A/N: I was really touched by case 2-4, but I didn't think that anything would come of it. However, doing yardwork at my grandparents' house a few days ago, this idea began to bloom inside my mind. I hope it's alright.

WARNING! SPOILERS through the end of JFA!

All characters belong to the almighty CAPCOM.

To Maya Fey, my insatiable little sister:

I don't know if you remember this, Maya, but when I left Kurain Village many years ago to begin my study of the law, you asked me why. "To defend the hopeless," I told you. "For justice." And of course that led to your next question: "What is justice?" At the time, I must have given you some textbook answer that I'd read in a case file somewhere, or maybe I just let my inexperienced heart feed you naïve words of good and evil. But today, although there is still so much that I don't know, I am here to give you a real answer, the answer of someone who has realized what it truly means to be a "defense attorney".

I want to tell you about something that you didn't have the opportunity to see, as you were somewhat busy being held hostage. In that courtroom, Phoenix showed nothing short of legendary courage when he defended Matt Engarde to save you, Maya. He did anything and everything in and beyond his power to drag the trial out. He bluffed, he yelled, he threw insults and evidence around like Kleenex. Anything.

Anything.

Anything to give Gumshoe- to give you- just a little more time. That's what I imagine was going through his head. I know that's what I was thinking. And then- it was over. In all the time I've known Phoenix, I've never, never seen him resign himself so completely, his head in hands, speechless with despair. He didn't understand anything anymore. He didn't believe that justice could exist- after all, what sort of justice would hold your life in its palm and command him to set a murderer free? He asked me- and I'm sure himself- Who am I protecting? What am I as defense attorney? Why am I fighting?

Justice is the puppet of the law, Maya, and we are the puppeteers. But the strings of the law easily break and tangle with each other. Justice dangles its head and looks away.

Then what is left to those who dedicate their lives to this game of the courtroom?

The feeling you get when the pieces, against all odds, fall together and present to you an image of victory for the innocent. The sound of Gumshoe's war cry and tires screeching against pavement, bringing you the truth wrapped in a scruffy old coat. The look on Miles Edgeworth's face when he began to trust that together, we would figure out where to go. How Engarde screamed in fear at the calm voice of a bellboy over a transmitter. When a wounded prosecutor burst in with evidence her greatest enemy had requested. The taste of bitter- and sometimes sweet- defeat. And the tears that came to Phoenix's eyes when he was able to hold you in his arms again.

That, my baby sister-

That is justice.

With love ,

Mia Fey