Chapter Text
I.
“Mon dieu! Where is he?”
Simon pulled his hand away just in time, avoiding Athena’s freakishly strong grip. The girl must have anticipated his movement, as she reached high to grab his bicep and pull his arm back down so she could shake it wildly. He remained firm in his footing, unyielding, like a rock. A black rock.
“What? They can’t let the freaking Crown Prince of Khura’in and his short adopted brother off the plane first?” she groaned.
“They will pass through customs and get their baggage as quickly as possible, Athena, relax.” He smirked and added, “Perhaps Justice-dono took one look at your crazed expression and turned right around.” Sometimes, he truly outdid himself.
Widget and the girl were very upset with him. “Apollo said just before they left that he couldn’t wait to see us all.”
“But he said this to Gavin-dono, you’ll remember.”
“But he said us, Prosecutor Panda!”
Simon crossed his arms and glared down at her. Damn, she didn’t shrink under his dark gaze like everyone else.
“Why would Prosecutor Sad Monk even bother coming on this trip? Justice-dono said he needed a break, yet what does Prosecutor Sad Monk have here? What duties can a Crown Prince shirk?”
Athena shrugged. “And they left Princess Rayfa and Queen Amara by themselves. I hope the kingdom’s okay by the time they get back.”
They waited in silence for a while longer. They watched families reunite and tired, grumpy businessmen push past those happy families. Simon nearly snatched one man’s cellular device for being so rude.
Athena was screaming in his ear the next minute, jumping up and down, throwing Simon around with her. The short defense attorney was wrestling his way through the crowd of people. The pretty, iridescent head of one Prosecutor Sad Monk was behind him.
Pretty. Ha! That sniveling, groveling, name-calling monk wannabe was the farthest thing from pretty. Simon always held the firm belief that an ugly soul made an ugly man indeed.
And the soul on that prince was monstrous indeed.
He was arrogant and had betrayed his father and country. He’d dishonored his father’s strong name under the threat of blackmail, fine. Yet where was the retribution? The apologies? Their family reunion was lovely, but Prosecutor Sad Monk’s slow moving actions led to the ultimate death of his revolutionary father. The men of the Wright Anything Agency almost lost their lives, too. His complete dismissal for the lives of others disgusted Simon.
Apollo dumped his simple, patched bag on the ground and let himself be engulfed fully in a hug by Athena. She forced him to bend at an awkward angle to rest his head against her chest, patting at his back, like they were mother and son reuniting after years apart. She released him eventually, and Simon thought she would start gushing about how tall he had grown.
“You guys remember Nahyuta, right?” He gestured to the offending monk.
“All too well,” Simon murmured, crossing his arms.
Apollo looked between the two of them. “Awesome. Well, I’m starving, and I promised Trucy we’d get noodles as soon as we landed.”
Athena instantly started ushering them all out of the airport. Apollo slung his bag back over his shoulder and walked along with her. Simon moved quickly to avoid being stuck with that sprightly elf of a prince. But Nahyuta was nearly as tall as him, so his legs moved just as quickly. His over the shoulder bag was a magnificent emerald color, almost as magnificent as his eyes.
…That were the windows to his ugly, ugly soul.
Simon was actually grateful that he did not try and make any small talk with him; he wouldn’t have answered, anyway. Athena’s itty bitty little car was a disgusting boring beige, but she loved it and had named it Average Klaus. Her 1990s French pop blared as she turned on the ignition, waiting for Apollo to climb into the front seat. Simon wanted the shotgun seat, since his legs were longer, but he would settle for a fierce glare at him later. So he was regrettably stuck with the incense burning prodigy in the backseat. He looked particularly comfortable in his little seat, legs crossed daintily, hands folded in his lap.
Simon spread his legs and buckled his seatbelt and watched the passing scenery whiz by as Athena careened out of her parking space and onto the highway.
“Hey, Prosecutor Sahdmadhi,” she called. “We were going to stop by the WAA, but if you want to go to the prosecutor’s office or something, I can take you there.”
“Ema should be there, so someone will pay attention to Nahyuta,” Apollo quipped. “Klavier told me she couldn’t wait to beg for you to come back, since she was working with ‘the fop’ again.”
Nahyuta smirked. “She knows she is welcome to Khura’in anytime. It might strain her to wait for an international case that requires my expertise.”
Simon snorted. He felt cold eyes staring him down, but he did not falter.
“Children!” Athena snapped, eyeing Simon in the rearview mirror. He could barely see her through his bangs, but he rolled his eyes. As maternal as she tried to be over him (gee, wonder why?), she was ten years his junior, and he would not tolerate being the child in their friendship. If anyone was going to be the doting mother, it would be him.
“Eyes on the road, Athena,” he commanded, and she jerked the car back into its proper lane.
Trucy had clearly thrown herself out of the WAA office the moment Average Klaus pulled up to the curb. A streak of blue appeared from the doors, and Apollo was abruptly pinned to poor Klaus’ passenger door. Trucy was positively blubbering about how much she missed her Polly and was already begging him not to leave. Wright stood in the office doorway, beckoning everyone in. Trucy dragged along Apollo, and Athena kindly grabbed his bag for him. Simon noticed the sad monk next to him had not moved from his spot on the sidewalk.
“Remembering how awful you treated that poor girl, Prosecutor Sad Monk?”
Nahyuta turned to fix him with a glare. It was deceptively pretty for how cold his voice was when he said, “I performed my duties as a prosecutor. It is more than can be said for you, Prosecutor Panda.”
Whether he was referring to his time spent in the clink or to that little incident where he acted as co-counsel to the defense, Simon was not sure.
But Simon was not happy.
Nahyuta gracefully glided ahead of him, entering the tiny, cramped WAA.
“Hey, Prosecutor Sahdmadhi!” Wright greeted him. “You can dump your, uh, bag by Apollo’s if you want. Though that looks pretty nice, so you probably won’t want to set it on the floor, because I can’t remember the last time I vacuumed.”
He set it down on top of the patched, beaten brown bag and took a graceful seat on the hard red couch. Everyone took their own seats, and well, Trucy sat as far away as she could from Nahyuta. Heh, of course she did. That man terrified the poor girl with threats of a very firm murder conviction; unless he gave her a reason to forgive him, he would be one of the few, poor people out of her good graces. Athena had told Simon that little Trucy was terrified of him for some time, until he went against the unspoken rule to not give her a katana lesson; it was their little secret.
The employees of the WAA spoke solely to Apollo, desperate to hear all about his ridiculous cases in Khura’in. He said he’d been exhausted lately, but he was happy with the work he was doing there. It was about time he felt that way, honestly.
Wright looked at Nahyuta. “And how’s…Her Benevolence?”
“She can’t hear you.”
“I feel like she’ll just know, though.”
Nahyuta’s smile was, admittedly, charming. “Rayfa has been very well. Mother and I are slowly easing her into her duties and responsibilities, obviously. Her, ah, youth does not lend her well to forge any strong relationships with any other kingdoms, so Mother has been handling that. Her spiritual power is growing quite strong, now that…Ga’ran isn’t ‘teaching’ her anymore.”
Simon had heard the story from Athena. The poor girl.
“And since Her Mercifulness actually has powers,” Wright muttered. “That’s good she’s doing well. And you’re okay?”
Ah, ever the Dad, that Phoenix Wright.
“Very well, thank you.”
“Are the cases as annoying for you as they are for Apollo?” Athena asked.
“I fight less with the guilty party, yet it’s frustrating to know the client is certainly innocent and still be against them.”
“Ugh, Edgeworth could talk for days about that feeling.”
“Yes, I’ve reached out to him for assistance on weeding out the corrupt prosecutors still in Khura’in. We had our fair share of prosecutors, yet the majority of them acted under Ga’ran. It’s been difficult picking out the good ones.”
There was a knock on the door, and Ema let herself in immediately. Why bother knocking if she was just going to come in anyway? Nahyuta stood and greeted her, graceful smile on his lips. Ema pushed her pink glasses on top of her head, grinning wide at him. She offered him a Snackoo, which was politely declined. She sat herself down next to Simon, elbowing him quite a lot as she settled. Ema and Simon were across from Nahyuta, and Simon had trouble filtering out their conversation as Athena and Apollo struck up their own. He found himself fairly distracted by Nahyuta’s moving mouth, speaking smoothly and at just the perfect register.
Trucy suddenly interjected, “Apollo, you promised me noodles!” The girl had clearly gotten bored with all of the boring legal talk. Apollo conceded and stood. Athena announced that Apollo was paying, so that everyone should come. Wright stood and shrugged on his blue blazer.
Simon stood and announced he would heading back to the prosecutor’s office, since he had work to do. Athena whined like a child, demanding he come for one bowl of salty noodles at least. He held fast and declined the invitation.
“And I invited Prosecutor Gavin, too!” Trucy said.
Apollo did not seem to like that. “What!”
“Whatever, Polly! We all know who he’s flirting with at 8 in the morning.”
Simon grinned and followed the group out the door, enjoying the ridicule. Prosecutor Gavin was incredibly obvious about it, yes. He was glad to never be a love-sick, overly obvious man. The group of lawyers and the one magician headed in the direction of pure salt. Nahyuta just barely brushed against him when he and Ema headed in the opposite direction the prosecutor’s office. He felt warm as he followed behind them.
Simon gratefully returned to his quiet office. He shed his overcoat and opened the window for Taka, in case she decided to come back to him while he was still at the office. The remaining Payne brother was squabbling about something or other, so Simon made a show of slamming his door. He heard a terrified squeak and little feet scampering away. Heh.
Simon accomplished all he wanted to for the rest of the day. While he never stayed as late as Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth, he was always one of the last to leave. Taka had not shown herself, so he returned to his small apartment and found her waiting on a branch by his bedroom window. Thankfully, she didn't have any animal carcasses to bring in with her. Good, no animal carcasses to bring in as well. He felt hungry and managed to somehow salvage the burned meal that Athena had tried to make the other day. “Meal” was a strong word for whatever it was in the plastic container, but with enough sriracha, he could stomach it.
He felt gross from the long day, so he climbed into the shower. He wished he had been able to shower in the morning to be clean for the day, but his long, absurdly thick hair prevented him from doing that. After dressing, he checked his cellular device and found a text message from Athena.
FROM: Athena, 21:22
we’re going out to celebrate polly’s three-day homecoming! Gavin is paying. Come!!!!
FROM: Simon, 21:47
No. I’m busy.
FROM: Athena, 21:47
no you’re not
FROM: Simon, 21:48
I just showered.
FROM: Athena, 21:49
oh wow you just finish up bingo at the old folk’s home?
polly said nahyuta’s going to be there!!!!!
Simon sighed. Well, now he most certainly was not going. He texted her back to have fun and be safe, which she responded with the old man emoji about twenty times.
He had missed her for all those years.
Simon found that three days with Prosecutor Sad Monk gliding around the prosecutor’s office was far too many. Three days too many. Everywhere he turned, there he was. Smiling or chatting with some of their colleagues. Simon’s colleagues. Nahyuta had been there for only a few short months, he did not deserve to be so lovingly welcomed back. He needed to leave and leave immediately. Return to his job of running a country, not blathering on with the Chief Prosecutor when Simon needed to speak to him.
He barged in the middle of their conversation and requested gruffly that Edgeworth-dono sign some forms for him. He thrust the papers in his hands and a blue pen for him to scribble his beautiful signature on the lines. He felt Nahyuta watching him the whole time, but he did not look. He did not want to see those green eyes and suspiciously kind smile that close to his own face. Get away, Sad Monk.
Edgeworth did not seem too pleased that his conversation had been interrupted when he thrust the papers back, but Simon did not stick around long enough to receive a lecture. The big boss knocked on his office door some time later, stating he felt that a walk would reenergize him.
“I’m sure Miss Cykes is excited Justice is back in the country. If only for a few short days,” he said, rubbing under Taka’s chin. “She was devastated when he left, wasn’t she?”
“Yes, sir. But she’s seen the positives, in that she inherited his desk and no longer does her paperwork on that beat up old red couch.”
He rolled his eyes. “I don’t understand why Wright still refuses to clean the office up. He’s at least finally moved out of there.”
“Your home must feel crowded, sir.”
“I thought I had stepped on one of Trucy’s live doves, but it was…not.” Taka seemed to be very angry with the man all of a sudden.
“A full home is a happy home, I’ve been told.”
“Excuse me?”
That elf from the Lord of the Rings stood in the doorway. Something in his eyes looked mightily suspicious. Simon figured this was childish payback for the way he interrupted their own conversation. He pulled some excuse out of thin air to drag Edgeworth away, and Simon was alone once again.
As much as he liked Apollo, Simon was glad when their three days were up. Athena was still the only member of the WAA who could drive, and Simon did not feel she could navigate the terrifying airport highways without his assistance, so he came again with her.
Apollo and Athena wandered off to finagle with the machines so he could print their boarding passes, so Simon was left alone with Nahyuta.
“I find it a little strange, Prosecutor Panda, that you’ve come to see us off.”
“Athena is the only driver in the WAA, and I do not trust her enough to get home safely without a passenger driver. Trucy is obviously in school, and Wright needs to work.”
“I fear you might like watching me leave.”
Simon turned to look at him. What exactly was he implying? Simon would literally watch him walk him away? Fat chance.
“And I’ve been curious,” Nahyuta continued, apparently thinking that Simon wanted him to keep talking, “for what reasons you dislike me so much?”
Well, if he was going to ask about it, then Simon would certainly answer him.
“A prince does not get to take vacations. The fact that you are taking one just barely three months into the job clearly shows you’re not prepared for it.” Simon crossed his arms. “You put my friend’s friends in danger with your impulsivity and lack of courage to stand up to a cruel dictator.”
Nahyuta’s finger tips connected together smoothly as he shook his head. “I concede that my inaction led to endangering both Apollo and Phoenix Wright. Ga’ran’s hold was very tight. I should not have let the trial escalate to the point that it did.” He paused and brushed those silky strands out of his face and said, “But yes, I suppose you’re right. I’m not deserving of a three day break.”
Simon faltered just slightly, but he was not given an opportunity to stumble further when Nahyuta continued, “Things in Khura’in have been fairly relaxed. What with my long lost mother, essentially, returning from the dead. The death that her younger sister forced upon her, tearing my close family apart. Not to mention the evil Ga’ran blackmailed me into doing to protect young Rayfa, who didn’t know how much she was being manipulated. And I suppose it’s best all of this came out in front of a packed trial of Khura’in citizens.
“And speaking of the trial, I’ve since taken up head prosecutor duties, since that sniveling little man ran away from the court. Apollo and I have handled hundreds of cases in the last three months since the DC Act has been abolished. Rayfa, my innocent, monstrously manipulated little sister, you remember her, right?”
Simon wasn’t allowed to answer him, since Nahyuta charged on, moving closer to Simon and saying, “Yes, well, Rayfa is very difficult to deal with on a good day, and her impatience rivals that of a little toddler. She is desperate to start her royal duties, in addition to her spiritual training with Mother. Truthfully, I find it difficult to get along with her, since I’d only known her in a very formal capacity until recently. You’ll remember, Prosecutor Panda, that Ga’ran took her away from me and raised her as her own, yes? And I was forced to do her dirty work for her to keep Rayfa safe?”
“I rem-”
“Not to mention the small fact that I have been grieving for the death of a father I barely spoke to in the last five years. I was not able to make peace with him before his untimely death, which you’ll also remember was at the hands of the Ga’ran regime. Who, again, manipulated everyone close to me and ruined my family. But I’m going in circles, it seems. You’re very right in that I am not deserved of these very short three days of vacation.”
Nahyuta’s beautiful eyes flicked to the side, and Simon figured that finally Apollo and Athena were returning. Good, anything to end this eloquent smack down.
“I feel that your assumptions about me are all about the past Nahyuta, who was under the influence of blackmail and near torture. So, Simon Blackquill, I hope you learn to take those prejudices and shove it. Otherwise, by the grace of the Holy Mother herself, I will shove them for you.”
He’d somehow gotten extremely close to Simon, so when Simon tried to back up, he ran into Athena. She shoved him right back, and the twisted samurai feared some disgustingly comical crash and burn scenario where he fell directly on top of Nahyuta, but he had already stepped aside to speak with Apollo. He accepted his boarding pass and produced his passport from a side pocket of his beautiful bag.
Athena had gathered Apollo up into a hug, demanding he call and video-chat more often, that his visits had to be more frequent and for longer days. Simon felt Nahyuta’s gaze on him the whole entire time she spoke with her dear friend. Apollo gave him a little wave before they turned and passed through where the others could not. Nahyuta turned, and Simon felt the sting of a whip. Oh, no, it was just his braid.
“What insane lecture were you getting from Prosecutor Sahdmadhi?” Athena asked, slowly beginning to move out of the airport.
His only response was a grunt and picking up the pace. He was glad to be away from those life changing eyes.