#the cosmic turnabout | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sunset-peril · 1 year

Text

Ashes Remain - Chapter Thirteen - More Than Face Value

~~~~

December 15th, 2027

3:15pm

Detention Center - Visiting Chamber #4

~~~~

Apollo Justice was trying his very best not to storm through the Detention Center. Apollo Justice was trying his very best not to tremble as he awaited the inmate he was visiting. Apollo Justice was trying his very best not to blurt everything out as said inmate came strolling into the opposite side of the chamber.

Apollo Justice was trying his very best to be fine, because he suspected his girlfriend of murdering his best friend.

“Ah, Mr. Justice. I was not expecting you to come by.” He felt his old mentor scan him over and suddenly became a little more aware of the small mark Athena had left on his neck earlier. Sure, she was most definitely unconscious when it happened, but she also wasn’t kind enough to make it more accident-like and less… suggestive. He should probably stop thinking about it before he starts drawing more attention. “What happened? Your eye, and isn’t that Mr. Terran’s work jacket?”

“It’s just a sty. Nothing much, just hurts.” He needn’t be dramatic now, because Kristoph didn’t need theatrics for the story to sell. In all honesty, Apollo felt badly for initiating the ruse so dramatically. However, he needed Athena to be fooled; he couldn’t let her know he suspected her. He kept his eye covered, wouldn’t let her look, as he enthused her about why he’d been hiding it thus far from her; that he believed it appeared due to his stress of losing her the night before. He was pretty sure she wasn’t going to fall for it, but then her face fell softly with concern, and she wrapped him up herself and muttered of techniques she’d heard in graduate school of treating such ailments. Her hands were so gentle on his head, even though calluses new and old scratched his skin. The kiss she blessed the bandages with as she secured them in back instantly made him feel guilty, but not enough to confess.

If he was to confess his guilt to that one incident, it would come at a later date. He wanted to beg and plead, that he’d be blessed with the demand to confess he’d been wrong in suspecting her, that she was a spotless angel who just was a bit down on her luck.

But the hammering feeling he could be completely wrong struck through him. “Something terrible’s happened… and I suspect someone important to me is to blame.”

“Oh? And why does this bother you so? You were willing to turn on me so easily.”

“I know, it’s just… this person is… very important to me. One of the most important people to me. I want to believe in them… but I know they’re lying… if what I suspect actually happened…”

“What is it you really seek, Justice? Are you looking to absolve this ‘special someone’ of yours? Are you looking for some sort of vengeance? Validation? Or are you looking for truth, no matter the cost? Each one of us has our own ulterior motive. You must choose yours. In order to find any answers, you must decide. The answers will come to you in time, and if you want truth, you must be unrelenting in pursuit. Remember what I taught you? Evidence-”

“...Is everything… I remember. How could I forget?” He clenched his teeth to bite back the tears. “I trusted you… I trusted you, and you betrayed me!”

“None of it was about you, Justice… I never meant for you to get involved.”

He quivered and before long a healthy stream of tears came leaking through both eye and bandage. “W-why did you… why did he… why did she…?” His voice became curled up into a miniscule fraction of himself as he scraped his one good eye dry. “Why can’t I…?”

“You are a much better person than I, Justice. I’m sure you’ll find whatever you decide to search for.”

~~~~

December 15th, 2027

Wright Anything Agency

3:25pm

~~~~

“Thena! You’re safe!” Within seconds of her arrival, Trucy had latched herself to Athena’s leg. Her bad leg. How do children always know which leg is the bad one?

“Trucy, that leg hurts. Could you let go?”

She pouted before she let go. “Are you not happy to see me?”

“Of course I am, but I needed you off my leg.”

“Hurt yourself already, Athena?” Her boss tapped papers on his desk. She could hear the screeching of his filing cabinet beneath. He needed to oil it.

“I probably just fell on it weird last night. I don’t remember much.”

“Where’s Polly? Did he not come back with you?”

“Said he had an errand, that he’d be back before the hour was up.”

“He just found you. Wouldn’t he want you with him?”

“He’s a bit out of it right now, Trucy. He seems… in denial. I guess that’s fair, with how sudden and nightmarish this day has been. Probably is begging ‘it’s all a dream’, that he’ll wake up and Clay will still be on this earth.”

“Aw, Polly…” Trucy’s pout turned somber as she began a begging of her own. “You’ll take care of him, right, Athena?”

She slid herself over to the couch, putting up her bad leg. “Of course, Trucy! I’ve got Pollo covered! Although it’s healthy for him to grieve, I’ll help make sure he doesn’t drown.” She nearly drowned. It was a year ago come January. It was a year ago come February. It was the one thing she’d yet to leave behind. Maybe it was the one thing that he needed, even if it threatened to destroy her.

Athena rested her still aching body, likely exhausted despite her young mind’s energy, until Apollo arrived. Though she did not have the strength to race to the door, she greeted him and offered him the place beside her.

He’d been crying. She didn’t question it, but curled him against her shoulder. His sadness echoed through her like the bass on that young punk’s corvette from her and Apollo’s apartment complex. If she was a street urchin, that punk would’ve already gotten his.

Nope, nope. Bad Athena. No revenge plotting on aggravating seventeen-year-olds. Apollo was more important. His heart felt chilly, and her first instinct was to cuddle him closer. No words were appropriate for this moment, just silent reassurance that these feelings were valid.

He didn’t curl back into her, but just laid stiff across her chest. She understood.

She understood, but could not say. The last thing he needed was for everything to come back to her.

Of course, it always came back to her. It could save him, but she also questioned whether she loved him enough to die.

Athena doubted she loved Apollo enough to offer her life for his comfort. She doubted that she even loved herself that much. Did she love Simon that much? Maybe? She had her reasons; reasons to be so withholding with love and life. What was true commitment in this country anyway? A piece of paper? A new life? The slashed throat of one’s partner’s enemy laid at their feet like an offering? She’d seen all of these. The world has so many ulterior motives, screaming at her from every which way. Was it so dastardly that she had her own? She had so much weakness, weakness she’d shown and weakness she couldn’t seal away.

It was simple for the boss to fire a snide remark, such remarks flowed through Apollo’s veins. She had a talent for finding these people. Of course, those who run back and forth to the line of life and death lose their innocent vigor. Simple knowledge for someone who walked that line.

That line was lonely. Even the most vicious of tongues realize it and use such loneliness to their advantage. Such was the reason she never left herself alone. She definitely was prone to distraction and to wander, when her mind betrayed her more often than not, but her motivation was usually security and nothing more. Her greatest fear wasn’t death, she’d already had time to grapple with the fact her life was short. No, she feared the violence, the blood more. When she leaves this earth, it will be because her body failed her.

Athena Cykes is no one's martyr.

Yet her freedom is tied to the man stiff in her arms. She loves him. She loves him dearly.

Apollo is worthy of more than she can give, and such is why her mouth remains sealed.

She has the rowboat she needs, but it's questionable whether two people will compromise the vessel’s seaworthiness. She’s too afraid of risking the water to pull him to safety. She’ll hold his hand through the water, but she can’t risk what it takes to save him.

But, of course, it always comes back to her.

And, of course, even silence wasn’t enough to stop this grand turnabout that rattled through her soul.

“I want to talk to you about something, Athena.” His voice was broken, like his heart, and she couldn’t resist the instinct to pull him into a perma-hug as she answered. “Of course, Pollo. What is it?”

“I want to talk to you about last night, and this morning.” He was frank, like always, but the usual gentleness was all but there. Under the shattered pieces of his voice, she heard his heart. Overwhelmed by sadness, fear and anger. These three hardened his heart and staled his voice.

“I’ll answer what I can. I really don’t remember much.”

“Let’s start with what you remember then.”

“Well, I remember leaving Pavillion, I remember that clearly. The nurse that was with me yesterday dosed me with that anti-flashback like usual, just in a higher dose due to how often the flashbacks have been happening these last few weeks. She warned me against driving, even though my papers say I’m not allowed to drive, and asked me to go home within thirty minutes just in case it caused me to forget where I was. She wanted to make sure I’d be back with you in case something happened. I started towards home and decided to grab you something, but I don’t remember what… I’m sorry, but I don’t have any memories of what happened between them and when I heard you screaming my name out in those bushes.”

His expression didn’t lighten, but tightened further. Eventually, he turned away from her and began to laugh. “You really want me to believe that? You really do?” Why did he sound so amused, so- so- unlike the man she fell in love with? “I’m supposed to believe you, aren’t I? Because love is blind? You just happened to be drugged more than normal and happened to have wandered on your way home only to end up at GYAXA after a double bombing. It’s quite convenient, don’t you think?”

“Pollo, please, why would I lie?” Something was wrong, she could hear his heart screeching in agony, just above her own. His voice didn’t flow like Apollo’s did, it had some sinister rhythm, something not his. His voice was so flat under his heart’s screaming, she could see all four walls behind such a fake façade.

“Then where’s your evidence?!”

She startled to the other end of the couch.

“Polly! What’s gotten into you?! You love Athena!” The young magician charged up between them.

“Trucy. This is between me and Athena. Please.”

Athena could see the tears he was biting back. This was stabbing him from the inside, some other force must be playing on him. “Pollo, I was half-conscious out in the middle of nowhere… Why would I do that to myself?”

“That’s not good enough, Athena. I’m sorry. You can’t use emotions as evidence here.”

“Apollo,” she tried a little more firmly. “I don’t remember anything but what I told you.”

He pounded the desk with one of the most furious slams she'd ever heard. “I need more than that! You think I have any idea what goes on in that stupid mind of yours?!”

Her jaw dropped to the floor, as the tears she’d held back for so long. That final remark of Apollo’s, and Trucy’s instant scolding, startled the boss from his paper with the late realization that his subordinates were arguing. But he didn’t respond in time, Apollo stormed out of the office before he could rise from his chair. “Athena…”

She was used to painful words. She experienced them enough just by being a surprisingly young lawyer. But those words from someone she trusted, had considered opening the darkest parts of her heart and soul up to, and for them to be overflowing with such vicious malice… she found herself collapsed in tears in front of her boss and his daughter.

“Thena… I’m sure Polly didn’t mean it…”

Trucy didn’t hear him the way she did. Trucy didn’t hear the soul-shattering rage bellowing out of the height-challenged attorney into her bare skin. Whether it was only at that moment or much longer, it didn’t matter.

Apollo meant it. He meant it with every fiber he had.

And he showed no effort to return home that night.

It was nearing seven in the evening, and the number of hours Phoenix had been on the phone with her dared to defeat the time of day. She was trembling, anxious, and in no state to care for herself. But the phone wouldn’t suffice for much longer. She couldn’t live alone. It was the number one rule in the agreement that released her from Pavilion originally. After Apollo didn’t answer his phone, Phoenix took matters into his own hands, and took her to his home till the morning.

Athena was immensely grateful for the Wright family’s generosity, to open their home up to her after her guardian failed to return. She was even more grateful they understood her stress, that she didn’t have to enthuse about such gratefulness before straight-lining to the furthest restroom for a shower. The near burning sensation of the water she brought upon her skin was a welcome distraction from raging thoughts, thoughts that burned up in the heat she forced onto herself. She still remained silent, with thoughts and truths sealed away even to the ones who had yet to turn their backs. She wanted to remain in the boat, she needed to stay in the boat. Even if Apollo had to stay in the water, even though he had drowned, she had to be in that boat.

But, of course, everything always comes back to her. And as she gazed upon herself newborn bare in the Wright family mirror in the Wright family bathroom, she slashed at the beast mark engraved on her breast and dug desperate fingers through slivers of silver peeking out from under the orange, snarling as the marks on her stomach strengthened old memories rushing back, and she realized she’d long fallen into those deep, cold waters. “What the hell are you doing here, Venus?”

#athenacykes #ace attorney #fanfiction #booksivewritten #apollo justice #athena cykes #ace attorney dual destinies #dual destinies spoilers #dual destinies #aa5 #a man named terran #ashes remain #ashes remain amnt #kristoph gavin #mentioned clay terran #mentioned simon blackquill #phoenix wright #trucy wright #the cosmic turnabout

15 notes · View notes