Prologue

The warden was ready to retire. For the day, anyway. It was eight o' clock, after all. The night shift showed up hours ago.

He was almost out the door before her saw her. A woman. Standing in his way, eyes set on making his day longer than it already was. He sighed, walking up to talk with her.

She had a request for him: visiting a prisoner without leaving a record of when she came and left. At a time when no visitors ought to be accepted. She claimed it was urgent. He rolled his eyes. Did he have any reason to help her?

Well... She was pretty. Nothing beautiful or exotic, but still vaguely pleasant. And still a stranger. He had no reason to help her with anything.

"Sorry, miss. No can do."

She squinted, then reached for her pocket. Suddenly, a wad of cash was in her hand. All his concerns were forgotten. Muttering under his breath, he searched all over for the special key. All solitary cells only had two keys: one with a guard, one with the warden.

A prick of worry caught him off guard. Was he getting paid enough for this?

Shut up, he thought. I'm not doing anything wrong. Record keeping is a formality. Hours are just for convenience. There's no harm in this.

Still, he led her through the prison with a hard stare, past hundreds and hundreds of angry men. At least the goddamn animals were finally gone. A guard raised his eyebrow as the walked by, to which he glared in response.

He clutched the keys tightly in hand, ready to snap at anyone else who acknowledged them. It was none of their business, and they knew it.

Finally, they reached the section she'd requested: Solitary Confinement, Cell 13. He didn't know what business she had there, but an exchange of paper gave him all the answers he needed.

She asked him to leave, and he shook his head. If he left her alone, she could get caught and tell on him. The woman sighed, handed the guard outside a cell her remaining cash.

"Late visitor, convict!" The guard called as she walked in.

"Thank you. I can see that," was the ever so calm reply. Even after twenty months of prison, that man still refused to admit he belonged.

The warden watched with interest as she sat next to the prisoner, speaking to him like an old friend. He couldn't hear what was being said, only the tone of their voices, but both were relaxed and smiling. The prisoner wasn't the slightest bit surprised to receive a visitor at eight o'clock in the night, well after visiting hours were over. Had they planned to meet?

Impossible. All mail was carefully check over, going in and out of the prison. Ever since atroquinine showed up on a letter, his mail got screened much more thoroughly.

She wasn't allowed to give him anything, wasn't allowed to take anything out of the prisoner's now barren cell, wasn't allowed to aid a possible escape in any way. If it wasn't for the time and lack of record, this would have been a regular visit to the prison.

I wonder what they're talking about. Sure, the late timing may have been an accident, but was there any reason it couldn't wait for the next day? It wasn't any of his business, but...

"What was that?!" the woman yelled.

The warden looked over quickly. It appeared the conversation had turned sour. The two of them stood, backs rigid and voices almost loud enough to hear. He caught words here and there.

"...World is-"

"Haven't found... Yes, I'm..."

"How can you..."

"-always been able to do that?"

A yawn washed over him, reminding him, once again, of his plans to call it a night. He didn't have to listen to them argue any longer than he was paid to..

After about fifteen minutes, the warden carefully cleared his throat, indicating that visiting hours were once again over. She looked up, realized she was out of cash, and nodded. She and the prisoner exchanged parting glances, shaking hands one last time like the professional he used to be.

The guard opened the door for her once again, smiling stupidly at the money stuffed in his pocket. As the door closed for the final time, she turned back to look him in the eye.

"You claim the end has come? You are pathetic. The only thing a finale does is allow a new game to start. Rebirth will come... should you cooperate."

"Come on, lady. I don't have time for this." the warden grunted, resisting the urge to drag her out the place. He forced her to step through a metal detector on the way out, just to confirm she had nothing on her.

As she walked out of the building, she turned back, giving him a smile. "I'm glad you accepted my request."

"Hm," he hummed noncommittally. "It's a one time thing, okay?"

She laughed. It was pleasant at first, but the longer it lasted, the more deranged it got. She sounded like the Joker. He was shivering by the time she spoke again. "Oh, don't worry: I have no intentions of ever coming back. Jail was awful enough the first time."

And with that, she walked off. The warden would have to remenber to delete all the footage showing her in his prison. But that could wait.

By the next morning, all traces of the woman no longer existed. The tapes were deleted, she left DNA nowhere, and if asked, the guards would be confident they didn't remember her.

By all means, a perfect crime.

A/N's: Oh gosh, well... That happened. Not quite how I imagined it, but it works for what I had in mind.

I'm excited for this. I've been obsessed with Ace Attorney for awhile, but only now am I writing fanfiction for it. I have a lot of ideas but no clear direction, so... Let's see how this goes, shall we?

Sorry. You probably don't want to hear (read?) my rambling. Still, I'd like to credit now the two docs that inspired me the most... Actually, I'll credit one right now. The other kinda gives away information I'm not ready to reveal. I got a portion of the premise (and the choice of main characters) from the fic Two in the Bush by Rosage. I recommend reading it, especially for the characterization aspect. Adult!Kay Faraday is exactly how I imagined her.

So... Yeah. Please leave all thoughts/constructive criticism in the review box below, thanks for reading, and I'll see you on the far side!