THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS

Klavier stood at the doors of the detention centre sullenly. He couldn't quite explain what emotions were rushing through him at that moment, but he knew anticipation was not one of them.

Even now, he still wanted to believe in Kristoph, but after the chaotic scene in the courtroom just hours ago, he knew that his older brother had somewhere along the way lost his mind. But worse yet, deep down inside, Klavier knew that he, himself, had realized something was wrong long ago, but simply refused to believe it.

It took all his courage to confront his brother in the courtroom earlier that day – to empty their family closet of all the skeletons – but the thought of now facing Kristoph in privacy made his stomach churn.

But it has to be done. Time to close this closet door for good.

Taking a long deep breath, Klavier forced his cool and collected aura back into place and walked through the doors of the detention centre. As an experienced prosecutor, he knew his way around the building well enough to bypass the front desk and head straight to the prisoner cells. Kristoph had been forcibly taken from the court house immediately after Vera Misham's verdict had been declared, so Klavier naturally assumed that his brother would already be back in his cell. But unexpectedly, the guard to the solitary confinement cells informed him that Kristoph was currently in questioning.

When he arrived at the interrogation room, he found Detective Dick Gumshoe anxiously watching the scene through the single sided mirror.

"What're you doing here? This area is off-limits, even to you, pal; why don't you come back when we're done with-"

"What is she doing?!" Klavier couldn't hold back the shock in his voice when he saw his Fräulein Detective on the other side of the glass pane.

Detective Ema Skye's voice was booming through the speakers, "How can you not feel remorse for what you did, all the lives that you've ruined?"

Kristoph simply stared at Ema with his cold, emotionless eyes, completely unfazed by her accusations. "I believe you do not understand the situation, Miss Skye. I am already incarcerated for life – I fail to see why we must continue this pointless discussion."

Ema's voice dropped to a dark and threatening tone, "I will make you confess your crimes, Mr. Gavin. And then I will make sure you are in that cell for the rest of your life."

There was a flash of amusement behind those reflective glasses. "Ah, I see. You believe that someone will try to bail me out. I am touched that you would go as far as to attempt to seal all my doors."

"Someone has to make sure the monster never escapes from its cage."

A deep chuckle emanated from Kristoph's throat, but there was no humour in this laugh. "You give me too much credit, Detective. Do you truly believe anyone would want to bail me out? After all, I deceived and used my own baby brother." He was making a mockery of that term.

This only proceeded to infuriate Ema, "You are vile! Prosecutor Gavin believed in you, you know? He really looked up to you, admired you – as a lawyer and as a brother! Yet you… you knew, didn't you? And you had the nerve to use that admiration towards you and turn it against him. All he wanted was to face you in court-"

"--Klavier is a foolish little boy." Kristoph interrupted with a tone one would use to describe the weather. "He prances about, playing with those noisy toys of his, then struts into the courtroom acting as if he's a real lawyer. It is an embarrassment to the very notion of law."

"He believes in truth and justice, which automatically makes him infinitely a better than lawyer than you!"

"Oh yes, he holds onto those grand ideals with such baseless conviction, it disgusts me." Pausing to give Ema a cruel smirk, he added, "Quite like that spineless Phoenix Wright you so admire, Miss Skye." He knew where to hit people where it hurt most.

"How dare you! Mr. Wright always had the courage to believe in his clients, despite how guilty they appeared to be! Even when all the evidence pointed to Lana, he still-"

"Ah yes, how is that lovely sister of yours doing? The infamous Chief Prosecutor who tampered with evidence a few years back, correct? Wright did always have an attraction to the dramatic cases. I suppose he had some sort of perverse enjoyment with defending the scum of society. Honestly, what is it that fans your flames of righteousness when your heroes are tainted with-"

And just like that, Kristoph's head snapped left as his body was slightly knocked back. Ema's tightly clenched fist displayed her white knuckles, which were now beginning to swell from the impact with Kristoph's cheek.

He lifted his face right back up with an even response, "I believe that was police brutality, Detective." But, Ema met his inhumanly calm stare with her own fiery glare.

Watching the fight unfold, Gumshoe gaped at his female colleague through the glass. Ema did not just slap the man in front of her; she had punched him with a mean right hook and looked completely ready to dish out another.

"I think we'd better go stop her, pal!" Detective Gumshoe stammered when he finally recovered from his momentary shock. He looked next to him to find the other man no longer there in the room. Instead, he found Klavier Gavin firmly holding back a furious Detective Ema Skye.

"Calm down, Fräulein Detective."

"What the hell? Let go of me, you fop! You have no idea what a revolting piece of scum this guy is-"

Klavier tightened his grip around Ema's waist as his other arm struggled to hold back her raging fist. "Actually, I have been watching this conversation from the other side, so I assure you: I do have some semblance of an idea."

His gentle voice seemed to quell some of the detective's fury as she stopped struggling against his restraint. Klavier used this opportunity to pull her behind him and further away from his older brother, who watched the two of them with his characteristic polite smile.

"Hello, Klavier. To what do I owe the pleasure of your intrusion?" Though a pleasant smile was fixed in place, his demeaning tone was more than obvious.

"I have come to have a brotherly chat, Kristoph."

The older man answered in a bland tone that completely contrasted his words, "Though I would love nothing more than to take you up on your proposal, I am afraid Detective Skye here has some unfinished business with me at the moment."

At the mention of her name, Ema flashed a cold glare at him. "Please, don't hold back on my account. I think I've made enough of a point today anyways. If you'll excuse me, Mr. Gavin, Prosecutor."

Without a second glance at either of them, Ema exited the room with a slam of the door.

Holding a hand-cuffed palm up to his cheek, Kristoph smiled up at his younger brother, "It's actually quite refreshing to see a competent detective for a change. One of yours, I'm sure."

There was a proud twinkle in Klavier's eyes as he allowed himself to smile back, "She's better with projectiles."

A moment of silence passed between the two brothers before the older of the two moved his hand to adjust his glasses, an indication that the conversation would be taking a turn for the serious. The atmosphere in the room suddenly changed, as Kristoph dropped all formalities, "So what is the real reason you're here, Klavier?"

Falling into step, Klavier got straight to the point, "Let's talk, ja?"

Ema was sitting on a bench in the visitor's area with her face buried in her hands, when a plastic bag smacked her on the back of her head. Snapping her head up, Ema was ready to unleash a tongue lashing at the offender when she was met with the ice blue eyes of Klavier Gavin.

"Don't look so down, Fräulein Detective." He chirped, dropping a bag of Snackoos into her lap. Taking a seat next to her, he asked, "What's on your mind?"

He was answered with the sound of tearing plastic, then the loud crunch of the snacks he had just given to the detective next to him.

Just when he thought she wasn't going to answer at all, the sound of crunching was replaced by Ema's dejected voice, "I was just beating myself up for being so stupid. It was unprofessional of me to have tried to force a confession out of him, but punching a detainee in the face definitely takes the cake for all the dumb things I've done."

"Why would you question a man who has already been found guilty of murder?" There was no hint of judgement or disapproval in his voice; if anything, he sounded mildly concerned about her.

Her answer was so quiet, it was barely audible. "I wanted to make him to admit to his crimes. To confess to planting that poisoned stamp in Drew Misham's home; to slowly killing Vera with his atroquinine-laced nail polish; to forging the evidence that ruined Mr. Wright's career; to using you to spring that trap seven years ago."

Ema paused, watching the solemn-faced Klavier from the corner of her eye. In response to his rare silence, she continued, "I know he's your brother, but he deserves to pay for all the crimes he's committed and all the people he's harmed, but without the evidence, our justice system can't even touch him." She then let out a frustrated sigh, "And I couldn't get him to talk at all. The Chief is going to have a field day with me."

"If you don't mention it, he may not have to find out." Klavier suggested, still speaking softly.

Ema stuffed another Snackoo into her mouth as she voiced a garbled disagreement.

"Herr Gumshoe and I will not say a word, and I am quite certain that Kristoph has far too much pride to admit being hit by a woman. If you simply wave off the interrogation as unimportant, then I doubt Herr Chief will have the desire to look into the matter any further. But if it comes down to it, I will gladly vouch for my favourite Fräulein Detective." Klavier added with a charming smile towards her.

Salvaging what was left of her ego, Ema tried to scoff at him, "What makes you think I would want to be vouched for by a glimmerous fop anyways?"

Klavier was unfazed by her weak attempt of an insult, though in hopes of cheering her up, he replied in good humour, "You hurt my feelings, Fräulein!"

Ema simply rolled her eyes as she continued to enjoy her snack. They sat for a few moments in a comfortable silence, only broken by the loud crunching of Snackoos.

"Thanks." Ema finally muttered at the empty bag, "They were just what I needed."

"My pleasure, Fräulein. It's the least I could do to show my gratitude." He replied to the vending machines in front of them.

"Gratitude for what?" Ema finally turned a perplexed gaze at him, "You can't be thanking me for hitting your brother."

"No, I'm not – though I do appreciate the gesture." With a meek smile, Klavier leaned back into the bench, shifting his gaze up at the ceiling, "I wish to thank you for defending me back in that interrogation room. I think I always knew that Kristoph never took my prosecution career seriously, but it was unexpectedly painful to hear him state it so plainly. Hearing your response made his comment a bit more bearable."

"I didn't know that your pride was vulnerable to attack, fop."

"Unfortunately, I am human too, ja?"

"No, not unfortunately – I'm glad that you're human." Her voice softened, "I think… that is exactly what separates you from your brother. He's lost a part of himself – the part that reminds us of what it means to be human; to have emotions, goals, dreams; to care for others. I know that underneath that smile you're probably hurting a lot more than I am right now. And you don't have to admit it to me," Ema quickly added when Klavier opened his mouth, looking ready to object, "I'd be more concerned if you weren't affected by all this."

She rewarded him with a rare genuinely heartfelt smile. "You can be a real glimmerous fop sometimes, but overall, you're a good guy, you know. And not a half bad prosecutor either."

He couldn't help but smile back. "Thank you, Fräulein. You're not too bad yourself."

In a considerably lighter mood, Ema stood up from the bench and faced her colleague. "C'mon, let's get out of this depressing place. It's been a long day. Shall we get dinner?"

"Fräulein, are you asking me out on a date?" Klavier teased, his charm cranked back up to max.

Ema ka-tonked him in the forehead with her empty Snackoo wrapper. "Don't push your luck, fop. I've already warmed up my aim today," Though her smile betrayed the threat in her words.

"Does this mean we're friends then?"

"Yeah, I guess I can live with that." Ema conceded as the pair headed out of the detention centre.

"Shall we start this friendship properly then?"

Already heading onto the sidewalk, Ema turned to find Klavier standing behind her, holding out his hand. "I promise I won't bite."

With a somewhat sceptical expression, Ema hesitantly stuck out hers as well.

"Klavier. A pleasure to meet you." He greeted brightly, shaking her hand.

She returned his smile, mirroring his simple gesture. "Nice to meet you, Klavier. I'm Ema."

"Now, where would you like to go for dinner, Ema? My treat."

Ema grinned. "In that case, I have a feeling this is going to turn out to be a wonderful friendship, Klavier."

Author's Notes: I'm not really sure what brought about this one-shot and I'm not sure how I feel about it either.
I'm sure a lot people will find Ema to be OoC and I totally sympathize with that. I've taken the artistic liberty of taking her usual grumpiness and turning it into a raging fire - but I think it's within reason. Think about it this way, if meek little Apollo Justice punched Phoenix after knowing him for less than a day, then maybe Ema punching a murderer who mocks the people she looks up, isn't that far fetch'd? Also, I feel like she has the potential to be a super kickass character...
Also, originally intended this to be a Gavin brothers final showdown, but then I came to the sad realization that I have no idea how to write Kristoph. To be honest, I just don't understand his character - at all. Is he crazy? Is he just plain evil? Or is he another tortured soul with deep and complicated reasons for every crime that he committed? I can't figure him out... hence why his character may feel... vague. I just tried to make him a sophicated but snarky jerk.
Anyhow, this was kind of a practice for writing Klavier-Ema interactions for my current long-running project (The Perfect Catalyst), so I'd really appreaciate any comments specifically regarding the characters and how they're portrayed. But ofcourse, general reviews about anything and everything will be welcomed with lots of love. Thank you for reading til the end! Have a great week everyone!