Chapter Text
The graveyard is, as it is bound to be, quiet. The cheerful chirping and gentle rustle of leaves on the wind, the song of nature, of life, politely stays out of this place. This is where death reigns, where the weary bones finally come to a rest, and life quiets down as to not disturb the souls comfortably nestled under their earthy covers.
But death is also a gracious host, and doesn't mind letting visitors in. Just a quick greeting in passing is welcome, and a promise to come by again, permanently, some time in the future. That is a promise no one has ever been able to break.
Lana walks past another row of gravestones, marble beds marking the resting place of names she does not recognize. Her steps click and crunch on the gravel path. She inwardly apologizes for the disturbance.
Then she comes to a stop in front of a particular stone. A name, simple and sharp, is engraved on the polished surface, a golden cursive ribbon followed by a date of birth and a date of death. Twenty seven years old, and she'd already been dead for nearly half her life.
Suddenly, Lana's throat constricts, her hands tighten around the bouquet she's carrying. It's the closest she's been to Mia in over a decade, and at the same time the farthest. Six feet of dirt and dust stand in between them, physically speaking, but Lana knows Mia is far gone, has moved on when Lana could not, and Lana can't help but wonder who is the actual lifeless corpse out of the two of them.
She kneels down, looks at the name until the golden glimmer sears itself into her retinas. If she tries, she can almost imagine it flows and billows like Mia's favorite scarf, that the intoxicating scent of rain and wet grass and flowers is Mia's parfume-
More steps approach. She doesn't turn. She already knows who is it. The newcomer vocalizes her thoughts.
“I should have known we'd find you here, Ms. Skye.” Phoenix Wright laughs without stopping, his step never faltering once as he makes a beeline to Mia's grave. Lana glances up to the unfairly defamed former attorney and nods in greeting for him and his small entourage. She stands up.
“Mr. Wright, Mr. Edgeworth, Ms. von Karma… Ms. Fey.”
She hesitates as Maya beams at her. She has met Maya only once, when she was still dating Mia and life was much easier, and all she needed to feel satisfied was a cup of coffee at Mia's favorite shop and a couple of cases to playfully discuss in between kisses of varying levels of sweetness and spice.
The details are off - thick bangs, black hair, silver eyes - but Mia lives in her smile and laughs through her lips, and Lana's heart stops.
“Hello, Ms. Skye, it's been a while!”
She thrusts her hand forward, and Lana takes it before she can think twice about it. Her grip is strong.
“Indeed, Ms. Fey. You were barely older than a kid when we've last seen each other.” She says, and pretends her chest doesn't hurt as the Fey name slips past her lips, a delicious venom she can't get enough of. “You've really grown.”
Mia would be proud of you. she wants to say, but the words lodge themselves at the back of her throat, and nothing comes out. She instead regards Edgeworth.
“Congratulations for your upcoming promotion, Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth.”
Wright snickers, and Edgeworth throws him a pointed look which is only ten percent aggravation and a world of fondness.
“It's not official yet, I'm afraid. I still have some business to settle back in Europe for the time being.”
Franziska von Karma, a prosecuting legend Lana had only met once just as well and used to fiercely dislike as much as she did for her infamous father, scoffs. “This foolish fools, they think they have all the time in the world.”
That's when Edgeworth lets out an embarrassed cough and pushes his glasses up his nose, whilst Wright's snickering increases and he shoves his hands in the pockets of his sweatshirt, and finally Lana catches the glint of a silvery band sitting at the base of his ring finger.
Oh. So if finally happened.
Something deep down aches and burns; bitterness, perhaps even jealousy. Because they had it easier, because they accomplished what Lana never could afford.
But it would not be truthful. They didn't have it any easier at all. They simpy had been braver and more determined than Lana ever was.
So she smiles, and surprises herself because although the bitter feeling still stings, there is a genuine sweet aftertaste to it that makes it all worth it.
“I see. Then double congratulations are in order.”
Edgeworth's normally pale cheeks suddenly turn an intense beet red. “Yes, well, verily… ergo…”
“That too is not official just yet,” Wright swiftly rescues his betrothed. “I too have a… few things to get in order, so to speak.”
His tone is light, but guarded and his whole demeanor shifts, tauts. This time Lana instantly knows what he means. The news of Gavin's arrest and his involvement in the forgery that had unfairly cost Wright his badge had travelled throughout the country at the speed of light.
She wants to say she's sorry, that she wished there had been something she could have done, but if he is made of the same spirit as Mia's, she knows that would be a mistake.
She follows Wright's line of sight back to the gravestone. Mia's name glitters happily under the sunlight.
“I owe it to her, you know.”
She knows. Oh, if she knows.
Maya and Wright step closer, whereas their accompanying partners take a respectful step back to give them some space. Maya kneels down, her long purple Kurainist robe splaying like a budding lily around her calves. She carefully places her bouquet next to where Lana had placed hers.
Sunflowers. Mia’s all time favorites.
“Man, ten years. Crazy how time flies.” Maya says when she’s finally satisfied of her flower composition masterpiece. “One night we were going to go out for burgers and boom, a decade has gone by.”
She speaks with a smile, but her voice cracks and falters at the seams and in a heartbeat Ms. von Karma is standing by her side, placing a comforting gloved hand on Maya’s shoulder and squeezing lightly. Had this happened a decade earlier, Lana would be positively baffled to witness a member of the von Karma family act so familiar, so protective towards someone else.
But Mia has worked her magic, has laid the path for a majestic turnabout, the greatest one to date yet, and Lana is not surprised at all now that she can see the tons of effort and blood Mia has poured finally bear its fruits. Love that transcends, love that brings together even the most polar of opposites, the sun and the moon, the earth and the sky.
The unwarranted perhaps and scenarios that have long turned impossible sing sweetly in her ear, a siren’s song for fools who have lost their chance more than ten years ago.
Silence falls. Companionable, comfortable, with each attendee lost in their thoughts, reminiscing, remembering. And although she does not know for certain whether Edgeworth or von Karma had even met Mia Fey in person, she knows they mourn her loss all the same through their respective partners.
Then, after a while Lana cannot quantify, Wright stands up.
“Well, I think it’s time to go.”
“Yeah,” Maya gracefully rises to her feet as well and dusts her robe. “It’s not like she’s here anyway. She’s never been one to linger behind and wallow in her self pity.”
“Unlike you when you’re told you cannot have burgers for lunch every other day.” von Karma chimes in as she helps Maya readjust her robe and hair. Maya pouts instantly.
“That’s a great injustice and you know it and-”
“Well, it is lunch time after all,” Wright smoothly puts an end to the upcoming tirade. He checks his old wristwatch and smiles at Lana. “How about you join us? Edgeworth can surely give us all a lift and graciously put lunch on his tab.”
Edgeworth throws him a glare that would have probably killed a lesser man than Phoenix Wright. The latter simply shrugs it off. “Oh come on, you want me to believe you’d willingly leave her here on her own to fend for herself?” Wright gasps dramatically, “Not even you, Miles Edgeworth, could be that much of a stuck up jerk-”
“Of course, I would be honored to escort Ms. Skye to any destination of her choice.” Edgeworth cuts him off sharply and directly addresses Lana. He bows to her, as obsequious as ever. Behind his back, Wright visibly rolls his eyes. “Mr. Wright will reach us with his nonexistent means in due time.”
Maya snorts loudly as Wright does a double take, and even Lana can't fight back the urge to smile at their playful antics, a gentle ebb and flow of banter and remarks that hold no real bite. Lana thinks she and Mia might have come close to that kind of bond, once upon a time. Before Lana got cold feet and abruptly severed her end of the red string.
The scarlet muffler wrapped around her throat feels tighter. She lifts a hand to tug it loose.
“As grateful I am for the kind offer, I'm afraid I must decline.” She turns her back to them in a gesture that she's all too familiar with, and instead faces the grave. “I wish to stay a little longer.”
She doesn't catch Maya's expression sadden, nor Wright's eyebrows pinch in concern. Unseen to her, both try to reach out to Lana, to forcibly take her back to the world of the living, but their respective partners promptly stop them before they can utter a word.
“Let her,” Lana hears Edgeworth whisper to, she assumes, a mutinous looking Wright. “Give her time.”
She feels a surge of gratitude for her former subject. Still, she says nothing, all her attention focused onto Mia's tombstone. She now notices the small Magatama carved into the dark stone under her name, the only acknowledgment her fellow family members deemed appropriate to concede to the one woman who never fit in their ranks, who turned her back on a village who turned its back on her.
“Alright, then,” Maya Fey speaks up eventually, diffusing the awkward tension. “Then, see you later at Kurain? We're going to have a family reunion there, all of us, and Ema is coming so…”
She trails off, uncertainty taking hold of her as Lana fails to react. Wright steps in to support her.
“Yeah, just… don't be a stranger. Mia doesn't want that.”
That catches Lana's attention. She looks back at him from over her shoulder and he's staring right back at her, brown and blue eyes warm and yet hard, the eyes of a man who is confident of the truth of his words.
She has seen that look on Mia's face more times than she can count.
“Of course, I will gladly attend.”
And that seems to be enough. Wright relaxes and waves in goodbye and soon enough falls into step with Edgeworth, Maya and Franziska leading the group out of the graveyard. Their steps grow fainter and fainter as their occasional laughs - mainly Maya's - and remarks.
Eventually, they fade away, but the warmth they carried inside the previously cold, dead yard somehow stays. It spreads through Lana's system, from the top of her head to her fingertips. As she burns, the last traces of ice she had encased her heart finally melting, her knees wobble and give way under her weight. She grabs the stone for purchase, and with great effort eases herself down, sitting on the marked ground with her back resting against the stone.
Her head feels light, her body heavy and disconnected. She barely registers the gasping, labored breathing sounds she hears are her own. Her vision is blurred and confused, and her cheeks are suddenly wet.
“You were right, Mia” she speaks to a blur of smiling sunlight pooling at the ground next to her. “You made a good job with them.”
The golden light moves, wraps around Lana in a warm, protective embrace. Lana's lips burn in a way they haven't in over a decade. The scent of fresh flowers and wet grass fills her nostrils.
Her eyes flutter closed. Something warm takes her hand. Her scarf slides off her neck and falls lifelessly on her lap.
In her ear, Mia laughs quietly.
“Told you so.”