Chapter Text
It had taken Miles Edgeworth to begin a process of deconstructing for him to even consider doing something this stupid. After Winston Payne had apparently gotten a cold so devastating that he rang Edgeworth up personally to inform him of his inability to take on his newest case, Edgeworth found himself agreeing to take it on in his stead.
Three and a half cups of Earl Grey deep into the case files and Edgeworth realized a problem. A big problem. A problem so big that he decided the best course of action was to send a message to one Phoenix Wright.
Edgeworth (5:01 pm): Wright, I require your assistance on a case.
Phoenix (5:05 pm): Edgeworth!! Sure, I have some time for counsel. I don’t have a case right now so drop by wheneva.
With his response, Edgeworth picks up the file, throws on his coat, and flies out the door.
—
A knock at the door startles a half-asleep Phoenix to sit upright in his chair and wipe the drool. “Huh? Wha-?” Phoenix blinks quickly to focus his eyes. He had been waiting for a phone call, a news article, or even a breaking news special to guide him towards his next client, but no dice. Instead, he had dozed off at his desk. He gives a small stretch and rises from his chair to open the door and greet his visitor.
“Edgeworth. That was quick.” He gives him a small smile and steps to the side, inviting him inside.
“Yes, well… sorry for the trouble. It seems I caught you amid a nap.” Edgeworth notices Phoenix's disheveled hair.
“I was just resting my eyes.” He stands to the side, stretching an arm out to guide Edgeworth in. “Please, make yourself comfortable.”
Edgeworth walks past Phoenix and inside Wright & Co. Law Offices. The large case file falls onto the coffee table with a smack as he sits down on one of the couches.
“Coffee?” Phoenix asks as he goes to the machine to locate his least-dirty mug and starts to make himself a cup. It’s lukewarm, but it will wake him up, nevertheless.
“No, thank you.” Edgeworth shimmies off his coat and carefully folds it to place beside himself as Phoenix sits across him on the other couch with his cup of coffee.
“So, what’s this all about? New case?” Phoenix quirks an eyebrow and takes a sip of his coffee, leaning forward towards Edgeworth.
“Yes. Payne was supposed to be taking the lead, but an unexpected ailment,” Edgeworth rolls his eyes slightly, “has taken him out of commission. I agreed to take over his case. It has turned out to be quite… peculiar.”
“You do know that peculiar things are my specialty, right?” Phoenix gives a small laugh.
“Yes, well. A young girl is accused of stabbing her older sister’s lover with a knife. Her fingerprints are on the weapon and it happens to be one of her own kitchen knives.” Edgeworth pushes the folder towards Phoenix, who picks it up to start thumbing through the pages as he takes another sip of coffee.
“Alright, what’s so peculiar about that?”
“I don’t believe that she did it.”
Phoenix chokes a bit on his coffee. He wipes his mouth and sets his cup down on the table. “Sorry, what? And you want to take this case?”
Edgeworth gives a small sigh and sits back into the couch, crossing his legs, placing laced hands on top of them. “Yes. I do.”
Phoenix scrunches his eyebrows together in confusion. “Why? This doesn’t seem like an Edgeworth case.” I know Edgeworth has helped me before on cases, but I didn’t think he was willing to go ahead and take an innocent person’s case. That’s a bit much even for him, Phoenix can’t help but think.
Edgeworth huffs and cocks his head. “And whatever is that supposed to mean? An ‘Edgeworth case’.” He wasn’t oblivious to the fact that his reputation still preceded him. Ruthless, cold, a demon. He understood that his previous choices had led to unsavory responses, often from the public and most definitely from the defense.
“You know…” Phoenix raises his hands, trying to help himself find the words. “A case where there is reasonable doubt. Where all the signs point to the defendant? It’s also known as a Phoenix case.” He gives a toothy grin to Edgeworth.
Edgeworth nods his head in agreement. “Yes, you do have a habit of choosing cases that are not particularly in your favor. Regardless, I agreed to take over the case before I knew the details, I did not choose it based on the lack of guilt of the defendant.”
Phoenix nods back at him. “Right. Anyway, you do know that I am not going to help you pick apart a case until we can find some manufactured guilt, right?”
Edgeworth felt his chest tighten a bit. “I wouldn’t dream of asking you to do such a thing.”
“Okaaaay… So, what am I needed for?”
“The problem is that I believe the defendant is innocent, but I cannot prove it.”
“Alright, the peculiar-ness is back.”
“Peculiarity, Wright.”
“Gesundheit. There’s nothing that you can find for their innocence?” He flips through the pages to search for anything that sticks out to him immediately.
“To be honest, this case is quite fresh. There is still a week before trial and the police are currently searching both sister’s apartments for evidence.”
“Both sisters?” Phoenix looks up at Edgeworth.
“Yes. The younger sister, Ashley, was arrested yesterday on suspicion of murdering Leon, the lover of her older sister, Ada. His body was found at Ada’s apartment… by Ada.”
“Ouch.” Phoenix winces a bit.
“Yes, quite a grizzly sight. The timeline I have been able to piece together is this: Ashley receives a text message from her sister inquiring about retrieving an article of clothing. She asks Ashley to be at the apartment at 8:30 pm. Ashley claims that she arrived at 8:30 pm and went inside, but her sister was not present. She waited for ten minutes but then left.” Phoenix gives a small nod, following Edgeworth and silently asking him to continue. “Ada arrived later at 9 pm and found Leon with five stab wounds in his chest, the knife still sticking out of him. She says she immediately called the police. The police then arrested Ashley at her apartment shortly after.”
“Alright. Seems pretty clear to me.”
“The autopsy report, however, claims that Leon died between 8:30 and 10:00 pm.”
Phoenix pauses before speaking. “A time frame when both girls were inside the apartment at one point.”
“Precisely.”
Phoenix sucks in a breath. “Right. Anything else I should know?”
“Ah yes, one other thing. Ashley and Leon previously dated.”
Phoenix raises an eyebrow. “The two of them had dated? Christ, Edgeworth, you have your work cut out for you.” Phoenix slaps the folder back down on the coffee table, still open.
“Yes, it looks horrendous.” He gestures towards Phoenix, “The reason why I sought counsel from you.”
“Yeah, this does sound like something that I would get tangled up in. I mean, this is still a bit fresh, and the police are still looking around, so maybe they will turn up something that will prove her innocence like you think?”
“It seems that Detective Gumshoe is unsure of what to look for. Given that they were sisters, it is not unusual that Ashley’s DNA would be there...”
Phoenix rubs his chin in thought. “Hmmm… you know, I worked on a case not too long ago when I was stuck in the same position you are. Turns out that the actual criminal walked right in front of a security camera, full face and everything.”
“Yes, well, Ashley claims that she went to the apartment. Any footage showing otherwise would help.”
“But… what if there is footage proving she went there?”
Edgeworth gives Phoenix a confused look. “You want footage showing that she arrived at the apartment where the murder took place?”
Phoenix shakes his head, “No, no. Think about it this way. Ashley already claims that she went to the apartment, right?” Edgeworth nods his head in agreement. “What if we have footage that shows she is telling the truth and that she did show up there?”
“Again, you want footage showing she went to the crime scene?”
“C’mon, Edgeworth. If there is video footage that shows that she was only at the apartment for ten minutes like she claimed, then there would be footage of what she looked like. Bloody clothes, panicked expressions, everything.”
It clicks. “Ah. I see.” Edgeworth whips out his phone to message Gumshoe. “The apartment complex might have installed cameras for protection.”
“Everyone these days has those little cameras on their doorbells. They are always popping up on the internet when something funny happens or if someone decides to steal packages.” I should really stop watching those and get more clients. “Maybe Ada has one? Or a neighbor?”
“I was just thinking the same,” Edgeworth mutters as he finishes his message to Gumshoe and puts the phone back in his pocket.
“Now we wait for Gumshoe to work his magic?”
“Something like that.” Edgeworth checks the time on his watch. “Ah. Are you… hungry, Wright? Allow me to treat you to dinner for today’s counsel. I can also hear your stomach growl from here.”
As soon as he heard the word ‘dinner’, Phoenix was flashing a classic Wright smile towards Edgeworth. “That sounds great. In the mood for anything specific?”
“There’s a wonderful Mediterranean restaurant down the street from my apartment. Shall we go there? I can drive, of course.”
“Yeah, you know me and cars aren’t the best mix. That sounds great.”
They both stand, tossing on jackets and heading to Edgeworth’s car. As they drive, street lamps start to flicker on as the sun sets. The city was beautiful at night and the abundance of skyscrapers and offices looked like a sea of stars. Phoenix leaned his head against the passenger side window.
Edgeworth gripped the steering wheel, his head reeling from the case. Although the circumstances were strange, there was something else that was bothering him about the whole ordeal.
They pull into the parking lot and work their way inside of the restaurant. The low light of the building and the glow of oil lamps placed on each table give a soft, cozy atmosphere.
Phoenix immediately notices the mood shift and bumps his shoulder against Edgeworth’s. “Kinda romantic.” He feels Edgeworth freeze a bit in place. He takes note and tries to smooth it over with “It already smells amazing in here.”
Edgeworth relaxes slightly and looks at him, “Yes, they do pride themselves on fresh fish.”
The host leads them inside to a two-person table, hands them their menus, and leaves the men to decide their pick of the night.
“Please, Wright,” Edgeworth says, looking at him over his menu, “order whatever you would like.”
“My eyes immediately went to these squid ink noodles.” He can feel Edgeworth’s eyes glaring at him. He can hear the “All you eat is instant noodles. You know you are going to give yourself a heart attack before the age of 35.” He responds to his imaginary Edgeworth, “Yeah, yeah, I know it’s noodles. But it’s squid ink noodles. Totally different.”
“Mhm. You and Miss Fey can continue to tell yourselves that you can be sustained on a diet of noodles and cheese crackers and I will continually tell you that you are going to give yourself a heart attack before the age of 35.” Called it, Phoenix thinks.
They place their orders as the waiter nods and walks away to relay it to the kitchen. Phoenix takes a sip of his water. “You know, something has been bothering me about that case.”
“Something other than the video issue?” Edgeworth joins him in a sip.
“Yeah. I’m not going to lie, Edgeworth. It feels very unlike you to not think of a video camera.” Edgeworth looks a bit taken aback and sputters a bit on his water. “I just wonder if there is something else bothering you about this case?”
Edgeworth flicks his eyes down to the table and clicks his tongue. “I… was having some personal trouble with the case.”
This gets Phoenix to raise his eyebrows. Okay, he’s interested. “Personal problems?”
“Yes. As you know, I have been… deconstructing my previously held beliefs under the von Karma household. The belief that even someone who was simply accused of a crime must be guilty in some fashion and should be placed in prison for it. The belief that a perfect record trumped any innocence.” He finds himself running his thumb down the side of his water glass, finding it hard to look at Phoenix when talking about this. “I still held some of these beliefs, however, it came to a head while I was reading the case files.”
“How so?” Phoenix leans forward. That motion gets Edgeworth to flick his eyes back up to his face.
“I think it has made me reevaluate what I consider the absolute truth. In a court of law, we cannot know what has really transpired. We can only put the scattered pieces together, which I have accepted slowly but surely. But what I feel about this case is that all of the facts are in front of me and I still do not believe it. There is something else.”
“Intuition?” Phoenix offers.
“Of a sort. I think it is the looming feeling that there are different absolute truths. A person could have genuinely believed in what they saw while another thinks the same but sees it differently. Our minds, our understanding of the world around us creates inherently different truths that we must put together to make a truth… an almost fabrication.”
Phoenix nods slowly in understanding. “But that is our job, isn’t it?”
Edgeworth grimaces slightly. “That is what I don’t understand. How could we? It’s an imperfect science. How can we truly know?”
“We can’t,” Phoenix gives an understanding shrug and crosses his arms, “and I think that’s okay. Both of us get as close to the truth as we can. This is why contradictions exist. Because we see the world differently from one another. But we have to find what aligns closest to reality.”
“The closest truth to reality…” He thinks for a moment. “Please realize it has taken a while for me to get here. I think I understand where I stand, but it may take me more time.”
Phoenix gives a small smile and nods at Edgeworth as he listens. “I understand how you feel. Every case seems to change my mind on what I believe, but I think this is my current philosophy. We must accept whatever is closest to reality, even if we don’t like what we find.”
Edgeworth takes a deep breath and slowly nods, processing his words. “I do hope you will forgive my past grievances. I was wrong in my past beliefs that I must essentially force my view of the truth to come to light.”
Phoenix stares at Edgeworth for a moment, then gives a small laugh. “It’s fine. The Edgeworth I knew from then has disappeared. I may not agree with everything you do, but the person in front of me is not the man that once terrorized every defense attorney in the state.”
Their food arrives, steaming and fragrant. Phoenix’s eyes turn to saucers at the sight of noodles, and he takes a forkful immediately to the face. “Mmmm… this is so good.”
Edgeworth mulls over his previous statement. “Wright… I do believe I owe you an apology.”
“Huh? I already told you that your past actions don’t define you, Edgeworth.” He keeps shoveling mouthfuls of food into his face.
“No, I mean… I apologize for disappearing.” The words feel thick in Edgeworth’s throat. He had been meaning to tell him this, but the time was never right. “For that note. Although I meant it metaphorically, I understand my poor logic must have made you think… Regardless, I never apologized about this. And I should have. And… I am sorry.”
Phoenix pauses, chews, and swallows his food. He looks down at the space of table between them with a sigh. “Ah. Thank you. For apologizing. After everything, I think it was really a means to an end for me to understand why you disappeared. You needed to become someone else. And if it’s any help, I like the Edgeworth that pays for me to get fancy noodles.”
“I still…” he stares at his plate of food. “I still feel as if I…”
“Don’t.” Phoenix places a hand over Edgeworth’s, looking him dead in the eyes. Where Phoenix touches burns, and he can feel his skin prickle. “It was bad. It was fucking bad,” Edgeworth flinches, “but I understand now that it was necessary for you. You had to do it to put your mind at ease. You deserved to move on from everything that happened, and you thought this was the right way. That chapter of your life is over.” He removes his hand from Edgeworth’s in lieu of shoving more food in his mouth. The heat is lifted from his hand.
Edgeworth still looks a little unsure but finds himself trusting Phoenix’s words after a moment. He mutters, “Sometimes my own actions scare me.”
Phoenix leans back in his chair and looks down. “I feel the same way, but hey. We aren’t perfect. We are just human, and we do stupid, ridiculous things.” He looks up at Edgeworth in time to see him press his lips together in contemplation. It must have been hard to let go of the perfect von Karma image and he can’t imagine the time and pain it must have taken to do so. “But let’s not have our past actions worry us. Let’s just enjoy our present company and the company of these incredible noodles that I absolutely demolished.”
Edgeworth gives a small smile and a chuckle. Phoenix’s face perks up. Oh, so that’s what he sounds like when he laughs, he thinks.
“Yes, I… I agree.” Edgeworth raises his water glass to Phoenix. “To the current us.”
Phoenix gives a wide smile back and brings their glasses together with a clink. “Now, you better eat those noodles before I steal them off of your plate.”