A Bizarre, Beautiful Thing

(The characters and universe aren't mine, nor is the song, but the story is.)

In his Khura'in bedroom, Apollo Justice idly pondered the many bizarre twists his life had taken since the day almost three years ago when he had agreed to represent his role model, Phoenix Wright, in court. If you had told him then that he would now be back in the country in which he had spent half his childhood, serving as its sole defense attorney and helping re-establish a balanced legal system, the then-rookie would have probably suggested some form of psychiatric help. And yet, here he was. Strange as this all was, it wasn't even the weirdest thing had happened to him, and evidence of one of those things would any minute be initiating a video chat session with him.

Who would have thought that a girl who he had first met when she threw a cop at him would turn out to be his best friend? For a long time, he had hesitated to call her that, even in his head. It felt like he was being disloyal to his last best friend, the late Clay Terran. As the weeks went by, however, he slowly realized how ridiculous that was. Like it or not, Clay was gone, and to deny that Athena Cykes had become his new best friend was to deny reality. For goodness' sake, the girl had somehow completely forgiven him for accusing her of murdering Clay! That still blew his mind after all this time. If that didn't put someone definitely in the "best friend" category, what did? And their experiences in the weeks leading up to his decision to stay here in Khura'in had only solidified how much she meant to him. She understood him in a way nobody had since Clay, possibly even better than Clay had and definitely better than Apollo understood himself. He could understand and relate to many of her experiences as well, on a deeper level than he once thought possible. Especially after that nightmare of a trial in which he'd learned just how much she'd endured.

Just then, his laptop's notification sound chimed, and Athena's ever-cheerful face popped onto his screen. She'd told him via email that she'd been working on a gift for him, and he had no idea what it was. Since she said she would give it to him via this video call, that really narrowed down the options. Several times he'd even had to forcibly dismiss the more...inappropriate thoughts from his mind.

They started by catching each other up on their lives, which didn't take long. Their last video chat had only been a week ago. Since, then, Apollo learned, Athena and Mr. Wright had taken a new case, facing a prosecutor who the latter had known for years.

"Wait, seriously?" Apollo couldn't believe what Athena had just told him. "A whip?!" His eyes were as big as baseballs.

Athena grinned, amused at his reaction. "And that's not even the weirdest part. The Boss says she's actually mellowed out quite a bit since he first met her! She whipped the defense bench quite a few times during the trial, but he says that whip used to actually hit him!" Apollo couldn't have been more dumbfounded if she'd told him he was actually an alien. Just what sort of craziness had Mr. Wright put up with before they'd met?

"So, you must be wondering about my gift, huh?" Athena's question broke him out of his stunned silence. Without waiting for an answer, she reached to her right, off-camera, and pulled into her lap...an acoustic guitar.

"Wait, what? Since when do you play the guitar?" Wow, this girl was full of surprises tonight.

"Just started! I've been taking lessons from Prosecutor Gavin!" Was there anything she couldn't do? For an instant, Apollo couldn't help wondering if anything...else had happened during those lessons, but his bracelet hadn't reacted. Not only that, Athena was one of the people he trusted the most. He even vaguely remembered Gavin immediately assuming she was Apollo's girlfriend when they were first introduced, and before they had indeed started dating. He mentally kicked himself for allowing his mind to even go there. "See, there's this song I loved when I was a kid that I'd always wanted to learn to play, but after all the...you know, I never had time."

It was then that Apollo realized, in all the time he'd known Athena, that he'd never heard her sing. He hoped he wouldn't have to pretend to like it, but smiled anyway. "I'd love to hear it."

"Ok, here we go. By the way, it's called Life Is a Beautiful Thing." Having apparently already tuned the guitar, she began to strum a very catchy, cheerful tune. As soon as she started singing, Apollo realized his apprehension, slight though it was, was entirely unwarranted. Her voice was absolutely incredible.

"Don't you worry, have no care

The world's still turning and the cupboards ain't bare

The wife and the dog haven't bit anybody all day

Count your blessings instead of your cares

Count the seconds instead of the years

Keep your back to the wind, hold up your chin

'Cause life is a beautiful thing!

Life is a beautiful, life is a marvelous, life is a pretty cool thing!"

He could already see why she loved the song so much. It perfectly described her attitude towards life, and was somehow silly and profound at the same time. Fitting for the unique combination of enthusiasm, childlike mischievousness and sheer beyond-her-years brilliance that was Athena. Completely enraptured, he could only stare as she continued.

"No matter how you look at it, it's yours to choose

See in rose tinted glasses or stew in the blues

Don't search like the devil to find somebody to blame!

Take what you're given, make the most of each day

Blue is beautiful, but so is gray

It's all just a farce, cover your arse

'Cause life is a beautiful thing!

Life is a beautiful, life is a marvelous, life is a pretty cool thing!"

Apollo was quickly starting to love the song as much as Athena did. Mixed among the silliness was a message too easily forgotten in the craziness of modern life, especially his modern life.

"You could wake up in the morning in a foul mood

Linger on the toilet and worry and brood"

He couldn't help chuckling at this line, nor could he help noticing, especially not with his hawklike vision, how a trace of a smile appeared on her face as well, even as she was singing. Working for Mr. Wright had made them both more familiar with toilets than anyone cared to be. Apollo's memories also flashed back to his early days working there, when his boss had still been disbarred and had indeed seemed to "worry and brood" quite a bit.

"Or climb to the top of the mountains and watch the sun!

You're gonna be dead for ten zillion years

So don't you worry, don't shed no tears

Just pull up your pants, take up your chance

'Cause life is a beautiful thing!

Life is a beautiful, life is a marvelous, life is a pretty cool thing!"

Suddenly Apollo was glad that this song wasn't meant as a hint for him to 'take up his chance' and tell Athena exactly how he felt about her. He'd already done that, and had been beyond elated to learn that his feelings were reciprocated.

"Nobody knows what's coming after this

Could be sugar and honey or one big mess

So dance with your lover, kick up your heels and shout

We'll be all screwed up when we all find out

Heaven's on earth and now we're all shut out

So pull up our blinds, open our minds

'Cause life is a beautiful thing!

Life is a beautiful, life is a marvelous, life is a pretty cool thing!

Life is a beautiful, life is a marvelous, life is a pretty cool thing!"

Apollo couldn't help it. He broke into the most vigorous round of applause he'd ever given. "That," he paused, shaking his head in wonder, "was absolutely amazing. I had no idea you were hiding such a beautiful singing voice."

Athena was blushing furiously, which, considering the color of her hair, made her head sort of resemble a giant tomato. "Thanks. I love you so much. Just...try not to drown in all that work, ok? I know how serious you can get about your job. That's why I played this for you. Other than Klavier of course, you're the first one who's ever heard me play it. And...I miss you like crazy." She was beginning to tear up, with her heart on her sleeve, as always.

Apollo had to swallow a lump in his own throat. "I miss you crazier. I've said it before, but I swear again, as soon as we can get things established here and get some more defense attorneys besides, well, me, I'll be on the next plane home."

(A/N: The song is by a band called Buddy Wasisname and the Other Fellers, from the Canadian province of Newfoundland. You can find it on Spotify if you want to listen. I thought it made the perfect "theme song" of sorts for Athena's character.)