, as well.
Miles even remembered exactly when the first time she’d smiled since the crisis was, down to the minute. He’d felt a wave of relief shudder through him when he saw it. She might never be truly “well” again- the nightmares continued, and although she questioned her self-damning, she still did it- she would be okay. She was healing, as well as anyone who’d nearly witnessed the destruction of humanity could heal.
She was okay enough now to be Maya’s maid of honor, something that made Miles intensely happy. He went over the others who were there to help them with this ridiculous ceremony: the rescue team, Franziska and Larry, Trucy, Iris… The guest list had seemed to go on forever and if anyone asked him to name everyone who had been invited, he wouldn’t have been able to do it.
From where he stood, he could hear Pearl laughing gaily. He smiled, hearing the women’s voices, and Maya’s voice yelling, “Yes! Go make a snow angel before they shovel it, Pearly!”
In the next moment, the young woman burst out of the manor, laughing still, and threw herself down on the ground jubilantly. As Miles and Phoenix watched her, Maya and Trucy burst into the room and shouldered their way up to the window. They excitedly joked about Pearl’s stunt for a moment, and then Phoenix exclaimed, “Hey! Hey! Maya, you’re not supposed to be in here!”
“Huh?” She turned to him, her child-like face surprised.
“It’s bad luck for the bride and groom to see each other before their wedding!”
Maya made a face at him and waved his concern away. “Oh please, if you think it’s bad luck for us to just see each other now, you should’ve seen what we did last night!”
Color instantly flared in Miles’ face as he stuttered a protest, and Phoenix laughed. “Well, I guess it’s alright. We’ve seen a bit too much to be that superstitious, haven’t we?”
Regaining his composure, Miles nodded. “Indeed it is. If the worst Maya and I will have to face now is bad luck because we’re together now rather than in twelve hours… Then, in my opinion, perhaps we haven’t much to worry about at all.”
Phoenix, Trucy, and Maya all murmured their agreement, turning their attention back to Pearl, playing in the snow, now with several of the village children and some of the bridal party and guests as well. A smile crossed Miles’ lips once again, thinking about how things had changed after their salvation. Maya’s power was cemented. Everyone accepted their version of the story: that she had made her way to Jillian’s stronghold, knowing only that she needed to channel Jillian’s younger sister to stop her murderous plans, and successfully did so. The Elders promptly dropped their pursuing of her romantic life, too. Some of the villagers had begun to call her the reincarnation of Ami.
That was, of course, utterly ridiculous, but as long as they kept off her butt about marrying and having babies, she was fine. Initially, she expected them to immediately crawl down her throat about it, as Pearl was most certainly not suitable to be the Master anymore. Perhaps, if she ever healed enough to overcome her terror of channeling again, she would.
But Miles could see, easily, that was a pretty big “if”. And Pearl had bigger things to worry about now than the order of succession, especially now that Maya was, in fact, getting married, and they did plan on having children. There were plenty of “what if”s to consider, but he didn’t want to consider them prematurely. The fact was that, at the moment, succession was secure, Miles had finally come to be at peace with the inner storm in his heart, and Pearl had to rediscover who she was.
They all did. But they all knew, now, that wasn’t a storm they had to weather alone.