Chapter Text
Phoenix Wright, Lawyer, Friend and very. Very stupid.
He was 2 hours late to a meeting with his childhood friend, Phoenix rushed to get ready! Dressing fast without even showering, his bed head probably terminal at this point, hair spikes drooping down. He groaned. “I don’t have time for this…” he mumbled to himself. Rushing over to his bike outside. Smiling as he remembered it had been months since their last meeting. He was confused at how it had been Miles who asked this time. Usually Phoenix would have to go out of his way just for a short conversation. So this was a good breath of fresh air. He peddled as fast as he could to their meet up destination. It was only 10 minutes away on bike. So when he came up to the large oak tree in the middle of the park he was stumped… haha.
Miles was nowhere to be found. “He probably just got sick of waiting” Phoenix said with a chuckle. Though he had then noticed something, well stepped in something really. It was rather sticky, so when he lifted his foot up to check the bottom of it… he was perplexed. They looked like a clumped up mess of daisy and rose petals… something red sticking them together. Jumping when he smelt the iron… blood?... with flowers? And where he was supposed to meet with Miles no less. Something was clearly off. Had… had something happened? Was Miles here with a bouquet then got attacked by someone… or something?! Oh god! He immediately tried dialing him, with no answer… he tried his next best bet, Gumshoe. Also with no answer… had something happened to both of them?! he was really getting desperate as he decided to dial Franziska, who actually picked up!
When she did she opened up with the typical… sob?... huh? Franziska, not in the 6 years he's known her, has ever cried, let alone in front of Phoenix! “Franziska?... Is everything ok?” Phoenix asked her. Franziska, in response. Hung up on Phoenix without a word! What was going on? Ok, so he figured, his best bet was to sit down and recollect his thoughts. “Ok, so Miles has seemingly either disappeared or been turned into flowers by some secret Kurain thingy Maya has neglected to tell me about.” Phoenix said, though the 3rd possibility haunting the back of his mind… Hanahaki… no, I mean Miles has told everyone countless times he isnt in love with anyone, nor does he desire to be. So it couldn't be that. Also that's just an urban legend right? So no, he ruled it out as impossible.
Phoenix had biked his way back home about an hour later. Opening his apartment door. Laying down on the bed as he groaned… so, his best friend was not answering his phone and was probably missing, he assumed due to the fact he dialed him 55 times on the bike ride back home, taking a route that would take a lot more time to get back because he honestly wasn't paying attention. He was gone… like Maya was, for all he knows Miles could be tied down in some sickos basement and Phoenix does not have the luxury of a radio this time…
The next day he called Maya, after explaining the whole situation she frowned. Having flashbacks to her own time missing… to the dark cellar she was trapped in. Maya was gonna help before Phoenix shut her down. “Why not Nick?! You clearly need help! Why ca-” She is cut off by Phoenix hanging up.
Phoenix can’t lose her again, he wont risk it. He will go at this alone… No matter how matter how risky it is. That day he went back to the park. Pacing around over, and over and over. The whole tree for an hour. Though there was nothing new. He couldn't investigate. He's too destroyed by all this to make any sense of all this. He has known Miles almost his whole life. And now? He was gone. Phoenix was terrified…. He made a few more calls. He finally got a hold of Gumshoe. Phoenix immediately started talking. “DETECTIVE!!! Do you have any clue where Edgeworth is?!?!” Phoenix said with clear distress in his voice. So when Gumshoe answered with a sigh Phoenix got even more worried… “Gumshoe? Please, I know something is wrong! Please answer me!” Gumshoe let out a shaky breath. “He’s… He’s sick”
He began reciting what happened that day…
Miles had walked to the park to discuss a… matter with Phoenix. Having brought Gumshoe along with him. When arriving, Miles sat down on the bench near the large oak tree. Humming as he started talking to Gumshoe about how “improper it is for one’s diet to consist entirely of microwave ramen noodles”. They sat there for around an hour and thirty minutes. When Phoenix was nowhere to be seen they stood up… It was then Miles fell over, Gumshoe knelt down to check on him… Miles started coughing up saliva… then blood, and then blood, flowers and saliva. Gumshoe’s eyes widened as he saw what had occurred. He stood up, picking Miles up and rushing him to the hospital.
Phoenix was thinking, as if examining every word the man had just said… that sounded worryingly familiar to… to Hanahaki’s. No, that’s not real… right? That’s just a myth… an urban legend.
There's no way he actually has it. And who would he be in love with anyways? “Thanks Gumshoe.” he ended the call with a sigh. Phoenix got the location of the hospital Miles was in. After that he tried to calm himself down by talking to Maya, meeting up with her at a burger joint and trying to take the edge off.
“Nick? You look down. What’s up?” “What’s up” was Phoenix had a pretty good idea what Miles wanted to talk about in the park if… If he truly did have Hanahaki’s. Then it triggered when he waited for him to arrive. Then… was he love with him? Because, Phoenix… truly only thought of Miles as his friend. If Miles loves him, he can’t ave him.
____________________________________________________
Miles was choking, on a white hospital bed…