A Turnabout Tale {Ace Attorney Wattys 2016}

Turnabout Goodbyes

Turnabout Goodbyes

December 25, 10:38 am
Detention Center Visitor's Room

"I hoped you wouldn't come. I didn't want you to see me. Not like this," Edgeworth looked away from Phoenix Wright.

It had all played out as Dahlia had shown him. He had been arrested promptly after the incident on the boat, and had spent the night in the detention center. Now he was sitting here, trying to ignore the feeling of dread that Wright would be the one person who would defend him. He could see the look of contempt in his eyes, and could that Wright wasn't happy to be seeing him. The fact of the matter was in fact, that it burned his soul deeply.

Phoenix tried to talk to him, but he was wounded. The attorney asked him questions, but he couldn't bring himself to tell the truth. All that came out of his mouth were insults and lies about why he had shown up in the first place. He already knew that Phoenix was his only hope, as it really was true that every defense attorney he had called turned him down.

Wright presented his attorney's badge, only for Edgeworth to tell him about this and finish him off with a, "You in particular I cannot ask to do this."

He still tried to persist despite all of it, and so the only way for Edgeworth to get some space was to outright leave to his cell. He figured Wright wouldn't care, much less be back and so he bid his life goodbye. He knew he wouldn't have long after he was convicted. That's just how it went. He would be shamed forever as a way of brutal karma. He deserved it though, that much he knew from the events that had transpired on the previous night. He was a changed man at heart, yet he was unable to express it. 

Edgeworth continued, in vain, to try and secure himself a defense lawyer. Anybody but Wright would do. It would be too...personal...for him. He cursed how the lawyer believed in hi, despite the fact that no one else did. Only Gumshoe and Wright, if even that. The police had questioned him brutally for hours on end with nothing to come of it save for the realization that they weren't on his side. Nobody was on his side. Even his mentor and adoptive father, Manfred von Karma was against him. At least, in the hope of a swift death, he would have a chance to reunite with his father.

"Do you see now?" Asked a voice from outside Edgeworth's cell, he had been preparing his mind for prison and death for a few hours. 

Edgeworth sat up and looked at the ghost of Terry Fawles, "Do I see what?"

"The doom of your actions," said Fawles.

Edgeworth bowed his head, "Yes, I do. There's nothing I can do about it now. I may be a changed man, but my future is already decided. I will die at the hands of my fellow prison inmates. I am nothing more than a scorned, forlorn man as of now."

"Then you have not learned a thing," said Fawles, "you've always been scorned and forlorn. You just see it now more than ever."

"Then what was the point of it all? To humiliate me? To break me? To drag me through the mud?" Edgeworth questioned.

"No," argued Fawles, "the point is to guide you. To show you that there is still hope for the future. You may be wounded, but you still have the chance to get up and fight for another day."

"You're wrong," said Edgeworth, "I already sent everyone away. Gumshoe hasn't come to see me, which means he's only lost hope for me. Franziska is a world away. I already yelled at Wright today and made him leave. What other chances do I have? There's nothing left, everyone is gone."

"Are you so sure of that?" Fawles finished.

Edgeworth didn't have the chance to reply, as a bailiff came and got him, claiming that he had a visitor. Edgeworth followed to the visitor's room to come across Phoenix Wright. Behind him stood Fawles and the other three ghosts, of which 3 of the four nodded at the appearance of Edgeworth's smile. Wright hadn't seen him yet so he put on an angry demeanor, but at the same time he was glad. Inside him a spark of hope for the future re-lit and he prepared himself to face the future as a changed man.

~~~

<~ A Few Dedications ~>

Thanks to VanillaWind for the Fanmade cover. It's absolutely stunning.

This book is dedicated to Sheare for introducing me to Ace Attorney, since it's my first Fanfiction of the genre.

Thank you for reading, reader, and I bid you a good day

Tchüss

-Blue