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Detective Dick Gumshoe never realized how small Miles Edgeworth was before, but the sunlight spilling through the office windows brought everything to light.
The night went by in the blink of an eye, despite the two of them being frozen in hours without end. The sun-kissed air was inhaled in the wake of a nightmare, each drop of it promising to heal, to cleanse, to restore. Every breath he drew in had to reach Edgeworth, had to heal him, had to make everything better. If he was willing to take on the gods of the underworld for his superior, surely he could share the morning light. Surely he could breathe in enough for the both of them. Edgeworth was bundled up in his arms, as small as a newborn kitten. The warmth was there-the Chief Prosecutor just needed to realize morning had come.
Wincing, Gumshoe mentally replayed last night's events. Gregory Edgeworth's birthday had come, with his son quietly vowing to do as he always did whenever that certain day came around-celebrate with a quiet cup of tea. In just their hotel suite, all alone, with nothing but a cup of Gregory's favorite tea. The cup of tea was usually had in the prosecutor's office, but their current case in Angeles Bay prompted a change in settings. Unfortunately for a worried detective, a change in environment did nothing to change Miles Edgeworth's decision. He became one of the few Chief Prosecutors to remain on the frontlines, but changing up certain routines? Out of the question. "You sure you don't wanna go out and celebrate, Chief Edgeworth sir?" the prosecutor's assistant asked what must've been a thousand times. Gumshoe won a lot of points for persistence, but victory was not to be had. "I'll do just fine with the usual, thank you," was his superior's final answer, calm, cool and collected. "Besides, we've got some business to address."
Edgeworth was anything but calm, cool and collected in the following hours.
Gumshoe volunteered to bring back some dinner before they returned to the case files. Edgeworth was intent on hitting the ground running during their night shift, never wanting to leave a stone unturned, but his detective was determined to have at least one victory under his belt. "Don't look at a single paper until you've had a bite to eat, Chief Edgeworth," Gumshoe ordered, looking over his shoulder as he stepped outside of their suite. "If we're gonna get this thing done right, we hafta make sure you're good t'go!"
Out he went to find something delicious, closing the door on Edgeworth's protests. Sure his latest paycheck wasn't at all that great-but hey, Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth deserved the best. It would be the best he could give, but it would definitely be worth Edgeworth's time. The perfect dinner was found in just a short hour, with one of Angeles Bay's best pizza parlors being a hop, skip and a jump away from their hotel. Sure, he couldn't picture the chief digging into pizza, but hey, they said they were the best in town-and that's exactly what Miles Edgeworth deserved. Especially after a somber, quiet cup of tea. But upon returning to their hotel room, the pizza box was immediately forgotten, dropped onto the floor in front of their door. Just a few feet away from their room, the detective caught wind of someone weeping. Someone sobbing themselves raw. And it was none other than-
"Chief! Chief, what's goin' on?! You all right?! I'm comin' in! Whoever's in there, you'd better prepare yourself for a world of hurt!"
Detective Dick Gumshoe's wrath was unleashed. The door joined the fallen pizza in his list of victims, with Edgeworth's assistant turning himself into a batting ram. He was in their hotel room in seconds, searching, looking for any trace of an intruder, listening to tears, so many tears, hurt, pain, loss, so much grief. Hating himself for not being to be in two places at once, Gumshoe set about looking for an intruder before comforting the sobbing prosecutor. "Come on, wise guy," he snarled, just waiting to find even a hair of Edgeworth's assailant. "Come on out! Ain't no use hidin' any more! If you've even touched a hair on the Chief's head-"
Edgeworth's voice tore into his back like a knife. "There's no one here, Detective, it's just me!"
Immediately discarding his first mission, the broad-shouldered brunette bolted to where Edgeworth had planted himself-at the desk in their suite. Forgetting everything else, knowing only the tears that had fallen, the tears that were still falling, Gumshoe wasted not a second in sweeping the Chief Prosecutor into his arms. He wanted to know what had happened, but the moment he caught sight of the fallen tea cup, it hit. Like a meteor.
Just as it must've hit Edgeworth, while he was drinking the usual cup of Earl Grey tea.
The detective held him, rocked him back and forth, hated every sob and tear that fell from his superior's lips but kept on rocking him. Kept on murmuring 'it's okay, Chief Edgeworth, sir, go ahead 'n cry'. 'I'm here, Mr.Edgeworth. You're safe'. He held him and wouldn't have let go of him if the devils themselves ordered him to. He held him, knowing that letting Edgeworth go for even a second would've had him fall apart like a cookie in milk. Held him as memories of his father stormed through every nook and cranny of his mind, heart, body.
Now the sunlight was spilling through where tears had just been shed.
Every tunnel had an end to it-even one with the deepest, coldest darkness. Gumshoe had never been happier to see sunlight painting the earth. Waking up the tiny bundle in his arms was an idea that crossed his mind, but Edgeworth needed rest. If anyone called or came to the suite asking about the case-
The case could wait. Gumshoe would make sure it waited. The whole world would wait for the Chief Prosecutor to open his eyes. He had already taken care of the hotel staff and security, assuring them everything was well in hand, he had everything under control. Now all that was left to do was make sure Edgeworth met the morning light.
He didn't have to wait too much longer for his bundle to awaken. "Mornin', Mr.Edgeworth sir," the detective greeted him, his voice a soft, soothing tone. Speaking even a decibel higher would have had the prosecutor shattering like glass. Best to speak to him as one would speak to a frighten baby bird. "You feelin' any better?"
The slender, fragile bird rubbed at his eyes, yawning, then noted Gumshoe with a world of shock. "I'm sorry, sir," the prosecutor's assistant nervously threw out, face becoming a portrait of sadness as Edgeworth pulled out of the detective's arms. "I know I shoulda put ya t' bed, but I really didn't wanna let ya go."
Gregory's son spoke in a surprisingly soft, gentle voice. A tone Gumshoe had never heard from him before, along with a tint of crimson he had never seen before on the prosecutor's cheeks.
"No no, Detective, I just...you were here? All night? Right here, with me?"
"I sure was, sir. Thought ya needed me."
"I...but what of...did you not eat dinner?"
A warm chuckle followed that question. "No, kinda threw it away. Heard ya cryin' and wanted to make sure you were okay. Definitely didn't wanna let you go, you know, because you felt so tiny and helpless, and...I got really worried, sir. I know I promised you dinner but I'll make it up to you with a nice, hearty breakfast! First things first, though."
Hands, strong but infinitely gentle, were placed on the prosecutor's shoulders. "You okay? Anything you wanna talk about, Chief Prosecutor sir, I'm here."
"I know, Detective," came the weary, bittersweet response. He bowed his head and immediately Gumshoe fought an overpowering, excruciating need to just hug him until every last drop of pain disappeared. "And apparently you were right by my side all night. I'm ever so sorry, Gumshoe, I just-"
"No no no, don't apologize. It's okay, Chief Edgeworth sir. I know."
"No it's not all right," the bird close at hand snapped, as fiercely as he could but still very weak, very tired. "We've got a case to solve and a meeting with Caduceus and damn it all, Detective, I feel horrible, absolutely horrible. I don't know what came over me, it's just...I'm not feeling at all like myself."
Gumshoe's voice was the morning light spilling through their suite's windows. "That's gotta be the only thing I hate about you, Chief Prosecutor sir. You're always so down on yourself. If you need to let it out, let it out. Nothin' wrong with missin' yer old man. I mean, sure, you're the great Miles Edgeworth, but you're also human. You keep forgettin' that, sir."
Edgeworth lifted his head with a smile that stopped time, fate, hurt, everything beyond their windows and door. "At least I have you here to remind me of that, Detective. But that does not justify me being a poor son."
"A poor son? Pardon me, pal, but I think all that cryin' dried your circuits out!"
The Chief Prosecutor frowned, pulling away from Gumshoe even more-much to the detective's horror. However, the words that came next assured him that Edgeworth wasn't at all angry with him. "You don't understand, Detective. But how could you?" A bittersweet smile followed, just as beautiful as the morning light but just as heavy as the night that had just fled. And in the moment that followed, Edgeworth became even smaller, weaker, someone Gumshoe would give his soul to hold, even if only for another moment.
"How could I be anything but after everything I've done? I've never even said goodbye."
"But that wasn't your fault, Chief Edgeworth sir!"
"Come now, Gumshoe. It's been years since my father-"
The rest of his statement became tears. Gumshoe rushed forward to catch him, but was stopped by Edgeworth finding his voice. "I swore to him I would follow in his footsteps and walk the proper path, the path of right against wrong," the prosecutor explained, speaking not only to his horrified assistant but to himself as well. "I swore to him all would be well. But I followed the footsteps of the wrong man. A man whose only allegiance was to malevolent mischief. To hatred and destruction. A man who tried to have me imprisoned for my father's murder. I followed that man, Gumshoe. I was his son."
The detective rushed to tiny, tearful creature and clamped his hands upon his shoulders. "What is this, the Twilight Zone?! You're talkin' crazy talk and I ain't havin' it! Chief Edgeworth, sir, you couldn't help! I know I don't have all of th' facts but everything that happened wasn't your fault! You were just a tyke back then, all alone in then world! You couldn't have done anything! You couldn't have fixed it, stopped it or anything else. You think you've got all these super powers and hate yourself when you think you aren't usin' 'em properly!"
"As for bein' a bad son, I'm not buyin' that no matter what you say. Sure, you didn't become a defense attorney. Sure, you may have went off the beaten path for a little while, but you're on the right path now! You've been on the right path for a pretty long time and you're pretty damn good at fightin' for it! You are on the side of justice, Mr.Edgeworth, pal. You protect the innocent. You fight for what's good 'n right 'n decent! I'm pretty sure your old man's proud of ya, sir-no, I know he's proud o'ya!"
Edgeworth shook his head with a bittersweet chuckle, the smile on his face reminiscent of dawn's first kiss but burdened with night's silence. "I applaud your valiant efforts to comfort me, Detective, but what of my victims? The innocent defendants that were deemed guilty-by my hand?"
"That's the thing, Mr.Edgeworth sir-you know they were innocent! You get it now! Sure y' didn't get it then, because of Prosecutor von Karma's brainwashing, but you get it now! That bastard took advantage of you and made you somethin' you weren't. But you're not that person any more, Chief Prosecutor sir. You're a whole lot stronger and wiser-and they all see that! They know you're one of the good guys now. I know a lot of bad stuff happened and it shouldn't have, but you can't change stuff that's already happened. All you can do is keep makin' 'em proud by takin' down the real bad guys, one by one! Mr.Edgeworth, sir, what's so funny? What did I say?"
The laughter was so much better than tears. So much lighter. Happier. It was a musical sound, an ethereal sound, one that had morning light and a dream's softness spilling into their pocket of the world. "Forgive me, Gumshoe, it's just that you say the strangest things at times," the prosecutor laughed, tears gracing his cheeks, capturing the morning glow. And in that moment he was born anew, warm, small, beautiful, magical.
"I must say you've succeeded, by the way."
"In what?" a breathless detective asked, gazing at the light in front of him.
"In providing me with a world of comfort, yet again. Now let's be off."
"To what?" Surely it wasn't time to go back into the case already? Yeah, their meeting with Caduceus was in three hours, but-
Edgeworth gave him another smile that made it impossible to breathe.
"To breakfast, my good man. Surely I've caused you to work up an appetite. It'll be my treat. Are you, by any chance, interested in parfaits?"
"Yeah, but-"
"Splendid. Let us be on our way then, Detective. We mustn't keep the good doctors at Caduceus waiting, so let's enjoy what we can before continuing our investigation. There's a pleasant little bistro quite a ways from here, so we mustn't waste any more time."
"Sure, but, are you done? I mean, are you feelin' any better?"
Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth turned to him with the warmth of Spring's promises and the magic of Summer nights.
"How could I not be? A good night's sleep makes even the weariest of the weary as good as new."