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The news first reaches Miles from none other than Detective Gumshoe, of all people, texting him about Wright using forged evidence, of all the preposterous accusations.
“It doesn’t look good, pal!” Detective Gumshoe had said over the phone. “Looks like the bar association is going to take his badge away.”
Miles had started at the mention of Wright getting his badge taken. It had felt almost like a coincidence—it couldn’t have been much more than two weeks since he gave up his own badge. Surely this wouldn’t last longer than the time he spent without it. Wright belonged in the courtroom—Miles still knows he wouldn’t say so, but he also knows that Wright thrives in the courtroom like he would nowhere else.
He knows, though, as soon as his call with Detective Gumshoe ends, there is someone else he should call—Maya Fey, Wright’s assistant. He wonders if she’s been busy with Kurain Village since Misty Fey’s death. He chooses not to dwell on that case too much.
“Ms. Fey. I trust you’ve been well?” he says when she picks up.
“I told you that you could call me Maya, you know,” she responds.
He sighs. “Fine. Maya, then.”
“I’m doing fine,” she says. “But you never call unless there’s something going on, so there’s gotta be something.”
“Have you seen Wright lately?” he asks.
“Nick?” she asks. “Why?”
“I… have recently come upon some information,” he admits. “Information that Wright has come upon some… trouble, so to speak.”
“Trouble? He’s always getting himself into some of that,” Ms. Fey says, but the slight hint of tension underneath her words betrays her. “He doesn’t need me to bail him out all the time, and Mia trusts him to hold his own. So it should be fine.”
“Trouble as in losing his badge, Maya,” Miles says with another sigh.
“Can’t you do something?” she asks, the tension spilling over in the form of her voice shaking slightly.
“I’m a prosecutor. I hold no sway over his badge,” he answers. “And that fails to examine the reasons for those charges in the first place, and whether they are true or not.”
“You don’t believe he did… what was it?”
“Forged evidence.” He purses his lips. “You haven’t… ”
“There was this one time, but he was just bluffing, and everyone in the court knew it but the witness,” Maya answers. “So I don’t think he would do it on purpose without everyone knowing about it in advance.”
“Hmm, so as a reconstruction,” Miles responds. “Interesting. Thank you for your perspective, Maya. You could be a valuable character witness, if they call any at the bar hearing.”
“Should I call him?” Maya asks.
“I have not attempted to contact him thus far,” he admits. “I do believe he would take it far better from you than from me.”
“I’ll try, then,” she says, with that same determination he’s always seen in her. “Thanks for telling me. I don’t think he would’ve.”
“I loathe to admit that you are correct,” he concedes. “Goodbye, Ms—Maya. Please be in contact shortly with your findings.”
It is just as Miles feared. Even Maya’s determination is not enough to shake Wright from his self-imposed isolation. Perhaps it’s time to use one of his tactics, to turn his thinking around.
Why isn’t Wright talking to them?
Miles is no expert on how people think. He has always preferred handling evidence over handling witnesses; evidence tells a clear story, but witnesses are capable of lying. He has always struggled a bit with understanding others even before Manfred von Karma took him in and declared the masses were not worth interacting with.
How does that man think? Miles cannot answer that question. But what reasons could there be for Wright to refuse to talk to his best friend? He would understand if Wright refused to talk to him. They have a rocky history for which Miles has not always been the most forthcoming emotionally. But Maya? She is very close to Wright.
There must be something Wright is hiding. Something besides the loss of his badge; that’s easy enough to come by on the news. There has to be something else. What could it be?
That’s when he gets the call from Maya.
“I figured out why Nick hasn’t been talking to us,” she says. “He adopted a kid.”
Miles drops his phone.
Okay. Deep breaths. He can handle this. He picks up the phone. “A child?”
“Yeah,” Maya responds. “Her name’s Trucy. Um. I think she used to be Zak Gramarye’s kid. Nick said there was no one else to take her, and I know he bonds easily with kids, so… ”
“I.” He pauses to consider it. “I suppose that makes sense, actually. Wright somehow manages to be unpredictable in the most predictable way.”
“That… sums it up pretty well, yeah,” she says. “I don’t know what to do now.”
“We carry on,” he says. “Nothing needs to change.”
“If he asks me to babysit, I’m doing it,” she says.
He nods before realizing she won’t see it. “Of course. I wouldn’t expect anything else from you.”
Of course, that one personal conversation has seemingly opened a floodgate. Maya texts him random images from time to time. They are mostly bad jokes, but on occasion some will startle a snort out of him. She even calls a couple times, though the time difference makes it difficult. He suspects she doesn’t even consider it before calling him. Luckily, he always silences his phone at night, so it never disturbs his sleep.
He has enough disturbances as it stands. The nightmares of the elevator are more infrequent than they once were, but they are replaced by dreams of other ordeals. If the Yatagarasu had attempted to kill him in his office, for instance. The Blue Badger haunts his nightmares even more than it did just after the resolution of Lana Skye’s case.
He wakes up. The screen of his phone is lit up with an incoming call from Maya.
“Maya?” he asks.
“They’re rebooting the Steel Samurai,” she says.
He sits up. He needs to not be laying down for this conversation. “What?!”
“I mean, you’re usually asleep when I call at this time, but I probably would’ve left a voicemail, even though I usually don’t,” she says. “But yeah! Steel Samurai reboot!”
“Where did you hear this?” he demands.
“I managed to get tickets to a con they were doing a panel at,” Maya answers. “Will Powers, Sal Manella, and Casey Bref were all there! I was only expecting Will Powers and maybe Penny to be there. The reboot’s going to be a cartoon. They showed a preview video!”
“Are you still at the convention?” Miles asks.
“I am,” she answers. “I had to wait for the panel to end before I could get out, of course. Didn’t want to miss any of the juicy deets!”
“As you should,” he responds. “You said it would be… fully animated?”
“Yeah, I guess they’re thinking it’ll attract a new audience. WP isn’t in the same shape as he used to be, handling the Samurai Spear is… ”
“I can imagine that would be traumatic, yes,” Miles says. “I was… awake because I had a nightmare, as a matter of fact.”
“Oh,” she says. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“It’s ridiculous,” he says. “The Blue Badger haunts my nightmares.”
“The… Blue Badger?” Maya asks.
“Ah, it’s a long story.” Right. She wasn’t around for the Lana Skye case. It’s probably simpler to explain the kidnapping, however. “I was kidnapped by someone dressed as a Blue Badger variant.”
“Which one? Was it the Bad Badger?” Maya asks.
Of course she knows. She and Franziska are the same age, not too much older than Kay (whose encyclopedic knowledge of the Badger clan is unrivaled). “No. It was someone dressed as the Proto Badger. The Bad Badger was the victim of a murder, as a matter of fact.”
“Jeez,” Maya says. “That sounds like a riot.”
“I had, only two days earlier, been accused of murder. And then the night after that, there was a murder in my office. I had… a terrible week.” Miles sighs. “That was a few weeks before Wright lost his badge, I believe.”
It’s been six months since that fateful April day.
“He calls me to babysit sometimes, but he always dodges talking about anything serious with me,” Maya says, answering an unspoken question. “Trucy’s a delight. I think you’d get along with her.”
“I’ve… never been good with children, Maya,” he says.
“Objection,” Maya says, which almost startles a laugh out of him. Almost. “You treat kids with care. Cody Hackins. Pearly. Need I say more?”
“I… ” He takes a deep breath. “I was asked to testify in court. Almost eighteen years ago. It was… a frightening experience. I have attempted to avoid recreating that experience for any other child.”
“I mean,” Maya says, more solemn now, “Trucy’s father left her at the courthouse, and a lawyer there at the time adopted her when no one else stepped up.”
“Wright is not… ” Miles grips his phone tighter. “He isn’t like that.”
“I’m not saying that he is,” she responds. “But you and Trucy have some things in common. I think you should drop by the office. I’m not sure Nick would appreciate it, but if you manage to win Trucy over, you’ll win him over too. I know we said we’d keep our distance, but… ”
“I’ll consider it,” he answers. “I should use the remaining hours before I need to be awake to sleep. Farewell, Maya.”
“Bye,” she responds.
Miles has a few weeks off for the holidays. He has a standing invitation with Franziska’s older brother and his husband; while they aren’t really close, they are on good terms and the same continent. Miles considers it briefly, for it’d be nice to know him better—Miles only knew him for a few months before he was off to university—but he ultimately decides to return and do as Maya said.
On December 15th, Miles Edgeworth visits the Wright & Co. Law Offices for the first time, now rebranded as the Wright Anything Agency.
On December 15th, Miles Edgeworth sees Phoenix Wright again.
They spend the next week learning to be around each other again. A week where Miles mostly spends time with Trucy, getting to know her. And eventually, he makes the offer: whenever Wright wants it, Miles will make a trip to Europe happen.
Wright purses his lips, but doesn’t say no.
“I think I’ve made some progress,” Miles tells Maya in-person. They haggled for a bit on dinner, but ultimately settled for a place both artisanal enough for Miles while appealing to Maya’s preference towards burgers. “Trucy considers me an uncle now, at the very least. I think Wright will seriously consider my offer.”
“Good,” she says with her mouth full. “Nick needs to get away from this place.”
Both of them agree on that—and much more.
It takes over a year for Wright to call. It’s been almost two years since that April. When did Miles start counting those days? Days until Wright gets his badge back, Miles thinks, because Wright will. It’s no more complicated than that.
But the Wrights come to Europe, and Miles sees Wright smile for the first time since they last saw each other in court.
He maintains steady contact with Maya—even disregarding their mutual connections, he considers her a friend in her own right. She is a reprieve from constant work and research.
The Steel Samurai reboot starts airing in the autumn. He downloads a video chatting platform so that he and Maya can watch it together. He finds himself… content.
Happiness has always been difficult to find. But he thinks that, with the help of those around him, he finds it more often.
Miles isn’t around when Maya leaves for Khura’in a few years later, but she does tell him in advance that she will be even harder to reach than usual. Not that he does the calling very often, but it’s nice to know she’s willing to tell him about these things. A few years ago, he wouldn’t even have known, let alone have sensed her absence.
They really are friends.
Of course Wright manages to get himself into an accident only a few months before the jurist system is ready. Of course.
He helps pay the customs fees for Maya, if only because Wright should be exposed to the old Steel Samurai so he understands when Trucy talks about the reboot. The originals contain the nostalgic appeal of their youth.
And at the end, when Wright’s plan (and yes, it truly is Wright’s —he may have the resources, but it was Wright who made the accomplishment) gets his name cleared (unexpectedly; Drew Misham’s death was a coincidence that happened to line up with the revival of the jurist system), Miles is there. He is on the verge of becoming Chief Prosecutor, having accepted the position.
“I know I do not call often,” Miles says, from the apartment where he’ll live for the foreseeable future, “but I have good news.”
“And you’re sure it’s good news,” Maya says.
“Positive,” Miles says. “I have it on good authority that Wright just passed the bar exam again.”
She screams. “What?! Why am I hearing this from you?!”
“I don’t know,” Miles says. “I suspect he and his protégés are still celebrating. Of course, I’m waiting to see what his first case will be—his comeback in the legal world cannot be missed.” Not by him.
And then Detective Fulbright drops some paperwork on his desk. “Am I interrupting you, Chief Prosecutor?” he asks.
“No, not at all,” he says, setting his phone down. “Is this a petition for Blackquill’s next case?”
“Yes,” Detective Fulbright answers. “It’s a bit unorthodox, but justice must be served in all cases!” He fistpumps.
Miles puts on his reading glasses and looks at the paperwork. “An… orca is the defendant. You expect to have a trial for an orca?”
And then he spots Wright’s name in connection with the case. That fool. He sighs, but he ultimately signs off on the paperwork. “Please deliver this to the judge’s office at your earliest convenience.”
Detective Fulbright salutes.
Miles picks back up his phone. “Apologies, Maya.”
“An orca?” she asks.
“Wright is defending an orca for his first case, it seems,” Miles tells her. “I don’t know why I bothered.” He sighs.
“You do,” she says, “and so do I. Really, would you have expected something else?”
No, he wouldn’t have.
“Thank you,” he says. “For all your help.”
“I feel like I should be thanking you,” she says. “You did all the real work.”
“Not just for what you’ve done for Wright, which is a significant contribution as well,” he stresses. “You’ve been… an indispensable friend of mine these last few years. I wouldn’t have done it without you at my side. Erm. You understand.”
“I do,” she says. “You like me, Miles Edgeworth. No take-backs! We’re best friends now.”
He smiles to himself. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”