The Ties That Bind

Chapter One: Bullet For My Valentine

A/N: So here is my prequel to my first fan fiction, Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman and is part 2 of the Turnabout Lawful Love Trilogy.

You don't have to have read the Phaya tale to understand Fredgeworth's love story, so this can be read as a stand-alone story. It takes place during the Matt Engarde case in PW: Justice For All. Very slight spoilers for JFA/T&T/AA1 games.

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Emotional ties. Damn them all.

Miles Edgeworth shut his eyes and tried to squelch the pang of consternation in his chest.

He despised hospitals. Yet wild horses couldn't have dragged him from the ER that day.

I should have remained The Demon Prosecutor. Life would have been so much simpler for me if I had. But no, I let him get past my defenses. I allowed that impulsive fool of an attorney to put a chink in my guarded armor. Now I've gone from being a cold and methodical High Prosecutor who, while criticized for being an android, was still praised for his infallible logic, to being saddled with unnecessary feelings - yet again!

Up until a certain impulsive, passionate, hot-blooded, spiky-haired mensch had saved Miles's soul from eternal darkness, unease and uncertainty had been all the "unnecessary feelings" he'd thought he'd ever need to contend with!

He'd been fully aware of what others had whispered behind his back until Phoenix Wright had resurfaced in his life; had known his daunting previous title had included rumors of bribing judges and falsified evidence. Miles had done his best to let such imbroglios roll off him like raindrops on an oily pavement.

Weak people spread rumors. Stupid people believe them. The hell with all of those who judge hardships and pains which they've never known. They don't know what Manfred Von Karma did to me. Or what Damon Gant did to me! Ergo, as far as I was concerned, they could all take their judgments and stick them up their posteriors, where they'll enjoy the company of their peers!

He would have continued going along and sweeping his emotions under a rug while attempting to remain unaffected by anything, had things not all come to a head a year ago, with his courtroom rival exposing all the evil-doings of both his corrupt former mentor and the police chief. After that, Miles had left the States for some deep soul-reflection time in Europe. He'd returned a completely changed man, resuming his friendship with Phoenix and no longer caring about keeping perfect prosecution records – only about seeking the truth.

That included finally facing the truth about he felt about her, all due to the intervening hand of fate.

Fate, in this case, had come in the form of an assassin's bullet to a particular prosecutor's shoulder, dramatically changing everything as he knew it.

It was the moment which altered the course of his relationship with his foster sister, forever.

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The Hotti Clinic - March 22, 3:30 PM

Franziska had looked so small and pale and helpless as they'd wheeled her in on the gurney, and in so much agonizing pain it had nearly brought tears to his eyes to witness. It was unfathomable how a tiny bullet could have taken such a toll on the normally formidable German. She was such a pillar of strength. The smartest, feistiest, toughest girl he'd ever known. He admired those traits of hers so much.