Arriving at the Prosecutor's Office completely soaked, Phoenix Wright forgot to take off his raincoat and, with no hesitation whatsoever, began to head up several flights of stairs. Ever since that trial many years ago, where he had defended his best friend against their former mentor, Phoenix had tended to stay away from elevators. He wasn't scared of them like his best friend was, but he had this horrible feeling in his stomach he just couldn't shake every time he saw one, and he felt that it would be mocking his friend if he rode one in the current state of things. Increasing his pace as he walked, he made sure that he didn't look out of the windows; the thing that Phoenix was genuinely afraid of was heights, and Edgeworth's office was on quite a high floor.

As he approached the last set of stairs before his destination, it happened.

The first earthquake.

It shook the floor above and the staircase Phoenix was standing on violently, causing a potted plant to fall and the pot holding it to crack open. Grabbing onto the nearest thing to him- the banister- Phoenix felt his heart drop as he wondered what was going on in his friend's mind right now.

Oh gosh…It must be so hard for him. Especially as there hasn't been an earthquake for ages.

The earthquake gradually stopped, and Phoenix managed to get to the corridor- but rushing down the corridor in his direction was Franziska von Karma, the 'Prosecuting Prodigy'. It had felt great to defeat a prosecutor of such reputation when he was against her…but that was years ago, and she and her menacing whip she carried around everywhere she went still had quite a grudge against him.

Turning away, he saw out of the corner of his eye that she wore a nervous expression and was not, in fact, walking towards him- but past him.

"Herr Gavin?" she asked, stopping for a moment, and Phoenix stifled a laugh.

How the heck did she mistake me for Klavier? Oh, wait….Klavier got me this for my birthday…I didn't realise it matched with his own raincoat until a while ago.

"Ye-I mean, Ja?" he replied, turning away from her and pretending to be concentrating on a text while imitating Klavier's husky German accent. Every so often, he would eye her whip in case he had to dodge it somehow.

Not like he would actually be able to escape it, though.

Please….Please, let her be convinced by it…

"Can you check on my kleine bruder for me? He…hates earthquakes…." she murmured, clutching her whip for comfort.

Franziska, he thought, you've changed since I last saw you. What happened?

Phoenix decided to keep up the act; he was going to see Edgeworth anyway, so why refuse? In addition, Franziska was definitely different from before. It was as if she was a completely new person.

"Of course, nett Fräulein. I'll go right now, in fact."

Franziska, to Phoenix's great surprise, smiled a weak smile of relief and walked off, shouting "Danke!" back down the corridor at him. After she had disappeared down the staircase, Phoenix let out a deep sigh and mentally reminded himself to tell Klavier later.

Thank you, Klavier. Thank you so, so much for speaking German during every single case you and Apollo handle together; it may have just saved me from a whip lash or two…

The tall, mahogany door of Room 1202 creaked slowly open as Phoenix crept inside. Nothing much had changed since last time he had visited, apart from the fact that there was a new, sparkling-clean tea set on top of one of the shelves and there was a small statue of the Jammin' Ninja on the floor that must have been knocked over during the quake.

How ironic that the Steel Samurai statue is the one out of the two that hasn't fallen... thought Phoenix, as he looked further around the office. There was still the broken 'King of Prosecutors' trophy, the beloved Steel Samurai statue, and, to his dismay, a bouquet of assorted flowers with a small card taped onto the wrapping.

Just how old IS that woman now?!

D-don't tell me she's STILL been stalking him for all these years…

As soon as he took a small step towards the shelf to get a closer look at the card, Phoenix heard a small, nervous voice come out from underneath the desk and recognised it immediately.

It was Edgeworth.

"W-who's there? If it is you, Detective, I'm completely fine…"

Phoenix chuckled and peered around the desk, startling Edgeworth and subsequently causing him to scramble out of his hiding-place.

"No, you aren't." he insisted, standing back up and facing Edgeworth, "On the contrary, you are completely not fine. There has just been an earthquake, anyway."

As Edgeworth shuddered at the word 'earthquake', Phoenix was taken aback by what Edgeworth was wearing on his face.

"Glasses? Edgeworth, you never used to wear glasses…"

Edgeworth walked up to Phoenix and glared at him; he didn't know it was his friend standing there, and thought he was just a complete stranger.

"Just who are you?" he asked. "And just how do you know my-"

"Quiet." whispered Phoenix, as he put his index finger to Edgeworth's lips, making his friend go silent.

Here we go, he thought.

Slowly, Phoenix removed his beanie hat and Edgeworth gasped in shock, seeing the spiky, black hair underneath it.

"W-Wright?! Is that you?!"

Grinning, Phoenix sat down on the sofa and beckoned Edgeworth to sit down next to him.

"Yes, it's me. Why?" he asked innocently, causing Edgeworth to blush in embarrassment.

"Um...well..." he spluttered, making Phoenix clutch his sides in laughter.

How should I even tell him?!

"Wright...um...your clothes..."

"What about them?" Phoenix asked as if nothing were the matter, taking out a bottle of emergency grape juice he had taken along for moments such as this.

Edgeworth, however, couldn't hold his thoughts in any longer.

"Wright, they make you look like a hobo..."

Spitting out a mouthful of grape juice onto the carpet, Phoenix chuckled heartily.

"A hobo? Do I really look like that?"

You could tell from his grin that he already knew the answer, but Edgeworth felt obliged to tell him anyway.

"Well...yes," he replied, sending Phoenix into peals of laughter. Edgeworth let off a small sigh and sat down next to him.

There is no use trying to stop him, Miles. You know as well as anyone that Phoenix Wright cannot be stopped…

"Y-your face...!" Phoenix spluttered in between short bursts of laughter. "You look so serious..."

Edgeworth violently hit him on the shoulder, but he couldn't resist smirking as well.

"Shut up, Wright!"

"OK, OK..."

"So," began Edgeworth, clearing his throat, "Why have you come to visit me after all these years? It isn't really an amazing time for visiting people, what with the current weather and all."

The room went completely silent, and Edgeworth couldn't work out why Phoenix suddenly looked so grave.

D-did I say something wrong?

All of a sudden, the second earthquake struck, causing both men to jump up in shock and grip the thing nearest to them: Phoenix grabbed the edge of the sofa and Edgeworth grabbed Phoenix. For the duration of the earthquake, they stood stock still, fixed in that position; when it had stopped, however, they quickly broke off what they were holding and sat back down.

"S-sorry, Wright..." Edgeworth stuttered, shaking violently. "I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine, Miles." Phoenix reassured.

Miles...? He's never called me by my first name…

"You did what anyone that was afraid would do in this situation. That's why I came here, though: I wanted to stay with you just until the earthquakes are over. I mean, you know as well as I do that you are petrified of them, and I know that you wouldn't survive a whole load of them without someone with you every step of the way."

Edgeworth looked down at the floor. He didn't know what to say at all.

After a moment of thought, he looked up into his friend's eyes and felt tears welling up in his own.

"T-thank you...Phoenix."

Taking Edgeworth by the hand, Phoenix stood up and pulled Edgeworth with him.

"No need to thank me." he smiled, running towards the open door. "Come on, then!"

"W-where are we going?"

"Back to my office, of course! You aren't going to stay in here forever, right?"

"No.." Edgeworth stuttered; he didn't want to leave the comfort of his workplace, but decided to go with his best friend. Sighing as he followed Phoenix outside, he knew in his heart that he was truly happy again after all these years.

He wasn't alone anymore.