This is a 'fairytale' AU, but is set in modern times. This idea just randomly came to me, so even though I'm not really sure where I'm going with this yet, I've started on it anyway. There'll be WightWorth later on. Anyway, I hope you enjoy~

Disclaimer: I do not own the Ace Attorney series or characters.

In a ginormous castle set in the middle of a bustling kingdom, which was surrounded by huge skyscrapers, a man dressed in blue bustled around. Opening one of the doors to the corridor of the castle, he turned his head back and forth, hastily looking for something.

"…Great, I guess he's out on some kind of lunch break. Some king." The man sighed, and in a distressed manner turned back around.

He perked up though as soon as he heard his name being shouted. "Nick!" The voice called out.

A girl ran over to him short of breath. She punched his back, and puffed her cheeks. "Sheesh… You said you'd take me out to get burgers! You're not going back on your promise, are you?"

Taking a step back, he knew there was backing out. "Er… No, of course not! It's late anyway, and I doubt the king will be back anytime soon, so come on."

With that being said, she happily nodded and ran off ahead of him. Making their way to the burger shop, he glanced back at the castle a second.

My name is Phoenix Wright, and this girl running in front of me is Maya Fey. We're both knights working in the Defense Kingdom's castle, apart of what you'd call an army. Although… Maya's more of a knight in training working under me, but that's a minor detail.

Anyway, yes, this is the Defense Kingdom. Our king is just called the judge, but we call him king mostly despite that. There's another kingdom near here called the Prosecution Kingdom, our 'rival'. It's been at 'war' with us for years, but nothing major has ever happened. …Yet. That's why I'm here though as a knight! To make sure our kingdom is kept safe and to keep justice being brought where it should.

As Phoenix was zoning out, they made it to the burger shop, both taking a seat. He looked around; this place being highly familiar, as Maya always made him come here after work was over.

Not even taking a look at the menu, Maya waved at a waiter to come over. "We'll have the usual, please!" She eagerly told him. The waiter nodded and went back behind the counter.

Phoenix sighed, a bit ashamed that they've been here so much the waiters and waitresses all know what they get. It wasn't long until their drinks were brought, which Phoenix grabbed in a flash; he tended to be pretty thirsty after a day's job.

"Hey, Nick?" Maya asked in between sipping her soda, "You seem out of it recently, what's up?"

Looking back up at the girl while moving his straw around, Phoenix shrugged a tiny bit. "Huh? Oh… nothing really. Just stress I guess."

She twirled her finger around, "Tsk tsk. Nick, I know you better than that. Besides, you've got bags underneath your eyes!"

Maya, there are some things a guy wants to keep quiet about!

Rolling his eyes, Phoenix slumped back in his chair. There was no avoiding it, so may as well answer truthfully this time. "…Fine, fine." He looked around before continuing, and kept his voice low, "It's about the Prosecution Kingdom."

"What? You got some kinda dirt on them!? Are they plotting something!?"

"Shh, keep your voice down!" Phoenix scolded, "Look, I don't know anything really. I've just been thinking about it, and well… don't you think it's odd they've done nothing yet? There have been minor battles, but no casualties."

Before Maya could respond, the waiter came back with their burgers. Wasting no time grabbing it, Maya began to dig into her cheeseburger which had every ingredient possible such as tomatoes, lettuce, and mayonnaise.

As soon as the waiter was gone, Maya kept her eyes on the burger but spoke anyway. "Yeah, of course it's odd. But I mean, maybe they're just reasonable?"

"Maya, you're serious? There's no way that's true, otherwise we wouldn't be in war with them!" Phoenix yelled, but soon after covered his mouth. He cleared his throat, "…They have a new king, don't they? Manfred von Karma… who replaced Gregory Edgeworth. We're still not sure what methods he has, or what he'll pull. I think the only reason nothing has happened is because Gregory Edgeworth was there before, but now that he's not…"

Phoenix's expression dimmed, his eyes narrowing. The more he thought about it, he got more suspicious. Nobody else seemed to think anything of it, and truthfully, Phoenix wouldn't either… if not for one thing. Why and how did Gregory Edgeworth, their previous king, die!?

As he looked back over at Maya, he couldn't help how nonchalant the girl was being about this. And over a serious discussion too!

Taking the last bite of her burger, her eyes met Phoenix's in a clueless way. "Gregory was in office for a while right? But he was killed 15 years ago. 15 years, Nick! That von Karma guy has been in rule that long, so that's high enough time for him to have done something, isn't it?"

Gah, she had a point, he had to admit… but there's still something fishy about this whole thing, Phoenix just now wasn't sure what it could be. Was it just him thinking this? Perhaps checking out some of the kingdom's backstory was in order.

Maya interrupted his thoughts. "Anyway! You gonna finish your burger?"

"…No, you have it." Phoenix sighed. He lost his appetite anyway, if he even had one to begin with. As Maya happily started to chow down, Phoenix abruptly stood up.

"You're going already, Nick!?"

Phoenix nodded and grabbed his coat, "Yeah, I've got some things to be looking into. See you tomorrow!"

I can't do anything with these thoughts hovering over my head. Nobody else will take action or think about it, so it's up to me then! …I just hope I'm not overthinking all of this and seem like an idiot.

Arriving back at the castle, Phoenix showed his knight badge to be let back inside and went to the back. He eventually made it to a 'records room' and entered it. Files, books, notes… they were scattered everywhere, along with a bunch of folders to keep more in. Phoenix could already tell this would be a pain.

Not even knowing where to begin, Phoenix just started with a random pile. As he sifted through it, he suddenly heard the door open; his eyes darted right over in that direction, and saw… Grossberg? It was definitely him, he heard him clearing his throat in that loud, usual way.

"Oh… Lieutenant Grossberg, sir!" Phoenix put down the files he was looking through and walked over to the man.

"Phoenix Wright. Ah, I wasn't expecting on seeing you here… isn't it well over your hours to be in the castle?"

Nodding, Phoenix glanced around the room. Nobody else seemed to be here except Grossberg, and well himself of course. "Yes, it is. I was looking for something though, um… could I possibly have some files regarding Gregory Edgeworth's death?"

Grossberg's expression clearly changed to surprise, Phoenix noting that. "Er, ah… I'm terribly sorry. Those files aren't here at the moment."

"Not here? Then who-!?"

"I'm sorry, I can't answer that. Could you… leave now?"

If that wasn't here then there wasn't much he could do, unfortunately. Damn it, now he'd keep thinking about, he'd hoped that looking at that would get it off his chest… even a little.

"…I understand, sir. Well, guess I'll be off then."

Just as Phoenix was about to exit the door, Grossberg grabbed his shoulder, "Er, wait! Maybe I shouldn't give this, but here, take this file that has some information about the Prosecution Kingdom. You may find something about him there… maybe."

His eyes lighting up, Phoenix eagerly grabbed the papers from the larger man. "...Thanks. Well, gotta go!"

With that, Phoenix darted out the door, and made it back to his apartment. He wondered why Grossberg bothered to give this to him, but it didn't really matter at the moment, since he had it and that was that.

As night had fallen, and the hours went by… Phoenix studied through every little bit of the file he had received. There was nothing though; nothing about Gregory in it. He slumped back in his chair and let out a deep sigh. "Nothing. Not one single bit."

Maybe I won't find anything. Better yet, maybe there's nothing odd about it and I'm just wasting my time. I mean, I don't have any proof other than gut feeling!

After that thought though, Phoenix got an idea. Hold on a second… if I can't get information from papers, then I can get it from someone! And I know just who that someone would be, a person most related to Gregory…

Miles Edgeworth.