Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies

Taking out the trash

Once Athena Cyke's verdict had been handed down and the sound of cheering and applause had died down in the court room, the members of the public began to leave the court room. Chatting amongst themselves as they left, about the incredible trial they had just witnessed. Because there had never been a trial quite like it!

A girl that could read the emotions of people's hearts, a prosecutor who was acquitted after serving seven years in jail and a spy's ingenious plan to conceal his identity and the dark age of the law finally coming to an end. A trial that would be remembered for years to come.

Athena left the witness stand and headed towards the court room's exit with Apollo Justice and Phoenix Wright following close behind her.

"Are you coming Simon?" Athena lingered by the court room doors and cried out to Simon Blackquill when she saw that he had remained at his bench.

"I have to do something first, go on without me." Simon answered with a small smile.

"I've got to take out some 'trash'…" Simon added, more to himself than to anyone else.

Athena's smile waned for a moment, disappointed that Simon would not be coming with her to celebrate her victory. But this did not last long and she smiled brightly once more, waved good-bye to Simon and left the court room with her friends.

Once they had gone Simon left his bench and walked over towards the Phantom's still form and picked up the fallen mask besides him.

He looked at the slashed mask and curled his lip back in disgust at the sight of it. With no form inside it to give it shape, the mask was empty and flat, which had the unfortunate effect of distorting its features.

The eye sockets; as dark as the endless abyss the Phantom claimed he was, were bunched up into what seemed to be a glare. The mouth of the mask gave the impression that it was being pulled back into a smile. Strangely resulting into a smile Phoenix Wright had wondered the Phantom would be able to force, once he showed him evidence he possessed.

Simon gritted his teeth and clenched the mask in anger at the thought of all the suffering the Phantom had caused and all the years his victims would never live because he had taken away their lives.

Like a phantom itself, the mask haunted Simon and reminded him of the memories still fresh in his mind of Detective Fulbright's betrayal and all the actions of the man behind the mask.

So Simon, like a ghost himself unable to go the afterlife because of 'unfinished business', left the court room and put the mask in a bin in the courtroom lobby where no one would miss it, as two paramedics entered the court room with a stretcher to take the Phantom away.

He had finally disposed of the last trace of the Phantom, besides the man himself and in a way avenged his mentor's death and all the others that came after her, giving the closure Simon needed to get on with his life.

Thank you for reading my one-shot!

I wanted to give Simon more closure, so I decided to make him be the one that throws out the Phantom's mask, since I figured that no one else would want to do it or even care.