Dead Batteries
When Phoenix loses a case, he becomes miserable, but as usual, Edgeworth knows exactly how to make him feel better by letting him know it was time to get some batteries changed. PxE. Some fluff.
A/N: My first Phoenix Wright fanfic! Whoo! Even though it's a little dark at the beginning, it'll lighten up. xD Read and review, please?
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. xD I would if I could, but you know. Capcom might get angry.
The verdict had been predictable from the start. It was hopeless from the get-go, but there was always that soft plea and those watery eyes that struck a note and made him inhale softly. The evidence had been stacked just too highly. No matter how much he tried to investigate or research into the matter, the factor of there being another person remained impossible to determine. No solid evidence for the defense ever came to light, no matter how hard he tried to research. He was only spat upon for his efforts.
The girl, her eyes soft and full of both disappointment and agony, had stared at him was she was taken away by the bailiff. He'd watched with open distress and pain. She was innocent. He knew she was innocent, she'd sworn on her life up and down, and he had no reason to disbelieve her. He knew, for a fact and without a doubt, that she had not killed the other woman. Despite this, he had failed her and the verdict had been passed.
Guilty.
Head on his desk in utter contempt, eyes shut to prevent anyone from seeing his hatred for his performance, even if he had given it all, Phoenix Wright stared across his disorganized desk and out the window. Street lights and street noises filtered into the room, a soft lull that made his eyelids feel heavy and his breathing become deep. His own office was not lit. It was dark, but the glow from his watch provided enough light near himself that he could depend on that and the street's brightness to move around.
Phoenix couldn't believe it. He knew that the girl was innocent, that Miss Mari Posah hadn't done it, but he couldn't do it. The prosecution had taken the upper hand the moment the first witness had opened his mouth. Evidence piled up too fast. Soon, everything was turned against them. There was very little contradiction in the testimonies presented and he stood there, helpless and pathetic as the chances of surviving dimmed with every word uttered by the prosecution. He'd stared across the courtroom, gaze pleading, begging for relief, but he received none.
"The case is solid. I have enough evidence to announce the verdict," he'd heard, but his head had been swimming. He'd uttered maybe four words that had actually counted, and Phoenix knew that this was impossible so long as the prosecution was fighting him so hard. Now an innocent young lady was going to jail for a crime she didn't commit, and he couldn't prove she hadn't done it.
Fingers sliding into his dark hair, he tugged at his spikes. The door opened, but his eyes remained shut. He didn't care who it was. He didn't want to talk to them. He didn't want to talk to anyone. He had failed at his job. He had failed at protecting the innocent…and now he was no better than any other half-wit who could slap on an attorney's badge. A hand rubbed his shoulder but he didn't glance up.
"That really hurt you, didn't it?" came the soft voice, and it was one voice that Phoenix wanted to hear the least. He rolled his shoulder, dismissing the touch. A soft clucking of a tongue made him bristle like an angry feline, and his eyes jerked up to greet the impassive eyes of Miles Edgeworth.
"What are you doing here?" Phoenix asked moodily, casting his gaze aside and crossing his arms. Miles gave him a sideways look, examining him lightly, before he let out a sigh as his response. He shook his head, shrugging gently.
"Well, tonight was the night you asked me to pick you up, is it not?" he asked casually. Phoenix gave him one of those blank expressions he was so very good at conjuring until a light went on inside of the attorney's head. When he said nothing anyway, Miles frowned lightly and used a finger brush back a strand of hair that had escaped the spikes when Phoenix had ran his fingers through it. "Phoenix. You must understand that I still have my job to do. I had the evidence, I had the testimonies, and I had no choice but to finish what was started. I didn't think you were so very desperate…"
"You enjoyed watching me fail," Phoenix growled, brushing away the other's contact. "Don't lie, because I can tell when you are." Miles seemed surprise at the other's attitude, but instead of denying and arguing, he just tugged Phoenix up from his chair and he examined him wholly. Phoenix kept his gaze away. He felt worthless as an attorney, and having his lover slaughter him in court had destroyed him. It hurt to know that Miles was too wrapped up having that case wrapped up that he had been on a warpath…which had resulted in the innocent being sentenced to jail.
Miles took Phoenix's jacket and pulled it onto him like a mother would to an uncooperative first grader. "Come," he stated. "I promised I would take you out, didn't I?" Surprisingly easily, Phoenix followed the prosecutor. He wasn't sure why he was following him, but he did. Miles only acted like this to him when they were together, and despite the fact he felt hurt and insulted and like a failure, he didn't want this to go to waste. One episode in court was not going to destroy the weeks of buildup they had together. It certainly wouldn't help, but it couldn't undo what was rather permanently set in stone.
"How does Maya feel about this?" Miles asked once they were in his sleek vehicle. It was ungodly silent, as Miles was very strict about his radio, and Phoenix hated quiet car trips more than he hated dealing with the scarily quirky characters he tended to run into.
He shook his head. "She's upset. She's mad at me, mostly, because I just didn't stand a chance," the male admitted. "I didn't have a single piece of evidence, Miles. I didn't have a single piece! And Mari…She's innocent! You got an innocent girl sent to jail today! Why didn't you respond to my hints?" He stared hopelessly at the driver, his shoulders slumped. After considering his answer to the questions, and after sorting his own thoughts, Miles reached over and forced his chin up.
"Phoenix," he stated simply. "May I see your rock?" Staring stupidly at Miles for a moment, the attorney figured out he meant Maya's Magatama. Pulling it out of his pocket, he held it out for Miles to take and to glance over. "Phoenix, do you wear boxers or briefs?" Phoenix stared at Miles for a good long minute, and this time not out of stupidity.
"Did…you just ask me about my underwear!?" he sputtered. "What does--?"
"Lie to me," Miles interrupted. Still not following very well, Phoenix decided to just try and follow his train of thought, even if he had no clue where their first stop was.
"..Uhh…I'm wearing boxer briefs?" he threw out, and Miles raised an eyebrow at him, but managed to keep his attention on the road.
"Are you?"
"No! You just told me to lie, didn't you?" Phoenix sighed. Maybe he was the only person who wasn't a complete weirdo in this world? The Magatama was placed back into his palm and Miles nodded like he'd just obtained an incredibly important piece of wisdom.
Parking in a lot, the steely haired prosecutor and the miserable defense attorney exited the vehicle and entered a restaurant. Even if it was later at night, the place was still open and was very sophisticated. If Miles remembered to eat, he came here often when he stayed late at the office. Phoenix wasn't sure how much he would like the food here, but the menu was surprisingly not full of European foods that had names that sounded like the noises you made when you sneezed. He ordered a simple cheeseburger, and though it made Miles roll his eyes, he didn't feel like being ashamed of wanting something plain. He did feel like being ashamed of his job in court, and so that was what he was going to do. He leaned back in his chair and stared dismally at the folded menu.
"A scowl is very unbecoming on you, Phoenix," Miles reminded quietly, then ordered the Roman Ruler Salad. He handed both of their menus off and then he took to watching the other knowledgably from across the table. "What makes you so sure of her innocence after all? How could there be no room for doubt at all in any of the testimonies?" he finally began to say. Phoenix knew that Miles had the answer. Miles always had the answer. He was a freak and seemed to always know what to say to anything, or he was just a very smart man. Wasn't he supposed to be a genius?
"Maya's 'rock' can make you see people's lies, right?" Phoenix said wearily, picking up the salt and pepper shakers to play with. As he made the two make out, he looked up at Miles miserably. "I asked Mari Posah if she had killed that woman. I asked her straight up. Nothing appeared. There were no Psyche-Locks. She wasn't lying to me, she couldn't have. And I failed her in court…She was innocent…"
"Really, now, Phoenix," Miles said calmly. Phoenix almost felt as though he was being talked down to, but then again, he almost didn't mind. It was much easier than trying to decipher something ridiculously hard when his mind felt this worn and used. "What is the simplest answer to it all?"
"That she lied," Phoenix mumbled, knocking over the salt childishly and letting it spill. Miles rolled his eyes in irritation and snatched both of the shakers, but then nodded at his answer. Phoenix shook his head. "But, the Magatama…"
"Phoenix. I know you wear briefs," Miles interrupted. "So when your, ah, Psycho-Locks?, didn't appear when you lied to me, I knew something wasn't right. Are you understanding me, Phoenix?" The attorney in the cheap blue suit stared at the much more elegantly dressed prosecutor as the hamsters on wheels inside of his mind ran. Then, the little hamster figured out the answer.
"It's…?"
"Go on."
"It's…batteries are dead," Phoenix concluded, and Miles smiled lightly. Phoenix blinked, then pulled out the Magatama. It wasn't bright and green like it usually was. It was actually out of its batteries. Or, technically, it was out of spiritual powers that had been endowed into it. "So…wait…does this mean?"
"Why else would I have beat you, Phoenix?" Miles chuckled, watching the dawning of realization on his lover's face. He could see the other's mood begin to lighten, the depression and pain disappearing from his eyes. "Mari Posah did, in fact, kill Kandy Kain. You did not fail at all, Phoenix." Phoenix's frown morphed into a bright, albeit tired, smile. Their food arrived, and as the waitress walked away, Phoenix had leaned across the table and pressed a soft kiss on Miles' lips.