#Franziska and Gumshoe are survivors

[alynnl]

I've been thinking about AA4 era Phoenix (Beanix, if you will) - and the theory that he distanced himself from his friends from the original trilogy so that they wouldn't get caught up in the web of Kristoph Gavin's conspiracies.

It's a nice theory, but I have one objection.

Does Phoenix Wright really believe his friends to be so incapable of defending themselves?

With Maya and Pearl I guess it's understandable. They almost got caught up in their own family's plot in AA 2 and 3 so maybe it's best they're well out of it.

I guess you could include Larry with the Fey girls in the "for the best he's not involved" category, since he probably would be unlucky enough to truly be in danger (if Kristoph took any interest in him, that is.)

But then we get to Edgeworth. And by extension, Gumshoe (possibly Kay) and Franziska.

Edgeworth and his whole team have proven themselves to be very capable of holding their own, and helping Phoenix solve cases when he couldn't do it alone. AA2 and 3 show Edgeworth, Gumshoe and Franziska coming through when it really counts, and Phoenix is grateful for their assistance.

On top of that, the Investigations games show Edgeworth taking down multiple corrupt people, making me believe he'd be more than a match for Kristoph if they did face off.

Edgeworth vs. Kristoph would have been a great logic chess sequence if it actually happened.

There's only one way to explain Edgeworth's absence from AA 4, and that's him being out of the country during the Zak Gramarye trial and the subsequent fallout. And perhaps one of Phoenix's regrets was not taking the time to contact Edgeworth and ask his advice before the trial started.

Maybe my bias towards him is showing, but I feel like that trial would've gone differently if Edgeworth was there instead of Klavier. Perhaps it was a coincidence, or maybe it was by design, but we'll probably never know for sure.

[wardencommanderrodimiss]

More AA Star Wars AU, now moving to the Next Gen.

Kristoph is a Senator from an old, powerful political family who seems initially favorable to the Jedi. He worked with Phoenix during Phoenix’s initial investigations into Senator von Karma’s corruption, but he’s just been biding his time to figure out how he can frame the Jedi for treason against the Republic. Which he does. The Republic’s armies turn against the Jedi and it’s a little less massacre and a little more civil war, albeit a short one that ends with the Jedi being pretty badly massacred. But the chaos of a galaxy being suddenly plunged into a short war against what were supposed to be its peacekeepers - though who have been more and more disdained for more shutting themselves away in their temples and less trying to keep the peace - leaves time for some actual treason against the Republic to be committed.

Kristoph is busy attempting to consolidate some power and position himself as the power behind the next chancellor, and every chancellor after, and then he kind of looks around and finds that the planet of Khura’in has done some actual treason against the Republic and actually gone off and straight taken over, and this is an Empire now, with Empress Ga’ran at its head, and her husband ruling Khura’in specifically. And Kristoph is just like “what, no, this was supposed to be MY power-grabbing opportunity!” and he turns around and starts trying to track down the last of the Jedi so that he can organize them into a rebellion against this new Empire, so that when it falls, Kristoph can be the hero who leads a new government out of this empire’s ashes.

Phoenix is aware that Kristoph is a backstabbing bastard, but since he’s not running a shoot-on-sight policy against the Jedi right now, Phoenix deigns to work with him. Phoenix doesn’t trust him enough to let any of his friends work with him, though.

(I’m gonna say that the Gavins are from Naboo, simply because I think it’s funny and also makes sense that they would come from somewhere with such culturally extravagant fashions. Also this from last time we were on about this AU:

Klavier with two different extravagant hairstyles every day and Apollo’s like “we are rebels and smugglers on the run how the fuck do you do that”. I’ll come back to Klavier later.)

Miles, Franziska, Gumshoe, and Ray fled to Zheng Fa, a planet that was nominally part of the Republic, but always valued its freedom and distance from the Senate, and which has now pulled even further away from the Empire. Zheng Fa is in a position that it can be neutral on the Empire and maintain that independence, bolstered by support of its clone army, identical and terrifying soldiers in black loyal only to the royal family. Lang, no longer a Senator, is now the general of this army. Justine remains in the Galactic Senate, the powerless body that it now is, but she has sent her son to take sanctuary on Zheng Fa, afraid that someone may try to use him to get to her. Sebastian, like Lang, has left the Senate; he has some weak connection to the Force, not enough that he was taken by the Jedi, but enough that Miles is now training him in secret. Lang is glad to have their help, having previously been betrayed by his lead bodyguard, Shih-na, who turned out to be a Clawdite assassin. As is the kind of shit that happens here.

Right before the fall of the Jedi, Phoenix was given an apprentice, a Togruta girl named Trucy, who he hides away on Dathomir. He trains her as a Jedi whenever he can sneak away back to Dathomir, and while he is gone, Maya and Pearl train her in the ways of the Witches. 

Returning to the topic of Khura’in, it has always harbored dislike of the Jedi, much like Mandalore, despite Khura’in being a core world. Members of the Khura’inese royal family are often uniquely gifted in the Force; the Jedi have historically sought to bring them for training in their temples, while Khura’in refuses to give up its royal children. However, without the rigid structured training of the Jedi, these often become dangerous to themselves and their people - reckless, cruel, and susceptible to corruption by the dark side. Khura’in is often rocked by infighting, and it sees frequent turnover in its representatives in the Galactic Senate as new Queens come to power and appoint new senators. 

The citizens, and the Republic and the Jedi at large, hoped for some stability when Queen Amara gained power. She opened her planet to the overtures of the Jedi and soon married Dhurke, a Jedi Knight who had been sent on assignment to Khura’in. This is wildly against the Jedi Code, and he probably should’ve been tossed out of the Order, but the Council made an exception for him because they were desperate to build a relationship with Khura’in. Dhurke and a few other Jedi founded a training academy on Khura’in; Queen Amara was still reluctant to give Force-sensitive children up to Coruscant, but bringing aspects of that Jedi Temple training to Khura’in is a compromise everyone was willing to make. On giving birth to her first child, Amara agreed that as soon as he showed signs of Force-proficiency, she would allow the Khura’inese academy to train him, and eventually, when he was older, allow him to go to the Temple on Coruscant for further training. 

Unfortunately, Amara was assassinated, and it was blamed on her Jedi husband Dhurke. He managed to escape from the planet, taking with him the Force-sensitive children he had begun to train, and the Jedi who had come from the Temple, into exile. Some Jedi chose to stay and fight in Khura’in’s civil war to overthrow Ga’ran, while others returned to the temple on Coruscant and were told that the Jedi could not intervene, as this was a civil matter for Khura’in. After several years of fighting, Dhurke sent most of the Khura’inese padawans to Coruscant’s temple to keep them safe there; he kept with him only his own child, Nahyuta, fearing that some agent of Ga’ran’s would find Nahyuta were he in the Temple on Coruscant. 

Apollo is a Togruta boy who was found alone orphaned on Khura’in, where Dhurke took him in and began training him as a Jedi. Apollo was then sent to the temple on Coruscant and trained there; he was a teenage padawan when the Republic turned against the Jedi and he managed to escape the fighting. He eventually joined on to the crew of the Cosmos, a trader ship whose crew included pilots Starbuck and Clay, mechanic Metis, Mandalorian-exile weaponsmith Aura, and an ever-increasing number of droids that Metis and Aura built. 

Aura and her brother Simon were the children of Death Watch exiles living on Mandalore’s moon. After their parents were killed in the fighting between Death Watch and the Mandalore governing forces, the two of them left their home to sell their services as mercenaries. There they met Metis and her daughter, Athena, a Force-sensitive child who Metis refused to give up to the Jedi, and she has been on the run since, determined to keep her child whatever it took. They travel together for years and get a small ship of their own, but they are caught in the civil war between the Republic and the Jedi, attacked, and separated. Metis and Aura make it out to join a freighter crew with their skills; Aura privately blames Athena for the loss of her brother, being sure that the Republic/Empire came after them because of Athena’s Force-powers.

Simon and Athena, however, do survive, and with them Simon’s droid TK-A4 (”Taka”). Unsure of what to do next, they return to Mandalore and for a time join the Mandalorian fight against the new Empire. While they’re there, Simon steals the darksaber, because why not. Nobody else here deserves it! When Mandalore falls to the empire’s control, the two of them flee and become bounty hunters, seeking any Jedi survivors who would be able to train Athena. They hear rumors of Phoenix, and on hunting him down, he sends them to Zheng Fa for Athena to be trained by Miles.

Meanwhile, Klavier, Kristoph’s younger brother, who Kristoph’s been hoping to raise into a staunch and loyal political ally to help Kristoph with his end goals, decides that he doesn’t have the temperament for politics, and together with a member of Kristoph’s guard, Daryan, runs off to become bounty hunters. They aren’t terrible at it, but Daryan has more love for money than he does sense in his head, and deciding that it’s the real best way to get rich, Daryan, against Klavier’s wishes, turns their crew to spice smuggling and gets them caught up in a terrible triple-crossing scheme that ends with their whole crew, except Klavier and the blind Togruta bounty hunter Lamiroir, who hired onto their ship a few months prior, dead.

Left stranded, and regretting every choice that has led him to this moment, Klavier almost considers returning to his brother, and politics, but Lamiroir talks him out of it. She reminds him about all the monstrous deeds they’ve seen that the Empire has done, and how ineffective the Senate is. If they want to do something to save the galaxy, it’s got to be done from the front lines.

Apollo separates from the crew of the Cosmos, hoping to find his way back to the Khura’inese exiles and find Dhurke and Nahyuta again. He ends up crash-landing on Dathomir, where the Fey clan find him and rescue him. Trucy latches on to him immediately, eager for news of the galaxy at large, and having hoped for a pilot to find their way to Dathomir to help Trucy leave and go looking for Phoenix again, having sensed that he’s in trouble. Apollo agrees, not wanting to piss off a clan of witches when he’s at their mercy, but once they’re off the planet, Apollo and Trucy quickly find that they were both Jedi once, and bond over that and the fact that they’re both some of the only Togruta they’ve met, having both grown up amidst other species in the time since the Jedi were destroyed.

Their quest to find Phoenix, which has already waylaid Apollo’s quest of finding Dhurke, is further waylaid when they pick up a distress signal and go to the rescue of Klavier and Lamiroir. They end up banding together in opposition to the Empire, which is after them for reasons unknown (it’s Lamiroir; she doesn’t remember she used to be a Jedi), and several crime syndicates who are after Klavier for what Daryan did to screw them over. Klavier still believes the lies about the Jedi, that they were enemies of the Republic, which makes this a bit of a difficult arrangement for Apollo and Trucy. Their weird little crew is finally rounded out when Trucy’s search for Phoenix brings them to Ema, a part-time mechanic, part-time medic, who is very sick of her dull life, which has been dull since she met Phoenix like, over a decade ago, and signs onto the ship without any of them asking her to come with them. (Trucy was gonna ask though.)

They pretty much just careen around the galaxy helping people, fighting criminals and Imperials, and doing crime themselves.

-

Species Breakdown:

Human: Klavier, Kristoph (Naboo), Simon, Aura (Mandalore)

Togruta: Apollo, Trucy, Thalassa

*I decided Apollo’s a Togruta because they’ve got the montrals that could be like Apollo’s hair horns, so now the rest of his family is, too. Maybe Trucy’s only half Togruta? Maybe Zak was human. I’m not sure what concept I like best.

And everyone else again, I don’t know! Suggestions?

[imperfectfools]

I imagine in response to Miles waking up in that hospital room thinking everyone's dead when they're not, that Phoenix and Franziska and Gumshoe burst on in, and Miles is just so confused and is just "I don't understand. Did I succeed this time? It doesn't feel like it so what... why...?"

(( o H BOY FUCK YOU ))

Miles stares at the ceiling, counting the tiles. He stillhurts all over, but maybe the task of counting will distract him sufficientlythat he can slip out of reality and once again be able to forget that everyonehe loves is dead and gone.

That an accident took away everyone whilepurposeful intent has never been able to take him.

Frantic slaps of footsteps sound down the hallway, drawingclose to the door, but he doesn’t stir. None of it matters. Not anymore.

“Edgeworth!”

That voice… no… no…. But he looks over and his heartstops.

Phoenix stands just inside the doorway, arm in a sling and aBand-Aid above his eyebrow, but otherwise fine. He steps out of theway and Franziska hobbles in, halfway supported by Gumshoe.She’s in a hospital gown and Gumshoe’s head is bandaged within an inch of itslife. But they’re there.

He’s hallucinating. He must be. They’re dead. Hesaw the news; they’re dead and gone and….

“Scruffy!”

And next thing he knows, Franziska is beside him and has hishand in hers and is pressing it against her cheek. And Miles can feel it.He can feel her skin and its warm and….

“How…? I thought… I thought I survived…. Did… Did Isucceed this time?”

Franziska winces, shoulders shaking. Phoenix looks startled,eyes going a bit wide at ‘this time’. Gumshoe swallows, keeping a hold ofFranziska to support her.

“No… No, you didn’t and thank God you didn’t!” Shemanages, tears starting to leak from her eyes. They’re wet on his fingers,another bit of evidence against what he knows to be true.

“But I saw…. the tunnel collapse; there were no survivors!You… you can’t be alive!”

Franziska hiccups and Phoenix finally pipes up. “It wasa bit touch and go, but we were in just the right part of the train. No one gotout unscathed but we’re alive.”

“Kay and Maya too, sir! They’re still bedridden, though.Technically Ms. von Karma shouldn’t be-.”

“Shut it, Scruffy!” Franziska snaps before turning back toher brother. Her mouth opens but she can’t make any words come out. Miles triesto say something to fill the space, but his vocal chords won’t cooperate eitherand instead of words a sob erupts from his throat. 

He thought he lost them. He thought he lost everyone.

There’s more frantic footsteps. “Ms. von Karma!” Anurse bustles in. “I’m terribly for the disturbance, but Ms. von Karmaneeds to get back to bed and back on fluids!” She looks over and clicks hertongue.

Miles glances down and notes a spreading red stain on Franziska’shospital gown.

The nurse gestures at Gumshoe, who obediently guides areluctant Franziska from Miles. “No! No don’t you dare! I’ll dock yourpay, Scruffy! Scruffy!” Her threats are ultimately hollow, the tripover made her dizzy and weak and she’s easily carried away.

Phoenix cracks a small, sad smile at Miles, pulling up aplastic chair and sitting. He offers his hand and Miles is all too glad to takeit. He needs to know he isn’t dreaming or hallucinating. That this is real.

“How’d you know I was here?”

“Sebastian Debeste? He told us.” Catching the question inMiles’ eyes, Phoenix continued. “You apparently called him… before….He’s the reason you’re still alive, Edgeworth. And once he found out we were inthe same hospital, he and who was it again? Judge Courtney? They let usknow.“

Miles doesn’t remember calling anyone, though he doesn’tremember the attempt itself either. He doesn’t remember a lot. And… and ifthey’re alive and he’s alive then that may be something to worry about.

Phoenix gently squeezes his hand.

Not right now though.

[imperfectfools]

Kay Faraday, Detective Dick Gumshoe, Franziska von Karma, Maya Fey, and Phoenix Wright have all died.

Who died? || ACCEPTING

Train accident. That’s what the news says, at least. A tunnel collapse. No known survivors.

Miles stares at the TV for a few minutes longer, though as far as he can tell it’s all static now. He hears words but knowing what they are is beyond him. He should’ve been there.

He should’ve been there.

They’d been heading up to surprise Pearl before her birthday and he’d… he’d said he would catch up when he finished this last report. It was due the next day and needed to be done.

He should’ve been there.

Somehow he ends up at home, keys slotted into his apartment door. His hand twists the key and his body pushes its way in. His home of eighteen years is a foreign landscape to him.

There’s a warm pressure against his leg, a sharp yap that almost grounds him. But he’s still floating even glancing down at Pess.

“I’m sorry,” someone says.

His body walks to the kitchen, makes sure she has food and changes her water. Then it makes its way to the bathroom, delicately toeing a now whining Pess out of the doorway before closing and locking the door.

The person in the mirror is a stranger and he doesn’t look at them long before opening the medicine cabinet.

People leave notes.But who’s there to leave a note to?

He slips out his phone, but in the end reality peels away and he can’t say whether he told anyone or not.