Disclaimer: I would never own the characters of Phoenix Wright since they belong to Capcom, I may have some original characters as the chapters go on but any characters that don't belong to me are made from Capcom and their respective owners.

This is my take on Apollo's life as he grows up, I hope you like it and it meets up to canon standards.

Origins of Justice.

Apollo's eyes snapped open upon hearing a sudden rumbling which was followed by a sudden flash of blinding white lights that smashed through the calm and relaxing atmosphere.

He had been laying in bed and he felt like he hardly got any sleep thus far as the thunder had been a bit irksome and hard to sleep through with ease since the sounds were so loud.

He looked up at the ceiling and took a look at the digital clock that sat perched on the bedside table that divided Clay and himself; Apollo slept in one bed while Clay slept in the other. The clock displayed the time which read 3:20 PM.

A very heavy groan heaved from the boy's throat. It was three in the morning already and he wasn't getting as much sleep as he would have desired.

The young boy turned to roll on his side and he intended to go back to sleep since he knew he had some more school the next day that would probably be a bit hard on him and Clay.

School was always tricky.

Both Apollo and Clay had to deal with bullies on occasion, they have a vicious new headmaster whom had all the teachers under her thumb, Polly and Clay were mocked due to them being orphans despite being under the care of Solomon Starbuck and they went through much more stuff; yet, despite it all, neither of the boy's were going to let a foul day at school douse the fire of determination in their hearts nor their dreams.

Apollo and Clay had each other and Ash and they wouldn't have it any other way.

But, as Apollo started to drift off to sleep, he heard another crash of thunder and more lightning decided to flash right before his eyes. The want-to-be attorney felt his heart go into overdrive as he bolted up into a sitting up position and he even felt his throat clench when he gave an annoyed groan and thumped his head back against the pillow.

He knew that he probably wouldn't be able to sleep again now, the thunder and lightning was horrid at the moment and nobody would be able to sleep through such a storm. But Apollo lifted his head up whence another sound started to make itself apparent.

It had been a full few weeks since Polly had injured his leg and it turned out to have just been sprained so the damage had healed quickly with rest and some therapy using the anti-gravity chamber to strengthen his bad leg.

It was a method that worked quickly so Apollo didn't have to wait long until he was up and walking around like normal again.

Those noises sounded like a muffled gentle snuffly sound. Sobbing and whimpering, perhaps?

Nevertheless Apollo sat up once again and decided to go over and investigate the sounds for himself. He slowly tossed his legs over the side of the bed and slowly pushed himself up to his feet before he ambled over towards Clay's bed.

The bed was small yet plain and simple, even the boy's pilots cap hung on one of the edges that stuck up. The bed stood proud and the blankets were neatly draped over the matress where the beds occupant should have been visibly sandwiched between the blankets and the bed itself. His bed, of course, was no different.

Apollo loomed over the other bed and looked through squinted eyes where he noticed the faint outline of a shivering lump underneath the blue starry quilted blankets.

The occasional flash of lightning was more than enough illumination through the dark harrowing night.

He slowly reached forwards and peeled the blanket away to reveal Clay curled up into a fetal position as he shivered as if he was walking in the coldest of arctic winters imaginable. Clay's face was severely pale, he was hugging himself tight and he looked like he had just seen a ghost.

"Clay?" Apollo called out his friend's name, making the other boy almost jump out of pure surprise.

Clay let out a sharp gasp as he glanced up at Apollo, wide eyes watery and filled with tears. He quickly raised a sleeve to wipe away the small rivers of tears staining his cheeks but only to have his arm held down when the other boy halted it from moving another inch.

Apollo gently forced Clay's arm back down and decided to take a seat on the edge of the bed. He could feel his weight push the mattress downwards where he sat and he could even hear the springs in the bed squeak in a dulcet whisper. These beds didn't have many problems but the springs were slightly bothersome. The mattress was nice and warm, though, so neither boys complained.

Apollo glanced over at his friend and patted a small space a beside him, motioning for him to come over and sit beside him.

Clay blinked in confusion, completely confused as to what Polly had planned.

"Apollo? What're you-?" He started to ask before he noticed that Apollo's expression was soft and even. Apollo had wide eyes but a frown that shown that he was not sad nor happy, a neutral frown that was enough to make one feel oddly intimidated despite it being so warm and filled with possible good intention.

"Sit with me, Clay." The spiky-fringed boy ordered gently; Apollo's expression was enough to hush Clay and stop him from asking any questions before the he sluggishly sat up and moved to take a seat on the edge of the bed, right where the other boy had patted previously.

The two boys sat side-by-side alongside each other and looked into the nice wallpaper of their bedroom silently. The only sounds that broke the otherwise quiet scene were the mixed sounds of heavy raindrops and Ash's sleepy snores as the white tabby kitten curled up on the edge of Clay's bed.

Eventually, Apollo glanced over to his friend and noticed how afraid he looked. His eyes were wide and his complexion was almost as pale as the sheets of his bed. He almost resembled a zombie from the movies! Apollo knew that something was terribly wrong with his best friend and he wanted to do whatever it took to make him feel better, what kind of friend would he be if he didn't do that?

Apollo tapped Clay on the shoulder and stared into his eyes which were filled to the brim with fright. He asked softly as he tried to be delicate with Clay's feelings and not wake Ash...although, considering that the cat was partially deaf, that would be a bit difficult "Clay, why are you crying?"

Clay only answered with silence as he averted his gaze to the floor as if ashamed. Tears continued to fall in large rivulets down his paling cheeks when he had been asked this, he didn't wish for his best friend to think him a coward for being frightened of something so silly and childish. But he couldn't help but feel frightened about it either...

"N-Nothing..." He lied whilst he hoped to fool Apollo, yet he seemed to have quickly caught on to that lie as he reacted by gently rubbing at his bracelet as if trying to soothe some kind of hurt and glared firmly at him. Guilty, Clay shrunk back in response and Apollo instantly softened his glare whence he realised that scowling and getting angry wouldn't help at all.

Over the years, Apollo still hadn't had a clue about why but it seemed that whenever someone had told a fib his bracelet would react. That and his eyes and head would sting a bit in a peculiar manner.

The young boy with brown hair

Apollo sighed and calmed down. He wasn't used to keeping his Chords of steel in check although he realised that it was for the sake of his friend. He felt like it was his obligation to help his friend. He gently lain his hand on Clay's shoulder and smiled reassuringly "Clay. We're best friends, practically brothers, you can tell me anything; I won't think of you any differently."

Clay seemed reluctant at first as he stared down at his own hands, his palms had been visibly sweaty and were shaking and convulsing like mad.

He eventually drew out a deep steady inhale before he blew it back out in an attempt to calm his nerves. The young boy's posture went rigid as he curled up in a futile attempt to hide his feelings, as a last-chance attempt to avoid the topic.

Apollo made a small frowny face and tried again to get the truth out of his friend "Clay..."

Clay heaved out a heavy exhale and decided to be honest "O-Okay...I'm afraid of thunder and lightning..."

Apollo's eyes flew wide when he heard that confession.

Throughout the months he had known Clay, Apollo had known him to be fearless of everything under the sun. He was never scared of anything! This was the very first time in recent memory that he had ever seen his best friend so afraid.

Apollo then remembered something "But you were fine the night Alice was..." he couldn't finish that sentence as he looked down, suddenly saddened that he was having to recollect that sad memory of the night when his cat and the remaining pack of Ash's litter mates perished.

He felt his heart break when he recalled seeing those kittens looking so still and he hoped that their deaths were quick and painless. Each time he would recollect that night his eyes would fill with tears, although that didn't happen this time. He did reach over to scratch Ash behind the ear, however. Anyway it was stormy that night too and Clay hadn't shuddered or squealed this badly back then.

Clay frowned and pointed out "I know, but I was still quite frightened of it!"

Apollo opened his mouth to retort but closed it again when he remembered something else about that night. He wasn't with Clay when he discovered Ash still mewling in that cardboard box whilst nearly buried in the cluster of his deceased siblings.

There had been a small window of time where Clay was alone, looking for Alice. Perhaps he had been very good at hiding his fears all this time?

Another bellow of thunder confirmed this but it also did something else, something that Apollo had seen his friend go through only recently in the months they had spent as companions and best friends.

Clay started to cough and hack violently. His breathing suddenly became wheezy and the sounds of his ribs rattling was loud and clear with each cough the boy had managed to try and force out.

He bolted upright into a sitting position, straightening his posture, before he quickly reached behind him and yanked his drawers open and he started to dig through his bedside drawers. He frantically sifted through several items and made a panicked wheeze when his coughing worsened.

Apollo, starting to panic for Clay, patted his friend's back to try and ease his coughing and wheezing fits.

"Clay, take it easy!...i-it's just thunder and lightning and we're both fine. Just calm down and take deep breaths." He spoke calmly and slowly as he started to rub his back instead of patting it and although Clay was finally starting to calm down, the wet raspy sound of his breathing was still loud and quite coherent.

Even though Clay was calming down, Apollo reached into the same drawer that Clay searched through a minute ago and managed to pull an inhaler out before he took the liberty of shaking it and handing it over to its owner.

Clay, now much calmer, took the inhaler and put it in his mouth with two of his slim fingers pressing hard against the white button on the lower part of the small plastic piece of medical equipment. He took a nice deep breath in to try and ease his breathing which had quite recently became bad, feeling his lungs expand as he did so and eventually, after two rounds of deep breathing with the inhaler, he snuffled and pulled it away from his mouth.

"Ok. Are you feeling better now?" Apollo asked, resting a hand on the other boy's shoulder.

Clay sniffed and nodded feebly, lifting up his arm and dabbing at his own tear-stained cheeks with his sleeve to try and mop up the remaining tears. He was feeling a bit better now that he had given himself a chance to let it all out and now he believed that he was ready to talk about his troubles.

Clay timidly glanced over at Apollo as he spoke with a strained voice "Sorry about that. It's just that...it was stormy just like this the day m-my mum w-was taken from me..."

Apollo frowned with utmost worry present in his eyes.

He knew that Clay would still have troubles with getting over his past and it all started to make sense to him; he had clearly grown attached to his mother, the one person who had abandoned Apollo and left him all alone on the orphanage doorstep when he was a small defenceless baby. While he was, admittedly, a tad jealous with people who had their mothers with them that didn't mean that he would harbour any ill intent towards his best friend just because he lost hers in an event that was beyond his control.

"Clay...I'm so sorry that your mum died, really I am, but you have to move on," Apollo quirked a brow at his friend "do you think your mother would want you to linger on her death?"

Clay swallowed hard in reply as tears started to well up in his eyes.

Apollo noticed that he had probably upset his friend a touch more and held up a hand in an attempt to calm him "W-Woah, Dude! I'm sorry...!"

Clay didn't seem to have been feeling any better since more tears started to cascade down his cheeks and he swallowed hard as if to indicate that he had a big fat lump in his throat due to how upset he had been getting.

Apollo felt his heart ache with guilt. His twin thorns of hair drooped over his eyes as he twiddled his fingers absent-mindedly and he hunched over. He really hadn't meant to make Clay cry like this, it wasn't even as bad as this even when the two had officially became friends that night on the school grounds.

Although the want-to-be future attorney had trouble, it seemed that Ash knew how to detect the rampant emotions of his owners as he perked his head up. The white tabby cat's skinny yet slender form was outlined by the gentle moonbeams that shone through the window.

So, giving a small yawn, the cat groggily slinked over to Clay and gingerly rubbed his fluffy head against the boy's side as if to soothe him. The soft yet mellow purrs that made Ashe's throat vibrate was a nice way to signal that this was the intention.

It even proved to be somewhat effective!

Clay managed to suck up the tears as he started to scratch Ash right in between the ears on his head. A small grin managed to make its way on to the boy's lips whilst he stroked the small blind cat that nestled alongside him.

Ash gave an appreciative silky purr whilst Clay petted him.

Apollo was happy now that his friend was feeling a bit less mopey. Ash was a great source of company but he also somehow knew exactly how everyone was feeling and knew when it was his time to step in.

In the meantime, Clay shook his head in response "No. You're absolutely right. Mum wouldn't want me to be so s-scared..."

A small smirk curled on Polly's lips as he watched with some sort of glee in his eyes when he reached over and slapped Clay on the back, catching the other boy off guard. He was happy to be able to have his friend's back although he knew that he should really sort out how to say stuff without sounding like a big jerk.

He knew that it would be tough but he had faith that he could do it!

"See? You're fine!" He exclaimed happily.

Clay wiped a sleeve across his soggy wet eyeballs and gave a small chuckle "Heh. I guess you're ri-yeeeep!" he started to say but gave out a sharp yelp when lightning crashed and more thunder roared from the heavens as the rain hammered down hard outside and battered the window. Out of pure fright, jumped up yet he hardly noticed when he clung on to his best friend.

Upon realising that he was clinging on to Polly, he quickly let go and looked down to the floor with his face red with embarrassment.

Apollo sighed aloud as he started to come to the horrible realisation that neither him nor Clay were going to get any sleep tonight. It hurt him pretty deeply but he decided to just stick it out until the storm had passed, he had to do this for Clay because it was obvious that he couldn't just go back to sleep now.

Thus he started to spark a nice conversation "Hey, Clay? Didn't you say you want to be an astronaut?"

Clay looked back up to Polly and nodded in response.

Apollo continued "Well. What planet do you want to visit first?"

Clay smiled faintly as he looked over at the wall behind him, catching a small glimpse of a poster that was stuck on the plastered wallpaper. It was blue and had depicted the moon surrounded with tiny yellow stars; while it wasn't a very detailed picture of the moon it was still quite nice.

Apollo followed Clay's gaze and the latter was wearing a wistfully dreamy grin on his face, it didn't take too long before Apollo started to realise that the answer was right there although Clay answered anyways with his voice hushed.

"...The moon. I want to go on the moon, with Mister Starbuck."

Apollo's eyes grew big when he realised that Clay's dream was big. He could tell by the way his whole demeanour shifted and how his voice took on a sudden tone of mellow determination. Even his shoulders became more broad whilst his frame shimmered in the moonlight that beamed through the window.

It wasn't too hard to tell that Clay wanted to go to the moon one day. Heck, he even tried sneaking into the H.A.T space ship more then once...only to get caught by either Director Cosmos or Solomon or even both at the same time! Solomon found it amusing while the good director found it to be a bother.

Then Clay looked at Apollo with a small sincere smile "So what do you want to do when you become a lawyer, Polly parrot?"

Apollo was almost caught off guard by that question. He never thought of what he would want to do when he became an attorney, of course he wanted to save people from false accusations but he also had another reason to become an attorney at law; it was a reason that had become planted in his mind back when he was a small lonely seven-year-old kid.

A small chuckle rumbled through his vocal chords and he slowly replied "...I want to stand alongside him. I want to stand beside Phoenix Wright and to stand as his equal."

His words were tight with sincerity and his eyes almost became misty. He actually hadn't thought about this until now, it was a train of thought that was always cut off by one thing or another. He almost felt...mystified and confused by his own thoughts about his desires whence he grew as a proper lawyer.

Would he be so lucky as to be able to work alongside his idol, would he be able to solve big mysteries? He didn't know and he was almost afraid of the answer -not that he'd admit it to anybody- and he didn't know how he could properly be ready.

All he could do was try.

Apollo exhaled deeply whilst he turned to face his friend and he held his hand out for Clay to shake "Alright, buddy, we have to go and make sure our dreams become real. Let's work hard...you with me?"

The young boy with the spiky fringe smirked confidently, trying not to let his anxiousness show, as he noticed that the air surrounding them died down to match the calming storm outside.

Clay grabbed Polly's hand and nodded in response to the question asked of him with his eyes narrowed, a fiery determination shimmering in his deep blue eyes "With ya all the way!"

Ash mewled as if he were joining in, his head perking up and his blind eyes bright and attentive whilst he curled up on the laps of both the boys and nudging them each with the top of his head.

And that was the very beginning of how Apollo Justice and Clay Terran put their plans into motion. They were determined to make it so that their dreams would take off and soar like birds in the deep blue sky and, while they were fully aware that there would be obstacles to overcome, the duo (and their cat) would not falter nor would they let themselves be swayed by anything!

Although little did they realise that their peaceful life was going to come crashing down once again.

A/N: I'm sorry this took so long to update. I just have trouble writing these days for some reason even though I'm not doing much right now.

Since its near Halloween I thought that I should do a fear-related chapter and this is the result, I did try my best and I still have the twists and turns of how this story goes in my head so I hope that this story will get better the more you guys read this.

And what's with Clay's sudden ailment with the coughing and inhaler? You'll find out more about that later.

Artwork would be amazing!

I hope you review this, guys.

-Chloemcg