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Poetically, it was raining that day. Edgeworth stared up at the sign, which had been hastily covered with a drop cloth, and swiftly made his way up the stairs to the small door of what had, until recently, been the Wright and Co law office.
The door was cracked, and in the room beyond he could hear the high-pitched voice of a young child. Edgeworth frowned. He'd only just gotten word that Wright's attorney's license had been suspended...did he somehow still have a client?
“...and these are the magic rings. My first daddy knew seven tricks with them, but I only know five. I know I can get there with practice...maybe I'll be able to do eight!”
Inside the office, Wright was sitting on the battered green sofa he'd kept for clients. He'd crammed some disgusting old beanie on his head to hide his hair, and was wearing a threadbare sweatshirt instead of his usual suit. There was a small girl with him—not the usual one, the little spirit medium who loved samurai movies. She was in an unusual costume of some sort, and kept tugging props out of the various boxes scattered around the office.
“Wright.” Edgeworth didn't bother announcing himself any more than that. Wright jerked in his seat and stared up at him, something close to panic in his dark eyes.
“Edgeworth? What are you doing here?”
“Hey, I'm supposed to give the introductions!” the little girl complained. She did a complicated pirouette, pulled her top hat off her little head and with an ear-splitting bang sent a cloud of sparks and smoke wafting up. “Welcome to the Wright Anything Agency!”
“Trucy, we're not an agency,” Wright wearily said from the couch.
“Right now we only offer a magic act,” the little girl—Trucy—explained. “We're always looking for more talent, though.”
“And who are you?” He'd never been good with kids, but this one seemed to be fearless. At least she hadn't burst into tears or run away at the sound of his voice.
“That's Trucy,” Wright explained. “She's...”
“I'm his daughter!” Trucy explained cheerfully.
“Daughter?” Edgeworth raised his eyebrows and stared at Wright.
Wright sighed. “It's a long story. Hey, Trucy, why don't you go get lunch? The noodle cart will be here any minute.”
Trucy pumped her tiny fists in the air and pelted out the door, chanting about noodles the entire time. Edgeworth stared after her for a moment then turned back to Wright, raising his eyebrows again. “Noodles? Don't children need more nutritious food?”
“Eldoon gives them to her for free if she shows him a magic trick,” Wright explained. He started shifting around the piles of stage props to clear a space on the couch. Though he needn't have bothered...Edgeworth wasn't planning on staying.
“I heard about the case.”
Wright gave a bitter laugh. “Yeah, I'm sure everyone has. The great Phoenix Wright falls from grace. No rising from the ashes this time.”
He wasn't very good at comforting people, or cheering someone up. Edgeworth stuck his hands in his pocket, fingers tracing the edge of the envelope he'd tucked away. “What are you going to do?”
“Well, convince Trucy that we're not gonna open some kind of talent agency for starters,” Wright said. He grinned up at Edgeworth, but the smile was lacking so much of Wright's usual infuriating confidence that it was almost sickening. “My uncle said he can take us in for a while, if I agree to work for him. It's factory work, but it's better than nothing.”
Edgeworth's fingers tightened around the envelope. “You're giving up?”
“What can I do?” Wright spread his arms helplessly. “I was caught with counterfeit evidence. It doesn't matter that I didn't know what it was, or that it was some kind of setup. That's it. I'm done. The only reason we're even here is because the lease isn't due until the end of the month, then after that we're out. I came by to figure out what to do with the files—it's not like my uncle has room for all this stuff.”
Well, this was as good a time as any. Edgeworth pulled the envelope out of his pocket and thrust it at his old friend. “Here. This is for you.”
Wright's face darkened. “I won't take your charity.”
“Don't be an idiot,” Edgeworth snapped. “This is a gift.”
“No.” The disgraced attorney pushed up to his feet and turned away. “I don't need your money, Miles.”
“Like hell you don't.” Edgeworth shoved his way further into the room, moving in front of Wright to block his way. “You just lost everything you worked for. Your job, your pride, your reputation...and on top of that you apparently have a child to care for? And your only thought is to run away and betray everything you've ever cared about?”
Fury twisted Wright's features and he shoved Edgeworth back. “You don't know anything about it,” he hissed. “You weren't even in the country when it happened. You could have vouched for me, given me a character witness, anything.”
“You know I came back as soon as I could.”
“Not soon enough.” Wright shoved him again and turned away, one hand coming up to cover his mouth. “Dammit, Edgeworth, I thought...”
“You thought I would rescue you.”
“I thought it would mean something!” Wright spun around again and flung his arms wide, encompassing the room in one sweeping gesture. “All the cases, all the innocents I've protected and the villains I've put away...all of that just thrown out because of one mistake on a case I wasn't supposed to take?”
Edgeworth didn't reply. He could see Wright's perspective, but there was so much more to the story than that. It wasn't just a simple mistake he'd made, he'd accepted disreputable evidence from an unknown source and presented it to the court without trying to verify it first. Even so, Edgeworth had seen the files from that case...that forgery had been too perfect. Someone had tipped off the prosecution.
“So that's it,” Wright said after a few seconds. “I'm done.”
The prosecutor stared at the other man for a few long moments. “You're giving up?”
Wright shrugged.
Edgeworth folded his arms, feeling the old familiar coldness creeping into his eyes. “You know, I've called you a lot of things over the years. I never thought the day would come that I called you a coward.”
Wright's head snapped around. “You can't-”
“I can and I will,” Edgeworth interrupted. “I didn't realize you lost your dignity with your badge. The Phoenix Wright I know—the Phoenix Wright I counted on, time and time again—wouldn't just give up at the first sign of trouble.”
“They disbarred me, Edgeworth.”
“Then fight them!” Edgeworth caught Wright on the shoulder and pushed him back until the other man was pinned to the wall. “Regaining your license to practice won't be easy, but you can do it. And in the meantime you have other skills—all those turnabouts you pulled in the courtroom, all the ways you saw through the lies to the truth, they didn't come from your attorney's badge.” He poked Wright in the chest, hard enough that the other man flinched. “That was all from you.”
Wright didn't reply, and after a moment Edgeworth released him an spun away. “The money is a gift,” he called over his shoulder. “If you won't accept it you might as well burn it, but you'll need something to start your little talent agency.”
He swept out the door before Wright could answer, nodding to Trucy when the little girl came running up to the office with a pair of takeout noodle boxes clutched in her arms.
Back in his car, Edgeworth pulled out his phone and dialed his office before he got back on the road. “Tell Prosecutor Gavin I wish to speak with him,” he told his assistant when the woman answered. “I have a few questions about one of his cases.”