The Truth and What Remains: An Adrienette story

Chapter 26 : A Phoenix Rises (Crossover Chapter! Ace Attorney X ML)

Authors Note: Hey guys SnivyLord here! This is gonna be a bit of a shorter chapter as it shines a little light of what happened the day before the trial. It's a bit emotional between Adrien and Louis for their father son moment, so I hope you enjoy! I also wrote down a bit of the present day into the trial, but it's kind of a light hearted beginning for laughs, so enjoy that while it lasts because in the next few chapters, it's gonna get pretty dark and heavy. Also, I realized I completed this on April Fool's day and this is a published chapter I swear, but it might also be a joke because I think you guys were expecting the actual nitty gritty trial chapter. So sorry! But with the world a disaster right now and me having a lot of free time, I will try to get those chapters out soon, so please hang on for the ride! Stay safe! Stay home and enjoy yourself by catching up on this story and read any previous chapters if you want in quarantine!

The day before the trial, Phoenix and the gang had been looking over the court record for the trial and the list of the evidence that they got that was going to be used for the trial. They all met in the Bourgeois Hotel in one of the suites and they got down to business.

"This seems like quite the long list of evidence right boss?" Athena thought aloud when she glanced over Phoenix's shoulder.

"Right... it seems almost too long," Phoenix murmured to himself as he read through the paper several more times. There were video recordings, certain papers, the autopsy report, the  surveillance cameras in Marinette's home, witness testimonies from people Phoenix didn't know, several objects that the prosecution has not named, and other things listed, but some of the items seemed like circumstantial evidence.

"I think the prosecution is planning to use these specific pieces of evidence to trap Marinette when they question her, using these circumstantial evidence to implicate her," Maya surmised, resting her head on her hand. Phoenix nodded slowly before his mind made up another theory.

"Maybe... perhaps this evidence isn't just meant for Marinette...but perhaps, there also meant for trapping somebody else," Phoenix murmured to himself but everyone heard what he said.

"But that's... awful..." Pearl sighed, almost on the verge of crying, but not quite.

"Too bad we can't investigate ourselves, since this is a case from 8 years ago and there's no trail or left over evidence," Maya sighed, resting her tired head on her palm. Phoenix nodded in agreement as he leaned back in his chair and stared outside the balcony.

"What did we get ourselves into? This trial seems like such a deeply rooted personal issue between Gabriel Agreste and Miss Dupain Cheng," Phoenix sighed, suddenly hearing a scoff come from his partner.

"You were the one that wanted to get into this," Maya laughed, an understanding but slightly mocking nuance graced her tone, "you've been in very tragic and personal cases before, and each one is unique. But you're gonna have to see this through to the end, even when the truth rears its ugly head," Maya explained and after a moment, Phoenix nodded in understanding.

"Yeah... I know, it's just that... I can never get used to this. These stories that seem to tear families apart," Phoenix sighed, with the other two nodding in agreement. They know what he means, each story always seems to surprise them even when the truth makes itself known to everybody

"I do feel bad though... the poor lady, her family must be going through so much, seeing their mom behind bars," Pearl sniffled as she wiped a tear away from her eyes. Maya nodded and rubbed Pearl's shoulders comfortingly in an attempt to massage them. Phoenix has seen his fair share of cases throughout the years that left scars on people and to be honest, sometimes Phoenix doesn't know if finding out the whole truth is even worth it. However, looking at this divided family, Phoenix knew that he had to something and he would do what he always did: find out the truth. Phoenix sighed as he set the list down again and looked outside the window and into the night, pondering what was to come.