#and misty was too heartbroken herself to correct him

[torchiccakes]

Is that what you call this Ash?

Being off in their own world,

“a friendship of the fists,”

while surrounded by hearts.

Is that what no-homo platonic buddy pals do?

I think Goh would say otherwise.

[the-hidden-writer]

A Second Chance: Chapter 7

An Ace Attorney fanfic. Read on both AO3 and FF.net!

Summary: Miles learns the identity of his “dead” mother, and the aftermath of that revelation is a tricky one. Especially when his newfound little sister is trying to turn him into a spirit medium.

AKA Miles is a Fey. Miles also doesn’t really know how to family properly.

[Chapter 1] | [Chapter 2] | [Chapter 3] | [Chapter 4] | [Chapter 5] | [Chapter 6]

Comments make my day! :D

The Beginning

Kurain Village wasn’t very well known. For those who did know about it, it was widely known that it wasn’t well known. The place never had any tourists and people very rarely left, so the train station was only a small one. Nobody from the city cared, neither did the village residents.

Which is why she was taken off-guard when she spotted a confused-looking stranger standing on the platform in a navy suit that looked a size too big for him and a brown leather briefcase in his hand.

“Can I help you?” She asked, causing him to jump. She giggled. “Sorry to scare you!”

“No no, you didn’t scare me.” The handsome stranger lied, adjusting his tie. “I was just deep in thought.”

Oh, so it was a posh stranger.

His frown deepened and he pinched the bridge of his nose. “I was supposed to get off at the fifth station to oversee an investigation, but this doesn’t look like Milltown Village.”

She couldn’t help the grin that quickly spread onto her face.

“Well, you’re right about that.” She teased, “You’re in Kurain Village. I haven’t travelled in years and even I know that Milltown’s on the other side of the city.”

If it wasn’t attached to his skull, the young man’s jaw would have dropped to the floor.

“N-No, that’s impossible!” He exclaimed, and promptly spun on the spot to take a look at his surroundings again. His head comically snapped to and fro as he tried to take it all in.

Watching him, she tried very hard to hold in her laughter.

Eventually, he sighed yet again and faced her. “I must’ve gotten on the wrong train.” He admitted, a small, sheepish smile growing on his face. 

It was adorable.

“I’m Misty.” She blurted out for no apparent reason.

The man reeled in his smile slightly, making him look a lot more professional. “Gregory.” He said, firmly holding out his hand.

She shook it, and mentally chastised herself. Was she supposed to have held out her hand first? Had she messed it up already?

“Well, I guess I’ll just have to wait for the next train.” Gregory chuckled nervously, motioning toward the rusty bench further down the platform.

“I could keep you company if you’d like?” Her mouth asked without her brain’s permission.

Gregory didn’t seem to notice, though, and smiled again. “That’s very kind of you.”

As they began to make their way to the bench, he muttered “there isn’t even a sign here” under his breath.

“Oh, there is!” Misty corrected a little too-excitedly. She pointed to the signpost. “It’s a little faded, but it’s there.”

“A little?” Gregory questioned, before removing his glasses, squinting, and putting them on again. “It’s hardly legible! No wonder I made a mistake.”

“You boarded the wrong train.” She gleefully corrected again as she sat down.

She could practically feel the argument boiling in him as he sat down next to her.

“In my defence,” he countered, “I haven’t lived here that long. I moved over from the UK a year ago, and I’m still getting the hang of it.”

“The hang of what?”

He blinked. “Um… Americans?”

And with that, the laughter came pouring out. He even joined her for a couple of confused chuckles of his own. Why did the first stranger she met by herself have to be a professional dork?

After her laughter had died down, they sat in comfortable silence for the first ten minutes of the wait. It was still relatively early, so the bird song was still quite clear and beautiful as ever. She could tell he was awed by it.

“You don’t hear that in the city, do you?”

“No, you don’t.” He said.

“So,” she began, turning to face him, “what do you do then?”

His dark brows furrowed. “Pardon?”

She gestured toward him like it was obvious. “You said you were supposed to do an investigation. Are you a detective like in the books?”

His face relaxed again. “No, I’m supposed to oversee an investigation for my boss. I’m a defence attorney.”

“Really?” She gasped. “What’s that?”

“You… don’t know what an attorney is?”

She shook her head.

And just like that, the next five minutes was used up by him trying to explain the concept of a courthouse to her while she asked him various questions in between. 

“Understand?” He asked, once Misty had finally used up all of her burning questions.

“Yes.” She affirmed with confidence.

Gregory sighed and rubbed his face with his hand, knocking his glasses slightly askew. “So what do you do then? Do you work here in the village?”

“Oh, I’m a spirit medium!”

She could swear he did a double-take.

“What’s that?” 

“I can’t believe you don’t know what a spirit medium is!” Misty mocked in a sad attempt of mimicking Gregory’s voice.

When he didn’t respond, she continued. “We channel spirits. It’s called the Kurain Channelling Technique, and it’s passed down in our family. My mother’s the master of it, and either me or my sister is going to become it eventually, but we’re not sure exactly who at the moment and-”

She rambled on for a considerable amount of time, ignorant to Gregory’s increasingly shocked state.

It was a good few seconds after she’d finished that he finally found the words to respond. “You… channel spirits?”

“Yes! The Kurain Channelling Technique!” Misty repeated. 

“Right…” breathed Gregory, not convinced. 

“I could show you if you-”

They were both silenced when the distant sound of a horn came echoing from the hills.

“Ah, that's me, I suppose.” said Gregory with an apologetic smile. “Thank you for waiting with me. It was lovely speaking with you.”

Misty smiled. “I had lots of fun!” She said, attempting to keep the crippling disappointment in her voice. She had been having so much fun talking to Gregory that she hadn’t realised that she wouldn’t see him again. 

He must have read her mind, because seconds later he was holding out his card. “Here,” he said, “this is where I work. I’m planning to open my own offices at some point, but if you ever need my services then just ask for me and I won’t hesitate to help.”

She smiled as she took it from him, brushing her fingers across it gently. It was firm and professional. Not unlike Gregory himself. “Thank you. I will.” 

Their goodbye was a short one. She’d managed to tease him one last time about knowing the railway lines, and she counted that as a small victory. 

She still felt slightly heartbroken as she watched the train leave, though.

As she wandered back into Fey Manor, she felt a warm, buzzing feeling in her heart. Hopefully the others wouldn’t interrogate her about where she was, she didn’t feel like explaining it. 

But for now? She had a sign to paint.

~._-_.~

“It is unacceptable!” Morgan cried, clenching her fists as she paced around the room. “Who do they think they are?”

“You cannot blame them.” Their mother said calmly. “I understand why they would think we did it.”

“We are the Fey clan!” Morgan continued, her anger rising. “They can’t expect us to admit our guilt when we didn’t steal anything! We do not steal, heirlooms or not. Shouldn’t it belong to us in the first place? If anything, they stole it from us!”

Misty sighed. Her sister could get very angry over the smallest things.

Their mother shot a glare at Morgan, who took it as a signal to stop talking. She then frowned and looked at no-one in particular when she mumbled: “We’re going to need some sort of lawyer.”

A grin began to spread on Misty’s face.

“I might know someone.”