Chapter Text
Date: [???]
Time: [???]
Location: [???]
The blonde man woke up, groggy and confused. Sunlight filtered through a window, but dimly – perhaps sunset? His head throbbed, and keeping his eyes open hurt. Where am I? He forced his mind to think, squeezing his eyes shut. First he needed to remind himself of who he was. His thoughts kept jumbling, drifting, and finally a memory surfaced: a courtroom, a short man in a red suit and spiky hair and brown eyes shouting Objection!
Courtroom… he was a prosecutor, then, the attorney on the other side a defense attorney. Justice, his brain whispered, scrabbling to hold onto the memory: the scales of Lady Justice, and Apollo Justice behind the defense bench. Prosecutor Gavin, how do you explain this evidence? Gavin. He was Klavier, Klavier Gavin, but he still didn't know where he was. His head hurt, verdammt, and his thoughts slipped away into darkness once more.
Date: February 23rd, 2027
Time: 10:00 AM
Location: Hickfield Clinic
Klavier. Klavier… Prosecutor Gavin? Filtered voices in the fog. Then more clearly: “Klavier?”
Klavier groaned, full force sunlight hitting his face when he opened his eyes. "I don't – was…?”
“We don't know what happened yet, Klavier.”
“Herr… Forehead? Apollo?”
“Yeah, it's me… Hey, Truce, will you call Mr. Edgeworth and grab a nurse? Klavier's awake.”
“Oh, yay, finally! On it!” Trucy Wright called from somewhere outside the door, and footsteps pattered away.
“ Ich bin… wait, I don't… where am I? What time is it? How did I get here? Was … what happened?” Klavier realized his fingers were trembling, breathing coming quicker.
“Easy,” Apollo soothed, tracing fingers down the prosecutor's hand. “Give it a moment. It’s February 23rd. You're at the Hickfield Clinic. They admitted you with a concussion, a sprained ankle, dehydration, and a slight fever from an infected head wound they had to stitch up.”
He didn't remember any of it, which concerned him. “We were in court. I remember that.”
Apollo sighed, with an uneasy shift in his chair. “That was just under a week ago. You were admitted yesterday – stumbled onto the Agency's front steps and promptly collapsed. No one had heard from you in about three days; Mr. Edgeworth had started a police search for you.”
“ Was?” Klavier's head hurt, and his breathing accelerated, hands shaking. “I don't… understand...”
A doctor and nurse came just as he was trying to get up; he needed to know what had happened. Apollo tried to lightly push him back. “N-Nein, let me up, Forehead, I need to go, verdammt... ”
“Mr. Gavin, lie back, you need to rest,” said the nurse sternly. To Apollo: “Anxiety is common in head injuries.”
Klavier couldn't rest, not when so much information was missing.
“… Mr. Gavin, I'm going to have give you something to calm you down. Nurse?”
“ N-Nein…” Klavier shuddered away, trying to grab the doctor's wrist. “I – I can't...” He was choking on fear, he needed to leave… “I need...”
“...Giving him some painkillers with that, Mr. Justice, so don't be surprised he falls asleep again soon...”
Klavier switched his fearful gaze to Apollo, who stroked his hair a bit and held his hand tighter. “It's gonna be fine, Klavier.”
He couldn't remember if he said anything, despite trying; the world washed soft and a bit fuzzy; Apollo remained, with indistinct conversations and a flurry of maroon.
Date: February 22nd, 2027
Time: 4:00 PM
Location: Wright Anything Agency
“Apollo, you’re going to a wear a hole in the carpet.”
“There just - there has to be something we can do! I’ve been all over, asking questions, I even - I even tried to visit him -”
“I know it’s not okay, but it would behoove you to at least eat the sandwich before running out the door instead of complaining at us for keeping you here?”
Mr. Wright had stayed with Trucy, not wanting to let her get any ideas. Fatherhood had changed him, a long time ago, and he didn’t want her rushing into danger to find Klavier Gavin, who had vanished about two days ago. There was a crash outside near the steps, and Apollo blinked.
“Apollo, I want you behind me,” said Mr. Wright calmly. “If something happened to Klavier, you may be a target.” Fatherhood wasn’t the only thing that had changed him. Being disbarred and Kristoph Gavin’s machinations had, too.
Apollo forced himself to fall in behind Mr. Wright, who stared through the peephole. “I think you can come out from behind me, Apollo,” he said, and wrenched open the door, hand already going for his cell phone. Klavier Gavin lay slumped half conscious on the steps, having knocked over a broom and metal pail in his collapse. Blood had caked from his cheeks down to his collarbone; his clothes were frayed, torn, and dirty.
“Klavier!” Apollo rushed forward, trying to assess the man’s injuries. He brushed hair away from Klavier’s unusually pale forehead, revealing an infected gash. “Mr. Wright, he’s bleeding, and feels too warm.”
Mr. Wright said something into the phone, and reappeared with a blanket, draping it over Klavier, who had begun to tremble violently under Apollo’s hands. “Apol…lo…” the blonde croaked, staring in disjointed confusion.
“We’ve got you,” Apollo said quietly. To Mr. Wright: “Shouldn’t we get him inside?”
“He might have a head injury, so no. Emergency services said keep him warm and calm, they’re on the way.”
Klavier, what happened to you? Had he been attacked? Kidnapped? Tortured? Did Kristoph have anything to do with it?
Klavier’s eyes fluttered closed and he groaned, still shaking. Apollo nudged him lightly and touched his cheek. “Hey. Hey, Klav. Don’t go to sleep.”
The blonde locked his fingers weakly around Apollo’s, eyes opening a crack; he made an incoherent noise. Apollo held onto Klavier’s hand until medics arrived the same time as Miles Edgeworth.
Date: February 23rd, 2027
Time: 3:30 PM
Location: Hickfield Clinic
To say that Apollo had never seen Klavier this disheveled was an understatement. The doctors kept saying the constant anxiety was a product of the concussion. But the only two people had elicited this dramatic a reaction from Klavier were Kristoph and Daryan, and he related as much to Mr. Wright and Mr. Edgeworth. Not consciously remembering couldn’t be helping Klavier, either.
So he kept lightly touching Klavier’s hand and speaking as quietly as he could. The blonde went through periods confusion and anxiety, and tugging at his hospital gown. He had barely spoken since he’d first woken up. Apollo worried that he was violating some sort of personal boundary, some sort of sanctum of personal space, but when Klavier seemed to be coherent, he held Apollo’s hand tighter. “We’re gonna get you through this, Klav,” he mumbled. “You’ll be fine. I’ll be fine. We’ll be fine.”
His phone chimed softly, startling him: a text from Ema. Call me when you can. Conducting forensics where you found Gavin. Tell the fop I need him back for Snackoo target practice, so no dying.
Apollo chuckled a bit in spite of himself, unnaturally loud in the quiet, for now, room. I’ll let you know, he texted. He seems pretty anxious. Going to wait until someone else is here to call you. Thanks, Ema.