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“Trucy, please don’t do that again,” Phoenix said as he got off the plane with Trucy, Edgeworth, Maya, and Athena. “What if we’d left you in Khura’in?”
Maybe that would’ve been better , Trucy thought, not really reacting to anything Phoenix was saying. It felt like something was missing without Apollo around. Athena put a hand on her shoulder and she flinched.
“Sorry,” Athena said quickly. “Are you okay?”
Trucy considered for a second.
“I-I’m fine,” she mumbled.
Athena paused before saying anything.
“Trucy, lying to me or your dad is just as effective as if either of us lied to you,” she said quietly.
“I’d rather not talk about it in a crowded airport.”
“Then we’ll talk when we get back to the agency.”
Trucy let out a defeated sigh. She wasn’t winning this with Athena or her dad around.
“I should probably get back to Kurain Village,” Maya said when they got to a bus stop. “Thanks for letting me fly back with you!”
“You’re welcome,” Edgeworth said. “Stay out of trouble, please.”
“With my track record, I can’t promise that.”
Maya got on a bus to Kurain Village. Trucy barely looked up when Maya got on the bus.
“I should get back to the prosecutor’s office,” Edgeworth said. “It’s not too far from here, so I’ll walk.”
“Alright, see you later!” Phoenix said, waving at Edgeworth as he walked away. Edgeworth stopped abruptly and turned around.
“Don’t let Trucy do anything rash,” he said with an expression somewhere between concerned and stern.
“Miles, she’s my daughter, why would I let her do anything rash?”
“Wright, she learned to throw knives behind your back.”
Trucy tuned out the rest of whatever they bickered about for another minute, sitting down on the edge of the sidewalk. Athena sat down next to her. Trucy leaned against her, trying to ignore the sting in her eyes.
“Trucy, it’s okay to not be okay,” Athena said quietly.
“I… I can’t break down. Not in front of Daddy.”
“He’ll realize something’s up eventually, if he hasn’t already.”
“It’d be weird if he hasn’t,” Widget said from around Athena’s neck.
“Widgeeet,” Athena groaned. “We need to work on that.”
Trucy laughed a little.
“At least he made you laugh, I guess,” Athena said a little sheepishly.
“You two ready to go back to the office?” Phoenix asked as he approached them.
“Yeah,” Trucy said, standing up.
“What were you and Mister Edgeworth talking about?” Athena asked, following Phoenix and Trucy down the street.
“Nothing important, I can assure you of that,” Phoenix replied.
Trucy tuned out the conversation again. She didn’t know how long it was before they got to the office. The first thing to catch her eye was the red suit jacket Apollo hadn’t taken with him to Khura’in. She ran a hand over it.
“Do you really think he’ll come back?” Trucy asked. Her voice was so quiet she was sure Athena was the only one to hear it.
“Of course he will,” Phoenix assured her. “Why wouldn’t he?”
“Is Khura’in not home to him? Like, he basically went home, didn’t he?”
Phoenix went quiet for a minute. Athena sat down on the couch, carefully avoiding Apollo’s suit jacket.
“I don’t think he’d just ditch someone who saw him as an older brother, Trucy,” she said, fidgeting with her earring.
“You don’t know that.”
“Okay, what about him having a panic attack in the defendant’s lobby before your trial?”
“He had a panic attack before Trucy’s trial?” Phoenix cut in, looking between Athena and Trucy with worry etched on his face.
“I’m — I was his boss’s daughter,” Trucy said solemnly. “It probably didn’t help that his brother was the prosecutor.”
“What kind of boss do you think I am, Trucy?”
“He told me about this time he started sobbing because you faked your kidnapping, what about then?” Athena continued; both she and Trucy completely ignored Phoenix.
“You what ?”
“I’m still his — I was his boss’s daughter then too,” Trucy said. She grabbed Apollo’s suit jacket and sunk to the floor. Athena sat down next to her.
“Should I leave?” Phoenix asked.
“The room, maybe,” Athena replied. “Not the building.”
Phoenix nodded and left the room. Trucy leaned against Athena again, hugging Apollo’s suit jacket and sighing.
“When Apollo left the agency and you were arrested, I asked Daddy if Apollo left because I kept roping him into my magic shows and making him do everything around the office,” Trucy said quietly. “That was less than six months ago.”
“You didn’t really think he left because of you, did you?” Athena asked gently.
“I… I don’t know. I think him leaving twice in less than six months is affecting me worse than I thought it would.”
“What do you think he’d do if he saw you like this?”
“Probably get me standing again and yell ‘You’re Trucy Wright and you’ll be fine!’ or something like that.”
Trucy felt her eyes watering again. She shakily took a deep breath.
“Trucy, if you need to cry, you can,” Athena said, brushing a loose strand of hair behind Trucy’s ear. “I won’t judge you. Come here.”
Athena held her arms out to hug Trucy. Trucy hesitated before accepting the invitation. Athena hugged her tightly; Trucy could feel herself starting to break. On instinct, she tried to drive off the inevitable.
“You’re safe, I promise,” Athena whispered. That finally broke the remaining walls Trucy had up. She started crying into Athena’s shoulder, seemingly grabbing Phoenix’s attention, as he almost instantly ran into the room.
“Is she —” Phoenix started; he didn’t finish the sentence.
“I don’t know. Have you tried calling Apollo?”
“Would I even be able to? Can I do an international video call?”
“You should be able to, assuming he still has his phone obviously.”
“Trucy, would you be okay with it if your dad called Apollo?”
Trucy nodded against Athena’s shoulder. She heard some conversation between Athena and Phoenix, but didn’t pay enough attention to it to pick out what they were saying. After a few minutes she calmed down enough to talk again.
“Sorry, Athena,” she mumbled. “I might’ve ruined your jacket.”
“It’s fine, it can be washed.”
Phoenix rejoined them a few seconds later. Trucy wiped her eyes and grabbed Phoenix’s phone.
“Hey, Polly,” she said, almost too quietly for Apollo to notice.
“Hey, Truce,” Apollo said gently. “Doing okay?”
“Not really.”
“At least you can admit it.”
Trucy laughed a little, wiping her eyes again.
“I think we need to have a chat, Trucy,” Apollo said, grabbing a tortoiseshell cat from out of frame.
“Polly, it’s been less than a day, why do you already have a cat?”
“She’s Nahyuta’s.”
“You’re staying with Prosecutor Sahdmadhi?” Athena asked.
“Nahyuta and Datz,” Apollo specified. “They offered to let me stay with them after I decided to stay in Khura’in.”
“Speaking of that,” Trucy said quietly, looking away from the phone.
“Yeah, we need to talk about that.”
“We’ll leave you two alone then,” Phoenix said, and he and Athena got up and left the room.
“I’m sorry, Trucy,” Apollo said. “Nahyuta sprung the invitation to stay in Khura’in on me pretty suddenly, and Khura’in doesn’t have any barred defense attorneys. If you’re rebuilding a legal system, it’s important to have at least one defense attorney in the country.”
“It’s okay,” Trucy said. “I don’t blame you. It’s how sudden it was that caught me off guard.”
“Yeah, I figured.” Apollo’s hand froze over Nahyuta’s cat and his eyes widened. “Wait, I didn’t trigger something, did I?”
“Only by leaving suddenly twice in less than six months.” Trucy draped Apollo’s suit jacket over her shoulders, over her cape. Apollo’s eyes somehow widened further and Trucy swore she could see them start to water.
“I — I’m so sorry, Trucy,” Apollo said shakily. “I didn’t — I should’ve considered that and I didn’t. I’m so fucking sorry.”
“I don’t blame you, Apollo,” Trucy repeated, more sternly this time. “I’m keeping your jacket until you get back though.”
“I don’t like wearing it anyway,” Apollo said. “Keep it as long as you want.”
“Why don’t you like it? It’s comfortable.”
“Because someone told me wearing it made me look like a comedian.”
Trucy giggled.
“Actually, I think it makes you look more like the Joker.”
“Thanks,” Apollo said sarcastically. “Now I’m even less inclined to wear it.”
“Are you sure you’re coming back?” Trucy asked nervously. “And me roping you into my magic acts didn’t sway your decision or anything?”
Apollo stuttered for a second before responding.
“What on earth makes you think you’re even slightly at fault for me staying in Khura’in?”
“I — I don’t know. You always seem upset about it.”
“Trucy, if I was annoyed by it, I wouldn’t do it.”
“Promise?”
“Promise. I swear on Nahyuta’s cat.”
“I will curse you to the Hell of Tickling if you swear on Twix again, Justice,” Nahyuta shouted from somewhere on Apollo’s end of the line. Trucy started laughing.
“Once I get some of my workload out of the way, I’ll come visit,” Apollo said, completely ignoring Nahyuta. “Datz is probably going to beg to come, I hope that’s okay.”
“I don’t care as long as you come back at some point.”
“If it’ll help ease your mind, I’ll call you every night too.”
“You don’t have to, two or three times a week would probably be fine.”
“If you need to call me more often, you’re free to. What’s the time difference between Khura’in and California —”
Apollo paused for a second.
“Hey, Nahyuta, do you know what the time difference between here and Los Angeles is?”
There was a few seconds of silence before Nahyuta answered.
“Thirteen and a half hours,” came Nahyuta’s reply; Trucy glanced at the clock on Phoenix’s phone. Nahyuta continued, “It’s about eight in the morning in Los Angeles right now.”
“What time is it there?” Trucy asked.
“About 9:30 in the evening,” Apollo replied.
“Is this a good time to call you in the future?”
“It should be, unless Datz drags me off to do something.”
“I will personally cuff him to a chair if he tries,” Nahyuta said nonchalantly.
“Nahyuta, shut up, I’m trying to talk to my sister,” Apollo said irritably.
“You finally acknowledge her as your sister?” Nahyuta’s voice had a teasing undertone to it.
“I will subject you to Chords of Steel workouts at three in the morning.”
“And risk having the Royal Guard called for a domestic disturbance?”
“I’m going to kill you.”
“And get the Royal Guard called on you for murder?”
Trucy laughed. Apollo sighed exasperatedly.
“Are you feeling better, Truce?” Apollo asked.
“Yeah. Thanks, Polly.”
“No problem! If you need anything, you can call me, alright?”
“Alright! I’m Trucy Wright and I’ll be fine!”
Apollo seemed slightly taken aback but smiled.
“You’re Trucy Wright and you’ll be fine!” he shouted back. He laughed. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Truce.”
“Alright! See you then, Polly!”
Apollo hung up before Trucy did. Trucy stood up and took Phoenix’s phone back to him.
“Feeling better?” Phoenix asked.
“Yeah. I’m gonna call him again tomorrow.”
“Was he arguing with Prosecutor Sadmadhi?” Athena asked.
“Yeah.”
Phoenix studied Trucy for a few seconds.
“You look a bit like Apollo did in December with his jacket on your shoulders like that,” he said with a soft smile.
“He told me I could keep it,” Trucy said, pulling Apollo’s jacket over her shoulders a bit more.
“It’s good to see you smile again, I think I almost had a panic attack when I heard you crying,” Phoenix said, standing to hug Trucy.
“Why?”
“Because you never cry.”
Trucy laughed a little.
“I’m Trucy Wright and I’ll be fine,” she said quietly into Phoenix’s chest. “Even if it takes a while for me to get there.”
“That’s the spirit,” Athena said happily, joining the hug. “We’re the Wright Anything Agency and we’ll be fine.”
I’m Trucy Wright and I’ll be fine. Eventually.