Chapter Text
Four years and an excruciatingly long police investigation into the whereabouts of Dracona Wright later, Phoenix Wright stood in front of the door to Manfred von Karma’s office. In his arms was a a small stack of flyers. He lifted his hand and knocked on the door.
“Come in,” Von Karma barked.
Phoenix pushed the door open. Von Karma was sitting at his desk, sifting through some papers. He looked up to see who it was, then set the papers aside.
“Sit down,” Von Karma said.
Phoenix did as requested. Back straight and flyers in his lap, he stared back at Von Karma.
Von Karma raised an eyebrow at the flyers in his hands.
“What are those for?” Von Karma asked.
“Oh, uh, they’re advertising my babysitting gig. I’ll need what money I can get if I’m gonna be really going to Ivy University this year. I was posting the flyers around town earlier. W-would you like one?”
“Hmph,” was all Von Karma said. Phoenix took it as a no.
“S-so … what did you want to talk to me about, Prosecutor Von Karma?” Phoenix asked after silence started to stretch out for a while.
“I’m assuming Detective Badd has informed you of your father’s passing,” Von Karma said.
Phoenix’s face was blank. Von Karma chewed the inside of his lip. That was the one thing that was disconcerting about this boy - or rather, young man. Despite the fact that Von Karma knew he was a crybaby and far from perfect, he knew when to keep emotion off of his face and when to stay silent.
“Your father’s death means that his legal situations are now yours to make decisions for. I would like to know if you would like to continue pressing the charges your father has put me in charge of prosecuting for. If yes, I will continue to do so. If no, I will rearrange the case file.”
“Rearrange?”
“The charges were being pressed against your mother. The rest of the papers in the case file are the responsibility of the criminal affairs to approve or veto. We are only discussing the charges your father had against her.”
“… I wasn’t aware Dad was accusing my mother of anything.”
Von Karma did not volunteer the information without prodding. Phoenix took a deep breath.
“What was Dad charging Momma with?”
“Griffith Wright was accusing Dracona Wright of rape and domestic abuse. Are these charges you would like to continue to press?”
The young man continued to stare blankly at Von Karma. Von Karma waited.
“No,” Phoenix said. “No, I don’t.”
Von Karma then picked up a stack of papers on the desk, then deposited them in the trash.
“I will inform the police department on your behalf,” Von Karma said.
“… Thank you.”
“I have an eleven-year-old daughter named Franziska. She has been going to school in Germany, along with her older sister, for the last few years, but she’ll be returning for the summer. I will still have cases to work on. She is a handful and will not tolerate weak-willed people. Do you think you can handle that?”
“… Mr. Von Karma, I babysit Kay Faraday on a daily basis. Unless your daughter is actively trying to blow herself up on a daily basis, I can probably handle her.”
Von Karma couldn’t help a bit of a chuckle at that.
“So you’re the young man Mr. Faraday talks about how much he pities every Friday in the cafe.”
Phoenix laughed nervously.
“I suppose this means I’ll see you around, Prosecutor Von Karma.”
“I’ll contact you when I need you,” Von Karma said.
Phoenix got up out of the chair, then gave a small bow and left the office.
Phoenix didn’t go home immediately. He first went by the detention center.
“Hi, I’d like to see Griffith Wright. He’s my father.”
“Oh…. Um, Griffith Wright is … he’s … dead, sir.”
“Can you tell me how that happened?”
“… One moment, I’ll get the prison warden to talk to you about this…. Who did you say you were again?”
“Phoenix Wright. His son.”
“All right, one moment.”
He was introduced to the warden.
“You’ll want to take a seat.”
Phoenix did.
“I’m … I’m afraid that all the suicide prevention programs your father was enrolled in, per this prison sentence’s instructions, weren’t enough. He somehow got a hold of some shoelaces and hung himself in his cell. He wasn’t discovered until the early morning two weeks ago.”
“Two … two weeks ago?”
“Yes.”
“… Why didn’t I know about this sooner?”
“Well … we contacted your new guardian…. He said that he would tell you himself.”
“… Thank you, ma’am. I’ll be leaving now, if that’s all right.”
“You take care, all right?”
Phoenix left the detention center, then walked down the street. His feet ended up taking him back into Kitaki territory, a place he hadn’t been since he moved in with Detective Badd.
He sat down on the steps to the apartment building he had lived in. He took out his father’s flask from his back and unscrewed the top.
He took a long drink from it, then leaned against the support beam attached to the stairs. After a while of staring into space, he lifted his arm and pulled up his sleeve.
Scars he had managed to hide from Detective Badd rested alone without any wounds to join them. Some were more faded than others.
But it was clear that they had avoided places people knew were lethal places to slash at.
His eyes settled on his wrist for a long moment, then he turned his arm around to look at his watch.
“I’m gonna be late if I don’t head over there now,” Phoenix muttered under his breath - a habit Miles and Larry had still not told him about and one he still wasn’t aware he did.
He pulled his sleeve down his arm, then trekked over to the Faraday residence.
He was greeted with a flurry of pink and black as Kay Faraday tackle-hugged him in the doorway.
“Oof!” Phoenix greeted, the wind having been knocked out of him.
“Welcome back, Mr. Nick!” Kay cheered, squeezing the life out of him.
“Let him breathe, Kay,” Byrne Faraday said. “Your money is on the kitchen counter.”
“Thanks, Mr. Faraday,” Phoenix said. “Now, have you finished your homework?”
“Yes!” Kay said. “You know what that means!”
Phoenix sighed.
“I know, I know.”
“I’ll be back in a few hours,” Faraday said.
“Have a good time, Mr. Faraday,” Phoenix said. “Oh, um, and Mr. Faraday?”
Kay had gone back inside the house. Faraday and Phoenix had switched places, Faraday now on the front stoop.
“Yes?”
“… I’ve known you’re the one Detective Badd has been seeing romantically on and off, and I know things haven’t been going so great between you two. I just wanted to say … it’s not your fault. But neither of you are going to get anywhere if you don’t verbally kick his ass into being honest with himself.”
Faraday managed a small smile.
“We’re that transparent, huh?”
Phoenix shrugged.
“I take it … there is someone else?”
“Mmmm, he’s not cheating, if that’s what you’re asking….”
“But you know who it is.”
There was a crash inside the house.
“See you later, Mr. Faraday!” Phoenix said, ducking into the house. “Kay! What’d you do!?”
“Nothing!” Kay lied.
Faraday shook his head and headed for his car.
He wasn’t really surprised. All the evidence had pointed towards the flame of romance having gone out and friendship being the thing that kept their relationship going. And it … didn’t really hurt, either. Perhaps because, in all honesty, he had already known.
But perhaps he hadn’t been wanting to let go just yet.