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, ensemble supporting cast
Rating: G through NC-17 (this chapter PG-16)
Warnings for this chapter: moral ambiguity, a tiny bit of swearing, one short implicitly sexual shower fantasy

Chapter Three: Black and White


Trucy listened silently while Phoenix explained the situation, only interrupting him when he started to repeat himself. He really hadn’t realized just how conflicted he felt about everything until he tried explaining to his daughter, that the man who had killed her real father and committed countless other crimes was ‘gone…?’ That in one final act of contempt, the bastard had left behind his own body, filled by a fragile, innocent and frightened soul with no memories beyond age nineteen, to suffer his bleak fate… for the remainder of his natural life.

“We worked for so long to bring him down, Truce… He hurt so many people… K-killed… How- How can I forgive him? But… how can I blame him now?” He let out a weary sigh. “It would be so much easier if he was lying… That would at least have been the end of it… But this? What am I gonna do?” As he let his head fall back against the wall with a heavy exhalation, Phoenix was once again grateful for the kind of relationship he had with his daughter. They had been through so much together through the years that Phoenix knew she didn’t expect him to play the invulnerable protector. He was allowed to be weak and confused; Trucy wouldn’t hold it against him.

“Daddy…” She intoned, with a longsuffering sigh, as if about to re-explain something very obvious to a particularly slow child. “My ‘real daddy’ might be dead… and I’ll be sad about that forever, but you’re my daddy and I know you will do whatever is right because that’s what you always do.” She giggled lightly and Phoenix smiled despite his wet eyes. Trucy had always been able to put things in perspective so easily, even when she was a little girl. “If this Kristoph really isn’t the same Kristoph who did all those horrible things… then… that means he’s innocent and you have to prove it daddy!”

Somehow he’d known she would say something like that… It was far too early to tell though. Whatever they would ultimately do about all of this was something which was likely to be determined only after much discussion and even more heartache… But he laughed softly and she echoed him, both of them trailing off in a little ‘ahh’… and he could envision the expression on her face; His adorable little girl… “We’ll see what we can do, sweetie… There’s still a lot we need to learn…”

Miles’ telephone call to Maya had gone about like he’d expected. His report to the others, of her initial insistence that it had to be a trick and to “Tell Nick not to fall for it!” was expected but still oddly cheering to Phoenix who just smiled, shaking his head. Although after Miles had explained to her what they had done, she’d agreed that if the Magatama had shown no deception, then there was none to be seen. She’d wished them all good luck, forcing Miles to promise to “Make Nick call me and Pearly right away if anything changes, or if he needs anything at all!” and then she’d said goodbye, sounding worried and conflicted.

Apollo frowned as he informed the others of Vera’s surprising request to be allowed to visit Kristoph herself. He had advised against it, at least for the time being due to the legal issues surrounding their prior criminal involvement and Kristoph’s crime against both herself and Drew Misham, as well as the terms of Vera’s own supervised probation for her forgery convictions. She had expressed understanding and dropped the subject to instead convey sympathy for Klavier in her quiet, disconcertingly flat voice, thoughtfully observing that he shouldn’t be left alone, as this had to be hardest on him and Apollo had assured her that he would take care of the prosecutor and keep her posted on the situation as it changed. Satisfied with trusting their decisions, she wished them all good luck as Maya had.

No one had freaked out.

Perhaps the outrage would come later… after it properly sank in… and once they decided what in the world to do.

After they finished sharing the Cliff Notes version of their individual telephone conversations, a few more minutes passed in tense silence but for the sound of Klavier’s shoes tapping along the shiny tile in the next room. As they sat and contemplated, it quickly became clear that there was not much else they could do here for the time being. Apollo began to fidget and Phoenix began to frown, a pensive crease forming between his eyebrows. Miles hummed a thoughtful tone and abruptly stood up from the table, striding into the hospital room where he could be heard for the next several moments, exchanging hushed words with Klavier.

At some point when they’d all been out making their calls, a nurse had been escorted in by one of the guards and had given Kristoph another fluid bag and a sedative to help him get some more rest. His body was still battered from the attack at the prison and needed to heal. While Kristoph slumbered in chemical peace, Miles brokered an agreement with Klavier.

“We’re all employed…” He stated simply, upon returning to his place at the table a few minutes later and exchanging looks with both his partners. “We’ve all been put on retainer as Mr. Gavin’s attorneys, unless you two have any objections?”

Apollo remained nervously silent but Phoenix raised a hand. “Miles… What do we intend to do in that capacity?”

“I don’t fully know… We can start by trying to get his conviction type re-classified… You recall how he represented himself in his own murder trials…? If we could convince the high prosecutors’ office that he was unfit to defend a client and also unfit to even stand trial due to mental illness… we can at least get him remanded to a more pleasant mental care facility so as to not further damage him, the state he’s in… With the proper medical and psychiatric experts on our side, we… we might even be able to get his conviction overturned...” Crossing his arms, Miles scowled off toward the hospital room door, as if personally affronted by the twin looks of shock Phoenix and Apollo were wearing.

“Miles… Can we…? Morally…? I- I mean, he killed people…” Phoenix stuttered, feeling his stomach tighten with ambiguous dread.

Miles sat back in his chair with arms still crossed loosely and lowered his chin, frowning. “I know this is probably the furthest possible thing from a black and white issue, Wright… But what does your instinct tell you? Who is that man in there? Can you really say for certain that he is guilty, anymore?”

Phoenix dropped his eyes to the table top with a sigh and Apollo ground his teeth against a fingernail. “You know Edgeworth… if someone had told me a decade ago, that I’d be hearing that sort of argument out of your mouth…?” He muttered, feeling the strange and almost uncontrollable urge to grin. “No objections, Miles…” he chuckled as the gray haired attorney sniffed, tipping his head in acknowledgment and turning towards Apollo.

“Mr. Justice, you are the lone possibility for dissent… What do you say?” Miles tapped his index finger on the sleeve of his burgundy jacket, frowning as Apollo halted the oral assault on his fingernails and drew his forked eyebrows together in concentration for a moment before beginning, slowly.

“I say… I say that the Kristoph Gavin I knew turned out to be a very bad and deceptive person… and if I had understood my own power, back then, I might have realized why I always felt so uncomfortable around him, instead of just writing it off as ‘fear of being fired’… I also say that since I’ve come to use the power of perception more, I trust my instinct too… and my gut says that man in there is not dangerous. He isn’t at all the same person he was before the surgery.” Apollo paused for a moment looking down at his hands, frowning pensively at his bulky bracelet. “No objections, Mr. Edgeworth.”

“Alright then I suggest, as our first order of business, that someone get Prosecutor Gavin home and into a more relaxed state before he requires medical attention himself.” He looked meaningfully at Apollo and the man flushed, excusing himself to go make an attempt at convincing Klavier, who was pacing beside Kristoph’s bed, muttering in German, to leave his brother’s side for a few hours.

Watching Apollo exit, Phoenix shook his head. “What are we getting ourselves into, Miles?

“This is just another phase in the process, Wright…” Miles removed his glasses stiffly and rubbed them with a silky square of cloth from his vest pocket. “We thought it was over when Kristoph was convicted but that turns out to have simply been an incorrect assessment of the evolving situation.” He placed them carefully back on his nose, tucking the bows behind each ear, his expression softening as he reached out to squeeze his lover’s shoulder reassuringly. “We are all deep in this, Phoenix. There is nothing we can do about that. We just have to do our best to make the right decisions for the right reasons. If we keep our focus on truth, I trust that we’ll all make it through, more or less undamaged…” Phoenix could only nod, scratching the stubble on his chin thoughtfully and wishing he felt the same level of confidence that Miles was at least outwardly displaying.

Ultimately it didn’t take much coercion to make Klavier give in, exhausted and emotionally drained as he was. Apollo bundled the prosecutor’s drawn, shivering frame into an overcoat, steering him out into the anteroom to wait. Phoenix called them a cab while Miles spoke with Apollo, putting forth a time when they would reconvene at the law office and discuss their strategy. It was still fairly early in the afternoon and Kristoph had gone down for at least a good twelve hours on his last dose so they all had a little time to rest up… and plan.

Climbing into the cab when it arrived, Klavier turned to smile gratefully at them, Apollo waved and they each raised a hand to return the farewell and for a moment everything seemed so horribly normal that it made Phoenix shiver. When the bright yellow car had disappeared down the tree lined drive they went back inside to make a few more phone calls and talk to the guards and police. They obtained several letters of permission to come and go as necessary and filed a copy of their ‘Letter of Official Request for Legal Representation’ with the lead officer before they left, making sure that they would be informed immediately by the recovery clinic staff, of any change in Kristoph’s condition.

The forty minute car trip home was silent between them, a soft jazz station playing at a low volume, only barely whispering clarinets and stand-up bass as the sunny daylight landscape passed by outside. Miles’ mouth was set in a thoughtful frown for much of the journey and after maybe his seventh furtive glance at the man, Phoenix couldn’t take it anymore.

“Say something Miles. It’s too quiet…” Phoenix didn’t want to think about how his lower lip was sticking out or how he was slumped in the passenger seat with his arms crossed like a ten year old.

“Very well… Sit up straighter Wright, your posture is atrocious.” Miles deadpanned, not taking his eyes off the road, smirking slightly as the man next to him snorted but did actually wiggle himself into a more upright position, muttering under his breath before falling silent again for a few minutes. When Phoenix spoke again they were just turning onto their street.

“You wanna get some rest? Or just grab a shower and then get started on the investigation?” Phoenix wasn’t really that physically tired. They had actually gone to bed relatively early the previous night, coming awake around three AM with a mutual need for each other which they were attempting to satisfy when the telephone rang and brought their peaceful night to an end and in the process, eliminated any possibility for a peaceful tomorrow.

“Shower, definitely… After that… Yes, I think we should get started… We need information and if we want to be able to access any medical records or perform any official interrogations, we’ll have to file a lot of paperwork… Let me deal with the High Prosecutor’s Office. I still carry some clout there despite my defection and I don’t think they would end up taking Klavier too seriously even though he is their own man… He’s way too close to this…” Miles scratched his stubble, frowning in distaste. “But showering and shaving are definitely the priority at the moment.”

As they pulled into their tiny garage, going through the routine of closing up the steel security gate and ascending the concrete stairs to the front door as they had done so many times before, it was easy to forget for a moment that their lives had been turned upside down, once again.

After shedding their coats and shoes, Phoenix glanced down at his watch and frowned, heading for the kitchen. They had a lot of work to do, they’d need fuel… “You go ahead Miles… I’ll put the coffee pot on and then join you, if you don’t mind…?” They had been interrupted that morning after all and Phoenix thought he could certainly use some gentle human contact or at the very least the familiar and comforting routine of bathing with Miles… helping his lover to wash… working fragrant shampoo through all that thick silver hair which had been allowed to grow out to just past the shoulder, a style apparently favored in Europe, the last time he’d done a lecture tour there… running his hands over that perfect milky skin, lathered in thick white foam…

“Phoenix…”

Stepping in close and sliding his hands around to the front, one slipping up to rest just over the slight swell of pectoral muscle, the already rigid nub there sliding between his middle and ring finger, slick with soap, one drifting down over the gentle curve of Miles’ lower belly, along the crease of his hip and down between his slender thig-

“Wright.”

“Huh? Wha-” Phoenix snapped back to the reality that he was standing in the middle of the kitchen, half way to his goal- the coffee maker- with a fine erection now deforming the front of this slacks. Miles arched one slim eyebrow and regarded him imperiously from the doorway, looking perhaps a bit more smug than was really warranted in Phoenix’s opinion. ‘It’s not like he doesn’t know how fucking sexy he is, sheesh…’

“Hurry with the coffee please…” The silver haired man smirked, stepping back out into the front hall but letting eyes trail down Phoenix’s body and linger suggestively for a moment before he turned and strode off into their bedroom, already shrugging off his suit jacket and working open the buttons at his cuffs.


-TBC!-