Author's Note: This story is a sequel to "In the Moon's Image", an AU where Juniper is a werewolf who accidentally turns Apollo during the courtroom bombing incident. Reading that first will make this one a bit easier to follow. This story will feature Sebastian from Ace Investigations 2 as well as bring in Maya and Pearl. The story is more plot-focused than romance but both Klavier and Juniper are crushing a bit on Apollo. Because this series was started long before Spirit of Justice had a US release it will probably not be Spirit of Justice consistent.

Chapter One: Bonds and Bullets

There is something strange going on.

It started a little over three weeks ago, with the Thunder&Lightning case. Sebastian had been a little worried about Klavier taking the case—anything involving strife between band-mates still strikes a little too close to home for the rock-star prosecutor. Klavier had been adamant that he could handle it, though, and Prosecutor Edgeworth had thought Klavier's remaining contacts in the music industry may give him an edge when it came to finding information.

Klavier hadn't finished the case, though. It isn't often that Klavier has to stand down as prosecutor, and even more rare for the Chief Prosecutor to personally take over a case. Edgeworth had promised that Klavier was all right when Sebastian pressed him for information, though, and three days later Klavier was back in his office, acting as though nothing happened.

"Just a small erkrankung, Herr Erste." Klavier had smiled as he made the statement, and it was a genuine smile, not one of his stage-door grins, so Sebastian had believed him.

Edgeworth has been cautious about handing work to Klavier, though, the usually-busy prosecutor allowed to take on perhaps half his usual allotment of cases. Edgeworth has been more interested in Klavier than he usually is, stopping by Klavier's office once or twice a day to check on him. Though it's probably a good thing, the start of a friendship or mentorship like Klavier has always wanted but which the whole Phoenix Wright mess kept him from having, it's still strange.

Almost as strange as the way Klavier has been acting. At first Sebastian had thought that it was just traces of whatever ailment Klavier had suffered from lingering, as Klavier seemed to be more and more like himself with each passing day. For the last week or so, though...

Klavier has always been a tactile person. It's something Sebastian long ago learned to deal with—something that he appreciates about his friend, even. There were far too few hugs in his childhood, Sebastian has come to suspect, and Klavier seems determined to make up for that fact as quickly as possible.

Now, though, Klavier seems to need the physical contact. If Sebastian is in the same room with him for more than five minutes, Klavier seems to gravitate into Sebastian's personal space, his hand reaching for Sebastian's hand, his arm attempting to loop itself over Sebastian's shoulders. He still notices when Sebastian tenses or becomes uncomfortable with the contact, but it's not as quickly as it used to be—and the way Klavier pulls back when he realizes Sebastian is unhappy, apologizing and distressed, is far more upsetting to Sebastian than the contact itself.

Sebastian should probably talk to Klavier about it. He should probably press until Klavier actually opens up about what's been going on. It's hard, though. Klavier has already been through so much over the last eighteen months, and if he says he's fine Sebastian wants to believe him, but...

Sebastian is still debating what he wants to do about the problem when he knocks on Klavier's office door before shoving it open. He knows that Klavier is in his office—the light is on, spilling out under the door—and he needs to cross-reference with one of the case files in Klavier's—

Sebastian blinks, stopping dead three paces into the office as his mind catches up to his eyes.

Klavier steps away from Detective Gumshoe, who he was apparently in the middle of hugging, the faintest flush crawling up his neck to stain his cheeks; the detective rises from his kneeling position in front of Klavier, his coat flapping about him, his right hand rising to touch the spot on his cheek where Klavier's cheek and chin were rubbing a moment ago.

"Hi, Prosecutor DeBeste!" Gumshoe wiggles his fingers in a brief wave, edging sideways toward the door as he does. "Nice to see you. Good luck on your trial tomorrow! I, um... I'll see you around, both of you."

Gumshoe manages to fit behind Sebastian and out the door, which is good, because Sebastian's legs seem to have forgotten how to move. The detective is very gentle as he closes the door, only the softest click giving away the fact that he's done it.

"Good afternoon, Herr Erste." Klavier settles one hip on the edge of his desk, his fingers looped through the chain that he uses as a belt. "Is there something that I can help you with?"

Sebastian stares at Klavier, and worry and surprise undergo some strange alchemical process in his chest to become a brief flash of anger. "That's it? You're just going to pretend that nothing happened?"

Klavier's smile slips, and he leans away from Sebastian, his head ducking down, his whole body seeming to shrink in on the central axis. It's a far more extreme reaction than Sebastian expected, and anger gives way to worry once more.

"Klavier." Sebastian takes a step closer to his friend. "Something's going on. Something's been going on for the last three, almost four weeks. Something that you won't tell Kay and I about, and it's... it's getting kind of scary. I'm worried about you."

"I assure you, there is nothing to worry about. I'm really quite fine." Klavier shoves a hand up through his hair—his hair that is loose, not tied back in any kind of braid or ponytail like it usually is.

Sebastian tries hard not to grind his teeth together. Cagey but kind has been Klavier's default mode since Daryan's betrayal. It just stings, having somehow ended up on the outside looking in again despite all his efforts to help Klavier... efforts that were repayment for friendship Klavier had freely and easily given in the seven years before, but still.

"I'm upsetting you." Klavier stalks closer, moving in fluid, easy motions until he is deep inside Sebastian's personal space. His voice is low, his blue eyes bright and earnest as he reaches out to run a hand along Sebastian's cheek. "I'm sorry. I'm not intending to, I swear."

Taking a hasty step back, Sebastian shakes his head. "I just... I don't understand, all right? What's going on with you? Why were you and Gumshoe..."

Sebastian finds that he isn't sure how to finish the sentence. Saying that Klavier was making out with the detective is both untrue and something Sebastian's not sure he can manage. Though Sebastian knows that Klavier doesn't really differentiate between genders when developing a crush, Gumshoe is... he's Gumshoe. He's Prosecutor Edgeworth's shadow; he's Sebastian's friend, more than he's ever been Klavier's, though Klavier usually gets along well with any detective he's partnered with.

"That did look rather compromising, didn't it?" Klavier paces away from Sebastian, continuing to toy with his bangs. Glancing down at his office door handle, Klavier gives a brief pout. "I suppose I'm going to have be more careful about locking my door."

"There aren't that many people who are comfortable just coming into your office." Sebastian shrugs, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "But I imagine Detective Skye or Prosecutor Edgeworth would have a similarly... dismayed reaction, so yes, if that's going to be a common occurrence, locking your door may be a good idea."

Emotion flickers across Klavier's face, too fast for Sebastian to follow. Exasperation? Annoyance? Frustration? Humor?

Pacing the length of his office again, Klavier scowls out the window at the late afternoon light. "It won't be a common occurrence. Don't worry. I was just comforting a friend."

"That's good. Comforting a friend is good." Sebastian's baton has ended up in his hands, and he slides the smooth metal between his fingers, taking comfort in the familiar feeling. "And if you and Detective Gumshoe have become good friends, I'm glad. Though if something's happening in his life, something that I should know about... something that I could help with..."

Klavier's lips pull back from his teeth, a grimace that is very obviously frustration, and he paces back to his office door, his steps fast and tense. He's upset, Sebastian knows from prior experience.

Is it good, that he's at least showing that he's upset? Is it good that he hasn't ordered Sebastian to stop asking questions or to go back to his own office?

"You know that if there's anything you need... anything that's happening to you, or with you..." Sebastian speaks slowly, choosing each word carefully so he can ensure it's the right one, though they want to all run atop one another in a mad flurry. "You can trust me—talk to me. Kay, too, but since I'm the one currently invading your office..."

Klavier is back at the office window, and his body seems to be constantly moving, one restless hand rising to press against the glass before being pulled away and shoved back into his belt. Turning abruptly, he fixes Sebastian with one of his sun-bright grins. "How would you feel about going up on the roof to continue this conversation, Sebastian?"

Sebastian blinks. When they were both young prosecutors with closets for offices, they spent a fair amount of time up on the roof when nothing pressing was occurring, enjoying the view and the weather when it was nice. Since their career and office advancements, it's something they haven't done as often.

"Please, Sebastian." Klavier stays carefully just outside Sebastian's personal space, though he reaches out to take Sebastian's hand in his. "I feel... very trapped here, right now, and it is not a good feeling."

"All right." Sebastian clings to Klavier's hand, glad to have Klavier reaching out to him—glad, strangely, to hear Klavier admit something is making him feel anxious. "If you'd be happier, let's go up on the roof."

Klavier grins, releasing Sebastian's hand and bounding back to his desk. Picking up a small black hair tie, he gathers his blond mane into a simple ponytail.

Then he is back at Sebastian's side, has grabbed Sebastian's hand once more in a firm grip, and is leading them both out of Klavier's office and towards the stairs.

There is always at least a little bit of wind on the roof, it seems, and today is no exception. As soon as they push open the door, a blast of cool air rushes down into building, ruffling Sebastian's hair and flinging Klavier's up into a blond halo.

Klavier releases Sebastian's hand, bounding out onto the roof, his arms spread out to the side, his fingers crooked just slightly as though he could catch the wind and hold it in place. He closes his eyes, drawing deep breaths, and Sebastian finds himself pausing, tilting his head, trying to find whatever it is in the wind that is goading this reaction out of his friend.

After a few seconds Klavier lowers his arms, crossing them in front of his chest as he opens his eyes. His smile when he turns to Sebastian is bright, eager, filled with energy and fire, and it catches Sebastian's breath in his throat.

How long has it been since he saw Klavier smile like that? Just grin as though the whole world were right, and his place in it perfect, and everything absolutely the way it should be? His first instinct is to say that it's been eighteen months, that this, too, is something Daryan stole from them, but in all honesty it was fading away long before that, ground down to dust on the stone of a broken justice system.

"The city smells glorious today, doesn't she, Sebastian?"

"Um..." Sebastian blinks, forcing himself to parse the accented words into a semblance of sense, trying to read beneath the utter overflowing joy that Klavier is expressing to find a reason. "It smells... pretty much like usual. Like smog."

Klavier's grin doesn't fade as he laughs, shaking his head. "I suppose it does, still. Car exhaust and fog and factory smoke and people... so many people in our city, Sebastian. So many people under our protection."

Klavier's smile does fade as he walks toward the edge of the roof, but it isn't grief or guilt or the smooth, guileless, emotionless bland mask that replaces it. The man who stalks to the shoulder-high fence that stands six inches or so from the edge of the roof is someone Sebastian doesn't think he has seen in years—someone calm and confident and eager, someone with the time and energy to take on the world.

Sebastian trails Klavier to the fence that he has never quite understood. Is it supposed to keep things from falling off the roof? Or be a deterrent to suicides? Or just be a demarcation to keep people from getting too dizzy when they near the edge? "The city's quite impressive from this angle, yes."

"She's impressive from any angle." Klavier turns away from the view, towards Sebastian. "I'm not trying to distract from the conversation we were having, though. I just... needed the space. Thank you for letting me find it."

"No problem. If there's something I can do to help you, I'll do it. You know that, right?" Sebastian finds himself hugging his arms across his chest, his teeth trying to chatter though the February afternoon isn't all that cold.

"I do." The remaining traces of smile vanish from Klavier's face, voice and expression becoming almost painfully earnest. "You have been a good and true friend, in a time when those are incredibly rare. I trust you, Sebastian."

Klavier doesn't say more. He doesn't need to. The number of people that Klavier trusts dropped remarkably eighteen months ago; for Klavier to give his trust is far more telling than for Klavier to give his affection.

"If you trust me, then why..." Sebastian gestures with his baton, his eyes not quite meeting Klavier's. "Why haven't you been talking to me?"

"I thought..." Klavier sighs. "I hoped that no one would be able to notice that anything is different. Is it so obvious that it is?"

"To someone who doesn't know you? Or to someone who's just known your performance persona? Probably not." Sebastian allows his eyes to drop to the baton, to the way the low red sun glints off the shiny metal. "But for Kay and I..."

"I'm sorry." Klavier's fingers ghost against Sebastian's cheek, though Klavier takes a hasty step back and shoves his hands through his belt when Sebastian jumps at the unexpected contact. Turning so that he's facing the sunset, Klavier frowns out at the city spread below them. "What is it that I've been doing that upsets you?"

"It's not just one thing. It's a whole conflagration of little things."

The ghost of a smile touches Klavier's mouth as he gazes at Sebastian from the corner of his eye. "Mayhap constellation, Herr Erste?"

"Maybe that, too." Sebastian smiles, though he can feel the nervous tension in it. "You aren't spending much time with us anymore. As soon as you're off for the night, you disappear."

"We didn't have much of a chance to spend time together before. Once or twice a week, maybe, when all three of us weren't busy on a case of some kind." Klavier frowns, the fingers of his left hand twined between the links of the fence. "And we got together last week."

"You spent half of it on your phone." That's a little unfair, but usually when Klavier agrees to accompany them somewhere, he's present. Not always—all of them are guilty of letting their work invade their personal lives on occasion—but usually, and when he's distracted it's never been because he can't seem to stop checking his phone before. "You've spent a lot of time on your phone lately, in all honesty. Ema and Gumshoe you keep trying to explain away as work, but you still haven't come up with a good excuse for why you're talking to Justice every five minutes."

Sebastian doesn't dislike the defense attorney. He's never really met the defense attorney, not having been privileged yet to face off against one of the Wright Anything Agency proteges. There is a part of him that still absolutely loathes Apollo Justice, for no definable reason, just because he's apparently caught up in whatever mess has Klavier tied in knots right now.

"I'm not talking to Apollo every five minutes." Klavier's fingers tighten, his knuckles turning white. "Especially last week, I was doing very well about not contacting Herr Forehead all the time."

"Does he have something on you? Is he..." Sebastian stumbles, not quite able to finish the question. Partly that is because accusing one of the defense attorneys who has been the staunchest opponent of corruption in recent memory of blackmailing Klavier sounds very silly when actually said out loud; partly it is because Klavier has straightened, his lips pulling back from his teeth and his eyes narrowing as he studies Sebastian.

"You think he's blackmailing me?" Klavier releases the fence, rising to his full height, prowling around Sebastian in a slow circle. "Justice is my friend. He and Trucy have been my friends since—"

"I know." Sebastian blurts out his answer, his baton twisting between his fingers as he turns to follow Klavier's movements. Tears prick at his eyes, the water turned almost to ice-shards by the wind howling across the roof. "Believe me, I know."

Sebastian had watched, after all, as Apollo Justice tore Klavier's life apart. It was something that had to happen—after all that Edgeworth uncovered about Sebastian's own father, Sebastian can never say that it is better not to know the true nature of those you love. And is it really so different, Klavier's desire to have Justice and crew acknowledge Klavier's skill and integrity versus Sebastian's need for Edgeworth's approval in the years following his father's imprisonment?

"You're worried about me." Klavier closes his eyes, wrapping his arms around his chest and rocking back and forth on his heels. "You're worried about me and you don't really know him. I understand. It's all right. But I swear, on all the songs we've ever toyed with together, Apollo has done and is doing nothing to hurt me."

Sebastian nods, slowly, chewing on his bottom lip. "But something's hurt you. Something has you acting differently—on edge, unable to settle down, worried about Justice and Skye and Gumshoe... is that right?"

Klavier is back at the fence, both hands laced through the links now, and he frowns as he stares down at the city. "To say that I've been hurt... something has changed, yes. But though it includes the restlessness and all the other things you've noticed... it also includes when we first came out here. It's not so much a hurt as it is... a rawness. Everything strikes hard, right now, for good and for ill."

Sebastian moves up on Klavier's right side, slowly reaches out to settle a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Is it... something you're happy with? Something you want?"

"It's something that is, and it's something..." Klavier draws a deep breath, his head tilting back so that his eyes are on the darkening sky. "Overall, it is something that I don't think I would change, were I given the opportunity to do so. It's something... something that takes getting used to, but that I... like, I think."

"It's not..." Sebastian bites down on his bottom lip for a moment, his baton tapping against his thigh. There really isn't a diplomatic way to say this, though. "You're not going to get in trouble because of this, right? You're not... no one's gotten you hooked on some kind of... of drugs or..."

Klavier smiles, lowering his eyes to study Sebastian with a shake of his head. "If I were to get involved in drugs, I would have done it during my Gavinners days. I'm not taking anything, legal or illegal, and no one is blackmailing me."

Sebastian tightens his hand on Klavier's shoulder. "But you won't tell me exactly what is going on?"

"I can't." Regret threads itself through Klavier's voice, through his whole posture, a hunching of his shoulders and a lowering of his head. "If I could, I would, but I swore I wouldn't, to someone both of us respect. If it ever does become possible for me to tell you, believe me, I will."

Sebastian frowns. Someone both of them respect... while there are several people who fit that profile, there's really only one who jumps to the top of the list.

Klavier grins, his right hand releasing the fence so that his fingers can come to rest against Sebastian's. "Keep thinking like that. Follow it up. Perhaps we can change the rules."

Heaving a sigh, Sebastian shakes his head. "This is all very strange, you know. And that's even without talking about you nuzzling Detective Gumshoe."

"I wasn't..." Klavier shoves a hand back through his bangs again, smiling sheepishly. "All right, perhaps it did look like I was nuzzling him."

"Uh huh. Which, I mean, if that's what you want, it's just..."

Klavier laughs, the sound deep and open and honest, and shakes his head. "While I have developed quite a fondness for the senior detective—he has been a good friend to you, and he is Prosecutor Edgeworth's right hand—I've no romantic interest in him. My taste in romantic partners runs a bit—"

"I already know all that I need to about your romantic interests." Sebastian smiles as he shakes his head, though, Klavier's good cheer infectious. "I don't need to hear you enumerate them."

"You know me too well." Klavier leans his back against the fence. "Though even if I were willing, I am not quite the type of man to turn Detective Gumshoe's head."

Sebastian shakes his head harder. "I don't want to know about that, either."

"As you wish." Klavier tilts his chin up again, his features sharply defined by the setting sun. "There was nothing romantic, though. Just one friend helping another through a difficult time. Which should not be a just, I think, but you understand what I'm saying."

"I do." Sebastian plants his hands on his hips, studying his friend for long seconds. Klavier hasn't lied to him, he doesn't think. Though Klavier is hiding something—has blatantly admitted he's hiding something, in concert with Prosecutor Edgeworth—it's not something that's dangerous. It's not something illegal. It's not something he needs rescuing from, just something he needs time to learn to deal with. Try as he can, Sebastian can't imagine what that might be, but seeing Klavier happy and smiling and laughing and talking to him helps put some of his fears at ease. "You'll tell me, if there's something I can do to help?"

"Always." Klavier's eyes are bright and clear as he lowers his head again, fixing Sebastian in a too-intense stare.

"And is it all right if I tell Kay about what we've talked about? About what I saw?" Sebastian rubs at the back of his neck, not relishing any attempt to synopsize events for the private investigator. "She's been worried, too."

"Tell Kay whatever you wish to. I trust your judgment and hers." Klavier pauses, a small frown tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Though I would prefer she not start attempting to watch me. On second thought, I'm rather relieved she's waited this long."

"That's at least partly because I said you'd be upset if you found out she was tailing you." Sebastian rubs under his chin. "And that you'd tell us what was going on when you needed us."

"I am a lucky man, to have the two of you as friends." Klavier straightens, his eyes still fixed on Sebastian. "I will talk with Kay on my own, as well—tell her as much as I've told you. As much as I can. Right now, though... would you mind if I hugged you, Sebastian?"

"Ah..." Sebastian blinks, trying to sort out the conflicting impulses flitting through his thoughts. It has been a long time since Klavier felt the need to ask before initiating physical contact like a hug—a long time since Sebastian would flinch at sudden unexpected contact. There is something in the way Klavier is watching him right now, though, something in the way Klavier is moving, that raises the hairs on the back of Sebastian's neck.

Taking a deliberate step back, Klavier closes his eyes. Pulling his hair back into a tighter ponytail with his left hand, he draws two slow breaths. "It's all right, Sebastian. You've no need to—"

"We're friends." Sebastian's voice is firm, his chin high as he studies the other prosecutor. "I'm going to talk to Prosecutor Edgeworth about what's going on as soon as I can, but if you'd like a hug, then I'm fine with that."

Klavier waits until Sebastian is done speaking to move, his eyes fixed on Sebastian's face. Once Sebastian is quiet, though, Klavier moves fast, covering the distance between them before Sebastian really notices him moving, his arms wrapping around Sebastian.

The hug is tight, intense, the type of contact they shared after Sebastian's father was executed, after Daryan's betrayal. There is a tiny tremble to Klavier's arms, to his whole body, and Sebastian has the strangest impression that despite how tightly Klavier is embracing him, Klavier is actually holding back.

"Danke, Sebastian." Klavier's face is buried against Sebastian's shoulder, his breath warm against Sebastian's neck and collarbone. "For everything, dan—"

Klavier jerks, an abrupt, uncontrolled movement.

Sebastian hears the shot a millisecond later, though he isn't able to say what it is at first, the roof of the prosecutor's office not being a location where he is expecting to hear gunfire.

Everything devolves into chaos after that—Klavier collapses, whimpering low in his throat. There is blood everywhere—on Klavier's face, on the ground around them, spreading out in a frightening-fast puddle from Klavier's left thigh.

Two more shots dig into the concrete just to their right as Sebastian drops to the rooftop beside Klavier, the thundercrack of the bullets' firing mixing with the crackle of shattering concrete into one horrifying sound.

Someone is shooting at them.

Someone just shot Klavier.

Given everything else, it takes Sebastian over a minute to notice that he is bleeding, too, the left side of his neck torn open by Klavier's teeth.

Since the bleeding has already stopped by the time he notices, Sebastian dismisses the injury as nothing important and continues to focus on trying to get himself and Klavier behind cover before their unknown assailant hits their target again.