Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth entered his office to find scrap paper on his polished desk. He suspected Gumshoe. He never understood Edgeworth's compulsion to keep his office immaculate. His room smelled of cleaner and tea, from the maid and the bellboy respectively. His suit, framed from his first case, didn't have a speck of dust left. With the rug freshly vacuumed, and the floors shined, the note didn't exactly blend in with the surroundings He sat down and began to crumple the paper, but a familiar scrawl jutted out at the edges.

Wright.

He smoothed out the paper, grumbling. The least he could have done was use a memo pad, where he was more likely to read it. This was torn from a notebook. And why was this in his office in the first place?

Morgan Fey is being transferred across the country. And Iris is being released. Both on December 15th. Thought you should know.

-Wright

Edgeworth dug his phone out of his pocket and dialed a number.

His secretary answered. "Sir?"

"Cancel all my appointments for the day," he said.

"Right away, sir."

He crumpled the note in a ball and tossed it in the trash receptacle as he left the office. The DL-6 incident ended seven years ago. Everyone involved was either dead, or simply gone. Especially in Wright's case, but Edgeworth had to shove that thought aside. These two women were the exception, but their connection was so subtle.

And of course, just as his framed suit did every day, he was reminded of Dahlia Hawthorne.

It wasn't like him to not recall going down the stairs and into the half empty Prosecutor's Block. He wasn't even sure if he should be driving. It helped that the road was so empty; not many people were headed to the Borsche Bowl Club at four in the afternoon.

When he pulled into the parking lot, he got a lot of funny looks. People on the ragged end of life took drags from cigarettes, others sat in trucks that billowed diesel smoke. In his sports car, 'garish' some people called them, he stood out far too much. This is why he never came here to visit. He would probably get keyed.

Thankfully, once inside, he knew where to go. The piano sang clumsy notes as he stepped around large banquet tables, mostly empty. The dark décor and lighting added an air of mystery that he knew was just an illusion. Any attention the patrons had remained on the piano, not because it was any good, but because there was nothing else that warranted it. He pulled a chair at the table closest to the large instrument and waited.

Wright raised one finger, even though he was still playing. The melody stuttered. Edgeworth nodded and leaned back into his chair. The sound filled out again, and Edgeworth closed his eyes in thought.

When Wright finished playing, no one protested as the notes ceased. Edgeworth opened his eyes to see his old colleague sitting in front of him.

"Edgeworth." Wright rested the back of his head in his hands, elbows sticking out side to side. "It's been a while. You look good."

"You don't," Edgeworth said bluntly.

Wright chuckled. His beanie shifted. "To the point, as ever."

Edgeworth no longer flinched looking at his friend's stubble, dirty clothes, and the obnoxious beanie. But he always felt a pang in his chest.

"How did you get into my office?"

Wright barked a laugh. "Seriously? That's what you have to say to me?"

"Yes," Edgeworth shot back. A waiter approached, but he waved him away. "You'd be in a world of trouble if you were caught in the A block. What is wrong with you?"

Wright rolled his eyes. "I didn't step foot in your office. I sent Gumshoe instead."

Edgeworth deflated. "I see."

The waiter made one more round. Wright ordered grape juice before Edgeworth could say anything. He relented and ordered the same.

"Okay, I'll bite," Edgeworth said once the waiter was out of earshot. "Why would I care about two accomplices of murder?"

Wright gave him a side-eye. "The DL-6 Incident," he said slowly. "They're the only ones left from it all."

Edgeworth quelled the feeling of agreement. "They had nothing to do with it."

Wright smiled. "Didn't they?"

"They're only involved because of that spirit medium." The words 'spirit medium' still soured Edgeworth's tongue.

"It didn't just ruin your life, remember?"

The waiter brought their drinks. Edgeworth took a single sip, considering. Even if it was DL-6 related, so what? The case was solved just about a decade before. But...

"Are you going to see Iris? After she's released?"

Wright paused. He took one massive gulp of grape juice.

"Probably not."

"Why not?"

Wright just shook his head.

He understood.

Edgeworth didn't stay for much longer, and he left behind an almost full cup. He would never admit it to Wright, but he couldn't stand the sight of his friend like this. Iris wouldn't be able to either, and he wondered if that was the reason he wouldn't see her.

He wondered if Dahlia Hawthorne could see Wright now, she would consider this a victory.

The thought drove Edgeworth back to town, but this time, to the police department. No one asked questions as he pushed past the detectives' desks. Almost all of them were different faces than the ones back then, with only a few loyal ones left. Like Gumshoe. And Ema's presence was a given. No one asked questions as he made his way to the records room, as was his right.

He coughed as he opened the door, dust billowing in his face. Shelves were crammed so full of case files that the manila folders began to crease, the papers dirtying if they stuck out at all. He understood that the Chief of Police and his officers had begun to digitize the room, but it would take time. An entire shelf was missing its files, thankfully more recent ones. The one he was looking for was far from recent.

He knew exactly where the files on Dahlia, Iris, Misty Fey, and Morgan Fey were located. They all sat on the same shelf, due to their relation in both blood and the cases they were involved in. His stomach still recoiled at the name Misty Fey. He avoided her file, which was immense, and looked at the others. Dahlia was the largest of all of them, and he found himself pulling the file anyway.

Iris's words echoed in his head: "I think the incident is the result of immense spiritual power that was unleashed."

And then Phoenix's shortly before he was disbarred: "The pain the Fey bloodline causes is often unbearable."

Dahlia's file tripled in size since he last looked at it.

Iris promised after the conclusion of Misty Fey's murder that she would tell all: everything that she could about her sister and the lives the two of them led. Edgeworth advised her that the truth could serve as penance, and all the time at the monastery wouldn't equal its worth. She took his words to heart. After the emotional scene between her and Wright, she took to the pen and must have told every single painful, stifled detail. Edgeworth continued to look at interviewee names: Mia Fey. Maya Fey, even though she scarcely knew her cousin. Even Morgan Fey and Dahlia's father were contacted. He doubted they said anything of much value, but regardless, Dahlia's entire life – or what was left of it – was contained in these pages.

And yet he didn't know a word of it.

The truth will set you free.

Ironic, then, that almost a decade after Dahlia's death he still didn't know what made her. Even with the file in his hands, he was reluctant to go any further.

But Morgan Fey was to be relocated, and Iris released. If there was a time to learn...

With great foreboding, Edgeworth found a chair. This had to be a bad idea, opening old wounds. He still saw Terry Fawles and the spray of blood slumped over the witness stand behind his eyelids sometimes, but he also saw his comrade playing the piano, somewhere he didn't belong. He opened the file, started at the very beginning, in the year 1993 in Kurain Village.

And he began to read.

TBC

Still working on Murphy's Law, just wanted to try something different. :)