Ace Attorney: Web of Mistrust

Turnabout Masquerade, Part 14 (Cotoli)

I walked into the hospital room where Chrysalis was as quietly as I could. I shut the door behind me gently, not wishing to disturb the people on the bed.

Anton and Nevada were sitting across from one another on the bed, a rather large blanket wrapped their shoulders. It looked as if they were forging a volcano with the blanket.

I took a few steps closer to the group, almost scared of what might be inside their 'volcano.' My heart was pounding in and out of my chest, making it difficult to hear anything else.

In a flash, Nevada whirled around, her bat pointed at my nose. "Who goes there!?" she yelled. I stared cross eyed at the bat for a few seconds, waiting for Nevada to mutter some sort of apology (why I expected that is something I still don't get).

Nevada cleared her throat and pulled her bat down. "My bad, Uncle Coat," she murmured, avoiding my gaze sheepishly (Sheepishly? She must really be feeling out of it). "You want to see her?"

I nodded violently. "Please."

Nevada pulled the blanket off of her left shoulder and allowed me to look at what exactly had been hiding inside their blanket volcano.

Chrysalis.

She was asleep, her head laying on Nevada's lap. I felt a warm buzz flow through me, the happiness that she was doing so well after the past few days flooding me. I sighed and walked closer, taking a seat in between her two 'guardian angels.'

"Chrysalis," I whispered, shaking her shoulders gently.

"Chrysalis," Nevada repeated, gently brushing a few strands of hair away from Chrysalis' cheek.

"Huh...?" Chrysalis looked up in a daze, pushing away from Nevada's lap slowly. Anton handed her the bronze glasses that had been sitting on the nearby table. Chrysalis accepted them and pushed the frames up onto her nose before turning my way. Her face lit up. "Cotoli!"

"Chrysalis...!" I wrapped my arms around my sister and held her as close as I could. "I... I thought I'd lost you...!"

"I... I'm sorry... For everything..." Chrysalis apologized, sinking into my arms.

"You're here now and that's all that matters," Nevada smiled, joining the hug.

"Y-yeah! You're o-okay and now w-were all g-good!" Anton agreed, adding himself to the pile. Chrysalis was barely visible to those not in the embrace, covered almost entirely by Nevada, Anton, and I.

"You guys are the best," Chrysalis told us, a few tears streaking down her face and landing on my hoodie.

"You're awake!"

We were interrupted by Yuri and Niamh, who were standing in the doorway. The younger of the two had spoken. The two ran towards us. Niamh frowned upon seeing Chrysalis' head wound. "How is your head?" she asked.

"It still hurts, but things could be worse," Chrysalis replied, though judging by her fake smile, it was bothering her quite a bit. She leaned back onto the bed with a small sigh.

"Are you okay?! You looked pretty bad after the trial!" Yuri exclaimed.

"I'm fine. This will probably take a while to recover from, but I'm okay for the most part," Chrysalis assured her, allowing her fingers to intertwine with Nevada's on one side and Anton's on the other. I, meanwhile, placed my hand over her heart. The feeling of it falling into sync with my own pulse brought me comfort.

"Will you be able to testify in court tomorrow?" Niamh asked her.

"Technically today, but whatever. Same difference," Yuri commented.

"I think so," Chrysalis answered. "Even with this killer headache I have, I should be in good enough condition to testify."

Niamh frowned. "Speaking of killer, could you tell us anything about the real culprit?"

Nevada's free hand flew to her bat. "I think I know who I want my sixth victim to be," she growled.

Chrysalis looked at Nevada, her face pale and full of concern. "Y... You can't...!"

"Why not?! They tried to kill you and nearly succeeded!!" Nevada retorted.

I used my own available hand to rub my Magatama. It had been sitting in my hoodie pocket before. As my fingers closed around the stone, my eyes went wide.

Black Psyche-Locks.

"I can't say...! If you did do that, you'd be hurting me, too...!!" Chrysalis told her. She was highly stressed, glancing quickly around the room in agitation.

Niamh looked unsettled by her speech. Had she heard something important to the case?

"Mr. Morix, Yuri, could I talk to you two about something out in the hallway?" Niamh questioned, turning to face the door.

I hesitated before standing, leaving the happiness of feeling a heartbeat behind. I followed Niamh and Yuri into the hallway.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Do you know what midnight discord is, Mr. Morix?" Niamh questioned.

I shook my head, awaiting a further explanation.

"It's a psychological condition, born out of having a deep, developed fear. I determined that Chrysalis had it, and judging by the discord I heard from her moments ago, the person who attacked her was under the influence of midnight discord," Niamh explained. "If this is correct, this person attacked you, Mr. Amaya, Mr. Carmen, and Prosecutor Bloom as well. The same would apply to myself."

"So the reason that it would hurt Chrysalis as well..." I started.

"Is because of her midnight discord matching up, or coming close to matching, with that of the culprit's," Niamh finished. "It's the only explanation."

"So her midnight side is saying that hurting the culprit is the equivalent of hurting Chrysalis' midnight side," Yuri concluded.

Niamh nodded. "Yes."

"Then we just have to make sure that we don't go too hard on the culprit!" Yuri exclaimed.

"Speaking of the culprit, do you know anybody else with midnight discord who could have possibly committed the crime?" I asked.

"I have my suspicions, though we'll have to wait until the trial for my theory to be confirmed," Niamh replied.

"Who is it?" Yuri questioned.

"Chrysalis will answer that for you at the trial later today," Niamh told her. "You'll see soon enough."

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I will blow up your minds with who the mastermind is though like-

I told one of my rl friends who reads this story and she was all 'wHAT WAS THAT DIJ-'

so yeah

-Digital