Chapter Text
“So you’re sure it’ll be here?” Klavier was all twitchy and fidgety as if they were trying to break into the office like a bunch of burglars.
“I can swear I’ve seen that name in Mr. Wright’s old case files on those bookshelves,” Apollo assured him, trying to calm him down while turning the key. “But why such a haste?”
“I don’t know, actually,” Gavin adjusted his hair. “It was just… poof! And that name flashed upon my mind. I thought it might be a vital clue.”
It’s been nearly two years since Kristoph was incarcerated and nearly two years since Klavier started looking through his brother’s past cases. Who knows how much trouble he might have caused before? Of course, the damage had been already done, and neither Klavier nor Kristoph himself could now change anything. But as long as that reviewing and rechecking activity brought Klavier relief, no one tried to stop him. On contrary, a lot of people turned out to be willing to help him, and he still could hardly believe he didn’t have to cope with it alone. That’s how he ended up here, at Wright Anything Agency, watching Apollo pressing the handle and freezing in the doorway.
“Er… Hello, Mr. Wright…” Justice said, and on hearing that, Klavier, who stayed behind the door, gulped nervously and reached for his hand. “Didn’t expect you to be here,” he added and stroked Klavier’s hand with his thumb. Gavin must really be on to something big, he thought, now that he is so stressed.
“What do you mean ‘didn’t expect you to be here’? It’s still my office, isn’t it?” Phoenix replied, staring at Apollo. Then he saw Klavier’s tall figure towering over his senior subordinate. “Ah, Prosecutor Gavin! Well, I hope, Apollo, you said that not because you two planned to be doing something wicked while I was out…” he pulled his features into a naughty smirk — Justice rolled his eyes.
“Guten Abend, Herr Wright. We just thought you would have been already at home by now. Herr Judge didn’t deliver his verdict today?”
“Nah,” Wright waved off, “we’ll have to continue tomorrow. Athena and I have just finished our investigation, so we called in at the office to let the things sink in and have some tea. Wanna join?”
Athena emerged from the bathroom, holding a clean tea-pot in her hands. She smiled at the two in the doorway before putting it back on its place.
“The thing is,” Apollo let Klavier in, entered the office and closed the door, “we hoped to look into some old case files of yours, if you don’t mind.”
“Ja, only if it is okay with you!” Klavier blurted out skittishly, as if anticipating that Herr Wright would not approve of his idea.
“Which case files?” Phoenix got up from his seat and came up to the shelves.
“About… uh…” Gavin paused and bit his lip, “Dahlia Hawthorne.”
“Dahlia Hawthorne, huh?” Wright frowned. “Why her?”
“Because of her connection with my brother.”
Phoenix fell silent and glanced at Klavier appraisingly, as if trying to figure out whether none of them was going crazy.
“I haven’t heard that name for almost nine years, and now you turn up and tell me she may be connected with Kristoph Gavin?”
Klavier pressed his lips and nodded.
“I’m afraid, not just may be, but is,” he felt his hands shaking, and Apollo patted him gently on the back.
“Why do I have a feeling I’m missing something?”
Athena’s voice broke the tense atmosphere and distracted the two men from glaring at each other. Phoenix pulled out some heavy folders, tossed them with a thud onto the table in the middle of the room and sat down on a sofa. He tapped the cushion next to him, inviting Athena; Apollo and Klavier took a seat on another sofa in front. They all realized: that would take long. Wright sighed before daring to speak.
“Athena, do you remember me telling you I studied art when a college student? And I said the reason I became a lawyer was complicated?”
“Yeah… I wanted to ask you more about it, but decided not to. Oh, you should have heard yourself then, boss,” Cykes laughed, but caught Phoenix’s glare and trailed off. “I-I’ll make tea. Go on. Don’t mind me, ha-ha,” confused, she went to the thermo pot.
“So, you all know Edgeworth and I have known each other since grade school, right? But he left. I had to stay at that school and ended up going to become an artist in high school. I was a third-year student when I saw that newspaper — I still hate it, though still am grateful to it, in a sense. I saw plenty of newspapers, actually. There were pictures of Edgeworth. And headlines calling him ruthless, heartless, diabolic… That’s when it struck me that I had to change my major and take up law. So that I could see him again.”
“Why didn’t you just call or write him?” Apollo asked, his index finger pressing against his forehead.
Phoenix chuckled. “Oh, Apollo, I did! I did leave him, like, hundreds of calls, did send him hundreds of letters — but no reply. Was it him or his mentor who decided he would ignore me — I never asked. I don’t want him to recall those times. Anyway, I thought my only way to meet him was to face him in court. Spoiler: the plan worked out,” he grinned, but it seemed no one appreciated his joke, and he cleared his throat. “I was making preparations and arrangements to enter the Law Department; I was maybe the most frequent visitor of the court library back then. That’s when it happened.”
“Sorry to interrupt you, Mr. Wright, but we’re out of tea. I found an iron box with some, though; can I take it?”
“Don’t!” Phoenix snapped. “It’s Edgeworth’s. He’ll be mad. Check my drawer, there must be some. Well, where was I?”
“Court library,” Klavier answered, still devoid of any clue what Herr Wright was driving at.
“Right. That’s when I met Dahlia Hawthorne. Just upon seeing me, she shoved to me a necklace, and her smooth talk about her pure love at first sight turned my head. Oh, man, I fell in love like a naïve kid. She became everything for me, and the dream of becoming a lawyer took a back seat. Never disappeared, but didn’t keep me going every day anymore. Iris did.”
“Iris? Who’s Iris?” Apollo asked, his eyebrows knit.
“Um, sorry, got ahead of myself. I fell in love with a gorgeous-looking red-haired girl — that was Dahlia. But I loved and dated a gentle graceful angel — that was her twin-sister Iris. If not for her, I would have been dead. She pretended to be Dahlia to retrieve something from me. But that devil… she committed another crime I got involved in,” Wright took one of the folders and handed it over to Klavier and Apollo. “In the end, I lost the then-love of my life, Iris’s heart was broken, too, but Dahlia was imprisoned, and I didn’t hear about her for ages. All of it made me hit the road and get down to studying to become a defense attorney as soon as I could.”
“And now you’re a famous attorney and you’re with Mr. Edgeworth again, just as you dreamt!” Athena exclaimed, her expression rapt, her hand held out to give Mr. Wright his tea.
“Even better than I ever dreamt, to be perfectly honest,” Phoenix hid his smile behind the cup.
Tea served, they all relaxed a little, Klavier scrutinizing Herr Wright’s case.
“That necklace…” Gavin said after a span of silence. “Decisive evidence in a case of poisoning…”
“Wait, you ate it?!” Apollo yelled.
“Love is not only blind, but tasteless,” Wright shrugged. “So what about the necklace, Prosecutor Gavin?”
“I think I’ve heard about it, Herr Wright,” Klavier looked into his eyes, trying to convey that he really meant it.
“Well, maybe this case was used at the Academy as an example of the most unfortunate defendant, both for defense and prosecution? Ha-ha.”
“Nein,” prosecutor insisted. “I heard about it then, when I was a child. From my brother, I think. And I remember that woman, too.”
Phoenix turned serious and looked at Athena, who nudged his arm.
“Mr. Wright, I can hear some discord in his voice…”
“Is it true, Apollo? About Kristoph and all, that is,” Wright could not just put up with it. Is it even possible that both of the most hateful people in his life were really connected somehow?
“Klavier never lies, Mr. Wright,” Justice answered without hesitating or touching his bracelet — he had already made sure more than once that Klavier was always sincere in his presence.
Athena turned on Widget and was currently doing something on the screen. “I’m not sure, but we may be dealing with suppressed childhood memories here.”
Each one turned at Klavier, and he smiled, totally baffled, pain lingering in his eyes.
“It was so long ago, I hardly remember a thing about that woman. I don’t really think I suppressed those memories. Maybe I just… forgot?”
“But I can tell something is wrong. Probably, not the memories themselves, but their interpretation? You doubt if those snatches you remember are completely true, don’t you, Prosecutor Gavin?” Athena inserted some data into Widget and looked over the screen at Klavier — he shrugged. “Would you like me to carry out a therapy session to extract those memories from your subconscious level?”
“Athena, no!” Apollo said firmly. “That’s where we draw the line.”
“Herr Forehead,” Klavier called, the corners of his mouth lifted faintly, his hand over Apollo’s, “I appreciate your worry, but it’s okay, really. If you still want to help me find the truth and put an end to all Kristoph’s crimes, that might be our chance. Alright, Fräulein. Let’s start.”
“Auf geht’s!” Cykes switched on her device and stared at the screen. “Try to tell me as much as possible.”
“Abgemacht. So, I was about twelve years old, I guess, and Kristoph had just started lawyering. That woman — a beautiful one, with red hair, just like Herr Wright said — was one of his first clients.”
“Did he show you his clients base data?” Athena specified.
“No way. I knew that because that’s how she was referred to long after the case had been closed.
“I was supposed to be in my room and make no noise. But you know me — the mere thought of it is absurd, especially considering that I was just a boy. I broke this rule, got out of my room and decided to see what they’d been up to. I sneaked to the living room and hid myself behind a wall to eavesdrop their conversation, or if I was lucky enough, to take a peek. And I think I saw them — that must mean I managed, though, ha-ha.
“I can’t tell what they were doing, but I clearly remember my brother saying: ‘Aren’t you going to give this evidence to that guy either? Like that necklace. Or you do know another way how to get rid of evidence and I underestimated you?’ He… didn’t sound like he was taking her to task or something. It was more as if he was fooling around. But she… her tone seemed angry and totally disrespectful to me. ‘Oh, shut up, you,’ she said. I couldn’t let her get away with it, so I felt like leaving my cover and doing something. I think I told her that what she’d just said was really rude.
“Then… I don’t remember how we ended up in my room — Kristoph must have taken me there. He was vexed. I hated to see him vexed, but I felt righteous, auf jeden Fall,” Klavier brought his hands to his head, massaging his temples. “I… I think we had a talk then. Yeah, something like…
“‘What did I tell you to do?’ he asked.
“And I said: ‘Not to leave my room when you have guests…’
“‘And what did you do?’ he always made me answer his questions when I had to admit my guilt. Made me pronounce what I’d done wrong.
“‘I left my room,’ I said.
“‘And why?’ he kept on pressing till the very end as if cross-examining me. I said that I’d been bored, and that’s when… yeah! He said: ‘Well, I don’t have time to waste on entertaining you right now; I am actually having an important client.’
“An important client. That’s what she was supposed to be. But something about it seemed off. I… don’t remember what was making me think so. That’s about it.”
“And what happened then? You said you’d felt righteous, but why?” Athena insisted.
“I’m telling you, I don’t remember. Just… keine Ahnung, you know,” Klavier looked irritated, but all in all, everybody thought, he was doing well.
“Well? Are you finished? He can’t remember anything more than that. We found out that this Dahlia must have been Mr. Gavin’s client, anyway,” Apollo concluded, hoping to stop Athena torturing his boyfriend.
“No, I am not, Apollo. Sit still while I am doing my job, okay? Thank you very much,” she said, indifferent, all eyes on the screen. “So, Prosecutor Gavin. Try to recall the end of that conversation with your brother. Did he return to his important client?”
“Hmm… He must have, basically. And he did!” Klavier got agitated at remembering a new bit. “He left my room even crosser than when he had entered. I… said to him something he didn’t like. He promised to talk to me about it later and left.”
“And what did you say?” Athena felt they were at the breaking point. He just needed a little push.
It took Klavier some time to find an answer. Then, he gasped and stared blankly at the floor, his face turned pale, his voice lowered.
“Do you kiss all of your clients on our couch or only the important ones?”
“What?” Cykes sensed the noise level decrease, but she needed to make certain Klavier remembered it correctly.
“That’s what I told him. I saw them making out in our living room — and that’s what I told him. Mein Gott, what a fool I was!” he covered his face with his palms.
“It’s fine, we all do stupid things when we’re kids,” Apollo appeased.
“Wait a minute,” Phoenix stepped in after keeping silent all this time. “If they were talking about me, does that mean they started seeing each other at the same time I thought I started dating Dahlia?”
“Well, at least it seems so, Herr Wright,” Klavier took a cup of cooled off tea with his shaking hands and made a sip.
Wright rubbed his chin with his forefinger and turned back at Gavin. “You said they were discussing some piece of evidence to get rid of when you noticed them. Do you think she was still his client?”
Klavier shook his head but said nothing.
“Could she have been helping him with his investigations somehow? I don’t know, like his partner in crime.”
“Are you implying that Mr. Gavin used that Dahlia to tamper with evidence?” Apollo asked, feeling that his boyfriend wasn’t able to do it himself.
“Or vice versa. She might have used Kristoph to cover for her in her crimes.”
“Or both. I’m not sure, but that’s quite possible,” Klavier muttered and paused before speaking again. “How dangerous was that woman, Herr Wright?”
“I believe she was involved in six murder cases, one way or another. Though charged with two of them only. And if she was his accomplice for some time, I’m afraid there might have been some more. Kristoph was incredibly careful when covering his tracks — that’s why a person such as Dahlia Hawthorne would need him. There is no denying he was a genius of a kind. But that makes me feel pity for him: how could he get taken in by her mawkish charm and love stories?”
“Doch!” prosecutor’s face lit up. “I’m pretty certain she loved him, too. For real.”
“Every ex of hers used to think so. Trust me, I know-”
“You may think what you want, but I know that was for real. I… I-It was… I have a feeling I got to know about it when they broke up, I think,” he gibbered, his eyebrows twitching, his lips trembling.
“He told you when they broke up?”
“Nein… It was just… I don’t remember it well. But I think I can recall a very-uh… remarkable episode,” he squeezed his eyes shut with pain. “But it may be nothing, actually. I… don’t really know.”
“Mr. Wright,” Athena whispered, still monitoring Klavier’s emotional state, “you’ve just struck his nerve. His heart is literally screaming. Any trigger will be enough for a breakdown. You should stop right now.”
“But I still want to help!” Gavin ignored the fact that he shouldn’t have heard these words.
“Klavier, please,” Apollo begged. “Even Athena says it’s dangerous to proceed. Think about it! You’ve already told us a lot, you don’t have to-”
“We have to get to the bottom of this. Even though I still won’t have enough evidence, the information you provide me with can be really helpful, Prosecutor Gavin,” Phoenix reached for his briefcase and took out his magatama. “With what you may say, I will be able to finally make your brother talk.”
Gavin looked at the strangely-shaped half-translucent greenish stone, not without scepticism. “And what is that thing supposed to be?”
Wright smirked. “That thing is called ‘magatama’. With a help of it, I can see if people have secrets. They look like locks on their hearts. Wanna try?” he gave it to Klavier, wishing to distract him from the stress he was going to face, when pressed further into his subconscious. “Ask me something obvious. Something that I know for sure. Anything.”
“Um, okay…” Klavier clutched magatama in his hand and looked around. “Oh, that’s gotta be fun, all right. Is Herr Edgeworth the little spoon or the big spoon?” he laughed into his fist.
“That’s not fair!” Phoenix objected.
“You told me to ask anything, ja?” prosecutor thought it would be a good revenge for the lawyer’s disbelief earlier. “So? Which one is he?”
“Ngh… O-Of course he is the big spoon. He is a Chief Prosecutor, after all!”
Klavier saw a Psyche-Lock appearing in front of Herr Wright — that brought him another peal of laughter. Phoenix snatched his possession from Gavin’s hand and put it back into his briefcase, his cheeks blushing.
“You have never seen or heard any of this. Got it?” Wright commanded, making Klavier nod that instant. “Moreover, your boss’s personal life is none of your concern!”
“I have no idea what you are talking about, Herr Wright,” Gavin was smiling and Apollo beside him felt relieved.
“That’s right.” Phoenix slapped his laps and sighed. “Well, are you ready to continue?”
“I’ll do my best.”
Apollo got hold of Klavier’s hand and entwined their fingers; Athena shook her head as if blaming her boss for what might come next and turned back to the screen.
“You may start, Prosecutor Gavin. Tell me why you think you know Dahlia Hawthorne loved your brother.”
Wright snorted, got up and came to the window.
“I-uh… I have a vague memory… I think I heard him saying that. I don’t remember what exactly, but… It was-um… he was kinda arguing with himself. As if he couldn’t believe it was true. He was very quiet, almost whispering, but I… I have some doubt, so wie so…”
“Why so?” Cykes wondered.
“Well, I’m quite certain it was just a nightmare.”
“Hmph,” Phoenix leaned on a window-sill. “Of course, Dahlia’s love can exist only in a bad dream.”
“Shush!” Athena glanced at him, her eyes blazing with anger. “Prosecutor Gavin, I need you to recall some more of that nightmare. Any detail will do. Do you remember what you saw? Or what else you could hear?”
“I…” Klavier looked at Apollo, as if searching for clue in his eyes, “I woke up to some crashing noise. In my dream, that is. But I didn’t think it was something important, so I went to the kitchen to drink some water. I… don’t know if these details are really what you asked for, ha-ha.”
“It’s okay, Every piece may be crucial now. What did you do next?”
“When I was on my way back to my room, I heard Kristoph speaking. Then everything just goes blank. I probably woke up in the morning.”
“And how did you hear your brother?” Athena frowned, deep in thought.
“What do you mean ‘how’, Fräulein? With my ears, obviously,” Gavin chuckled.
“That’s not what I meant,” Cykes seemed to turn a deaf ear to his joke. “You said he whispered when you heard him. Can it be that his door was open?”
“Ach, good point! Ja, it’s quite possible! Although I don’t think that a dream is something realistic in terms of some laws of nature, but yeah… You… you may be on to something!”
“Alright. And if his door was open, what could you see?”
“I… don’t know. I have no idea. Tut mir Leid, I’m not of much help.”
“So we arrived at a dead end,” Apollo said, his eyes on his boss. “What next?”
“Actually,” Phoenix walked toward his desk and looked at the picture of his first real victory, “one of my clients was having recurring nightmares from their childhood. But during a trial, their nightmare turned out to be a warped memory of a real crime. And I have a feeling that what you’ve just said, Prosecutor Gavin, can also be more than a mere dream — exactly what Athena sensed.”
“But you were being suspicious about Klavier, Mr. Wright. Why so excited all of a sudden?” Justice raised his eyebrow in disbelief.
“If it proves to be useful to break Kristoph’s Psyche-Locks, I must know it,” Wright turned back to the others, sat down and looked Gavin in the eyes. “Are you sure this was all about that dream?”
Klavier flexed his muscles, angry with his own helplessness. “I…” he dropped his voice, “I guess there might have been something. I now remember… looking into his room and I remember feeling that something was wrong.”
“What caused that feeling?” Cykes pressed.
“I don’t know!” Gavin jumped up from his place and started walking around the office in circles. After some time, he stopped, got back and fell down on his boyfriend uneventfully. “Now that you mention it,” he said, his head in Apollo’s lap, “I feel it coming back to me by fits and starts, but… well, it isn’t much. I opened the door a little more when I heard Kristoph’s voice, and there was something odd. I was shocked by something.”
“Why then do you feel so sad?” Athena’s screen was glowing blue.
Klavier shrugged. “I am always sad and dead inside, aren’t I?” he laughed and was immediately slapped on the shoulder. “Gee, I really can’t recall anything,” desperate, he reached for another folder on the table. “Herr Wright, can I?”
“Sure, feel free,” Phoenix looked at the cover and closed his eyes.
In Klavier’s hands were now files from his last case against Prosecutor Godot, when the whole truth about Dahlia and Iris came out. With a distracted habitual smile, Klavier was browsing files from the folder, dwelling on those mentioning his brother’s important client, leafing through the whole case back and forth, searching for any data which could arouse something in his mind. With Athena still checking his mood, Gavin turned to the photos used in court. Suddenly, he stopped and straightened up, holding one of them in his hands. Apollo saw the picture trembling between Klavier’s fingers and glanced at Athena. Her eyes widened, she looked at Mr. Wright.
“Mr. Wright, I hear very strong emotions in his heart. Fear and deep frustration. This might be the trigger you wanted. What do you have there, Prosecutor Gavin?”
“Is… that name… written in blood?” he put the crime scene photo on the table.
“Yeah, Dahlia wrote it trying to frame my friend while channelled by the victim. You know, the Kurain technique…”
“So this is blood…” Klavier repeated, tears beginning to drip from his eyes, his tone nonetheless even.
“Oh, Klavier,” Apollo touched Gavin’s cheek with his hand, “you-”
“I’m fine. It’s just… I can’t control that, but… I’m Klavier Gavin and I’m fine, baby! Try to ignore that, ja?” his words didn’t comfort Apollo much, though he did sound rather calm. “I’ve remembered something. I still can’t understand if it was a dream or it really happened to him.”
“Something happened to your brother? So you want to say he was injured, or…” prosecutor nodded, and Cykes taped something on the screen.
“As I’ve said, I heard some noise, but didn’t pay much attention to it. I just got up and went to the kitchen. After that, I passed by Kristoph’s study. His door was ajar. I think I saw him sitting on the floor. He was whispering to himself:
“‘Is it even possible? It can’t be, can it? Did she really love me? No, it was a game. Just a game. But her face, her eyes… she looked so genuine and so hurt… Oh, what have I done? I had no choice, did I?’
“He sounded almost delusional, but I supposed he was just thinking out loud — he did that when cornered, to find the way out for his client…” Klavier paused and wiped his tears, smiling. “But then I-I-uh… I looked inside.”
“Mr. Wright, I can hear that he’s in terrible pain,” Athena worried. “He’s on the fright.”
“Prosecutor Gavin is stronger than you think, Athena. Right?”
Klavier bit his lip while looking at Phoenix, his hand in Apollo’s, his eyes wet and swollen. “Right,” he lied to convince himself. “A-Also. Well… I looked inside and saw my brother.
“Then I looked around. His study was in a mess. Some shatters, pieces of china and glass were scattered everywhere. There was blood. Everything was stained in blood. It seemed to me, it had been dripping from the ceiling. There was he, sitting in the corner. His jacket was off, his hair tangled and askew, his hand bandaged and still bleeding. And there was a name written in blood on the floor. The name was Dahlia.
“His head was tilted forward and he kept on whispering. But then he noticed me somehow. He gave me a black look over his glasses; dark circles under his eyes were bright in contrast to his deadly pale face. He scowled and got up staggering, like in a horror movie. I felt terrified; I couldn’t move or look away. As he was approaching me, I was feeling my stomach sink deeper and deeper.
“‘Go to bed, Klavier,’ he said. ‘It’s late.’
“Only after that I took over my own body again and ran away, as if he cast a spell on me with his order. In the morning, the first thing I did after waking up was checking Kristoph’s study, but it was fine. It was neat and tidy as always, there was no blood at all and no bloody writing as well. But when I saw my brother later on, his hand was bandaged, like in my nightmare. He said he had been assaulted in the street and his hand had been damaged. He also said that he had come across me that night in the kitchen, so I must have just seen his hand, and my imagination had done all the rest. But now… I… It wasn’t a nightmare, was it, Herr Wright?”
Klavier was shaking like a leaf; he couldn’t help sobbing, his fingers digging in his arms, his face blank. Then he looked up at Phoenix, with his eyes red and puffy, his wet cheeks shining in the glow of the ceiling light. Athena, overwhelmed with his emotions, was sniffling, too, and had to take a deep breath before announcing that the discord had disappeared. Apollo hesitated for a second, then pulled Klavier into his arms and held on tightly, his hand caressing his boyfriend’s golden hair. Silence settled between them, and only Gavin’s quiet sobs were breaking it.