Work Text:
1.
The new kid was wearing a red suit. That's the first thing that sticks out about Miles Edgeworth. The second thing that Phoenix notices is that Miles would rather keep the company of a book rather than people. Miles is a quiet, shy kid, easy to look over, and easy to underestimate.
Then the class trial happens.
Phoenix stands there, frozen in fear. How could everyone turn against him so easily? It wasn't fair. Then Miles, quiet, unassuming Miles had stepped in and completely turned the tables on the entire situation. At that moment, Phoenix knew that he had been wrong to go along with everyone else's assessment of Miles. Miles was special, far more complex than what the average person saw.
As Phoenix and Miles grew closer, Phoenix came to love the color red. Blue was still his favorite, but whenever he saw the flash of Miles's suit out of the corner of his eye, a warmth filled him. That color represented passion for Phoenix, Miles's passion, and the friendship that grew between them till they were inseparable.
Then Miles left, out of the blue, and Phoenix still looked for the flash of a red suit jacket out of the corner of his eye.
2.
Her hair was red. The reddest Phoenix had ever seen. Phoenix was so drawn in by the color the first time he saw her, that he had not taken care to notice the danger lying beneath, coiled and ready to strike. Dahlia was clever, so clever, and Phoenix had been duped by her honeyed words and false promises.
When he ate the glass bottle, he would've liked to believe he wasn't thinking straight at the time. But in his heart, he knew that he was never more aware of what he was doing. He was too in love to care.
The blood dripped from his mouth and onto the floor, and all Phoenix could see was red, red, red.
As Dahlia was taken away in handcuffs, her words still echoed in Phoenix's mind, as potent as the poison stored in the bottle.
Phoenix now decided that he hated the color red.
3.
Miles was back, but he had changed. The boy he once knew had been replaced with a cold hard surface, resistant to anyone getting in. Phoenix was determined to break through that shell, to pick away at the ice until it cracked and gave way.
His suit had changed too. Once a primary red, it was now a deep maroon. Phoenix, still an artist despite his change in career, knew that maroon was a brownish crimson color, a mix of the red he once knew and a combination of all the colors at once. This was fitting, Phoenix realized, in how the color had changed because Miles himself had changed. Miles was no longer the little boy he once knew. Phoenix called him Edgeworth in public, but he would always be Miles in Phoenix's head and heart.
Slowly, very slowly, Phoenix began to break the ice surrounding Miles's heart. He proved that Miles's nightmare was just that, a nightmare, and resolved the shadow of the DL-6 case that had held itself over Miles's head for so long. He thought he had at least endeared himself to Miles a bit. He had, in a way, although Miles was still skittish and often snapped at him. That was ok with Phoenix. He could be patient with Miles, for Miles.
Then suddenly Miles was gone once again, along with the color red from Phoenix's life.
Franziska was blue, ice blue, just like the coldness that radiated from Miles's being. Phoenix missed the color red, but he carried on, missing Miles every time he saw red in the world around him. A fire hydrant, an awning to a building, all of it served as a reminder of what Phoenix had lost.
Miles returning from his supposed grave was a nasty shock, then. That deep maroon was back, and Phoenix found himself overstimulated by the color. He could barely look at it. That shade, the one Phoenix thought he lost was now a symbol of his reconnection with Miles, but it was also tainted by the bitterness Phoenix held because of Miles's actions.
Miles, for his part, was warmer. The ice was still there, but there were large chips in the cold armor. Miles's worldview had shifted, and Phoenix found himself proud of Miles's growth. He came to love that red again, he would never pay attention to any other red that he saw at that point in time. For Phoenix, the only red that he cared about was the familiar shade of Miles's suit.
4.
Phoenix was baffled by Godot. He didn't know how one man, one who had never met him, could hold so much contempt for him. Every day in court, he stared back at the bright, red, glowing horizontal lines of Godot's eye shield, glowing even in the brightness of the courtroom.
Much like the DL-6 case, the truth slowly unraveled itself into the biggest case of Phoenix's career. Everything had been leading to this. He now understood the red, the irony of Godot's color blindness, his blindness to the truth, and the spectral return of Dahlia. Phoenix knew that red, while a color representing passion, hope, and love, could also be associated with betrayal, mistrust, and false pretenses. Phoenix had learned to care for the color again, but he also learned to be wary of it.
If only he had known how soon the color red would change his life.
5.
The new lawyer's suit was bright red. Brighter than Miles's childhood suit, and a sudden assault to the senses. It helped Apollo stand out amongst the brown of the courtroom.
But Phoenix couldn't bring himself to care about the color, he was numb to it, even. All that consumed his thoughts was a periwinkle suit and a polite smile, hiding the snake inside Kristoph that was hiding in the grass, ready to strike an unassuming person who happened to walk by. That person was Phoenix.
Eventually, Phoenix realized that the red of Apollo's suit was the perfect clash against Kristoph's periwinkle. Apollo could bring Kristoph to his knees. All Apollo needed was a little push in the right direction, and Phoenix would set into motion the careful poker game that he was playing with Kristoph from the very beginning. Red had now become a symbol of potential, Apollo's potential. For the first time in seven years, Phoenix could see a way out.
And so Phoenix did what had to be done.
6.
Apollo had punched him in the face. Phoenix supposed he should've expected this, given his misdirection, an illusion of the mind, hiding the falsified poker card within the stack of Apollo's evidence.
Apollo, for his part, took the bait and was able to turn the tables without being caught. Phoenix decided to tell Apollo the truth. The only way Apollo would grow a lawyer was if he learned to see past the illusion Phoenix had cast.
Apollo's expectations had faltered after that, and Phoenix couldn't blame him. The red drop of blood on the card represented Phoenix's biggest success in his whole scheme, setting the series of events into motion that would change the course of his fate, but it was also his biggest failure in regard to his own morals. Phoenix didn't regret his actions, he couldn't. He had put too much into his schemes to stop now. But red became a sad color, one of disappointment, and a lack of faith.
7.
Phoenix was once again in blue. He belonged in this color. It was familiar to him, like an old but beloved coat that he could slip into could fit the shape of easily. It was armor that could protect him from the strongest hardships.
Phoenix himself had changed. His time out of the courtroom had made him nervous to enter again. He didn't trust himself to blink, lest he would find himself in a nightmare where nothing had changed and his badge was still gone. That never happened though, and Phoenix's confidence eventually recovered.
Miles had changed once again as well. The ice that surrounded him had fully melted, leaving only fondness and trust between him and Phoenix. He had missed Miles, missed the familiar color of Miles's suit, and Phoenix was motivated by Miles's faith in him. Miles belonged in that color, just like how Phoenix belonged in blue. The color red had become a prayer, a promise of better things ahead. There were no strings attached to the color, no more doubt, bitterness, and deceit in its meaning. Phoenix loved Miles, and Miles loved him back.
For the first time in a long time, Phoenix fell in love with the color red again.