A/N: This is already so old ugh, no seriously. My beta reader (and co-author of Roll for Initiative) and I came up with this idea about a year and a half ago. So most of this fic was actually written... a year and a half ago. Or maybe I bit less, I don't really remember. You're probably going to be able to tell exactly which point I picked work back up on it (or maybe not, no one commented on the 'break' in Ace Attorney: Awakening), but it's not in this chapter.

Anyway, here we go. I apologize in advance for any clichés and whatnot, because, I mean, this is a Wrightworth fic. You'll probably figure out where this is going by the end of the first chapter. Haha... ha...

"-oh, sorry!"

"No, that was my fault. I'm sorry. Here, let me help you with that-"

"Wait a minute…! Are you… are you Phoenix Wright? The defense attorney?"

"What? Um, yes, I am."

"I - I remember you from… where have I seen you before? I remember you from the recent Juan Corrida murder case."

"Oh, that case…"

"Sorry. You don't need to look so, what's the word? So down. I should have realized it was a stressful trial… I mean, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time and I was only watching!"

"Yeah. It was pretty crazy. Anyway, here's your stuff back, Ms…?"

"What? Oh, oh! Ioides. Hester Ioides. Uh, you can call me Hester, Mr. Wright."

"I guess in that case you can call me Phoenix."

"Ah, o-okay… Phoenix."

"…"

"…"

"A-Anyway, Hester, I have to go-"

"I heard you weren't taking any cases lately?"

"Well, no, but…"

"Why don't you just take a little break and join me for some coffee? I mean, only fifteen minutes. If you want to…"

"I - I'd love to."

August 19, 11:50 PM, Miles Edgeworth's House

The phone rang and Edgeworth sighed. He had only just gotten in the bath. Irritated, he picked up a nearby handset, gave the caller ID a cursory glance, and answered the call. "For god's sake, Wright, it's nearly-"

"She said yes!"

Edgeworth paused. "Ms. Ioides?"

"Yes!" Wright certainly sounded excited.

"Listen, Wright. You've only known her since March. Are you sure marriage is really a good idea…?"

A pause from the other end of the line. "You're only saying that because you don't like her."

Edgeworth didn't deny it. Although he didn't have a concrete reason to, he suspected that Wright's girlfriend (or fiancée, now, he supposed) wasn't really who she seemed to be. Simply put, she rubbed him the wrong way.

"It doesn't matter," Wright said quickly, "you'll see, Edgeworth. Hester's wonderful."

"I suppose I don't have a choice in the matter," Edgeworth said drily, "since she likely isn't going to go anywhere." At least until the inevitable divorce, he added silently.

"Don't rain on my parade," Wright laughed, "anyway, I just wanted to let you know."

"Congratulations," Edgeworth mumbled.

"Hold it!" Wright suddenly said, apparently guessing that Edgeworth was about to hang up (which, admittedly, he was), "actually, there was something else. At the wedding… will you be my best man?"

"No," Edgeworth said flatly.

"Why not?" Wright said, and he sounded genuinely hurt, "please, Edgeworth. I want you to be a part of this."

Because I will not be privy to your pact with the devil herself, Edgeworth thought, but what he said instead was, "You've been friends with Larry for much longer than you've been friends with me. Why don't you have him be your best man?"

"What, and have the wedding turn into a disaster?" Wright said, "come on, Edgeworth."

"No," Edgeworth said again.

"…look, I know you don't like Hester-"

"Which means I am not about to be a part of your marriage to her," Edgeworth interrupted.

"You can't even tell me why you don't like her."

"She's suspicious."

"…which is your way of saying you don't have a reason."

Edgeworth frowned. "I just don't think you're making a wise decision, Wright."

There was silence on the other end. "Okay, you don't have to be the best man if you're going to be like that," Wright said at length, "but will you at least come to the wedding?"

"I'll think about it," Edgeworth said, then hung up. He didn't pick up the phone again when Wright called back.

August 21, 6:00 PM, Wright & Co. Law Offices

Hester Ioides was pretty in a plain, girl-next-door type way. She was pale and shapely with big, blue, friendly-looking eyes and long, shiny black hair wrapped up in a somewhat Scottish-looking way. She was soft-spoken and got along well with almost everyone, and her most (well, only) aggressive trait was her stubborn refusal to give up her beliefs. She held an undying faith in human nature close to her heart, and was always selflessly there when anyone needed her. In other words, Phoenix was sensationally in love with her. He was still giddy about the fact that she had agreed to marry him. It didn't even matter that Maya thought she was bland, or that Pearls resented her for "stealing Mr. Nick from Mystic Maya" even if she liked her otherwise, or that Larry kept hitting on her, or that Mia said he was an idiot for marrying someone he'd technically only known a few months (she hadn't even met Hester yet!), or that Edgeworth hated her for no apparent reason. Phoenix was thrilled.

What wasn't so thrilling was Hester's suggestion that Phoenix try to mend the bridges that Edgeworth was rapidly burning. To be honest, Phoenix didn't even know what Edgeworth's problem with Hester was. He said she was suspicious somehow, but never attempted to actually prove that she was - and Edgeworth was never really one to make emotion-based judgements, so what exactly was going on in his mind, Phoenix hadn't the slightest idea. It was the oddest thing.

Regardless, Maya's idea that Edgeworth join him and Hester (and Maya and Pearls, of course) for dinner was going about as well as Phoenix thought it would: badly. Edgeworth could and probably would have spent the entire evening glaring at Hester, if it weren't for the fact that Maya and Pearls' fantastic home-cooked meal was burning and Hester had rushed to the kitchen to help them, leaving Phoenix and Edgeworth sitting alone at the table, each refusing to meet the other's eyes.

"…so have you thought about attending the wedding yet?" Phoenix said to break the silence.

"Somewhat," Edgeworth said tersely.

"Are you coming or not?" Phoenix said, trying not to sound irritated.

"Perhaps," Edgeworth said, "if I'm not busy, I suppose."

Phoenix sighed. "Good. I didn't want to leave you out of the happiest day of my life."

"That woman will not bring you happiness," Edgeworth muttered, mostly to himself.

"What do you know about happiness?" Phoenix snapped, "you don't have any emotions other than 'smarmy' and 'annoyed'." Edgeworth glared at him, and Phoenix glared right back even if he knew it was nowhere near as bone-chilling or intimidating.

"It's saved!" Maya called suddenly, walking into the room with a pot of curry. Hester was carrying the rice, and Pearls had a pitcher of what looked like Kool-Aid.

"Smells good, too," Phoenix said, glad to have a reason to ignore Edgeworth's weird issues.

"It wasn't even burning as badly as Maya thought it was," Hester said lightly, "she's a much better cook than she gives herself credit for."

"Thanks, Hester," Maya said, smiling brightly as she put the curry on the table. "Well, let's eat!"

The curry tasted as good as it smelled, and apart from Edgeworth's repeated firm - yet technically polite - refusals to carry on a conversation with Hester, it went well. At least until Pearls mentioned Edgeworth's disappearance the past year. Crap, he doesn't like talking about that, Phoenix thought, but before he could cut off the line of conversation, Hester said, "Oh, Phoenix told me all about that, Mr. Edgeworth. He was really hurt… I'm glad you came back."

"Are you now," Edgeworth said, gritting his teeth.

"He said it was… how did he phrase it?" Hester said, putting one finger on her lip thoughtfully, "he said it was like the light had gone out of his life." Wait, did he really phrase it like that? That wasn't important right now.

"Let's not talk about this," Phoenix said quickly, catching Edgeworth's grimace. Was that guilt he saw on his face?

"Yes, let's," Edgeworth grumbled.

"Sorry, Mr. Edgeworth," Pearls said, poking at her rice sadly.

"It's fine, Pearls," Edgeworth said, "just because I don't wish to discuss it does not mean that it never happened."

"Although I wish it hadn't," Phoenix mumbled to himself - oops. Didn't mean to say that out loud.

"You can't change the past, Wright," Edgeworth snapped, "so there's no point in discussing it."

"Yes, there is," Hester said defensively, and Phoenix wished that for once she wouldn't take his side in an argument, "haven't you ever heard of… what's the term? Haven't you ever heard of emotional closure?"

"Emotional closure?" Edgeworth scoffed.

"Sure!" Hester said, grabbing Phoenix's arm, "Phoenix needs it, but that's never going to happen as long as you keep pretending nothing happened…"

"I-It doesn't matter," Phoenix said quickly, "really, it's better to just forgive and forget, right?"

"Implying I wronged you somehow?" Edgeworth said testily.

"You almost ruined his life," Hester said. There were tears in her eyes.

"It's not a big deal," Phoenix murmured, "let's not talk about this, okay?"

"It was not my intention to ruin his life," Edgeworth said stiffly, "and by the time I got back, it was clear that he didn't mind my 'death'."

"But he didn't actually hate you, Mr. Edgeworth," Hester said, "isn't that right, Phoenix?"

"Well, um, yeah," Phoenix said, cringing, "I was just kind of… mad at myself, and I took it out on you. But that was ages ago," he added quickly.

"It was only a few months ago!" Hester protested.

"It was before I met you," Phoenix reminded her.

"And I suppose you were mad at yourself because you blamed yourself," Edgeworth said drily.

"…that's exactly it, though," Phoenix said, looking away, "I really did think it was my fault at first. Or I guess the whole time if you want to get technical."

Edgeworth fell silent.

"Well, Mr. Edgeworth?" Hester said hesitantly.

"Well what?"

"Was it Phoenix's fault that you left in the first place?"

"Hester, please-" Phoenix started, but it was too late. Edgeworth stood up swiftly, his expression dark.

"Thank you for the meal, Maya," he said, bowing, then stalked out of the room without another word. The front door slammed.

"…no problem," Maya said, blinking.

"Ooh," Hester said, putting one hand over her mouth, "I'm sorry, Phoenix."

"It's fine," Phoenix said, sitting back in his chair. "I guess you're right about the whole 'emotional closure' thing."

"B-But we were trying to get Mr. Edgeworth to stop being so, what's the word? To stop being so catty, and I drove him away," Hester said tearfully.

"Nah. Edgeworth's just like that," Phoenix sighed, "he'll come around eventually."

There was a brief lull in conversation. "So, Pearly!" Maya said with awkwardly forced cheerfulness, "did you hear about the Steel Samurai live-action reboot?"

"No," Pearls said, surprised, "tell me more, Mystic Maya!"

As Maya and Pearls dragged Hester into their Steel Samurai conversation, Phoenix wondered vaguely if he should try chasing Edgeworth down, or at least calling him. He probably doesn't want to talk, he thought, frowning slightly. But he'll come around eventually. Right?

August 28, 4:20 PM, Wright & Co. Law Offices

"…I thought you were going to write up a guest list, Hester," Nick said. He and Hester were both sitting on the floor in the office, the wedding plans spread out between them. Maya was sitting with her feet up at Nick's desk, reading a manga and occasionally glancing at them.

Hester shrugged. "Almost everybody I know, you introduced me to in the first place."

"You don't have any friends beside that?" Maya said, raising her eyebrows.

"She's shy," Nick said defensively.

"I only moved to Los Angeles a few weeks before I met Phoenix, too," Hester added quietly.

"…and no living relatives, huh?" Maya said, turning back to her manga. Seemed like that was about par for the course with the people she knew.

"What about bridesmaids and stuff like that?" Nick was saying.

"Um," Hester said, "I'm not sure… Pearls would make a cute flowergirl, but I don't know beyond that…" She sighed, shuffling some papers around. "I don't think there's really any women I'm close enough to to have a maid of honor, anyway."

"We don't have to go by-the-book," Nick said.

There was a brief break in conversation. Maya turned a page, glancing up again. "Maya," Hester said, smiling in her unremarkable way, "would you mind being one of my bridesmaids?"

Inwardly, Maya made a face. She knew the ugly dress was inevitable - no one who had good taste had any business marrying Nick of all people. Outwardly, she grinned and said, "Sure, sounds like fun. Have you two come up with a date yet?"

"September 23rd," Nick said cheerfully. Maya raised her eyebrows again.

"That's awfully soon, Nick."

"We're trying to make sure it's not too, what's the word, complicated," Hester mumbled, "so the sooner, the better."

"I can't wait," Nick said, grinning down at the wedding plans. Maya rolled her eyes.

"Who's going to be your best man, Phoenix?" Hester said.

Nick's grin evaporated, and he sat back, sighing heavily. "I wanted Edgeworth, but he's still being weird about the whole thing, so Larry it is."

"Yep, your wedding's definitely going to be a disaster," Maya joked, not even looking back up from her manga.

"And we're lucky Edgeworth is coming at all…" Nick continued, ignoring Maya's snark. Maya gave him an odd look. Edgeworth hadn't spoken to Nick at all ever since the incident at dinner last week - why was Nick so sure he would still come to the wedding? Optimism at work, she supposed.

"What is his problem, anyway?" Hester said with a slight trace of irritation.

"He doesn't like you," Maya piped up.

"Yeah, we've gathered that," Nick said drily.

"He thinks you're evil," Maya continued, flipping the page of her manga idly.

"I… I know," Hester said quietly, "but I don't understand why…"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Maya said.

"He doesn't think you're evil," Nick said defensively, "he just… you know…"

Hester put her hand over Nick's. "I know," she said, "sometimes people can be like that, Phoenix. Give him time. He'll come around… right?"

Nick sighed deeply again, then smiled at Hester. "If he doesn't… I'll always have you, I guess." Maya rolled her eyes again and turned back to her manga.

September 6, 3:30 PM, High Prosecutor's Office

The door creaked open. I'll have to have Detective Gumshoe oil the hinges sometime, Edgeworth thought. "Yes?" he said without looking up.

"…Edgeworth…"

Edgeworth sighed and put down the case file he was looking over. "What brings you here, Wright? I thought you would have been too busy planning your wedding to take on any new clients."

"We need to talk, Edgeworth."

"We did talk," Edgeworth said stiffly, glaring at Wright. "Dinner at your place, remember?"

"That was two weeks ago. More than two weeks ago," Wright said, "and you haven't said a single word to any of us since."

"I don't see why I need to."

Wright was silent for a moment. "Edgeworth-" he began.

"I don't want to talk," Edgeworth cut him off.

"Too bad."

"Get out of my office."

Wright didn't leave - but then, he didn't advance either. He simply stood just inside the doorway, his face a little more serious than Edgeworth was accustomed to. "Look, Edgeworth," he said, "I don't know what you don't like-"

"Of course this is about Ms. Ioides," Edgeworth said sarcastically, leaning back in his chair and glaring at Wright, "of course."

"Yes," Wright said, "because soon she's going to be Mrs. Wright… and you seem pretty hard-pressed to accept that." Edgeworth didn't reply, so Wright continued. "Why don't you like her? What's your problem?"

"You wouldn't understand," Edgeworth said, turning his attention back to the case file.

"Try me."

Edgeworth looked back up. Wright still hadn't either retreated or advanced. "Get out of my office," he said again, glaring, "I'm working."

"Edgeworth, just tell me-"

"Get out."

"Seriously-"

"Get out before I call security!"

Wright took a deep breath, then stepped back. "Please don't let my marriage change anything between us," he said quickly. With one last look, he closed the door. Edgeworth sighed and sat back in his chair, rubbing his eyes with his hands tiredly. Idiot...

September 22, 11:50 PM, Wonder Bar

As the best man, Larry was in charge of the bachelor party. Phoenix counted himself lucky tonight: somehow, Larry had not gotten it into his head that he should force Phoenix et al. to a strip club or someplace else like that. Instead, they had gone to a bar known for its variety shows - except for Saturday night, which was karaoke instead. Phoenix and his bottle of grape juice decided to slip away as soon as Detective Gumshoe started singing… something or other.

Phoenix wasn't all that shocked - although he should have been - to see Edgeworth leaning on the alley wall next to the side exit to the bar, looking up at the blank city starscape.

"Edgeworth," Phoenix said, leaning on the wall next to him and looking at his face. He was even more inscrutable than usual.

"Wright," Edgeworth said crisply, still looking at the sky.

"I'm surprised you came," Phoenix said, taking a swig from his bottle of grape juice. It was already mostly gone and his head was starting to swim a bit.

"Larry would have had my head if I didn't."

Pause. "So does this mean you're coming to the wedding after all?" Phoenix said.

"I never said I wasn't," Edgeworth said, his voice tight.

"Ah," Phoenix said, "well… good. I'm glad."

There was an uncomfortable silence. Phoenix wondered how long Edgeworth had been standing in the dark alley, and if he had been specifically waiting for Phoenix to show up.

"Don't you have any reservations?" Edgeworth said abruptly.

"Excuse me?"

"Any reservations about Ms. Ioides," Edgeworth elaborated, "you haven't known her all that long and I'd wager you don't know her all that well."

"I love her, Edgeworth," Phoenix said.

Edgeworth appeared to muse on this for a moment before muttering something about thick-headedness. "You realize that it's doomed to fail, don't you?"

"It's not," Phoenix said, and he knew he was just being stubborn now, but didn't really care. Actually, "why do you care?"

Edgeworth finally glanced at him. "Why do I… care?"

"Why do you care about what happens between Hester and I?" He felt his face break, unbidden, into a cynical half-smile. "After all, if we just ended up divorcing… wouldn't that solve your problem? You know, your problem with Hester?"

"…" Edgeworth looked away again. "If you got divorced, Wright, I'd be the last one to celebrate it."

"So it's not me getting married that you hate. It's just Hester."

"Any other woman would have been fine, Wright," Edgeworth said measuredly, "yet you had to go for the mysterious ingénue. Why is that?"

"…she needs me," Phoenix said, "she doesn't have anyone else in the world but me."

Edgeworth glanced at him again, looking desperately like he wanted to say something, but he didn't. Finally he muttered, "I just don't think it'll end well, Wright."

"Is that it, huh," Phoenix said, taking another swig of grape juice. "You're worried about me getting my heart broken." He paused. "Maybe you should have thought of that a year ago." He knew as soon as he said it that he shouldn't have, but damn it, it needed to be said.

Edgeworth didn't say anything for a moment, then looked away again. "Why bring this up now?"

"Because we never really talked about it, apart from a few words after Engarde's trial. After that? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It's like you don't even care."

"…why do we need to talk about it?"

Now Phoenix paused. He wasn't sure. The only thing he was sure about right now was that his mouth was dry and he was dizzy and something deep inside him was writhing, and that last one probably had nothing to do with the grape juice because it was actually metaphorical. He raised the bottle to his lips again and mumbled, "because… I'm scared, that's why."

Edgeworth looked at him again. "Scared?"

"Terrified," Phoenix said, "I'm terrified that one day… I'll wake up and find that you're gone, just like a year ago… except this time it'll be for real. And you won't come back." He rubbed his eyes with his free hand. "I don't know what I'd do."

"What did you do… last year?" Edgeworth said, his voice tight again.

Phoenix took a deep breath. "I… refused to believe it at first. I was sure the note was fake. I thought you were kidnapped… then I thought you were murdered… then I finally accepted that you committed suicide." He closed his eyes. "I spent fifteen years trying to save you, Edgeworth - everything I did, I did it to save you - and then you just…" He took another deep breath. He needed to clear his head but wasn't sure he wanted to. "I thought I failed. I failed you, and I failed myself… when I finally accepted what you wanted everyone to think, I - I…"

Edgeworth stood up straight, looking at Phoenix with traces of something like fear in his expression. "Wright…"

"…I almost followed you, Edgeworth."

September 23, 12:45 AM, Miles Edgeworth's House

Wright had been the one drinking, but Edgeworth was the one who couldn't seem to clear his head.

"I almost followed you, Edgeworth." It kept playing and replaying in his mind. He felt sick to his stomach - he knew, he knew when he left how much pain Wright would be in, but at the time he thought it was the only way. Wright would only have chased him down again if he thought he was still alive. But this… it had never even occurred to him.

He tried to imagine Wright attempting suicide. He tried to imagine Wright waking up on the floor, cold, head pounding, stomach twisting, lungs burning, limbs weak; a mostly-empty bottle of sleeping pills next to him - knowing that if he closed his eyes now, he might never open them again… wondering if he should take this second chance or it wasn't worth it any more now than it was an hour ago. But… Edgeworth wasn't sure if his mind balked at it because it was (or he desperately wanted it to be) impossible or because he felt so guilty.

Probably the latter, considering that as soon as Wright had dropped that bomb, Edgeworth had… well, he must have run. Perhaps at some point he had hailed a taxi. The point was, he was home now, lying on his couch, clutching himself and staring up at the ceiling in numb horror. He almost killed Wright. He almost killed Wright… and he had never intended to come back in the first place. He never would have even known.

The feeling of slowly sinking to the bottom of an endless, black ocean was not a new one to him, but right now the water pressure was getting to him.

The phone rang and Edgeworth's breath hitched. He pulled it out of his pocket and gave the caller ID a careful glance. Wright…

He let the phone ring for a while before accepting that Wright wasn't going to give up. He answered the call, but didn't say anything.

"…Edgeworth? Edgeworth, where are you?"

No response.

"E-Edgeworth… this is you, right? Am I talking to Miles Edgeworth?"

"…yes," Edgeworth said, finally finding his voice.

"Oh, thank God," Wright burst out, "where are you?"

"That doesn't matter."

"You… you didn't do anything… drastic, did you?"

"I'm fine, Wright."

There was a pregnant pause.

"…what I said really shook you, didn't it?" Wright said, so quietly the phone barely picked him up.

"You could say that," Edgeworth said with a listless attempt at acerbity.

"I'm… I'm sorry," Wright said, "I never planned on telling you - er, I mean…"

Edgeworth hesitated before saying, "you should have told me sooner."

"I didn't want you to worry about me," Wright said, "worry about yourself."

"I could tell you the same thing."

Another pregnant pause. "Where are you?" Wright said, "you… I couldn't keep up with you."

"I'm…" Edgeworth seriously debated whether or not he should disclose his location. "I'm at my house."

"Ah-"

"Don't come."

Silence from the other end of the line. "…why do you always run away from your problems?" Wright said. He sounded upset again.

I should just hang up, Edgeworth thought. "What do you mean, 'always run away'?"

"I… I called Franziska to invite her the wedding," Wright said, "she mentioned that you were planning on leaving the country again right after Engarde's trial."

"…I was," Edgeworth said at length, "but I didn't."

"But you were going to," Wright said, "and it's not that first time you've done something like that. And I don't just mean leaving the country."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"You don't want to talk about anything."

"I'm glad you've figured that out, Wright."

There was a painful lull in conversation. "Why didn't you go?" Wright said.

Edgeworth didn't say anything for a while. Because you met someone, he wanted to say, and that someone could only be your downfall. That's why.

"Edgeworth?"

"Forget about it, Wright. You're getting married in the morning. Now is no time to be concerning yourself with my 'issues'."

"Edgeworth…"

"Get some sleep, Wright. Don't show up to your own wedding hungover." And he hung up.

He didn't pick up the phone again when Wright called back.

September 23, 12:45 PM, Long Beach Wedding Hall

Why exactly Phoenix Wright had extended an invitation to Franziska von Karma of all people was beyond her. Why exactly she had accepted the invitation, flew all the way back to America from Germany, and was now sitting in the little crowd next to Miles Edgeworth was also beyond her. Perhaps she was interested in what sort of fool would deign to marry Phoenix Wright - she had heard plenty about this Hester Ioides woman from Miles. He certainly seemed to dislike her.

Apart from the issue of the bride, the wedding seemed to be going well. The flowergirl seemed upset about the whole thing and the bridesmaid dress was a crime against Maya Fey's complexion. The best man was an absolute fool who had spent the whole ceremony so far leering at various women in the audience, which curiously enough did not include any members of the Wright family (perhaps there were none?). Speaking of the audience, Adrian Andrews was here. Franziska decided that she ought to do some catching up during the reception.

But before the reception, there were still all the vows and such to sit through. Quite frankly, Franziska didn't care very much. She had to admit that the look on Phoenix Wright's face when Hester Ioides walked down the aisle was endearing in its own, foolish way, but her attention was immediately drawn away by Miles shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

"Sit still, Miles Edgeworth," she instructed him in a whisper.

A minute later, he stirred again. "I need to step out for a minute," he muttered to Franziska, then he - unobtrusively, of course - edged out of the room. Franziska rolled her eyes.

The minister was still droning on and on. Franziska had never liked weddings, anyway. She had actually fallen asleep at her older sister's wedding some years ago… she was threatening to go the same way now.

"-therefowe," the minister was drawling, "if anyone has any objections to this union, let them speak now or fowever hold their peace."

"OBJECTION!"

The whole congregation turned as one to the room's entrance - and the open door which framed Miles Edgeworth, pointing dramatically at the minister. His eyes were serious. Well, Franziska thought, smirking, this should be interesting. However, she did not expect what he said next:

"There's been a murder!"

So yeah, obviously this takes place just before Trials and Tribulations and it touches (a lot) on Edgeworth's fake suicide in Justice for All. So... yeah.

Also, yes, the minister was a reference to The Princess Bride.