Disclaimer: I do not own Ace Attorney or any of its characters.

A/n: I've recently just started playing the games again and I felt like I had to write this. It's a short Phoenix/Maya story, probably around five chapters at the most. Spoilers for all games I suppose.

Enjoy.

3 Days

By TheSylverBlue

Chapter 1: Bubbles and a Prediction

"I wonder if I should open it."

A small girl dressed in pink robes sat on the floor in front of the office sofa, staring at the small plastic bottle in her hand with a look of uncertainty. It was one of those mini bubble bottles complete with a stylish bubble wand that Phoenix had bought for her yesterday. She slowly and carefully placed the item on the floor in front of her and gave it a little poke, moving the bottle a few centimeters away. Should she open it? She was really excited but fearful at the same time. From what her cousin Maya told her, blowing bubbles was a magic far beyond that of spirit channeling and one must be careful not to mess with its incredible power. She let out a small sigh and glanced over at the lawyer who hadn't moved from his spot for quite some time now.

They haven't had a single client in the last three weeks. Yesterday went by slow and the three of them didn't really do much except for a bit of grocery shopping but that's it. With no current cases to work on, there wasn't much to do but clean the office and watch TV, which they had been doing for the majority of the week. Hopefully, today would be different. After all, they didn't have much time left.

Phoenix sat quietly at his desk, his eyes glued to the daily newspaper as he waited for his young assistant to return from the general store. She was as perky as ever when he asked her to pick up a few things from the market. As soon as he flashed 15 dollars, she was like 'yes sir!', snatched the money and scurried out the door like a super speeding rabbit. No one really knew where she got all her energy from, but that's Maya and he wouldn't want her to change one bit. At least now she was back to her old self, probably much stronger than before.

He felt a sense of relief whenever he saw her cheerful and spirited personality. Ever since the craziness back in February, Maya had become somewhat fragile. She would break down and start blaming herself for the death of her loved ones. But he had been there to comfort her, letting her know that she shouldn't blame herself over something she had no control over. It took some time, but day by day she began to believe his words and that made Phoenix glad.

He tore his eyes away from his reading material and turned to look at the calendar hanging behind him. There were a few circled dates, but one particular date caught his attention. Sadness filled his eyes when he remembered exactly what that day meant. In three days, Maya and Pearl would be on the train for Kurain Village, where Maya is to become the new master. It wasn't really a big deal, right? He could still see them every now and then, but Maya would be far busier than ever with her training and her new role as Master.

Would he still be a big part of her life? Or would she focus more on her village, sweep him aside and forget all about him?

He quickly shook off the depressing thought and returned to his reading. He didn't want to focus on that right now, knowing it would only bring him down. Instead, he'd rather concentrate on other things like good old spring cleaning. Even though he didn't really enjoy the idea of cleaning all that much, it was the only way he could keep himself busy and not think about whatever lies ahead. It was a perfect excuse, for him anyway. He closed his eyes and bit down on his lower lip. Whatever he was reading, it wasn't exactly filling up his mind the way he wanted it to. He glanced up at the broken clock hanging on the wall across from him. There was one more thing he had to fix up in the office, and this time he wasn't going to just put it off again.

Pulling the newspaper up closer to his face, he leaned farther back into his chair, bringing both legs to rest lazily on his desk. After a few minutes, he reached for his mug and brought it up to his lips, sipping its contents as he looked over some strange ads that didn't quite make sense. Suddenly the door flew open, startling the man so much that he nearly spilled his coffee.

"I'm back!"

Phoenix set the mug on top of his desk and looked up to see his assistant carrying a small plastic bag in her right hand while striking up one of her 'success' poses. Pearl skipped happily toward her cousin and stared at the bag with curious eyes.

"Is there anything for me, Mystic Maya?" she asked.

Maya shook her head. "No, sorry Pearly, but there wasn't enough money."

"Aww." The small girl returned to where she sat earlier, lowering her head as she walked.

"Poor kid," Maya said, watching her cousin poke the bubble bottle repeatedly until it fell on its side.

"Did you get the things I asked for, Maya?" Phoenix asked as he stood from his chair and sauntered over to her.

"Yup! They're all here!" Maya chirped, smiling brightly at him. She held the bag up to her face and peered inside. "Let's see, we've got-"

"Okay, let's go fix that clock now!" Phoenix quickly interrupted her. Walking over to the small storage closet, he grabbed the step ladder and carried it over to where the clock was hanging. He paused for a moment and scratched his head, turning to Maya after noticing the sudden silence.

"That wasn't very nice, Nick," she spoke.

He flashed a smile at her. "Sorry, I didn't have the time to listen to you. I guess it's important that I fix it."

She giggled at his poor attempt at a joke. "That's so lame, Nick."

"Now if you excuse me, miss. I have to replace some batteries." He rubbed his hands together and took a deep breath.

"Wow, you seem to be really excited over this. This and all the constant cleaning that you do. You must be getting old."

Phoenix rolled his eyes in annoyance. "I am not old. And besides, Mr. Tickin has been dead for almost five months now. Don't you think we should bring him back to life?"

"You should never mess with the dead, Nick. But yeah I guess it's for the best. It's just that Mr. Tickin can get a little annoying at times. At least Charley is as silent as a plant. Isn't that right, Charley?" She glanced over to where Charley was.

"Charley is a plant, Maya."

"No way, really?" Maya gasped as if she just realized the truth.

Phoenix simply looked at her in disbelief. Was she joking or being serious? He could never tell. Not that it mattered anyway. He had a task to complete and he was going to do it now.

He held on to the side handles of the ladder, making sure it was stable before he climbed. Even at this height, Phoenix couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable, but compared to running across a flaming bridge, this wasn't all that bad. He placed one hand against the wall to steady himself and called for his assistant.

"Screwdriver." He extended his other hand toward Maya.

She lifted up the bag and searched through its contents, finding exactly what she was looking for. Handing over the small tool, she decided to repeat after him. "Screwdriver."

Phoenix stared at the screw that kept the clock securely attached to the wall. 'This should be fairly easy.' He thought to himself.

Inserting the tip of the screwdriver into the screw, he turned it only to find his hand stopping in place. He grunted and tried turning the tool again using more force this time. But still nothing happened. The screw didn't budge one bit. Gritting his teeth in frustration, he gripped the handle a little harder and tried again.

'It must be screwed in tighter than I thought.' Drops of sweat became visible on his face as he pushed the screwdriver in more forcefully, almost as if he were to cut the screw in half.

Maya looked up to see the annoyed expression on his face. 'Looks like Nick's having a little trouble up there. Hmm...'

"Um, Nick? Maybe you're supposed to be turning it in the other direction if you want to loosen the little guy."

He paused for a moment and stared blankly at the metal tool in his hand before continuing what he was doing. "No, I'm pretty sure this is the right way."

Maya rolled her eyes at him and sighed, muttering the word "guys" before turning to find her young cousin standing by the window with a sort of troubled look. Seeing as Phoenix was taking his sweet time in removing the screws, Maya decided to help Pearl out.

"What's up, Pearly?" Maya asked.

The small spirit medium looked up at her, a small frown visible on her face.

"I-I'm sorry, Mystic Maya. I think I'm a failure."

"What? Now, why would you say that?"

Pearl showed her the bottle. "There must be something wrong with me. I can't blow a bubble." Tears began to form in the little girl's eyes. "I think it's because I didn't train hard enough."

Maya gave her a soft smile. "Training has nothing to do with blowing bubbles, Pearly."

"Really?" She sniffed.

Maya nodded. "Here, I'll show you how it's done."

Pearl handed the bottle along with the bubble wand over to Maya.

"You were probably blowing a little too hard and that's why you couldn't form a bubble." Maya took the wand and dipped it a couple of times in the soapy water. "You have to blow real gentle to get a perfect bubble. Like this."

She held the bubble wand to her lips and softly blew into it, forming a long train of mini bubbles. Soon the room was filled with them.

Pearl gasped, "Mystic Maya, you're incredible! Look at all the bubbles!"

"Here, now you try." Maya gave the bottle back to Pearl. "And remember… slow and gentle if you want some good-looking bubbles or else they'll pop right away."

"Okay." Pearl did exactly what Maya told her to do. It was a complete success. "I did it! I blew one! Did you see that, Mystic Maya?"

Maya nodded cheerfully. "That was great Pearly! You'll be a professional bubble blower in no time."

Suddenly there was the sound of something small and metal hitting the floor, followed by Phoenix's loud voice.

"Ah ha! Take that, you stupid screw!" he shouted triumphantly.

Maya turned at the sound of his voice and dashed over to him. "Finally, man! That took you forever!"

He spoke in a delighted tone, "Yeah, well that screw was in tighter than you think! I had to use all of my awesome strength just to get it to budge." It was a lie really. Maya had been right about him turning it in the wrong direction, but heck he wasn't going to let her know that. It would only hurt his pride.

'Back to work.' Phoenix thought to himself as he removed the old batteries and dropped them into Maya's hand. Now there was one more thing he needed before the clock can function again. "I need the new batteries, Maya. And don't mix them up with the old ones."

"Right away, sir!" She saluted him before placing the new batteries in his open hand. "And they're fresh too."

He began to insert the batteries, but cursed to himself the minute he realized he had been putting the batteries in the wrong way.

Maya looked behind her to see Pearl blowing several bubbles at the two of them. "Having fun, Pearly?"

Pearl nodded happily. "The bubbles make everything look so romantic, don't they, Mystic Maya?"

Maya smiled at her young cousin.

"We've got ticking!" Phoenix exclaimed. He tightened the screws back to their original place, feeling proud of himself as he looked at the finished work. That was another job well done for the great Phoenix Wright. He nodded, patting himself on the back.

"Yay! Mr. Tickin is alive!" Pearl blew more bubbles in celebration.

Phoenix made his way down the ladder, handing the screwdriver over to Maya as he descended down the steps. He then felt a stinging pain in his right eye as soon as his feet hit the floor.

"Ack!" He began to lightly rub his eye with the back of his hand.

"You okay, Nick?" Maya asked unsure of what happened.

"Yeah, it's just… a bubble sort of flew into my eye and now it… kinda hurts."

"Aww… well, I guess you have Pearly to blame for that."

Phoenix blinked a couple of times and turned to look over at Pearl who was humming happily to herself as she continued to blow gentle bubbles everywhere.

"Here Nick, I'll go put away the ladder for you," Maya said, taking hold of the object.

"It's a step ladder," he corrected her.

"Whatever." She smiled at him before dragging it away and placing it back into the storage closet.

Phoenix suddenly felt someone tugging at his shirt. He looked down to see an overly excited Pearl.

"Hey, Pearls."

"Mr. Nick! Look at what I can do!" She took in a breath of air and slowly blew into the wand, creating one giant soapy bubble. It floated for a couple of seconds before it popped into tiny droplets.

He squatted down to her level, placing both his arms on his knees. "Those are some great bubble blowing techniques you've got."

"Ah, you really think so, Mr. Nick?" Pearl was enchanted. She delightfully offered him the bottle. "I bet you can blow beautiful bubbles too."

He quickly waved his hand and shook his head. "No thanks, Pearls. Bubble blowing really isn't my thing."

"That's okay, Mr. Nick. After all you need to be strong and manly for Mystic Maya."

He chuckled lightly at her. There was just no way to convince the young girl that he and Maya were just friends and nothing more…

'Just friends.' He thought.

"Okay!" Maya returned with a big smile. "Since we're all done here, I say it's time we have some fun for today!"

Phoenix smirked, rubbing the back of his neck in a sly manner. "I don't know, Maya. I'm kinda getting the urge to clean the toilet right now."

Maya stuck out her lower lip. "What? You just cleaned the toilet two hours ago!"

"No, I didn't," he answered simply.

Pearl began to jump up and down, immediately interrupting the two.

"Oh, I just remembered!" She put on a dreamy look. "I had the most wonderful dream last night and the two of you were in it."

Phoenix moved his gaze elsewhere, running a nervous hand through his spiky hair. "I… really… don't wanna know."

"What was it about? Oh, let me guess! I beat Nick at a burger eating contest, right?" Maya couldn't help but imagine herself standing on a table and holding up a trophy shaped like a giant burger, with Phoenix face down on his plate.

"No, it was a romantic dream and the both of you kissed. I sure hope it'll come true."

Phoenix softly patted the young one's head. "Dreams are just dreams, Pearls. They don't always come true."

She shook her head. "I'm sure this one will, Mr. Nick. Because I believe that in three days, you two will confess your love for one another."

A/n: Alrighty then, that's my first chapter. Let me know what you think. :)