Chapter Text
“Guilty.”
Her heels clicked on the floor in perfect sync.
Perfect record.
Don’t run. Walk, shoulders back, don’t run, don’t look like a fool, just leave this stupid foolish country with at least some of your pride in tact—
Skid.
Franziska caught herself mid-fall as she miss-stepped, heel twisting.
You can’t even walk properly. God, what a disgrace. Broken stride and broken record. Her throat went dry in that way it always did before she sobbed. Don’t cry in court. If you cry in court, it’s over. She tightened her fist more. No whip to grab onto, so she was just digging her nails into her palm more and more instead, biting her lip too, waiting for a taste of blood.
God.
Just get to the airport. Go back to a place that makes sense, to a place where lawyers weren’t stupid bluffing idiots or absentee little brothers.
Ugh, god, don’t think about him, he’s an idiot now too, he doesn’t even care about you anymore–
No, no, that’s a contradiction, he smiled today. For the first time since—.
She’s in her childhood bed.
Miles is reading her a fairy tale.
He’s reading her some foolish story about witches and talking animals.
She’s 11 years old and she knows she's far too old for this by now.
She yawns and burrows deeper into bed anyways.
It’s late.
She catches a glimpse of Miles, who smiles as she falls asleep.
His flight left the next day.
He didn’t smile at you. He smiled at That Man.
So? At least he was happy.
Yes. And it took That Man to make him happy. Not you, his older sister, but the fool who he knew for a year in elementary school. Really, what's the use of you? Can’t make your brother come back. Can’t win in court—
well, you did win this time. But you couldn’t have won without that man’s help.
A consolation prize.
A participation trophy.
Shut up—
“HEY! Franzy! Wait up!” Franziska jolted, stopping in her tracks and twisting around to find Maya Fey with her hands on her knees, wheezing in exertion.
“Do not call me that,” Franziska said, hand instantly going to her side to grab her whip— wait .
Oh, yeah. Her hand found empty air. She tightened her fist.
“Sorry!” The woman squeaked. She raised a finger to her chin in thought. “...Is Franny better?”
“No.”
“Ok, ok. Franziska, then.” Maya said, tucking her hands behind her back, expression shifting to… concern? “Are you… okay?”
Franziska felt her expression fall into shock before she could stop it. She quickly fixed her face into a frown, turning away from the spirit medium as she formulated an argument.
“That is hardly your concern.” Yes, a great rebuttal, now double down. “ Especially considering the fact that I prosecuted you on murder charges.”
Maya hummed in response. “I mean, yeah, but—no offense—you didn’t succeed.” she paused. Franziska did not object. That was a… factual statement, if not a convincing one. “But I mean, it’s water under the bridge, y’know?” She paused, fiddling with one of the beads in her hair.
“Anyway, I came over to invite you to dinner.”
Franziska shot the woman an icy stare over her shoulder. Maya’s face went red for some reason, and she shook her head wildly. “Sorry, wait, not with me!” She paused. “Well, yes with me. Gummy and Nick and Edgy and I are all headed to a celebratory dinner. I’m going to eat a burger again. Maybe ramen too.”
Franziska fully turned around to face the woman.
Was this some kind of joke? Some kind of mockery? An act of pity?
“And what is it that compels you to invite me?”
Maya’s face seemed to lose that joyful edge for just a second, and she frowned. “I just figured, y’know, since you helped us out a lot, helped out Adrian and Nick and everything… maybe you’d want to come celebrate?”
Franziska scoffed. “I have very little to celebrate, Miss Fey.” She gestured to her bandaged arm. “I was shot in the shoulder, my brother is a fool, and I am a failure.” She immediately covered her mouth.
She wasn’t supposed to say that last bit. That was the closing argument, meant only for herself, and she just threw it out there. She cast her gaze to the ground. Fool.
“You are NOT a failure!” Maya shouted. Franziska looked back up, to find Maya with her eyes ablaze and hands balled into fists—before she quickly put a hand to her mouth. “Sorry, that was loud. But it’s TRUE! What makes you think you’re a failure???” she crossed her arms, her pose heavily resembling that man for a moment.
For not being a lawyer, Miss Fey sure was great at cross examination.
…
Wait, that’s a good line.
Franziska fixed her posture and met Maya’s gaze.
“You really should consider a career as a defense attorney, Miss Fey. Your cross examinations are almost as reckless as Wright’s.”
Maya shook her head, ignoring the bait. “You’re deflecting!” She said, dramatically pointing an accusatory finger at Franziska. She looked at her outstretched arm, looked at Franziska, then slowly lowered her arm back down to her side.
“Ok, you’re not wrong. But, still, deflecting!” Maya crossed her arms again. “You don’t have to tell me what’s up, but, tell someone, ok? Maybe Edgeworth?” Maya fixed her with a genuinely somber gaze, one that managed to make Franziska feel actually a little guilty.
“Please?”
Franziska sighed. “Perhaps… that may be good.”
The woman grinned, not in her usually goofy way, but in a way that seemed almost…relieved. “Good. Now come on, come get some dinner with us.” She left no room for debate, spinning around on her feet and nearly skipping away without even checking to see if Franziska was following.
And, hesitantly, she did.
Ok, full disclosure, Maya did NOT think that would seriously work. I mean, she knew she could certainly be convincing—her “guilting Nick into free food” routine proved that well enough—and she knew she’d picked up some lawyer-y techniques from sis and Nick, but, wow , maybe she really should be a lawyer! Maybe she should start charging Nick for her services or something.
Maya made her way back to the client room to meet up with the gang, Franziska following behind like a lost cat.
In the client room, they found Nick, Gumshoe, and Pearl sitting down, quietly chatting—except Pearl, who was passed out cold, leaning against Nick like a life raft.
Nick, big brother slash paternal figure he was, gently stroked Pearl’s back, looking down at her fondly. At Maya’s approach, he looked up, and, spotting Franziska, did a total double take—he turned towards Maya, tilting his head at her, like, “how?” and she just smirked and shrugged.
“Where’s Edgeworth?” She asked quietly.
“Uh, he actually went to go find Franziska—”
“We are not on a first name basis, Phoenix Wright,” snapped Franziska.
Nick looked unimpressed. He just looked down at Pearl again, making sure Franziska hadn’t woken her. That’s how Maya knew he was beyond tired—he didn’t even flinch at Franziska’s words.
It didn’t help that she didn’t have a whip to crack.
“Ok. Edgeworth went to find Franziska von Karma. Better?” He gestured to Maya. “Seems you beat him to it, though.”
“Yep! Must be a Fey perk, y’know?” Maya winked.
She heard the doors fly open behind her, and spun around to see the aforementioned prosecutor make his dramatic entrance.
“Wright, I can’t find her. I’m afraid she may be running back to Germ—“ Edgeworth’s voice died as he spotted Franziska, who stared at him with a weird expression Maya couldn’t quite place.
“I see.” Edgeworth turned towards Maya and did his little gay half-bow thingy. “Well done, Miss Fey.”
And, okay, Maya was still mad at Edgeworth for making her big-brother slash best-friend think he was dead for a year , but damn a compliment did feel kinda nice.
Edgeworth walked over to his sister, who crossed her arms and just stared at him.
A foreign emotion flickered over her face, and it took Maya a very long moment to realize that Franziska was holding back tears .
“Give my sister and I some space, please.” Edgeworth said, frowning at the others. Nick quickly scooped up Pearl, who didn’t even stir. (God, when was the last time she’d gotten sleep??) Gumshoe opened the door for Nick and her, shutting it firmly behind him.
They sat criss-crossed on the floor again, and Maya watched Pearl as she slept.
She carefully combed through Pearl’s hair for a moment.
“Thank you for taking care of her, Nick.”
Nick chuckled with very little humor. “Of course, Maya. What else was I gonna do? Plus, she practically took care of me too, y’know.” He sighed, shuddering heavily. “Are you sure you actually wanna go out for dinner, Maya?”
Maya fiddled with her magatama.
“Hmm. Maybe takeout would be better.” She met Nick’s eyes. “Can we get Rami & Bo’s?” Nick smiled at her.
Oh, thank god. He can still do that. Good to know.
“We can get anything you want, Maya.”
“You realize you’re inviting me to get, like, five burgers and ramen bowls, right?”
Nick shrugged. “Yes. Besides, Edgeworths getting the bill anyway.”
“WOOO!!” Maya pumped her fists in the air, and the two laughed, but Nick’s smile grew solemn.
“You know we’re gonna need to talk about all this later, right?”
Maya nodded, bringing her knees up and resting her chin on them.
“Yeah, I know.” There was silence, for a moment. Nick made no move to fill it. “I hope Franny’s doing ok.” Nick raised an eyebrow.
“Did she approve of that nickname?”
“What she doesn’t know won’t hurt ‘er. Unlike you, she let me call her Franziska, so apparently I’m on a first name basis.” She grinned at Nick, who blew a raspberry in response. “But like, genuinely, though. She was being… weird earlier.”
“Weird how?” Nick asked.
“She was kinda… weirdly emotional?” Maya quickly recounted the two’s conversation from earlier as she pulled out her hair beads and began carding through her hair.
Oh god. She needed so many showers. Maya was gonna hike the water bill up so high. Nick was gonna go bankrupt.
Nick reacted as expected. “Huh. She said she was a failure??”
“I know, right?? Do you think all the perfection stuff is just a cover-up or something??” Maya said, biting at her nails a bit.
She should really get a pedicure later. She probably shouldn’t be biting at her nails. She was probably gonna get an infection in her nail beds and die or something after all of this.
Wait, when was the last time she'd had a tinnitus shot?? Or is it Tetanus? Wait, has Pearl ever even gotten her vaccines?? Oh god. Pearl was gonna die and it'd be all her fault,
“Maybe,” said Nick, snapping Maya back to attention. “Though, that does remind me of a certain someone who insists she’s doing fine after major emotional trauma.” Nick stared right at her.
“That’s funny. I know someone just like that, too.” Said Maya, puffing up her cheeks and staring right back, hoping to make Nick laugh.
He chuckled. Success!
“Yeah, I know. We’re both kinda messes, eh?”
Maya put a hand to her chest in mock offense. “Speak for yourself!” Nick rolled his eyes.
“No, but actually, Maya. You said Franziska’s attempt at prosecuting you for murder was ‘water under the bridge?’” Nick said, making little quote gestures with his fingers. “I know you were trying to make her feel better, but c’mon.”
Ugh she hated when he got all lawyer-y on her and turned her quotes around on her like this. Not fair.
“Ughhhhh ok fine it’s not ok but c’mon!! You and Edgey aren’t any better!” She threw her hands up in frustration.
Nick crossed his arms and stared at her straight-faced. “You’re deflecting.” Maya jumped, guilty as charged. ALAS! Her own rebuke from earlier comes boomeranging back! Curses!!
“Okaaaaay fine. Can we just, not unpack this right now? I promise I’ll have an actual conversation about my murder trial with Franziska if you promise to have an actual conversation about your murder trial with Edgeworth. Deal?”
She put out a hand.
“Deal.” Nick reached out to shake her hand… Only for her to pull her hand back at the last moment.
“Hehehe, too slow,” she said. Nick frowned, so she actually put her hand back out and gave Nick a pity handshake. They sat there for a bit, talking about everything and nothing, but mostly about what Maya wanted from Rami and Bo’s, which was basically the whole menu.
Soon after, Edgeworth opened up the door.
“Wright.”
“Edgeworth.” Wright groaned as he stood up, carefully cradling Pearl. “We’re doing takeout.” Edgeworth groaned.
“Ok. But we’re meeting at my apartment.” He lowered his voice a bit. “Franziska isn’t doing great. Your apartment is almost certainly an atrocity, and will only stress her out. We’ll meet at my apartment instead.”
“Edgeworth, you haven’t been home in a year, isn’t it gonna be dusty–”
“Wright, you’re lucky you’re being invited, as you’re sure to stress her out, too.” Edgeworth looked over at Gumshoe. “Detective. Go home. Your job is done.” He shooed the poor guy off. Gumshoe, who’d just been quietly twiddling his thumbs, looked up.
“Uh, sir, I was actually thinking about coming with you for dinner—“
Edgeworth sighed, whipped out his wallet, and threw a twenty at the detective, who scrambled to catch it.
“Go get Burger King, or something.” He paused. “And get some rest. You were just in a car accident, after all.”
“Oh, wow! Thanks, sir!” The detective saluted as he scrambled off, shouting one last goodbye to the group as he did.
Edgeworth turned towards Nick. “Wright. You and Miss Fey will take a taxi home, get a change of clothes and shower, and then call a taxi over to my apartment.”
Nick sputtered. “Edgeworth, how do you expect me to pay for a—“
Wallet still out, Edgeworth easily pulled out a thick silver credit card, pressing it into Nick’s chest. Nick, blushing furiously, gently took the card. Edgeworth, seeming to realize his incidental moment of Physical Touch™, withdrew his hand quickly, coughing a bit into his elbow to hide the pink on his face.
The two greatest attorneys of Japanifornia, everyone.
“Franziska and I will get the food. My apartment should be as I left it, and I will dust before your arrival.” He turned towards Maya with a much gentler look. “Miss Fey, please send me the address for the restaurant, as well as you, Pearl, and Wright’s orders. I will text you when we’ve arrived at my apartment. Take your time.”
Wow.
Edgeworth was alive, and he was being nice?? Maya really missed a lot while she was kidnapped, huh?
“Got it, Mr Edgeworth,” Maya said, already pushing Wright off towards the entrance, despite his protests.
“And Maya?”
“Yeah?”
He smiled. “Thank you for helping with Franziska.”