Ace Attorney: Fading Bloodlines

Turnabout From the Sky, Part 16 (Cotoli)

"This is a textbook case of something I'm sure none of you anticipated. After all that happened sixteen years ago, my father got the urge to do something that I'm sure you all know of," Chrysalis began. "I won't say it since I'm positive you all know what I mean..."

I didn't need her to say it. I already knew. Child abuse was the sensitive subject she was trying to avoid, for my sake and for her own. She always hated to admit that she had gone though this.

"After finding out that Sora and Pieter were technically his children through May Lin and Natasha Young, he figured that he had just as much right to attack them as he did over Cotoli and I," Chrysalis continued. "And so... He thought that it was a good idea to attack us all."

"So he wasn't just using the condition of hiding sixteen years ago against you..." Niamh whispered in shock.

"Yeah. He was trying to use us as his stress dolls for when he got drunk at a pub or something. With the case over our heads, we couldn't think of anything," Chrysalis said.

"That makes for a lot more of a reason for why you'd try to escape him than just a public image," Yuri frowned.

"Yeah. Most of the time, Cotoli and I tried to cover for the others since it was our fight, but in the end... He gave Sora a really bad cut on the hip... She was in the hospital from it the week before we disappeared. That much was the last straw," Chrysalis explained.

"I remember that!" Nevada cried. "Pops was crying for ages over her!"

"So were you!" Chrysalis recalled with a giggle. Nevada looked away in embarrassment. I could just feel the second hand embarrassment from the defendant's chair... And that was all the way across the courtroom.

"Anyways, that explains a lot of this case. The people who disappeared were being blackmailed by the victim from sixteen years ago. The victim from that case, Auralyn Spadraona, also known as Chrysalis Starr, and her closest friend met up with the victim on top of a rooftop. The three got into a heated argument where the victim fell to his death," Niamh concluded before turning to the judge. "I believe that concludes our summary of the case. If there are no objections, we can hand down the verdict now."

The judge nodded his agreement. "But I must wonder... There have been cases related to the case sixteen years ago going on recently... That was also the work of the victim, correct?" he asked.

"Yeah. He killed or attacked the people involved with the case to keep it from being reopened. When his children disappeared, he most likely remembered that he had to cover his tracks so that he wouldn't be carted off to prison for attempted murder," Victoria explained.

"But that doesn't make much sense if you think about it intensely. Why would he do all of that if the statute of limitations had run out the year before this all went down?" the judge frowned.

"The victim wasn't at all involved in legal business. Since he rarely spoke with his children, the only ones in his family who were tied into the legal world, he most likely didn't know that the case couldn't be brought back to court," Yuri deduced. "There's no other reason for him to do all of this stupid stuff."

"He didn't know the truth about the statute of limitations and felt the need to kill the defense attorney and prosecutor on the case to keep them from taking it back to court. In another attempt to cover his tracks, he tried to kill Pandora Rell and Toby Erikson, the defense assistant and detective on the case," Niamh announced. "All of this happened because he didn't pay enough attention to legal affairs well enough to see that the case was closed for good."

"Even if the case was brought back to court, the culprit wouldn't have paid for his sins anyways. My stupid father killed himself on accident... This will probably sound twisted and demented but I feel like he should have died another death that fit what he did to his own flesh and blood," Chrysalis whispered.

I couldn't help but agree, though I would never admit it out loud. He used all sorts of weapons against us in different types of physical and verbal abuse, and he didn't get a death fit for his sins... Nobody even found out until after he had died. Messed up, right...?

"If he were still here, I'm sure that he'd be facing a brutal execution to pay for his sins," Nevada told her, but I could tell that she was lying. If he were still alive, she'd be killing him in cold blood for messing with her Mama, Uncle Coat, Uncle Piet, and girlfriend. She'd have him dead after a lot of stabbing and bloodshed...

It's probably best that he died this way. At least now we won't have to cover up for his murder by Nevada's hands...

"I think that the trial can be brought to a close on this note. The culprit was none other than the victim himself in a twisted, accidental suicide," the judge declared. "I guess that we can consider this trial ended."

"So you'll be handing down the verdict?" Nevada begged, her eyes wide. She looked excited to finish the trial, so I bet that she was waiting to go home with the rest of us.

The judge nodded. "Yes. This court now finds Takuya Spadarona-erm, I mean... Cotoli Morix... Not guilty for the third time in the history of this court," he declared, picking up his gavel. "Court is adjourned!"

He brought the gavel down onto the bench before him. And with that... My third (and hopefully final) trial came to a close once and for all.

The best part was that I didn't have to worry about my father ever again...

And I was finally home for real.

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the final four chapters are going to be conclusions with the remaining characters

next is chrysalis, after that pieter, then cotoli, and finally sora

sora's is the best thing to ever exist tbh

so have this while i blast music from the heathers

-Digital