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"Objection!" Klavier shouted clearly across the courtroom, his signature smile flashing. "You shouldn't base such accusations on faulty evidence like that." He was smirking at a confident looking Phoenix Wright, with his arms crossed and eyebrow raised. Apollo flanked his left side, looking down at the papers in his hand as if he couldn't possibly understand why they were being called into question. As Klavier opened his mouth to continue his rebuttal, he stopped cold at a cool and collected voice speaking directly into his right ear.
"Very good, Klavier. Let's finish them off, shall we?"
Knowing the voice well didn't make his stomach turn any less. In fact, the familiarity of it was the precise reason why he felt only dread as he looked next to him to see his brother standing calmly, his snide smile pointed at Mr. Wright. All of the words in Klavier's mouth dried up and he could only stare at him. For some reason, the only question he could think to ask was why Kristoph was standing on the prosecution's side. Before he could get the words out of his closing throat, Kristoph turned to him with a raised eyebrow. "Well? Finish the job."
A hacking cough came from the defence's bench. Klavier looked up in alarm to see Apollo slumped over, supporting himself on his elbow. He brought a hand away from his mouth and looked down to see his palm shining with blood. His heart sinking through the floor, Klavier tried to cry out, but no sound escaped his lips. As Apollo coughed more and Phoenix rushed to support him, Klavier moved to leap over the bench and sprint to his side, but black chains erupted from the floor to lash around his wrist and up the length of his legs. His vision started to blur at the edges as Apollo's breaths were becoming shallower and something clear dripped from the corner of his mouth.
Phoenix looked to be yelling for help as he clutched the young attorney, but he stopped still. A red spot had bloomed on his forehead and although Klavier was too far to see the wound clearly, it still turned his stomach. The lights in the courtroom started to fade as if the sun were covered by a cloud and the background chatter of the gallery turned to high, cruel laughter. Klavier watched helplessly, struggling against the chains as Phoenix fell back against the stained wall and Apollo struggled to breathe. He looked desperately to his right to see Kristoph eyeing him with detest, as if Klavier had tracked mud onto his favourite carpet.
"Now, where do you think you're going?" His brother held up a hand. A matching chain had appeared on Kristoph's wrist, linking itself to Klavier's, and he raised it to inspect his well-manicured nails. "We're in this together, Klavier," he said, eye twitching, almost manic.
Klavier wanted to scream, cry, anything, but instead the chains yanked him through the floor of the courthouse. Everything dissolved into a mess of fluttering playing cards with backs of red and blue as he fell down into endless darkness. With a quiet thunk, Klavier landed on something hard and cold. With a start, he saw himself trapped in an angular glass bottle and although he couldn't see the stopper from this angle, he had a dreadful feeling he knew what shape it was. A large, slender thumb and forefinger picked the bottle up, raising it up until Klavier was faced with a single, giant, piercing blue eye. It was wide and crazed, in a way Klavier had only seen once before. Thick, clear liquid poured down from the top of the bottle and Klavier scrambled away, heart beating out of his chest. It was emitting a chemical stench that nearly made him gag, but his escape was futile as he slid down the glass side of the bottle. Panic rose within him as quickly as the liquid filled the bottle, choking him on the fumes, weighing his arms down with the drag of its viscosity. It was up to his neck as he looked out, pleading and terrified, to the giant eye outside. All he heard was high, cold laughter as his head was smothered.
With a sharp inhale, Klavier's eyes flew open. He took a few deep breaths, bringing a hand to his bare chest to feel that he was sweating profusely. Everything felt clammy and unsteady, like he was going to vomit. Swallowing against his dry throat, he took a moment to familiarize himself with the room, trying to slow his heartbeat as he took in his surroundings. He was back at home, in his bed, the ceiling fan quietly whirring overhead. As Klavier's head fell to the side, he laid eyes on Apollo, whose face was squished into one of his arms as he lay on his front. Muffled snores came from his covered mouth and the collar of Klavier's shirt that he was borrowing peeked out from under the covers. Klavier should have smiled at him sleeping so peacefully and yet, all he could focus on was the souring feeling in his stomach. The details of his dream were blurry, but something about Apollo, struggling and in pain, scratched at the edge of his mind.
As his nausea still lingered, Klavier carefully extricated himself from the covers so as not to wake Apollo and shuffled off to the bathroom. Blearily, he splashed some water on his face, the chill of it making him shiver as he stood in only his boxers. He fumbled for a towel to dry himself and when he finally straightened up to put it back, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. A mess of blonde hair, a glinting eye, a tightly set frown. Klavier startled, before realizing what he had caught in the mirror was his own face. He heaved out a shaky sigh, bracing himself on the bathroom counter and feeling the nausea roll back through him. The dream was still largely a haze in his memory, which may have been good, considering how terrible he was feeling with just the dregs of it. That being said, he would always remember when he dreamed about him. The cold feeling of trim nails digging into his arm, the shrill ring of his brother's laugh, the clinking metal sound of him being led away in cuffs. Sometimes there were kinder things in his dreams, a spoken reassurance that everything would be alright, a steady hand pushing lunch into his arms as a teenager, perhaps a good-natured chuckle at a passing joke. No matter whether he had really experienced these things or if they were crafted from his subconscious mind, Klavier always remembered them.
He looked tiredly at his expression in the mirror. His hair hung loose and disheveled around his face and his chest still had a sheen of sweat. The bags under his eyes were getting worse and Klavier prodded them with a groan. Maybe he hadn't been getting as much sleep as he thought. Gently running his hands over his face, Klavier sighed again, willing the roiling, uncomfortable sensations within him to calm down. After a few moments, they did start to subside, but not fully, lingering like a bad aftertaste. Resolving to simply try to get some more sleep, Klavier gathered himself and made his way back into the bedroom. Just as he had placed one knee on the bed to carefully lay himself back down with minimal disturbance, there was a shifting of sheets as Apollo rolled over swiftly to face him, eyes catching the dim moonlight peeking in from the window. Klavier froze in the quiet of the bedroom as Apollo blinked up at him, eyes still heavy with sleep.
"You ok?" Apollo whispered hoarsely.
Klavier smiled, "Mhm," but he winced as he heard the fragility in his own voice.
"Nightmare?" Apollo asked. He spoke without any judgement, yet shame sunk itself into Klavier's chest anyway.
He exhaled through his nose as he slid himself back under the covers. "Yeah." At the admission, he suddenly felt very small, like the covers were stretching out as wide as the ocean and he was a small stone dropped somewhere in the water. He kept his gaze down, chin dipping beneath the covers like a child, but a hand gently cupped his cheek and guided his eyes up. Apollo's gaze locked on his, concerned and searching. He was blinking slow as he still struggled to wake completely. Klavier felt a little twinge of warmth at that and almost smiled.
"Wanna talk about it?" Apollo asked softly, his thumb gently rubbing against Klavier's cheek. He hesitated, then gave a small shake of his head. Apollo's mouth twitched up in a sympathetic smile. "Alright. C'mere, then." He opened his arms and Klavier scooted forward, tucking his head into Apollo's neck and wrapping his arms around him. His body scrunched up like an animal shielding itself and he fought to keep his breathing even. A kiss was pressed to his forehead as Apollo gave him a gentle squeeze, a hand running soothingly against his back. "It's ok, it's not real," Apollo spoke quietly against his forehead.
"It feels real," Klavier mumbled. "I swear, it's like he's following me. Like if I just turn my head, he'll be there."
He felt a sharp breath and Apollo's hold on him tightened by a fraction. "I know," he agreed, his tone suddenly deeply serious. "I get it, I really do. I feel like I'm losing my mind sometimes." Klavier nodded, his jaw clenching. "Maybe if we both feel this way though, we're not going crazy," Apollo reasoned with a quiet, rueful chuckle.
Klavier breathed out a fragment of a laugh in return, his eyes starting to sting. "Seems like sound logic, I suppose."
They lapsed into silence, their holds on each other finally relaxing as Apollo gently traced little circles on his back with an errant finger. Even though the strange, cold loneliness nestled in his heart, Klavier found that it was dwindling more and more each minute he spent in Apollo's arms. He stretched out more, allowing their legs to tangle lazily together and be as close as possible without clinging desperately to him. The soft feeling of Apollo's fingertips on his back, the gentle rise and fall of his breathing, his leg neatly hooked around Klavier's, the all-encompassing warmth of him, it all melded together into something simple and easy and safe. Something that he wanted to sink into like a hot bath, letting it all seep into his bones.
"Is there anything else you need, right now?" Apollo eventually asked, his hand travelling up to gently cradle the back of his head.
Klavier could cry from the gentle care of it all, but he only smiled sleepily into Apollo's neck and replied, "This is everything I need, schatzi. Thank you."