The Earth King Has Invited You to Labyrinthia

Disclaimer: Thank you, everybody.

Eve felt faintly awake. She was convinced she was dreaming of escaping Labyrinthia yet again, feeling the sun bearing down on her cheeks without the need to keep her eyes low or her wits about her. She couldn't be seen in public, not unless she wanted suspicion aroused about who she was and who she worked for. This was all another painful dream.

That wakefulness kept chasing her, though, and soon her eyes adjusted to full sunlight and Barnham hovering over her, holding her hand and watching her face. A healer pulled away from her, his hands wrapped in shining clean water. "She'll be all right. Took a hard crack to the head, but we'll watch her for complications."

"My lad- erm-" Barnham coughed. "I apologize, habit. I've learned what happened from Wright."

"What happened?" Eve sat up, feeling hot and stuffy in her long sleeves and gauntlet. Was she sitting on concrete? Were those clouds above her head? Where was she? "What did happen?"

"How far back to you remember?"

She retraced her thoughts. "The Storyteller was... I attacked him. Wright and Layton, they told me..."

She had been the one. Every memory that came back came with a wave of guilt that swallowed her ability to speak. She tried to steady her breathing and regain her words, but the weight of what she'd done, in the past and in the present- no, she was stronger than this, she could- she had been the one-

"Eve!" Espella filled her vision and pulled her into a hug. "It's okay, Eve, nothing bad can happen to you. You're here with me, and everything's fine."

"Espella..." Even after all of that, and knowing what she knew now, Espella was rushing to comfort her. Eve's eyes flooded, and she sobbed into Espella's dirty shoulder. She was ruined. All these years had turned her into a monster, a murderer since she was a little child and nearly a killer again, all because of her misbegotten search for the "truth". She dared not raise her head from the shame, and it started her sobbing hard enough to leave her lungs aching for air.

Espella never let go. Instead she turned her head to Barnham. "How did you find us?"

"I escaped into the bay by accident," he explained. "Mr. Edgeworth and Mr. Ascot found me, and once my memories had come back and the storm had stopped, I came with the police. The fire department bent a section of the bay out of the way and the metalbender force dug through the roof."

"Were we so deep underground?"

"You weren't!" Barnham's voice took on an odd pitch of panic. "Whenever we dug, something would pull the earth back into place!"

"... I think that might have been Daddy..." Espella took a moment to rub Eve's back. "Even at the very end, he was trying so hard to keep Labyrinthia... I guess he didn't want to lose it a second time."

When Espella looked up again, she spotted a familiar outline cutting its way to her through the crowd. The professor's tall top hat cut through the sea of people milling about the Air Temple grounds, followed by Mr. Wright's own shark-like hair. She thought about rising to meet them, but the thought of pulling away from Eve seemed so utterly terrible at that moment. She had known that paralyzing despair all too well. To deprive her of comfort in this horrible time... She stayed right where she was, wrapped around her dear friend.

Barnham stood for her, greeting the both of them with handshakes and a smile. "It's good to see you again." Maya and Luke pulled up the rear, and Barnham said with a grin. "Not dead."

Maya gave him an approving and exhausted "Aaaay!" as the "adults" spoke. Layton's eyes fell on Eve. "She's not taken the events well, I see..."

"I know how she feels." Espella gasped softly; Eve had pulled away just enough to look her in the eyes. All that sharpness and cold distance was gone, and her tear-streaked face mirror Espella's familiar sense of loss and confusion. "I know just how you feel, and I don't know how to help... I'm so sorry."

"You shouldn't help me..." Eve's voice was almost too hoarse to speak. "I tried to have you killed..."

Espella smiled shyly. "S-so did I... I'm rather alive still, thanks to you."

"Y-you are?" Eve swallowed. "How?"

Phoenix asked, confused, "She doesn't know?"

Layton explained, "Memory loss from the period just before a major head injury is fairly common."

Eve startled. "Head injury?"

"I think-" The healer, quiet in all their conversation, stood to his feet. "I need to take this case over from here. If you'll all come with me, I'll get you to a hospital and start treating your physical injuries. Maybe afterwards we can talk about what happened to the three of you. Do you have any immediately family I can speak to?"

There was the touchy subject of the hour. Espella hauled Eve to her feet and shook Layton and Wright's hands, and hugged Luke and Maya with her free arm. "Everyone... You've helped us so much. I owe you my life... I can't ask any more of you. I think from here, we'll be all right."

Luke pulled at Espella's skirt. "You call us as soon as you have a phone number, all right? I'd worry if you didn't."

Eve gave out one exhausted puff of a laugh. "Haven't used a phone in 10 years..."

Barnham hung near Espella and Eve even after the final round of goodbyes and well wishes and phone number exchanges. Wright and Layton his bunch melted back into the crowd at Edgeworth's behest. Espella was watching him, he knew it. He could feel her eyes on him. "Zacharias? Did you need something?"

"I- ahem-" Turning to face the two girls was almost like having amnesia himself. He wasn't the Inquisitor anymore. The "Storyteller" wasn't the ruler of his life, he was just some man and these were just two people about his age. He felt so much younger, so much more vulnerable, and it made his anxieties flare. "I had to make sure you-"

Espella took his hand. "Would you like to come with us to the hospital? A familiar face would be comforting."

How could she do that so easily? Barnham was stiff as a board and she was holding his hand like she'd known him her whole- oh. They had, hadn't they? Even if they hadn't known each other, as it were. He nodded, just as stiff as his back felt, and forced the words out of his mouth. "Yes."

Everything wound to a gentle stop as the Labyrinthians were collected, questioned, and released to wherever there was room to spare. Espella, Eve, and Zacharias found their way to a hospital along with Arthur Cantabella. Some stayed in the offered free lodgings of the Air Temple, and others found family they'd long since forgotten about. Phoenix and his bunch were some of the last in the crowd to leave, hanging close to Edgeworth and watching the last little bit of that part of their lives disappear little by little. It was all over. There was nothing left to do but get back in step with normal life.

Hershel's parents had sent a change of clothes or five along with Randall. Edgeworth had tracked down his and Maya's luggage from the ship. Luke's mother and father, and wasn't it weird to see them after all this time, came by personally with clothes for Luke and a set of questions so grilling and invasive it made the police interrogation seem tame. In a move that would cement him as Phoenix's friend for life, Randall swept them all off of Air Temple Island with a little misdirection and ushered them all to the hotel room he'd booked for them, no questions asked no people around, just so they could have room service and a night of sleep in a real, clean bed.

It could have been the bathroom of Phoenix's room on the ship for all her cared, because being freshly bathed and dressed in dryer-fresh warm clothes was more than enough to make him happy. The fact that they were his favorite pajamas just made it that much better.

Maya was happy in a more energetic sense. "EVERYTHING'S A BED!"

Luke through himself onto the couch, a little streak of blue oversized cotton shirt and wet hair. The couch obligingly unfolded into a bed. "The couch is a bed!"

"Couch beds are old news!" Maya plopped herself down in the window seat, half elegant in a long sweeping lavender nightgown and half childish from the lack of sleeves and the kittens embroidered into it. "The WINDOWS are beds!"

Luke launched himself into the closest chair, which reclined for him. "Chair's a bed!"

Maya eyed the far wall. "Fishtank's a bed-"

"No! No you do not!" Phoenix grabbed a remote and turned on the TV. "There! Watch TV and rot your brain! We have a week's worth of mysteries and puzzles to work off so we go back to being normal and not super-geniuses."

Luke and Maya flopped down on the couch bed, each with their own blanket. Luke pouted a bit. "I like being a super-genius."

"Niiiick, if we order food, will they bring it to our beds in our roomettes?" Maya asked. "Or will they serve it to us on the couch?"

Phoenix laughed. "They'll probably bring it to the door, just like regular room service."

He got distracted, though. The bathroom door slide open, and Hershel stepped out cleaned and dressed in fresh pajamas. Hershel's were an actual set of pajamas, too, matching top and properly fitting bottoms. His top hat had been left on his nightstand, and in the humidity of the shower and bath, his hair had curled. Phoenix shyly smiled, feeling a little inadequate in a white t-shirt and Silver Samurai brand gym shorts. "Wish I'd packed better sleepwear."

Hershel chuckled. "Oh yes, this relationship must come to an end right now, for your pyjamas don't match."

"You even say it all fancy."

Hershel blushed. "Phoenix Wright."

Phoenix Wright ran a hand through his hair. "Wow... I mean, what a week... I almost don't wanna believe that it happened, like this is one of those epic dreams that takes up a whole night."

"It's difficult, sometimes," the professor agreed. "Pulling away from those stories you've become so invested in."

"Yeah..." It reminded him of his clients, how he didn't always keep in touch but sometimes wondered if they were still doing okay. Or he had clients like Larry and Maya, repeatedly, where he knew exactly what they were up to most of the time. "Think Espella will come out of this okay?"

"With professional help? I believe she'll be all right." Hershel went to adjust his hat, only just remembering he wasn't wearing it. His hand went to the back of his neck instead. "Getting to know you in normal life will be... an adventure."

"I'm looking forward to every bit of it."

It was quiet. Phoenix and Hershel turned to check on the kids and found them both asleep, foreheads together on the couch bed.

"That looks comfortable..." Hershel chuckled. "I suppose they've gotten used to sleeping next to each other."

"Yeah, I'll be glad to sleep in a bed by myself again."

But... do I have to?

He and Hershel shared a look, and his stomach fluttered. He'd kissed that man. It was a giddy and impulsive response to a high he was riding right out of Labyrinthia, but he hadn't regretted it and he hadn't gotten anymore teasing about it afterwards. Hershel had kissed him first, even. He'd assumed his butterflies were a one-way street right up until their dance in the Seal of Sages, but after that, they hadn't really had a chance to talk about it. They'd kisses, they'd landed, they'd taken count of everyone and then they'd all taken separate baths. What was there to say?

"Unless..." Phoenix offered. "You want to share the double bed in my roomette? I'm not ready to sleep yet, but I'd be happy to talk."

Hershel nodded. "With so much to talk about? Please, lead the way."

Phoenix felt like he was glowing when the professor took his hand. Labyrinthia might be long gone, and he might not ever see Espella or Eve or Barnham ever again, but he wasn't about to let Hershel and Luke slip out of his life. They made an unbeatable team, after all.