Disclaimer: I do not own Phoenix Wright. It is the property of Capcom; I merely borrow the characters for my own amusement.

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Learn to Swim

“Franzy, honey, you have to get into the water sometime.”

Franziska looked skeptically down at the clear, sky-blue water in the von Karma pool and felt her lips twist into a pout at his silly-stupid nickname for her (she knew from experience it would only make him laugh if she protested),

“No.” Father bought this expensive swim-suit for her, and it was so cute, “ice-blue”, Nanny said, all with a little white ruffle-y skirt, and she was sure it would spoil if it touched the water and her hair would get messy, and she wouldn’t be perfect anymore, like a von Karma should.

“Franzy, there’s nothing to be afraid of,” Father’s friend cajoled, already standing waist-deep at the shallow end of the pool, “It’s just a little water. Come on, just jump in. I’ll catch you.”

Franziska frowned, looking at him, Father’s old-looking, very loud friend, in the ugly and bright-orange swimming trunks that looked a little too small for him, and certainly weren’t as pretty or as perfect as hers,

“No!”

He laughed at her petulant exclamation, a loud ringing bark that sounded throughout the backyard, and she stamped her foot impatiently,

“Mr. Gant, stop laughing at me this instant. I refuse to act like a foolish fool and do this—swimming business.”

Father’s friend waded towards the edge of the pool, towards her and tapped her inner tube with a bright smile, showing all of his teeth – very white, she noticed, and large – in the process, “You have this, don’t you? Besides, wouldn’t you love to show Daddy that you can swim by the end of today?” he paused, with a raised eyebrow, “Perfectly?”

Franziska bit her lip in thought, and even though her five-year-old mind knew that he was only baiting her, it nevertheless worked.

“…Very well,” she said, echoing a phrase that Father said often, “I’ll try this out.”

With another amused, exuberant laugh that made her ears ring, he reached out, took her beneath her arms and lifted her into the air and gently into the water, hands lingering for a couple moments longer to—make sure she was properly settled.

Franziska made a face, giving a few experimental kicks against the cold stuff (was that really water?) all around her and panicked slightly when she realized that she was floating away across the surface of the pool,

“M-Mr. Gant—”

He chuckled, reaching out to pinch the back of her – remember, very cute – swimsuit, pulling her gently back towards him, “It’s nothing to be afraid of, Franzy.” The sun shone on his glasses – spectacles, he had told her once – and they reflected the sunlight so that she couldn’t see his eyes, “Swimming’s really not that hard.”

Franziska still made a face, “Why isn’t Miles learning to swim too? How come it’s just me?”

Gant shrugged, still smiling that ear-to-ear grin, “Your big brother has to study for a test tomorrow.”

“Little brother,” Franziska corrected, as a reflex, giving another few experimental kicks. Like everything else she had tried, she was getting the hang of things in the first few tries, as a von Karma does. Her answer brought on another bout of laughter from Mr. Gant,

“Franzy, he’s older than you.”

Franziska didn’t reply, thinking of her adoptive brother’s lightening hair, his serious demeanor, and the carefully concealed affection in his tired, ambitious eyes. She felt older, wasn’t that enough?

“Besides, Edgey already knows how to swim,” Gant continued, when he didn’t receive an answer from the absorbed little girl, “He doesn’t need to learn how.”

“Yes, he does,” she mumbled absently, now unaware that her every kick was taking her farther away from Mr. Gant. And unlike the first time, the fact wouldn’t have bothered her anyway.

When she finally looked back at him a couple minutes later, he was watching her progress across the pool silently, the silly, toothy smile gone from his face, the surface of his glasses flickering under the light of the afternoon sun, and when he noticed that she was watching him, he slid neatly out of his thoughts and grinned at her once more,

“Well, I can always teach him tomorrow. Now Franzy, can you swim towards me?”