Reconciliation

OK, so this is the sequel to Earthquake! I hope you enjoy it as much as I have coming up with it. :)

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Phoenix Wright saga, Miles Edgeworth (*sigh*), or the picture shown above. (Whoever did that is a pretty good artist. :D)
The only things I do own are this fanfiction and the ideas behind it.

Chapter 1: This Is An Office?!

Apollo Justice was watering Charley, his mentor's pot plant, as he looked slowly around the room that made up the Wright Anything Agency. It was a disorganised and cluttered office with magic tricks, poker chips and one or two empty grape juice bottles strewed around the place, but it was to be expected, wasn't it? After all, an amateur lawyer like Apollo sharing the office with a professional lawyer and poker player, and relaxing in it with both him and his aspiring magician of a daughter was not something you would see every day.

After making sure that he had put the exact amount of water in Charley's pot- Phoenix Wright, his mentor and good friend, was extremely fond of Charley and insisted that Apollo tried his utmost best to keep him in pristine condition- he sat down and placed his hands behind his head in relaxation.

I must say, I've grown to love this place. I really haven't thanked Mr Wright enough for letting me work here; I mean, he agreed to mentor me after my original mentor was arrested, he helped me through a lot of things and he….inspired me. He always did, and I-

Sadly, Apollo's introspection was interrupted by a series of loud knocks intermittently sounding from outside the front door. Getting off the sofa in shock, he stood watching the door in silence until he heard a very familiar voice.

"Hey, Apollo? Could you let us in?"

Ah, it's just Mr Wright, he thought, walking towards the door and reaching for the rusted doorknob. Hang on…let 'us' in?

Opening the door a very small fraction, he sighed in relief to see a man wearing a blue beanie hat smiling up at him, and let him in. Apollo sat back down and made himself comfortable while he waited for Phoenix to close the door; a cold breeze was rolling in, and it made both of them didn't close the door, however, and finally out of curiosity Apollo peered over at the entrance to see what exactly his mentor was waiting for. He didn't have to wait long, for Miles Edgeworth, esteemed prosecutor and logical genius, walked inside and immediately turned in shock towards Phoenix.

"Wright…" he gaped, searching the room for any sign of cleanliness, "T-this is….an office?!"

O-offices are supposed to be clean….tidy…. in order….and at least somewhere you can work!H-how does he…

Phoenix chuckled and closed the door behind Edgeworth with a slam, causing him to jump and hastily look behind him.

"Welcome to the Wright Anything Agency, Edgeworth."

Apollo jumped at the name 'Edgeworth'. Indeed, even after all these years Edgeworth had been able to maintain his reputation, and as well as wanting to meet a man of his calibre Apollo had also heard much about Edgeworth from Phoenix. At nights, before Trucy went to sleep, Phoenix would tell his adopted daughter story after story about his past; most of the said stories including Edgeworth. Apollo was able to hear these accounts easily- as he lived next door to them- and even though he thought that a lot of the information was heavily exaggerated (His assistant would never be able to eat that many burgers…right?), he couldn't help but listen intently to them, fascinated by each and every detail.

Sadly, the harsh reality was that Apollo would never be able to experience anything as amazing as what his mentor had done- or so he thought.

Right, Apollo. Try introducing yourself. I-It isn't going to be that hard, is it…?

"G-good afternoon, sir. I-I'm Apollo…Apollo Justice." he managed to get out, holding out his hand.

Edgeworth seemed taken aback by Apollo's sudden greeting, but nevertheless shook his hand back, turning Apollo a faint shade of pink. "Miles Edgeworth," he began, a smile creeping onto his lips, "Nice to meet you."

An awkward silence filled the room as Phoenix went to prepare some tea (Earl Grey, one sugar, a short dash of milk- just how Edgeworth liked it) and Apollo struggled to think of what to say.

C-come on, Apollo! You can at least think of something….For goodness sake, this is Miles Edgeworth you're speaking to here!

"Uh…um….so, what brings you to our humble office? Heh heh…" he spluttered, trying to supress his nerves as best he could. Edgeworth, at Apollo's strange question, sat down and presently received a cup of Earl Grey from Phoenix.

"It's a long story, fanboy." interrupted Phoenix, collapsing on the sofa beside Edgeworth. Apollo, however, merely laughed at his new accolade- seeming much more confident than before.

"Fanboy? Mr Edgeworth, you should have heard Mr Wright talking about you. He would go on and on for hours about your adventures together..."

"Th-that's enough, Apollo." Phoenix blushed, turning towards Edgeworth in utter embarrassment and looking down at the carpet beneath his feet."Sorry, Edgeworth. Ijust couldn't tell Trucy about my past without mentioning you…"

Edgeworth, for a moment, was touched by Wright's remark- but his sudden happiness was broken by a short, agitated scream and the slam of the door being thrown open.

"Daddy! I can't find Marvin anywhere….!" a young girl of about 15, clad in extremely strange magician's attire, cried out as she jumped into her father's outstretched arms- choking back tears and trying her best to calm herself down. Slowly and tenderly, Phoenix reached out his hand and stroked Trucy's head, which to Edgeworth's shock worked perfectly; she immediately fell silent, thoughts of the situation she faced that could make or break her performance the following day forgotten for a brief moment.

"Do you think he ran off in the quake? He'd probably be scared.." she murmured, looking around the room for any sign of her furry assistant. "I-I-"

"Hush."

Phoenix stood up, leaving Trucy sitting on the couch, and turned to her with a look of fierce determination in his eyes; he knew it was time for a thorough investigation, and as long as he lived he would not leave a stone unturned.

"Me and Apollo will look in the apartments for you, and you and Mr. Edgeworth over there will look in here, 'kay?"

"Yep!" Trucy agreed, an excited smile lighting up her face. Running up to Edgeworth, she shook his hand as the two defence attorneys left to search for Marvin upstairs.

Edgeworth sat, stock still, thoughts running through his head as Trucy grinned childishly up at him.

I-I never thought…Wright, of all people, as a father…He's raised his daughter extremely , I can't help thinking that she acts a bit young for her age. Is it just me…?

"So you're Mr. Edgeworth!" she exclaimed, looking him up and down in a manner that made Edgeworth feel very uneasy.

"You look exactly like Daddy described you. He says you're his best friend! I've always wanted to meet you, you know, because Daddy always tells me about the exciting things you did back in the day, and…"

Chuckling as Trucy continued to ramble on, Edgeworth turned away and let out a sigh of pure relief.

He didn't forget me…

"Mr. Edgeworth?"

He never did…

"Mr. Edgeworth? We have to search for Marvin!"

And he still cares, after all these years.
I owe him so, so much-

"Mr. Edgeworth!"

SMACK!

"O-ow! What was that for?! Be careful!"

Clutching his left arm in pain, Edgeworth snapped back to reality and turned around, a harsh, icy glare in his eyes. Trucy took a step back, alarmed, her eyes wide- and Edgeworth let out a small gasp of shock.

D-did I frighten her? What did I-

…I think I shouldn't have riled up so easily...That was foolish of me.

Edgeworth fell silent and hung his head, almost ashamed of himself. As he stared at the floor he heard a voice from long ago; a voice that he had tried to forget but could not, even though it caused him great pain.

It was the voice of his father.

"Miles….Stay calm, and relax. Just apologize as best you can."

But, Father, he thought, how should I apologize? I don't know the mind of a teenager- and I do not intend to- however….

"Try, Miles. You can do it, and I bet she'll be happy when you do."

After receiving no other reply from the voice that was now ringing inside his head, Edgeworth sighed and looked up at Trucy.

"Now, um….I didn't mean to shout at you," Edgeworth began, as Trucy raised an eyebrow, "but that really hurt, so please don't do it again."

Trucy paused for a moment, as if hesitating, then raced up to Edgeworth and worriedly looked about his arm.

"I-I'm sorry! Did I actually hurt you badly? Please forgive me, Mr. Edgeworth!" she exclaimed, but before she could say another word Edgeworth had put his index finger to her mouth, silencing her completely.

"It's alright. Accidents happen, you know." he reassured her, smiling weakly."Now, why don't we search for Marvin?"

"Yes!" Trucy exclaimed, hurriedly running off and, to Edgeworth's despair, out of sight. Sighing, Edgeworth sat down on the sofa and pondered what he should do to help find Trucy's beloved mouse.

She really is quite a unique girl…I guess I will have to investigate alone, then, even though I have no idea where I should look.

….Hmmm….

So, the position of the cage on the floor shows where it fell from, and if the poor animal ran in the opposite direction….

"Eureka!" Edgeworth cried out, leaping to his feet in excitement- then after hearing peals of laughter from directly above him, turned a bright shade of red that almost matched the hue of his suit.

"Pfft….Edgeworth, what exactly are you doing down there? Watching the Steel Samurai? Working out some algebra? Doing a crossword? M-"

"Be quiet, Wright. I think I've found the mouse," Edgeworth replied, briskly walking over to a human-sized box which made up part of a magic trick and listening closely to every sound, "so I need to concentrate."

"OK, OK, Sherlock." Phoenix laughed, with a sudden hint of disappointment in his voice; it seemed that he had been searching the majority of the time that he was upstairs but had no luck in finding Marvin."Just don't throw a tantrum if you can't find him.""Oh, I assure you, Wright- I will find that mouse before you do.""Really?""Really.""OK, Edgeworth- I bet you a dollar you won't find him.""Deal."

Both of the men laughed, and Apollo sighed heavily, walked over to the pile of thick cardboard boxes he was about to look through, and placed them in front of Phoenix.

They're acting like two children about to have a race…

"Look, Mr. Wright. If you want to beat Mr. Edgeworth you may as well start searching." Apollo insisted, gesturing towards the boxes as Phoenix smirked almost triumphantly- totally lost in another world. Remembering all the times that he had faced Edgeworth in court- and beaten him- only made Phoenix more and more determined to win.

He felt like he was investigating a particularly hard case with his trusty assistant, examining every single place and leaving nothing untouched. After many long years without that feeling, he couldn't wait to get started with this task- even if it was just searching for his daughter's mouse.

"Just you wait, Edgeworth. Just you wait."

So, how did you like it? I hope you did. :3

Reviews are helpful! You can tell me if I've done anything wrong (I am a tiny bit forgetful sometimes...), by all means suggest ideas for what Edgey and Phoenix can get up to next, and just state your opinion. :)

...That's about all I have to tell you, so keep on reading and writing.

Tschüß!

(P.S: The word above means bye in German. :D)