Breathing Is A Necessity

Author's Note: As a warning, this is not the last chapter.

 

oooooooooooooooooooooooooo



March 29, 2:53 PM

Prosecutor Edgeworth's Office

oooooooooooooooooo



The first strike forced a growl out of the police chief.

Phoenix pulled the bat back to make another swing, but Damon whipped about with startling speed, tugging his cellphone from Miles' grip in the process. As Wright swung the bat forward, Gant managed to block the blow with his bicep, grunting. The adrenaline-fueled lawyer attempted a third attack, but the powerful police chief grabbed the bat and effortlessly ripped it away from Phoenix.

"That. Hurt." He snarled, glaring at the dumbfounded defense attorney. He placed his cellphone back into his shirt-pocket and flipped the bat ominously ... as though he intended to beat Phoenix with it.

Wright could feel his heartbeat running wild as he took a step back from the infuriated police chief. He was trying to focus on stopping Gant but there were realities to the situation he couldn't ignore: Miles bound and bruised, Gumshoe bloody and unconscious, the room filled with signs and smells of debauchery ...

"Unreal ... " Phoenix whispered, taking another step back, feeling the dream of saving Miles and Gumshoe fade away, "I hit you with a metal bat twice ... " Really, the brute had shrugged off the attacks with minimal effort ...

"Oh, that was you?" Gant hissed sarcastically. He eyed the nervous defense lawyer ... realizing very quickly that Wright probably hadn't been involved in a physical confrontation since middle school. Nothing about Phoenix's posture or gait suggested any sort of training.

"You've no idea ... how much I've looked forward to this, Wright-o," Gant announced, cockily throwing the bat onto the couch. He didn't need it. The police chief rolled his shoulders, loosening up some very tense muscles. Getting smacked with a metal bat in his upper back had certainly been the most amount of pain he had felt in a long time.

"Phoenix, just run ... " Edgeworth whispered hoarsely. He'd be emotionally crippled forever if he was forced to watch Wright endure a similar fate to Gumshoe ...

"Phoenix," Gant snarled, rolling up his shirt-sleeves to reveal more of his extremely toned forearms and biceps, "If you run, I will catch you ... drag you back in here, and ... Oh, either rape or torture you. I haven't decided yet. Maybe both."

"Are you serious?! How damn crazy are you?" The defense attorney was thoroughly appalled. In a way, Damon's following response would answer Wright's question: Gant clearly belonged in a mental institution.

"I wish you had arrived sooner, Phoenix," as Damon aiming a potent glare at the defense lawyer, "I would have liked you to see Miles cum in my hands with my dick in his tight little hole ... "

Wright's expression darkened. Phoenix glanced toward the police chief's gun, left on Miles' desk.  Maybe ... if he was faster than Gant ...

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," the older man warned darkly, "that plan didn't work out particularly well for Gumshoe, you see."

"Why the hell would you want any kind of relationship with a guy like this, Edgeworth?!" His frustrations escalated as he raised his fists for his impending fight with Damon, "He's old enough to be your dad and completely fucking insane!" To think Miles somehow found pleasure with this ... freak.

Edgeworth looked downward, struggling to contain himself.

"Oh, go easy on him, he's had a rough morning," Gant scolded with a small laugh.

"Shut up!" Phoenix snarled, jumping toward Damon. He aimed a punch at the brute's jaw. A futile effort. Gant grabbed his arm and, using Wright's momentum, swung him into the reverse direction. The defense lawyer smacked harmlessly into the bookshelf.

The prosecutor jerked to life desperately reaching for the gun on his desk Gant had tauntingly left in front of him. He knew based off of distance alone it was just out of reach, but ...

"Oh, you're not going sit there and watch, this time?" Gant smirked cruelly when he glanced over to spy on Edgeworth's desperate efforts. The distraction gave Phoenix enough time to regain balance and turn to face the smug police chief.

"Try again. Don't embarrass yourself, this time," Gant taunted nastily.

Wright had never felt so completely helpless. Gumshoe and Miles' lives being on the line elevated the insufferable emotion. Phoenix was truly furious, now. That jaw and those hands clenched, his brow furrowed.

"Oh, Miles, do you see that? He looks angry," Gant observed with an amused snort, "maybe with the power of rage he'll be able to throw a decent punch."

Phoenix tried to focus: I can't outfight him ... I can't reach the gun and aim it before he can stop me ... but ...maybe Edgeworth can ...

Wright impulsively embraced his plan. He lunged for the desk, focusing on the gun. Gant reacted within milliseconds. The brute charged forward, reaching to intercept Phoenix's extended arm. The defense lawyer managed to smack the gun toward Edgeworth before Damon was upon him.

As the police chief snatched Wright's arm and twisted it, he watched his revolver slide into Miles' waiting hand. Gant smirked, using Phoenix's twisted arm to pin the defense lawyer against the prosecutor's desk.

"Well," Damon commented as Edgeworth secured a firm hold of the gun and aimed it toward his head, "This is interesting."

Wright glanced up toward Miles, mentally cheering when he realized his plan was a success. Then he noticed the hesitant, scared look on Edgeworth's face and a thick, suffocating apprehension washed over him.

The police chief observed the prosecutor as he maintained his hold on Phoenix. Gumshoe's coat had slipped off those pale shoulders. Naked again. An anxious expression. That bruised left wrist was still restrained by the dangling handcuff attached to the curtain rod. It was a beautiful sight, Gant decided, minus the prosecutor's grip of the gun. That part left him entirely unimpressed.

"I thought you owned a gun? Your grip is too low on the handle. Your aim is wide right and your hands are shaking. Control your nerves."

"Let him go," Miles insisted.

"Sure, I will. Let's chat a little, first."

"There isn't time for chatting, Damon.- "

"- I have a theory I'd like to share with you."

"I'm not-"

"-Do you believe in any of those ... silly romantic concepts, Edgeworth? A 'true love'? Soul mates? -"

"-I don't want to hear this!-" the prosecutor snapped.

"-What if both existed, but weren't necessarily the same individual. Two separate individuals: a true love and a soul mate. The true love the one you pine for ... while the soul mate," he smirked a little, "Is the one you deserve. The one you belong with ... One who completes you.-"

"-You've an overactive imagination, Damon. Release him!"

In the corner of his eye, Miles could see Phoenix's face contort with anger and disgust.

"Wow, you're fully committed to being crazy, aren't you?" Phoenix scoffed with a futile squirm, causing Gant's smirk to vanish. It was torturous enough for the defense lawyer to enter the room while the two were kissing, with Gumshoe's beaten body on the ground nearby, but now to listen to this insanity ... With a voice possessing a surprising amount of rage, Wright snarled: "quick, shoot him before he comes up with any more theories."

"Oh, aren't you funny," Gant mocked, before slamming Phoenix's face into the desk with a shocking amount of ferocity.

The sound of a gunshot.

Gant was roughly shoving Wright's stunned body to the ground before realizing he had, indeed, been shot. The police chief looked down at his own body, noting the wound within the small tear in his dress-shirt on the far left side of his chest.

A finger moved to touch the sanguine evidence of Miles' intervention. Due to his body's rush of adrenaline, the police chief didn't feel it yet. He wondered if the same thing happened to Gumshoe.

"Far right. As I told you," Gant murmured, eyes shifting back toward the visibly upset prosecutor, "only one more bullet, Miles," a gentle reminder.

Edgeworth spared a glance for his fallen ex-lover, who moved slowly on the ground, nursing a slightly bloodied forehead. When his eyes returned to the sight of Damon, there was none of the prosecutor's usual confidence and dignity. The armed lawyer was silent, scared and incredibly conflicted.

"What's wrong, Miles?" taking a slow step toward the troubled lawyer.

"I know ... what you want me to do ... "

Another step, another.

"Stop moving!" Edgeworth pleaded, tightening his grip on Gant's revolver.

Soon, Damon stood before his disgraced captive, observing the results of all the turmoil the sadist had inflicted upon him. Miles was devoid of metal or fire. The sight of Phoenix being hurt was the only thing that had temporarily removed him from this state of impotent misery.

"Talk to me, Edgeworth. I'm listening ... " he reached up and gently pushed the prosecutor's gun-wielding hand to the side, "a courtesy you never offered to me."

Miles wondered how long despair could gnaw at his insides before irreversible damage was made. Red eyes were moist, again. Damon could easily disarm him, could easily kill them all, and Edgeworth felt himself unable to end to this madness.

"I hate you."

"I know, Miles."

"I hate you enough to want you to live," trembling, "I hate you enough to have you suffer. I want to see what happens to your vanity when your body and dick start to shrivel with age. I want to see you in prison with all the criminals you put behind bars under the guise of justice, and I want to see the public and the media snub you as the most pathetic, despicable hypocrite of our time. And, above all, Damon," there were tears, now, as he looked into still green eyes, "I want you to die alone, as you fear. For what you've done to Gumshoe. For touching Phoenix. For ... ruining me."

Gant stared for a long moment. That bullet wound was finally starting to produce a particularly intense burning sensation, and the police chief found himself grimacing slightly. The feel of it reminded him of the several violent sins he committed against Gumshoe.

"We are capable of incredible cruelty, aren't we, Edgeworth?" The wounded man questioned pensively. One hand reached upward to gently trace a few fingers across the prosecutor's tear-stained cheek. That other hand grabbed Miles' gun-wielding wrist, directing the weapon toward Damon's chest. His heart.

"Right here," Gant murmured, staring straight into those bitter silver eyes, "it's unfair to make Gumshoe wait any longer."

Damon's spoken truth sliced into Edgeworth. Yes, Gumshoe was very much in need of medical attention ... but ...

"After ... all your confessions, all your obsessive crimes against me ... your admission of being mine ... of belonging to me," Miles breathed, gaze traveling to their hands on the revolver pressing into Damon's chest, " ... You so enthusiastically want to leave me behind?"

"Just the opposite, Edgeworth," the hand on that pale cheek moved to Edgeworth's chin, moving it to reunite their eyes. His voice was unrelenting: "You'll never be free of me."

 

Just shoot him, just squeeze the trigger, Gumshoe needs you, just do it! He's a monster, just rid yourself of him and be done with it! Edgeworth urged himself desperately. But he was already starting to feel the pain of this hypothetical future Gant was insisting upon: one saturated with fear, one where foul memories, dark fantasies and reality couldn't be separated, one where every touch felt like Damon's calloused hands. Miles tried to imagine how those quiet green eyes would appear when made eternally silent.

Damon was somewhat touched by Miles' inability to kill him, regardless of the younger man's reasoning. Gazing at Edgeworth, he silently wished the stubborn prosecutor and their two unexpected guests hadn't unwittingly closed the doors on the police chief's more optimistic plans for this afternoon.

"You can't finish this? Are you truly so selfish?" Gant questioned, squeezing Edgeworth's wrist.

" ... I ... "

"Perhaps Phoenix will do it," the police chief taunted coldly. Edgeworth couldn't hide the sickening sense of apprehension that engulfed him.

A cryptic smile formed on the older man.

"I certainly saw the capacity for murder in his eyes earlier. Wouldn't it be ironic? You'd never be able to look at your would-be lover again without thinking of me."

"-Stop this!-" Edgeworth cried out as Damon's hands moved to pry the gun out of those trembling fingers.

"-Raping you in front of him would be more than enough incentive, don't you think?" another dark promise, as he leaned forward to kiss his squirming captive, still attempting to wiggle that gun loose of the prosecutor's grip.

They had been so enthralled by this situation that hinted of death and inconsolable despair, that neither had noticed Phoenix's movements until that metal baseball bat slammed into the back of Damon's head.

 

oooooooooooooooooooooooooo



March 29, 3:38 PM

Prosecutor Edgeworth's Office



oooooooooooooooooo

Gant stirred.

There was darkness.

There was a lot of pain; the most he ever felt in his life.

Nothing he couldn't handle, he decided.

He just needed to climb out of this dusky haze.

The hardwood floor felt rather uncomfortable.

"Good morning, asshole."

Those green eyes opened. It took a moment to decipher the blurred image his eyes took in. Edgeworth's office, still. With someone sitting on the floor across the room from him.

"Pity. I was hoping I had put you in a coma," Phoenix revealed, "maybe if I'm lucky you'll die from some sort of brain bleed."

Gant groaned as he tried to sit upward before realizing he didn't have use of his hands. Handcuffs. The same ones he had used on Edgeworth earlier.

Slowly, the wounded police chief managed to sit up. As his mind and vision began to clear, he managed to identify the defense lawyer. They faced each other, now ... from their respective positions on opposite sides of the room. Damon found himself disappointed Edgeworth was nowhere to be seen. Gumshoe was absent as well. The police chief correctly assumed they were both at the nearest emergency trauma center.

As strength and clarity began to return to Damon, the sting of his various injuries intensified. There was a crippling pain at the back of his skull, far more debilitating than the bullet lodged in the side of his chest. There was pulsating pain in areas that didn't quite fit with Gant's memories of the events which occurred earlier. He expected pain from his head, his shoulder, his bicep and his upper back ... but his right leg and abdomen also possessed a familiar ache.

Despite all this, he managed to smile.

"Hm, such animosity ... you're not as innocent as I originally believed ..." that smile widening, "you took a few extra whacks after knocking me out, didn't you?"

"Maybe a couple," with an equally mocking smile.

Mm. Phoenix hadn't been playing nice, Gant decided. That's fine, though ... Damon didn't plan on playing nice, either.

"Did Edgeworth approve?"

 

"Phoenix! He's unconscious!"

 

The defense attorney wildly slammed that bat into the incapacitated police chief's thigh.

 

"Phoenix, what are you doing?! Stop!"

 

Another mighty swing smacked into Damon's abs.

 

"Strike him again and I will never forgive you!" The prosecutor made sure to emphasize the 'never.'

"He asked me to hit you again. One whack for himself, one whack for Gumshoe."

Gant chuckled deeply.

"Liar."

 

The accusations emerged: dangerous and cruel. It was the most intense trial of their lives.

 

"He would have killed all of us!"

 

"You want to kill him! You want to murder a defenseless man!"

 

"Look at Gumshoe. Look at yourself! Look at what he's done! Why didn't you shoot him? Why are you trying to protect him?"

 

"Protect him?! I'm protecting you! You're not a sadist, you're not a murderer ...What happened to your sense of justice?! "

 

"His filth is all over you. You smell of him."

 

"Phoenix, put the bat down!"

 

"He's the one you've been happily fucking. The infamous Mr. Sex-god. This is the man you chose over me!"

 

"Listen to yourself! You're starting to sound like him! Don't let him ruin you. Where's my Phoenix?"

 

"Interesting story about your Phoenix: He's wondering where the fuck his Edgeworth is!"

 

The conversation punctured them both deeply. They looked at each other with anger and despair.

Phoenix is a funny little man, Gant decided. The attorney looked so deeply angry ... and could only occasionally glance in Damon's direction before his frustrated eyes snapped away. The younger man clutched the police chief's gun aimlessly ... with a tension that made the older man think Phoenix might rise to his feet, aim, and shoot at any moment.

"Did Gumshoe make it to the hospital?" The police chief inquired, watching the distracted defense lawyer.

Wright didn't answer the question. Gant had no right to ask about Gumshoe.

"So," glancing at his gun in Phoenix's hand, thinking it'd be ironically easy to provoke the defense lawyer into using it, "what happens now?"

"Someone's coming to arrest you," Wright muttered.

"Who?"

"No idea. But it took Edgeworth five phonecalls to find someone willing to do it."

Gant smirked, imagining Miles' frustration during his first four attempts to find someone willing to arrest him.

"Mm. Wouldn't it be funny if Miles accidentally summoned a policeman loyal to me?" The police chief taunted wickedly, "that'd put you in quite a predicament, wouldn't it?

Much to Damon's amusement, Phoenix visibly recoiled at the thought. It was a brief moment of weakness, however. The defense lawyer quickly gathered himself.

"Edgeworth wouldn't make that kind of mistake." A confident response.

"You're correct. I was only teasing," quite mirthful, "though perhaps you should pay more attention to the little details, next time. The phrase 'no idea' has never impressed anyone."

"We want names," Phoenix demanded, since they were on the subject of Damon's unscrupulous influence over the police department, "we want to know every dirty cop, lawyer and politician you control."

"Mm. I'll not be sharing any secrets with you, I'm afraid. But let that sexy prosecutor know I may be interested in bargaining with him," he added a taunting wink.

Phoenix glowered, absent-mindedly squeezing the gun in his hand.

Damon continued to observe the lawyer, noting the red cut on Phoenix's head, evidence of his earlier aggressions.

"I apologize for, you know, the desk thing. I let my emotions get the best of me," testing the defense lawyer, "as well as raping Edgeworth. Repeatedly. I feel absolutely terrible about that. Though ... by the end of the afternoon he was, well, genuinely enjoying himself. Is it still rape in that situation? I suppose it is. Enjoyment doesn't necessarily equate to consent-"

"Stop. Talking. Now," Phoenix barked, glaring at the older man.

Gant was smirking, again. He rolled his shoulders as much as he could, trying to relieve the intense discomfort his upper body was experiencing. In comparison to Edgeworth, Wright seemed extremely emotional and easy to manipulate. It took hours of abuse to dig inside the stunning prosecutor's mind, yet only a handful of words to make gnarls out of Phoenix's psyche.

"I recall you claiming Edgeworth was the monogamous type ... Does that mean all those months he had spent with me, he was mine alone? I imagine you pitifully pined for him during that time ... "

Phoenix looked away, the muscles in his jaw tightening.

 

Just ignore him ...

Damon laughed softly.

"Those months must have been difficult, for you. You're so very sensitive, and he can be so very cold."

That was certainly true. Still, he wouldn't dignify Gant's taunts with a response. Both men were keenly aware of how difficult, sometimes even cruel, Edgeworth could be ... but Wright certainly wasn't going to bond with the insane prick over it.

"I imagine you two must have been in a relationship at some point. Considering that hopeless affection of yours that you so blatantly displayed at the police station three days ago. Is it safe to assume he was the one to terminate the relationship?"

Silence.

"Mm. Why? You're educated, reasonably good-looking, very loyal. What made him turn away from you, Mr. Wright?"

"Just shut up," Phoenix hissed quietly.

This inspired a cruel smirk from the restrained sadist.

"If I had to guess ... I'd say boredom. Emotionally and sexually. Why else would he leave you to eventually find his way into the arms of a man like me? Why," with a small laugh, "I bet Edgeworth and I have entertained more positions today alone than you two had during the entirety of your forgettable, dull relationship-"

"-Shut up!" standing , aiming the gun at Damon, "You want to speak about pitiful pining, let's analyze your pathetic little theory earlier about soul-mates."

Gant went quiet but maintained his smirk.

"Never mind. There's no need for analysis. The inevitable conclusion is that you're a crazy, crazy, sick bastard, with a huge emphasis on the crazy part. And, yes, you slithered your way into Edgeworth's mind ... but I'm going to crawl in there myself and rip you out of it," and he practically shouted the next set of words: "He's mine! He needs me more than ever and I won't let any more psychopaths or crazies or anyone else, near him."

"Oh Phoenix," laughing, delighted, "we have far more in common than I originally believed!"

Wright's finger twitched on the trigger. Perhaps he may have pulled it if Edgeworth hadn't been so insistent that Damon survive this ...

"You weren't there, Gant. You didn't see us together. I have a side of him he'd never give to a disgusting animal like you," continuing to drift within his torrent of desperation, "Have you ever seen his smile? Have you ever heard him laugh? Has he ever held you through the night? He liked to kiss my shoulders, when he thought I was sleeping. You think he'd do that for a pig?! I'd pretend to sleep, waiting for him to do it. He did it every night! "

This part made Gant frown. Phoenix was finally on a tangent capable of wounding the older man.

"Every night he held me ... " Wright repeated, suddenly lowering the pistol, suddenly realizing Edgeworth may have been right. Was he losing himself? Where did this inclination towards violence come from? Adrenaline? Had Damon snuck into his mind, too? Was it emotional? Was it jealousy? Was it this months of pent-up anxiety and frustration? He had never felt anger like this before, had never imagined himself capable of shooting a restrained, unarmed man, had never felt so desperate to find Edgeworth so that he may cling to him and never let go.

"I understand, Phoenix," Damon admitted almost sympathetically, "he plagues me, too. He's in every dream ... every fantasy and nightmare ... "

"Don't! We're nothing alike."

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure."

"You don't know anything, Damon," glaring, but with a controlled tone, "You weren't there. And you won't be there when we're back together. You won't be there to see him happy, and you won't be there when he forgets you. And believe me," as harshly as he could manage, " ... he'll forget you. "

It was perhaps the cruelest promise that could have been made to Gant. The police chief endured it silently. A point for Phoenix.

In the distance, Wright heard the soft hum of approaching sirens. They were coming. They were coming for Damon.

Realizing his time was almost up, Gant leaned forward, boring a commanding glare into the defense lawyer's eyes.

"What were those words you said, earlier? 'He's mine ... he needs me more than ever ... I won't let anyone else near him.' You should tell him these things. Honesty is essential for any healthy relationship, yes?"

 

"Listen to yourself! You're starting to sound like him!"

Phoenix felt sick.

"Tell him, just as you told me," with only a hint of a smile, "tell him just. Like. That."

 

 

oooooooooooo



March 30, 11:32 PM

Sanno Hospital - Trauma Unit



ooooooooooo

They were in the trauma unit. Gumshoe slept. Since being admitted to the hospital, the medical staff had been running electrolytes, a blood transfusion and small amounts of IV morphine into him while the doctors planned out various treatments and a few surgeries based on the detective's x-ray and catscan results. Gumshoe still looked horrible, even though the blood had been cleaned off and various bandages were applied to several points of his body.

The worst part was the detective's inability to stay awake or communicate. It made the prosecutor miserably imagine Gumshoe was drifting away, never to return.

Miles was staring at the tiled floor, posture drooped, sitting in a guest chair beside that hospital bed. The prosecutor had foolishly refused to check into the hospital himself. A medical record of the abuse he endured would have been important evidence for Damon's hypothetical trial ... but he had no desire to recant his story to ... anyone, much less the medical staff of this hospital.

Besides, the prosecutor couldn't focus his thoughts: Gant, Phoenix, Gumshoe ... Each man tussled within his mind, seeking attention.

Gant. Sickening, abusive, seductive. Every hour he found himself reliving one of the perverse memories they had shared. There were deeper issues, too, that Edgeworth was trying to force out of his mind. He miserably wished he could forget the insane man's absurd spiel about soul-mates.

Then there was Phoenix. It was odd: despite the endless taunts and insults Damon had so cruelly distributed, the words of his ex-lover carved deeper wounds. And Wright's anger ... it was something he had never seen from the defense lawyer before. That anger had produced a level of violence that was a more natural fit for Damon ... not his traditionally sweet, occasionally childish ex-lover.

Finally, Gumshoe. This guilt may lead to the largest scar of all. Guilt that he had failed to warn his kind-hearted friend in time to prevent his ignorant arrival. Guilt that he had remained passive and silent as Damon ruthlessly beat him. Guilt that Gumshoe nearly died for him. Guilt that, when he had Damon's pistol, he hadn't been strong enough to simply shoot his captor so he could focus on saving the noble detective.

The soreness his body endured only occasionally distracted him from the emotional wounds he suffered from. Silent tears escaped steel eyes as he stared at the spotless floor. It had been a horrific day. He hadn't cried so often since the death of his father.

The next sounds immediately snagged Miles' attention.

"I have a strict ... -"

"-Richard!-"

"-no-crying policy," Gumshoe insisted, looking at Edgeworth with a dopey smile.

Edgeworth felt so intensely relieved. After wiping away his own tears, he moved to sit on the hospital bed next to Gumshoe's body, leaning over him.

"That was truly brave of you. Heroic, even."

The detective's smile deepened.

"I must have handled that fight ... pretty well."

" ... You're actually quite hurt."

"Really? ... I feel kinda good, super relaxed ... "

" ... That's the morphine, Gumshoe."

"I feel like ... a million tiny leprechauns ... with warm hands, are massaging me, in a bubble bath."

Miles found himself inappropriately smirking. Gumshoe had the ability to make a tragedy feel not-so-tragic.

" ... I don't normally do this sort of thing but it's been an intensely emotional day for me, so," and he, very, very cautiously, somewhat awkwardly, leaned down to lightly hug the detective, "I'm grateful, to you."

The detective couldn't stop smiling. He wanted to hug back but found his body unwilling to cooperate. He reminded himself to look up the effects of IV morphine later on ...

The detective suddenly realized something was missing from this picture ... He, frankly, didn't care about Gant's fate, but his friends, on the other hand ...

"Where's ... Phoenix?"

"He's fine. A bit bruised, but fine."

"Ya but ... where is he?" Gumshoe questioned.

" ... I'm not certain."

"Huh?"

 

"Where's my Phoenix?"

 

"Interesting story about your Phoenix: He's wondering where the fuck his Edgeworth is!"

"We haven't ... been speaking," Miles admitted, the momentary happiness of witnessing the detective's first step toward recovery quickly fading. Gumshoe managed to frown as he watched Edgeworth's expression turn into one of bitter sadness.

 

oooooooooooooooo



March 33, 11:05 PM

Phoenix Wright's Apartment



oooooooooooooooo

 

The phone rang. Gumshoe's name appeared on the screen.

Smiling, Phoenix answered the call.

"Heeey Gumshoe. How ya feeling?"

"You wouldn't know! You haven't come to visit, jerkface!" Angry.

Phoenix frowned. It's true, he hadn't visited the hospital ... mostly because Edgeworth was there for every visiting hour ...

"I ... I've called the hospital staff every day! Checking on you! I've been worried sick."

"What's going on with you and Edgeworth?" Gumshoe asked, frustrated.

Eh, at least he knows Phoenix hadn't visited due to Edgeworth's presence and not due to lack of concern.

" ... "

"This wasn't ... part of the plan!" Gumshoe grumbled.

"The plan?"

"Ya. We were suppose to be the heroes. Edgeworth was the damsel in distress ... "

"If you value your life, you will not call Edgeworth that to his face," the defense lawyer warned.

"The ... princess in the castle ... or prince I guess."

"Ya, don't call him that, either."

Was the detective trying to turn this into a fairy-tale? Phoenix briefly wondered what such a story would be called. Prince Prosecutor and the Penis of Malice, maybe.

Sometimes it's a bad thing when humor was your emotional defense mechanism. The occasional unspoken joke did nothing to ease the self-conscious misery Phoenix had endured these past four days.

"Ok, forget my plan. Let's try this: guess how many times I've seen him smile. A real, genuine smile. Go on," the detective prompted, "guess."

Phoenix mulled it over ... Edgeworth-smirks were fairly common, but Edgeworth-smiles were certainly rare.

"Mm. Twice?"

" ... Lucky guess. Anyway, yes, twice. Once was my first time waking up in the hospital a few days ago. And don't get me wrong, Edgeworth has a great smile, seeing it made me happy, really happy, but ... I can't be taking a couple of bullets every time I wanna see that smile. The human body has its limits, ya know?"

"Gumshoe. You know he values you even though he doesn't always show it- "

"-That isn't the point. The point is, the only other time I saw him smile, was when he was with you. No bullets required."

"Gumshoe ... "

"It's gotta be you, pal, understand?" Though, during moments of weakness, Gumshoe really wished that wasn't the case ... "I can ... see it in his eyes every time I mention your name."

"... Listen, do you ... know anything about what happened?"

" ... not really," Gumshoe admitted.

"Well, it's a ... complex situation," and he'd leave it at that since it was Miles' story to share if he so desired, " ... Believe me, I'd be with him right now if he'd allow it, but, he's really mad at me. And this time ... he has every right to be."

"What'd you do?"

" ... I wanted to kill him, Gumshoe."

" ... "

"Miles stopped me, but I would have killed him. He was unconscious and I was ready to wail on him until he was no longer breathing."

" ... Oh."

"Sad excuse of a defense lawyer I am, huh? I was going to beat a defenseless man to death. Without any care about how it'd effect Edgeworth. I really ... wanted to do it."

"That's ... not your style."

"I was ... so angry. Angry at that sick bastard, angry at Edgeworth ... I'm ... glad he stopped me from doing it. But he hasn't forgiven me for it."

"Well, I don't think any of us were in our right minds that day. The whole thing was pretty loopy," Gumshoe reasoned.

" ... That's true."

"He'll forgive you. I got a gut-feeling about it and it has nothing to do with my IV drugs."

"I'm ... not so sure," Phoenix murmured.

"Just go make up with him already. He's at my place. Said he still didn't feel safe in his own home. I think he needs ya ... even if he would never say it."

"Gumshoe ... "

"Yah?"

"Thanks."

" ... Of course, pal. Anything for my friends."

ooooooooooooooooooo



Author's Note: A biiiiiiiiiig thank you to Kurenai Tenka again. She's the unwritten hero of this fanfic. Best test-reader/editor ever. I would literally pay money for her input. Thank you KT!



I literally rewrote this chapter about six times(and I am not kidding) with various outcomes before deciding, with KT's help, to pick this one. This version was a total thrill to write. Hope you all enjoy! And I love reviews! Writing can be a lot of work, so it's awesome to have people take the time to comment. :D