Warning, huge AA4 ending spoiler ahead for all AA5-only players.

I like family fluff stories but I have yet to write an AA one that's entirely dedicated to the genre (Everlasting Turnabout doesn't really count). It happened that one of my budgies unexpectedly died recently and it inspired me to write this because budgies are love.

Let's say in this fic Apollo and Trucy already know they are siblings. Maybe it was revealed like few months ago.

Disclaimer: I do not own Ace Attorney and its characters. Capcom owns them.

The Newest Addition to the Agency

May 22th 2028, 8:02 AM

It had taken Trucy more than a month to achieve something no one else would have, and that was to convince her father to get a new "mascot" for the agency.

Alas, her father wouldn't stop pretending how important it was to have a green plant in the place to welcome all guests and new clients. It simply added the charm, the hospitable ambiance. Trucy countered by saying that Charley the plant was a little too boring to entertain clients, so much some of his leaves had started to wither. However, Daddy Wright fought back by saying Charley had been in this office much longer than all of its members, including himself, and he was probably older than Trucy herself, period.

"You know, you should always respect your elders," Phoenix quoted like a wise man, but of course, Trucy wouldn't take it seriously.

He wouldn't stop believing that throwing away Charley's mascot title will anger the spirit of his late mentor who adored the plant more than anything. The last thing he wished was a haunting ghost to scare away clients and members alike.

"Charley's our mascot and I won't change that," Phoenix grumbled with his arms firmly crossed as he set two stern eyes on his daughter.

"But Daaaaad, I want a pet!" Trucy objected with a childish whine. Well, she was indeed acting like a kid.

"A pet isn't an object to have and throw away, girl!" the father informed, straightening his pose to make himself appear more menacing, though it didn't give the powerful allure effect on the smaller teen. She will fight back until the end, tooth and nail.

Using her sharp eyes, Trucy perceived a new subtle smirk across her father's lips. "And you've got your own pet already," Phoenix mocked as he turned his sight to the bathroom's direction. Trucy drew her mind where her dad's focus was set. Despite being desperate at that moment, she was unable to stop her sudden but muffled laughing outbursts when she realized she was watching her older brother intensely scrubbing the toilet seat in the bathroom. Apollo seemed too busy to even listen to the immature verbal fight between the father and daughter.

Her giggles would die over the span of a minute before she decided to bring her attention back to her father. "C'mon Daddy, Polly's your pet, but he's my big brother!" the young magician exclaimed with a serious frown, not even trying to counter his fact about Apollo being someone's pet.

This time, it was Phoenix's turn to explode with more laughs, but Trucy stood firm, her fists down with frustration. Like an impatient toddler, she quickly tapped the floor using a foot, her mouth forming a grumpy sulk until an idea hit her. Why hadn't she thought about it before? "Daddy, what if the new pet isn't the new mascot, but a new assistant for my show? Huh? Huh!? The crowd loves animals! The better my shows are, the bigger the paycheck! Pretty pleaaaase?"

When Phoenix heard the imaginary sounds of the wonderful cash register, this time, he couldn't avoid a smile along with some sparkling eyes, already reflecting the profit his daughter could bring in the agency.

And since that childish quarrelling day, Trucy had spent most of her yearly saving for a new cute pet with all the required equipment to raise it.

"A… budgie?" Athena stuttered with a shrug, the sight of the new pet welcoming her in this bright morning. "But Trucy, isn't a budgie too small for your shows?"

"Nothing's too small when you're a magician!" Trucy cheered on her new feathered friend. "I can completely see the bird from afar, like, from the crowd's point of view, you know?"

Exhausted by her friend's enthusiasm over such a small creature, Athena looked down, shaking her head with disagreement. "You're a Gramarye, meaning you have inhumane eyes…" the attorney woman sighed. "Of course you'll be able to see the bird moving all around, but what about the rest of the crowd? And what kinds of tricks can you teach it?"

Narrowing her eyes with more questions than answers set in her mind, Trucy suddenly contemplated the ceiling with a finger over her chin. "Well, I'll find something, for sure…" Suddenly, she went back to her fervour persona. "But hey! Just look at it! It's so cute and fluffy! It will bring happiness in this agency in the meanwhile!"

Returning her eyes on the new tiny addition to the agency, Athena couldn't help but puzzle over who will take care of it. Knowing Trucy, there was a big chance she was going to leave the caring job to someone else. The answer was almost clear as day to Athena and there was no way she could be the tamer of the pet; neither was her boss. Aside, since the HAT-2 case, the Wright Anything Agency had been so busy with work lately, with new cases and clients appearing all around. Unfortunately, Trucy's school work and her magic rehearsals didn't really count as "work" to the red haired attorney.

"That reminds me, where's Apollo?" Athena questioned about her senior partner when the only possible name for the bird's future caretaker came to her. "Usually, he's the first one on the job, and I don't see him anywhere."

Upon hearing her brother's name, Trucy's expression abruptly change to slight anger. Athena could guess Apollo had done something he shouldn't have. "He did it again!" the young sister bashfully cried out. "According to what he posted on his Internet page, he randomly met an old high school pal in the streets and they went to a bar! And when he woke up at home this morning, he called Daddy to tell him he'll be late because he has a huge headache from his hangover and BAM! He fell down from his bed, straight on his left ankle so badly he got a big sprain! Being the caring father, Daddy told Polly to stay home for the week, but Polly still insisted on coming here! What kind of big brother is he?"

At the same instant, they could hear the entrance door creaking behind them. When both girls turned to see the newcomers, their eyes beamed with surprise to discover the somewhat sick and tired older brother Apollo holding a fatherly, responsible Phoenix by the shoulders. Each tiny weight pressing on his left ankle induced a barely audible aching moan or wince to emerge from Apollo's lips, but he assured everyone that "I'm fine!" with his precious Chords of Steel. Nevertheless, his fine words were always immediately followed by some "Ugh!" and random "Ouch!"

Everyone dashed forward the young male attorney, slowly leading him to his office chair where numerous paperwork and his faithful laptop awaited his sturdy hands to get working. "Thank you, guys," Apollo gently said as he heavily sat down on his chair that felt like paradise right now. Both his effort into reaching for his chair and his sight were so focussed elsewhere he had yet to notice the new cage across the room.

Completely ready to make sure her brother's attention will be drawn on the new one of the place, Trucy jumped in front of the desk, both her arms and hands proudly pointing at the cage. "And heeeeere's my new friend!" she forced out so Apollo heard her, and he certainly did when his pupils were cast to the cage with the unmoving blue bird in its corner.

"Huh? A budgie?" Apollo curiously asked. "Why would you bring a pet in our office?"

Once again, Trucy was exploding with passion over her new friend. "Daddy allowed me to get a new pet so I can use it in my magic shows!"

Dumbfounded, Apollo raised an eyebrow like he was protesting against the idea. He never imagined Mr. Wright to be the pet type. In fact, he heard a rumor about how his boss's affinity with animals was close to nothing. Mr. Wright's experiences with the furry creatures always brought calamity over his investigations whenever he'd need them or when he'd have to stand along them. The only exception was that orca last year in the Shipshape Aquarium case who adored him, but he wasn't sure if an orca counted as a pet…

"W-Why a budgie? Aren't they too small to be seen in your shows?" Apollo asked and he was immediately followed by an AH-HA! TOLD YOU! from Athena. The young man's nerves bounced from the abrupt exclaim from his junior partner.

Trucy gritted her teeth as her brother's remark. "It's not my fault!" the magician shrieked with tiny stroppy tears. "All other pets were too expensive and budgies were the only cute things I could afford with foods, toys and a cage ready with the money I had! Aside, I learned that they are super intelligent and that they can speak thousands of words and do adorable tricks!"

Needing to object, the oldest one of all decided to step into the juvenile conversation, his hands decisively set on his hips in a scornful manner. "You could've gotten a big rat," Phoenix suggested with a wicked smirk, only causing more anger to stem from his daughter.

"But Daaaad! There're so many girls scared of them! I'll lose a quarter of my audience if I use a rat! And rats only live like two years! And they… they… smell!"

"Oh, look at the time, boss!" Athena interrupted the conversation by clutching onto Mr. Wright's sleeve with few trial documents under an arm. "We should get going fast, or else we'll be late in court!" Dragging her mentor toward the office exit without giving him time to think and grinning with relief by having an excuse to leave their silly chat, Athena and Phoenix left the place with a very fast "Bye Apollo! Bye Trucy!"

After watching the shutting door, the siblings were left alone. Apollo sighed, knowing he was condemned to hear Trucy brag about her feathered pet without anyone to help him get out from her clutch. Even if he wished so much to run away from this odd circumstance, his sprained ankle would simply laugh at him. "Soooo, what do you think of my cute little budgie?" the young girl forced her brother to reply, but the resistance to comply with her question was at its peak.

Having a hard time lowering his sight toward his desk, Apollo really wanted to focus on his paperwork today. After all, Mr. Wright had insisted that will be his main job until his ankle got better. However, his sister didn't agree with him. It took him a dozen seconds to raise his eyes to the budgie's direction. The poor shy bird remained unmoved aside from its tiny breathings and its puffing pose as it stayed perched in the corner, looking at nothing in particular. "Have you thought of getting another bird friend?" Apollo asked Trucy, completely ignoring her question. "I hope you're aware that budgies are very social animals. Leave them alone, and they'll be depressed."

Crossing her arms with contemplation, Trucy glanced above. "Yeah, I thought so, but I didn't have enough money to get another one!"

A drained sneer escaped the older brother. "Do you know what that means?" he questioned.

When silence reigned in the room for few seconds, the young magician glared back at him. "Polly! I'm not good with riddles!" she desperately replied.

"That means you're going to have to take care of it all the time," Apollo answered, obviously disapproving her choice of getting a pet. "You'll have to be its permanent companion. Budgies and other parrot birds need hours of social interaction every day, remember? Or else, they remain wild, unhappy and lonely in their cage."

A sulk had now appeared over Trucy's lips after listening to Apollo's words. Ouch, it must have hurt her, he thought.

"B-But I thought budgies were intelligent!" the teen girl objected when her small kiddy tears were starting to reflect the morning light. "I don't even have much time to take care of it! I mean, with school, studies, my shows and even some trials…" That was when she interrupted herself as she realized she was late for her school day. "Oh no! Sorry Polly, I'll be off! Byyyye!" she shouted while grabbing her school bag and posed herself for a final hand wave before she disappeared behind the closing entrance door.

Living in the silence of the agency, Apollo left a long and slow breath out before he returned to his paperwork in peace, finally. Powering the laptop on, his eyes wandered around and his ears listened to the purring sound of his device as the operating system slowly loaded. Needing to pass time in the meanwhile, his fingers travelled their paths on the desk, grasping onto a pen. Soon, gentle and repetitive tapping pen noises perturbed the peace of the office. Using that opportunity of being alone for his entire shift for once, he started humming a little song going along with the tapping pen beats he was creating.

Suddenly, another tiny sound disturbed his lonely fun.

When Apollo caught on the origin of that sound, he found himself glancing back at the cage.

It appeared the little blue bird had decided to move from its corner, but as soon as it noticed the scary eyes the only human was giving it, the feathered creature curled back into its corner, puffing its entire body and watching the emptiness of its new home.

When an unexpected, small chuckle Apollo couldn't stop emerged from his throat, a caring smile persisted on his mouth as he continued his peek over the shy blue bird. Apollo had a hard time to admit it openly, but he always had a soft spot for animals, so far as saving a little cat from the streets a while ago and keeping the small furry beast in his tiny but comfortable apartment. Some of his friends had tried to explain this sentimental side from growing up in an orphanage, giving him an acquired talent to take care of kids younger than him. Apollo had always tossed these explanations away, pretending that some people just care more than others.

Still reminding himself of the time spent in that old orphanage, he thought back of few parrot species the director and main caretaker of his old home was keeping to entertain the children. It was fortunate that respect had been successfully conditioned on all the children and none of the birds were hurt by them or seen as simple objects to be played with like a toy. Apollo was among the ones who had taken their sweet free times to stay with these adorable animals by taking care of them, feeding them, playing with them and cleaning their cages.

Finally, one of the female budgies had taken a liking into him. It was unfortunate his little friend hadn't been staying in his life for too long when she was suddenly found in her eternal sleep at the bottom of the cage one fateful morning. In a silly way, he nearly tossed that sad memory aside with a hand movement like he was shooing away a fly around his head.

That was when an idea surged out from his mind.

He had been doing great with his present cat and his past feathered friend. Maybe he could give the same affection to another little bird.

Trying to approach the small creature as smoothly as possible (and having no choice to do so with the sprained ankle that still ached from the chore of his muscles and bones), he gently pulled the cage closer to his desk. His pulling move was so soothing the bird didn't appear to be startled at all, still perched in its tiny corner. It took Apollo five lasting minutes before the entire cage moving process was done, ending as soon as he sat back on his chair. There he was, sitting right beside the budgie in its cage so the little thing won't be alone at least.

As he logged in his laptop, waiting for the operating system to fully load itself (which will last long awful minutes, Mr. Wright refusing to buy another faster machine), Apollo dragged his concern on the lone budgie. With an amusing approach, he began speaking to it softly. He knew his chords of steel would only stress the bird furthermore.

"Hey there, little one, how are you doing?"

Surprised, the budgie's eyes opened wide and its head slightly raised in a quick, sudden shock upon hearing Apollo's voice, but it immediately retreated in its feared pose. At least the little thing was aware of its unknown surrounding. The young lawyer persevered with his eyes contact on the bird and the small creature didn't seem to mind. Apollo felt silly, but he knew he had no choice if he wished for the bird to get used to him and other humans. He was glad no one else was in the agency right now and he secretly wished no client came in the place today. This will allow him more time with the budgie.

"I guess Trucy didn't give you a name yet, huh?" While he spoke to the little bird, he noticed this time it didn't flinch at all. Maybe it took only once for the bird to get used to his voice and his presence. That advantage will be on his side for the next hours, he hoped.

Noting all the tiny details on the budgie, Apollo's smile suddenly became an unstoppable broad grin. "Hey, you've got blue feathers, and from the blue nose, you must be a male."

"How about I call you Clay?"

When the name arose from his lips, a relieving satisfaction was brought upon his heart. The cheesiness of the name choice was such he started laughing, trying to keep his gentle tone to avoid on scaring little Clay. So that was it, he had decided on the name before his sister could approve it. After all, knowing Trucy, he doubted she'd take her time to raise the bird and the job would have fallen onto someone else. Mainly, himself.

"I guess I could at least give you a name if my sister won't, poor thing," Apollo calmly mustered as his grin settled back to his tenderer smile. "Aside, Clay's such a simple name, she'll probably approve."

Finally, the purr on his laptop had died down, indicating the system was fully loaded and allowing him to finally start his work. Setting his attention back on his job, he began typing while humming his Lamiroir's favorite song (or rather his mother's), the "Guitar Serenade". He eyed Clay from times to times, watching if he would move from his corner, and he was satisfied when the bird was finally gathering his courage to explore his new home after an hour of patience.

However, humane noises from outside were starting to ruin their peaceful silence with some dissonances as the time advanced. At moments, few douchebag drivers were using the tight streets to race and in other instants, few neighbours around the office initiated some shouts and screams sessions like the place solely belonged to them. As Apollo persisted on humming more soft songs, an idea emerged from his thoughts. He plunged a hand into one of his drawers to clutch between his fingers the CD of orchestral remixes of his mother's works. Glancing back at Clay, he inserted the disk inside his laptop drive.

"I hope you'll enjoy the music, Clay," Apollo spoke to the little bird.

It might have been his imagination, but it seemed Clay was eyeing him back like he was thanking him for these amazing musical scores, letting himself to hide from the pestering sounds of outside.

This was going to be a serene and pleasant day.

May 22th 2028, 5:31 PM

"Polly! Where's my budgie?" a loud, worried voice screamed out from the office entrance. "It's been kidnapped, I knew it!"

Throwing her school bag on the couch like a ball, she lost no time to run across each room of the agency before she stopped dead relieved to see her cherished pet just beside her brother's desk. She couldn't avoid a smile at the scene. In fact, Apollo was gently sleeping, the side of his head comfortably set deep in his laying arms over the desk. His face was pointing toward the cage where the bird was deeply snoozing along, its head tucked in its back between its wings, its feathers puffed out like it was trying to make itself bigger.

Trucy's heart completely melt from the adorable scene that welcomed her after her quite chaotic day at school. Trying to remain as silent as possible, she grabbed her phone from her pocket. Fiddling with the device as she tried to find the camera application, she quietly cried of victory when she found it among hundreds of other apps (she really needed to settle down with her free applications downloads). Slowly walking closer to the desk, she readied her device and led the lens directly to her big brother and her little pet.

Apollo was suddenly thrown out from his dream world when a loud flashing sound was caught by his ears. His head up with a drip of saliva streaming across his cheek, he instinctively tossed few of his papers around the desk surface before his glare was fixated on the young girl before him. Trucy's phone was confidently set between her hands, her satisfied smirk was plastered on her mouth, revealing two sets of clenching teeth. When he looked up to the cage, the bird was aggressively flying inside, the wind from the intense wings flutters throwing dusts, seed shells and feathers all around its new home and Apollo's desk.

"You and the budgie were so cute together that I had to get a picture!" Trucy expressed with a laugh before she gave away a more serious frown. "Why did you put it close to you? Won't your two fearful horns scare the little thing?"

Shaking his head from the abrupt event that had brought him back to life, Apollo left out a long, comfortable yawn and began some eyes rubbing to wipe the little fatigued tears off. Only after he straightened himself to appear like the strict older brother he should be. "Trucy, have you done some researches before getting a pet?" Apollo reminded, crossing his arms in a harsh manner. Sometimes, he felt like the only sane one to order people back to sanity in this agency, and right now was one of these moments he needed to use reasons.

"Researches?" Trucy wondered, not really sure what her brother meant by it.

"You know, how to take care of a budgie…" Apollo sternly answered for her.

Trucy shrugged before starting to fiddle with her fingers in a shameful way. "Actually, I haven't…" she admitted like she was about to sob.

"I'll have you know that I put Clay beside me so he'll get used to me. Remember what I told you before you left for school?"

Right at the bird's name, Trucy froze with a blank expression. To her surprise, her brother remained unfazed from her act, but she collected her courage to break the silence. "C-Clay? You named the budgie Clay?!" she blurted out almost angrily, but she retained herself when she grasped that she was actually in need of her brother's services, right now. Like a child hiding something from him, she suddenly flashed a nervous smile and glanced back at Apollo with some shining puppy eyes. Now Apollo raised an eyebrow at her, wondering why the sudden change of mood. However, having studied his little sister's expressions over the years since their first meeting, he knew what to expect from her. He prepared himself for Trucy's eventual request, because she will be requesting something from him, he was absolutely sure.

"Clay's a fine name, Polly," her throat managed to toss out timidly. "Speaking of him, since I assume the bird's a guy with the name you gave… From tomorrow morning to next Tuesday, before the finals… the school planned a o-one week trip to… to…"

"I get it," Apollo said, interrupting the young girl's request before she could even end it. "You want me to take care of Clay in the meanwhile, am I right?"

Upon listening to her brother's comment, Trucy finally gathered her everything to look up to him, and all of the pressure melt away when she caught on the tender smile Apollo was giving her. "Y-You're agreeing to it?" the teen girl stuttered. "I mean… you hurt your ankle, and you've got nothing much to do and stuff so I thought that you… you know… got nothing else to do…"

Apollo amicably sighed. "Of course, you're my little sister, but you're still Mr. Wright's daughter and kinda the 'manager' of this agency. What choice do I have?"

Ignoring the faint tone of mockery from Apollo's words at the "manager" part, Trucy beamed with light as she went to wrap her arms around his neck with a happy squeal. "You're the best big brother, Polly!" the magician exclaimed, but she halted cold when she realized her abrupt move caused Clay to nervously fly in the cage, now with some tiny tornadoes of dusts scattering around the air and in her hair.

"And don't forget, no sudden moves around Clay; it will just scare him more," Apollo added after Trucy released him from her hold.

Trucy turned to Clay with regretful eyes, feeling sorry for him before she returned her attention to Apollo with a nod. "Right, will do so!"

May 23th 2028, 8:46 AM

Athena unexpectedly stepped back when she noticed a crippled Apollo with a backpack, exhausted from his ascension over the stairs of the building. It appeared his ankle was still aching his steps. "Apollo, you should've called me to help you!" Athena cried out, rushing to help him and leading him to his usual desk. To his pleasant surprise, Clay and his cage remained on the same spot as yesterday. "Trucy insisted on leaving the cage close to your seat," Athena added. "Do you want me to move it farther? I mean, budgies have their own Chords of Steel too, so I thought that would bother you..."

"Nan, it'll be fine, thank you," Apollo said as he awkwardly sat down on his chair with a wince, trying to lightly lay down his ankle in pain. "Has Trucy gone with her school friends already?"

To this, Athena stretched her arms and back high toward the ceiling. "Yep, that lucky one, she left about thirty minutes ago. I was going to put the bird closer to Charley, but Trucy screamed after me to leave Clay here just before leaving. What a way to say 'Good bye'! I should at least deserve an 'Au Revoir' or something from her!"

Athena winked at him with a warm smile. "Nice name you gave him, by the way!" she remarked.

Slightly blushing from the comment, Apollo leaned backward into his chair, a hand making its way behind his head. "The name was just spur of the moment, really," he embarrassedly revealed. "Glad you like it!"

That was when their boss emerged from another room, suit and hair ready to rumble for their second day of their own case in court. "We should get going," Phoenix expressed as he turned to his sole available assistant.

The red haired attorney pumped a fist in the air in a victorious way. They were going to win this trial for sure with their intense investigation yesterday and their newly found evidences. "All right, boss, I'm ready!" she cried out, her eyes lighting with hope and assurance.

"LET'S GO!" her little Widget device screamed out with its cute robotic voice.

And the two were gone, once again leaving Apollo and the little Clay alone together in the office to mull over about what they should do with the remaining shift hours. But of course, Apollo was already prepared for this. Plunging his hands into his backpack, he let out few oddly fun wonders: some millet branches and several enclosed honey seeds sticks. Apollo remembered the old days when he would use these treats to handle his feathered friend in the orphanage. It seemed treating the beasts' stomach had always been a delightful way to become friend with them.

"All right, Clay, you're going to get some happy stuff," Apollo delicately spoke to the bird.

Clay directed an eye on the unique human of the place, his stare shining with curiosity.

May 30th 2028, 6:11 PM

In the end, the trip wasn't as fun as she had wished. Who'd expect the weather to be so much against their wills for giving the school group a long, weekly ocean of rain? It appeared Mother Nature needed few more sacrifices to be pleased, maybe.

Exhausted, the first thought that came to Trucy was Clay's improvement over the taming progress. Knowing her brother, she was absolutely convinced Apollo had done a good job taking care of the bird.

However, when she reached Apollo's desk, the room was empty of living things. No older brothers, no budgies in the cage and certainly not a father and his female student anywhere either. Just when she thought of seeing her family back, they had vanished from her. "Polly? C-Clay?" the girl reticently called, expecting an answer but only silence welcomed her. "A-Are you guys here?"

Suddenly, a loud chirp caused her to jolt. Her smile came back and her eyes widened with wonderment. Slowly, a head emerged from behind the desk, revealing two high brown spikes and a small blue bird behind the hair antennas. Some warm tears were streaming across her reddened cheeks as she witnessed Clay adorably chewing on Apollo's hair.

Like a surprise, Apollo displayed to his sister a compassionate smile.

"Hey Truce," the older brother gently called as he sat back on his work bench. "How was your trip?"

"Forget about the trip! How are you doing with Clay?" Trucy immediately changed the subject with a grunt at the mention of her trip, and Apollo knew what that meant, so he decided to not go further with the subject. Strangely enough, the light reflecting on her eyes sparkled at the mention of the little budgie.

Smoothly, Apollo left out a soft laugh over her question, one of his fingers traveling its way over his head to cheer on Clay to perch on it. The blue bird quickly set on the finger and Apollo leisurely approached him closer to Trucy's enthralled face.

"Polly, you did it!" Trucy exclaimed with her two fists over her chest, but unfortunately, her louder voice prompted Clay to fly around with resounding flapping noises until he effortlessly landed on his cage. The slight sadness overtook her as she sulked, realizing the bird was still scared of her. This didn't prevent Apollo to keep his smile.

"Heh, don't worry, Truce," Apollo reassured his sister. "Clay's still not used to loud human sounds and he's more comfortable with me right now. Give him, like, few more weeks, and he'll be completely comfortable with you and anyone else."

"R-Really?" Trucy asked with a hopeful tone, approaching the bird with smooth steps and slow movements, but she soon returned back with a sadder, desperate voice. "But I don't know if I can do it! I mean, I'm entering finals, and I'll have to study all the next days! I won't have the time to raise Clay… And I always scare animals! Even your cat Mikeko hates me!"

Apollo had a sudden need to hit his forehead with his palm over Trucy's childishness. However, he couldn't resist the puppy eyes she maintained on him. Even after being raised in different families, he still felt overprotective over her feelings. It might be his older brother's instincts surging back like when he was struck with them over the younger kids in his orphanage. If it'll take all the time to explain her that patience had its virtue when taming a bird, then he'll use that time.

"Hey, I know you can do it, Trucy!" Apollo encouraged her and his voice felt the most sincere to Trucy's ears. "Don't worry, I'll always be available to help you with Clay. Aside, studying for the finals might be the best time for you to gain his trust. You could simply put his cage beside you when you study. That way you can softly speak to him from times to times. I'm sure he'll enjoy your company. Budgies don't like to be alone, after all."

Trucy carefully listened to each and every words Apollo was telling her, and right now, she couldn't stop more tears from falling down under her watering eyes. All of her surrounding blurred, but she made no effort to wipe these tears out.

Watching his sister crying caused Apollo to back away with an uncomfortable pose. "Huh? W-Why are you crying?" he clumsily asked her.

Instead, he was welcomed by two arms around his neck, yet again. Feeling the wet tears soaking into his vest, Apollo's eyes widened of unease and he hesitated to return the gesture. Trucy finally spoke with her soft voice muffled by the cloth.

"Polly, I'm so glad you're my brother!" Trucy warmly exclaimed, slightly backing away from Apollo but her hands were still gripping onto his shoulders. "You've done so much for me and Daddy! And now you're making a little bird happy too!"

In the end, Apollo returned the hug Trucy desired so much. They didn't say any words nor did they part ways for a long minute. They would cherish this family moment as much as they could.

When they finally released each other from their arms, Trucy drew her attention back on Clay who was still perched on his cage. Slowly, she laid a finger close to him, and to her surprise, the bird's claws caught her digit.

"See? Told you, you can do it too!" Apollo proudly added.

"Woah!" Trucy quietly proclaimed, too happy to be able to touch her new feathered friend without having to tightly squeeze him to prevent his runaway. "It'll take time, but it's a good start!"

That was when Clay decided to use his Chords of Steel to fervently chirp along, a fitting requirement for the newest addition to the Wright Anything Agency.

A good start, indeed.

The End

Author's note: It's always a tradition for me to add a silly extra ending at the end of all my fanfics, but I think the cheesiness of the ending makes up for it. I'm also aware that there is no orphanage in the US, but in my headcanon, the Ace Attorney universe occurs in a land called Japanifornia where orphanages canonly exist (see AAI2).

Criticisms are always welcome as I strive to get better in English!