It had been about a week since Athena had finally been declared 'not guilty', and things at the Wright anything agency were finally getting back to some form of normality.

Pearl had gone back to Kurian Village shortly after everything had been resolved, wishing fond farewells to everyone, especially Trucy and Phoenix.

Athena didn't actually take long to swing back into action. She had a surprising ability to bounce back after going through something emotionally traumatizing; which was something that truly impressed Apollo.

The young lawyer, Apollo Justice, 23 years old; put on a well-fitted black suit jacket.

The time had finally come to say his final farewells to his dearest and closest friend, Clay.

He stepped out of the office bathroom and into a room where Phoenix and Trucy were. He had come to the office this morning because he had a few things to sort out before heading to Clay's funeral.
Things in the room were quiet and somewhat awkward for a moment, before Phoenix finally broke the silence.

"You heading off now?" he asked, someone monotonously.

"Yeah," He replied, equally as tired-sounding. "I'd rather not be late, if I can help it. And I'm walking there, so I thought I should get a good start."

"Polly…" The youngest person in the room, Trucy, spoke all of a sudden. Apollo didn't need Athena's ability to hear the feelings in someone's heart to tell that Trucy was extremely concerned about him. "Are you sure you're okay to go alone?" She asked. "I mean, if you-"

Apollo cut her off. "It's okay Trucy, I'm fine, really." he smiled at her, reinforcing what he said, and trying to get the message across to her as best he could. It's true that he was hurting, but he knew he would be okay.

Trucy looked like she was about to say something more, but glanced at her father who gave her a look which she was easily able to read, and she said no more on the matter.

There was silence for a moment more, before Apollo stepped towards the door to the agency, about to take his leave.
"I should be back late this afternoon" he concluded, as he stepped out the door.

As he was leaving, he heard Phoenix say something after him. "Don't hurry back." he said, also clearly aware of the impact this was having on Apollo.
He felt a little bad for everyone worrying about him, but decided that there was no point stewing on the matter, and closed the door behind him.

The service for Clay's funeral was short, and not many people were there.
There were a few that Apollo recognized as Clay's relatives, and a number of people from the space center attended, including the director, Yuri Cosmos and Solomon Starbuck, who was somewhat of a mentor to Clay before his untimely death.

Few words were spoken, about how Clay was an upstanding citizen and a brave young man who had been a credit to us all; Apollo knew all of this to be true, but also knew that he was so much more than all that.

After the Funeral service had ended, the people quickly dispersed to go about whatever business they had to take care of that day, but not Apollo.
Apollo stayed behind at Clay's grave.

He stood in silence for a while, before sitting in front of the place where his best friend now lay, and sighing deeply to himself.

"I wish I had been there." He said finally. "I know I probably couldn't have changed anything, but…" he trailed off, feeling almost foolish for talking to a headstone.

He hadn't cried at Clay's funeral. He promised himself he wouldn't. If he had, how could he possibly justify telling everyone he was fine? He and Clay had lived by that rule. They were always able to pull through the hardest situations because they both knew that in reality, they really were fine, and that things would be okay.

But things were different now. Clay was gone for good and it was up to Apollo to stay strong for both of them.

He remembered back when he was a kid in grade school, he didn't have many friends. He never knew why, really. But he did feel different to all the other children there.
Unlike them, Apollo didn't have any parents.
He didn't even really know anything about them.

He used to feel pretty lonely at school. During lunch or recess he would sit quietly to a side of the playground and eat by himself, not wanting to bother anyone else.
It was one day when a ball had come flying at him and hit him, causing his lunch to fall out of his hands that he met Clay Terran for the first time.

"Are you okay?" he had asked asked, running after the ball. "You aren't hurt, are you?"

Apollo looked up, still a little shocked, and noticed the boy with unruly black hair standing in front of him.

"O-oh" He started, shaking his head a little. "I-I'm fine."

"Good to hear!" The boy grinned widely, smiling from ear to ear.

Apollo was still a little taken aback by the whole affair, but lent over and picked up the large ball that had just assaulted him.
He was about to just hand it back to the strange boy, but before he could the boy started hopping back a few steps away from Apollo.

Apollo was confused, and wondered what on earth he was doing for a moment, but realised shortly after when the boy had clapped his hands together and then held them out expectantly, as though ready to catch it.

Apollo hesitated for a moment, not sure what to do. But the boy was still grinning like an idiot, so Apollo just played along.

He threw the ball as best he could, putting a little more effort into it than necessary, and the black haired boy caught it dramatically, acting like he was having a lot of fun. "Yeah!" He cried out, as though his catch had been epic.

He turned to run back to the other kids he had been playing with before, but stopped, turning and looking at Apollo with a smile.
"You gonna join in?" He asked, surprising Apollo. "We could use another man!"

This time, there was no hesitation. Apollo followed right behind him.

As they were heading back to the playground, the boy introduced himself. "I'm Clay, by the way."

"My name is Apollo."

"Nice to meetcha, Apollo!" He grinned again, and then got back into position so that they could continue their game.

Apollo joined in with all the other boys and girls who were playing, and had more fun in that one lunch break than he had in a long time.

Needless to say, it didn't take long for Clay and Apollo to become best friends. And they had been literally inseparable all through their lives.

They shared everything with each other; their hopes and dreams for the future, and all of their problems. They both knew that there was nobody they could trust more than each other.

Apollo, still sitting in front of where Clay now rested, didn't notice that the weather had been turning bad.

The clouds had long since covered the sky, and it was getting extremely late.
It had almost been four hours since Clay's funeral, and Apollo hadn't budged. He had been too lost in thought.

He opened his eyes suddenly, realizing that his body must be extremely tired.

He always worked so hard to fulfil his dream… he thought to himself, still not daring to move. ...and he was so close! Why did this have to happen?
Even knowing the truth as he did, it was painfully unfair. There was no reason for Clay to be dead.
Apollo simply couldn't grasp how someone he'd known so long, someone who had nothing but love for life, could possibly have died so suddenly. Why was it him? he thought desperately to himself. It could have been anyone.

Apollo didn't have time to stop himself from getting truly upset.
He had promised himself he wouldn't cry at the funeral, and he'd promised himself he'd be fine. But under these circumstances, how could he be?

"DAMN IT, IT'S NOT FAIR!" He shouted into the night, and the cloud-covered sky.

Only silence replied to him, and the only sound he heard was his own voice, breaking under the pressure.

Hot tears began to fall down his cheeks, tears that had been held in for the longest time.
He had tried so hard to be strong; to carry on the legacy that he and Clay had started.
But he couldn't.

How could he?

How could he possibly be fine when everything had gone so wrong?

Clay was never supposed to die, he was supposed to live his dream, and make it into space, just like he'd always hoped, and just like Apollo had always wished for him!

But there was nothing to be done about it now. Clay was dead, and that was the end of it.

They'd solved the case, and found out the truth. Apollo had thought that if he was able to do this, he would truly find a way to make it through this in one piece.
But he was wrong.

Finding Clay's killer, he had been able to put some things to rest, and he knew now that he could truly trust Athena. But it still didn't dull the pain and loss when it came to having lost Clay.
Nothing did.

Apollo knelt that night, tears streaming down his face in front of his best friend's gravestone.

Everything was not fine.

How could he ever expect it to be again...?

Letting the last of his tears soak into the grass, he could feel a warm sensation on his back, and he saw something light up the graveyard around him.

He looked up at the sky, where the light was coming from, and merely gasped in wonder at the sight that beheld him.

The clouds had quickly dissipated, leaving nothing in the way of the breath-taking night sky.

The stars were brighter now than Apollo had ever seen them before in his life, it was almost as if Clay were sending him a message. Although he didn't know what it was.

A final tear rolled down Apollo's cheek as he stared up at the beautiful star-lit sky, but before it could fall, he wiped it away, finally standing up, but still looking at the night sky.

"Thanks, Clay." He said quietly to himself.

After a moment, he came to his senses about how late it really must have been, and recalled that he had forgotten to turn on his mobile phone after the funeral. After turning it on, almost immediately it started ringing. Playing the guitar serenade, which was his current ringtone.
He quickly answered it without checking who it was from.

"Apollo! Where have you been?!" a female voice almost shouted at him from the other end.

"A-ah, Athena! Sorry. I lost track of the time."

"Apparently! It's almost 8:30, and you're still not back. We've been worried sick! We all tried to call you like, five times!"

Apollo groaned, realizing that his message bank would probably be full by now.

He continued to talk to her, apologizing for making everyone worry while he started at a brisk pace back to the office. He would probably have to call a Taxi this late at night…

You'll be fine, Apollo.

Apollo stopped listening to Athena for a moment, almost swearing he could hear someone else talking.

After all, you're not alone any more.