Archive of Our Own

This was the fault of that foolish fool Miles Edgeworth. She was sure. No other explanation could quite cover what on earth was going on and why it was happening to Franziska. Oh, and the International Prosecutor was no fool herself; she’d of course retraced her steps. It all led back to him.

---

“Franziska” he tried, “Perhaps I am out my right to say this, but I really think you should take some time off,”

Winston Payne limped around the corner of the Prosecutor’s Office, meekly carrying some papers. Her whip hand twitched.

“What? You can hardly blame me! You know we’ve all been wanting to get rid of him for a while!” she scoffed. 

The international prosecutor had elected to spend some time in her little brother’s foolish country for a while, to garner new experience and prove her superiority.

Miles Edgeworth gave her a pointed glare, “This is the fifth incident of ‘misconduct in the workplace’ this week. Something tells me there may be an issue bothering you... Anything on your mind at the moment, perhaps?”

Anything on her mind? Her right shoulder burned. It would seem she still hadn’t quite made up for that yet… Never the matter. No one was to be the wiser here, anyway. A Von Karma did not show weakness. A Von Karma was perfect in every way.

Edgeworth’s eyes drifted down to that phantom injury. He seemed hesitant to directly bring it up. 

“Is that still…pestering you?” he indicated slightly in the old wound’s general vicinity.

“Don’t be foolish! It’s been a year! I have made a perfect recovery!” she laughed.

“That’s not what I meant, Franziska, and you know it…”

Franziska narrowed her eyes, “I assure you, I do not, Miles Edgeworth.”

Tiredly, her brother sighed and pinched his forehead. She rolled her eyes. He had always been like this in making grand gestures and claims! What exactly was he trying to prove saying a Von Karma ‘needed a break’. She was an adult!  Franziska von Karma did not need a foolish fool to try and tell her how to plan her work schedule! 

“I have already spoken to the board, and they would be delighted to give you a week off to make up for all your hard work. Think of it as a reward,” he smirked.

She…did not like where this was going. 

“Well, you can tell the board I do not accept! Now, if you’ll excuse me, Miles Edgeworth, I have work to be getting on with,”

Not a lie… She did have a homicide case to be supervising the investigation on. Smugly, she pivoted on the sharp heel of her boot and stalked off. 

“I’m afraid then, Franziska, that you misunderstand. As far as this office is concerned, you are on holiday next week.”

She turned to stare at him, horrified.

“And I shall be personally overseeing any cases you have left in that time, which also means I’m in charge of making sure you are not in this building, then,”

“Miles Edgeworth, you foolishly foolish…traitor!” she gasped.

Edgeworth flipped up the cuff of his sleeve to check a watch.

“Would you look at the time? Don’t you have an investigation to be at right now, Franziska?” he asked, coolly. 

She spluttered, “This isn’t over!”

He gave her one, final pointed look before departing, “I think you’ll find it is.”

---

His whole holiday scheme may have also not have been so disastrous if he hadn’t insisted on booking Franziska somewhere to go, to make sure she couldn’t possibly still do work. She may have… eventually given in and just stayed home as is! But, alas, she had no such luck. For, Miles Edgeworth had arranged for her to stay a none other than Kurain Village’s own Fey Manor.

Apparently, the village had started letting out rooms to tourists in the hopes of advertising their other services. And to cover the fees of running such other services. Though, Franziska couldn’t exactly blame the sceptics who kept this place in a perpetual state of financial struggle. If she hadn’t seen spirit channelling with her own eyes, she likely wouldn’t believe in it either. After the events of a certain temple case, however, no such naivety was possible for her. 

Why Miles Edgeworth had chosen for her to stay here for the week was quite puzzling, however. The only possible ideas the Prosecutor had had on the subject was the lack of signal and far distance from main civilisation. Did her little brother really have that little faith in her? 

Oh, but it still didn’t end there. If Franziska just being stuck at Fey Manor had been the brunt of it, she would have been irritated, but fine. She was going to blame this on Miles Edgeworth for causing the base incident still. If only that had been all…

Issue now was that Franziska von Karma was stuck in a time loop. 

---

Miles Edgeworth’s obnoxious red car had pulled up to Kurain Village a mere matter of thirty minutes ago. In that time, Franziska had managed to:

-Drag her luggage into her guest room
-Unpack said luggage and neatly set it up
-Sulk Calm down in the corner
-Be dragged off on a tour of the village by an exuberant Maya Fey

The girl had been far too excited about Franziska staying there. As much as it would have been an honour to be in her presence, Maya Fey’s total enthusiasm was extreme and unnerving. Was something else happening that the prosecutor was not aware of? 

“Oh! And this, Franzy- Can I call you Franzy? This is our renowned Winding Way!” Ms Fey rambled.

There was a lot to unpack in that one sentence alone. The spirit medium had decided to give her a nickname?

“Ah, just Ms. von Karma will do. Franziska if you really must,” she huffed.

Maya Fey shrugged, “Got it, Franzy,”

Franziska tore her gaze away from her company, irritated. This supposedly renowned garden was rather ordinary too, if you asked her! Von Karma Manor had a more elegant one! Stiffly, she surveyed it again.

Other than a strange urn covered in splodges of pink paint, it really was just a traditional garden. Unimpressed, the prosecutor swivelled her head back to face Maya Fey. The girl’s eyes were wide in anticipation and hope. Ah… She was expecting an opinion. Franziska von Karma hesitated.

“What’s that uh, urn over there? It looks rather old,” she redirected.

“That?” Maya Fey pointed at the object of Franziska’s ‘interest’, “That’s Mystic Ami’s urn! It’s said to still contain her spirit…”

“And the paint?” she bit out.

“That came from an incident a few months ago… I’m sure Ami loves the decoration, though!” Maya Fey grinned, brightly.

“Right…” Franziska sighed, sceptically.

And then they were immediately off again. Really, did this girl ever stay still? Franziska trudged after her.

---

No, Franziska was not going crazy. She had lived this exact day twice all the way through, at this point, making it her third loop. Admittedly, she’d been a little too disbelieving on the second day to try to make anything about it too different, but, rest assured, Franziska von Karma was going to do everything in her power to make sure it all went well the third time! There was going to be some strange reason why she was stuck there, and Franziska was going to find that out and stop it.

First matter of business, inform Miles Edgeworth. It was his fault she was stuck like this! He deserved to know she was suffering! That and… Maybe a small part of her hoped he could assist her.

When her brother picked up, there were some background noises immediately coming through.

“Little brother,” she sniffed, “It is I, calling from the payphone in Kurain Village,”

“What is it, Franziska? This really isn’t a good time…” he hissed.

“Not a good time for you!? I assure you my situation is much worse!” she scoffed.

There was a pause and Franziska just knew he was doing some kind of doubtful action. Or maybe he was just genuinely busy. He still could have done it!

“I have preparations to make for a meeting right now. If you really want to complain about Ms Fey, I suggest you call again later.” Edgeworth chided.

“No, you fool! This has nothing to do with Ms Fey or her ridiculous manor! Your utterly foolish plan has got me stuck in time!” she cracked her whip on the dry path, at the end of her sentence.

“I’m going to need you to repeat that, Franziska,” he stated calm and business-like, “Because I believe you just told me you are ‘stuck in time’. If it’s really that bad, you don’t need to use a silly ploy like that to gain my attention,” 

“This is no ploy, foolish little brother! This is the third time I am living the day of June 25th!” she stomped her foot angrily. Of course he wouldn’t believe her… He was still just as distrustful of her as everyone else…

“Right… And can you prove that you are er, in a time loop of sorts as you claim?” 

“Of course I can! I-“ and then she faltered.

How exactly was she going to be able to prove it to Miles Edgeworth? This was her first time attempting to contact him on this day, so there was nothing she could exactly use to prove it to him…

“Just as I thought… You know you really don’t need an excuse to call me, right?”

“An excuse to-“ she scoffed, “No! You absolute foolishly foolish fool! The reason I cannot prove to your foolish self this foolish matter’s existence is because this is the first time I have so foolishly called you! Therefore I have no way of proving it to you, Miles Edgeworth!”

There was further silence on the line. Franziska waited through it, growing ever more impatient.

Finally, Miles Edgeworth heaved out a sigh, “Franziska, you know just as well as I that evidence is everything… As much as I’d like to believe your little tale, I can’t without any proof. Not with its, well, absurdity. If there’s anything else I can do for you, please say now, because, otherwise, I have to get back to-“

She threw the payphone back at the wall it had been attached to before and stormed around the area in a curt circle.

Well, the only person she could possibly prove it to then was someone who was interested in her in a unique way… Someone open enough to the supernatural to believe it… Someone like…

Franziska sighed.

Someone like Maya Fey.

---

It was evening dinner on June 24th at Fey Manor, at Maya Fey herself had decided to order takeout, claiming it was necessary for the guest. Whatever, it was neither Franziska’s problem nor her place to judge the medium for frivolous spendings. She huffed and neatly organised some salad onto the side of the same plate inhabited by the plain burger she’d decided upon. Cheese and bacon and other such things that Maya Fey had offered were of no concern to her! Plain was perfect as is.

She and the Manor’s owner were not alone at the table either, however. Maya Fey’s younger cousin, Pearl Fey, was there too. Idly, her mind wondered if the older medium’s other cousin would come to Kurain Village or return to Hazakura Temple after she was released from prison. Franziska didn’t know why she questioned such things. Maya Fey’s family business was of no concern to her.

“So, Pearly, you get up to much today?” the Manor owner chirped.

The little girl with light, the colour of sweet milky chocolate, hair looked up with big eyes (if the prosecutor did not know better, she would say unnervingly so) and frowned.

“I trained today, Mystic Maya,” the young medium informed. 

She didn’t so much as glance at Franziska.

“That it? You do know you’re allowed to do other things but train, right, Pearly? No one’s forcing you to...” softly, Maya Fey smiled before shaking off any semblance of intimacy by taking a large and uncouth bite of her burger, of course packed with many sauces and fillings.

“I know,” Pearl Fey nodded, “I chose to,”

Somehow, Franziska noticed Maya Fey relax slightly. The tension barely evident in her shoulders loosened right before the prosecutor’s eyes at cousin’s words.

“Oh, good. I just wanted to make sure you knew that this isn’t like with your mother and... Yeah...” the older medium rambled.

Franziska felt distinctly uncomfortable at being in the middle of this situation. Not that she didn’t understand the weight of expectations from (dare she say it) an... abusive parent (Foolish fool. Manfred von Karma taught you everything you know), but this was the Fey’s private business, wasn’t it? She swallowed thickly. How Maya Fey and her cousin dealt with it was their decision. It would be rude to input. A Von Karma was not rude. A Von Karma was perfect in every way.

With a sharp catch with her eyes, the Manor owner noticed the prosecutor had stopped eating and paused in her own meal, “How about you, Franzy? What do you think of Fey Manor so far?”

The gaze into Franziska’s icy eyes reminded her very much so of a certain incident after Sister Iris’s trial. Of how Maya Fey had convinced her to agree to the demands of that foolish fool Larry Butz’s, likely for his foolhardily foolish book, with a single glare. What was it about that face that left Franziska compelled to be quite so... not what her father raised her to be?

“It is adequate. Your culture is very interesting, Maya Fey,” she answered concisely and truthfully.

Maya beamed.

“Glad you like it! It’s so exciting that you chose here to stay!” she nudged her young cousin, “Right, Pearly?”

Instead of pointing out the obvious that she had, in fact, not voluntarily decided to stay at Fey Manor (She had some social tact...), Franziska looked over at the younger medium. A troubled expression had come over Pearl Fey’s face. Now that stormy expression reminded her of how this little girl had vented her aggression at the prosecutor during the interval in that temple case where she had assisted the ever-foolish Phoenix Wright in investigating.

The prodigy of that wretched Morgan Fey said nothing.

“Hey, c’mon, Pearly, play nice. Ms von Karma’s a guest,” prompted Maya Fey.

The change in nomenclature for Franziska was startling.

Still, Pearl Fey refused to speak.

“I’m sorry about her, Fran - she's just a little shy around other people is all,” anxiously, the medium reasoned.

Franziska remembered being something like that at a youthful age herself. When her Papa had brought home a young Miles Edgeworth. Not that she’d ever tell him, but when her little brother had first arrived, the prosecutor had perhaps been a little afraid of him. Six years older than her and all she’d been told of him was his father had died, so he was staying with them now. She was to treat him like a Von Karma. Miles Edgeworth had definitely seemed to have an air of death around him. For a while, she kept her distance. Or maybe that had been her brother’s doing.

“It is alright, Maya Fey. I understand,” somewhat stiffly, she nodded. 

From there, the conversation mostly petered out. Between Pearl Fey’s refusal to talk and Franziska’s awkward demeanour when it came to Pearl Fey’s said refusal to talk, even the exuberant Maya Fey struggled to keep voices carried in the air. Every so often, the older medium exchanged a careful glance at the two of them. The prosecutor felt a little bad honestly, even if she wouldn’t say it aloud.

---

Confidently, Franziska knocked on Maya Fey’s door. The prosecutor hadn’t seen the other woman around the manor on her way over from the payphone, so the likelihood was that she was here. That and she had the foreknowledge of knowing that on the last two runs of June 25th, the medium had handled some paperwork inside, later in the day. There was a faint rustling, announcing a new presence.

“Hey, Franzy, something up?” visibly a little surprised to her, Maya Fey leant against the doorway and greeted her.

“Yes,” she hesitated in a very un-von Karma-like way.

“You, uh, going to elaborate...? I can’t help if not,” the spirit medium winked.

“Maya Fey, do you believe in the occult?” she began her prelude.

Teasingly, the manor owner smirked and stood up. She looked Franziska dead in the eye. Ah, right, that was some poorly chosen wording. The spirit medium was much accustomed to the occult.

“I apologise. That was a questionable thing to ask. I meant, outside of your domain with spirits, do you believe in other supernatural phenomena?” she amended like an unreliable witness in court. Most of the witnesses that fool Phoenix Wright came across, then.

“Sure,” Maya Fey shrugged. 

She then proceeded to stretch, spreading her acolyte robes across a form not usually exposed due to the loose nature of closing, at least as far as Franziska had seen, and popping some joint or another with a quiet click. The prosecutor was half-waiting for the other woman to recount further, but she just finished off with a yawn. Franziska was a little nervous now. But a Von Karma didn’t get nervous. A Von Karma was perfect in every way.

“Then you are my only hope here,” she scowled, “You must assist me, Ms Maya Fey, as I am getting sick and tired of living the same cursed day over and over,”

The fallout was instantaneous. The spirit medium gallivanted closer, almost up in Franziska’s face and started hounding her with questions. A passionate fire burned in her grey eyes and raised wrists pumped into fists. Suffice to say, she was invested.

“Like a Time Loop!? Like that that trope!?” she gasped excitedly.

“Trope in what?” puzzled, the prosecutor countered.

“Never mind... How many times have you been through now? Have you told me about it before? Did I believe you? How much has today changed? Is it fun? Do you know what’s causing it?”

Once Franziska’s brain caught up with the other’s fast-paced English, she began to work on answering, “This is my third time; no, I have only attempted to tell my little brother; this is now irrelevant; nothing much has differed besides me talking to you and making a phone call; no, it is a harrowing experience and I wouldn’t be asking if I knew what was causing, and subsequently what I need I need to stop to fix, this,”

“You’re no fun...” Maya Fey pouted, “Anyway, you got anything big on the mind at the moment?”

The prosecutor flushed and frowned.

“I hardly see how this is important now of all times! Have you been taking after that foolish fool of an attorney my brother likes so, too much!?” she scoffed.

“God, I hope not... I’m asking for a real reason, though! In all the stories, the person is usually stuck in a loop like this ‘cause they have something they need to solve or admit. So, I’ll say it again: you got anything on your mind at the moment?”

This all seemed oddly reminiscent of that conversation Miles Edgeworth had had with her in ‘convincing’ her to come to Fey Manor in the first place. Just like back then, she felt an arrow through her shoulder. Well, more accurately, a scar of the memory of a bullet, but the streamlined trajectory made it feel more akin to the preciseness of a bow’s arrow. Not that she actually knew what that felt like, thankfully...

 She had even less of an answer now than then. What was she going to do? Admit to Maya Fey of all people that the bullet she’d taken in the lead up to the trial where the spirit medium had undergone a traumatic experience in the form of a kidnapping was causing her some kind of pain on a psychological level? A Von Karma didn’t have a faulty psyche! A Von Karma was per-

“That’s one heck of a contemplative look. You don’t have to share if you don’t want to. I’m just trying to help,” the Manor owner offered gently before sitting both her and Franziska down on top of a nearby clothing box. She wasn’t sure why she’d allowed Maya Fey to get so close to her.

“I was shot,” Franziska blurted.

Maya’s eyes widened, “What, again? Or in like, in a different loop,”

“No... Just the time you know about, Maya Fey,” abruptly, she clarified.

The spirit medium reached tentatively over and brushed her hand delicately over the white fabric covering Franziska’s right shoulder. The bullet no longer rested there. In that respect, she was not like her father. But it still felt like it did. She still felt like her father. She was perfect. A Von Karma was perfect in every way, after all.

“Maybe you need to confront your feelings on that? Why does it matter if you were shot, Fran? You’re still a solid eleven out of ten, if that’s the problem,” nonchalantly, Maya Fey complimented her.

Helplessly, Franziska spluttered. People didn’t usually compliment quite so genuinely... It had been all what she earned with Papa, and Miles Edgeworth gave his praise out more subtly. She knew she was close with her brother, but they never outright said anything about it or their progress to each other. Not since they were small children and Franziska was trying to outdo him at every turn.

“I am not so vain as to believe that is the issue. Though... Perhaps I shall try to speak to Miles Edgeworth again. Outside of believing this time loop nonsense, of which he was utterly useless at –you have been vastly superior in that regard, Maya Fey - he may aid in this confession to stop the loop that you speak of,” she sighed and got up off of the box.

“Oh!” the spirit medium jumped up after Franziska as she began to rise, “We need like a secret phrase so that you can convince me quickly tomorrow if this doesn’t work!”

Quizzically, the prosecutor looked over, “But you already instantly believed me,”

“Just let me have this, alright? They do it in all the stories!” Maya Fey pleaded.

Once again, Franziska fell victim to the ‘Maya’ look and gave in on a whim.

“Alright, then,” she put a hand on her hip, “What do you suggest?”

“What’s something you could only know if I told you in a time loop...” the Manor owner mused, “This is a lot harder than they make it out to be... Uhm... Tell me that I thought the latest episode of the Steel Samurai rerun, the one I watched yesterday evening, was...” Maya Fey sniffed regretfully, “A bit of a letdown! I remembered it as better, alright!?”

“O...kay? I shall tell you that and you will believe me instantly again, yes?” Franziska affirmed.

“Well, hopefully you won’t need to ‘cause this’ll work, but yeah! That’s the idea!” cheered the other woman.

Quietly, she muttered a goodbye before hurrying out of the room.

Sharing a space with Maya Fey was weird. The woman’s energy was contagious and something about her made Franziska feel contradictorily more at ease. Perhaps she related to the hardships the spirit medium had undergone in even just the time the two had known each other. She admired Maya Fey for that resolve, at least. She kept fighting to make things happy for her little cousin. Her situation was close to the prosecutor’s, thanks to Morgan Fey. Yes. That must be it.

---

She called up her brother again on the payphone. There was a high probability that it would have at least been worth trying to use her mobile cellular device, but that was a risk she’d rather not take. Even over something so small as no signal, Franziska von Karma refused to lose.

This time, her greeting wasn’t quite so immediate. For some reason, she wasn’t entirely sure what to say.

“Yes, this is Miles Edgeworth speaking,”

Franziska stared at the device in her hand. She cradled it in her palm before bringing it back to her ear.

“-will take action if necessary. Larry, if this you calling again, I swear-” her little brother ranted.

“No.” Franziska stated firmly, “It is I, Miles Edgeworth. I have been advised that... we need to talk,”

“Ah, Franziska. Lovely to hear from you...” he sighed.

The face he’d be making at this time was one ingrained in her memory from a long time ago. Even at nine years old, Miles Edgeworth had already earned mastery over a tired scowl. There might even be a pinch of a forehead in there. 

“If this is about earlier, then you really needn’t apologise. I am not that bothered by it. I am not advising you to do it again, but-”

Digging her foot into the dusty ground, Franziska cut him off, “No, it is not about earlier, little brother. For the record, I still believe you should be more sympathetic of my situation, but that is neither here nor now. I was... talking to Maya Fey and-”

“Find any nuggets of wisdom there?” dryly, definitely amused, the older prosecutor questioned.

“Silence, fool! I was not finished! Maya Fey suggested in turn that I go back and talk to you again about this. She seems to believe the universe is in the habit of trapping people in these damned loops to solve their emotional problems with loved ones. Foolishly optimistic, but I hardly see anyone else doing any better,” she gritted her teeth and spat.

“So... you called me at,” he paused, presumably to look down at his watch, “Three in the afternoon to have a conversation with me about feelings? What is it that you normally say about me when it comes to these matters, Franziska? That I am too foolishly emotional?” he laughed.

She had somewhat dug her own grave there. 

“No, I-” she struggled before snapping, “I did not call to be made fun of, Miles Edgeworth!”

“No. I garner that you didn’t,” suddenly quite serious, he responded, “But then... What did you call for? We don’t- That it is not to say we can’t, but we don’t really do this, Franziska. Do you not have some kind of ulterior motive...?”

“It is what I stated originally. My story has neither changed from the start of this call nor our conversation earlier,”

“What’s wrong, Franziska?” not nearly as mocking as his words may sound on their own, though if she didn’t know him as well as she did, the younger prosecutor may not have picked up on that, Miles Edgeworth asked.

She clutched at the puffy fabric on her right arm, the patch just over her shoulder. 

“Little brother, do you think I am like Papa?”

He took his sweet time before answering. Only the sound of static from the air travelled over the line for a fleeting moment. Franziska could hear all the sounds around her. Of mediums training further down in the village. Of Maya Fey humming some insidiously annoying theme song. Of Pearl Fey bouncing around a ball just out of sight.

“I believe that you are a very talented prosecutor and an overall highly skilled person, but no, I do not think that you are like your father,” he answered slowly, carefully.

She let go of her breath and pinched her cheek.

Apparently, the silence from her was interpreted as a bad thing by Miles Edgeworth as he hurriedly attempted to amend his word choice, “I’m sorry, Franziska, you do take after him in some ways I suppose, but you are not-”

“Perfect? I am well aware, Miles Edgeworth. You know the struggle of living up to this before you. But I... I don’t think I want to be like Papa,” she stated plainly, as if it wasn’t tearing her up inside.

“That’s alright,” he argued, “You can just be you, then. Franziska von Karma, not Manfred von Karma,”

“No, I- It's not as simple as that,” bitterly, she wrinkled her nose.

“Whyever-” her shoulders clenched as someone yelled something at her brother on his side. He moved the phone away from his ear and yelled something about a case back at them. “I do apologise, Franziska, but would it be possible for us to continue this tomorrow? I have just been called away on some very urgent business. There’s been an, ah, development I need to deal with, immediately,”

Knowing full well that there may not be a tomorrow in the traditional sense of the word, the younger prosecutor clenched a fist hard around the whip she'd somehow refrained from using until now and swung it violently at the wall. It left a small indent.

“Yes, that’s quite alright. I’ve had rather enough of feelings today anyway, fool,” she joked courteously.

“Alright then. I'll be in contact. Enjoy your stay at Fey Manor,” he promised before cutting the call.

Franziska was left stood alone in the little bus shelter.

---

She awoke to the sound of splashing in running water. Perhaps, like on the first day, Franziska would have been surprised by this if she hadn’t woken to up to it four times, now. Not particularly surprised, but disappointed nonetheless, she sighed. Fruitlessly, she checked her phone. Miles Edgeworth had made no attempt to contact her and, if that hadn’t made things clear enough, the date still very clearly displayed June 25.

Growling and grumbling to herself, she rolled out of the mattress Maya Fey had set up for her in the guest room and made to go get ready for the day. Up until now, she’d been dressing herself in regular smart clothes almost identical to her prosecutor’s outfit, but today was the day she would be using the so-called ‘casual’ clothes she had foolishly packed. She wasn’t sure why exactly she had brought them, but if she was to be trudging around investigating for a day no one would even remember, then what did she really have to lose?

A few minutes later, she was ready and raring to go. Well, nearly. First, she slid a dark trench coat over the embarrassing t-shirt Miles Edgeworth had bought her as a joke a short time ago. The obnoxious colour and logo for the ‘Pink Princess’ should have been enough for her to leave it at the bottom of a drawer forever, but it was surprisingly comfy... Unlike most of the perfectly perfect clothes Papa had gifted her as a youth, it wasn’t made to live up to her name. Less finicky buttons and frills and more simple, soft fabric.

Petulantly, she stalked over to the nearby waterfall where she was well aware by this point Maya Fey would be. Pearl Fey glared as Franziska passed her on the way. The prosecutor glared back.

Adorned in a white ceremonial robe, customary, or so she heard, for this kind of training, the spirit medium was sat cross-legged underneath the gleaming threads of silvery-blue. They coiled gently around her bare feet as they landed, entwining with her hair and clothes on the way down. She looked almost like an angel in the early-morning light, but Franziska knew only fools would make such comparisons. Maya Fey was probably freezing and would whine quite unangelically once she was finished with the ritual, anyway.

The prosecutor had never actually arrived to see the completion of such a training ritual before, however. Hesitantly, she elected to stay and watch for a while before she interrupted. It would be rude to cut it short, correct? Well, she would be lying if she said it didn’t intrigue her, and she had time to kill... A lot of time to kill...

Surprisingly enough, the medium remained as she was, stoic underneath the streaming cold, for the best part of the next half an hour. Then she had the misfortune of evidently getting bored, as she batted an eye open, saw Franziska sitting off to the side, panicked, and fell over backwards. Scrambling to collect herself, Maya Fey shook her hair out like a dog before wading through the shallows to meet the guest.

“Fr-Franzy!?” she shivered.

“Maya Fey,” Franziska acknowledged, a little coolly. 

“What a-are you d-doing here?” the spirit medium stuttered through her cold.

Franziska rolled her eyes. Really, had the other woman genuinely not thought to bring a coat or blanket to warm up with after training in the icy waters of the morning? Before she could think too hard about it, the prosecutor harrumphed and wrapped her own trench coat around the medium’s shoulders. Little droplets of liquid now clung to the fluffy rim around its hood.

“H-huh!?” and then she noticed Franziska’s shirt. With a smirk, she straightened up and approached, “N-nice choice.” A dripping finger prodded the prosecutor’s upper chest, leaving a slight mark on the obnoxious pink of an even more obnoxious darker pink. Her face burnt the most obnoxiously pink of all of it, though.

“Hmph. Miles Edgeworth thought it would be funny,”

“Well, h-he knows the good shows, then,” Maya Fey giggled, “Did you know they actually made that one ‘cause of me?”

“The...” Franziska peered down at the lettering she wore, “Pink Princess?”

“Yep!” Ah... Well, she would just prefer to straight up have some kind of Kurain Village memo or image or other memory of the spirit medium than this. At least the colour would be a little more bearable in purple. “Oh, wh-what did you want, though? Like, seriously, ‘cause I need to go get changed and stuff, so...”

“I, uhm, require some assistance once again, Maya Fey,” she scowled.

“Once again-”

“For you see, I am, regrettably in, as you put it, a ‘time loop’... Yesterday, you,” Franziska sighed quietly, “You also told me to tell you that you did not enjoy the most recent episode of the samurai show’s rerun as much as you would have like to. As... proof...”

Maya Fey’s eyes widened in delight.

“That is like literally the coolest thing. Okay, okay, hold it right here and I’ll be back in a min. You absolutely have to tell me all about it!”

The spirit medium dashed off in the direction of the manor, spraying water everywhere and leaving a trail of damp footprints in her wake. 

As she said, Maya Fey was back within the minute, now dressed in her regular acolyte uniform. She threw Franziska’s coat back at her. Although the prosecutor caught it with ease, she felt no desire to put it back on. Beyond just the destruction left upon it by the power of a waterfall, she just felt strangely cosy in the brisk morning breeze without. Almost as some kind of literal representation of feeling more open.

“So...?” the Manor owner grinned devilishly. 

“There isn’t much to say that you haven’t already heard. I am unable to move through time properly, and yes, I have asked you about it in a different version of today. Your advice was...” she hesitated before she could mindlessly say something scathing, “Well-founded, but it didn’t work in the end,”

A contemplative look was etched on Maya Fey’s face as she raised a hand to her chin. She scrunched up her face in thought and then spoke, “Then... I told you about the whole getting something off of your chest thing?”

“Indeed. I talked to Miles Edgeworth, but he was of little help. As such...” she sucked in a breath and looked as gently as she could at the medium, “I was hoping you could... prove your superiority! Yes! You could assist me and prove that you are better than my little brother!”

Maya Fey looked amused.

“Heh. Sure! It would get Nick in a right ruffle too...” she shrugged.

“Thank you,” solemnly, Franziska nodded.

“Let’s get right on it, then! First step, consult the internet!” 

Hastily, the medium grabbed the prosecutor’s wrist and forcibly dragged her off towards the buildings. Not that she particularly needed to be dragged to have the indication that that was where they were going, but something was rendering Franziska quite speechless. She had very little to say about the whole matter other than stammering, so she said nothing. Von Karma’s didn’t stutter. A Von Karma was perfect in every way.

To her surprise, the room Maya Fey was actually leading her to was the head medium’s very own room. It was decorated with pictures of various people, most of which Franziska recognized, some she didn’t. There were the obvious ones of Pearl Fey, Phoenix Wright, a tall woman with brown hair that if her instincts were right, was the sister she’d seen be channelled frequently by the two Feys, and a few obligatory group shots. Others were present, obviously, but none really caught her eye save for ah, one of Franziska...

The spirit medium must have got it off of Miles Edgeworth, because the prosecutor in no way remembered giving or taking this picture with Maya Fey. It wasn’t even anything special; just a clean image of Franziska looking slightly miffed at a camera whilst holding her whip, in her prosecutor’s outfit. A minute frown, matching the one in the photo, lighted her face.

“Oh, that one?” Maya Fey mused, “Larry gave it to me. It’s the reference he’s using for his book, but he said I could have it when I asked,”

Never mind... Perhaps she did remember it being taken after all...

“And why did you do that? Ask I mean,” Franziska huffed.

“Isn’t it obvious? I wanted to make sure I had a picture of all of my friends! And I didn’t exactly just have a selfie with you!” laughed the medium, airily.

“Are we... friends?” she blinked, surprised.

“Uh... yes? Unless you’re saying we’re not...?”

“No- I just- I didn’t know that was how it worked,” she stared at the floor, “Hmph. Tell me then, Maya Fey, what do friends do when they, uh, ‘hang out’?”

Maya Fey pressed the on switch on a rather ancient looking computer. Noisily, it whirred to life, running a dark screen with a white logo on it. The medium hummed to the little tune it played as it booted. Did she buy such an old model? Perhaps friends gifted friends computers to make up for the lacklustre ones they kept in their middle of nowhere hometown.

“Well, I’d definitely say they help each other figure out why one of them’s in a time loop! That’s like bestie stuff 101!”

“B-bestie?” abhorred by the casual terminology, she stuttered.

The computer beat Maya Fey to a response as it displayed a lock screen. A photo of the waterfall she’d seen the medium underneath earlier was set as the background.

“Aw, yeah! I knew you could do it, Camie! Never let me down before!” she exclaimed in response.

“C-Camie?”

“Yeah, short for Camille. I nicknamed the computer. I think it might have been ‘cause I used to think computers were just giant cameras. After I found out Mia named her plant, I guess I thought it would be cool to keep with it, and it just kinda stuck,” Maya Fey explained.

Franziska nodded awkwardly, not necessarily understanding all of what she had just been told.

“Anyway! I'm just going to fire open the internet and-”

A noise of protest left Franziska’s throat as she saw Maya Fey click on some troglodytic version of Internet Explorer.

“Please tell me you’re not planning on using that...” the prosecutor sniffed haughtily.

“Huh?”

“Internet Explorer,” she clarified, “It runs consistently at about half the speed you want it to. Try Chrome instead,” 

Casually, the medium raised an eyebrow, “You think it has Chrome?”

“Well, yes. Most computers come with it nowadays and-”

“Very funny, Franzy. Nick bought this and I’m pretty sure it’s from about the dinosaur ages... Trust me, I doubt it could even run Chrome if it actually had it,”

Franziska’s eyes widened as she saw Maya Fey start typing directly into a fresh tab. Not looking for Google though. Just straight into the default tab. Perhaps her life flashed before her eyes right there. No one friend of Franziska von Karma was going to use Bing for their internet searches. A Von Karma didn’t use Bing! And a Von Karma was perfect in every way!

She removed Maya Fey’s hands from the keyboard and mouse and amended the search.

“That is no excuse to use this foolishly foolish search platform!” she cried huffily and opened a new tab in Google, making sure to shut the Bing one immediately as she did it.

“If you say so,” the medium shrugged.

“Though, ah, what exactly are we searching for?” she huffed, almost embarrassed.

“You want official sources, right?” Maya Fey hummed contemplatively.

Franziska gave her a very pointed look and sighed.

“Eh, I know some places. But listen I think we’re going to have to just literally Google time loop or something,” suddenly, the medium was at her side, leaning over the prosecutor’s shoulder, her head almost resting on it.

Silently, Franziska complied and searched the simple two words the Manor owner had suggested. The old computer took a good ten seconds or so to search, which the women waited out with bated breath, before loading up the simple Google page. 

‘The time loop or temporal loop is a plot device in fiction whereby characters re-experience a span of time which is repeated, sometimes more than once, with some hope of breaking out of the cycle of repetition...’- Wikipedia

“This is no fictional tale!” Franziska growled huffily.

“Does kinda perfectly describe the situation though, no?” chuckled Maya Fey.

“That is irrelevant! I need help, not-” 

Lazily, the medium grinned and slunk her body to somehow be in front of Franziska, so that she was in the position to control her machine. She could have just asked... Maya Fey scrolled down until she reached some kind of article that satisfied her, and clicked on it. It looked like the kind of site that gave foolish conjecture, but the prosecutor had never been known for her strong internet presence.

“See? This one looks nice! Let’s see...” she highlighted the text as she read it aloud, “’How to escape a time loop’. Sounds pretty comprehensive! ‘One, figure out your secret goal. Usually there is something you need to accomplish to escape these situations’,”

“I tried talking to Miles Edgeworth about some foolish matters already. If that’s what this foolishly foolish article means,” Franziska snorted derisively.

“Sounds about right! That’s what normally-” Maya Fey blushed and looked at the floor suddenly, “A-HEM! Anyway, ‘Two, buddy up and talk to a friend or family member’. Yeah... I think you got that one covered. ‘Three, document everything in any way you can’. You done that?”

Franziska rolled her eyes and looked off to her side. A Von Karma was perfect in every way.

“I do not need to scribe them, Maya Fey. My memory is perfect and will serve as excellent documentation. Especially when I have no way of knowing if my documentation shall reset with the rest of the world,”

“It’s your call... ‘Four, explore different routes and ways the time period could go’. How many loops did you say you’ve done now?” the medium kept reading.

“This is my fourth, so three before now,”

“You tried doing different stuff?” Maya Fey raised an eyebrow and looked over at her cheekily.

Somehow, the prosecutor’s gaze drifted even further towards the floor. Someone had left glitter in it. After that first trial Franziska had had against Phoenix Wright, she had a feeling that this was a little too arts-and-crafty for little Pearl Fey.

“Well... In a manner of speaking, I suppose so... This is the first time I’ve spoken to you so early,” the guest finally looked up. Her eyes were magnetically attracted to the calculations behind Maya Fey’s eerie grey eyes. 

“Aw, Fran! You didn’t want to get me involved?” Maya Fey sobbed and leaned back dramatically.

“Well- I-” Franziska startled.

“Nah, it’s alright,” with a lop-sided grin, the medium straightened herself, “I was just playing,”

“Ah, I see,” she laughed, a little forced, but she had at least tried nonetheless, “Amusing,”

The Manor owner’s eyes twinkled in enjoyment before she turned back to the webpage.

“’Five, try not to die’- What!? What does that mean!? The movies never told me about this! Nor the-”

“I am not foolish enough to die!” she snapped, then, a little gentler, added, “This article is clearly a waste of time anyhow, so perhaps we should move on,”

Quietly, Maya Fey powered off the computer, “Yeah, probably... Why don’t we take a walk? Maybe we can figure something out about this along the way...”

The pair left the room. Franziska couldn’t help but feel that she was missing something about the other woman’s reaction, though.

---

The Feys ate lunch with her that day at Maya Fey’s request. That was new. Every other time, she’d been provided for, of course, but the master had been too busy to join them, apparently. Franziska didn’t know where Pearl Fey had been. What this all said about what the older spirit medium was doing for her, she also didn’t know. It was probably better for her conscience that way.

With a little flourish, the Manor owner brought in a board containing bread and an assortment of sandwich ingredients. The prosecutor frowned as the other two immediately went to make their food, already knowing exactly what it was that they wanted- Pearl Fey the cucumber and Maya Fey some tomato ketchup. 

It wasn’t that Franziska didn’t know how to make a sandwich per se, but the choice was still not often hers. The facts of the matter were solid in Manfred von Karma choosing for her most of her life. After he was gone, it was whatever she had in the various cupboards she’d had in various countries over the years. She brushed her left hand over the other shoulder absent-mindedly. She realised quite what that seemed like when Maya Fey paused herself to check up on the prosecutor.

“You alright there, Franzy? I can get you something else if you want!”

Franziska swallowed.

She looked at the table before them, her expression concerned, before answering, “No, no, it’s not that. The food will suffice as is,”

“Uh, you sure? You look like it murdered a puppy or something,” the medium pressed.

“I was simply thinking, Maya Fey. Allowing myself time to decide is all,” she ignored the main point and deflected.

“Oh, sure. Didn’t mean to bother you, then,” a weird look was shot Franziska’s way during the spoken words before the Manor owner returned to her own sandwich, which had begun to bleed red, thankfully this time not actually blood, all over her plate. It still looked a bit like a crime scene over there, though. Perhaps she was biased from all the times she’d heard of Maya Fey being detained in the Detention Centre.

Carefully, she ended up going for simple and copied Pearl Fey. Hopefully, nobody noticed. It wouldn’t be the end of the world, but she’d rather not give the girl any more reasons to judge or dislike her. Why the opinion of a nine-year-old girl mattered to her that much, she wasn’t entirely sure, but it was still something she’d stick to quite strongly.

“Where are we checking this afternoon?” a little guiltily, after the fiasco of dinner however many days ago it had been for her now, Franziska prompted.

“Like I said, we can go on a walk first to relax a little and then I was thinking of checking in the Kurain Library. It might have some stuff on situations like these,” Maya Fey stuck her thumb in the air.

The prosecutor paused and looked up inquisitively, “There’s a library here?”

“Sorta. More like a collection of ancient texts from our ancestors, but Sis used to call it the library, so I call it that now, too,” the older medium contorted her face at the memory, for some reason.

“I see,” curtly, Franziska answered.

Concerned, Pearl Fey had now paused from her own meal and was eying her cousin up. The little girl leaned over and gently tugged on Maya Fey’s sleeve. Her gestures were subdued, as though she didn’t want to make too big a scene. 

“Mystic Maya, what is the situation you speak of?” worriedly, she whispered. Well, loudly enough that the prosecutor could hear her, but still an attempt at a whisper.

The older medium smiled gently and ruffled her young cousin’s hair.

“Don’t worry about it, Pearly. I’m just helping Ms. von Karma out with something, is all,”

Pearl Fey pulled away anxiously and grappled with the pale blue magatama around her neck. And then she turned to Franziska and broke her previous silent streak.

“You better be nice to Mystic Maya!” she huffed and then rolled up her sleeve in some vaguely threatening manner, “Or else! She doesn’t have the help you...”

“Right, of course,” a little irritated at being bossed around by a girl half her age, the prosecutor agreed. And she was long beyond attempting to hurt Maya Fey! It was just that one case... She wouldn’t have gone through the trouble of trying to save her from the inner temple if she hated her, correct?

Retreating in on herself slightly, the eldest medium looked unsurely between her guest and cousin, “Ah... Pearly, thank you, but why we don’t back off a little bit, yeah? I, uh-” she puffed out her cheeks before whispering something to her cousin actually discreetly.

Pearl Fey scowled.

“I apologise, Ms. von Karma,” evenly, the little girl stated.

She might as well try and make things more amicable with this child, correct? She was going to be seeing a lot of her, if this loop had anything to say about it, so she might as well try and learn what Pearl Fey appreciated. She would have liked it if someone had shown her this kind of consideration at her age, anyway. Not that the young medium didn’t have someone to care for her, and not that Franziska had needed these niceties anyway, but regardless, she would try for Maya Fey if no one else.

“That is alright, Pearl Fey. I understand your concern,” she nodded.

This meal ended in more friendly chatter. Nothing too enticing. Though, perhaps, quite like her brother, Franziska’s lack of skills in small talk were a little apparent here. It didn’t really matter though, as Maya Fey picked up her slack for her. The prosecutor appreciated it.

---

The mountains surrounding Kurain Village were quite beautiful. Franziska noticed this almost immediately once she began her trek with the head medium. Plants were in full bloom under the summer’s heat and a warm breeze drifted in the air. Like the natural side of paradise, out there and untouched by human influence. She didn’t know much about this particular field either, but it seemed oddly romantic to her. 

Though then again, Maya Fey didn’t comment on the matter, and she had said this was just to relax, so perhaps not.

---

The Kurain ‘Library’ was just as the spirit medium had said. Not much of a library, but very ancient-looking. It was a single bookshelf in a well-preserved room, full of dusty, hard-backed texts. Some were labelled in languages Franziska couldn’t quite decipher, but those ones had post-it notes stuck to them with hints as to what they were about.

“We might as well get started here, then. Uhm, grab any of them you’d like. I’ve honestly not read like, half of them, so...” Maya Fey shrugged.

“Any? Don’t you have anything more specific?” she questioned.

“Well, they’re all on old rituals and magic and stuff, so they must be at least a little relevant... Sorry, but I really don’t know much more than that... I could maybe try and call my sister to ask? She doesn’t come as much anymore, though...” the medium fidgeted, “After State vs Iris, she stopped coming to help Nick ‘cause he can handle himself now. Means I don’t see her much...”

Franziska took a book from the middle of the set and brushed it off. She took a seat on a blanketed cushion in one corner. Maya Fey followed suit.

“I understand. Siblings can be... tricky,” she nodded in response.

“Huh? You mean with Edgeworth?” confused, the other woman eyes her suspiciously.

“No... I- I haven’t seen her in years – she packed up and left before I was old enough to get to know her – but I have a sister too. I’ve seen her a few times since. But she doesn’t visit much,”

Maybe it was a little different. Her older sister was more of a blank face and idea than an actual relative. The prosecutor had never met her niece or brother-in-law. Her Papa had. But who was deny Manfred von Karma that right? He- A von Karma was perfect in every way.

“Huh, the more you know. I thought you were the last Von Karma,” the spirit medium hummed.

“I am,” Franziska laughed harshly, “She’s married. Got away from us as quickly as possible. She didn’t even come to Papa’s funeral. Has a daughter of her own now, too,”

“Sheesh... She sounds kinda jerkish, to be honest. I mean, abandoning you and Edgeworth like that? Not exactly the coolest... Sis – my sis – she's dead and she still at least tries to visit!”

The consolation earnt the other woman a sort of odd, small smile from Franziska. 

“Probably. Though, I doubt any of us are exactly ‘cool’, Maya Fey,” stiffly, she commented.

“Eh, agree to disagree on that one, Franzy!” the medium winked. Winked!

She coughed slightly and stuck her head in the book. Hyperbolically. “Anyway, I do believe we have research to be doing,”

Maya Fey twisted her face into a grin and shrugged. There may have been a light dusting of pink to her cheeks, but that could have just been the early afternoon sunlight. Franziska averted her eyes and tried to focus on the words in front of her. Problem was, they didn’t really make much sense.

The book talked about spirits and that kind of occult one would expect from a book in Kurain Village, but then also about the different plains spirits could exist on, other psychic powers Fey woman had had over the years and something about disrupting the natural order with these powers. It was hard to tell if it was actual documentation or simply tales from Maya Fey’s family. Not particularly helping the matter was the small issue of a lot of the language being quite archaic. Perhaps she would understand it in her native German, but a translated text in English was a little tougher.

Carefully, as to not alert the spirit medium if possible, she swapped the book out for another. The inside cover immediately stood out to her due to how thoroughly vandalised it had been by various crayon drawings. Further examinations showed that there were a lot more of these on other pages. Most curiously though, they also seemed to be done by different hands. There would be patches of similar ones and then it flipped completely. Some good, some bad, some excellent, they were never the same. She frowned.

“Maya Fey,” Franziska announced, “What is this book?”

“Huh?” the head medium shook her head, dazed before leaning over.

She flipped through a couple of pages, smiling fondly, but wistfully and then shut it gently in the prosecutor’s hands.

“I don’t think you’ll find anything in that one, Franzy,” she shrugged non-committedly.

“Whyever not?” puzzled, Franziska pressed further.

“That’s just like, the Kurain doodle book, I guess. We’ve all done some parts in it. I think the latest ones are from me... and sis. Honestly, I probably need to just give it to Pearly one of these days,” Maya Fey pulled a face, “Might help with her art skills a bit,”

Observantly, she scanned the medium’s visage. It was strained, a little terser than it had been just a few minutes ago.

“Are you okay, Maya Fey?” 

“Huh? Yeah, why?” they traded glances and Franziska was reminded quite strongly of how this woman had held up so strong in order to keep her little cousin from worrying as much in that temple case. Maya Fey was always there for everyone, but who was there to help Maya Fey?

“Well, I...” she fiddled with the fabric on her shoulder once again, “You’ve been helping me a lot today, listening to my problems and whatnot, so I suppose I’m offering the same. I am still in touch with Adrian Andrews, you know, for this very reason, so, I believe I could extend a similar offer to you...”

The medium’s eyes sparkled.

“Does this mean we can share numbers? Does it! Aw, man, Nick is going to flip when he finds out I can just call you over to whip him if I’m mad,” she giggled.

The prosecutor smiled thinly. This time loop would prove detrimental to actually keeping Maya Fey's number, but she had a theory to at least test...

“That is agreeable. Although, could you write your number on my arm please, Maya Fey?”

“Uh, sure? Like they always used to do?” quizzically, a look was shot at her.

“Yes... I... don’t have my phone on me currently and would like to remember it later,” she lied.

“Lemme just...” the Manor owner drew a marker and phone from a pocket somewhere in her jacket and shuffled over to Franziska. A cool black surface glided over her lower right arm until neat lettering was plastered over it, looking much more attractive than any scar she may bear. “There!” Maya nodded proudly.

“Thank you...”

As previously stated, Franziska had a theory to test with this time loop. It stemmed back to the second night of the loop where she, in what was unfortunately likely typical fashion, stayed up until the stroke of midnight herself just to see what happened as the day reset. Something rather...curious had occurred, however...

---

The small clock her phone displayed was blinking to be almost midnight, eleven fifty-seven, to be exact. Regrettably, the missing sleep was catching up to her a bit. Not that she’d never tried to, or even accidentally, stayed up to this hour before, but Franziska tried not to make a habit out of it. This time it had more of a purpose than just her work. She would say her work was worth it, but rather hypocritically Miles Edgeworth had a tendency to scold her on that.

Her musings almost distracted the prosecutor from the change in time, but she was Franziska von Karma; she wouldn’t fail to achieve her goal! A Von Karma was perfect in every way.

She watched as the numbers flicked to midnight, but then woke up exactly as she had the past two mornings. Water ran softly in the background and the birds chirped. The time and date on her phone read identical to what they had even yesterday and the day before that, too. 

After her experience with this before, that was no longer the novel part. No, that came from how Franziska could feel her weariness from staying up in a past loop. Even though... Hadn’t that all been erased? Surely, she should have actually gotten the decent night’s sleep she’d had on the original night before the morning of June 25th!

---

Was it, then, that any physical conditions her body received stuck? That was what she aimed to figure out with this little scheme of hers. And, hey, if it worked... She got Maya Fey’s number out of it. Something about that inordinately pleased Franziska, despite the horror stories she’d heard from her little brother about him being spammed with memes about that samurai show they both watched. She reconciled it with the belief that there was no way Maya Fey would do that to her. Just like how she wouldn’t whip the medium like she would that foolish fool Phoenix Wright.

Maya Fey didn’t comment on the situation any further. She just quietly went back to her research. At least her expression had eased up a little. The room didn’t feel any lighter, though. 

She exchanged the drawing book for a different, hopefully more textually based, book. It mostly said the same kind of things as the first, but she wasn’t going to get anywhere by ignoring it. 

Except apparently, she wasn’t going to get anywhere by reading it, either! It just relayed the same belatedly esoteric and confusing information about basic medium culture and rituals, none of which were relevant to Franziska’s situation of being stuck in some kind of twisted game of a temporal anomaly! What use were tips for channelling a long-gone spirit for an outsider, a guest to this mystical village!?

Brashly, she claimed a new book, one of the ones with a post-it note on the spine.

Only, as likely expected, the majority of it was defiantly not in a language interpretable to the prosecutor. Damn this foolish text! Only a few sparse footnotes and a couple of loose pieces of lined paper were left to be understood, and they didn’t seem to be all that relevant. The footnotes were mainly clarifying parts of the text she couldn’t even begin to follow to begin with, and as for the other notes... Well, at one point, she found a shopping list. Useless!

Distantly, this reminded her of a young, very young, likely only two if her memory served, version of herself struggling to read her papa’s heavy legal tomes. Miles Edgeworth had been unimpressed by the foolish attempt two-year-old Franziska had made. At least Maya Fey had the respect to not bother her.

Though... Was that foolish medium still on the same text!? What could she possibly be so invested in that it kept her going at it for the entire duration of the time the prosecutor had skimmed three books!? And it was likely just as foolishly incompetent as the rest of this supposed ‘library’ as well! She harrumphed loudly and tried to calm herself by scanning a new text. Foolish idea.

This was actually just a literature book about supposed hauntings. It claimed to be based on real events... But, honestly, Franziska wasn’t buying it even for a single second. What kind of a moron would run towards the signs of supernatural and just stand there foolishly!? Not a Von Karma, that was for certain! A Von Karma was perfect in every way!

“Uh, you alright over there, Franzy?” the medium questioned lightly.

“No foolish nicknames!” she stressed.

“Right, sorry. Are you okay though, Franziska?”

“Perhaps I would be if your foolish texts made even a lick of sense!” she hissed, predatorily.

“Uhm, did you try reading one of the foreign ones? Even I don’t get those ones, but I can try if it really...” she faltered, “Only if you want!”

“What’s the point?” she laughed, a savage and cynical thing, “You forget, Maya Fey, that I do not and have never had full context or any degree of true understanding of the true breadth of your culture,”

She slammed her current text shut and set it neatly aside on the shelf. Perfectly aligned and straightened, as it should be. Some dust danced about under the force of her thrust, labouring to stay afloat in the cruelness of the air.

“Well, I mean, no... But you did choose to come here...” reasoned the medium jokingly.

And that pushed Franziska over the edge. She snapped. She didn’t mean to, but she did.

“No, I didn't!” she screeched, almost inhumanly, “I didn’t ask for any of this, Maya Fey! My foolish, foolish, little brother signed me up for all of this! It’s all his fault!”

Tears were threatening to spill now. Just like that time at the airport... And she’d done such a good job of not breaking down like that since... Even under the pressure of saving Maya Fey’s life...

“Hey, c’mon, Franziska, I don’t think he meant for you to get stuck in a time loop... That’s a little bit extreme,” backing off like a cornered animal, spoke Maya Fey.

“Then who did? You!? I don’t believe the universe just pulled some stupid joke on me! I- I am a Von Karma! Perfect! You- Someone- I didn’t do anything!” she clenched her fists. If her whip had been on her person like it usually was, there likely would have been some property damage by now.

“Franziska-”

“No!” she yelled as her genius closing line before exiting the premises, texts and research long forgotten.

...Hardly her proudest moment...

---

Pearl Fey was reading quietly in the little bus shelter as she walked past. Franziska didn’t know why the little girl thought that was the best place, but it was hardly her business. 

The young medium’s expression grew dark when she saw the prosecutor cross in front of her. Presumably, she figured out something had gone wrong, then. 

“Where’s Mystic Maya?” stormily, Pearl Fey asked.

“Still in there,” Franziska scowled.

“Why aren’t you there?” the girl pressed with surprising resolve.

“I don’t think that’s involving you,” she huffed with some false sense of bravado. 

She’d rather be anywhere than here right now. Best of all would be home... But that wasn’t happening. Truth be told, she hadn’t been back to Von Karma Manor since her papa’s execution.

“Did you hurt her?” bit back Pearl Fey.

Franziska went to deny it, but that would be a bit of a lie. She... She couldn’t lie about this, though. Maya Fey would not approve.

“That is none of your concern!” she growled.

The young girl slid off of the seat and hurried over to the Kurain ‘Library’. The prosecutor followed suit in a stalk-like walk in the other direction, towards the guest room. It was only mid-afternoon, but she was done with her little search for today.

---

The next morning, Franziska ignored the sound of running water. Instead, she immediately made to roll up her sleeve.

There, as suspected, was a neat scrawl of numbers finished with a flourish of a little heart at the end. Obviously from Maya Fey. So... it had stuck then... That was useful to know for future reference. Because she definitely wasn’t solving this temporal issue today. Not after yesterday's disaster... Perhaps the worst part was that she had now lost her only chance to apologise to the woman who had so cheerfully proclaimed herself the prosecutor’s friend.

Maya Fey, Pearl Fey, Miles Edgeworth, none of them remembered what they had gone through with her, for better or worse. Miles Edgeworth... he could help her, no? He had had issues with that foolish Phoenix Wright that he had mostly sorted out, yes? Kurain held little more in way of aid. She was almost sorry for her little brother for seemingly immediately doing the one thing he’d really told her not to do, but this was necessary. Maya Fey, she couldn’t face the poor woman yet. Not yet. She owed too much to her at this point. 

Yet, still, Franziska drew out her phone, ignored the assumptions she’d previously held about the less than adequate signal, and sent a simple message to the number on her arm. This was not a matter on which she could just sit around on.

[Maya Fey - June 25th 06:49]

Hello, Maya Fey, this is Franziska. I have some urgent business to attend to in the city today, so I shall be gone. 
Please, do not attempt to contact me unless really necessary.
I am fine.

There was little time left now, was there? Trains to and from Kurain ran on the hour, so she had no time to waste here! Hastily, the prosecutor threw on her work clothes and made for the exit. Maya Fey would certainly not see her text until it was too late to stop her, and Pearl Fey would surely be glad if she left, anyway. There was nothing to stop her from making this train! A Von Karma was never late! A Von Karma was perfect in every way!

She missed the train.

She had been a little too cautious in her leave from the village despite all. She sighed and pulled out her mobile device again. This couldn’t do... She... She wouldn’t just have failed. There was another solution! There had to be! Just like in court. Her papa would find one...

[Maya Fey – June 25th 07:05]

uhhhhh, sure? Wat time u getting back tho?
like so I can make dinner plans

I do not know. Sorry.

If this really was her only option now... Whatever means necessary, yes? She may not be quite as ruthless anymore, but she could not stay in Kurain Village today. She just couldn’t! It wouldn’t be fair to Maya Fey. And perhaps, not to Franziska either. She wanted her chance to return the favour to the medium.

[Richard Gumshoe – June 25th 07:06]

Scruffy, you are in the area, correct? I need you to drive me down to my little brother’s office.

She was not waiting a full hour...

[Richard Gumshoe – June 25th 07:07]

Ms von karma!!!!! What’s going on? 
Is there an investigation ma’am?

No, Scruffy, I just require a lift.

Your at Kurain right?
*You’re

Yes. I implore you to hurry.

Yes ma’am!!!!

At least he was faithful to his word... The detective in his scruffy green coat, the one she’d put time and expenses in the form of postage costs in to in order to return to him, rolled up in a battered, old car only ten minutes later. If she had to recall correctly, he had been put up to brief some officers at a new police station they were putting up after a certain incident in this village in 2017. Probably for the best. Crimes happening in out the way areas were becoming all too common in her opinion...

“Ms von Karma, get in!” he rolled down his window and called.

“Thank you, Scruffy,” haughtily, she admitted to him, before elegantly climbing into the backseat.

Thankfully, they were on the road in no time.

“I can get us back in no time!” Gumshoe promised before slamming his foot on the accelerator.

Perhaps that was why they were moving quite so immediately. Franziska jolted in her seat.

“Come now, we don’t need a repeat of the last time you tried to break traffic laws, do we now, Scruffy?...” sternly, she looked him dead in the eye through the mirror.

The car’s pace dropped.

“No, ma’am...” he sighed.

---

Something one may describe as ‘a wave a of emotion’ hit Franziska when she saw her little brother looking at her, irritated as ever, Distantly, she supposed she was reminded of their conversation from a different version of June 25th. He certainly did not share her sentiment.

“Franziska... What are you doing here?” exasperatedly, Miles Edgeworth sighed.

Scruffy looked between them for a few moments before excusing himself.

“To make amends, Miles Edgeworth,” she narrowed her eyes at him.

Subconsciously, her eyes fell on that old suit of his hanging on the wall. The one with the lace trim like her papa, best described as ‘loud’. She had found herself vaguely wondering as of late when he stopped wearing it. Not too deeply though, because that would require admitting her memory was a little shabby on the small details. But a Von Karma was perfect in every way.

“In my office?” dryly, her little brother quipped.

She shrugged smugly, ”Well, I know you shan’t actually be busy until three o’clock... Though, I suppose you’re right... Let’s go somewhere a little more tasteful...” Franziska flicked her hand out and forced the two of them out of the Prosecutor’s Office.

Now they were on America’s busy streets. He’d been trying to get her attention the entire time, but she was not in the mood for his excuses particularly, so he could wait.

“I’m not in the mood for your excuses, Franziska,” Miles Edgeworth scowled.

“I don’t believe I’ve said anything of the sort, little brother. I would have thought my silence would have been the issue,” she sniffed, amused.

“Yes, yes, this little game of yours, it needs to end. I am a very busy-” she grabbed the cuff of his sleeve, “Argh!”

The younger prosecutor glared at him and pulled them both this time into a small, local cafe. She had never visited the establishment before, which was likely strange enough on its own, but it would serve its purpose. It was quiet, out the way, and they weren’t at risk of being followed or such here. A table was quickly procured through, admittedly, a joint effort, and then they were sat down.

“You wonder why I am here? It is as I said. I have... messed up, Miles Edgeworth, and I would like to know how to fix this,” she nodded curtly.

He raised an eyebrow, “So why have you come to me? Why not ask Ms Fey?”

“Because... I cannot,” crossly, Franziska folded her arms and stared at the table.

A waitress came over. As she was still staring shiftily down in an evasive manner, Miles Edgeworth ordered for the both of them, demanding two identical teas. That was fine. It was hard to be related to someone like her little brother and detest such a drink.

“Then, why can you not?” he furthered, the conversation evenly, tracking down the truth like they were in court.

“I messed up with her,” the younger prosecutor hung her head in morbid shame.

“As in... you... suggested something to her?” hesitantly, her little brother settled for.

“Sugge-” she bit her lip and slammed her fist down on the table, “Nothing like that! I... snapped at her, that is all. She was being a little uncooperative and I... I didn’t like it,”

“Once again, Franziska, why are you not talking to her about this?”

Maya Fey would accept her apology. But Maya Fey wouldn’t even know what it would be for. Wouldn't that spoil the point? Make it an unnecessary conversation? Franziska hated unnecessary actions being performed.

“Because she does not recall, the issue, little brother...” vexed and weary, the younger prosecutor admitted.

“Why is it an issue? It sounds like Ms Fey has already forgiven you,” he tapped his finger impatiently on his arm.

“Miles Edgeworth, a Von Karma is perfect, yes?” sharply, she began.

“Wh-”

 “Then what we say is the perfect truth, yes?” she waved her finger around in a vaguely smug manner before dropping it immediately down to the table. Old habits died hard, but... Traces of her father were not the real heart of this situation, right? She wanted to help Maya Fey, not his broken legacy.

“Franziska-”

“You will believe what I say, yes, fool?” haughtily, she commanded.

“If you insist...” her little brother sighed.

“Maya Fey does not have a clue what I have done because it only occurred on a different version of today. Yes, I can prove it, yes, this is what the internet calls a ‘time loop’, and, no, this shall not be a repeat of last time,” smoothly, she listed.

“What last time? A past... loop?”

The waitress brought over their drinks. Franziska sipped hers pensively.

“Yes. I tried calling you once, little brother. You didn’t believe a word of the strange nonsense I was spouting that is still, undeniably the truth. You were called away at just after three pm, sharp, for a business meeting I have no other way of knowing of. You promised to call me back,” a smirk twitched at her lips, “You owe me a phone call, Miles Edgeworth,”

“Right, yes... I’ll... make sure to write that one down...” amused, he exhaled, “So, if I am understanding you correctly, you are experiencing a temporal dilemma, and in one of these past ‘loops’, as you call-”

“As Maya Fey calls them,” she corrected.

“As Ms Fey calls them, you said something you regret, and now have no idea to handle the situation?”

“Basically...” she mumbled.

“Then why have you come to me for answers?” Miles Edgeworth asked.

Franziska snorted. It was a rather undignified thing, but she was perhaps a little unhinged right now, so what did it really matter? No one would remember it regardless.

“You said that last time too,” breezily, she explained.

“I believe it’s also the third time I’ve said something to that effect this conversation...”

“Just answer my question, Miles Edgeworth. How do I proceed?” she bulldozed onwards.

Her little brother took a long, deep sip from his tea, looking thoughtfully past her the whole time. Not necessarily a bad kind of thoughtful, either. He was pondering her query. Good. 

“I don’t believe I am in any position to answer that, Franziska,” he sighed, “And before you throw hands, or more accurately whip, at me, just hear me out,”

Silently, the younger prosecutor balled her fists under the table, but complied nonetheless.

“No one can tell you quite how to solve a personal issue like this, because it is, well, personal. Your personal affairs are a matter that you must solve. Ms Fey may not remember whatever it is that happened, but if she did, I greatly suspect she would wish that Franziska solves this problem, not Miles Edgeworth or... Manfred von Karma. I’m happy to help in any way you need, but I cannot just give you a step-by-step guide... big sister,”

“Hmph. A rather silly guide that would be. Even the ever-foolish Phoenix Wright could likely do better,” she proposed lightly.

“Did you listen to a word I just said?” fondly, he questioned.

“Yes!” she defended herself huffily, “I contend that your point is... not without merit. Thank you, Miles Edgeworth,”

“It was my pleasure. Just...” he hesitated, “Do not beat yourself up over this. Whether fortunately or unfortunately, Ms Fey does not remember this, anyhow. Sometimes, the best idea can just be to let go,”

They were both probably looking at her shoulder. Rather hypocritical of Miles Edgeworth, really, after he had spent so long holding onto the memory of his father, though perhaps she was just being too harsh. Gregory Edgeworth had been a good man. Her father, not so much. A Von Karma was perfect in every way. Keyword there, being was. 

But Maya Fey could relate too, could she not...? 

There... There was her lifeline. Maya Fey understood the pressure of a legacy. Maya Fey was like her.

Franziska sat up a little straighter, feeling lighter in spirit, looked over at her foolish little brother, and snickered.

“Did you read a book on sounding philosophical or the likes?” she snarked.

“Nghhh....”

---

The grave was cold when she found it. Damp, too. The rain the city must have been experiencing for every single one of the times she’d seen this day had loosened the soil around it. The words etched on it were still as clear as day. And she probably wouldn’t have forgotten them even if they weren’t.

Manfred von Karma
1951- 2017

There were no elaborate words to fancy his name. He died for his transgressions and people had buried all that he had accomplished with him, The Von Karma name was hidden deep in the earth below here. She was a Von Karma. Did she deserve to be down there too? They said she was not like her Papa. That was true, thankfully. But Franziska von Karma was no more a saint than she was a genius. 

Miles Edgeworth begged to differ. And... so did Maya Fey. The medium had called them friends despite all this. Now it was up to Franziska to dig her way out of this grave then, and prove herself to her friend! ...Even if said friend didn’t have the context as to why.

She sat by the cool stone as a light drizzle continued to cry down. 

A Von Karma could be perfect in idea, yes, but a Von Karma was also what the true heir to the name let it be. 

---

As soon as Franziska stepped off of that train that had taken her back, she was rushing over to Fey Manor with a vigour almost unrecognizable from her previous distaste for staying at the place. She’d wasted enough time already in that loop. Some may say it hadn’t been a waste, but the lack of getting anything actually concrete done for her situation both with time and Maya Fey was weighing on her, to put it in simple terms.

The very woman she’d been returning to look for was actually stood out the front of the village, looking confused. A stroke of luck? That was new. Uncharacteristically shyly, Franziska approached. 

“Franzy! You're back!” the medium gasped before another word from either the prosecutor, or one Pearl Fey who had seemingly coincidentally tried to speak to Maya Fey at the same time as Franziska, could be gotten in edgeways.

“Maya Fey, I need to-”

“Where have you been!? Mystic Maya has been worrying all day!” the youngest scolded.

Both mediums turned to face each other. Maya Fey’s glare was a little more pleading than the relentlessly cross one on Pearl Fey’s visage. Franziska used the time to check her phone. 

Ah. This would be why the little girl was so worried. The prosecutor had received countless messages from Maya Fey throughout the day that she had unceremoniously ignored due to being preoccupied talking to her little brother. That and her phone had been on silent as always. Wordlessly, Franziska skimmed through the messages whilst the cousins continued to argue in the background.

They mainly seemed to be confused questions at Franziska’s disappearance, though one particularly touching one had asked about the prosecutor herself. Sternly, she shook herself out of this sentimental feeling and reminded herself to be goal-orientated here. This just proved that she needed to be kinder, and more apologetic to Maya Fey even more than ever!

“Pearly...!” definitively, the head medium hissed. It must have even some kind of final act, because Pearl Fey wandered off shortly thereafter. 

Sighing loudly, she plonked herself down one of the steps to the manor and prompted Franziska to do the same with a little patting of the space. The prosecutor complied without complaint. 

“I’m sorry about that, Fran... She’s been a little on edge all day. I don’t really know why... She looked happy earlier when I told her you’d left!” frustrated, Maya Fey explained.

“It is fine. It's... relevant to my point here, anyway,” Franziska admitted

“Huh? What’s up?”

“Maya Fey, I...” the prosecutor hesitated, “I want to apologise to you,”

Startled, the head medium jumped and gaped at her, like this was something way off from what she’d been expecting. Was that a good thing or a bad thing? Did her friend assume she wasn’t capable of apologies?

“What for? You didn’t upset Pearly or something, did you?” sceptically, Maya Fey asked.

“No!” vehemently, Franziska denied, “I said this was for you. I have treated you wrong in the past in many ways, Maya Fey, and I wish for your forgiveness. I am aware that my actions have been wrong,” she bowed her head in shame and elucidated.

“Sorry if I’m missing something here, Franzy, but once again, what for?” the medium cocked her head to the side, curiously. 

What for? Wasn’t it obvious? Even if Maya Fey did not recall yesterday’s incident, that was merely the final nail in the proverbial coffin! What about all the other times in the past!? 

“Have you simply forgotten? I have been hostile to you since we met and yet you are still here hosting me! I attempted to prosecute you for murder on our first meeting!” she reasoned, astonished.

“Exactly, attempted!” Maya Fey winked, “Besides! Edgeworth did that too. It wasn’t the first time I’ve been prosecuted for murder, and I sincerely doubt it’ll be the last,” she laughed, a tad bitterly.

“Perhaps you should try to stop getting into trouble quite as much, then,” dryly, Franziska commented.

“Probably... But you get my point right, Fran? I don’t hold a grudge or anything. You were just doing your job,” shrugged the spirit medium.

It was not as simple as that. This was the start of a pattern, a chain of events.

“Then what about the rest of that year? I was not kind to you or Phoenix Wright, and I nearly got you killed in the Engarde case! As much as I loathe to admit it... Had Miles Edgeworth not been there, things would have gone very different...” sourly, she reminisced. 

“You should know better than to bring up the Engarde case, Ms Prosecutor!” taunted Maya Fey, seeming more and more like that fool Phoenix Wright in her demeanour by the second, “It was you who brought in the decisive evidence that brought about the ‘miracle’. You literally saved my life!”

She... Had she? Well, it was a fact that the evidence she’d brought had brought about the end of the trial, it had always seemed more of a loss to Miles Edgeworth than anything else. He'd stolen the win she could have rightfully gotten and had then lectured her afterwards! Yes, he’d been right. But she still thought of that time rather harshly.

“And then you did it again up at Hazakura Temple! Well, okay...” Maya made a face, “I wasn’t actually in the Inner Temple, but it’s the thought that counts, right?”

Vaguely, she remembered the dread she’d felt pile up at the thought of just leaving ‘Iris’ or Sister Bikini to work at the trick locks alone. She’d had no choice! It was just basic decency, right?

“I-”

“Nuh-uh! You wouldn’t slave away all night for some random stranger! Franzy, I know you did it for me... It’s cool – I think it was pretty sweet. I forgave you ages ago!” protested Maya.

“Then what about yesterday!? I had no right to so cruelly insult someone who shows me mercy like you do, Maya!”

Wait a second... Why was she arguing this so forcefully? Didn’t she want Maya to not be upset with her? Was... Something else was going on now!?

“Uh... Franzy, we didn’t argue yesterday,” the medium chuckled and gave her a funny look.

“Time loop,” Franziska sighed, “I said some things I regretted. It is why I left today,”

“Oh, right. Wait, time loop!? Awesome!” Maya covered herself with a short cough, “I probably forgave you then too, Franzy. I mean, if you know what you did wrong, then where’s the problem?”

Franziska blinked. The problem... The problem had long since been resolved. Since that point at the graveyard, belatedly, she realised.

“I expected myself to be perfect towards you, Maya. As such, I thought I’d have to give a perfect apology. But... this is my apology, isn’t it...?” quietly, she confessed.

The medium seemed deep in thought, “My sis used to tell me stuff like that. When she left for law school, she was constantly reminding me to ignore my aunt about all this pressure she kept piling on, and now that... I’m the master, I kinda see where she’s coming from. I’m running the place here, so I can do whatever I like!”

“I can’t imagine your aunt being a particularly good person to listen to in the first place,” gravely, the prosecutor scowled at the thought of Morgan Fey.

“Neither can I your father,” Maya shrugged, “Uh, no offence. But...” she shuffled closer to Franziska and spread her arm over the prosecutor’s shoulders, “Doesn’t sound like he taught you much of anything good,”

Franziska inhaled shallowly.

“He taught me how to prosecute,” she offered.

Maya straightened up and glared.

“But it was Miles Edgeworth who taught me what it meant truly, yes... In any case, I... agree with you. Which is why I am here to apologise as Franziska, not as Manfred von Karma’ daughter. I assure you, this is not out of obligation,”

Giggling lightly, Maya grinned, “You don’t have to be so formal about it, silly! And, just in case it wasn’t clear, I do forgive you. I don’t think you’re a bad person, Franzy,”

Franziska von Karma was not a bad person. Franziska von Karma did not carry the sins of her father.

“Thank you,”

“Yeah... No worries... Though, uhm..” now it was Maya hesitating as she searched for something in Franziska’s face, “I have something to say myself, really...”

There was no way the medium had anything to say along the same vein as Franziska’s apology. Not to undermine it, but Maya Fey could not possibly have done something to warrant true guilt. She was a paragon; having gone through so much but always smiling for everybody else's, whether that be Phoenix Wright, Pearl Fey or even Franziska herself, sake. She’d better not be trying to confess.

“Then away with it, Maya. I’m sure it can’t be anything worse than what I’ve done,” the prosecutor nodded.

“Nah, uh, nothing I’ve done,” she contorted her face and avoided eye contact, “It’s just... I think you’re really cool and stuff, and Nick’s been teasing me for ages about this, and I don’t think it’s normal to find someone who’s trying to prosecute you for murder really pretty, and- Agh, well, what I’m trying to say is ask you if you’d wanna go on a date with me? Uhm. Sometime. You can choose where, if you want,” Maya rambled without a filter.

Stunned, Franziska took a second to process what she’d just heard. Maya Fey, the Maya Fey, head of the Kurain Channelling Technique, wanted to go out with her? Maya liked her like that? She’d... never noticed. And the medium made it sound like it’d been for a while!

What about her? Did she... Could she be with Maya? Well, Manfred von Karma was not her to tell her no, or that Maya Fey wasn’t good enough or, God forbid, too very definitely a woman, so it was up to her! Maya was kind and sweet and Franziska would be lying if she said she didn’t find her attractive. Maya could also hold a conversation and never judged Franziska nowadays for her eccentricities. She just liked Franziska as herself.

Then... What was there to lose? She liked Maya Fey! 

“I would-” then she remembered the exact situation she was in and Pearl Fey’s angry face she had seen many a time, “Maya Fey,” she started again, “One day, I shall certainly accept your proposal. Yes, I would enjoy going on a date with you. But I can’t accept right now,”

“Oh...” Maya looked crestfallen.

“No! It’s nothing like that! I believe I mentioned it before... But I can’t accept your offer right now as I am currently being looped in time,” she paused and a smile twitched at her lips at the mortified expression on the medium’s face, “I will gladly accept, however, when I have proven myself worthy and overcome this loop!” she declared.

“Franzy... You don’t have to...”

“I do. Maya Fey, the day I finish this, I will seek you out and then we can go out together and receive...” she looked Maya dead in the eye, “Burgers?”

Happily, the medium smirked, “Burgers,”

“I shall take you on the perfect date where we shall buy burgers! This is not over, Maya Fey...” she vowed.

Fortunately, the head medium definitely didn’t look upset any longer. She grinned sweetly at Franziska and even gave a little wink. Yes... The prosecutor would most certainly be lying if she said she didn’t find this woman attractive...

“It better not be, Franziska von Karma!” she laughed.

---

The next loop was rather uneventful, in all. She informed Maya of the happenings at the start of the day, and then tried investigating once more. Nothing was turned up that Franziska hadn’t already found out, but nothing went wrong either... So, she supposed she would have to call it a success by necessity.

Well, Pearl Fey still looked royally bothered by the prosecutor’s very presence, but she was one stubborn girl... Honestly, it felt like she was deliberately seeking Franziska out to give her these death stares, at times... Though, Franziska herself vividly remembered doing the same to some of her papa’s guests as an age similar to youngest Fey, so perhaps she hadn’t the right to judge.

---

And here she was. The fabled day seven... Waking up to the running water of Maya Fey training under that same waterfall again. By the end of the day, she would have lived a week in this loop. Strange, whilst at first she had felt like it had been dragging on, the last few days hardly even seemed to have happened... 

Today she wanted some quieter thinking time to get this nightmare over with, once and for all. Evidently, running around Kurain Village like a headless chicken with Maya was getting her nowhere. Although, Franziska probably could have told you that before the two times she’d already tried it.

Alas, she needed some peace and quiet today, and a certain place her spirit medium friend had already shown her in a different loop seemed to fit the bill perfectly. The prosecutor waited patiently in the Meditation Room for Maya to return, all the while ignoring Pearl Fey’s angry footsteps along the Winding Way. Was the girl usually this obnoxious early in the morning? Franziska couldn’t recall if she’d checked before. 

Eventually, as she knew the medium would, Maya came trudging through the hall, dripping from her ritual with the waterfall. She startled and flicked her hair backwards, so that it looked more traditionally like Maya Fey’s hair, once she noticed the prosecutor.

“Uh, hey, Franzy! You... need something?” she squeaked, suddenly ignoring the puddle of water forming on the floor from where she was standing in one spot.

“A small favour,” evasively, Franziska admitted.

“Oh, cool! Can do! I might just wanna-”

“Of course. Take all the time you need, Maya Fey. I just would like you to take me up to the mountains when you get the chance,” calmly, she requested.

Outside, Pearl Fey stopped pacing. Was she, perchance, eavesdropping? Perhaps getting ready to venture onto the mountains now herself? Hmph. The little girl could do as she liked, as long as she didn’t interrupt. Though, Franziska had a feeling Maya would object if she found out about the young medium’s unsolicited presence. 

“The one’s in the valley? Sure! I didn’t know you were interested,” the head medium chuckled.

“Let’s just say they caught my eye,” vaguely, Franziska shrugged.

“Heh, nice! If you just wait here, I’ll be with you as soon as I’m ready,” grinned Maya.

“If it’s easier, we can go later,” the prosecutor posed as a question.

Contemplatively, the medium’s right hand met her left wrist. She looked vaguely wistful, but there was no sign of dampening on her usually chipper nature. At last, a flicker of something Franziska couldn’t identify showed on her face before she answered.

“Nah, it’s fine. I don’t have anything better to do anyway,”

And so, Maya took Franziska up to the mountains that morning. The romantic air the prosecutor had originally sensed about the place seemed to have been exactly the medium’s intentions, as she took the chance whilst they were up there to confess to Franziska again. It had been a little different than the first time, with Maya gathering some flowers to gift along the way. She could maybe take some advice from this...?

 Unfortunately, though rather predictably, the prosecutor’s response was the same as it had been the first time. Not that Maya could have known she’d tried before. She hated having to see the medium’s disappointed face, but at least there was once again understanding when Franziska explained the situation.

She frowned at the memory. This case of time distortion needed to be solved now more than ever. And it was not just to do with the whole week she’d now spent serving it...

---

That night, Franziska dreamt. Perhaps that seemed unremarkable, but on every other iteration of this loop, her mind had been blank to her waking memory during sleep. Though, then again, this difference was likely due to the interference of the dead.

The prosecutor was in a room, the Channelling Chamber at Kurain if she remembered the claustrophobic, candle-lit atmosphere of it correctly. There was no blood on the floor. Much unlike how she’d seen it back when she first faced that fool Phoenix Wright, then. Franziska was facing the back of the room where the folding screen was situated. There was no bullet hole in this version of it. The room was calm, but she was left with the very distinct impression that she was being watched.

Behind her, a woman with long brown hair, tucked behind her ear neatly on the left side, dressed in dark-coloured suit-dress hybrid, of course, with an attorney’s badge on her lapel, stared softly. There was no malice in her glare. Strange, for this woman was Mia Fey.

Not someone Franziska was going to be forgetting any time soon, what with her business with Maya Fey, not even if the deceased woman looked rather different when not being channelled by an eight-year-old. Her face was recognisable, though. The general outline was definitely the same as the woman she’d seen serve Defence Counsel for Phoenix Wright in numerous of his trials. 

“Mia Fey,” the prosecutor greeted evenly.

“Franziska von Karma,” the former attorney’s grin was slightly lopsided, but unmistakably friendly, “I’m surprised you recognized me,”

“You are a rather hard woman to forget. I have seen you many times assisting that fool Phoenix Wright,” she paused, “...And Maya Fey still talks of you often enough to keep those particular memories relevant,”

Calmly, the spirit glided, well, no, it was really the of a walk as if Mia Fey was still alive, over to Franziska, so that they were face to face. Up close like this, the connection to Maya Fey was obvious. The hair and eye colours may have been different, but she could see the outline of this woman’s younger sister in her face. That seemed to be more of a testament to how close she was becoming to Maya Fey than anything else, though.

“Let’s not dally, shall we? I’m guessing you know why I’m here,” the former attorney crossed her arms.

“Indeed,” solemnly, Franziska nodded.

There could only be one explanation, after all.

“I’ll be the first to say I never exactly envisioned myself solving a problem quite like this one, and, no offence, but especially not for you,” the Fey woman sighed and flicked at the piece of hair slicked back over the corner of her forehead.

“Perhaps not, Mia Fey. But it is happening now, no? I’d appreciate it if you’d just say what you have to say,” she narrowed her eyes and politely demanded.

“How do you know that isn’t what I have to say?” slyly, the spirit laughed.

“Because visiting someone’s dreams to state something so inane and pointless is not something I expect of the woman who trained Phoenix Wright. He may be a fool, but he usually ends up with the right idea, by some miracle. No matter all his useless conjecture, he always arrives at some case-breaking point. I expect the same of you,” respectfully, the prosecutor laid out her reasoning.

The former attorney’s eyes were twinkling. Just like Phoenix Wright’s did in the courtroom at a point of contention. A contradiction in his favour.  And, she realised, just like she’d seen Miles Edgeworth’s do when he’d acted as the Defence Attorney against her when Phoenix Wright had foolishly fallen off of a bridge.

“Very astute of you, Ms. von Karma. I have some advice for you, yes,” the woman nodded and brushed the muffler draped over her shoulder to the side, “Whether that turns out to be case breaking, well, that’s up to you,”

“Away with it, then. Contrary to how it may seem, I still don’t have all the time in the world,” she pressed.

“First of all, are you aware that as a spirit, I have born witness to a lot of your... shall we say escapades, within this loop? It’s hard to warp the spirit world like you can the tangible one,” Mia Fey started.

“I was assuming as much by your very presence,” airily, Franziska remarked and copied the former attorney’s gesture of crossing her arms.

An amused smile was sent her way. Hopefully, that was a good thing.

“Then, I’d suggest as a solution to your problem to stop looking at it from the angle of what you have to do to stop it, and start from the angle of what’s causing it. You’ve boxed yourself in looking at it from only this angle,”

“So... You are suggesting that ending this would be a process of trial and error. A tedious way of going about it, to say the least,” slowly, the prosecutor pieced together.

“Exactly. Don’t think about what might change it - treat change as an inevitability and examine what already has changed. Do what you do best, Franziska von Karma, and treat this as a puzzle for which logic must solve,”

In other words, stop pondering what she could do to force herself through this situation, and stop blazing through for a moment to examine what happens in the absence of her attempts to save herself. That was an extremely reasonable deduction, actually. Something beyond just ‘Fate’ had to be causing this, after all. This was to be the method of sleuthing out exactly what.

Franziska made to thank the spirit, but she had vanished. Sometime admit her thought process, Mia Fey had left, to return back to the realm of the dead. The room had changed around her too. The folding screen, and any other treasures currently spending some time at a certain exhibition were now gone, and the candles were out.

The prosecutor, as if in a trance, snapped up on heel and took several long strides towards the large set of doors at the end of the Channelling Chamber. They opened with a simple push; no key required. Silently, Franziska took her exit through them.

---

She started to make a mental note of what was going on at any given time after that bizarre dream. And, as much as possible, she tried to keep her routine the same. She couldn’t afford to be a second variable that may mess up the results. In any case, this mould she’d decided to stick to went as follows:

Franziska would wake up and get ready, not interacting with anyone. Then, she’d dine with the Feys for breakfast. After they had eaten, she would pull Maya aside and explain the situation. For the rest of the day, she would keep to herself as much as possible and examine various parts of Fey Manor in a set order. At the end of the day, she would sit down in her room and compare her findings to that of the previous days.

This process had been repeated three times by now, and Franziska was currently completing the final step for this third attempt by reviewing the data. But this time? The prosecutor smirked gleefully. She might just have found the culprit behind all her troubles. She understood now that foolishly foolhardy look of joy upon the face of that fool Phoenix Wright when he managed to catch the true criminal in court. Against all odds, she likely looked very similar in that moment.

To be more specific, Franziska was looking at the hour of three until four pm. Honestly, she was rather dismayed she hadn’t noticed the discrepancies rampant in that hour herself already! For it appeared the prosecutor wasn’t the only one running analysis on Fey Manor at that time each day. Not indeed...

---

Quietly, Franziska was sitting at that little bus shelter again. It wasn’t the most interesting spot, sure, but it was easy to catch people on their way to doing things. Not in a too intrusive manner, either. It was easy enough to make pleasant conversation with someone, asking what they were doing. Be it though, that it was usually Maya such an action was with...

Pearl Fey was passing by now with a ball tucked underneath her arm. She didn’t so much as look Franziska’s way. The prosecutor put on her best friendly face before calling out the young medium.

“Hello, Pearl Fey, are you... up to much?” she struggled.

The little girl glared. And then she ran off. Hm, not that much better than what was expected...

---

That had been her first interaction in her search around that time. Still a little different to when she’d called Miles Edgeworth on the third loop, or ran past the girl on the fourth, but those had most definitely had Franziska acting as a variable, so could they really be counted? Originally, the prosecutor had decided not to. But then...

---

Pearl Fey was at the bus shelter when Franziska arrived there, dead on three. Okay...? Perhaps she hadn’t been quite as consistent as she’d thought? She was still being glared at furiously, though.

“Ah, Pearl Fey. I had just been about to sit here myself,” stiffly, she introduced.

“Well, I’m here now,” the young medium rolled up her sleeve and balled her fist.

Interesting reaction...

“Wouldn't you rather be playing than sitting here? Perhaps with that ball your cousin says you like?” Franziska bargained.

“I’m fine,” with a steely stare, the little girl enunciated. 

“Surely Maya Fey would rather you be playing than wasting away over here...” raising a hand, the prosecutor proposed nonchalantly.

“Oh!” Pearl Fey’s hand went over her mouth, “She... Ngh... She would...”

The little girl padded sharply away. Franziska felt a little bad for manipulating her like that, but that was overshadowed by the complete absence of the youngest medium’s presence in the next hour.

---

That had really set Franziska up to know what to look for the next loop. And look she did... Not that it was particularly hard... Though, then again, this was the plot of a nine-year-old. No matter how much of prodigy Pearl Fey was a spirit channelling, she wasn’t much good at complicated plots. Just as much as nine-year-old Franziska had been decidedly not a prodigy in solving more, ah, emotional problems.

---

Pearl Fey was back again. On the hour of three pm again. But in a different place once again! This time, she was happily sitting on the steps to Fey Manor, doodling in a notebook Franziska didn’t recognize. And here she thought the youngest medium didn’t care for arts and crafts.

This time, she didn’t notice the prosecutor and let her pass to the bus shelter with no resistance. Was she simply expecting nothing, or did she not care?

“Hello, Pearl Fey. Are... you drawing something?” the prosecutor asked, as gentle as she could be.

The little girl’s head jerked up.

“Ms. von Karma,” she huffed, evenly, but still whilst avoiding the question completely.

“Maya told me something the other day...” a little troubled on how to proceed, Franziska started, “She said she’d like it if you could a chance to draw a family book like everyone else. I’m sure she’d be pleased,”

Pearl Fey’s eyes flashed dangerously.

“Was that when you went to the library to research?”

...What did she just say?

---

That had been the true final nail in the coffin. Unless Pearl Fey could remember the events of past loops, there was no way she could have known Maya had taken the prosecutor down to the Kurain ‘Library’. That could mean only one of two things and, however ridiculous it seemed, Franziska was inclined to believe the second.

Either Pearl Fey was trapped in this time loop with her, or... Pearl Fey was the one causing the loop to begin with. And as she said, Franziska suspected the latter. Mia Fey would not have directed her on this path if the obvious point of contention was a red herring.

The one behind all her troubles that had caused her to spend ten days living through June 25th had been the cousin of the one she’d, in the end, decided to work against it for, all along! ...Well, she still blamed that foolish Miles Edgeworth to some degree... But Franziska supposed she could at least admit he wasn't literally causing the curse or spell or whatever strange medium power it was to continue...

This left the prosecutor with just one thing to go at tomorrow- reconciling with one very emotionally damaged nine-year-old with a very grave grudge against her.

---

There was a quiet knock, more of a gentle tap really, on the door to Fey Manor’s guest room. Franziska frowned. She’d been hoping for a peaceful evening... This was her first day here, so she perhaps didn’t actually know what to expect, but this seemed a little ridiculous! Who thought bothering her at a time like this would be a good idea!?

Stormily, she threw open her door only to see a small girl standing there. Pearl Fey, obviously. Didn’t she have a bedtime or something?

“Can I help you?” she stared at the young medium and asked.

“Ms. von Karma,” the girl said with a frown.

Franziska raised an eyebrow, “That is my name,”

“What are your intentions with Mystic Maya?” Pearl Fey huffed.

Flustered, the prosecutor took a step back. What kind of a question was that!? She’d scarcely been here for a day and already she was being asked inappropriate, intrusive questions! Maya Fey was the host of the site of her mandatory vacation, and that was all. The head medium could never want to be particularly close with Franziska, anyway.

“A foolish question. She shall oversee my stay,” haughtily, the guest laughed.

Pearl Fey’s eye twitched in irritation. She looked up at the prosecutor with angry grey eyes as a small fist clenched the fabric upwards on her right arm. She hadn’t exactly realised she’d been doing it, but Franziska had been mirroring, with her hand clutching her right shoulder, where a phantom bullet was lodged.

“You’re not very nice to her,” frustrated, the young girl commented.

“I am perfectly courteous towards her,” the prosecutor corrected.

“I don’t know why she likes you,” Pearl Fey pouted angrily.

Maya Fey... liked her? That hadn’t exactly been the impression Franziska had garnered. That happy-go-lucky demeanour surely had to be a product of the optimism and enthusiasm those fools Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth had informed her the medium kept up in front of her young cousin.

“Perhaps she is just being courteous towards me...?” suggested Franziska.

But Pearl Fey continued, steadfast, “No. She talked a lot about you after we, uhm, got back from Hazakura Temple,” the girls’ expression turned stormy enough to match the prosecutor's, “And she wants me to be nice to you!”

Carefully, Franziska lowered herself to the floor, so that she was eye-level with the young medium. They stared at each other with some level of mutual dislike. Well, the guest wouldn’t exactly say she disliked Pearl Fey... More that she was just being a foolishly irritating nuisance at this point. Perhaps her pride was still wounded after the girl had insulted her so when she and that fool Phoenix Wright had encountered her near the Inner Temple.

“Listen, Pearl Fey, I don’t particularly want to be here anymore than you want me to be here, but my little brother was rather insistent on this. So, how about we both just agree to please our respective families by playing nice with each other, yes?” Franziska gritted out.

The little girl’s thumb was raised to her head in thought, “I’ll make sure you enjoy your stay, then, Ms. von Karma...”

That sounded vaguely threatening... But what was a small child like this one actually going to do? She had just basically promised to not do anything flashy enough that it notified her older cousin, so it must have been mostly just bluff. The prosecutor harrumphed. Pearl Fey must have spent too much time around the ever-foolish Phoenix Wright.

“Lovely,” she smiled primly before shutting the door behind her.

Worrying about this now would do no one any good.

---

Franziska knew what she had to do, now. Pearl Fey could only be stopped in a very courtroom-esque manner: with words! One may think that the problem would now become finding the young medium, but she also had that all sorted out. You see, it was currently breakfast on the eleventh loop, and as she’d always been, Pearl Fey was there.

As soon as Maya had left the room and her cousin made a move to do the same, Franziska struck. Not literally, of course... This was a nine-year-old... Whether she had her whip on her or not was irrelevant for this discussion. What she actually did was detain Pearl Fey with a single phrase.

“Hold it!” she spoke smoothly, with an outstretched arm, “I think we need to discuss your little plan, Pearl Fey,”

The little girl startled in shock and gaped at the prosecutor. There was confirmation that she was at least plotting something... No one would react in quite such a guilty manner if they had nothing to hide. And Pearl Fey was not confused; only simply surprised. And her furtive glance towards the blue magatama hanging around her neck? Clearly a hint to the spiritual nature of this crafty plan.

“I don’t know what you're talking about, Ms von Karma... I-I couldn’t!” denied the medium.

An obvious lie. She didn’t need that fool Phoenix Wright’s magic rock that her little brother had claimed created, what did he call them? Psycholocks? She didn’t need a magic rock to conjure these psycholocks at a lie to know an obvious one when she saw one.

“Pearl Fey, what did you do yesterday?” calmly, Franziska requested a small piece of information.

“Oh... I was drawing. You saw me, Ms. von Karma,” pointedly, the little girl answered.

The prosecutor smirked.

“Exactly,” she rested one hand on her hip, “And you could only know that if your yesterday was the same as mine. In other words, if you were responsible for creating this strange situation,”

Quietly, Pearl Fey raised her thumb up to her face and hid behind it. The little loops of hair she always had tied up drooped slightly as the girl looked around, presumably for her cousin. Distress was evident, but Franziska had little idea on how to calm it. She couldn’t really just leave this child to cry, though. As much as she needed the truth, she was not that cruel. This was to be a mission with dual goals, then.

“I wouldn’t know h-how to start a time loop, though!” proudly stuttered the girl.

“I never mentioned it being a time loop,” Franziska dropped the smug grin, but still told the truth straight out.

“Ah...”

The form of Kurain’s youngest medium visibly deflated as her gaze drifted to the floor. Sad grey eyes resisted meeting a gaze uncomfortably. She clearly recognized that she’d been caught, then. It was now up to Franziska to show her why she needed to fix it.

“And I know you’re a very talented medium, Ms Fey. Would it have been that difficult for you?” she wondered sympathetically, aloud, “We can’t both keep living like this, so, in any case, I’m going to need you to reverse it, now,”

“No,” defiantly, Pearl Fey fought.

“Pardon?” the prosecutor staggered back a little on her left heel and questioned.

What could she possibly gain out of keeping it going!? What desire for revenge could be so strong that- Ah. Franziska saw. She’d been on the other end of a situation not too dissimilar to this herself in the recent past... The lengths one would go to for family indeed...

“I said I’m not going to stop it,” clenching her fists, Pearl Fey announced, “You deserve it for what you’ve done to Mystic Maya,”

“Perhaps...” she dismissed, “But have you thought about the effect this may have on Maya Fey herself? As long as you keep this continuing, Maya cannot live her life,”

“Mystic Maya,” with a steely glare, Pearl Fey corrected her.

“Mystic Maya cannot live her life, then,”

“A-ah... But my mother told me that if you don’t do something, you’ll just sit around in the shadows forever... She says that if I ever want to be a respected medium, I need to act. I need to help restore Mystic Maya’s reputation for her! O-or how else can she forgive me...” desperately, the youngest medium reasoned.

Franziska shuffled slowly closer, taking careful steps and keeping an eye to see when or if Pearl Fey reacted to her presence. The poor girl was shaking like a leaf on a breezy winter’s day now. Just like Maya had down with her a few loops ago, the prosecutor nestled on the floor and tapped the ground next to her gently. Much to her surprise, the medium complied obediently.

“Mystic Maya Fey told me something the other day. I had similar fears to you, but she told me she had already forgiven me long ago,” Franziska elucidated.

“Why would she do that!?” 

“Because she is a kind person. Pearl Fey, I don’t think she particularly believes in holding grudges. I suppose we could both learn from her in that respect,”

The little girl banged her fist lightly on the floor next to her.

“I still don’t understand. I-I got her mother killed! And she was trapped in the temple... And- and I kept trusting my mother even after sh-she already tried to d-dispose of Mystic Maya...!” through messy tears, the young Fey hiccupped.

Guilt, then. An emotion Franziska was all too familiar with. Rather ironic considering her job was to condemn those kinds of people. But... All of this on one child? She was beginning to see why Maya always kept up such a cheery demeanour in front of Pearl Fey. The girl really did have the weight of centuries of legacy piled on her shoulders by a cruel and uncaring woman this girl had to call her mother.

“I trusted my papa all the way up until he was executed for his crimes. He was far from kind to me and Miles Edgeworth, but I still trusted him,” she shrugged bitterly, “Why would I have not? He raised me,”

When Pearl Fey did not react, Franziska knew she had to push forward.

“It is hard to unlearn what those who raised us teach us. It is hard to learn their faults in replacement. But it is easy to get swept up in guilt for what they have done. Morgan Fey’s plot was hers, not yours, Pearl Fey. I know my opinion does not mean a lot to you, but I do not blame you. Neither does Mystic Maya,” 

“I... still can’t...” mumbled the medium.

“Can’t what?”

Pearl Fey’s words were warbling and becoming more and more unintelligible as the conversation continued. Was she... helping? Or making things worse...? No, she had to keep going. This was what Maya Fey and Miles Edgeworth had done for her. As much as Pearl Fey was very much nine years old, she had a very mature mind.

“Can’t undo it... If we are both trapped here, neither of us can hurt Mystic Maya permanently anymore!” the little girl explained, with a heart-breaking conviction in her words.

Did she look upon herself with the same hatred as she did at Franziska?

“But you hurt yourself in return. It is as I told you, Pearl Fey, what transpired at Hazakura temple is not your fault. If I am not be blamed for my past actions, then you are not to be for simply following your mother’s instructions either,” firmly, the prosecutor stated, “How about this, then? Do you remember the night before you started the loop? We made a deal,”

“Y-yes...?”

“Let’s make another one. We both stop blaming ourselves. Mystic Maya Fey does not benefit from either of us moping and causing more trouble!” announced Franziska.

Pearl Fey shuffled over, eyes raw from tears and hand outstretched. Franziska’s larger gloved hand met it halfway. They shook hands in a rather traditional fashion, business-like as a testament to the maturity they had both developed early.

“O-kay, Ms von Karma... I’ll undo it... I’ll undo the loop. And then we can make Mystic Maya happy, right?”

Franziska smiled gently, much more gently than she ever had at Miles Edgeworth in their youth, “Indeed,”

A small child was suddenly hanging off of her arm, and the prosecutor wasn’t entirely sure how to react. She took a deep breath, channelled her inner Maya Fey and then decided to accept her situation. She scooped Pearl Fey up, easy considering her rather impressive arm strength from using her whip for so long, and stood with the child balanced between her arm and shoulder.

“Where do we need to go then, Ms Fey?” kindly, a little uncertainly, but kindly, she asked.

“K-Kurain Library!” Pearl Fey raised a shaky hand a pointed out of the dining room.

She inhaled deeply. That damn ‘library’ again, eh? If it was the only way... She set off walking to where she recalled with some distaste, Maya Fey taking her to several loops ago.

---

Fortunately, they hadn’t run into anyone to question what was going on along their short route. It could be... a rather strange situation to explain, all things considered. As of now, Pearl Fey was running her hand along the bookcase, evidently trying to locate one very specific text. When she found it, the medium grinned and pulled it right off.

A tad awkwardly, Franziska moved over and examined what book she and Maya should have been looking for when they were here. Curiosity over what text could possibly have solved this temporal anomaly several loops earlier was strong. And then the prosecutor wished she had never found out.

Pearl was gripping the only copy of the supposed Kurain doodle book tightly in one hand, and flipping through the pages gently in the other. To say Franziska was dumbstruck would have been understating the situation. The messy book, filled with crayon drawings with no text in it, was the key to this mess!? Preposterous! Insane! Asinine!

Trying her very best to remain calm in front of the nine-year-old who, Franziska reminded herself, was currently in process of helping them both out of this and also likely still on the verge of tears, she held out a faltering hand and weakly protested, “Have you seen that one before, Pearl Fey? Your cousin said that you hadn’t, and I don’t suppose you’ll find any... hints in there. Perhaps... a different book?”

Curtly, the medium shook her head, “No, Ms Fran- Fran-zeeska,”

The prosecutor grimaced at the butchering of her name, “Ah, that’s said ‘Franziska’,”

“Well, Ms Ziska, this book is the right one! I found the plan in it!” confidently, the little girl announced. 

She had stopped on a certain page now. It seemed to depict a figure in pink acolyte robes doing... something with her hands. Some kind of swirling energy was emanating from this person’s figure, as evidenced by some blue crayon marks and... was that glitter? Some messy symbols were also drawn jaggedly around the person, in the swirls. If she looked at them right, Franziska supposed they might be intended to be interpreted as clocks. 

“Did it give you some kind of instructions on what to do?” with a slight frown, the prosecutor spoke.

Tacitly, the little girl bit her lip before responding, “Uhm, sort of? It just showed the process and I thought I could replicate it, so I did what the woman in the picture did and it worked,”

“Do you... know how to reverse it?” quietly, Franziska affirmed.

“M-maybe...? I thought the book would say, but...” trailed off Pearl as her eyeline went once again back to meet the floor.

Inaudibly, the prosecutor sighed. The page after the doodle the young medium had copied was indeed blank, so the original artist did seem to have forgotten to draw a counter-curse. But then again, if Pearl Fey could cast such a spell at her young age, surely that automatically qualified her to find the solution on her own!

“Do not fear, Ms Fey. It is as I said, you are clearly a very talented medium. If you created this time loop, I firmly believe you have the power to undo it. Perhaps you just need to recall what you did the first time?” suggested Franziska, evenly.

The little girl clutched at her magatama, “Okay, Ms Ziska...” she put the book down and sat in the corner, “So, I started by sitting like the woman in the drawing...”

Without changing her upper body detectably at all, through some kind of incredible sense of balance, Pearl kneeled just off of the edge of the rug taking up most of the floor in the ‘library’. This seemed to be some kind of spiritual staple, as it had also been described that Maya had sat like that during her botched channelling of Doctor Grey a few years back. Perhaps it was due to some kind of specific posture needed?

“’Nd then I... clasped my hands like...” the young medium arranged her hands in a very familiar manner as she explained, “this... As if I were channelling...”

Owlishly, she blinked at Franziska. Was the girl expecting something?

“Ah, right, I see,” the prosecutor said, if only to just confirm that she had been listening.

“After that, I pictured the drawing rather than the person I would be channelling, and it seemed to work! I had to practice all afternoon, though...”

That lined up depressingly well with the story she’d given to her cousin on June 24th... Little Pearl had been training all afternoon! Just not quite in the way they’d all been imagining... Franziska winced and joined the medium on the floor. Would she need a while to prepare for this ritual too, then?

“Would any change in atmosphere help, do you know? Like those candles you keep in the Channelling Chamber, for example,” remarked the prosecutor, stiffly. 

“Oh, well...” Pearl broke pose to fiddle with her magatama again, “They might! But Mystic Maya would not like it if she thought I was undergoing heavy training two days in a row...”

Deviously, Franziska smirked. Now, this was more of her forte. After living with Manfred von Karma for the early years of her life, she certainly knew how to make herself, or in this case, someone else scarce when necessary. Observation, and how to make people not observe was, as Mia Fey deduced, an easy skill of hers.

“What if your cousin was unaware of it?” offered Franziska, slyly.

“I can’t lie to her!” Pearl gasped.

“You don’t have to,” the prosecutor pointed at herself dramatically, “I will do it! I shall keep Mystic Maya Fey busy whilst you sneak into the Channelling Chamber, and no one shall notice a thing,”

“Like- Like in episode sixteen of the Steel Samurai!?” excitedly, the medium bounced.

Ah, that show that her brother, potential girlfriend and said woman’s cousin apparently, all watched. Perhaps now rather regrettably, Franziska had denied herself all chances to watch it, when it came out. Not that she would have been particularly interested in it at the time... it could be an idea to watch it with Maya and Pearl in the future. Not with her little brother. She had to prove her superiority to him at trivia about this children’s show if she was to watch it with him!

“Hopefully,” she dodged the question artfully.

“Okay, then...” wobbled Pearl, “I’ll do it! Mystic Maya should be in her room right now,”

Franziska nodded and helped the little girl up. This was her final mission to end this, then... She would not fail! This would be a perfectly executed plan. Not in the perfect way her papa would envision, but in the perfect way this last Von Karma, a woman who still walked this Earth, could manage!

“Seek me out later, when the deed is done,” solemnly, she promised.

“I will, Ms Ziska,” equally serious, Pearl pledged back.

They shook on it in a second handshake, Pearl’s small hand clutched snuggly in the dark leather of Franziska’s glove. And then they parted ways for their mission.

Franziska made a beeline straight for Maya’s room with a dedicated plan in mind. She’d done this certain thing enough times now, even if that was only two, to know it would keep her and Maya occupied for a long while; certainly enough time for Pearl to get a grip on what she was doing. Boldly, she grinned with a smug air at the certain genius of everything falling into place.

She looked into Maya’s curious grey eyes at their meeting at the door and requested that, once again, the head medium take her venturing up into the mountains. Just the two of them. A foray into nature she called it. When Maya took her wrist and happily led her up the valley trail, she knew she’d succeeded.

---

Franziska met back with Pearl Fey during the embers of the late day, just after evening meal. Well, perhaps she should say she met Pearl Fey after speaking with a certain spirit after evening meal. To say the young medium came as herself originally wouldn’t be entirely accurate, see.

“Ms. von Karma, I see that you made good on my words then,” one Mia Fey greeted warmly from just behind her.

Slightly alarmed at the voice addressing her being different from the one she was expecting, the prosecutor whipped around. Adorned exactly as Franziska had seen her in court when she'd come many a time to assist that fool Phoenix Wright in front of her, Maya’s elder sister stood in the doorway to the meditation room.  The so-called ‘pretzel hair’ definitely gave it away as Pearl being the one to channel, though.

“Did Pearl Fey manage it, then?” smoothly, she carried on the conversation, as if nothing were odd about this.

Mia Fey snorted, “Of course she did! She’s a right stubborn one, and I think your words really got to her. She was fully determined to reverse it all,"

A ray of light was shining in from over the former attorney’s shoulder. It was bright in the way that made Franziska want to avert her eyes, but not quite direct enough to force her to do so. 

“And... You’re certain of it? The loop is... gone?” almost hopefully, the prosecutor clarified.

“Well, I may just be but a humble spirit now, but I'm fairly certain that I can sense changes in the very spirit realm I inhabit,” grinned Mia Fey.

Hesitantly, Franziska just stared.

“That is to say, yes, it worked. I don’t know if she knows it, but Pearls used my realm to influence yours – it's how she was able to do it,” the spirit laughed.

In other words...

“Thank you, Mia Fey. Your help was greatly appreciated,”

The former attorney nodded. And then her form began to change drastically. As if melting, most of it collapsed inwards until the petite form of Pearl Fey was just left in the doorway. Silently, the girl trudged towards Franziska, into the cool darkness of the chamber. Weariness evident in her motions, she collapsed against the prosecutor.

She’d heard tales of the extraordinary feats of Pearl Fey, of course. Running a two-hour train journey, staying up for days at a time and, lest they forget, sleeping on an isolated island alone in the middle of winter... Such incidents all came to mind. In that case, reversing a time loop in a single day didn’t seem quite as impressive. But then, the little girl could surely feel the weight of all eleven of the days they’d both lived. Franziska certainly could.

“I did it, Ms Ziska,” sleepily, but still proudly, Pearl announced.

“That you did, Ms Fey,” the prosecutor confirmed, “Mystic Maya would be very proud of you,”

Cheekily, the little girl sat her head up straight. 

“I don’t make Mr Nick use Mystic Maya’s full title, you know,” she giggled, and placed her hand on her face, fingers splayed around her eyes.

“I... see,” very much lost, Franziska nodded and followed along.

“And they’re allowed to call me nicknames too! Because they’re special to me!” she averted her eyes and puffed out her cheeks like, Franziska noted, she had seen Maya do many a time, “I used to think that was just because Mr Nick was Mystic Maya’s special someone...”

Was that an invitation to call her by a nickname? She had noticed the young Fey be called ‘Pearls’ and ‘Pearly’ by various parties, as the medium had implied. But where was the relevance to the celebration that they should be feeling at solving this!?

“But that’s not true, is it?” Franziska frowned, trying to keep up.

“No... She talked to me last month... Mr Nick is more like her brother, apparently, and,” Pearl stifled a giggle, “she said that she liked girls! She explained to me all about it,”

Franziska had no choice but to avert her eyes. This girl... Pearl Fey... She wasn’t on to Franziska’s deal with Maya from the fifth loop, was she? Was this... acceptance?

“That’s why you’re going to be her special someone, right, Ms Ziska? She looks very happy when she talks about you! At first, I thought it would be very silly because you’re mean to her, but you’re actually nice when you want to be! And you...” the hands were back between the eyes, “You like her back, don’t you!?”

Franziska stunned into silence. The medium really was perceptive, wasn’t she? 

“I- Yes... I swore that we would talk properly when I ended the loop,”

Excitedly, Pearl gasped, “We’ve done that now!”

“Indeed... That is why I intend to speak to her tomorrow. When we have full conformation, and I am not so tired...”

“Good luck!” the girl whispered, well, more stage-whispered, but she had tried.

“Thank you... Pearls,”

Pearl grinned up at her, contently.

---

The next morning, Franziska still awoke to running water, but no longer filled with the sounds of Maya Fey training under it. A minute difference, for certain, but it made all the difference this time. Almost breathlessly, she checked the date on her phone.

June 26th.

Slowly, Franziska stood up from her bed and went to get ready. A certain Pink Princess shirt was selected, this time not to be concealed under one of the prosecutor’s more regular jackets. Since she hadn’t technically worn it in this timeline, the shirt bore none of the signs of use from when she’d haphazardly stuck it on for the fourth loop.

To complete this little routine, Franziska merely looked down at her arm and observed the numbers she’d been tirelessly retracing on it each day. They may have lost their semblance of Maya Fey’s touch in terms of font, but she still had them... That was all that mattered. Typing them out into her phone’s contact list was brainless, what with this being her third time to do so.

[Maya – June 26th 07:34]

Hello, Maya Fey, this is Franziska von Karma. Are you awake?
I would like to speak to you

Omg, Fran, it’s like 7.30 
Can't you let a girl sleep ;)

Well, I would consider it rather important

Heh
I was just joking, Franzy
Wdym, tho

Can you meet me in the Winding Way?

Sure!!!!!!!
I’ll be there right away!

A little nervously, but still riding off of the euphoria of finally ending this damn thing, Franziska made her way to the location she’d specified. A location chosen as such for it being the one place she knew she and Maya shared a proper connection with. After all, she’d been shown that little garden before this time loop had even begun.

By some miracle, Maya had actually managed to beat Franziska there as well. She was still dressed in her pyjamas and looked half asleep, but she was there! It was hardly going to be the most romantic thing under these circumstances, but with these two, that had never been likely. 

So, there they both were, finally time anomaly free. Maya in her lilac nightgown and Franziska in a silly gag-gift t-shirt. What a pair...

“Hey, Franzy!” the medium called out, “So, what’s up? You’re not here to like, stab, or I guess in this case, whip me, are you?” Her tone was light and teasing. The prosecutor smirked with some false bravado. But it was easy to put on a smug expression for her. Even easier to fool fools and fool’s fools with one.

“You have so little faith in me, Maya Fey...” Franziska sighed.

Confidently, or more accurately, falsely confidently, she strode over to stand in line with the head medium. At this kind of distance, she could really feel their height difference, actually. She resisted the urge to pat Maya on the head, lest she seem patronizing or fake. They sat down on the edge of the path, like they had done on Kurain’s front steps on the fifth loop.

“Heh, just playin’. Seriously, what’s up, though?” surprisingly chipper for a woman who looked like she just rolled out of bed, and who probably had just rolled out of bed, chirped her friend.

“It is as I said, I need to speak with you, is all. I made a promise to have this discussion with you today,” stated Franziska.

“Well! Colour me curious! Promised who?” Maya leaned backwards to get a more direct line of sight.

Ah. She probably shouldn’t at this point just admit that it was a promise to Maya herself because that would require explaining the time loop, which was neither relevant here nor fair on Pearl. A promise to herself it was, then! Not entirely inaccurate, at least.

“Myself,” curtly, she responded, “Simply stated I... Well... I-”

She struggled to get the words out. Why was this suddenly so embarrassing!? Maya had managed it twice already, so it shouldn’t have been this hard! She couldn’t even remember a time she’d been this nervous in court! Even when losing! Even against Maya Fey! This was a bit of a nightmare, then...

Quietly, Maya giggled. Franziska glanced back at her, horrified.

“It’s alright, Fran. Take your time,”

The prosecutor huffed out of frustration, “You need not tell me what to do! I assure you I am perfectly capable!” fervently, she argued.

Maya laughed again, more of a chuckle this time, though.

“Never said you weren’t,”

“Excellent!” she shook her head and took a deep breath, “Anyhow, what I have been trying to ask Maya Fey is... are you free later?”

She cursed her poor choice of wording. That was much too non-descript! How was the medium to know she meant in a romantic sense with that!? She could have been asking about taking Pearl to the nearest park with that kind of vague statement!

“Uh, sure? Probably? I don’t have anything else to do yet,” mostly unfazed, Maya responded.

“Wait!” Franziska blurted, “That wasn’t really my main question. I only ask such a thing for the point of determining... Maya Fey, you must come out with me later to dine!”

“Franzy... That, uh, wasn’t a question...” clearly blushing, but also without being able to resist the temptation to correct, Maya pointed out.

“...You must come out with me later to dine?”

“Like, a date? Or are we just two totally platonic friends going out to get food together. Just the two of us,” now more obviously nervous, the medium stammered.

“Ah, I intended it romantically,” shyly, uncharacteristically so, Franziska confessed.

“Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!” repeated Maya, gasping.

And then the medium, evidently now her girlfriend, shuffled even closer and threw an arm around Franziska’s shoulders. A warm feeling, very different from the previous pangs, ran over her right shoulder. The prosecutor grinned.

“A-ah! Perfect! I was thinking burgers, then? But much more refined than anywhere that fool Phoenix Wright will have taken you! I know plenty of places!” boasted Franziska, high on two sets of euphoria and some adrenaline thrown in there for good measure.

“Aw, Franny, it really does sound perfect!” she winked flirtatiously, “But you can choose the place,”

“If you insist,” in a few smooth motions, Franziska nodded and brushed herself off, as if to seem more refined. 

Maya promptly ruined that by pulling her in for a hug, but the prosecutor certainly didn’t mind. She couldn’t ask to date Maya Fey and not expect heaps of physical contact. It was okay. She’d never really had that before, anyway.

But then the medium pulled away stricken.

“Oh, wait, Oh no, no... What’s Pearly gonna think!?” horrified, Maya realised aloud, “She seemed so mad when I-”

Time for the ace up her proverbial sleeve, then.

“I talked to her,” calmly, Franziska nodded.

“Huh?” Maya did a double-take.

“I talked to Pearls yesterday and gained her permission,” Franziska smirked, “I’ll think you'll find we now have her full approval,”

And then she was enveloped in another embrace. Hmph. It was warm. Nice. Nothing like the fake ones she’d ever occasionally received from her papa. But that was only fair. She belonged with the Feys much more than the empty Von Karma estate. There were people who actually cared about her for her rather than her potential, here.

“You’re a lifesaver, Fran...” the medium mumbled into Franziska’s sleeve, muffling her words before she lifted her a little, “But, yeah! I would love to get burgers later! I’d take getting trash-can food with you, Franzy!”

Franziska pulled a face, “I would never take you dumpster diving!”

“But, you know... If you had to...” chuckled Maya.

“If I had to, I would still take you out for burgers and just foot the bill to Miles Edgeworth or Phoenix Wright instead,” she sniffed, proudly.

“Nice thinking!”

They paused, looking at each other for a moment before grappling at Franziska’s hand, pulling her up. The prosecutor resisted another urge, this time one to straighten out her shirt.

“So... I would say I’m going back to bed now, but I think this has sufficiently woken me up! Wanna come help me with breakfast?” Maya proposed as she stretched, yes, whilst her hand was still entwined with Franziska’s.

“Someone needs to show you how it’s truly done...” amused, she huffed.

“Oi! I’ll have you know I make a mean pancake! Even Pearly thinks so!” argued the medium.

As they started to walk away, the bickering continued, “Pearls is a biased witness as she would say anything to please you!”

“Ah, but would she lie to me, Franny? Are you really trying to tell me that my baby cousin would lie so traitorously to me?” Maya gasped, in mock offence.

Franziska pulled another face, remembering yesterday’s events. 

“Perhaps if she really didn’t want to disappoint you...” she posed.

“Uh-huh. Really now?” Maya Fey looked at her, grinning competitively.  

“Indeed really!” contently, Franziska played along.

And then there was a tug on her hand whisking her straight away to Kurain’s kitchen. Yes, somehow a place she had yet to see. Not a point in her favour, really, but after all this, all that had happened at Fey Manor, all she had learnt, did that really matter? Franziska thought not.

---

A few months after her time in Kurain Village, to the surprise of no one, Franziska was back in her office. Perhaps more specifically at this point, she was returning to her office after collecting some files from a different floor of the Prosecutor’s Office. 

There was a package waiting on her desk. 

It had no letter accompanying it, but the cheap cardboard it was made of certainly stuck out amongst the pristine nature of her workspace. She almost wished that this foolish American office had a more convenient layout, so she could have caught who delivered it, but there was a stamp on the underside, meaning one of the secretaries had likely just walked it up. 

Cautiously, she peeled back the copious amounts of tape and undid the flaps over the top. Rather curiously, there was but a single item in there, and still no note to explain it. A book. A text she knew rather too well. Although... calling it a text when it had precisely no writing inside of it would be very generous.

Kurain’s doodle book had somehow ended up in her office, likely due to the combined effort of the Fey cousins. Quietly, she flipped through its pages once more, pausing when she found a new one.

Just after the drawing that had taught Pearl how to create that time loop, there was a new illustration. It was of a little girl, who looked like she had a pretzel for her hair, kneeling in a room full of candles. The clocks and swirls in the previous image were reversed in direction and now moving back inwards towards the figure’s clasped hands. At the bottom, it was signed with a shakily written ‘Pearl Fey’. 

Franziska smiled fondly and pulled out her phone. Sure enough, she had a few messages waiting on it.

[Maya – August 6th 13:05]

Hey, frannnnnnnn <3
Did you get our package?
Pearly says you need to do a page in it too now that you’re like, an honorary Fey!

And what do you intend for me to draw?

Idk! Anything you want really! Maybe us? :3

I shall... Consider it... 
Thank you though, Maya

Aw, no problem Franny!
<3

<3

Immediately, Franziska stood up with the book, and marched out of her office, just down the corridor to a certain High Prosecutor’s Office. Room 1202 to be specific. Smugly, she knocked on the door and waited for her brother to emerge. He wore a wary look when he did.

“Franziska,” he greeted simply.

“Miles Edgeworth,” she started, “I really think I should take some time off,”

Behind her, Winston Payne came briefly into view before seeing the two of them and scurrying swiftly away.

“Okay...?” a little unnerved, he responded.

“You would agree that I work very hard, correct?” she smirked, smugly.

He eyed the book tucked under her arm, but didn’t comment on it.

“Well, yes, I would be inclined to agree...” cautiously, her little brother responded.

“Excellent! Well, then, Miles Edgeworth, you can inform the board that they have decided to reward me next week off due to my excellent performance! As far as you and they are concerned, I am on holiday next week!” she laughed haughtily.

She returned her free arm to having its hand resting on her hip, turned sharply and began to walk back to where she came from.

“Franziska-” he tried calling uselessly.

She began to loudly and obnoxiously hum the Steel Samurai theme tune, like Maya had taught her to.

“Franziska!”

She hummed a little louder and slowed her steps to savour the moment.

He huffed audibly and likely pinched his forehead, “Fine... Have it your way... Enjoy your time at Kurain next week...”

She smiled graciously at him, “Why, thank you, little brother! I’ll send you a postcard,”

That foolish fool Miles Edgeworth sighed as he shut his office door, “Yes, I’m sure you will...”

Franziska smiled, happily.