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When he woke, Klavier realized three things.
The first thing he noticed was the pain running up his backside and down either leg. He shifted a bit, trying to sit up, but hissed in pain when his muscles flared. He didn’t feel any blood or open wounds, thank god, but he must have looked pretty battered from all the bruises he felt forming along his limbs.
The second thing was the fuzziness of the world around him. A strange blur lined every object, and he couldn’t for the life of him tell where he was. Of course, his glasses must have fallen off—and he wasn’t wearing his contact lenses to make up for it. Still, even without his glasses, Klavier was usually able to somewhat make out the shape and size of his surroundings... but now, it was as if someone had taken a cloth to a wet painting, smearing his vision until the world was an unrecognizable blob.
The third thing he noticed was the earthquake.
Klavier gulped, latching onto the ground beneath him like a lifeline. He’d experienced plenty of earthquakes before; they were just another part of Los Angeles life. His brain stirred up vague memories of emergency training videos from elementary school. He had to find cover, right? Or, wait... wasn’t he supposed to stay in the open? Or was that for hurricanes? Or thunderstorms? Why couldn’t he think straight?
The shaking beneath him intensified. Okay, shelter it is. Klavier fought the pain and managed to stand up, but then he was faced with a dilemma—which way should he go? Every direction looked the same, so it wouldn’t matter which way he went, right?
Klavier picked a random direction, took three shaky steps, and tripped.
He expected to hit the hard ground. But he found himself falling past where he’d stood, further, faster, plummeting what must have been dozens of feet. Distantly, someone cried out in horror, and his body suddenly jerked to stop mid-fall. Long, leathery cylinders pinned his arms to his sides, and his legs dangled freely. A gust of wind rustled his hair as a sigh sounded from above.
Then a booming voice spoke.
“…You scared me, Klavier.” Klavier was overcome with vertigo as he was suddenly lifted, swayed, and deposited on the surface where he’d woken up. “What were you thinking? You could have gotten hurt.”
“…H–Herr Forehead?” Klavier dared to ask. He hated how scared he sounded. “Is that you?”
“Yeah, it’s me. How are you feeling?”
Klavier gulped, still shaken from his apparent near-death experience. He hugged himself tightly, trying to calm down and take inventory of his thoughts. What was happening? Why was Apollo Justice here with him? How did he stop falling? Why was everything so damn loud? “M–my glasses,” he murmured. “Th–the earthquake... M–my glasses.”
“These things?” Something massive moved in his peripheral, and then the minuscule sound of glass and plastic clattered in front of him. “They were broken when I found you... Sorry.”
Klavier was frozen in place. His glasses were obviously right in front of him, free for him to grab, but he couldn’t bring himself to budge lest he plummet back over the edge. “Ach, that’s… that’s alright, Herr Forehead, but… I–I don’t want to fall again.”
“Oh, right,” Apollo whispered. “I’m sorry, that must have been scary. How about I move you to the couch?”
“Ja,” Klavier replied, unsure why it mattered much. “C–can I ask for your hand, please? I can’t see where I’m going.”
Somewhere above, Apollo chuckles quietly. “I’m not sure you could get there by yourself. I’ll just carry you.”
Klavier simply nodded, not even thinking how Apollo Justice, the shortest man in the courtroom, could possibly carry him. He moved to stand again, focused on keeping his balance. But he didn’t notice two large, tan-coloured blurs approaching from either side in his frazzled state. By the time they caught his attention, they had drifted beneath his legs, sweeping him off the distant ground.
He screamed.
“No, no, it’s okay! Don’t be scared!” Apollo’s voice was tinged with concern, but it only made Klavier scream louder. “Listen, I’ll… I’ll just be one second. Hold still.”
“Put me down!” he hollered, hoping that the angry tone would disguise the sobs he was suppressing. Something leathery and fleshy was pinning him down, and all he could do was squirm and flail his legs. “Put me down, p—please! Put me down!”
Surprisingly, his wish was granted rather quickly. Klavier grunted as he tumbled out of the offending grip and onto the plushy fabric of what must have been the sofa. He moaned as his bruises were aggravated from the rough landing.
“I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean... A–are you okay?!”
“What’s going on?” Klavier spat, scooting backwards and clutching his stomach. “Where am I? Tell me!”
“I know you have a lot of questions,” Apollo said from somewhere overhead, “and I’ll tell you everything I know.” He paused. “Just... please calm down.”
“I am calm.”
“No, you’re not. You need to breathe.” Once again, something in his vision shifted, and then an object fell into his lap—his glasses. “Here. They’re cracked, but they should work for now.”
Klavier fumbled with the lenses for a minute, running his thumb over the edges. The right earpiece was bent outwards at an awkward angle, and there were cracks in the glass, but at least they were still mostly intact. He shakily placed them over his eyes, bracing himself for what he was about to see. This wasn’t going to be pretty.
“There we go,” Apollo said as he took form. Klavier blinked twice, thrice, as his vision adjusted itself. “I’ll replace them for you, okay?”
Klavier gulped, finding himself face-to-face with a massive swatch of red. He forced himself to look up ten, twenty, nearly thirty feet... way up at a looming face. “You...” his voice trailed off as he craned his neck just high enough to catch a glimpse of the man’s bright brown eyes looming from above. “You’re a...”
“Shh, calm down.” Apollo, towering far above where Klavier sat, crouched to put himself at Klavier’s level. Klavier’s breath hitched in his throat, and his eyes popped out of his skull. “I’m not gonna hurt you,” Apollo murmured, smiling sadly. “I know this is scary… but you can trust me, okay? I just want to help.”
“You’re a giant,” Klavier breathed. He tried to force himself to look away, curl into a ball and block his overwhelmed senses, but he couldn’t tear his gaze away from the colossal face taking up his entire peripheral. From the flecks of green dotting his brown eyes to the slightest burn marks that marred his cheek, every detail on Apollo’s face stood out. Klavier began shaking. Every inch of him trembled under the scrutinizing gaze of an impossibly large being. “I–I’m dreaming… aren’t I?”
“Can I make you something to eat?” Apollo asked softly, dodging the question. “You’ve been unconscious for five hours. You must be starving.”
“Five hours?” At this revelation, his stomach began to grumble lowly. Maybe he was in a coma, and this situation was some strange lucid dream. It would explain a lot, namely why Apollo was a giant and offering to cook him dinner. How was he supposed to respond? Did he even have a choice?
What would happen if he said no?
“Ja,” Klavier whispered. “I–I’ll eat.”
Apollo lit up. “I hope pizza is okay.” He backed away before standing to his full height. “I don’t have much human-sized food, but it should be easy enough for you to eat.”
Klavier felt himself go numb at those words. Human-sized. “Pizza is f–fine, thank you.”
Apollo nodded and stepped out of sight. The clattering of pans and the thump of a closing fridge door punctuated the constant patter of rain from the rooftop. Klavier exhaled and leaned back, choosing not to focus on the vastness of the giant home. He refused to acknowledge the sofa that stretched dozens of meters across, the doorway that rivalled the height of skyscrapers, or the fact that the room could easily fit multiple football fields.
It was all too much. Klavier closed his eyes tightly and tried to pretend he was somewhere else.
For a little while, it almost worked.
Then the front door creaked open and else walked inside. Another giant.
Klavier shot up so quickly that he almost pulled a muscle. He glanced around frantically; he was in the middle of the centre cushion on an enormous sofa with no safe way to get down. Where was he supposed to hide? Maybe the drop to the floor wasn’t so bad? But his fear froze him in place as the door swung open further, and the new giant entered the living room.
“I’m here!” the newcomer called, tossing his dripping hoodie haphazardly on a nearby coat rack. “Sorry about the wait. I came as fast as I could.”
“Mr. Wright!” A pan clattered, and Apollo bolted into the living room to see Phoenix Wright, somehow even taller than Apollo. Apollo began dragging Phoenix towards the sofa and positioned him right in front of Klavier. “Thank you… I’m so sorry. I wouldn’t have called if it wasn’t serious.”
Phoenix blinked as his mismatched gaze finally landed on Klavier’s trembling form. “Oh my god,” he breathed, looming over him, “you weren’t kidding.”
Klavier flinched. He wasn’t keen on being marvelled at like a circus attraction, much less by people over ten times taller than himself. He tried to say something, anything, but the words came out as a single strangled sob.
“Ah, geez,” Apollo muttered, rubbing his neck. “I’m sorry, Klavier. We don’t mean to scare you.”
Phoenix frowned, pulling Apollo roughly away from the couch. “Does he know where he is?” he asked, quietly enough that Klavier had to strain to hear.
“I don’t think so. I was gonna explain everything over dinner—”
“Well, no wonder he’s so upset,” Phoenix snapped. “You didn’t think to explain at all?”
“I didn’t mean anything by it!” Apollo threw his hands up in surrender. “I just don’t want to push him. He’s been in a frenzy… and I wanna wait until he’s calmed down.”
Klavier ignored the ambient arguing as he shimmied across the sofa towards a nearby coffee table. If he could just climb onto the table, the drop would be a lot shorter than descending the couch itself. It wasn’t a great plan, but it was something. And with the two giants distracted, he had a golden opportunity to make a break for it.
But as luck would have it, Apollo’s eyes landed on Klavier as he reached the armrest.
“Hey!”
“Don’t—”
The two cried out simultaneously, moving much faster than Klavier could register with his weary, panicked mind. Apollo stretched a hand out, intent on scooping Klavier up, but his wrist was seized by Phoenix mid-reach.
“No grabbing!” Phoenix hissed.
But the damage had already been done. Klavier had flung himself off the sofa in a last-ditch attempt to avoid being snatched up by an enormous hand. He soared for about two seconds before tumbling to the carpet, writhing in pain.
“Shit!” Phoenix gasped, dropping to all fours. His body shadowed Klavier entirely, blocking out the light from the lightbulb above. “Are you alright?!”
“S–stop it!” Klavier choked, scooting backwards to escape the looming presence. His glasses fell off at some point, but he didn’t bother trying to find them again. He had to get away. “Leave me alone!”
“Please, we just want to help,” Phoenix pleaded. “Wait, what are you—”
“Get away!!” Ignoring his pain for a fleeting moment, Klavier made a mad dash beneath the sofa, tucking himself into the corner of the room. The underside of the couch was cloaked in darkness and dust. “I w–w–want... I–I–I...”
“It’s okay, Klavier,” Apollo said quietly, his voice somehow still booming despite barely speaking above a whisper. “Take your time.”
For a moment, everything was deathly still. Klavier struggled to breathe, and his body was throbbing from constant abuse. But he dared not move, especially with the two blurry pairs of hands mere feet in front of him. The fit would be tight, but the giants could definitely reach under the couch and drag him into the open. The thought was terrifying.
“I’m sorry we scared you,” Phoenix began, lowering his voice. “Can you come out so we can talk properly?”
Klavier shook his head. “N–nein. No.”
“Okay, that’s… that’s fine. We can talk like this.”
“I want to go home,” Klavier growled, although it was hard to sound intimidating when his voice cracked so much. “I want to go home right now.”
Apollo’s hand twitched. “Klavier—”
“No!” Klavier shouted, ignoring how it caused his whole body to ache. “I want to take a taxi back to my apartment! P–please, I just want to go home!”
“It’s a little complicated right now.” Phoenix let out a sigh. “We’ll get you home soon, we promise. Just… not right now.”
“Why not?!”
“Well—”
Distantly, the oven chirped.
Apollo cleared his throat awkwardly. “I think dinner is ready.”
“I–I’m not coming out,” Klavier wavered, pressing his body against the wall. “I’m staying under here.”
To his credit, Apollo didn’t argue with that. “We’ll bring you a plate, then. We can eat out here.”
“I’ll get it,” Phoenix called, quickly moving towards the kitchen. Klavier kept his eyes locked on the fuzzy image of his sandals as they trekked to the kitchen before vanishing from sight.
“I guess you want an explanation,” Apollo said lamely.
Klavier nodded, then realized belatedly Apollo wouldn’t be able to see it. However, it didn’t matter since Apollo seemed to take Klavier’s silence as agreement.
“We didn’t really want you to find out like this… but Mr. Wright and I are sizeshifters. We can change how big we are. I don’t know how or why… we’ve just always been able to do it.”
“I’ve never seen you this large,” Klavier wavered, “…I used to tease you for being short.”
Apollo chuckled a bit. “Yeah, I try not to draw attention to myself. I stay human-sized in public whenever I can. I’m pretty good at keeping it under control nowadays.” His hands folded together, and his thumb began spinning his bracelet nervously. “But being human-sized takes a lot of energy… and I’ve kept myself small for almost a week straight. I come out here on weekends to let myself recover.”
Klavier supposed that made some sense in hindsight. He rarely saw Apollo outside of court, and attempts to spend time with him on Friday nights were always shut down. Now, did he expect Apollo to be a magic size changer? Of course not. But at least Klavier now knew that he wasn’t being rejected for being unlikeable.
“I know this is a lot to take in,” Apollo began, his voice softening. “And I’m sorry for making this hard on you. We won’t hurt you... we just want to help.”
With great hesitation, Klavier crept towards the open, peeked out, and tentatively looked upwards. He scanned Apollo’s looming face, struggling to make out the twitch of his lips and the way his eyebrows furrowed—damn this stupid nearsightedness—but he couldn’t find a trace of insincerity. Klavier had no magic bracelet of his own, but Apollo was being truthful as far as he could tell.
Footsteps sounded from the kitchen. Klavier scrambled back under the couch just as Phoenix returned with three plates, all expertly balanced on a single arm. “I don’t know how much you’ll eat,” he mumbled, sliding a huge plate halfway under the couch, “so you can just have a full slice. We’ll pack up whatever you don’t touch.”
Klavier waited until Phoenix’s hand vanished from beneath the couch before inching forward. He froze at the sight of an impossibly large slice of pepperoni pizza. His legs turned to jelly at yet another grim reminder of his predicament. The pizza stretched farther than he could stand, dwarfing him easily. But then again, he was pretty hungry.
Carefully—and silently—Klavier inched forward. He reached for the slice and tore a piece away, ignoring the sauce and crumbs sticking to his fingers. He fumbled with it for a moment before taking a hesitant bite. It was pretty good.
From afar, he could hear Phoenix and Apollo chewing their own slices. He was glad he didn’t have to witness food larger than himself being consumed within seconds. He focused on his own pizza, trying to block out everything else.
After a few minutes, Apollo spoke. “I know you probably have a lot of questions for us. We’ll answer as many as we can, okay?”
Klavier thought for a moment. After a bit of hesitation, he abandoned the pizza and once again crawled back towards the light so he could actually see Phoenix and Apollo. “What happened to me?” was the first thing he decided to ask. He wanted to get a sense of what had occurred in the last few hours. “And where am I, exactly?”
“We’re a few hours north of L.A.,” Phoenix replied. “Near the Mojave Desert. It’s close enough for us to get to court on time but remote enough that we won’t be seen. As for what happened to you… we’re still trying to find out. You were badly bruised and half-unconscious when Apollo found you.”
Apollo frowned deeply, scratching the side of his head. “Do you... remember anything? Anything at all?”
Klavier looked away, focusing on the question so he wouldn’t start panicking again. “I believe that I was kidnapped,” he replied softly, staring at the floor. “Four men in ski masks. They said something about a large ransom… although I’m not sure who they were trying to extort.”
“Kidnapped?!” Apollo’s voice rose in volume and pitch, piercing Klavier’s poor ears. “Jesus Christ! No wonder you’re so beat up!”
“Watch your volume, Apollo,” Phoenix hissed with a wince. Klavier found himself flinching as well—Apollo’s famous Chords of Steel were even more deafening now that he was so huge. Phoenix turned his head to look back at Klavier. “So these men kidnapped you… and then what?”
“I was running away from a car. Their car, I think. I must have escaped somehow. And then… I fell down?” Klavier’s features scrunched as he struggled to recall what happened next. “...I don’t remember anything after that.”
“You probably collapsed from heat exhaustion.” Phoenix slumped over. “I wish we knew who those people were... They might try to hurt you again.”
Before Klavier could think to respond, Apollo suddenly spoke up. “Mr. Wright? Do we still have that old furniture lying around?”
Phoenix scratched his head. “It’s in my room, I think. You want to keep him around for a bit?”
“I don’t feel safe letting him go home yet,” Apollo admitted. “I can take him back to L.A. later, but… I’m scared.”
“In that case,” Pheonix replied, brushing off his pants and rising to a stand, “I’m going to make some rounds and see if I can find anything near the roads. Might go into town for a bit, too.”
“Will you be okay?”
Phoenix waved him off. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” He shuffled his feet and faced the sofa. “Hey, Klavier? I’m going out for a bit.”
Klavier stiffened. He’d zoned out and missed the conversation, and hadn’t processed that Phoenix was about to leave the house. “Wh–where are you going, Herr Wright?”
“Back to the spot where Apollo found you. I’m going to see if I can track down the car your kidnappers used.” Phoenix smiled, though Klavier couldn’t see it from his vantage point. “Apollo will take care of you, okay? He’s gonna get you set up with a bed for tonight.” Before Klavier could voice an objection, Phoenix moved to leave. “Behave yourselves while I’m gone, you two. I’ll be back by morning.”
And with that, Phoenix lumbered away. The front door clicked ominously behind him.
Neither human nor sizeshifter said anything at first. Klavier went back beneath the couch and munched nervously on his pizza for a few minutes while Apollo fiddled with something out of Klavier’s sight. The silence was deafening, but someone would have to break it eventually.
Apollo broke first.
“I, uh… I’m gonna get your bed set up.” He shuffled awkwardly. “Will you be alright if I leave you alone for a few minutes?”
Klavier stared blankly at the floor. “I won’t run away, if that’s what you mean.”
“No, I didn’t… I didn’t mean it like that,” Apollo mumbled. Klavier couldn’t decide if Apollo felt annoyed or guilty. “Um… okay. I’ll be right back.”
Klavier didn’t reply. He simply propped his chin onto his knees and fell silent. He didn’t notice when Apollo left the room, nor did he realize when he returned. His whole body felt numb, and his breath was bating and shallow. It was like his body was just waiting for something terrible to happen.
Is this what a panic attack was? Maybe. Klavier had no idea.
When Apollo spoke up after silently returning, it took all of Klavier’s willpower not to scream again.
“I hope these work for you.” Apollo knelt down and cradled a small black object in his hands. He stuck one arm inside—it must’ve been a bag or box—and began to rummage around for something. “Sometimes Mr. Wright and I can get stuck at the wrong sizes… so we bought furniture to use in case we couldn’t grow back to normal.”
After some hesitation, Klavier dared to inch forward, slowly peeking his head out from beneath the couch. He turned his attention to the mysterious thing in Apollo’s lap, intentionally avoiding looking at his face. “What is it?”
Apollo blinked, staring at Klavier oddly for a bit. He cleared his throat and tore his eyes away. Maybe he was just being polite, or perhaps he felt awkward too. “It’s, um, just some furniture. Human furniture. And some other things, like pencils and paper.”
“Ah.” Despite his overwhelming anxiety, Klavier was still rational enough to remember that Phoenix and Apollo were going to great lengths to accommodate him. And this was just after troubling themselves to save his life from kidnappers. He should thank them properly once he could speak without stammering like an idiot.
“Here we go.” Apollo’s hand emerged from the bag, sliding a mortal-sized bedframe next to Klavier. The blanket’s fabric was a green and blue patchwork collage— probably homemade, although the stitching left something to be desired. Klavier thought briefly about fixing it up, but he remembered that he didn’t know how to sew. “Try this out,” Apollo urged. “See how you like it.”
Klavier tentatively obliged. He rolled over the blanket and slipped his arms beneath the pillow, burying his face into it. The fabric smelled of age and dust, and the seams were fraying slightly, but it was otherwise decently comfortable. The overlaying blanket was very cozy, albeit thick and heavy, so he struggled to move it around. “It’s nice,” he finally said. What else was there to say? “I can use this tonight, then?”
Apollo nodded. “I’m sorry we don’t have anything better… It’s been a long time since any of us used this stuff. I can try patching it up later if you want.”
“That’s okay,” Klavier replied, squirming to get comfortable. “It’s not like I’ll be using it for long.”
Klavier was moreso talking to himself than to anyone else, and he pointedly ignored the way Apollo stared at him incessantly. Klavier would get to go home soon enough— all he had to do was keep riding this wave of terror and uncertainty.
He would manage.
“Ach… I’m sorry, but… will I be sleeping down here, or…?”
The question appeared to throw Apollo off. “Oh! Um, well… I’ve got a few options, depending on what would make you happier.”
Klavier’s eyebrow cocked. “Ja?”
Apollo lifted a finger. “Option one, you can stay here. I’ll get you light and some water so you won’t need to come out for anything.” A second finger rose. “Option two is sleeping in my room. You can crash on my bedside table.”
“Is there a third choice where I can sleep in my apartment?” Klavier asked timidly. Apollo’s face fell sadly. “Ach, I’m sorry. I know I’m already asking too much. Um… can I stay under here?”
“You’re not asking too much, Klav. It’s okay.” Klav? Was that a new nickname? Klavier kind of liked it. “Is there anything you need before you go to sleep? I can grab you some water in case you get thirsty.”
“Sleep? But I just woke up.”
“You just woke up from being unconscious. You need rest.”
“I see.” Klavier did feel pretty exhausted, although he doubted that he’d be able to sleep right away. “In that case, water would be great.” He forced a half-hearted smile. “Thank you, Herr Forehead.”
Apollo smiled back as he rose to a stand, moving carefully to not be imposing or frighten Klavier. But despite his valiant efforts, Klavier still flinched violently, instinctively retreating out of the bed and back beneath the sofa. Apollo let out a defeated sigh as he left for the kitchen to fetch the water.
Now, Klavier couldn’t quite recall what happened next. One moment, he was sitting down on the ground, but the next, he was bundled in the patchwork blankets, lying in the bed Apollo had brought for him. A bottle cap sat next to the bed, filled halfway with fresh water and some crushed ice.
Snores rang out from the other side of the room, and if Klavier squinted, he could barely make out the form of Apollo curled up on the floor, bundled in various blankets. He hadn’t even claimed the sofa that Klavier slept under, even though it would’ve made for a comfier bed than the carpet. Perhaps Apollo didn’t want to scare him. Klavier was rather touched at the thought.
Maybe Phoenix was right, Klavier realized: Apollo would take good care of him.
Klavier drifted into a fitful sleep, comforted by the thought of Apollo being nearby.