Chapter Text
April 14, 2013, 10:39 p.m.
“Come on dude, don’t make us smoke the rest of this by ourselves!”
“Larry, I told you, I’m done for tonight.”
Phoenix Wright learned his limits very quickly. Two hits of whatever skunk weed Larry’s friend could get her hands on that week was the perfect amount for him to loosen up. A third hit spelled disaster. Phoenix’s mind supplied him with the memories from the first time he’d made that mistake.
March 20, 2013, 11:02 p.m.
God, Larry is such a good friend. I’d never be stupid enough to do this on my own, but it’s kinda fun being a college delinquent. Man, Miles sure would hate that we’re doing this, with his whole life’s dedication to following the law or whatever. Hey wait a minute, where is Miles?
Phoenix looked around. The faces in the room with him had blurred beyond all recognizability.
“Miles?! Miles, where are you?!” he shouted. Phoenix’s face grew hot from the adrenaline. Or was that just the weed? It was hard to tell at this point.
“Whoa, dude, what are you talking about?” Larry asked. Phoenix whipped his head toward the new voice.
“Larry? Oh thank god, you’re here! Have you seen Miles?!”
“Uhh, not since fourth grade. Remember?”
“Not since…huh? What do you mean?! Larry, I…I have to find him. He’s not gone. He can’t be gone!”
“Nick, chill, Edgy hasn’t been around since fourth grade. Are you feeling okay? We’ve been smoking the same stuff and I feel fine.”
Phoenix finally processed what Larry was saying. Their friends just stared in confused, stoned silence as tears began to pour down his face.
No, no that can’t be right. I swear it felt like he was just here…Miles can’t be gone… he can’t he can’t he can’t…Miles…I…I love…
SMACK!
“NICK! Snap the fuck out of it dude! I’m gonna take you back to our dorm now, okay?” Larry lowered his hand from Phoenix's stinging face to his shoulder.
Phoenix blinked a few times so Larry’s face would come back into focus. “Oh, um, okay.”
March 21, 2013, 9:55 a.m.
Phoenix woke up the next morning feeling groggy and disoriented. It felt like waking up after a panic attack but he couldn’t remember having one last night. He could barely remember anything from last night beyond meeting Larry’s friend and being offered weed.
What was her name again? Shit, I’m gonna look like an asshole if I ever run into her on my own.
He decided to just forget about it for now and start his morning bike ride.
March 21, 2013, 10:41 a.m.
The morning breeze washed over Phoenix as he finished his bike ride down one of the trails on campus. Still feeling shaky, he chose one of the shorter routes today. As he slowly pedaled back to his dorm, Phoenix looked around at the small details of the buildings to try and pick one for his upcoming Design 102 project. Suddenly, a newspaper stand caught his eye. Well, not so much the newspaper stand itself, but the face on the front cover of the Japanifornia Times .
His bike screeched to a halt. Phoenix dumped it on the ground and ran, mesmerized, over to the newspaper. Miles Edgeworth’s face stared back at him, looking smug in some frilly outfit. The headline above him read “Demon Prosecutor of Japanifornia Strikes Again: Murderer Found Guilty”. Phoenix’s mind short-circuited.
Prosecutor? DEMON Prosecutor? This can’t be Miles. But it has to be! He even kept the same haircut…so what the hell happened to him?
Phoenix stared at the page until he felt the sun start to burn his skin. He clutched the newspaper so hard he thought it might tear in half as he finished riding back to his dorm.
March 21, 2013, 7:04 p.m.
The rest of that day, much like the night before, had gone by in a blur. His brain had no room for script interpretations in Intro to Acting when all he could think about was figuring out how to get in touch with Miles again. Phoenix needed to know how the boy in the cranberry coat he once knew could become a bloodthirsty demon.
Finally, an idea hit him. Phoenix dove into his closet and dug out an old shoe box. Inside were dozens of yellowed, crumpled envelopes, and every single one had Von Karma Manor as its return address.
That day in the rain, when Miles had come back for his red Signal Samurai keychain, he had also handed Phoenix a note. On it were instructions for how to become pen pals, written with Miles’ trademark formality. Phoenix and Miles wrote letters to each other every week for a year, telling details of school and friendships and new families. Phoenix liked to spill his whole heart onto the page. Miles didn’t. But that was okay, because it made the two boys feel like nothing had really changed at all. One day, Miles stopped responding. Phoenix was heartbroken; he kept writing for months, hoping that just one of the letters would reach Miles. None of them did. Neither Phoenix nor Miles ever found out why. Phoenix’s last letter sat in the locked drawer in Manfred von Karma’s desk, unopened.
Tonight, Phoenix decided to write one more letter. As his ballpoint pen scribbled feelings and questions and everything short of a confession onto the notebook paper, he prayed to whoever would listen that Miles’ mailing address hadn’t changed.
May 12, 2013, 10:17 p.m.
Months went by. Phoenix wrote more letters. Larry convinced him to go to parties and stop moping in his room between classes. Larry never seemed to understand what feeling truly lost was like; he often brushed past the emotion as fast as possible and moved on to obsessing over another girl.
Phoenix sat on some stranger’s couch with a near-empty beer in his hand. Just then, a girl he had seen in one of his classes walked over to him.
“Heyyy, Phoenix, right? You look so lonely over here. Wanna follow me?”
Phoenix considered it for a moment. She was cute, that was without question, but he quickly decided that both of them were too drunk to be “following” anyone anywhere.
What he meant to say was no thanks, I’m just waiting for a friend and then I’m gonna head out.
What he actually said was “uhh, nah, I’m…I’m gonna go…” The girl walked away looking only mildly offended.
That could’ve gone better. But it also could’ve gone worse, I guess.
Feeling embarrassed, Phoenix drained his beer, set the bottle on the ground, and stumbled his way out of the party. He had a feeling that he wouldn’t see Larry for the rest of the night.
Once he was back in his dorm, Phoenix’s drunken state led him to do something he’d been meaning to do for a while. He sat at his cramped particle board desk and began writing another letter to Miles. This one contained every thought he’d had to erase or scribble out from the previous letters. Every moment he’d known that he was in love with a boy he’d only gotten to know for a few months. How he wanted to know everything Miles thought and felt, wanted so badly to save him from the von Karmas and hold him in his arms forever like a knight in shining armor that also gives great hugs (he was drunk, okay?). It was a miracle that Phoenix didn’t burn a hole into the paper with how quickly he wrote everything down. This one needed to be completely unfiltered, a pure stream of consciousness, in order to convey everything he wanted it to. In the end, the letter stretched across nine pages. Nine pages of the worst poetry you’d ever read that explained the most beautiful things Phoenix had ever felt.
Phoenix never intended to send this letter. He’d thought that sending something so forward would forever scare away any chance of Miles responding to the letters. No, Phoenix’s plan was much more sensible than that. He was going to take the letter into the woods behind campus and burn it. Even though he didn’t own matches. Or a lighter. He’d figure it out once he got to that step. Purely out of habit, he sealed the letter in an envelope and filled it out. He pressed a kiss to the back of the stamp, since no one was around to see it, and stuck it haphazardly into the corner. The letter sat on the corner of his desk as Phoenix fell into bed.
May 13, 2013, 9:28 a.m.
Larry stumbled back into the dorm room he shared with Phoenix. He was hungover as hell and nearly late for class. Even so, Larry remembered the package he needed to drop off at the mail room that morning. He picked it up and turned to leave, but not before spotting the envelope on Phoenix’s desk.
Oh hey, it’s already stamped and everything. I might as well take it since I’m heading there anyway.
Larry picked up the envelope, its stamp held on with a kiss, and left the dorm room. Phoenix remained asleep.
August 27th, 2013, 1:47 p.m.
The library below the local courthouse had become a regular study spot for Phoenix. As an art major, that didn’t make a lot of sense, but the man had an idea stuck in the back of his mind for quite some time now. If Miles didn’t want to respond to any of the letters, Phoenix could think of only one place where the prosecutor would have no choice but to see him: in the courthouse. He didn’t want to be too obvious about it, however, and Miles was bound to come down to the library sometime . That occasion was apparently not any of the times Phoenix had been in the library already. On days he didn’t need to study, he passed the time by reading. He’d read through a decent number of old case files at that point and found a lot of them quite fascinating. He often gravitated towards ones that had a major twist; they were like real-life mystery novels. One file, he noticed, seemed to always be checked out.
It must be a pretty important case for it to always be gone like this. I can’t wait to read it and find out why.
He checked the “DL” section every day, but the file never appeared.
Today, while he was flipping through files to find one to read, a girl walked up to him. She was the most gorgeous woman Phoenix had ever seen, and she was walking up to him .
“Hi there. Looking for something in particular?” she asked. Her eyelashes fluttered sweetly and she seemed to have an aura of angelic innocence around her. The red-haired woman was so graceful that she could carry an open parasol indoors and not bump it into anything. Phoenix was entranced.
“Oh…um…not really, no. Just browsing. Are you?” he replied.
Their conversation continued on for what could've been seconds or hours. Phoenix wasn’t entirely sure. At one point, Dahlia (that was the woman’s name) removed the pendant from around her neck and held it out to Phoenix.
“Here, I want you to hold onto this for me. I feel like I can trust you. I can, right?”
Phoenix delicately took the pendant from her hands and began to place it around his own neck. “You want to give me your necklace? Is…is that your way of asking me out? Because if so, yes!”
For the first time during their conversation, Dahlia seemed to hesitate for a moment. Her eyes flashed with a sharp look that Phoenix didn’t notice before she replied, “yes, yes it is. I’d like for you to be my boyfriend…Feenie.”
Phoenix beamed, and Dahlia smiled back. The pair were both basking in the moment when heavy boots thundering down the stairs stole their attention away.
“Everybody freeze! This is the police! A man has been poisoned and we’ll be asking everyone questions! The more you all cooperate the faster we can let you leave,” a cop shouted.
Phoenix froze, but Dahlia seemed remarkably calm. She leaned into him and whispered, “We have nothing to worry about, Feenie. You and I have both been down here the entire time, right? And neither of us saw anything. Just tell them that, and it’ll all be okay.”
He took a deep breath before whispering “yeah, you’re right. We have nothing to worry about. Thanks, Dollie.”
November 4, 2013, 4:23 p.m.
It was a while before Phoenix returned to the courthouse library after that day. He had been pretty shaken up by the whole thing, and he found out from the news that no suspects had been detained in the frantic search. He didn’t need to go back there anyway; everything he needed was right on campus, including his Dollie.
She had just left Phoenix and Larry’s dorm room with her signature lilting of “bye, Feenie!” when Larry spoke up.
“Things seem to be going pretty well with her, huh man?”
“Oh yeah! We’re so in love, I don’t even remember the last time I’ve felt this close with anyone! And she even made me this sweater! Can you believe it?! I’m gonna wear this every day to feel close to her even when we’re apart!” Phoenix beamed as he pulled the bright pink knit sweater over his head.
“Yeah man, that’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about. You’ve never fallen for someone so hard and fast. Like, it’s a little scary,” Larry said hesitantly.
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
“Well, in my psych class we’ve been talking about intense emotions, and like, how they can be transferred from one thing to another. Y’know when you’re angry at like, a math problem, but then your buddy tries to talk to you and you accidentally take your anger out on them?”
“Yeah? What’s that got to do with me and Dollie?”
“I think…no offense, but I think you might’ve done that with love.” They both sat still, waiting for the other to continue. Larry broke the silence first. “You like, just got over whatever mushy shit you were feeling towards Edgy when you met Dahlia. And like I said, I’ve never seen you fall for someone so hard and fast before. Especially someone who’s more my type than yours. Are you sure the two aren’t like, related?”
Phoenix began to process what Larry was implying. “Are you saying that I’m using Dollie as a placeholder for Miles?! What the fuck, man! I would never do that!”
“Whoa, hey, I wasn’t accusing you of shit, I’m just worried about you man. I don’t want you to get your heart broken like Annette did to me.”
“You and Annette dated for like two weeks. What Dollie and I have is true love!” Phoenix stood and began to leave the room, red-faced from anger and unshed tears.
“Nicky, wait!” Larry shouted. The door slammed behind his best friend.
April 11, 2014, 3:16 p.m.
The trial of Dahlia Hawthorne was over. She was going to prison, for good. Phoenix sat on the courtroom lobby couch, feeling like his whole world had just collapsed in front of him. He looked up when he felt the couch shift next to him. His attorney, Mia Fey, had joined him.
“Thank you for all your help today. You really saved the day in there, Phoenix,” she said.
“Are you kidding?! I should be thanking you! If it weren’t for your level head, I would be the one going to prison right now instead of…instead of her,” Phoenix replied. He laughed awkwardly, flinching at the idea of saying her name.
“Yeah, you were in deep with that girl. I mean, who eats evidence to save someone who framed them for murder? You’re lucky you’re alive.”
Phoenix looked down, embarrassed and still deep in thought. They sat in awkward silence for a moment before Phoenix spoke up. “You know, this may sound crazy, but I was actually thinking about becoming a lawyer myself. And watching you in court today, the way you fought for my innocence no matter how much I tried to screw it up, it really inspired me.”
“Really? Me?” Mia blinked in disbelief. She was basically a rookie herself, after all.
“Yeah! I’ve decided, I’m changing my major. I’m going to become a lawyer!” Phoenix declared. He stood from the couch, feeling triumphant, and had a smile on his face for the first time since Dahlia’s true nature began to show through in the trial. Mia stood and faced him.
“Well, I love the determination. If you need a contact in the legal world, or a job after you pass the bar exam, give me a call.”
She handed Phoenix a business card from Grossberg Law Offices. He took it, thanked her, and let the bailiff lead him out of the lobby.
Mia didn’t need to know Phoenix’s real motivation for becoming a lawyer. His plan to run into Miles in the courthouse library had ultimately blown up in his face and nearly landed him a murder charge. Phoenix’s one lucky break was that Miles wasn’t the one prosecuting his trial. He didn’t know what he would've done if that was how the man first saw him again.
I wonder if Miles will hear about this case… I wonder if he’ll realize that it’s me. Or if he’ll care.
That thought did give Phoenix the idea, however, for how to force Miles to see him again once and for all. There was one place that Miles wouldn’t be able to avoid facing Phoenix no matter how much he tried. That place was across the courtroom bench. Phoenix was going to become a defense attorney if it killed him, to find the man he cared so deeply about, and to save the prosecutor from himself before it was too late.
April 12, 2014, 2:38 a.m.
Phoenix lay on his bed, staring at the plaster ceiling, and relived all the events of the day in his mind. He was completely exhausted, but his thoughts continued to race, preventing sleep.
Dahlia was a murderer this whole time…the day we met, she was the person the police were looking for. How is that even possible? My sweet Dollie secretly being so cold and calculated? It doesn’t make any sense. And now that it’s over…was Larry right all along? As soon as they took her away, it was like a switch flipped in my heart and the only person I could think of was…him. I have to find him again. I have to know that I can still trust him. I want to trust him, so badly. I refuse to let her change that part of me. She doesn’t have control over me anymore.
He didn’t believe that last thought, not yet. As it formulated in his brain, the sobs he’d been wanting to let loose all night finally freed themselves. His throat heaved as he tried to remain silent to not wake Larry, snoring peacefully across the room. Phoenix’s dark, puffy eyes finally closed as the last sob left his body, and he fell into fitful sleep.