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The first thing Manfred von Karma noticed when he exited the prison proper was the signature glare of one Gregory Edgeworth.
"Von Karma," Phoenix Wright coldly greeted, as though a dead man weren't standing next to him. "We're here to escort you to your apartment. Your probation officer is waiting for you there."
If he were as perfect as he was before being convicted as a felon, he would've had a smarmy retort at the ready for this lowly defense attorney. But Gregory's prescence has left him speechless. How was it that he could be held on probation for a murder of a man standing right in front of him?
"Oh, this is Bodi Fey. One of Maya Fey's distant great uncles," Wright introduced, gesturing to Gregory. "He was helping me with an investigation earlier, so he decided to tag along."
Manfred crossed his arms, refusing to look at the undead man before him. And to think he felt such glee the last time he saw those eyes, as the life suddenly left them on that elevator floor... "And why did they have a defense attorney of all people take me to my new apartment?"
Phoenix narrowed his eyes. His glare seems even colder than when he stumbled upon the truth in court over ten years ago. "Well, they usually get family members to do it, but they're both... busy."
He held in a disappointed sigh. Of course neither Franziska nor Miles would want to see him. They're probably horrified he was even released. But even then, was the only other choice the very same attorney that put him behind bars? "...Fine. Let us go then." He didn't wish to spend any unnecessary time having idle chat with this worthless man.
As they walked, Mr. Fey began to linger behind alongside Manfred, with Phoenix up front. "I take it you recognize me," Gregory said quietly.
"How are you here, Edgeworth?" He asked in return. Gregory's face formed into that grin he always used to have when he was caught in a bluff. Manfred hated that grin; defense attorneys should look upset when they've lost. But Gregory never accepted his losses quietly, did he? That's what got him killed.
"I don't quite understand it myself, but everyone else seems to assume I'm this 'Bodi Fey' person. It seems easier to go along with it than correct them."
"Since when did you start doing things the easy way?"
"Since I got a second chance at life, I suppose." Gregory had a far-off look in his eyes. So he was here permanently? That's awkward. Manfred couldn't tell where they stood. Gregory could be rather emotional, so if he was upset with him wouldn't he be trying to ignore him? Or perhaps he was more vengeful than he thought and came with Wright to make him feel uncomfortable.
Is there a chance he wasn't angry?
No, that's ridiculous.
Wright apparently does not have a driver's license, so the three of them took the bus. Manfred refused to sit on the stained seats, so Wright agreed to let Mr. Fey watch him at the front of the bus as he looked for a seat near the back.
After a few minutes of silence, Manfred decided not to waste any more time. "I order you to tell me where we stand."
Gregory seemed confused. "Where we... stand?"
"Yes. Must I spell everything out for you? Despite everything, you appear to be... alright with speaking to me, as though nothing ever happened. Do you not despise me?"
"...Truthfully, I am not certain of 'where we stand', as you put it. What about you?"
"Tch, what about me?"
"Where do we stand? Do you still hate me?" Gregory was looking right at him now. He seemed to be genuinely curious.
Manfred closed his eyes, eyebrow twitching as he thought it over. If they were still renowned prosecutor and passable defense attorney, he would hardly allow Gregory to know about how he truly felt. Anything beyond cold indifference and superior logic were weak points, and the renowned prosecutor von Karma had no weak points.
But they weren't prosecutor and attorney. They were convicted felon and murder victim of a case long past. Manfred had plenty of time to sit on his actions and turbulent feelings he spent all his career and most of his childhood buried deep within, and came to decide his actions weren't truly worth it.
"...I am not certain either," he decided on. He still felt something for this man, but he couldn't quite decipher what it was. It certainly was not cold indifference.
Their conversation disappeared into the bustle of the crowd surrounding them. The stop string was pulled, and the vehicle slowly decelerated.
"Then may we start again?" Gregory asked.
"You never get to the point right away, do you?" Manfred snapped back.
Gregory wore that blasted grin again. "I mean, before the DL-6 incident. I'd rather go back to how we were during IS-7."
Manfred's face did something that made Gregory laugh from behind his hand.
"Come on, don't tell me you don't remember?" Gregory managed to say. "An entire year investigating together? There were plenty of moments where I enjoyed myself. Although it's quite difficult to determine if you ever did."
"And what if I did enjoy myself?" Manfred met his grin. "Hm? What would you say to that?"
"Alright, here's our stop," Wright came between them. Manfred scofffed, crossing his arms. He couldn't believe how laissez-faire he'd let himself become.
Wright dragged Gregory off to the side when they got off the bus. "Von Karma wasn't bothering you too much, was he?"
He shrugged, "no, in fact we were having quite a nice chat."
Manfred thought further about Gregory's comment as he tuned out of Wright's foolish concern. Starting again, huh? It sounded like he wasn't upset with him, even though he had every right to be. In fact, he sounded like he wanted to spend time with him, like what they had to do while investigating IS-7. Except, while not investigating a case.
As they walked down the block to the apartment complex, Manfred leaned over to Gregory again. "What exactly would 'starting again' entail?"
It's like that grin of his was specially crafted to get on his nerves. "You're talking about friendship like it's a transaction."
Again, Manfred would've never allowed any defense attorney to see through him if he were still a man of any renown. "...Is that not what you want from me?"
"No," Gregory laughed. "Unless you consider your company for mine a transaction."
"That's it?" Gregory nodded. "Why not make friends with someone who didn't murder you?"
"I don't think anyone could be as interesting as you."
He felt a twinge of surprise. He looked away. "Tch. Interesting?"
"I know no one who baffles me more."
"I could say the same."
"Then are we in agreement?"
Manfred found that he didn't particularly mind the idea of spending more time with Gregory. By all accounts, he should hate him for all the trouble he's caused him, or at least feel discomforted at the idea of regularly facing all that had caused imperfection in his previously impenetrable shell. He was never one for pleseantries where the enemy was concerned, but he had already "won", had he not? And it cost him everything. What more was there to protect?
His record, his legacy, both his daughters, Gregory's son. All gone in one fell swoop. All his comrades as well, anyone who he bothered to exchange friendly greetings with, all in the very same jail he had just left, with either probation or execution awaiting them. The fact of the matter was he was in his seventies and tired of upholding an image he didn't have anymore. He was ready to retire, and apparently also ready to become friendly with the very same man he murdered.
That Wright really did turn things around, in all the worst ways.
"If I am how you wish to spend your time, Edgeworth, then be my guest. If you insist on working with this ruffian however, you may not want to spoil his image by visiting a felon he got arrested," he told Gregory as they entered the building. Phoenix seemed keen on avoiding the elevator, looking back at the two of them sheepishly as he made his way toward the stairwell. "Believe me, I don't wish to become a repeat offender so quickly, Phoenix Wright," Manfred sneered, "although you certainly tempt me."
"Come now, Mr. Von Karma," Gregory said. "I've heard earthquakes can be rather devasting here in Japanifornia. We wouldn't want to get stuck, now would we? The apartment's just on the third floor."
Manfred looked down at his cane, which bore plenty of his weight. He always had difficulty climbing up the stairs, but he supposed he brought this on himself.
His hip ached by the time he met his probation officer. The man seemed decent at his job; a no-nonsense type officer. While Wright was updating the officer on everything that occurred from picking Manfred up from prison, Gregory wandered around the apartment, dawlding near the landline.
The officer told Manfred the schedule in which he would have to check in with him to ensure he wasn't violating any rules, and before he knew it he was alone in the rather bleak apartment. It was laughable in comparison to his acreage in Germany or his penthouse here in the city, but certainly nicer than his cell in prison, so he supposed he shouldn't complain too much.
By the landline he noticed a notepad with a string of numbers written on one of the pages, with a note below saying something about how much technology had progressed since Gregory was last alive, and how kind Wright was to provide him with a cell phone.
It's not really like I'm doing anything important as a dead man. Call whenever you feel like, and I'll come over.
Something in him wanted to dial the number right then. Luckily, he seemed to have retained enough of his composure to stop himself. He'd already embarrassed himself enough today.
Seeing Gregory again had rekindled many of his memories of a time long past, when Franziska was just a girl. All that time dancing around one another. A year had gone by faster than a breeze in summer, but it was pleasant all the same. Just admitting it to himself was a hard pill to swallow. Maybe he really did enjoy his company. In his cell, he had given up on psychoanalyzing himself and his actions. But if he's going to be sociable again, perhaps he should revisit that road.
Most of his life was but a series of carefully calculated maneuvers engineered to place him in the best position possible. But that moment in the elevator... at the time he believed it to be the best decision - to remove the one who had successfully threatened his position, he had lowered his guard, how idiotic - a perfect crime with no witnesses and a shortlist of possible suspects that he was not on. But such a decision led him to lose everything else he had been working for, and for what? A penalty? Who had not received such a thing in court? It was frankly a miracle it only happened after a long fourty years into his career. And yet he took it so personally. It had been a very long time since anything had wounded him so, figuratively and literally. It took him hours after the trial until he was composed enough to attempt leaving the courthouse.
He now remembered why he stopped thinking about it. What an exhausting bout of circular logic. Ultimately, he could come to the conclusion that the decision he made wasn't logical in the slightest, and there was no such thing to be found in it.
...
His line of thinking always seemed to improve with Gregory next to him. He would do everything he could to bar the defense from investigating the scene, and yet Gregory always managed to charm that Detective Badd into letting him look around. Then he'd want to discuss the evidence with him, as though von Karma would ever help him win. But he raised really good points and it aided Manfred in coming to his own conclusions, even if he never shared his own thoughts and only scoffed at Gregory's inane rambling.
He'll call tomorrow, perhaps. Whether Gregory Edgeworth liked or not, a von Karma always solves the case, and it was his fault for offering company in the first place. And if he needs 'help', it's simply because he's rusty from the brain-melting experience that is complete solitude.
It is certainly not because he enjoys his rambling, or coherent string of logic, or his polite nature, or that grin, or those times when he would smile, talking about his family.
What a preposterous thing to assume.