Work Text:
When Miles Edgeworth woke up, something instantly felt odd. A lot of somethings actually. He was in a different room than the bedroom in his new apartment. His glasses were nowhere to be seen, but he also found he didn’t need them as badly.
The suit hanging elegantly on the back of the door was red with a blue and gold design in the middle, akin to the one hanging in his office which he wore to his first trial.
It was odd that it was here.
The room actually felt familiar, but he was not able to place it until he spotted several suitcases embellished with the Von Karma crest.
No…
This was the hotel room Von Karma booked for him to make his first American court debut.
Miles shot up, spotting the date on the small calendar on the nightstand, February 16, 2013. A case file with an embellished note indicating Do not be late. I will hear about it. MVK lay next to it.
So, it was the morning before his first court debut. It was the morning before the trial where the defendant died on the stand, setting off a series of events that ended in misery for multiple parties.
His breath caught suddenly, many memories not yet made coming to the surface. He ran to the bathroom to splash water on his face, willing himself to wake up from whatever this was.
His mind continued racing, this can’t be happening this can’t be happening I was finally content.
Maybe fate was being cruel in making him relive his worst nightmares, maybe it was being kind to give him a chance to change things for the better. He wasn’t sure.
The more he thought of the domino effects this case had (Godot, Mia, Phoenix, Maya, Iris, Me) the more he felt sick of its original outcome.
Whether this was real or not, he knew what he had to try.
~~
Prosecutor Edgeworth, aged 21, walked into the courtroom to face one of the worst trials of his career, and was met with the ghost of Mia Fey at the defense bench.
Well, not the ghost yet.
Hopefully never a ghost at all, he thought.
She was quickly joined by a man with a cup of coffee and a smirk. He put his hand on her shoulder and smiled down at her, which she weakly returned.
A man who ended up in a coma because of this trial. A man who you last saw in prison for defending Mia's sister.
Edgeworth shook his head to clear it, this trial may be harder to get through than he anticipated.
~~
First things first, how to get the poison off of Terry Fawles.
“Are both counsels ready to proceed?” The Judge asked, gavel raised.
"The defense is ready to proceed your honor." Mia barely stuttered.
"The prosecution requests a search of the defendant before we proceed further today." Edgeworth straightened.
"What?" Mia almost screeched. Diego's breathe hitched on his cup of coffee.
The rest of the courtroom was silent.
"Prosecutor Edgeworth, this is an unforeseen request. Where exactly did this come from?" The Judge inquired.
Well I can't exactly tell them it's hindsight.
"Intuition your honor. Was the defendant searched before the proceedings here today?" Edgeworth tried to sound as confident as a young him would have been, but he almost winced.
The judge turned to the bailiff, who shrugged. Since they weren't refusing, Edgeworth thought that as a good sign to continue.
"The defendant has been free and unsupervised for several days. He could be holding anything on his person at the moment."
"What is he getting at?" He heard Mia whisper to Diego, who was fixing him with a cool gaze.
"I'm not sure."
Mia stepped up, "Objection your honor, this is clearly a bias against my client for having a criminal record."
"Actually your honor, it is merely a precaution before we continue. I've heard of many witnesses and defendants threatening harm to themselves or others on the stand to cause a spectacle, and I would like a certainty that will not be the case here." He was getting too close to giving everything away, he knew that, but there was no other way to get that necklace off.
"I...well Prosecutor Edgeworth... if the defendant has not been properly searched prior to trial I suppose that should be done post haste." The judge looked a bit confused, but well-meaning. He nodded to the bailiffs who took Mr. Fawles out into a side room for a search.
Mia looked like she was expecting to be seething, but confusion marked the majority of her features. She allowed the search to proceed.
The necklace was found fairly quickly, hanging on his neck under his prison uniform. One of the bailiffs brought it in to announce it. Mia visibly relaxed, nothing being found that would hurt her case.
"The prosecution requests for this necklace to be admitted into evidence." Edgeworth declared.
Mia tensed once again. "Object your honor, what is the relevance of taking this necklace off of the defendant?"
"Your honor," Edgeworth tried to find his footing, "If it was important to him to carry it into the wilderness and was given to him by a previous victim who was the sister of the current victim in this trial, it should prove to be an important link."
"Her sister?" Mia looked a bit wide-eyed, and then her brow furrowed.
Shit.
Edgeworth scrambled for a reasoning.
"Hawthorne is not exactly a common name to show up in two trials with the same defendant Ms. Fey."
The judge banged his gavel, "It seems Prosecutor Edgeworth has done a thorough researching of this case, but let us save any and all revelations for the witness testimony and cross examinations."
"Of course your honor, my apologies..." Edgeworth took a deep breath. He had made it through this trial once, he can do it again.
The judge continued. “Let the record show the defendant is being brought back into the courtroom after being searched.”
Mr. Fawles was brought back in, looking as though he had just been crying.
"The trial of State v. Fawles is now in session." The judge banged his gavel, and the trial began.
~~
Gumshoe was the first witness, there to set the scene. This went relatively the same as last time, with Gumshoe being berated by both parties. As much as Edgeworth had softened over the years, there was something about Gumshoes incompetence that brought out the worst in him professionally.
The real changes were when "Melissa Foster" took the stand. Knowing her true identify, and how he had told her to hide it the first time, made his stomach lurch.
He knew what she had done, and what she was able to do in the future, and he was complicit. He gripped the desk tightly, and asked her to state her name and profession.
"Melissa Foster. I'm an English major at Ivy University."
"Wonderful Miss Foster, now can you tell us what your name was before you changed it?" Edgeworth gritted his teeth.
"Wh-what?" She had the audacity to almost looked shocked. "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean Prosecutor." She smiled, in what could be sweet but was sickly, dangerous.
"Miss Foster, we are both well aware of your true identity. I may have asked you to refrain from that detail, but I've now seen it imperative to this case for it to be revealed." He flashed his own smile.
"Prosecutor Edgeworth." The judge warned, "I don't know what you're getting at, but refrain from badgering your own witness before they even speak! Especially those so young!"
"Yes your honor." He had forgotten how quickly Dahlia was able to get the judge under her thumb.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mia riffling through papers, whispering adamantly with Diego and pointing to different sections. He was going too fast. He knew he was going too fast, but being in this room was making him sick.
~~
When Dahlia Hawthorne was finally led away in handcuffs, Edgeworth allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief.
"Did you ever think of being a defense attorney?" The judge had asked him. Edgeworth shook his head politely and sped away.
He walked into the defense lobby, where Mia was briefing Terry on his shortened sentence. When Terry was finally led away, Edgeworth allowed Diego and Mia a moment alone before he approached.
Diego threw his arm around Mia and pulled her to his side. "I knew you could do it, kitten. Look at you, a full defense attorney!"
Mia quietly unstuck herself from him, amusement and relief gracing her face.
"Mr. Armando." Edgeworth greeted, "Ms. Fey. That was an excellent trial today, you have a bright career ahead of you."
"Prosecutor Edgeworth... thank you. I don't know how this trial would have went without your help." Mia smiled brightly at him, "You're not so bad yourself for a newbie."
"I think we have much to learn from each other. I look forward to going against you in court again. If you'll excuse me, I have somewhere to be."
Edgeworth turned and quickly walked in the direction of the courthouse archives.
~~
He paused in front of the archives before entering. If he remembered correctly, and went through with this, his life was about to change more dramatically than it already had today. He was able to save Mia and Diego, and now he was ready to save himself.
Edgeworth opened the door and walked through the rows, finally finding a lone man looking through the many files and books.
He still had many things to do, schedule the reopening of DL-6, bring Von Karma and others to justice. But when he looked at the man before him, he knew he wouldn't have to do it alone.
"Phoenix Wright?" He called.
The man looked up at him, shocked.
"Miles??"