Ace Attorney OneShots

18. Apollo x Kristoph

One year. A full year had passed since the day Kristoph was sentenced to prison. He didn't have many visitors throughout the months. Apollo and Phoenix had visited him a few times the first couple of months, but they stopped coming after a little while, and Kristoph was left to mull over his own thoughts and feelings.

Christmas was coming up, and of course there was no one to celebrate with. Not like the prison did anything special either. All Kristoph could do was sit there and sing songs to himself. Make himself not feel as lonely.

On the night of the 20th, a guard approached Kristoph's cell door. Kristoph was busying himself singing Christmas songs, so he didn't even notice. The guard cleared his throat.

"Mr. Gavin. You have a visitor." He informed. Kristoph couldn't hear him.

"Deck the halls with boughs of holly.." ~

"Mr. Gavin!"

"Tis' the season to be jolly..." ~

The guard banged on his cell door. "Mr. Gavin!"

"Don me now our-" Kristoph stopped singing and looked up with his cold, lifeless eyes. "What?"

The guard cleared his throat once more. "You have a visitor." The guard proceeded to unlock the door.

//A visitor?// Kristoph slowly stood up from the cold floors of his prison cell and proceeded to be led to the visiting rooms. He kept his head low as he did not want to see the visitor until it was time. When he finally felt the cushion of a chair below him, he looked up at his visitor.

"Ah... Justice.." There he was. Apollo, sitting in front of him. It had been a while since the two had talked like this, but this time something seemed to be different.

"Hello, Mr. Gavin. I was.. hoping we could talk." Apollo said.

"That's what I'm here for, Justice." Something was definitely off. Apollo was never this troubled. Kristoph could easily sense it, after working over him for so many years prior. "By the way, Justice. I see you've sustained some injuries. And the jacket, where'd you get it from?"

"Oh.. yeah.." Apollo touched his arm and looked down with shame. "That's what I'm here to talk about." Kristoph nodded and sat quietly to listen to his story. "Clay.. he's dead.. And the trial has gone way beyond that through the past few days. My coworker is accused of killing him."

"Ah. Do you need strength for the trial? Why not just take that up with Wright?" Kristoph asked with a smile on his face.

"That's not it. Over these past few days.. I've been getting weird signals from my coworker too." Apollo grabbed his bracelet. "Every time she talks about it, my bracelet keeps reacting. This bracelet can sense small movements or ticks when a witness is trying to hide something. That's how.. we caught you in the Drew Misham case." Kristoph's eyebrow twitched slightly from hearing that case being mentioned again.

"I assume she's hiding something then?"

"Yeah." Apollo touched the bandages on his eye. "I didn't want to believe it. I wanted it to stop, so I put these bandages on. I wanted to obstruct my eyes from the undeniable truth." Apollo grabbed onto the sides of his jacket. "I want the truth revealed to me, but I also don't want to see her get hurt." Tears were starting to form in Apollo's eyes. Kristoph was stunned. He had never seen Apollo like this throughout the time they worked with each other.

"Apollo." He said with a calm voice. Apollo looked up at him with his tear-streaked face. That always worked back when they were coworkers. "You're not going to like what I say now. You're really not going to like it." Apollo tried to dry his tears and looked up at him with a frightened look on his face. "Testify."

"What?" Apollo asked, not able to believe what he just heard.

"Testify." Kristoph said once more with the calm look he always had. Apollo's face turned red with anger as the suggestion was made.

"You can't just say that! Not with that- that look on your face!" Apollo yelled, anger clear in his voice.

"So? I thought the same when you betrayed me with Wright by your side." This brought a worried look to Apollo's face. Kristoph tried to keep a smile on his face, but he knew he couldn't keep the facade up for long. "Wright.. He took you away from me. He took my life away from me. My life was going just fine before he came along. If he hadn't shown up none of this would have happened." Kristoph looked at Apollo with simple and pure rage in his eyes. "So tell me.. If I can't sit here and tell you to testify then how could you stand there at the defense's bench, take orders from Wright, and get me in jail?!" Apollo sat there in silence and shock. Kristoph was still trying to recover from all the anger he just let out. He couldn't believe he just said all that, in front of Apollo, no less.

"I-I needed to find the truth.. Everything seemed to point to you. I couldn't just leave it." Kristoph had an epiphany just then. The truth. That was what was driving them. Phoenix, Apollo, they were being driven to find the whole truth. Kristoph on the other hand, could never understand why they would go to such lengths to do that. Maybe, he wasn't meant to be a lawyer after all.

Kristoph stood up and walked out the door despite the guard's objections. "W-wait where are you going?" Apollo asked, getting out of his chair. Kristoph came out of another door to see Apollo. Not behind the glass, but in the flesh. Right in front of him. "What are you doing out here?!" Apollo called. Kristoph answered with no words, but simply opening his arms as a welcoming. Apollo couldn't help but cry at the sight, and rush into Kristoph's arms. The two of them held each other in a warm embrace.

"Apollo, I may not be a lawyer worthy enough to tell you this, but please.. Listen to me and testify. No matter what, the truth will come out of it. You have to realize that the truth may not be what you expect whether it be good or bad. Testimony is evidence, and evidence is everything in a courtroom. Without it, you don't have a case. Testify. Okay?" Kristoph asked. Apollo nodded while still in tears. "Good."

It had been way too long since they've had a moment like this. Kristoph could feel Apollo's struggles, and how much Apollo missed him. He gave Apollo warmth and comfort even after all this time. They stayed for a little longer before breaking apart. "You're alright now, right?" Kristoph asked. Apollo dried his tears and nodded. "Good. I must be going now." Kristoph turned away. "Goodbye." As he was walking away, he heard Apollo call out to him.

"Wait!" Apollo called. Kristoph turned. "I have something for you.."

"Oh? And what is th-" Before he could finish his sentence, Apollo dashed up to him and kissed him softly. He took Kristoph's hand and placed something in it. A bottle of sorts. Apollo went a little deeper into the kiss before breaking apart. Kristoph was a little taken aback by the kiss, but he still regained his composure. He looked down at the bottle in his left hand.

"It's nailpolish. Periwinkle by China Glaze. Your favorite. Don't worry, it's not poisoned." He smirked a little bit. Kristoph chuckled as well.

"Thank you Apollo, but what is it for?" Kristoph asked.

"Merry Christmas." Apollo replied. Kristoph's eyes widened a bit. "You've had to spend one year in solitary confinement without Christmas. I thought I would do you a favor."

"Thank you, Justice.." Kristoph looked down, his hair covered his face so that Apollo couldn't see his quivering lip. "I really must get going now."

"Alright." Apollo turned to the door. "Merry Christmas, Kristoph." As Kristoph opened the door to go back to the main part of the prison, he looked up at Apollo. He gave his usual calm smile as he waved.

A tear rolled down his cheek.

"Merry Christmas, Justice."