The Sleep of the Just

Title: The Sleep of the Just
Author: Nyarlathotep
Fandom: Ace Attorney
Pairing/s: Miles Edgeworth/Phoenix Wright, Apollo Justice/Klavier Gavin, Kristoph Gavin, supporting ensemble cast.
Rating: G through NC-17 (this chapter G)
Warnings for this chapter: more angst, crying, self-blame, backstory

Chapter Two: Before You Woke Up


Klavier calmed down in time, finally relaxing his grip on Phoenix’s jacket and pulling away slowly, mumbling apologies for the wetness of the attorney’s lapel as he returned to Apollo’s side. The shorter man had a damp handkerchief which he used to gently clean the blonde’s tear streaked face and they were all a bit relieved to see the prosecutor smiling softly, hiccupping as Apollo held a water glass up for him to sip through a bendy straw.

After he was again composed and rational they all made their way to the anteroom and sat around a small table Miles had arranged. Even though the man had not been a prosecutor for over half a decade he still apparently had no problem with ordering the police around and soon a timid officer arrived with coffee for them. Klavier sipped the bitter liquid gratefully, still wiping his swollen eyes periodically and sniffling.

“I know this is extremely difficult for you, Klavier…” Phoenix began, but paused as the prosecutor’s eyes filled with pain and, for some reason yet to be properly determined, guilt. “…But we’re all here to help, ok? We’re here for you… So please, tell us what has happened to Kristoph…” Klavier’s eyes fell to the table and Apollo glanced nervously toward him, twisting the bulk of his bracelet uncomfortably. “The whole story, if you would…” Phoenix concluded, eying Apollo thoughtfully.

“The truth, Herr Wright?” The former rockstar laughed and the bitter, grating sound wasn’t something any of them found pleasant. “The truth is that I am responsible for everything Kristoph has done. It was all my fault… Your ruined career, the evidence he forged, the people he killed and the lives he destroyed… I am to blame for all of it.” As the man finished choking out his confession, his body again became wracked with nearly silent, dry sobs. Phoenix sat back to consider Klavier’s words while Apollo attempted to comfort the anguished prosecutor. Miles glanced at Phoenix worriedly and groped for his hand beneath the table.

The Magatama had shown no deception. Whatever was going on here, Klavier really did believe that the blame lay entirely with him and as Phoenix locked eyes with Apollo, seeing the bright edge of panic there, he knew that they needed to get to the bottom of this story before they could even consider questioning Kristoph. The man would be sedated for at least another 4 hours, according to his medication chart. They had time.

And they ended up needing it.

Prosecutors were always tough nuts to crack and Klavier was no exception, but he was a friend, so Phoenix released his grip on the Magatama and went about interrogating the man the old fashioned way, pressing for details with both force and finesse. He was certain the seasoned prosecutor was aware he was being handled like a witness but in the end he’d still cried and choked and sniffled out his confession; a story of a sunny afternoon in his eleventh year, a riding lesson and an ‘accidental’ injury that he felt he was the direct cause of; an incident which had changed his life forever.

“He was in a coma for a month… Even after he woke up it took him weeks in the hospital to recover enough to return home, as it were... After he was released from the hospital… Kris… Kristoph… was different… focused and diligent as always, but... I don’t know… I assumed he was just angry with me… Ich weiß nicht… He never helped me with my riding again, but how could I blame him? After what happened to him, ja…? He had fallen behind in his studies as well… When the injury occurred, it was summer holiday and Kris was with us at our family’s vacation home in Belgium… He was studying every day for a test he was going to be taking when he returned to the United States at the end of summer. The Bar Exam… He was not yet fully healed when he returned to LA and passed the exam despite his setback. But after the injury… He became so distant. He returned to America, passed the Bar and went into criminal defense… and for a few years he barely communicated with us. I- I had long since made my decision to one day follow him to America when I next saw him, at the funeral, when Mother and Father-” Klavier, trailed off for a moment, wet blue eyes tracking over but not really seeing the fingerprint-like whorls and arches of the wood grain. “I was 15 by then and because I had thrown myself into my studies to the exclusion of all else, I had attained a level of schooling equivalent to an American college bachelors degree… Kris was my only living family and when he returned to LA, I went with him.” Klavier slumped forward, looking exhausted. Apollo continually stroked his hair, carding his fingers through its wavy platinum fall as the prosecutor continued, staring holes into the table top.

“After the injury his vision was blurred so he was fitted for glasses. His right hand was crushed, so while it healed he began writing with his left… and continued to do so even after his right mended for some reason. That scar… is from Pride-and-Joy’s lead rope where it nearly tore the flesh off his hand… the bones and tendons in that hand were permanently damaged. Mein Gott Herr Wright… Even Vera’s verdammt ‘Devil’ was my fault!” Apollo looked pleadingly at Phoenix when Klavier lowered his head to the table top, emitting an uncharacteristic and disturbingly hollow chuckle.

“If I had just obeyed him… If I had only listened… None of this… Oh Gott… none of this would have happened… I TURNED HIM INTO THAT MONSTER! And now…? What now Herr Wright? Herr Edgeworth? Was soll ich tun?! He does not remember!! He has forgotten it all!! He will be in prison for all his remaining life and he has no memory of why! No recollection of his crimes… and God… Oh my God, Phoenix… I looked in his eyes and saw Kris there… I looked… and I saw the eyes of my brother again… after so many years… Oh Gott, Kris!!” The man seemed to collapse into himself, folding under the pressure of grief and guilt. Apollo looked stricken and frightened.

Klavier was unraveling and Apollo was desperate. Miles was silent and thoughtful and Phoenix’s mind spun with all the new pieces of the puzzle which had been revealed. Still, something needed to be done quickly…

“//Klavier, please stop crying now.//” Miles voice was soft but it cut straight through Klavier’s heaving sobs, seeming to almost slow down time and the distraught prosecutor slowly raised his head from his hands to stare at the bespectacled man across from him, his mouth slightly open in surprise. “//Nobody blames you for this Klavier. You were only a child and it was just an accident.//” Klavier’s face began to crumble again but the gray haired man continued speaking before he could voice a protest. “//I too know what it is to feel guilt over events in the past… I blamed myself for something terrible that happened when I was a child… something that was not my fault. I felt the weight of that guilt for many years… Please trust me when I say you are not to blame and you are not alone. We will all deal with this together. Whatever it takes.//”

“//But, what Kristoph did to Mister Wright and Miss Trucy… to his victims… the survivors… How- how… I… I just don’t know if I can do this…//”

“//You can, Klavier. We will help you.//”

All Phoenix and Apollo were really able to get from their exchange was the vocal tone and proper names but the effect on the blond prosecutor was clear enough. Klavier straightened himself up, pushing the hair out of his eyes with a grateful watery smile. Miles smiled back, continuing to speak softly in the clipped and sibilant language.

“//Do not worry so much Klavier… You have Apollo there, and you have Phoenix and I. This is not going to be easy but we will see it through to its resolution, whatever the outcome ultimately is. Fate often has a bitter flavor, but we are granted friends to sweeten it, yes?//” Klavier was blinking fast, tears threatening to spill again but from relief instead of despair. Miles squeezed Phoenix’s hand beneath the table as Klavier turned to embrace Apollo, whispering something into his ear that had the attorney blinking away tears of his own, burying his face in Klavier’s shirt.

Over the next two hours they discussed the particulars of their situation. Klavier was not willing to even entertain the possibility that Kristoph was faking, tearfully insisting that he had seen sincere shock and confusion in his brother’s eyes when he’d touched Klavier’s face and asked how he could have grown into a man so quickly, disbelief when Klavier told him of the past 15 years he had lost… real fear when Klavier had tried to explain to him that he was an incarcerated criminal and genuine horror at the crimes he had no memory of committing.

For his part, Klavier only had that one minor breakdown during the course of their conversation and he managed to pull himself together before anyone had to intervene and comfort him. Phoenix leaned affectionately against Miles shoulder and smiled. For all his gruffness and brusque manner, the man often knew just what to say… or just how to say anything at all, to the maximum intended effect. It was a gift many attorneys on either side of the courtroom would give their left-one to possess, especially with the advent of the Jurist System.

After Klavier calmed down Phoenix assured him that they trusted his assessment but because of who and what they all were… they simply had to have proof. Klavier narrowed his eyes but nodded in agreement, stating that if evidence was available to corroborate him then he was of course interested in seeing it.

Then, they introduced him to the mysteries of the Magatama.

The prosecutor had been through a lot over the last three days and his weary mind already felt like it had been taken out and run through a drinks blender, so the “It’s a magic rock that knows if you’re lying” explanation simply imbedded itself in the mush without incident. Numbly he turned the smooth, glowing object over in his hands for a moment before offering it back to Phoenix with only a wordless nod.

It was decided that they would wait until after they were certain about Kristoph to call Trucy, Thalassa and Valant, up in San Francisco where the reformed Troupe Gramarye was performing shows all month, and also Vera Misham. Apollo said he would take care of explaining the situation to Vera but Trucy was best left to her Daddy.

There was a bustle of activity outside in the hallway but in the anteroom it was relatively quiet. Mid-morning had crept up on them, sometime when they weren’t paying attention and they all drowsed over another round of coffee, waiting.

Waiting for something very like the sounds that suddenly came from the direction of Kristoph’s bed, the rustling of sheets and a frightened voice calling out for Klavier who in turn shot to his feet and dashed to his brother’s bedside. Not knowing what else to do with themselves, all three attorneys rose to follow him, keeping back near the door as Klavier took up his brother’s hand and smoothed his hair. Phoenix gripped the Magatama tightly in his pocket.

“//Klavier… I- I was hoping… I was hoping it had been a nightmare…//” Miles began translating for the benefit of his non-German speaking companions, whispering between them as they huddled in the doorway. Phoenix merely held the Magatama and observed the exchange. He had never heard Kristoph speak German before and had become aware that the man was a European transplant only because of Klavier who Phoenix eventually learned was, in fact from Germany and not faking his accent.

“//Kris… I am so sorry… It is not.//” Klavier choked, squeezing Kristoph’s hand as the man, still disoriented and groggy from the sedatives, just resolutely nodded and Phoenix could make out glistening beads of moisture sliding down over his elegant cheekbones, Apollo’s quiet gasp telling him that the sharp eyed man had seen it as well. Kristoph Gavin was weeping. “//Do you still remember English brother?//” Klavier sniffed hard, only just holding back his own tears as he blotted Kristoph’s wet eyes with a tissue.

“English? Yes… I- Do you? Oh… yes, of course you do… I am sorry Klavier… I feel so strange…” The man’s voice didn’t sound at all like any of them remembered. There was no mocking edge to it, no subtle condescension and it contained a noticeable accent that none of the attorneys had ever heard in it before. No self satisfied smirk twisted his mouth and his eyes, although still the same pale blue, seemed more like warm water than the glaciers they had been the last time Phoenix looked into them. He had to forcefully remind himself that Kristoph’s eyes had looked pleasant and innocent plenty of times over the seven years they had been ‘friends’ while Phoenix watched and waited… but without the barrier of his glasses which he apparently no longer required, Kristoph looked much younger, small, frightened and confused.

“It’s ok Kris… I… I have some men here… Attorneys… who would like to talk with you, ja…? Is that alright?” Klavier gestured in the direction of the door without taking his eyes away from his brother’s face and the three of them straightened up, trying to look calm and dignified as Kristoph swiveled his head, noticing them for the first time. Phoenix could feel the tension in Apollo’s body as the man vibrated in place next to him and his own heart was pounding in his ears, throbbing in his fingers where he tightly gripped Miles’ arm.

There was no recognition in Kristoph’s eyes as he regarded them, only bewilderment and fear.

Phoenix made the first move, releasing Miles and stepping toward the bed. “My name is Phoenix Wright, Mr. Gavin… I’m a defense attorney and I would like to ask you just a few questions. Some of them might seem a bit strange, and I know that you are very confused already but if you would just try to answer honestly, it would be a big help. Is this alright with you?” Receiving a mute nod, Phoenix pulled up a rolling stool and seated himself so the man would not have to crane his neck to speak with him. “Ok, this man here.” He indicated Klavier. “How do you know him?”

“He- he is my brother…” A lone psyche-lock snapped into place and Phoenix grew wary. ‘That was unexpected…’ He knew for a fact that Kristoph and Klavier were brothers… So why would it register as a lie? Furthermore the lock was different than usual… ‘Why are they always different with Kristoph?’ Phoenix laments silently. At least the damn thing wasn’t black this time… but yellow and smaller, its chains thin and crackling with instability. It wouldn’t take much to break it…

“Yes… your brother, Klavier… But… something about him is different, right?” Phoenix pressed carefully. “You have trouble believing that he can really be Klavier, is that it?” Before he even finished speaking the lock shattered and the chains withdrew and Kristoph was weeping again.

“He- He sh-should be a young boy…” The agony and terror in that simple whispered phrase made Phoenix’s hair stand on end and his eyes prickle with sympathetic emotional pain. No locks.

“What’s the last thing you remember? Before you woke up, yesterday?” Phoenix has to carefully control his voice to avoid quavering.

“I- I do not know… I remember a house… in Belgium… I think… Klavier… and our parents… I was… I think I had a dream... a nightmare… but I do not remember what it was about…” Kristoph finished miserably, taking a tissue from Klavier and mopping his wet cheeks, sniffling. No locks.

“One more thing… Have we met?”

Kristoph studied him thoughtfully, “I do not think so- I… no… “

“You recognize them?” Phoenix gestured over his shoulder at Apollo and Miles.

“No… I am sorry, Herr Wright…”

No locks.

Whoever the ‘Kristoph Gavin’ that he had known over the past nine years had been, it was clear that this was not the same man, despite having the same face and body. Phoenix was now uncomfortably convinced that there was only one person in the room who had ever actually known the frightened man in the hospital gown.

“That’s fine Mr. Gavin, don’t worry ok? You need rest so just relax as well as you can, alright?” Phoenix smiled placidly, internally thankful once again that he’d already spent so much time acting around this man, because it had given him plenty of practice at displaying calm and control in that he felt none of inside. Rising to his feet, he shot Apollo a meaningful look and the man nodded, already pulling out his cell as he exited the room. Miles followed him, taking out his own cell and mouthing the word ‘Maya’ to Phoenix, over his shoulder. Phoenix sighed and gave Klavier’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze on his way past.

He had a call to make as well.

-TBC!-