Certain Demolitions

Summary: WWII AU. Apollo Justice and Ema Skye were two small-town best friends who went away to college in the big city. But their lives are turned upside down by war across the Atlantic, and the story of a German immigrant named Klavier Gavin.

Genre: Drama/Family

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I don't have any claim on this game, a fact for which all the characters hence forth involved ought to be extremely grateful.

Other disclaimer: Remember that story I wrote called "Turnabout Labyrinth" where I basically mucked up Edgeworth's life (and which was also an AU)? Yeah, now it's Klavier's turn. I am a massive Klema shipper, so expect that to show up in here at some point. I'm good at US history, but World History is not my strong point, which puts me at a disadvantage for this fic. I've tried to research where I can, but I give no promises of accuracy. Tl;dr version: Don't rely on anything you read in here if you're taking a test on WWII history.

More notes at the bottom.

Chapter 1: Shrine to Freedom

The college-level algebra was starting to make him go cross-eyed.

With a sigh, Apollo leaned back on his bed and closed his eyes, trying to think through the math. It had never been his favorite subject.

As he was looking the problem over again there came a knock at the door. With a feeling of muted relief that he had a reason to put the homework aside for the moment, Apollo dropped his pencil and went to open the door. Much to his surprise, he found the Dean of the college standing there.

"Uh…is something wrong?" Apollo asked nervously, noticing there were at least four other people in the corridor behind the Dean.

"Not exactly," Dean Smith said. "You remember you were to have a roommate when you came to this college?"

"Yeah, Klavier Gavin. He never showed." Apollo replied.

"He's here. His boat was delayed. U-boat activity…" the dean trailed off, and Apollo noticed that three of the men behind him were porters, carrying bags and a trunk, and one young man, blonde haired and blue-eyed once he'd taken off his sunglasses, maybe a little older than Apollo, standing behind the rest of them.

"Oh. Okay," Apollo said, and then stepped away from the door to let the group in.

"Land ho!"

It was early morning, and Klavier was already up on deck. The ship was of fair size and his cabin was comfortably furnished, but it was hard not to feel confined after a while.

It was better sometimes on deck where at least the wide open ocean made you fell like there was more room, and though he wouldn't have admitted it, he was at times grateful that his brother had been able to reserve the last cabin on this ship for him, because sometimes it was nice to get away from everyone.

Steerage passengers overflowed the deck. It was crowded down there. The journey had taken far longer then anyone had expected, traveling through U-boat infested waters. The added time on board was frustrating for first-class passengers, and complete misery for those who traveled in steerage. The people on deck were trying to get away from the closeness, and see more now that land had been announced.

And through the mist, they saw the coast grow out of the darkness, and looming over all of it, a statue with a torch held towards the sky.

"Klavier?" A small voice asked below him, and the German looked down to see Peter, a boy he had met on the journey and who was traveling in steerage, tugging at his pant leg. "What's that?" He asked, pointing at the statue.

"That, Peter," Klavier said as he knelt down to be at eye level with the boy, "Is called the Statue of Liberty. France gave that Statue to America, and America liked it so much that they put it on display for everyone to see."

"Momma says when we get to America, we'll have Liberty, too." Peter informed him. "Does that mean that the statue is for us?"

"Yes Peter," Klavier said as he stood back up and leaned against the boat railing. "The statue is for us, too."

The two bags Klavier had brought were left on the other bed in the room; the one nearest the window. The trunk was placed at the foot of the bed. Klavier carried his guitar case in himself.

Dean Smith had made a brief remark to Apollo about being friends with his new roommate, which Apollo had tuned out about ten words into. Then he left, and the two students were left alone.

After he had gone, there was a moment of silence, then Klavier spoke. "I apologize for disturbing you like this, Herr Justice."

"You didn't really disturb me." Apollo told him. "I wasn't doing so well at my homework anyway. It's nice to finally meet you."

He made no mention of Klavier's accent, and the omission was noticeable enough that the German felt the need to bring it up. "My...heritage...does not bother you?"

"Bother me?" Apollo gave him a confused look. "Why would it bother me that you're from Germany? My country's not at war." He picked up the algebra book lying on his bed and reached for his notes from composition class. "But since you brought it up, you know what always has bothered me? Sauerkraut. I've never liked that stuff."

"Was?" Klavier grinned in spite of himself, trying to follow the train of thought. "Why do you not like it?"

"I-it just smells funny and I don't like the taste. So don't eat sauerkraut in here and everything will be fine."

"I'm sorry I did not bring you any, Herr Justice. Perhaps if you tried true Sauerkraut, you would have liked it better."

"I doubt it. And stop with the 'Herr' stuff. I'm not a 'Herr.'

The steady path their ship had been taking had begun to slow, and the passenger's relief upon seeing land had begun to turn to discontent. Why were they slowing down? Land was in sight!

Finally the captain was forced to come up on deck and make an announcement. "Ladies and Gentlemen, we apologize for the disturbance in our trip. Due to European hostilities, the ship must consent to examination by the United States Navy before landing at Ellis Island."

Whispers ran across the deck.

Sarah, Peter's mother, had joined Klavier and her son on deck. "What does this mean?" She asked. Her understanding of English was poor, and Klavier repeated for her, in French, the captain's announcement.

"Why do they do this?" She asked.

"I do not know. Perhaps they are looking for contraband or spies," he replied.

"If we are sitting in the water like this and not moving, we are a target for U-boats!" She cried.

"If the Navy is here, we should be safe."

"I hope you are correct, Herr Gavin." She replied.

He hoped he was too.

[A/N:] Ooh boy, lots to talk about here. So…I sort of know where this story is going, just not sure exactly how we'll get there. I wasn't actually planning to post this, but I woke up at 1 a.m. this morning thinking about this story and to be honest, I'd like to know what others think about it too.

First things first. I am not trying to offend anyone who was involved in WWII or had loved ones or friends who were affected by it. If the mention of Nazis (actual Nazis, not people other people disagree with but can't frame a coherent argument against) and frank discussion of history offends you, this is an excellent time to stop reading this story. if you feel that I have not handled something respectfully, by all means tell me, but when you do, tell me how you think I can make things better. (If I seem short-tempered about this part, my country is having issues with it's history right now and I'm not very happy about it.)

I'm going to try and talk about the historical things I use in this fic. At this point, all we get here is the plot kick-off so I don't have much to talk about. Klavier could have had sunglasses when this story begins in 1941. Sunglasses became popular (in America, anyway) towards the end of the 1920s. This was believed to be partially from movie stars wearing them in public. If you do have questions about things that come up in the story, though, be sure and ask in a review and I will see what I can find out. Like I said, don't count on this story if you're taking a history test. My research is done via Wiki Walk and Googling things.

Please review, because feedback is the best, and I'll see you next time.

(Rev.10/2019)