Turnabout Mindset

Written by Kat Aclysm
Rated M: Contains mature themes, and violence.

DISCLAIMER: Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney / Gyakuten Saiban, the characters, the supporting cast, and the games themselves are (C) Capcom Co. Ltd, 2002, 2006. All Rights Reserved. This is a completely unofficial fiction-based literary fan-work written by the listed author. All legal matters in this writing piece are a work of fiction. Lawyers are not necessarily awesome people with cravats.

NOTE: I don't know where this fits in the Turnabout story sequences, but it's just a little fun fanfiction I decided to write up. If it has to fit anywhere, place it in the time period after "Trials and Tribulations" (after PW:TaT/GS3) It takes place during late March/early April in 2019, making Phoenix turn 27 (Phoenix's birthday is between March 24th and April 10th based on the timeline given).

Mild Phoenix x Edgeworth (Naruhodo x Mitsurugi) in this story to come in later chapters.

Chapter 1 - "Happy Birthday, Nick!"

Phoenix Wright was quietly working at his desk and so far it had been a fairly eventful and tiring day. He had been to court that morning and had been engaged in a fairly emotional trial, defending yet another client to the best of his ability. He had come back to his office after the trial was over for the day both to rest, and to ponder the situation in full. Was the client really telling the truth? Should he continue to believe his innocence? Mia had always told him to always believe in his clients, so he supposed he should... although right now that advice felt hard to follow. Still, if the man were truly innocent, Phoenix would find a way to turn the trial around. He always did, one way or another.

His current client and the defendant in the case he was working on was a man by the name of Russ Tinayle. The man was being accused of murdering two people and wounding five others. He was an avid member of the city's gun club and believed that all of life's problems by shooting them away, which was the main reason he was being accused of committing the crime in the first place. The other reason was that he owned an old rare handgun that no other person in the shooting club had and that it's particular size and caliber of bullets were found in all of the people shot. The man himself argued that the guilty party had stolen his gun to do the shootings and that he was being framed. Phoenix wasn't so sure if he bought that story or not though...
The defense attorney sighed as he read over the case files again. The defendant had an alibi albeit a shaky one. The gun club required members to sign in and swipe their member-cards before entering the venue, and Russ Tinayle's card hadn't been signed in at all on the day of the shootings. Police had argued against this and said that he had slipped by the security on that day in order to his shootings, and that he had enemies within the club. And then finally, there was the fact that the murder weapon itself had not been found √ Russ Tinayle's own handgun had gone missing before the shooting had taken place, which only further fueled accusations of him being the prime suspect.

Phoenix pulled out the closed circuit camera TV stills he had requested from the club venue a few days ago to take another look. In the pictures Phoenix could make out the figure of a man carrying a small gun but the image was blurry and in poor light, meaning that no real significant details could be made out. The prints were blurry at best - hardly any real evidence to go by.

He leaned back in his chair, sighing. "This really isn't going well. I can't prove this guy guilty OR innocent, not on this lousy evidence. To make matters worse, Edgeworth is the prosecutor in this case..."

When Phoenix visited the defendant in the Detention Center, even he himself began to question whether or not his client was guilty. Just by the man's words, his responses to questions, his entire demeanor suggested that he wasn't innocent √ but the evidence could still suggest otherwise.

And that troubled him immensely.

Phoenix felt like he was stuck between a rock and a hard place right about now. He had defended a guilty client before but only because he had been held to ransom for it. He had felt bad about doing so even though it was to protect the life of a friend. While working on that case he had questioned why he had become a defense attorney. That old familiar feeling was coming back to him in this case yet again.

"Is this worth it?" He thought to himself. "What happens to my career if I acquit a murderer?"

Meanwhile, Maya Fey, Phoenix's friend and the younger sister of his deceased mentor, was dabbling around the office quietly, dusting off the shelves of her boss's 'difficult-looking legal books' as he liked to call them. She was curious to know what Phoenix was up to exactly, but she didn't want to disturb him, as he looked quite busy and serious.

The defense attorney quietly sighed in frustration and ran a hand through the left side of his gelled spiky hair, idly pulling at a couple of his hair-spikes as he thought hard. He played the described events over in his mind again and again, reading over some summary notes he had written down about the case so far. He had read the summary many times over now, but... something still just quite didn't add up. There was a lie somewhere, but he just couldn't work out where the contradiction was and it was really wearing his patience down.

Russ Tinayle was offering him a very healthy payment if he won. This was another reason that Phoenix had taken the case √ his financial situation had become dire lately. He was two months behind on the rent in his apartment and he had other utility bills to pay - a couple of them were nearly three months overdue. He had really felt the pinch of being broke lately and had been surviving mostly on cheap unhealthy food such as instant ramen noodles. Phoenix furrowed his brows in concentration and read over the summary once more from the top. He just had to get this right...

He was completely unprepared for the sudden loud intrusion into his office that occurred within the next few minutes that followed.

"Happy Birthday, Nick!" Larry Butz happily declared in his loudest shouting voice as he barged open the door to the Wright and Co. Law Offices, causing Phoenix to nearly jump out of his chair in fright. Larry waltzed across the floor to his old friend's desk and promptly deposited a smallish gift-wrapped box right on top of Phoenix's work papers. "Open it and tell me what you think." He said with a wide grin.

"What?!" Maya squealed and dropped her feather duster, initially in shock from the loud intrusion. Within a heartbeat however, her attention was sharply on her 'boss' and she looked furious. "Nick!" She glared at him in an accusing manner. "Is this true? It's your birthday today? Oh my gosh, happy birthday! Why didn't you say anything!?"

The thought had vaguely crossed the defense attorney's mind. He remembered seeing it marked on the wall calendar in his apartment that morning before taking the train to work, but he had paid it no further attention. While birthdays had been exciting for him when he was a child, he was a grown man now and a birthday felt like any other ordinary day. Besides, he had much more pressing issues to think about √ such as his current client for example. It had almost completely devoured his thoughts in the last week or so.

"Um... ah..." Phoenix started nervously. "Sorry?"
"That's all you can say?" Maya continued to glare at him. "You should be out celebrating! How old are you anyway?"
"Twenty-seven." Larry replied with a wide grin before his friend could get another word out. "I got you a gift, Nick. Now open it before I make your arm numb with birthday-punches!"
"Okay, Don't do that! I need my arm to write." He whimpered. "I'm going to open it now." Phoenix picked the gift wrapped box up and began to open it as ordered, not wishing to receive more wrath from his friends. Inside the wrapping paper was a clear plastic display case containing an expensive-looking metal click pen.

"It's a pen," Larry began immediately, stating the obvious. "And it's got your name engraved in it, so people know who it belongs to. There's a digital watch near the top too, so you know what the time is. Cool, huh? I figured you'd like it because you're always writing and stuff. You know, your lawyer business and all."
"Great," Phoenix said as he subtly plucked up the pen he had been writing with before, stuffing it in the top drawer of his desk. He took the new pen out of its case, depressing the top end of it to make the ballpoint come down. "I have a million pens, why do I need another one? And who looks at the time when they're writing, anyway?" He thought to himself as he examined it more closely.

"That's a really nice gift, Nick! I bet you're really pleased!" Maya stated in a happy voice, trying to peer over the desk to get a better look at the pen. She turned her attention to Larry and grinned at him. "So have you got something special planned for Nick today?"
"Oh you bet I do," Larry declared happily, sticking up his thumb. "I'm going to take you guys to dinner later this evening. You know that new fancy high-class restaurant that just opened across the other side of town? It's called 'The Blue Lion'. Well I already booked a reservation in advance, so you can't bail out of it." Larry grinned from ear to ear as if he had just announced an achievement to be proud of. "You're more than welcome to come along, Maya. Any friend of Nick's is a friend of mine. Oh, and Nick? Edgeworth is coming along too."
"What?" Phoenix looked up from his work again, blinking for a moment, seeming to be genuinely surprised. "Edgeworth? You asked him to come along?"
"Yeah, I already asked him this morning." Larry replied, tilting his head. "He didn't seem too interested at first but that's Edge-head for you. He was real busy though so maybe he was just involved with that lawyer stuff like you. Still, when I mentioned it was your birthday and what I was planning, he simply said he would come. Didn't put up much of an argument and didn't make a sarcastic comment about it either. Probably just his way of being friendly, I guess. Still, could have been nicer about it. What a grump."
"That's odd," Phoenix mumbled. "Edgeworth..."

Phoenix had mixed feelings about the Prosecuting Attorney known as Miles Edgeworth. They had been the best of friends in elementary school but then Edgeworth left the school abruptly one day with no explanation given. It had practically broken his heart when he was a child and he had never completely gotten over it. Miles's abrupt leaving had left Phoenix always wondering what had happened to him as he grew up.

It wasn't until many years later when Phoenix was in college that his question was finally answered - he began to hear about Miles Edgeworth again in the news. He discovered that the man had become a prosecuting attorney, and sometimes the reporters on the TV would even label him as the 'Demon Prosecutor', because he had never lost a case. That was, at least, until Phoenix himself went up against him in court.

That was three years ago now, and their relationship had only improved just a bit since then. These days, Edgeworth mostly seemed to tolerate Phoenix but treated him with mild disdain. Phoenix still liked the man and had helped him out quite a bit. But he still felt that at times, they were on rocky grounds. He genuinely liked Miles Edgeworth though, and sometimes thought that their old friendship could be reconciled one day. He had certainly been working on it, and hoped that they one day could repair the rift between them.

"Oh don't act like you dislike him, Nick." Maya pulled a face at her boss, quite snapping him out of his thoughtful daze. "You guys get along fairly well when you're not screaming 'Objection!' at each other or trying to tear at each other's throats in court."
Phoenix frowned. "I know, but still. I didn't pick him for the socializing type. I wonder why he wants to come along. I mean..."
"Oh give the guy a break, Nick." Maya firmly stated. "He just wants to wish you a happy birthday. You have good honest friends. What's so bad about that?"
"Nothing! I guess..." Phoenix replied, scratching the back of his head, something he tended to do absentmindedly when he felt awkward. "It's just... I don't know..."
"So what time shall I expect to see you guys?" Larry asked. "Well I usually finish around five," Phoenix said thoughtfully. "So I guess any time after that is fine."
"Great, I'll be back here on the dot at 5:00PM." Larry grinned, heading for the door. "Edgeworth will probably meet us at the restaurant. I'll go talk to him about it now." He said and with that, he disappeared out the doorway and was gone again.

"Great, Nick!" Maya said, clapping her hands together. "I'm excited! I haven't been to that new restaurant across the other side of town. I heard about it though and it sounds like it's going to be nice. Though, I wonder why they call it The Blue Lion? That sounds a bit funny, doesn't it?"
"I guess they thought it would sound fancy." Phoenix offered, shrugging.
"It does sound fancy, and regal too! The lion is a really proud animal." Maya's face fell suddenly. "Oh no! I just realized something. Should I go downtown right now and go buy you a gift? Should I go put on something nice to wear? I mean, it IS your birthday and all." "No, that's all right, Maya." Phoenix told her with a dismissive wave of his hand, giving her a small grin. "It's just the thought that counts. Now," He continued, leaning forwards in his chair again. "I better get back to reading over this case report so I can save my client. The bills don't pay themselves you know."
"I know, Nick." Maya nodded. A wide grin appeared on her face before she moved away to pick up the feather duster, wanting to resume cleaning. "Jump into it. You're a great lawyer and once you've got what you need. I've seen you in court - you get all fired up once you're into it and you don't stop at anything to save your clients. I know you'll do good on this case."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Maya." Phoenix replied, and then returned his attention to his work. He swallowed a lump in his throat, frowning. Confidence was the last thing he felt right about now.

After the interruption he couldn't stay nearly as focused as he was before. His thoughts were divided now and he thought about what might possibly transpire once the clock hit 5:00PM. Edgeworth was the prosecutor on the current case he was working on, so the man seemed like more of an enemy right now. So why would he come to the restaurant to wish him a happy birthday? Would he bring up the court-case in the restaurant? Phoenix didn't know. All he knew was that part of him wished he could stop time completely so that 5:00PM would not come at all.

To be Continued...