A/N: an AU where Maya didn't make it out.

xXx

I watched her collapse, and my heart sunk. I felt it break.

I felt her die.

I was moving before the court had time to respond. If there was any chance that I was wrong, any chance at all, I'd be the first to know.

I wanted to be wrong.

Tears blurred my vision as I took her hand. She was fading so fast. She was getting cold. I couldn't see anymore. I couldn't breathe. My eyesight was turning black. My heart was pounding hard, an intense pain like I'd never known.

I fumbled for her neck, desperate to feel a pulse.

One second passed, then another.

There was nothing.

She was dead.

All semblance of control I had left was gone. Tears flowed down my face, a choked sob escaping my throat. I fell to the floor beside her, her face blurred beyond recognition next to me.

Oh god.

Oh, god.

I blinked and my vision cleared again, and for a moment I could pretend she was peacefully asleep. I could pretend that it was all a dream, and that we hadn't even left for the temple yet.

My small moment of peace was shattered when the bailiff pulled me up and led me out. Everything was happening at once. There were people taking her body away.

No.

Oh god.

"Bring her back," I tried to say. "Give her back to me."

I couldn't finish my sentence.

I couldn't think of anything but her.

Oh god.

I was crying again.

It was over. Everything was over.

My vision started to turn black again. This time, I let it overtake me.

I don't want it to be real.

I wanted to be wrong.

God, I wanted to be wrong.

There wasn't anyone who could console me. The only one who still could was lying somewhere, and she was going to be buried.

The pain was unbearable.

God, it hurts. Everything hurts.

I wake up on a bed somewhere. I don't know where. I don't care to know.

My mind is too clouded with other things to even try to care.

Pearl is alone.

Kurain is without a master.

The murder will go unsolved.

I sobbed harder.

Everything hurt. I wanted to die. Fat tears rolled down my face, gross and despairing sobs wracking my body and ripping out of my throat.

I was causing a goddamn scene, and I didn't care.

My world was gone.

She was my whole world. Without her, it was just gray people and places that passed me while I was stuck in the past.

Three years of my life had been heavily influenced by her presence. She made me see things in a new light.

She was everything to me

Why is she dead?

Oh god.

Nothing I did would bring her back. I could prove her innocence; I could prove that she would be allowed to walk free- provided that she was alive.

But that didn't matter. She was dead.

The word was like a knife in my side. I was surprised I wasn't bleeding out from the pain and despair.

Dead.

Dead.

Dead dead dead dead dead dead dead dead dead dead dead dead dead dead dead dead dead

I said the word until it no longer had meaning. It was just a useless string of letters and sounds. It no longer reminded me that my precious bit of heaven had just been taken from me, cruelly and swiftly. It was all over.

Slowly, I sat up.

"Mr. Wright?"

I just nodded.

"I… guess you know what happened."

Another nod.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Mr. Wright."

More hot tears.

This pain would never recede. It would always be a dull throb in my chest, always threatening to overtake me and drown me slowly.

I was already drowning.

Regrets and sorrow weighed me down. I hadn't ever said it. I'd always wanted to say it, but always felt like it would be betraying Mia's memory.

Now it was too late and I regretted it.

I loved her so goddamn much and now she was gone

gone

gone.

Maya Fey had died that day, and there was nothing I could have said or done.

What a terrible goodbye.

xXx

A/N: casually comes back from the dead with a story about death

Please forgive me for my absence and the lack of ltf or anything I was working on

The muse comes and it goes so y'know

Idk where this came from tbh I was playing the Sims and I sometimes randomly say things that don't make sense so I just "an au where she doesn't survive" and bam. Story. Phoenix Wright in shock. This is set in the final case of Trials and Tribulations. If details are wrong, you'll have to forgive me, it's been like four or five years since I've even touched the game. If I recall correctly, Dahlia had possessed Maya and then you cross-examine Maya after Dahlia leaves, but what if the possession had killed Maya? That was the base for this. It's a little weird but life goes on

Thanks for reading, reviews are greatly appreciated.

(the title is a reference to the game 999 in the safe/true end, where the paper that Clover finds says "truth had gone, truth had gone, and truth had gone" idek it was random and made sense at the time so)

EDIT: If you read this before I fixed it, please ignore the random change in perspective. I didn't even notice on my proofread. /shot/