Chapter Text
“And why would I go there?”
Franziska was on the phone, getting quite annoyed by the person on the other line.
“Me and Phoenix have work to do that day. Is going there too much of a hassle for Franziska Von Karma?” Miles says smugly, his smirk practically visible.
“It is not! Why would I, a Von Karma, take time out of my day to go to some temple?!” She clenches the phone tightly.
“Franziska, it’ll be for just one day.”
“Miles Edgeworth, will you listen for once?”
“I am, and all that I am hearing is you whining about going to a temple.” Miles rolls his eyes at her, working on case studies.
“You-!” Franziska holds back from slamming the phone down, beyond annoyed at her brother.
“Listen. You don’t have to go if you don’t want to. But, I’m sure you’ll be interested in a certain someone being there.”
“Someone…? Don’t tell me it’s Scruffy.”
Miles pauses for a second, processing the nickname given to whoever Franziska was referring to.
“I’m sorry, ‘Scruffy’?” He finally speaks again, interested and confused.
“Gumshoe. That brainless detective, that foolishly foolish fool that can only act as foolish as a-“
“I don’t want to hear your speech, Franziska. I get that he’s rather…unintelligent.”
“Worse than that! He’s so incompetent, I could’ve done a whole investigation all by myself!” Franziska leans over her desk, getting more angry as she thinks about the detective.
Miles hums in agreement, still working as they talk.
“Wait…who was this person you mentioned?” She stands up properly, remembering what Miles had said earlier. "If not that foolish detective, than who?"
“Hm? Ah, I was referring to Ms. Fey.”
“Ms. Fey?” She tries to rack her brain for anyone, but cannot remember anyone by that name.
“Maya Fey, Franziska. Haven’t you met her before?” Miles says, almost in disbelief of his sister’s confusion.
She thinks more deeply this time, now remembering who she was. Phoenix Wright’s assistant and a spirit medium.
“Mhm, I remember now.” Her grip on the phone tightens again, her distain evident.
“Yes, you’ll be able to meet her again.”
“And what if I’d rather spend my winter here, in my office.”
“Then I’ll have Gumshoe assigned to be the lead detective, how about that?” Miles smugly warns her, earning a groan from his sister.
“Really?”
“Yes. The choice is yours.”
Franziska considers her options. She could spend the cold, long winter in here. But she’d have to deal with ‘Scruffy’ the entire time. Being at the temple would be interesting but why would she do that l? She was prosecutor, a child prodigy. Why would she waste her precious time?
“Why do you want me to go so badly? To do some foolish activities? Is that what it is, Miles Edgeworth?”
A pause happens. Franziska impatiently waits for her brother to respond. After a solid minute, she’s about to yell at him before him clearing his throat interrupts her.
“I think getting out of your comfort zone would be nice for you, Franziska.”
Her anger fades away, now confused by his statement. Franziska’s entire point was that this was her purpose, being a perfect prosecutor.
“Since when did you care so much, you fool?” She scoffs at him, but her tone has no real bite to it.
“Since I’ve realized what we’ve learned was wrong. You just haven’t realized it yet.”
She groans softly, understanding what he's referring to.
"Besides, if you do decide to go. I'd advise you don't bring your whip. It's rather immature of you."
Franziska runs a hand through her hair, wanting to be annoyed. But she’d couldn’t. She just lets out a sigh, taking the phone from her ear.
“Franziska?” Miles’s voice echoes out from the phone.
She stares down at it, thinking very carefully about what she’ll do. She finally brings it back to her ear, speaking in a serious voice.
“How long is the train ride there?”
It took less than an hour. Franziska spent her time on the train trying to understand her brother. How could her going to some temple help her? She just couldn't understand his logic. She also spent some time researching the temple. Franziska remembered the case her brother was in several months ago, she was there yet she barely remembered it. It wasn't relevant to her but in this moment, it was becoming a pain to try to remember.
"Next stop, Kurain Village!" A voice said down the hall, alerting Franziska.
She quickly prepared to exit the train, leaving along side a few other people. The snow fell slowly, clouding the surrounding area. Franziska quickly entered the temple but she stopped by a hand.
"Who's there?" A woman's voice asks her.
"Who are you?" Franziska asks back, already getting annoyed.
"Bikini, dear," The woman reveals herself, smiling up at Franziska.
"Mm. Franziska Von Karma."
"Right. What brings you here, dear?"
"I...I'm here to see Ms. Fey."
"Which one? There's plenty of 'em." Bikini smirks, making Franziska more annoyed at her.
"Maya Fey! That's who, you foolish person." Franziska yells out, her hand reaching out for her whip.
She looks down at her hip, realizing that it's not there. Right, Miles told her not to bring it.
"Come on in. It's really chilly." Bikini lends her hand out to Franziska.
Von Karma stares down at her hand, silently rejecting to take her hand.
"Just bring me to her." She sneers at her, her eye twitching softly.
"Alrighty, let's go."
Bikini leads her into the main hall, the room much warmer compared to outside. There's a fire bristling across the room.
"Well, you can take your jacket off, alright? I'll get Mystic Maya from the Inner Temple." Bikini walks off, leaving Von Karma alone.
Franziska hangs her jacker of a coat rack, sitting by the fire. She stares into it for a while, caught up in her thoughts. Why was it Maya specifically? She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't hear someone entering the room.
"Ms. Von Karma?" A child-like voice says behind her.
Franziska jumps, whipping her head around to see who's there. It's the little girl, Maya's...cousin? She couldn't exactly remember.
"Yes...?"
The little girl pulls her sleeves up, her expression changing to one of annoyance.
"What are you doing here?! Are you here to hurt Mystic Maya?" She starts hitting Franziska, barely making the prosecutor flinch.
"Such foolish words! I am not here to hurt anyone!" She grabs Pearl, picking her up with ease.
"Hey! Put me down!"
"Why are you hitting a prosecutor, hmm? Do you think that a child has any power over me?"
"What? You're a mean prosecutor!" Pearl waves her hands around, pouting at her.
"Children..." Franziska puts Pearl down, rolling her eyes at her.
The two stay silent, watching the fire. The sound of footsteps echo down the hallway, slowly getting louder and louder. Franziska stands up, almost preparing for an attack to occur. It isn't an attack of course, it's Maya.
"Hey, who's-" She stops walking, staring at Franziska with wide eyes.
They gaze into each other's eyes, not knowing how to talk to one another. Pearl waits for either to speak, quickly becoming impatient with the prolonging silence.
"Mystic Maya! She picked me up and yelled at me!" Pearl pushes past Franziska, hugging Maya.
"Really...?" Maya hugs her back, comforting her young cousin.
Franziska looks away from the two, already hating the child. She looked back and immediately noticed that Maya was looking at her. Just staring, she didn't seem annoyed or angry at her, she seemed...intrigued.
"How about you go play with your ball, I'll catch up to you later, okay Pearly?" Maya kneels down to her, wiping the child's tears.
"Alright!" Pearl perks up, running off down the hall.
Maya giggles at her reaction, turning back to Franziska.
"I thought that Nick was coming here, not you Franziska." Maya starts to approach her, surprisingly calm towards her.
"...I didn't expect to be here.." Franziska looks off somewhere, feeling awkward.
"Why are you here anyway?" Maya rubs her chin, rubbing her braincells for an idea.
"I....Well, I was...Miles Edgeworth suggested I come here..." Franziska stutters at first before gaining back her composure.
"Edgeworth? That's interesting." Maya smirks at her response.
Franziska nods her head, finally looking Maya in the eye. They stand there for a few seconds too long before Maya walks past her, sitting down on some cushions.
"How about we sit? We can talk about stuff."
"Stuff....?" Franziska raises an eyebrow but sits down beside Maya anyway.
"Yeah! It would be nice to get to know you, Franziska."
"I suppose that would be fine." Franziska crosses her arms.
There’s an awkward pause, with Maya fiddling around with her Magatama across her neck. Franziska watches in annoyance, not wanting to be in this awkward situation.
“How about we asks each other questions?”
“What, why would we do that?” Franziska scoffs, looking Maya in the eye.
“So we can both get to know each other at the same time. It’ll be better than just one person asking a bunch of questions at once, right?”
Franziska considers the offer, taking in to consideration how stupid this was. But, she felt curious. Very curious about Maya.
“Very well. You may start…”
“Okay! Why did you become a prosecutor at just 13?” Maya springs up, leaning way too close to Franziska.
“Uh….w..well, Papa wanted me to start early, to continue to Von Karma legacy even from a young age.” Franziska rubs the back of her neck, feeling rather anxious all of a sudden.
“Really? Your dad really was horrible, wasn’t he?”
Von Karma stops, Maya’s words replaying in her head.
‘Your dad really was horrible.’
“Papa was a perfectionist. He wanted nothing more than perfection in court. That is all.”
Maya backs up, sitting down properly on the cushion.
“Alright. Your turn, Von Karma.”
“Huh?” She blinks, a little startled by how quickly Maya’s turn ended.
“You ask me a question now.”
“Right…” Franzsika clenches her sleeve, thinking for a moment about what to ask.
"Are you okay from what happened?" She leans forward, looking up at Maya.
Maya's eyes widen at her question, not expecting it. She waits a minute before repsonding.
"Yeah. I'm feeling better after that woman took over my body..." Maya scratches the back of her head, smiling nervously.
"That's good..." Franziska sits up properly, relieved.
"Why do you ask anyways...?"
Von Karma looks over at her, unsure of how to respond.
"I...I was just curious..." She waves her hand at Maya, looking away.
"Okay..." Maya replies, not believing her. "It's my turn now."
Franziska sighs in annoyance, expecting a stupid question from her.
"What's your favorite food, Franziska?"
Of course, the classic question.
"I'm not answering that."
"What?! You have to, that's how the game works." Maya pouts, crossing her arms.
Franziska doesn't budge, shaking her head.
"Fine, I'll answer first. My favorite food is burgers!"
"Burgers...?" She scoffs at Maya, rolling her eyes.
"Yep! Nick always brings me to this burger shack..." Maya explains excitedly to Von Karma.
Franziska's annoyance fizzles out a little, finding her excitement to be comedic. Maya's smile falters a little as she hugs herself.
"Me and my sister used to go there..." Maya says in a somber tone. "Before she died, then Nick took me there in her place..."
Franziska feels sympathetic to her, unable to be annoyed by her childish antics.
"Sorry that happened." Von Karma fully looks at her, unconsciously lending her hand out.
Maya notices her hand, making Von Karma freeze up. She didn't realize her hand was moving to comfort her. Her face starts to feel hot as she pulls her hand away.
"S..Sorry.." Franziska stutters, feeling incredibly embarrassed.
"It's fine, Fran."
They both freeze up.
"What?"
"Hm, what's up?" Maya looks all over the room, her face equally as flushed.
"You...called me 'Fran'..."
"Yeah? Is it bad? I won't call you it anymore if it's bad!" Maya waves her hands, trying to undo her mistake.
Franziska sighs, shaking her head. Maya pauses, unsure of what she's trying to say.
"What? It's bad?"
Franziska shakes her head again.
"It's...fine? Is that it?"
She nods, her eyebrow twitching.
Maya's excitement floods back, her cheeky smile returning in full swing.
"Alright! I can call you Fran now, right?"
"Y...Yes, I don't mind that much." Franziska rolls her eyes, but her smile says otherwise.
They sit in silence for a while, not talking about anything. Maya's ears perk up when she hears Franziska muttering something.
"Hmm, did you say something, Fran?"
"My favorite food is......" Franziska mutters, the important part unintelligible.
"It's what? Say that again.." Maya leans in closer, trying to make out what she's saying.
"My favorite food is Haxe...'
"What's that?"
"A German dish, Maya Fey." She turns to face Maya, annoyed by her questions.
"Oh, really? Does it taste good?"
"Yes, it quite....uh..." Franziska stops her sentence, English slipping away from her.
"Do you need a word?" Maya contains a laugh as she speaks.
"Yes, English is such a foolish language..." Franziska slouches, irritated by her inability to speak English properly
"Delicious, that's a good word to use!"
"D...De...li..." Von Karma struggles to pronounce the word properly.
"It's fine, Fran. I'll help you learn the word another day, okay?"
"Very well. Yo-"
The two both jump at a loud noise, turning to see the snow storm outside.
"Oh.. I suppose you'll have to stay here until this storm blows over."
"What? No, I only came for a few hours, not a full day, Maya Fey." Franziska stands up, walking to the coat rack.
A hand grabs her wrist, stopping her.
"Fran, just stay here. You could die out there!" Maya shakes her head, concerned for Franziska.
Von Karma looks down at her wrist, staring down at the hand stopping her from leaving. She looks outside, watching the violent wind shake the snow.
"Von Karma..?"
"Fine. But do not tell anyone, understood?" Franziska sighs, taking her arm back.
"Great! Come on, I'll show you where you can sleep." Maya takes her wrist again, tugging her along.
Franziska quickly grabs her jacket, allowing her to lead her further into the temple. They walk down Winding Way and go into the Side Room. Franziska gazes at the futons on the floor.
"This is it?"
"Yep! I have to go play with Pearly now so get comfortable!" Maya runs off before Franziska can refute her.
"H...Hold it..." She almost yells but her voice lowers in volume.
She doesn't chase after her though. She lays on one of the futons and falls asleep. Maybe in the morning, she'll be able to leave and get back to her life.
But maybe she'll spend some more time with Maya...