This is my very first Phoenix Wright fic!
I loved the flashbacks in PW:AA, they were so adorable! I wished there was more about Larry, Phoenix, and Miles as kids, so I decided to write this one-shot about them.
The plot of the story that Larry tells is loosely based off the Filipino horror film, Txt. It's pretty scary, and it'll make you want to stay far, far away from your cell phone. I changed the names so they now have lawyer puns!
I do not own Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney or any of the characters. (Sure wish I did, though.)
"Now, children, please stay calm!" shouted the female form, sillhouetted against the glare of the lightning flashing outside, her speech drowned out by the thunder booming like gunshots and the rain striking the windowpanes like bullets. "Everyone is to---" here a peal of thunder loud enough to wake the dead was heard "--until the power comes back on!"
"Yes, teacher," came the not-quite-unanimous response--a few were quivering in fear, others taking advantage of the darkness and making rude hand gestures at their instructor, and a few going off on their own and wandering about the blackened halls.
One in particular had broken apart from the group and the utter chaos inside his fourth grade classroom. His light, small footsteps echoed along the empty passageway, alone until another straggler suddenly passed his way and faded out of his flashlight's beam just as abruptly. When he was a few doors away from his starting point, he sat down on the floor and withdrew from his bag a thick and worn book, usually far too advanced for any other nine-year-old. Besides Miles Edgeworth, that is.
A minute or two passed while he read in silence, with thunder occasionally rumbling (followed by several shrill squeals, no doubt from the more delicate girls in his class). It was peaceful and he quickly absorbed himself in his reading, his eyes scanning the pages nearly in rhythm with the crashes and bangs of the storm outside. It was almost like he was the only person in the school that day with such a deathlike silence all around him.
Until that silence was shattered, and the shards seemed to fly into his head in the loud form of his classmate's voice.
"HEEEEEEEEEEEEY!!! Miles!" called the sandy-haired youth, his hand flapping in the air as he waved frantically.
"...Hi, Larry." Slightly annoyed at the interruption, he snapped his book shut. Oh, well, maybe another time... Miles sighed and shone his flashlight in the direction of the voice, but it revealed not one, but two shadows were there.
"Miles, what the heck are you doing out here?" reprimanded the second child, his black, spiky hair clearly outlined by the light. "The teacher told us to stay inside...you could get...uh...lost. Or something."
"There's no way I could get lost, especially since I go to this school and know the way around."
"He's right, Nick!" Larry slapped Phoenix's back hard, laughing.
"Wah!" Unprepared for the sudden impact, he nearly fell forward onto the cold floor. "Quit it, Larry!"
"Oh, stop being such a baby." Ignoring the protests of the 'baby', the boy flopped down onto the ground and sat, then snatched the flashlight right out of his other friend's hands. "Since we're all here, we should do something fun!" he suggested.
"How do you have fun in a dark hallway with nothing but a flashlight?" The black-haired boy took a seat with the other two, gingerly rubbing the spot that had been struck.
"Scary stories, of course!" As scary story tradition called for at the moment, Larry held the flashlight below his chin. His young face, innocent (well...maybe.) and happy, became an object of fear as the shadows twisted and morphed his features. He let out the best sinister cackle a nine-year-old could pull off.
Phoenix flinched and scooted towards the wall. Miles rolled his eyes and rested his chin in his palm.
"This is stupid," stated the silver-haired boy bluntly, "Do we really have to do this?"
"Y-yeah. He's right. Let's go back." He pulled his knees in closer to his body, eyes fearfully darting back and forth.
Miles turned his head and stared straight at the boy, their eyes meeting. "...you're...really scared," he said, raising an eyebrow.
"No, I'm not!" he retorted. "I just don't want to get in trouble!"
"Pfft! You're totally scared!" scoffed Larry, "But that's not stopping me from telling the story!" His face took on a grave and austere appearance as he began his tale...
----
"A long, long time ago, there was a girl named...uh...Sue."
The silver-haired boy scoffed. What kind of scary story is this...?
"Hey, I'm telling a story, here!" Larry cleared his throat. "So, anyways. It was a long time ago when this happened. It was really rainy and thundery, just like today!"
"H-he's right!! It is just like today!" gasped Phoenix, eyes wide in fear. Miles sighed and just shook his head in disbelief.
"So, she was driving with her boyfriend late on a rainy thundery night, and they crashed into a pole!
She lived, but he died. His brains were all spilling out and stuff, and both of their blood got all over her cell phone..." He waved his arms around for emphasis.
"And even though he was mean to her sometimes and all, she was still sad when he died. So her friend, Jude, was nice to her and helped her out.
But her boyfriend's spirit was upset because he was jealous of how much Sue liked Jude. And remember how their blood got all over her cellphone?"
The spiky-haired child, petrified, slowly nodded. His cold hands were frozen in an iron grip on the arm of the second member of the audience, who was wincing from the pressure on his arm.
"Well, there was a curse on her cellphone! So his soul was like, attached to it! And as the days would pass he would call her and send her text messages, even though he was already dead...
One day he sent her a picture of her friend--dead! She was so scared that she went to go look for her friend, but she was already dead, exactly like the picture! And you know what else? When Sue's friend died, it was..." the young storyteller took a deep breath,
"The.
Same.
Exact.
Time.
Her boyfriend.
Had.
Died."
He wasn't willing to admit it, but chills went up the boy's spine as his classmate carefully stated each word. Why was he afraid? It made no sense, but...Even without stealing a quick glance at him, he could tell that Phoenix was just as scared as he was from the nails that were beginning to dig into his skin.
"A-and then what happened?" stammered the onyx-haired child.
"Well...One by one, all of Sue's friends were killed in the same exact way. Finally the only one left was Jude. And, just like all the others, her boyfriend sent her another picture. But this time...
It was different.
Because..."
A somewhat dramatic pause occured while Larry accidentally dropped the flashlight and picked it up again.
"Sue and Jude were BOTH dead in Jude's car and they were in the same seats that Sue and her boyfriend were in when he had died!"
Both members of the audience had cried out and were holding onto each other for dear life, shaking like the leaves on the trees outside in the thunderstorm.
"After that, So, they both decided to face the evil spirit head-on. They drove in that car, and, at the exact same time, crashed in the same exact place that Sue and her boyfriend had crashed. But this time, both of them lived.
But." He added, grinning menacingly.
"Jude never woke up."
"Why?" Miles demanded in a quivering voice not much louder than a whisper. "Didn't they both live...?" Phoenix nodded fearfully in agreement.
"Hold your horses, I'm getting to that!" retorted the storyteller.
"So, he never woke up...
Because the evil spirit of Sue's boyfriend had possessed him! And in Jude's body, he killed Sue and then he killed Jude!"
"Boys!"
"AAAAAAAAIIIEEE!!"
"Hey, it's just me! Sheesh." The 6th-grade teacher had appeared in the hallway, pointing his flashlight at the three seated on the floor. "Get back in your classroom. The power should be back on soon. Come on, hurry it up."
The three rejoined their class, which had, surprisingly, regained order during their short absence.
Larry, leading the other two, spun around and smirked. "Wasn't that a great story, guys?!"
"It was really scary. I'm still scared!" Phoenix laughed nervously, still shaken.
"Yeah. It was...okay." The silver-haired boy seemed to be extremely interested in the shoes he was wearing and wouldn't take his eyes off of them. His cheeks turned pink as the shame of being frightened of something so silly came upon him.
"Huh?" Dark eyes fell upon the embarrassed boy. "Miles, what's wrong?"
"Little Edgey is still scared," teased Larry.
"What!? No! I'm not--"
"It's okay! Don't be afraid!" With an outstretched fist Phoenix punched the air in defiance. "Miles Edgeworth, I swear I'll protect you from evil cellphone spirits, or my name isn't Phoenix Wright!!"
He stared at his friend, utter confusion written all over his face. "...What?"
"Hey, my uncle has a black belt in karate! He can help beat up the evil cellphone spirit!" suggested the sandy-haired boy.
"No, no, it's a ghost. You can't beat up a ghost."
"Then what are you going to do to it?"
"Umm..." He rubbed his chin, pondering. "Garlic?"
"That's for vampires!"
"Well, it could work!" he insisted.
Miles, puzzled but amused nonetheless, followed Phoenix and Larry to their desks as their conversation slowly went off on a tangent and zombies became their topic of conversation.
It's nice to have friends, he thought, laughing as Larry tripped on a backpack and tumbled to the floor. Even if they're idiots.
Thank you for reading, and please review!
The pun on Sue's name is obvious: sue as in filing a lawsuit. And if you weren't sure, Jude was named after Jude Law. Get it? Law? Ahahaha, I'm so funny -shot-