#Talking about the second duel in which Anne tried to kill Sasha

[waybrights]

Hey, hi! I love your prompts. The way you write is marvelous. This is a little gift for you, some Sashanne angst and hurt/comfort. Enjoy!

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Anne found her sitting on a log, watching the stars. After returning to Amphibia, she never imagined seeing Sasha again but in a new light. Not as an enemy anymore but an ally, protecting Wartwood in her place, gaining more support to defeat Andrias. It felt surreal.

Thinking about Sasha filled her heart with mixed feelings. Love, hate, care, anger, longing, disappointment, nostalgia, annoyance. It was like cooking orange chicken with explosives as weird as it sounded. And knowing they were kind of avoiding each other, Sasha more than Anne, was becoming exhausting. There was fear of what she would do; many times Anne had thought Sasha would do the right thing just to be let down again, though, for Sasha to be all distant it made Anne wonder if she had given up after she had yelled at her that she was done with the blonde's shit.

Another issue needed to be let out of the surface too. One that had tormented her dreams some nights, not as much as Marcy being stabbed but it was still nasty and soul-breaking.

Her feet moved on her own, the crunching on leaves and twigs and dead grass alerted Sasha. She stood up quickly, unsheathing her sword just to relax marginally at the sight of Anne.

"H-Hey"

"Hey" God, if that was the only thing they were going to say to each other, this conversation would never start.

"There's something I want to talk about with you."

"Oh... Well, I was going to talk to you tomorrow but now that you're here..." Sasha scratched the back of her head and swallowed. She inhaled and exhaled deeply before opening her mouth.

"I'm sorry." Both said and looked at each other, flabbergasted.

"Were you going to say--?" Sasha started until Anne interrupted her.

"Oh, you were going to--" Yeah, this was awkward.

"Were you planning to apologize to me?" Sasha looked at her as if Anne wasn't Anne anymore but a clone. Alright, time to explain.

"I missed you, Sasha. I missed you and I hated you." The blonde flinched at the last part but didn't avert her eyes or try to. "I was so mad at you and I even wondered if you cared about me at all, or if you just cared about a version of me that would always do whatever you wanted. No agency, no opinion, nothing, just doing your way."

"It was wrong though. Everything I did was wrong and it took the whole disaster in the castle for me to understand that's not how people should act, how friends should act. But I know that you're done with me and anything related to me, so...I have to accept it. And whether you forgive me or not, I'll respect your choice and leave you alone. I just want you to know that I'm truly sorry for everything I've done to you. Before and during Amphibia. You were right, I am a horrible person. I'm trying to be better and I want to be someone you deserve but I've screwed up too many times for you to keep putting up with me. Anything you decide, Anne, forgiving me or hating me or even just pretending I've never existed... I-I never meant to..." Sasha sniffed, cursing at herself for not keeping the vulnerability at bay, feeling tears gathering fastly on the corner of her eyes "You and Marcy are the most important people to me. I'm so sorry I made you feel like I've never cared...w-when I-I love you so much..."

The dam was in pieces. Tears fell to the ground while she waited for Anne's judgment. A punch, a scream, a long lecture, an insult, or just leaving, she forced herself to not turn around and run away. That never worked in long term.

Suddenly, she felt a hand on her chest. Since when Anne had approached her?

The girl glanced with a mix of pain and fury at her hand, placed where Sasha's heart.

"I killed you." Anne's voice was too low but Sasha could hear the words, her blood freezing at that sentence.

"I killed you. In my dreams." She closed her eyes in a vain attempt to stop the tears from falling, her voice from breaking. "We were there...on the Newtopia Gates. We were fighting and I was so, so mad at you. B-But... But I wanted it to stop. Something was off with me. As if I was being possessed by a demon. And you were having trouble defending yourself... I-- no, that person, whatever it was using my body, it disarmed you and then... My own sword went through y-your heart... I-I couldn't... I couldn't stop it...! You were bleeding, you were dying and I was unable to save you..." Anne leaned her head on Sasha's head sobbing. The blonde debated mentally what to do. Comfort her? But what if that was translated as intrusive? Giving some encouraging words? She wasn't good at feelings. Without more choices, she slowly raised her arms and wrapped them around Anne carefully and kindly.

The other girl glared at Sasha with an intensity that was scary even for the fearless warrior, then a fist hit her chest. It stung a bit but not much as Anne's pained and furious face.

"I killed you! My own best friend! Even when you were the most massive jerk in the history of most massive jerks! You manipulative," a second hit "idiotic," a third one "arrogant," a fourth one "selfish" a fifth one "and insufferable asshole!!" Six hits. Sasha took them all. She was crying, silently to let Anne express all the wounds and stress she unconsciously put her through. The words were like knives slicing her heart but true. Dark reminders of how toxic she had been with the people she loves the most.

"I killed you! Even when I was done with you, I would've never forgiven myself! I love you, I missed you, I hated you and now I don't know anymore!"

"Anne..." Sasha searched for the right words, but what kind of words could help in a situation like this? Her only option was the most difficult path: emotional honesty. "Anne," she carefully lifted her chin to be eye to eye "I would never hate you. Even if you had...killed me, I never would. I hurt you so much. I took you for granted. I betrayed you and attacked your frog family. You were mad for good reasons. That's not your fault, it was mine. I-I know this is up to you. Deciding what to do or what to feel, but please Anne, don't blame yourself. You don't deserve this kind of burden. Not with everything else you're dealing with."

Anne sniffed and rubbed her eyes angrily. Sasha stepped back a bit, thinking the Thai girl needed space to calm down but her friend, (ex?) friend, grabbed her by the arms, her expression between angered and desperate.

"I'm still so mad at you, S-Sasha. I don't know if I can forgive you"

Sasha deflated but nodded. Respect her choices, no matter what, she told herself like a mantra.

"B-But I missed you, s-so much. And I'm so glad you're ok. I thought... I thought you were gone, j-just like M-Marcy." Both teenagers grimaced by remembering what Andrias did. "I thought Andrias had done the same to you. I don't know if I can accept you in my life again after all the shit you have done. It's just hurt so much."

"You don't have to. I-I won't force you to do whatever I want ever again. Even if you-you don't believe me, I mean it."

"Fuck... This is so messed up." Anne laughed bitterly.

"Y-Yeah, it is."

"I lost Marcy. We both did... I... I don't want to lose you too."

"You won't. Not by Andrias' hand or my stupidity."

"How can I trust you?" Anne spat.

"You don't have to. But I'll try my very best. It's the least I can do to-to show you that I regret how horrible I was and that I won't let you down."

Anne didn't say anything else. The hug Sasha received took her by surprise. It was both aggressive and affectionate. She wrapped her arms around her again, both crying, sobs shaking their bodies.

Things weren't ok between them. There were still too many wounds and mixed feelings to face and mend if there was a chance to start over again.

However, as hard as it ended up to be, this little conversation was a start to rebuild the bridge of their friendship. It would be a slow and tough process, but for Anne and Marcy, Sasha would do it.

[magicman111]

A Moth to a Flame - Chapter Three

Plumes of thick smoke billowed above the guard tower, blotting out the dusk sky with an ugly, brown smog. Burning red embers danced and flickered in the air, a single stray spark singeing Sasha’s right cheek.

Two girls stood, a dirt clod’s throw apart from each other. They stared each other down. The squeaky toy and Grime were already engaging in a battle of their own, leaving the two former friends alone on that tower. It did little to make the tension any less palpable.

Anne held her sword firmly in both hands, and the rage-filled scowl etched on her face made it clear she was itching for an excuse to ream the blade through her ex bestie’s chest cavity. The sheer hatred boiling inside her veins could not be overstated. Sasha, however, was a different story. She remained cool and kept both open palms raised, a sign of her peaceful intentions. Already a hard sell considering less than an hour ago, she’d ordered her flunkies to lock her and her family up in the dungeon after using and backstabbing her for the fifteen thousandth time.

She knew perfectly well what was at stake here. She knew the consequences not for them, but for this entire world if she failed. Convincing Anne to believe her now was going to be an uphill battle and the rematch she’d spent months prior fantasising about now seemed inevitable.

The irony surrounding both those things was not lost on her.

“Anne, I need you to listen to me!” she shouted over the hot gusts of wind whipping her face. “There’s something wrong with this Andrias guy! We should—”

Anne was having absolutely none of it. “You expect me to believe you?!” she asked her incredulously. “After all the lying and manipulating you’ve done?!” Sliding the sword back into its sheath, she turned her back on her in disgust. “Sorry, Sasha, but you’re out of chances.”

Why didn’t she take a photo? This would’ve been so much easier if she’d just thought to take a stupid photo! Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Or maybe if she’d given Anne any reason to trust her.

The gates were now drawing close to slamming completely shut as Anne resumed pushing the lever. If Sasha squandered any more precious time, their fast-approaching army would be locked outside the city. She felt her twin swords weigh heavily on her hips; the tips of fingers twitched.

Whelp, in for a penny, in for a pound. She took a deep breath.

“I think Marcy’s in on it.”

“Yeah yeah!” scoffed Anne. “Blah blah bla—what?”

It was a hail mary that paid off. Anne froze in place and glared back at Sasha as if she’d caught her in the act of stomping on Domino’s tail.

“What... what did you say?” she asked, her voice fittingly ice-cold.

“Anne, look... I get it, okay?” Sasha gutsily stepped forward, closing the gap between them. They still had a glimmer of hope in ending this without a fight, so she knew she had to cobble her thoughts together and choose her next words carefully. “You don’t trust me a-and I don’t blame you, but I swear I’m telling you the truth. Grime and I found these—these weird pictures hidden in the throne room. They... one of them was showing the king with the music box. Th-then there was also something about Marcy’s family, I... I don’t know exactly what it all means...”

Amazing how they’d spent the past months going on wild adventures, escaping dozens of near-death experiences with the many monsters infesting the place, yet this was the one thing she struggled to make sound plausible. Of all the times for that natural charisma and confidence to falter. The way Anne was looking at her like she’d sprouted a third arm out her forehead told her it was going about as well as expected.

“All I know is we shouldn’t be giving either of them the Box. Not right now.” She finally lowered her hands back to her sides, adding, “Just come back to the throne room with me and I promise I’ll show you everything.”

A silence fell over the guard tower, punctuated only by the th-thunk of hundreds of armoured boots rising in the distance.

Now the ball was back in Anne’s court. She’d been rendered speechless by everything she’d been told. All she could do was stare the other girl square in the eyes. Dumbstruck.

Relief washed over Sasha as the tension appeared to simmer down, to the point she felt confident enough to move in closer, stopping when they were only feet apart. Tentatively, she reached out and brushed her fingers against her friend’s knuckles.

“Anne. Please.”

This snapped Anne out of her stupor. Reacting as if she’d been touched by something filthy, she broke her hand away from hers. Her expression turned on a dime from bewilderment to one of unadulterated hatred.

“... how dare you.”

Instead of withdrawing herself, Anne shoved Sasha away so violently it nearly sent her off her feet.

“I cannot believe I almost fell for that again! I mean, wow! Seriously, Sasha?! You’re gonna try and save your skin by throwing Marcy under the bus?! HOW DARE YOU!!”

Another jab to the breastplate silenced Sasha before she could respond. Anne was advancing on her dangerously, every step she took forcing her to back up. The only other instance she’d legit felt intimidated by her was back when she’d stood up to her at Toad Tower and even then, a secret part of Sasha was also impressed.

Now she’d touched upon what was already a frayed, raw nerve and it was scary.

“Let me tell ya something, Sash!” yelled Anne. A third strike nearly caught Sasha in the throat. “Marcy’s been more of a friend to me than you ever have! Marcy hasn’t lied to me! She hasn’t pushed me around! And she definitely hasn’t tried to kill my family! Unlike YOU!” She gripped the hilt of her sword, the menace in her eyes daring her to give her a reason. “She’s not only a real friend, she’s my best friend! And so help me, if you ever talk about her like that again, I will personally stick this thing right in your—”

The sounds of stomping boots and clattering armour had grown so loud they became impossible to ignore. Anne looked to her left to witness the sea of helmeted toads congregating outside the city walls.

How could she have let herself get distracted? They were coming. They were practically here.

“You were right; I am better off without you.” She hissed at her with so much venom it practically poured over her lips. “We both are.”

With that parting diss, Anne sprinted back to the lever. She had a job to do and she’d wasted way too much time and oxygen on this cretin already.

Sasha was left standing there stricken, feet glued to the floor. Anne might as well have slapped her across the face to achieve the same effect.

A determined scowl of her own soon spread across her features. You can’t say she hadn’t tried.

She drew the twin swords from her belt and assumed her dueling position.

“Anne, I can’t let you close that gate!”

“Oh yeah...?”

Anne roared, leaping through the air, sword unsheathed and aimed at Sasha’s head.

“JUST TRY TO STOP ME!”

Any swordsman worth their salt should know better than to leave themselves exposed like Anne just did. Sasha had a clear open to cut her in two instead of blocking her strike with both swords if she had so chosen.

To Anne’s credit, she wasn’t nearly as foolhardy as she had been when she first arrived in Amphibia. Right now, however, as they flew around the tower and did battle with the ferocity of dueling birds of prey, Sasha could plainly see it was Anne’s anger guiding her sword.

Anne was hostile, her moves unpredictable. Toad Tower didn’t have nothin’ on this. She wasn’t an exceptionally skilled fighter, neither of them realistically could be when you consider they’d both only first taken up the sword months ago. Still, there was underlying talent between them, and in Anne’s case, hers was currently being amplified by a seemingly bottomless well of passionate fury, which encouraged every last nerve to screw her courage to the sticking place.

She was actively going for the kill.

Narrowly dodging a plunge from her sword and, holding both her own in one hand, Sasha reached the other between Anne’s arms to grip her by the shoulder.

“Anne, stop this!” she begged through gritted teeth. “Marcy—”

“SHUT YOUR LYING MOUTH!!”

Anne freed herself by kicking Sasha in the chest with her socked foot. The collision of her unprotected sole against the metal breastplate hurt like all get out, but she wasn’t going to allow a trivial thing like pain stop her from taking a fatal swing at her opponent’s golden head.

Cat-like reflexes were what saved Sasha from getting scalped. If there was any hope in her mind that Anne couldn still be reasoned with, it was surely dashed now.

None of the paths leading out of this graceful dance of death were great. Simply keeping up her defenses and waging a war of attrition until Anne’s wild attacks inevitably tired her out wasn’t going to work. Whatever it was fueling Anne’s rampage, she didn’t look to be running out of it any time soon. Every parry, thrust and dodge drained a little bit more of Sasha’s stamina. She couldn’t keep this up for much longer.

Frog knows she couldn’t rely on those toads to drag their warty butts through the stinking gate already!

Unless she was able to disarm Anne and fast, the only other option was to meet her viciousness in kind with expectedly grime results. Her training with Grime had taught her that every sword fight was already a potential life or death situation, regardless if you lacked the intent to harm, but however much they’d literally been at each other’s throats, Sasha was not prepared to have Anne’s blood on her hands.

An idea hit just as she arched her back away from a swing that easily could’ve taken her head off. Muscle tissue developed over years of cheerleader practice kicked into gear and in those vital seconds, Sasha flawlessly pulled off a handstand and kicked the sword out of Anne’s hand. The blade plummeted to the city streets below.

That should have been the end of it. With her opponent disarmed, Sasha felt the adrenaline rush sustaining her crash. Her lungs were on fire. Pink and Green suddenly felt ten times heavier in her damp palms. She truly couldn’t have gone on a moment longer.

Unfortunately, Anne was nowhere near spent. In an act of near superman-levels of varsity athleticism, slid behind Sasha, grabbed the hem of her cape and jumped over her head.

Before Sasha was able to register what in the ever-lovin’ Frog just happened, Anne had already tied the cape over her eyes. She barely even had a chance to flail like a dizzy ballerina when Anne’s fist smashed her in the face!

It was a blow powerful enough to send her spinning across the tower. She landed flat on her face, not an ounce of strength left in her muscles to pick herself back up. It was miraculous she didn’t black out then and there.

All that happened around her next was a mad din of noise. She made out the slam of what must have been Anne finally closing the gate. Then someone somewhere sounded a horn, followed by a voice she dreaded to hear more than anything else.

“Royal Newt Guard! Assemble!”

Oh Frog! They’d already freed the king! Anne must’ve sent the rest of her frog family or worse, Marcy to free him from his cell. She’d been so focused on stopping Anne, she didn’t even factor in what the others were doing.

Anne’s smug tone reached her ears, “End of the line, Sash.”

Sasha crawled up to the ledge on her belly. She tore the cape off her head, scattering it to the wind.

What she saw only confirmed her worst fears. Sprig standing atop a knocked out Grime on the roof below. Newt guards were rounding up her soldiers left and right; the tadpole’s giant robot was holding a bunch of them in its mechanical arms.

Then she saw her, a perky smile plastered on her face, shooting a ‘mission accomplished’ thumbs up at Anne.

“Oh no.”

[turnaboutancestor]

DGS2 Case 5: Review and Thoughts

this case was, in a few words, “the many solutions to the many puzzles” presented in the series thus far. as SUCH.....i’m gonna split things up by puzzle

By the very nature of this game, much of the information here is going to build on previous cases, especially Case 3 and Case 4. As such, rather than repeating all that here, I’d like you to take a look at those posts if you somehow managed to come across this one first.

Review

The Professor: Klimt van Zieks, Hart Vortex, Jigoku Seishirou, and Asougi Genshin

Klimt van Zieks was a very pure, extremely righteous prosecutor. When it came out that a fellow noble was victimizing the rest of England to make himself more well off, he felt a deep sense of regret and frustration at being unable to do anything about it exactly because the perpetrator was a noble.

And so Klimt took his large hound, Balmung, and decided to go on a hunt.

That was the Professor’s first victim, and though the “weapon” was an interesting choice and made it more difficult to follow, Klimt was still an amateur and eventually got caught by Hart Vortex.

Vortex decided to use the Professor to create his perfect society. This eventually led to Klimt having to take the life of his mentor and benefactor, the current Chief Justice, to pave the way for Vortex rising to the top.

In the midst of this, Asougi Genshin, who had been studying abroad as a detective, started to piece together the Professor’s true identity. He approached Vortex about it, begging him to move the police force into action, but Vortex wouldn’t have any of it without “decisive evidence” (not to mention he had his own stakes in the Professor remaining active).

Incensed by this, Genshin snuck into the van Zieks mansion one night, cornering Klimt.  He proposed that they duel, and Klimt agreed on two conditions: that he be allowed to write a will, confessing his sins; and that Klimt agree to help his wife (which will be addressed later).  They dueled, and Genshin won, leaving Klimt for dead as he ran out of the mansion.

Unfortunately, a number of the servants spotted Genshin running. This was the most concrete thing they had, however, as there wasn’t enough evidence. Wanting to tie this up and protect Klimt’s secret to keep the law running as smoothly as possible, Vortex roped Detective Tobias Gregson and Doctor John H. Watson into a forging scheme.

First, Gregson would collect a group of thugs together and attack Genshin, stealing his trademark ring.  Second, Gregson would argue for Klimt’s autopsy--something which would otherwise not be done to a noble--with the House of Lords, with Vortex’s help.  Third, Watson would keep his assistants (Courtney Sithe and Mikotoba Yuujin) busy during the dissection and pretend at finding this ring in Klimt’s stomach, coming to the conclusion that Klimt had swallowed it to provide proof for his killer.

Despite the discrepancies in Klimt’s death--dying of a stab wound to the heart, rather than having a throat torn apart by a hound--he was treated as the last of the Professor’s victims, and Genshin was arrested and tried as the Professor.

However, Genshin had a very important weapon: Klimt’s will, which not only admitted his identity as the Professor but also pointed to Vortex as the one who threatened him to continue killing.  Vortex realized this must exist, so he approached Genshin for a deal: keep the will secret and accept a Guilty verdict at the trial, and he would arrange for Genshins’ escape from prison. Genshin refused to agree until Vortex brought up the prospect of never seeing his family again, and then caved.

Genshin did one last thing, however: he wrote his own will, asking that all his personal affects be sent overseas to his son. He also hid Klimt’s will in the hilt of Karuma, hoping that it could one day be found and reveal the truth.

Vortex involved Courtney Sithe, as the coroner that confirmed Genshin’s death after execution; and Harry Barricade, the prison warden, to aid in Genshin’s escape. Then, once Genshin was burried Vortex and Jigoku--who jumped on board after Vortex promised him the Minister of Foreign Affairs position back in Japan--would head to Lowgate Cemetary to help dig him out and begin his journey back to Japan.

There was a problem, however: Enoch Drebber had appeared in the cemetery that night and saw the figure only known to the wider world as “The Professor” rise from his grave. Vortex told Jigoku the plan was over, and they had no choice but to shoot Genshin to keep him dead for real. Jigoku hesitated, but he eventually shot Genshin, killing him.

The Death Bringer: Vortex’s ambition

The true “moving force” behind the Death Bringer is Vortex. In his desire to create a world of order and safety for the people of London, he created an organization that go after those that managed to escape guilty verdicts.

The first victim was a head of a criminal organization in a trial that Barok headed; rumors began to spread that this “Death Bringer” was actually Klimt’s ghost attached to Barok, bringing down justice where the latter could not. These rumors were...likely spread by Vortex, as he knew Barok would cling to that moniker to hold onto something of his brother’s.

Vortex involved people like Gregson, who would carefully investigate the targets and come up with the best way to eliminate them. Ann Sasha, otherwise known to us as Jezail Brett, was the primary assassin.  It’s likely Watson was involved as well, after his first role in Klimt’s autopsy. When Watson was invited overseas, Vortex turned to his understudy, Sithe.

The Four Names: Asougi, Gregson, Sasha, Watson

Slowly, Vortex began to realize being Chief Justice wasn’t enough to fulfill his desires of an orderly, crime-free London--he had to become Attorney General no matter the cost.

But to do that, he would need to cut off a few loose ends--those of Gregson and Watson specifically, as they were the only remaining individuals that knew the truth about Klimt’s autopsy.  To do this, he blackmailed Jigoku with the truth of Genshin’s death, and created a “Target Switch” assassin program. Using the recently established treaty that allowed criminals in a foreign country to be extradited to their consulate, England and Japan would switch assassins.

First, England would send Sasha, disguised as exchange student Jezail Brett, to murder Watson.  Once that was established, Japan would send Asougi Kazuma to murder Gregson.

To solidify this deal, and to prove as a kind of contract, a transmission was sent from England to Japan containing these four names.

This assassination was a condition of Asougi’s study abroad, and he readily accepted it.

Asougi’s “Death” and Sherlock’s Resolve

Sherlock had a habit of listening in on transmissions between England and Japan, and that was how he found out about the four names. Given notorious assassin Ann Sasha had been missing for months and he heard news of Watson’s death, he was afraid that the four names on this list were the names of victims.

Having heard about Asougi and his upcoming study abroad trip from Yuujin’s letters, Sherlock resolved to prevent Asougi’s stdy abroad by any means possible.  Sherlock took his chance when Asougi passed out on the Alaclair, intending to leave him in Hong Kong as a “corpse” and have him sent back to Japan.  He then convinced Ryuu to take up Asougi’s place as the transfer attorney, knowing that this meant Asougi wouldn’t be able to come to England for at least a few years.

He also convinced Gregson to transfer to France and take Gina with him, hoping to protect him this way.

It wasn’t until he overheard Yuujin, Ryuunosuke, and Susato talking that he realized that Sasha hadn’t disappeared and had actually killed Watson, making him realize that Asougi and Gregson’s relationship was likely the same.

Gregson’s Death

Gregson was given a “Death Bringer” mission for 10/31, aboard the Balabrock as it head for France. The target was Jigoku, and in a twist of fate, the assassin sent with him was Asougi.

Asougi grew incensed after hearing the truth about Genshin’s trial from Gregson and attacked him, chipping Karuma’s blade in the process. However, Asougi decided to leave it at that, disembarking in France and staying the night.

On Jigoku’s end, however, he had no idea Asougi was still alive at this point, and was determined to complete Japan’s end of the target switch agreement with his own hands.

When he returned to his room, he found Gregson there. He body slammed Gregson, knocking him unconscious, but as first class cabins are surrounded by guards, he decided to wait until the emergency drill later that evening to do the final deed. Unfortunately, just as that time arrived, Gregson woke up and started attacking Jigoku in a frenzy. In a moment of panic, Jigoku used the gun the English government had given him in his exchange program 16 year ago and shot Gregson.

He took Gregson’s coat off and hid his body in the freezer, trying to buy some time and fake Gregson’s time of death. He then put Gregson’s body in his own suitcase and took him off the boat and to the hotel, as there was no chance to throw the body overboard due to all the guards.

He had heard about Gregson’s secret room with Mitermont from Vortex, and went to drop the body off there. He set up some firecrackers he bought from Venus and used the candles as a makeshift timer so that, when Mitermont came to visit, he could be framed. Unfortunately for him, it was Barok that showed up instead, on his investigation of Gregson.

Iris’s Father

Flash back to the two promises Genshin made to Klimt: to allow Klimt to write his will, and to help Klimt’s wife.

Klimt told his secret to his wife, figuring that if he died, she’d know what to do.  When Klimt died, she went into hiding in the Baskerville manor--she was a member of the Baskerville family, and the dog collar Balmung always wore was the treasure found at the end of case 2. It had been stolen a few years back by Selden.

There was one problem, though: she was pregnant, and was due very soon.

In Genshin’s last meeting with Yuujin while the former was in solitary, he asked that Yuujin help her in his stead, as a doctor. He also insisted that ONLY Yuujin go, and that Jigoku be left in the dark.

Yuujin arrived in Dartmoor and found her in pain and in labor. He did all he could to help her, and while the baby girl was born safely, the young woman passed away.  Yuujin realized, however, that she had probably gone into hiding and Klimt had kept this a secret so that his child wouldn’t have to live their life as “the child of a serial killer.”

Not even a month passed when Yuujin was told he had to return to Japan, and unfortunately he couldn’t take a child with him from an unknown (or not allowed to be known) background. So, after some worrying, he left her with his friend: Sherlock. And, having come to Japan to escape the grief of losing his own wife, Ayame,  to childbirth, he decided to give her name to this baby girl: Iris.

Iris as of yet doesn’t know about where she comes from, and Yuujin wanted to keep it that way; it was the main reason he pulled Susato back to Japan after seeing the Baskerville collar show up in Natsume’s records, as he remembered Susato had spotted the story Iris wrote.  He didn’t want Susato opening a path that would lead to Iris discovering her origins.

As of now, though, he wonders if maybe she’ll be able to properly accept it, someday.  Everyone else, including Barok, has now been made aware of who her father is.

Where they are now

Ryuunosuke has decided to return to Japan to properly pursue the path of a lawyer, and Susato is going along with him, saying she wants to see where that path leads.

Asougi is remaining in England and studying to be a prosecutor under Barok. He handed Karuma over to Ryuu, asking that he hold onto it until he can properly quell and deal with the urge to kill that he felt when facing Gregson.  Barok has decided to let go of Klimt’s ghost for good, and move on like his “Japanese friend” told him to.

Iris has decided that finding out who her real father is doesn’t matter for now, as she feels Sherlock is her papa.

There seems to be an implication hat they’ll all see each other again, though...Sherlock muses going to Japan after people keep bugging him about the stunt he pulled with image transmission in the final trial.

Thoughts

That....is a lot of text. Too many text.  I hope I’ve managed to cover everything important.

There was a LOOOOT happening in the final trial segment, and it was one of the few places I feel like the pacing really suffered. It basically followed the flow of “witness - something important - we need to know about XYZ now - new witness that sherlock managed to call in knowing we’d need them” for at least 3-4 times, I believe....

The only investigation was a side thing as Sherlock and Yuujin investigated the Balabrook, which they knew was the real crime scene. It was definitely FUN, but it being the only bit was a little disappointing, though I’m fully aware that cases 4 and 5 are so connected that they may as well be one case, which means I got plenty of investigation done.

I am OBSCENELY pleased at Barok actually being the awkward uncle. All my dream come tru.

Also, I’m generally pretty pleased at how Barok and Asougi’s stories were brought to a close. I was previously worried that I wanted both of them to get closure, because we were fighting between “friend’s dad was convicted wrongly and was totally innocent” and “rival prosecutor is the defendant and did nothing wrong.”, when in reality they were both really middle ground: Genshin wasn’t the Professor, but he did kill Klimt; Klimt WAS the Professor, but he was also being used by Vortex.

Speaking of Vortex: he had a LONG takedown, but it was different from someone like AAI’s piece of shit final villain because there was something about Vortex that was weirdly amicable and also charismatic. He wasn’t out to kill someone out of revenge, or do someone in out of some petty reason--he very, legitimately thought that what he was doing was for the good of the citizenry, the good of the law. And you could see the audience in this case, made up entirely of people related to government, almost BELIEVE him. Sure, he did some reprehensible things, but their RESULTS actually did wind up benefiting the greater good. I’m curious about how that information getting revealed to the general public will affect things from now on, but unfortunately we don’t get to see it.

I got so overwhelmed emotionally that I bawled nearly straight through the credits at the end. It didn’t help that Watson’s usual narration faded into Iris being the one speaking: a line about how if you miss your friends, just close your eyes and they will be there. And it was just, alot, because the characters in this game really feel like my friends, and Ryuu referring to them all as his family really made them more so for me.

In the end, this was a really......really good game. I’m so glad to finally see an ace attorney game that can capitalize on being able to be a proper sequel, and I think the DGS duology as a whole is better for it.